insignificant ramblings of a 50-something woman
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Hedgehog cam
Every morning now I wake up, check the wildlife camera with great excitement and see hedgehogs. The first one is usually seen around 10pm. Then there’s often activity around midnight, 3am, and the last at around 6am. I have no idea how many there are as I only ever see one at a time so…
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Henry, Humphrey and Hubert
We released three more hedgehogs into our backyard yesterday. We had four homes, all vacant, and Horace and Hortensia have integrated into the wider neighbourhood so we adopted Henry, Humphrey, and Hubert. These boys are a bit smaller and younger so they didn’t roam as much and hung round our backyard more than the original…
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Cool in Aberdeen
The UK is expecting a scorcher today with a possible high of 42C. This will be unprecedented if it gets this hot. Many people have asked how we’re coping in Aberdeen but Aberdeen rarely gets hot and we’ve been hovering around 20C or just below the past few days. Today the forecast is for 25C…
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A garden pond
After spotting a toad swimming in the tiny water bowl I’d put in the backyard for wildlife I decided to give him something bigger and better to swim in: a pond. On Saturday Ben and I spent the afternoon pulling up grass and digging a hole. It was hard work. Victoria gave us a hand.…
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Castle Fraser
We had a lovely picnic at Castle Fraser today for a friend’s birthday. The walled garden at the castle is one of the best I’ve seen so we had a lovely wander around the estate and gardens before eating lunch then playing badminton under towering shady trees.
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Gardens as habitat for wildlife
There’s still no sign of the elusive hedgehogs. I have no idea whether they’re still in our garden or not. Hedgehogs can travel up to 2 miles in one night so probably they’re not but I hope they visit us from time-to-time. I continue to put food out for them along with the wildlife camera…
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Glen Tanar and swimming at Cambus o’May
Last night before I had a chance to put the wildlife camera out the hedgehogs had already left their houses to forage for food. We saw Horace in the undergrowth hopefully consuming some of the many slugs and snails that live in our garden. It really is a paradise for hedgehogs as we have very…
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Meet Horace and Hortensia
We adopted two hedgehogs today from The North East Wildlife & Animal Rescue Centre. They put out a call recently on social media looking for homes for hedgehogs. They had 140 of them. To qualify for a hedgehog you have to provide them with a house in the backyard, food and water, live away from…
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Recognising patterns
The company I work for makes software that is used by people all over the world and has been translated into 30 different languages. Sometimes our users request translation changes because although we use native speakers to create them they may not have the full context as the translators are not users of our product.…
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White pigeon
A white pigeon has started visiting the bird feeders in our backyard. I’ve never seen one before. I wonder if it’s an escaped pet? Or maybe one of many released white pigeons at someone’s wedding? These are not the best photos because I took them through glass and it seems I need to clean the…
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Herring gull chick
The herring gull nesting in the chimney pots on our roof is now a parent as yesterday I spotted a chick. It’s hard to see in this photo so I’ve annotated around it with a red box. I don’t always see it as it’s behind the metal chimney but sometimes it peers out the side…
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The Umbrella Project
Elizabeth got to dance in town today and yesterday for the launch of the Umbrella Project in Aberdeen which is a nationwide campaign to celebrate neurodiversity or different ways of thinking. One in five of us have a condition like ADHD, Autism, Tourette’s Syndrome, Dyspraxia, and Dyscalculia and the umbrella project seeks to raise awareness…
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Highland dance finale, sushi, school reports, and a cat pic
The finale for Elizabeth’s school of Highland Dance end of year show was last night. We went to the opening night and it was fantastic. Yesterday I was wishing I’d bought a second ticket so I could go and watch it again but they’d completely sold out. Never mind, we’ll get the DVD when it…
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Bees, gulls and Grenfell fire
On the pavement outside our house is a tiny bit of dirt beneath a lone tree. The council usually spray the pavement and after years of losing plants this way I now have a sign there. I was delighted today to find two bees feeding from this tiny garden. You can see one of the…
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The strange language of teenagers plus foxes, birds and standing stones
The kids were talking the other day and said something that made absolutely no sense to me so I asked them to explain and after the explanation I was no closer to understanding what it meant. They speak another language. I’ll tell you what they said and you see if you can figure it out:…
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Dancing for the Platinum Jubilee
Elizabeth got to perform at Craigiebuckler Church yesterday for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. I took lots of photos and some videos. They really put on a good show at this church as in addition to the dancing there were pipers and singing and crown making and that was just in the 1 hour period we…
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Sniffing for hamster piss
When we first got hamsters I wasn’t expecting to spend my evenings and weekends sniffing hamster bedding for hamster piss but this is what we do now. For a while Bella was peeing in a sand bath which was great as I didn’t need to go searching for her toilet but she’s stopped doing that…
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Lighting the beacon
We went to the lighting of the beacon for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee last night. Over 1,500 beacons were lit across the UK and the Commonwealth at exactly 9:45pm BST in celebration of the Queen’s life of service. A lone piper played Diu Regnare (long to reign) which was written by Stuart Liddell especially for…
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Salt and migraines
It has been about two months since I started the no added salt diet which basically means no processed food, no eating out, and baking my own bread. My blood pressure is now exemplary at around 112/70. And guess what? No side effects because I haven’t had to take any drugs. Actually, I tell a…
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Highland dance competition
Elizabeth competed in her first highland dance competition at the Newtonhill Highland Festival. She did very well and came 3rd in the Highland Fling and 4th in the Lilt. Well done, Elizabeth! No photography was allowed at the competition so I couldn’t photograph or film her there. She says she enjoyed it and may participate…
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