West Country Winds.

Todays post is about the Storm and high Winds that swept across South Devon last night and today. A few times every year the Rail line from London and the Midlands to Plymouth and Cornwall gets closed by these type of storms due to waves that reach 30 feet high and break up to 40 yards acrooss the lines and roads, also causing damage to them. The government have pumped millions in the last few years into trying to solve this problem with no real success.
This first picture is of The sea front here at Teignmouth, taken from our favourite sea front cafe.In this type of weather hundreds of people come to look at and run in and out of these waves. Here a wave has just broken over the sea wall on the left of the picture.
CLICK ON ANY PICTURE TO ENLARGE IT.
This picture below shows how close the rail line (with waves breaking across it) is to the sea, just a 7 feet wide walkway between the line and sea here.
The Rail line follows the coast for several miles here, from Starcross to Teignmouth about 6 miles. Its a fantastic coastal train journey. This piece of coast (pictured) is at Holcombe midway between Teignmouth and Dawlish, here it goes through a small tunnel, but note how close the line is to the sea, but today its sheltered from the storm here.
This picture is looking down on Dawlish, note the station in the middle, the line runs the whole length of the sea front, with waves breaking at either end.
The sea wall here at Dawlish (like Teignmouth) has no guard rail between it and the sea over most of its length. Look at the waves breaking over it all along.
Got a little higher here to show Dawlish town, with Starcross and across the Exe to Exmouth in the back ground.
I thought i would add this picture of the same Teignmouth sea front in nice, calm weather.
This picture was taken on Boxing day this year and is of the sea front Cafe where we took the first two pictures on this blog.


Joke of the Day.
(Sorry about the colour).

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN GUILTY OF LOOKING AT OTHERS YOUR OWN AGE AND THINKING, SURELY I CAN'T LOOK THAT OLD.WELL.. YOU'LL LOVE THIS ONE. MY NAME IS ALICE SMITH AND I WAS SITTING IN THE WAITING ROOM FOR MY FIRST APPOINTMENT WITH A NEW DENTIST I NOTICED HIS DDS DIPLOMA, WHICH BORE HIS FULL NAME. SUDDENLY, I REMEMBERED A TALL, HANDSOME, DARK-HAIRED BOY, WITH THE SAME NAME, HAD BEEN IN MY HIGH SCHOOL CLASS SOME 30-ODD YEARS AGO. COULD HE BE THE SAME GUY THAT I HAD A SECRET CRUSH ON, WAY BACK THEN? UPON SEEING HIM, HOWEVER, I QUICKLY DI SCARDED ANY SUCH THOUGHT. THIS BALDING, GRAY-HAIRED MAN WITH THE DEEPLY LINED FACE WAS WAY TOO OLD TO HAVE BEEN MY CLASSMATE. AFTER HE EXAMINED MY TEETH, I ASKED HIM IF HE HAD ATTENDED FAIRVIEW HIGH SCHOOL. 'YES. YES, I DID. I'M A BULLDOG,' HE GLEAMED WITH PRIDE. 'WHEN DID YOU GRADUATE?' I ASKED. HE ANSWERED , 'IN 1973 . WHY DO YOU ASK?' 'YOU WERE IN MY CLASS!', I EXCLAIMED. HE LOOKED AT ME CLOSELY. THEN, THAT UGLY, OLD, BALD, WRINKLED, FAT ASS, GRAY-HAIRED, DECREPIT SON-OF-A-BITCH ASKED, 'WHAT DID YOU TEACH ???

Birds of Prey.

I think before i start this blog i should update you on the fact that Sue is now home, very sore but hopefully on the mend , thank you all for your kind words. In around 4 weeks she will be ready to be put back on the list for her "new Hip".
So to todays blog. This morning Sue was fed up sitting around so we went to look at the Christmas lights at "Fermoys" garden centre nr Iplepen, Devon, After a stroll around pushing Sue in a wheelchair, we decided to cross the road to go to the "Bird of Prey Sanctuary".
This is the Board that greets you on Entrance (entry is by donations)
PLEASE CLICK ON ANY PICTURE TO ENLARGE IT.
The information board at the entrance.
One of our own British "Owls" the "Tawny".
The information board on our own "Worlds fastest bird of prey" the "Peregrine Falcon".
Here (below) is the "Escapee", this "Pergrine Falcon" managed to free himself from his tethering perch, he then flew around the site several times landing on top of his cage.It took several minutes to find his regular handler who then coaxed him down.
Here he is Safe and sound with his handler, isn't he striking?.
This is a female (below) "Peregrine" (i think), she was dwarfed by her neighbor tethered just 10 feet away which was the hugh Eagle.

One of our own here, a good old fashioned "Barn Owl".
Below I just cant remember what this Really strikingly coloured Hawk was called.
Its such a pity that your unable to get any closer to these lovely little "Harriers or Hawks" but there are fences some 12-14 feet back from the cages.
The information board for "Mozart" the "Eagle Qwl"this one is in his first year and still being "Flight trained".
Below, This is him a really big impressive "Owl" very like a snowy Owl in size. They had a "Snowy Owl" here but it was impossible to photograph him because his cage was directly into the sun.
This next "Owl" was a very large bird with a huge round face and striking plumage.
This one too, he refused to play ball and face me though!!!.
This one was quite a amall pretty owl with very striking colours.
This picture (below) is the information board to what for me is the most impressive bird here a "Eagle". This bird is massive and stands maybe 18" to 20" tall. When one of the smaller Hawks escaped staff were worried he would on return get with in striking distance of where this massive bird was tethered, had he have done so he would have been killed immediately.
Here then is "Galahad".
Isn't he beautiful?.
This small American Hawk (below)was brought in by a friend of the owner who said he thought the bird ready to be "Flown wild"so had we hung around we might have seen her fly, sadly we left before she did.
Joke of the day.

Harold is 95 and lives in a Senior Citizen Home. Every night after dinner, Harold goes to a secluded garden behind the Center to sit and ponder his accomplishments and long life. One evening, Mildred, age 87, wanders into the garden. They begin to chat and before they know it, several hours have passed. After a short lull in their conversation, Harold turns to Mildred and asks, 'Do you know what I miss most of all?' She asks, 'What?''Sex!!' he replies Mildred exclaims, 'Why you old fart. You couldn't get it up if I held a gun to your head!' 'I know,' Harold says, 'but it would be nice if a woman could just hold it for a while.' Well, I can oblige,' says Mildred, who unzips his trousers, removes his manhood and proceeds to hold it. Afterward, they agree to meet secretly each night in the garden where they would sit and talk and Mildred would hold Harold's manhood. Then one night Harold didn't show up at their usual meeting place. Alarmed, Mildred decided to find Harold and make sure he was O.K. She walked around the Senior Citizen Home where she found him sitting by the pool with Ethel, another female resident, who was holding Harold's manhood! Furious, Mildred yelled, 'You two-timing son of a bitch! What does Ethel have that I don't have?' Old Harold smiled happily and replied, 'Parkinson's.'

Sue an Update

Hi all,
Some of you have asked how Sue is coming on, so Yesterday she had an appointment in Barnstaple (75miles away) Hosp to check how healing is going on, its been 13 weeks since she broke the arm, so hopes were high but very soon dashed. There had been absolutely no healing what so ever, nothing.The only answer then was to go down the road they probably should have gone down all those weeks ago, which is Surgery and pinning.While we were there they decided to do the Pre Op checks and try to get her an emergency entrance, which after 3.5 hours of checks, X Rays, Vein scans they eventually managed it. Only trouble was she had to go in there and then ready for the Op at 9.00am today. So at nearly 6.00 pm last night i had to jump into the car and travel the 153 mile round journey to fetch her medication and night clothes and toiletries. When i returned at 930pm i had a cuppa and left to come home again (another 75 miles). This morning at 10 am she underwent the Operation which according to the Surgeon went well, although she was in Recovery for 2.5 hours as they couldn't get her blood pressure Up !!!.Left her at 8.00 pm tonight she was still very woosy and in a lot of pain, we just hope they can rectify her B P otherwise they wont let her home quickly. Fingers Crossed.
10 pm Saturday.
I have just left Sue at the hospital, all being well she will be out of hospital by lunch time tomorrow, hopefully all will heal quickly she can then get her Hip mended and be fully well at last.
Joke of the day.

Priest and a Nun were crossing the Sahara desert on a camel. On the Third day out, the camel suddenly dropped dead without warning. After dusting themselves off, the Priest and the Nun surveyed their situation. After a long period of silence, the Priest spoke. 'Well,Sister, this looks pretty grim.' 'I know, Father. In fact, I don't think it likely that we can survive more than a day or two.' 'I agree,' says the Father. 'Sister, since we are unlikely to make it out of here alive, would you do something for me?' 'Anything, Father.' 'I have never seen a woman's breasts and I was wondering if I might see yours'? 'Well, under the circumstances I don't see that it would do any harm.' The Nun opened her habit and the Priest enjoyed the sight of her shapely breasts, commenting frequently on their beauty. 'Sister, would you mind if I touched them?' She consented and he fondled them for several minutes. 'Father, could I ask something of you?' 'Yes, Sister?' 'I have never seen a man's thingy. Could I see yours?' 'I suppose that would be OK,' the Priest replied lifting his robe. 'Oh Father, may I touch it?' The priest consented and after a few minutes of fondling he was sporting a huge erection. 'Sister, you know that if I insert my thing in the right place, it can give life.' 'Is that true Father?' 'Yes, it is, Sister.' 'Oh Father, that's wonderful ... So stick it in the camel and let's get the hell out of here!'