Some good news stories please!

[Fermata]

Any chance of sharing some good news stories? Something positive and uplifting perhaps.


Thanks.

[Chrissy]

Sadly not much since my happy "very large eggs" story (http://fpgeeks.com/forum/showthread.php/30569-The-Virus?p=289972&viewfull=1#post289972). However, I've received two very nice pens and two very nice ink samples from friends in the US, and I'm back to full letter writing activities again. :) I also bought a nice Parker 45 pen with R (right oblique) nib on ebay and am currently loving writing with it. :)

The weather might be improving by the weekend, but we'll have to wait and see. :)

I finished reading The Hobbit and all three Lord of the Rings books and enjoyed them all immensely. :)

I almost forgot to mention my little hedgehog making her nest from my bamboo leaves. Saw Deb's post and remembered that was also good news :)

[Fermata]

A right oblique is a nice find, I rotate a pen to the left so I am not sure how that would work, perhaps one would cancel the other.

I was looking through my books the other day and found a Tale of Beatrix Potter which was her biography, I must have bought it around 20 years ago and just never got around to reading it. I opened it and there is a hand written letter from Beatrix Potter to her nephew, a nice find.

[Chrissy]

A right oblique is a nice find, I rotate a pen to the left so I am not sure how that would work, perhaps one would cancel the other.

I was looking through my books the other day and found a Tale of Beatrix Potter which was her biography, I must have bought it around 20 years ago and just never got around to reading it. I opened it and there is a hand written letter from Beatrix Potter to her nephew, a nice find.
I think the slant would go the wrong way and the R nib might not be a comfortable writing experience.
The Tale of Beatrix Potter with a hand written letter inside it is a very nice find indeed. :)

[Empty_of_Clouds]

I spotted a bat near our badminton hall last Sunday. It was dark of course, but the flight characteristic of small bats is highly distinctive.

Now, that may not sound terribly exciting to a lot of people I suppose. However, when I got home I checked online for the habitats of New Zealand bats. Turns out there are only two species. One, the short-tailed bat, lives mainly in forests and mostly forages in the undergrowth. Apparently they are adapt at moving on the ground. The other, the long-tailed bat, is more widely distributed though not all that common.

It also turns out that sightings in our city are extremely rare, so I thought I should report it to someone. In the museum across the green from where I work there is a lady who is a bat expert - a chiropterologist (I learned a new word that day!) - and she got very excited as the last known report was more than 30 years ago.

The next day we agreed to meet at the location of the sighting, and she brought along a bat detector - as I understand it the detector can pick up the echo location sounds the bats use for moving around in the dark. Unfortunately it started raining just before dusk, and bats don't fly in the rain, so we didn't get a chance to do any detecting.

I actually felt a bit guilty about making her come out in the rain for nothing, especially as there was only my eyewitness account as anecdotal evidence, but she remained super enthusiastic. The upshot of this is that we are going to wait until Spring and come back and install some monitors in the area.

So, it was a touch disappointing on the night, but the hope remains high that we may have an actual bat in the city to report (and I didn't even have to point a searchlight at the sky). If we can prove it's there we may get in the papers, which is always a bit of fun.


In case anyone is wondering, I don't have a particular interest in bats. Throughout my now 17 year stay in this country I have not seen one anywhere. The expert's enthusiasm was infectious, so I will be following it up, and in the Spring my wife and I have been invited to view the bats at a known colony further south of the city. This will be a big deal for my wife as she has never seen a bat, and in Chinese mythology the bat is a symbol of luck. I, on the other hand, have lived alongside bats most of my life in the UK, but I am still thrilled by the opportunity.

[Deb]

Our cat was sitting in the window peering out at something late last night. I looked out and saw a little shadow trundling around below one of the bird feeders. It was more than half dark and it took a moment to realise that it was a hedgehog.

https://images42.fotki.com/v1257/photos/2/3815032/14358355/DSCF9261-vi.png (https://private.fotki.com/sempilch/private/dscf9261.html)

Sorry about the quality of the photo but I didn't want to use flash and startle the creature. It snuffled around, probably picking up spilled seeds, then headed down to the far end of the garden where there's another bird feeder. For all I know it may be a regular visitor. I rarely look out after dark.

Coincidentally today a friend told me he saw a badger crossing the road in daylight about 40 miles south of here. I didn't know that badgers lived this far north. I've never seen one.

[Chrissy]

Our cat was sitting in the window peering out at something late last night. I looked out and saw a little shadow trundling around below one of the bird feeders. It was more than half dark and it took a moment to realise that it was a hedgehog.
Sorry about the quality of the photo but I didn't want to use flash and startle the creature. It snuffled around, probably picking up spilled seeds, then headed down to the far end of the garden where there's another bird feeder. For all I know it may be a regular visitor. I rarely look out after dark.

Coincidentally today a friend told me he saw a badger crossing the road in daylight about 40 miles south of here. I didn't know that badgers lived this far north. I've never seen one.
Neat. :) That looks like quite a big hedgehog. :)

[Fermata]

What with Beatrix Potter, hedgehogs, bats and chickens eggs I can see a theme developing here.


And on Deb's badger sighting it is good to see that they are moving north, mankind has been viciously cruel to badgers in the past and continues to be cruel in chinese badger farms for the production of shaving and make up brushes. If badgers can find refuge in the north of Scotland then that is very good news.

[Chrissy]

What with Beatrix Potter, hedgehogs, bats and chickens eggs I can see a theme developing here.


And on Deb's badger sighting it is good to see that they are moving north, mankind has been viciously cruel to badgers in the past and continues to be cruel in chinese badger farms for the production of shaving and make up brushes. If badgers can find refuge in the north of Scotland then that is very good news.

I'm not sure I would like to see a badger in my garden, but I see bats whizzing around every night when I'm looking out to see if my hedgehog is around. Only a couple of nights ago I saw one zoom up into the air and pluck a flying insect that rose just above my largest tree.

[TSherbs]

You guys are batty.

Sent from my Moto E (4) using Tapatalk

[Fermata]

Some friends have a family of badgers that come to the house each evening, they are given tinned cat food and in return the badgers find slugs and snails, they are almost fed by hand, and certainly expect to be fed!

[Jasso]

I have a good news. My dog was cured. She had big liver problems. I thought this was the end, but everything worked out and now I am calm. It helped me solve the problem of Natural Balance L.I.D. Limited Ingredient Diets Sweet Potato & Venison Formula Grain-Free Dry Dog Food (https://usehachi.com/p/natural-balance-l-i-d-limited-ingredient-diets-sweet-potato-venison-formula-grain-free-dry-dog-food)

[Deb]

I have a good news. My dog was cured. She had big liver problems. I thought this was the end, but everything worked out and now I am calm.

That's good news indeed!

[BlkWhiteFilmPix]

Fireflies in the Catskills (https://earthsky.org/earthsky-community-photos/entry/29546)

[VertOlive]

I received some pictures and videos of my growing Scottie puppy from the breeder last night. Still haven't decided on a name, but here he is at @ 6 weeks of age:

https://i.imgur.com/URvZ3y6.jpg

[VertOlive]

Time for an update. The whole litter had its portraits taken today. Here is my Wee Scott at 8 weeks of age:

***THE FORCE IS STRONG WITH THIS ONE***

https://i.imgur.com/QGrAWbk.jpg

[Lady Onogaro]

Time for an update. The whole litter had its portraits taken today. Here is my Wee Scott at 8 weeks of age:

***THE FORCE IS STRONG WITH THIS ONE***

https://i.imgur.com/QGrAWbk.jpg

He's adorable!

[SchaumburgSwan]

I spotted a bat near our badminton hall last Sunday. It was dark of course, but the flight characteristic of small bats is highly distinctive.

Now, that may not sound terribly exciting to a lot of people I suppose. However, when I got home I checked online for the habitats of New Zealand bats. Turns out there are only two species. One, the short-tailed bat, lives mainly in forests and mostly forages in the undergrowth. Apparently they are adapt at moving on the ground. The other, the long-tailed bat, is more widely distributed though not all that common.

It also turns out that sightings in our city are extremely rare, so I thought I should report it to someone. In the museum across the green from where I work there is a lady who is a bat expert - a chiropterologist (I learned a new word that day!) - and she got very excited as the last known report was more than 30 years ago.

The next day we agreed to meet at the location of the sighting, and she brought along a bat detector - as I understand it the detector can pick up the echo location sounds the bats use for moving around in the dark. Unfortunately it started raining just before dusk, and bats don't fly in the rain, so we didn't get a chance to do any detecting.

I actually felt a bit guilty about making her come out in the rain for nothing, especially as there was only my eyewitness account as anecdotal evidence, but she remained super enthusiastic. The upshot of this is that we are going to wait until Spring and come back and install some monitors in the area.

So, it was a touch disappointing on the night, but the hope remains high that we may have an actual bat in the city to report (and I didn't even have to point a searchlight at the sky). If we can prove it's there we may get in the papers, which is always a bit of fun.


In case anyone is wondering, I don't have a particular interest in bats. Throughout my now 17 year stay in this country I have not seen one anywhere. The expert's enthusiasm was infectious, so I will be following it up, and in the Spring my wife and I have been invited to view the bats at a known colony further south of the city. This will be a big deal for my wife as she has never seen a bat, and in Chinese mythology the bat is a symbol of luck. I, on the other hand, have lived alongside bats most of my life in the UK, but I am still thrilled by the opportunity.

Hi,

good news about bats here, too.
Last month I saw some of them flying at 4.40am into our roof.
I told one of our local natur societies (BUND Germany) about it, they came by to take a look (and take some ultrasonic records), and we found about six bats sitting at the very top under the roof.

Cool to live with them... yes, luck :-)

Best
Jens

[jar]

The daily parrot flights are a morning and evening cacophony around the valley but the other day my sister had an unexpected visitor. He is polite and latter flew off to join the native parrots (http://www.theworldbirdingcenter.com/red_crownedparrot.html) when the flock was returning for the nightly gabfest. She named him Conway Tweety. We also have flocks of Green Parakeets (http://www.theworldbirdingcenter.com/greenparakeet.html).

[Kaputnik]

Our four and a half billion year streak of having our sun not go nova continues. That's pretty good news.

[VertOlive]

Some GOOD dog news: His Great Scott-ness, Sir Henry Percy Hotspur has arrived. I named him after the fiery character in The Hollow Crown, the film version of Shakespeare's history plays.

https://i.imgur.com/5fXDgTD.jpg

[An old bloke]

Our four and a half billion year streak of having our sun not go nova continues. That's pretty good news.

Aye that, and that none of us have to pay the gas bill for it.

[edwin121]

Finally, I cleaned my PC from viruses and malware with malware free (https://thinkmobiles.com/blog/best-free-antimalware/) software. It was a long process but I am a winner.

[An old bloke]

Good news on the medical front: wound is healing and, cancer appears to be in remission (thanks be to God) with no new lesions and the existing ones shrinking.

[FredRydr]

:bounce: I'd say that IS good news!

[An old bloke]

:bounce: I'd say that IS good news!

It is indeed; especially considering I haven't been on any cancer treatments (immuno-therapy) for over a year.

[christen]

the only good news that i have is that soon it will be Christmas ! although I recon it wont be as festive as one would expect this year -given the covid and the riots and stuff

[An old bloke]

the only good news that i have is that soon it will be Christmas ! although I recon it wont be as festive as one would expect this year -given the covid and the riots and stuff
That is a likely prognostication unfortunately.

My plan was for a whole family Christmas and reunion in Sydney with family coming from Victoria and the WA as well as California. COVID driven travel restrictions are likely to prevent that happening -- this year.