Those observant amongst you will see than the title of my blog has changed!, that is because Pepe is no longer with us.

Tuesday morning his ailments finally caught up with him, I found when I came downstairs that he had haemorrhaged all over the floor and I took him to the vet and he was sent over the Rainbow Bridge!.

I went to Reddish Vale park today and kept looking down to see he was alright and no geese about to attack him and of course there was nothing there, I suppose it will take some time to get over that after 13 years of doing it.

Sorry to start today with this sad news!.

At Reddish Vale the first thing I saw at Sunnyside pool was this beautiful Kingfisher.

A male!.

Only about 20 foot away from me.

Was told this is a Pochard.

Male and female.

Crow enjoying a bit of fat ball.

A pair of Goosanders on the Lower Mill Pond.

The Male.

The Female, which I think is the more colourful.

An all white pigeon, thought at first it was a dove, but think its an albino pigeon.

This robin was eating out of my hand this morning, first time ever.

These cheeky Squirrels almost go in your bag!.

 Cormorant drying out.

This pair of ring necked parakeets were feeding on plants growing out of the viaduct, the trains (yes there were trains running) didn't seem to bother them as they carried on eating regardless. 

Think this is the male, with the darker neck band.

First time I've seen them near the viaduct but I suppose it's go where the food is to them.

So it was a day of mixed feeling today, keeping looking down for my companion of the last 13 years, natural I suppose.

Went to Morrison's on the way home and had a Mini Fish and chips, very nice, not been able to have them in the past having had Pepe in the car. The price had gone up since I last had one, but hasn't everything!.

.............................................

Finished this Jigsaw today, anything to keep my mind off yesterday.

Look at those prices though, I remember those too, before decimalisation so most of you won't remember that.

12 pennies to the shilling, and 20 shillings to the pound!., florins, half crowns, farthings and sixpences.

Don't think we want that back., much easier with the present system.

....................................................

Pear Mill again for Pepe and me, as my friends were on another coach trip we had the table to ourselves, looking on the positive side as always.

This is a picture looking towards the front desk, quite festive and shows some of the diverse items on sale there. 

Service was very good as always, though not as many there today as usual, must all be out spending on their plastic friends.

On our last trip to Reddish Vale Park, a couple of the volunteers were working at the Sunnyside pool, so rather than get in their way we didn't stay long there, plus the banging and sawing would scare off any birds.

These jobs have to be done and these volunteer's do it wonderfully.

As I was getting my camera stuff out of the boot, caught something in my peripheral vision and this Squirrel was sat there looking in the boot, I'm sure they know the cars with food in them. 

We had a walk round the lower mill pond and got a few shots of these ducks

They are Gadwall's I think.

 Also a couple of Cormorants 

The Top Mill pond, produced these, the Robin was being handfed by a couple of old ladies.

So then it was off to the info centre for a snack and a drink and a chat to three ladies I see there on a regular basis.

Back home my parcel was delivered from Amazon, I've bought myself a Christmas present of a Nintendo Switch Oled games system and a couple of games to go with it, its going to be a long winter!!.

All set up and ready to go, can be handheld or viewed on the telly.

It is connected to my internet so one can buy games online or from Amazon or somewhere like that!. 

The driver was banging on the door, which I couldn't hear, (I had to give him a code that Amazon had emailed that day) as it was over the price where they just deliver it.

Pepe alerted me to the fact someone was at the door, I asked the driver why he didn't ring the bell, he said he hadn't noticed it being white on white, so I've added a bit of red!, hopefully that will do it!.

Finished the jigsaw I mentioned in the last post.

Lots of funny shaped pieces.

Aaah well, it will soon be December and Christmas.

...........................................

What's the difference between a car salesman  and a computer salesman,

The car sales man can probably drive.

Why don't you ever see the headline,

"Psychic wins lottery"

Why is it called Alcoholics Anonymous, when the first thing they do is stand up and say "My name is Bob and I'm an Alcoholic"
.....................................................

 It was McDonalds today and a short walk onto the rezzers, though it wasn't too cold it was overcast and dull.

There was a bit of drama on the rezzers today, when I got there there was a group of people on the bankside doing something and when I asked what was going on, one of them said that a bird had its head stuck down a hole and they were trying to get it out.

It took them a long time but they persevered and finally got it free!.

There it is out and away, turned out to be a Moorhen.

Having a good wash, think it was trying to get the smell of humans off itself.

"Bet you won't do that again will you" says the Coot!.

So it turned out well due to the kindness of a group of bird lovers.

The pigeons were out again, but the magpies didn't venture out for their monkey nuts.

Plenty of gulls about too.

Swan family doing well!.

Plenty of visitors today.

There were quite a few pairs of Little grebes in the bottom corner today, ducking and diving for their dinner.

 Cute little things, but quite shy.

When one says Little Grebes here is one in front of a Coot to give you some scale of them.

So not a bad visit though it was very muddy and Pepe had to have his feet washed again.

..............................................................

I don't have this trouble with Pepe, he's too small to get up and once up might fall off and injure himself.  

.............................................

Week 19th- 23rd.Nov 2022.

 Been to the Windmill Carvery today with a friend as it was raining again and Pepe doesn't want to go out in the rain, me too if I'm honest.

Had a nice meal and Jean had a online voucher so it turned out to be two Carvery's and drinks for £9 something!.

On the way home called at the new charity shop ( Willow Wood) round to corner from me, gave them four jigsaws and bought another four and two books by James Patterson all for £9, so it's one of the cheapest hobbies I know of.

Started this one this week, some odd shaped pieces in this one.

This week the Neon tube fitting in the box room (Jigsaw table) failed and you can't buy any tubes fittings or light bulbs from October I think it was, so it was down with the old fitting and off to B&Q where for a fancy fitting they wanted £40+ and it stated no bulbs included. So it was off to the electrical section and bought a complete fitting for £5.80!.

Sorted the ceiling out and fitted this.

 B&Q wanted £5 each for an LED bulb!, so it was over to Home Bargains where I got these at two for £5.99, its as good as a100watt bulb but only uses 13.5watts, it's so bright you can't look direct into it!.

They have all the usual types at Home Bargains so if you need to replace any bulbs their LEDs are cheap.

Another idea I've had for a while was a map so I knew where country's were, I've always been quite good at geography since my dad was in the Navy during the war (11) and was always fascinated by his travels round the world. But these new countries (Stans)  had me stumped.

So these laminated maps ordered from Amazon.

So here are all the STAN'S shown.

I didn't realize either that Qatar was only roughly the same size as Yorkshire!.

Another buy from Amazon are these nice cosy slippers, shouldn't think they'd be much good in the jungle but nice and warm sat watching the telly

My friend Jean had some of my photographs made into a calendar and they are quite good, even if I am slightly biased.

Won't bore you with a page by page review though, you don't deserve that!.

No birdie pix's!, well here are a couple for you, a Little Grebe with its dinner 

 And a Gadwall on Reddish Vale, think this is a male.

Hopefully it will stop raining soon and we can get out with the camera again!.

...................................................................

Why do they think horse shoes are lucky,

 Sheerga had four of them??.

I'm so unlucky, when my ship finally came in, I was waiting at the airport.

What can a goose do, a duck can't and lawyers should? Stick his bill up his rear.

..........................................................