River Cruising Water Cooler

[jpalbny]

Speaking of bird strikes and sports balls.

 

Remember a Yankees-Jays game back in the 1980s where Dave Winfield was warming up in the outfield? He hit a bird when he threw the warmup ball off the field,, and got charged with animal cruelty! 

 

Here's a link to an article about it. I'm sure there are others.

 

https://jaysjournal.com/2020/03/22/blue-jays-obscure-memories-dave-winfield-accidentally-kills-bird/

[Host Jazzbeau]

In most of the US, if you kill a deer with your car you get to keep the deer.  Partially makes up for the damage to your car...

[gnome12]

3 hours ago, jpalbny said:

Speaking of bird strikes and sports balls.

 

Remember a Yankees-Jays game back in the 1980s where Dave Winfield was warming up in the outfield? He hit a bird when he threw the warmup ball off the field,, and got charged with animal cruelty! 

 

Here's a link to an article about it. I'm sure there are others.

 

https://jaysjournal.com/2020/03/22/blue-jays-obscure-memories-dave-winfield-accidentally-kills-bird/

I remember it well.

[Canal archive]

You’d get a bit of a shock with this one or two or threeeeeeeee
 

Deer herd crossing Hertfordshire countryside captured on camera https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-55836451

[gnome12]

2 hours ago, Canal archive said:

You’d get a bit of a shock with this one or two or threeeeeeeee
 

Deer herd crossing Hertfordshire countryside captured on camera https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-55836451

WOW!!

[notamermaid]

On 1/29/2021 at 9:31 AM, Canal archive said:

You’d get a bit of a shock with this one or two or threeeeeeeee
 

Deer herd crossing Hertfordshire countryside captured on camera https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-55836451

Having to wait in the dark for deer in the middle of nowhere. Fascinating but also a bit scary. I have never had a busy animals crossroads encounter at night. In the North of England quite some years ago, it was close to Carlisle, I had to wait for a herd of cows to go home from the pasture to the farm. Quite a few cows crossed over, took some time, the interesting thing was that they went alone, no-one took them across, they just leisurely walked along as if they were doing that every day at dusk (which they probably were).

 

notamermaid

 

 

[Coral]

I am on the edge of town and we frequently have turkeys and deer in our neighborhood. Sometimes the turkey block our only street out of the neighborhood. The turkeys seem to have a personality - there are 3 that hang out together and one that is a loaner. There is one pic I have where they are going from house to house around Halloween time frame. They often reach a busy street near me and I see them in the morning along the side walk. 

 

We are a cow state and I grew up across the field from cows (in town). Go figure. I doubt they are still there, we lived on the edge of town there also.

 

This was in front of my group mailbox before our snow and our turkeys last fall. The turkeys are fearless.

 

 

 

Edited January 31, 2021 by Coral

[Canal archive]

Many years ago driving down a very narrow road in the Peak District we came across a herd of sheep we had to stop for some time, they were completely controlled by two sheep dogs and had obviously just been dipped they stunk to high heaven. CA

[Coral]

Here is our current situation:

 

[notamermaid]

I ventured into the countryside - kind of - a few days ago and promised some snow photos. Got the problem with my smartphone sorted and now here they are.

 

A drive out to the Lahn valley and hills

 

The Lahn valley is close to Koblenz; that is the confluence of the Lahn with the Rhine is at Lahnstein which is a little upstream from Koblenz. The Lahn is only navigable for small excursion boats and tiny yachts but has got some appeal. If you are in the area I recommend a train ride, the line has a couple of nice bridges and picturesque areas. Limburg further up the valley is a regionally famous old town with large Dom church.

 

First, here is a plateau above the valley, this is Denzerheide where there is this golf course in my photo covered in snow. The golf course is at about 370m altitude:

 

Further along, going downhill to drop into the valley:

 

 

At about 150m altitude the snow had all but disappeared and it was raining. This is Dausenau town gate:

 

This is going up another hill with a view of Nassau castle perched high on a hill (yes the Lahn valley has castles, too!):

 

Back up to snowy countryside, this is the view of the village called "Becheln" at 380m altitude:

 

Becheln has got a nice church with the tower being Romanesque. I could not find a date, but will be 13th to 14th century, the nave and choir are younger:

 

This was a lovely trip out. The Lahn valley and its hills is not spectacular, nevertheless it is interesting enough to merit a little detour from the busy Rhine valley. There is the mundane Bad Ems spa town, still frequented for that purpose, but has lost some of its splendour. It is historically interesting, though. For some old villages that are not overrun by international tourists this valley is a good area to go to.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[gnome12]

41 minutes ago, Coral said:

Here is our current situation:

 

WOW!!

[dogs4fun]

Oh my goodness @Coral - you were really dumped on! How much snowfall did you get?

[Coral]

Just now, dogs4fun said:

Oh my goodness @Coral - you were really dumped on! How much snowfall did you get?

We got probably 1-2" last weekend, 15" on Monday and then 2" on Tuesday. I think they finally got the residential streets plowed out this weekend. I think this ranks as one of our top snow fall days over 24 hours. We usually spread our high snow counts over several days.

 

Even though we are used to snow - we are crappy at snow removal. They are now trying to take the snow out of town as there is no place to put it. On a positive side, our area is no longer in drought conditions.

 

 

 

 

[Canal archive]

Enjoyed your snowy and not so snowy photos all. We had a few hours of snow today which did not lay and now it’s freezing so lots of skiddy roads tomorrow . Coral, we as a country are notoriously bad at snow clearing we even have the wrong leaves falling on our railway tracks to stop the trains or make them late. CA

[notamermaid]

16 minutes ago, Canal archive said:

Coral, we as a country are notoriously bad at snow clearing

Canal archive, I have to be brutal and agree with you. In Kent many years ago I got stuck on the A2. Granted, it was a bad year but the weather reports knew it would happen. Snowdrifts all over the place, jack-knifed lorries, cars with bad tyres. The lot. It took us three hours to get 40 miles through Kent and arrived at Hawkinge hill. That is a hill with an escape lane at the end as it is notoriously steep and dangerous for lorries. Stuck there at the top, no one could get down, policeman turns up and says "we advised them to put salt on this road at 6am", it was approaching afternoon at the time. Got as far as the Eurotunnel exit and decided to stay in England - long delays. No way to drive in the dark in France in black ice. It was February and I took photos to proof the amount of snow that had fallen. My colleagues did not believe me when I said Kent was covered in snow - but I had the photos. Much snow, but they were unprepared. Over the years I keep hearing of reports of 2 inches of snow in the South East of England and that it turns the road system into chaos...

 

notamermaid

 

[dogs4fun]

Channeling @jpalbny & Chris...

Interesting episode on Axios this evening - interview with Ukraine’s Zelensky.

[Canal archive]

Yes Notamermaid our challenges with snow are a national joke but we make great snowmen ⛄️ CA

[notamermaid]

2 hours ago, Canal archive said:

Yes Notamermaid our challenges with snow are a national joke but we make great snowmen ⛄️ CA

Would like to see a nice English snowman. Have not made a proper one here in the valley for some years.

 

I enjoy the "big pictures" gallery on the BBC website of many wintery images across England.

 

Snow forecast for the lower hills (and upper ones of course) for the weekend. Currently struggling a bit with the amount of rain filling the rivers.

 

notamermaid

 

[Daisi]

This just popped up on my FaceBook page memories.  It's my cousin in PEI cleaning out his laneway.  They got dumped on rather badly 5 years ago....

 

If you look closely at the picture with the van, you will see the sun roof of his other vehicle.  

[Ritabob]

It is a sunny, warm +1°C day in southern Ontario,  so we went for a drive to get some fresh Ontario strawberries!   Greenhouse grown in Leamington.  Tastes like summer.   Moments like this as well as yesterday's groundhog's shadow give me hope 

RB 

[notamermaid]

It has been a warm day here, around 8 Celsius, so people are out and about. We are in Carnival season and although it is not really happening I refuse to go without the traditional food we get from the bakeries at this time of year. A few days ago I went to a bakery about 20km away in the hope that they would have Mutzenblätter. Success! Here they are:

 

It is heavy dough, deep fried and then coated in icing sugar. Calories before Lent! That is the original idea of this fatty food: using up the ingredients and filling yourself with fat before the feasting starts.

 

There are two types: Muzen or Mutzen (spelling varies) or also called Mutzenmandeln and Mutzenblätter. I prefer these leaves.

 

They were really nice, but a tiny bit on the brown side, I will try out another bakery in the coming days.

 

notamermaid

 

[Daisi]

@notamermaid, I love those.  My 2nd Mom used to make them for us all the time.  Just wish we could get them fresh here.

[notamermaid]

1 hour ago, Daisi said:

@notamermaid, I love those.  My 2nd Mom used to make them for us all the time.  Just wish we could get them fresh here.

Another fan! I have tried baking them myself. It works but is tricky. The oil gets crumbs in quickly and turns brown which makes the Mutzen too strong. Also a bit of work with the pastry wheel. It was fun to try out but I prefer the bakery to do the job for me. Still, if you want to try, here is a recipe which sounds good, with a bit of history of the food as well: http://www.mybestgermanrecipes.com/german-carnival-recipes-mutzen/

 

That website even has a recipe for "Halve Hahn"! Now that is authentic Rhineland cooking.

 

notamermaid

 

[Daisi]

Thanks for the link... now if only our local Dutch store (they also sell German foods) was open, I'd be spending a lot.  Oh well, hopefully we will be able to shop again soon.

[jpalbny]

25 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

That website even has a recipe for "Halve Hahn"! Now that is authentic Rhineland cooking.

 

Not really "cooking" but lecker, all the same! Now I am hungry for some good food.