Sasha had a vet checkup as we’ve had a few small concerns about her health. 🐶 She’s to join Oshi in taking Carprieve for arthritis and I have the exciting task of attempting to collect a urine sample. 😹 Her heart and teeth are OK. She can’t see much apart from dark and light.
Re the US riots in progress in DC right now: there are huge numbers of law enforcement there. Why don’t they start arresting the folks who are breaking the curfew?
We really enjoyed our 2 hour Whanganui River Cruise aboard the coal-fired steam-powered paddle boat Waimarie. Recommended! Watch out for soot.
Photos: skipper; sailing upriver; the wake; returning to Whanganui with the Durie Hill tower
Off for a river cruise on a paddle boat steamer in Whanganui.
∞
I really dislike crime shows and thriller books which feature serial killers and prolonged scenes (or any scenes) of torture and cruelty. That’s why I figure it’s best to eat the head first on the Walkers Shortbread Scottie Dogs. (Headlessness not depicted.)
I say I've never been on a cruise, but … in 1963 we emigrated from England. We travelled as 5 members of only a dozen or so passengers on a cargo ship (before containers), the Port Townsville. Possibly this one.
It took ~6 weeks via the Suez Canal. I guess that was a cruise…
Photo via the link above and credited to Chris Howell.
Excited: our big trip for 2021 is confirmed: in July a five night Rakiura (Stewart Island) cruise with 30 other passengers. Stewart Island Tours. I’ve never been on a cruise and never been to Rakiura.
Ulva Island bird sanctuary … historic Norwegian whaling station … etc
Uh oh. As of yesterday (intermittently) I need to know MacBook Pro Display Problems: Horizontal Lines:
If your MBP has blacked-out, grayed-out, flickering or faded horizontal lines going across its screen
I hoped to replace this MacBook Pro with an M1 when the 15” comes out…
Double-tap hack for launching the Covid barcode scanning app on iPhone — slightly embarrassed I had to watch and learn all the steps, but a great idea:
To make scanning in a breeze I’ve been using this iPhone double tap hack that’s super simple to set up and even easier to use!
Well, that’s interesting. If you press the Listen icon in Google Translate you hear the text at (probably) normal speed. That being too fast, press again and the second time it’s said slower. Then it alternates.
// @tkoola
This seems a rather handy guide: Here’s How to Watch The Most Spectacular Meteor Showers of 2021. ☄️
We’ve so much enjoyed Season 3 of Star Trek: Discovery. There is one nail-biting episode left to go. Can they fix the problems? Deal with the baddies? And can they do it in time? Best season yet of this show.
I haven’t posted any photos of my two remaining Japanese quail for a bit, so here are Fliss and Glee. 🐦
Woohoo, booked a birthday treat for myself in February: Wildlife Photography Workshop at Pūkaha National Wildlife Centre, a 2 hour drive away.
photograph our aviary birds from the outside; inside free flight aviary; wild birds; plants, trees, tuatara, geckos, skinks and more.
I’ve been hearing a bird with a call that sounds like a piercing ‘pee you, pee you’. It’s taken me a while to track it down, but apparently it’s a European goldfinch 🐦:
Voice: a liquid, tinkly calling, often given by flocks in flight. Also a shrill, clear pee-yu.
Yay! I combined Mars Edit, AppleScript, Keyboard Maestro and BBEdit to establish that yes, indeed, I posted at least once per day during 2020. For some reason my script failed to count 3 separate days (timing issue?) but I was easily able to verify those 3. 🙌🏼
Strine as! The Merger was extremely funny and infinitely more enjoyable than I expected. If you don’t speak Australian you’ll probably need subtitles. 🎬
explores the decline of a cash-strapped rural footy club and the recruitment of refugees to keep the club viable.
I still take a selfie every day, but rarely post them here. Here’s my New Year’s Day selfie for Friday 01 January 2021 though.
Concluded my year by watching the just past full moon rising golden from behind a hillock. What a gorgeous way to transition to a new day, a new year, a new start.
I was down at the lake taking photos of the Royal Spoonbills when this Matuku, White-faced heron, arrived. 🐦
