Author Topic: my patch

sam

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a tale of two sheep
« Reply #16 on: July 27, 2010 »


This one was trapped thanks to his little horns, which kept getting hooked behind the wire. I pulled him out because I'd want to be rescued, too, if I got my head caught in a fence.



This one was dying. I heard wheezing outside my window this morning and called the shepherd. Kept her company as the flies crawled over her.

sam

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the silence of the carnivores
« Reply #17 on: July 27, 2010 »
The day ends with a huge amount of commotion. The lambs must have been separated from the ewes. Nothing else is that loud.

sam

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what goes up
« Reply #18 on: July 30, 2010 »










Nice of them to airdrop a picnic basket.

sam

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les trois mousquetaires
« Reply #19 on: July 30, 2010 »
On 19 September 1783 the Aerostat Réveillon was flown with the first living beings in a basket attached to the balloon: a sheep, called Montauciel (Climb-to-the-sky), a duck and a rooster. The sheep was believed to have a reasonable approximation of human physiology. The duck was expected to be unharmed by being lifted aloft. It was included as a control for effects created by the aircraft rather than the altitude. The rooster was included as a further control as it was a bird that did not fly at high altitudes. This demonstration was performed before a crowd at the royal palace in Versailles, before King Louis XVI of France and Queen Marie Antoinette. The flight lasted approximately eight minutes, covered two miles, and obtained an altitude of about 1,500 feet. The craft landed safely after flying.

sam

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weaselly distinguishable
« Reply #20 on: August 01, 2010 »
Update on the stoat issue referenced upthread:



Pity, as resident ermine raises property values.

sam

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the far side
« Reply #21 on: August 14, 2010 »



sam

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Jack's night out
« Reply #22 on: October 31, 2010 »

sam

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roadstill
« Reply #23 on: November 07, 2010 »

sam

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year of the rabbit
« Reply #24 on: February 03, 2011 »

sam

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interval training
« Reply #25 on: August 24, 2011 »
It is a meteorological curiosity that if the forecast shows rain, it will often hold off until the end of our long (but not posh!) driveway. It will then pour the two miles to the station, abating only when shelter is reached.

Madness.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s2Ufu5Xidc" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s2Ufu5Xidc</a>

This post is dedicated to my wife, who gets the worst of it.



sam

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not a Yorkshire toupée
« Reply #26 on: February 21, 2012 »


Yesterday's ride. 51 miles, apparently. I don't use a computer till I get home. That flat section was not unwelcome. Had I known I was passing through the habitat of the endangered fen raft spider I might have paused to observe a moment of silent shuddering, but I flew nonstop across the Levels, wind at my back, former Royal Greenwich Observatory at Herstmonceux visible for miles at 11 o'clock.

Those locals not involved in the manufacture of boutique bikes survive by handcrafting trugs, which are like baskets but more expensive, and reportedly useful for bodgers, though I have yet to employ one in that context.