Marty

So here's my week 21 offering of my attempt to take and upload a new black and white photograph every week for 52 weeks... This one is showing part of the damage that Storm Ellen did to my garden. (Those rose blossoms were all upright the day before the storm hit.)

Well, he has to stay hydrated in this hot weather...

Seems likely that the tracks are so close together because it was a slow moving vertebrate (possibly an extinct lizard type of animal), that didn't stand too high off the ground, that was travelling through sand...

Sounds delicious.

No, I was definitely talking about the jacket! Actually, I think the hottie wearing it in the picture may well have still been at school twenty years ago...

Now that just leaves me completely confused...

I seldom use an umbrella. This is what I normally use: The one I have is around 20 years old, bought at a mountaineering shop in Snowdonia, North Wales around the start of the millenium. It's made by Vango, and is gore-tex lined, which means it is breathable, so I don't get drowned in my own perspiration when wearing it for hours on end. Been all over the world with me. I also have a pair of gore-tex lined mountaineering boots, bought from the same shop, that have also been all over the world. I paid £60 at the end of last year to have them professionally re-soled.

Storm Ellen breaks record for highest August wind speeds A wind moving at 111 kilometres per hour was recorded at Roche’s Point in Cork. Source: www.thejournal.ie

Hi, Gary!

Greetings, young Albert! Hope things soon improve for you, weather-wise.

Enjoy your day, bro.

It translates literally to: "You are by far the best." But, as Abstand can also translate to distance, it may also mean: "You are at the best distance."

Two headlines in The Journal (an online Irish Newspaper) caught my eye this morning... 1. Storm Ellen: Over 100,000 homes and businesses across the country without power (I'm currently boiling water for coffee over a camping stove, as my electricity has been off for the last hour. I'm hoping it will be back soon, but shall also fill a vacuum flask with hot water, just in case.) 2. Wildfires wreak havoc as thousands evacuated amid 'extraordinary weather' in California (The state of California has recorded 11,000 lightning strikes in 72 hours.) Bill Nichols, 84, fights to save his home as fires tear through Vacaville, in California. Happy Thursday, everyone.

Nah... If I ever get another dog, it'll be the same breed as Gary's Cookie

As our parents did for us. I doubt we'll ever learn.... Not until it's just too late.

They were unique among marsupials in that both sexes had a pouch. The female's pouch, like most marsupials (the kangaroo, for example), had teats inside and was used for feeding (milk) and protecting the young, before they were old enough to fend for themselves. But in the case of the male thylacine, the pouch was actually a scrotal pouch, into which they could withdraw their scrotal sac ("ball bag") for protection. [I suspect the French word "poche" (meaning pocket) and the English word "pouch" probably derive from the same original root... ]

During WWII, two of Hitler's scientists attempted to use eugenics to "breed back" several extinct Prehistoric species, such as the aurochs, an ancestor of modern cattle. It was roughly the size of an elephant. They actually came close to succeeding, but after the fall of the German Empire, the program died out. Without caretakers, their specimens likely died, too. How cool would it be to recreate Thylacines as a living species. Various attempts have been made since 1999 to clone thylacines using genetic material from specimens taken and preserved in the early 20th century in order to restore the species from extinction. Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thylacine#Research

Yup! That's definitely Storm Ellen. Source: https://www.express.co.uk/news/weather/1324697/storm-UK-warning-storm-Ellen-weather-warnings-met-office-forecast

Is Storm Ellen heading your way, as well? (Although it may have a different name in Europe )

Sweet dreams, bro!

The blackberries are only just starting to ripen over here.

In between the showers today I've actually managed to sow a row of Kale seeds. This variety is Uncle John's Kale, which is apparently a "Heritage" variety, so I'll be interested to see how it grows (and tastes). That's if it does actually germinate, as it's a packet I was given free about four or five years back at a stall at a big Irish music festival (the Electric Picnic) I attended one weekend. Normally it would have cost over €200 for camping, but I got in free as I was helping a friend of mine in the craft area. Next to that section was a "Green Living" section, where Irish Seed Savers had a stall. They gave me the free packet when I wandered in to chat them. Actually, I had originally entered the tent they were in because Concern Worldwide, an Irish based humanitarian organisation (one of the few that's not run by a religious group) that I am involved with, also had a stand in it. Concern attempts to deliver "life-saving and life-changing interventions to the world's poorest and most vulnerable people. From rapid emergency response to innovative development programming, [going] to the hardest to reach places to make sure that no-one is left behind." [I actually had the above written four hours ago but, just as I was about to post it, a neighbour knocked on the door. We've been sat drinking tea, and reminiscing about the good old days, ever since.]

And you, bro!

I think I can occasionally be sometimes guilty of pleonasm myself...

The Great....