A Few Days In Stamford Bridge.

Mum, Oliver (her dog), Tony and I all spent a few days in Stamford Bridge. We were going to watch my brother Russell run in The Yorkshire Marathon. This was his second marathon in six months! He ran the London Marathon last April at the age of 59 years which meant by the time he ran the Yorkshire one he was 60 years old. I think he is a little bit barmy myself, even more so when he is already talking about doing the London Marathon again in April and maybe the Yorkshire again next October!
When Russell ran in the London Marathon it was the hottest on record, when he ran the Yorkshire Marathon it rained continually throughout his entire run. He beat the time it took him to run in London by 38 minutes, finishing in 5:48:16 a time to be proud of I think.

Russell smiling while running the Yorkshire Marathon 2018.

Before we went home we had a ride through Sand Hutton where my great grannie lived. My Mum had a trip down memory lane telling us about her childhood. It sounded like she had some really happy times there. I remember going and staying at Sand Hutton when I was a small child, I remember my Great Grannie having to leave and move into a home at Thirsk called "Cherry Garth" I remember climbing up on the wooden horse used for chopping wood and knocking myself out, most of all I remember being happy there.

Sand Hutton.

The House Mum's Nana & Granddad lived in.

The House Mum's Nana lived in after her Grandad died.

The second house is the one I remember going to.

The apartment that we stayed in at Stamford Bridge was quite nice, it was situated in the middle of the square standing out in the middle of the river.

We stayed in the building in the water.

All night long you could hear moving water, which I have to admit made me need to get up a couple of times if you know what I mean. Oliver liked the apartment, he had a viewpoint from the back of the sofa, the window sills or even better if he could get somebody to pick him up to look. Oliver was very well behaved, he had brought some of his toys so it was home from home, he could play ball here just the same as at home. 

Oliver Keeping Guard

It was good to spend some time with Mum, to hear her talk about her past. She seemed to enjoy herself too. I hope we can do it again some time, we never seemed to have spent much time together.

I know you won't like it Mum but here is a photo of...

 Mum, me and Oliver.

 Tony has to get a mention of course because without him we wouldn't have been there. He drove the car to get us there, he watched Oliver while Mum and I went to watch Russell run, he mended the window that was left swinging free in the apartment when we arrived, he carried most of the bags in and out and he had to talk to the not so nice woman that told him he had parked in the wrong place.
Tony took most of the photos including this one that amused us all.

Wherever you go there is a woodpigeon

Until next time... 

Five Squirrels.

Today I thought I would stay with the squirrel theme. This is another story I read on the Internet.
However this one has a happy ending.

Five Squirrels with a tangle of tails.

PHOTO: WISCONSIN HUMANE SOCIETY.

This looked like a lot of hard work for somebody to untangle these tails.

You can imagine how scared the squirrels must have been, so the first thing to do was to anaesthetise them.

The Wisconsin Humane Society worker began working on unravelling the "Gordian Knot"(google it) of tightly tangled tails and nesting materials. It took about 20 minutes according to the worker.

The Squirrels after separation.

PHOTO: WISCONSIN HUMANE SOCIETY.

The squirrels will be watched for several days to keep an eye on the blood flow to their tails. If the blood flow is impaired it can lead to something called Tail Necrosis. This means that the squirrels tail could die, the squirrels use the tail for balance, losing the use of the tail could prove really disastrous for a squirrel, it would affect its ability to jump from tree to tree to find food. 

A sad day for an Albino Squirrel.

I was very sad today to read about an albino squirrel being knocked down and killed in Edinburgh.
Albino Squirrels are believed to have sight and hearing problems which makes them vulnerable to hazards. It is thought there are just 25 albino squirrels in the country, with odds of being born albino around one in 100,00

A Rare Albino Squirrel.

    © Alan C Tough / SWNS.com

                                                 

We are still having daily visits from three squirrels, it is better than watching the TV watching squirrels. They sometimes remind me of Benny Hill sketches the way they run around the garden, it just looks like they have been speeded up.

One of the Squirrels.

It always makes me think they are saying "Who me?" when they stand in this pose.

This one was so laid back he fell asleep eating.

It's a good job he woke up before he fell off.

The picture below is the new nut box I told you about that the squirrels took the nuts through the hole before realising they could lift the lid. You can see where there tried to make the hole bigger, it reminds me of what a lot of birds do, such as woodpeckers, magpies or crows to get to chicks in nest boxes so they can steal them away to feed to their own young.

 The new nut box damaged by squirrels.

A juvenile Goldfinch comes to feed on the sunflower hearts every morning, always on its own. The young finch stays about 30 minutes or so then flies off over the school roof until later in the day when it returns for another feed.

Juvenile Goldfinch.

The stump is still popular! The Sparrows and Blackbirds are usually the birds that visit it. The Sparrows often spend the most time there, however, today a male Blackbird ruled over it.

A Male House sparrow on the stump

A scruffy looking Male Blackbird on the stump.

Until the next time...