One of the crystals hanging in our living room window was throwing some dramatic prisms Saturday evening.
Yesterday was a day of catching up on household tasks -- laundry, plant care, that kind of thing. I did start my newest book, "To Battersea Park" by Philip Hensher, a sort of meditation on living in lockdown-era London. It's interesting so far, but I'm only about 40 pages in.
I took Olga to the cemetery in the afternoon, where there was...
...mud-bathing, as well as rolling in the grass. And if not tennis-ball chasing, then at least tennis-ball carrying. She seemed a little stiff, and we only walked the back part of the cemetery before coming home -- so about half our normal cemetery route.
We found a pair of boots, each in their own black plastic bag. I didn't touch them in case they were worn in commission of a crime, which for some reason was my first thought. Maybe I've been watching too many true crime shows on Netflix.
Speaking of which, we've been watching a show called "Manifest" on Netflix. You've probably heard of it. It's silly but entertaining. Anyway, Netflix has seasons 1, 2 and 4 available, but not season 3. For that I had to go to Amazon Prime and buy it, which I dutifully did, only to find that as with several of my recent Amazon video purchases or rentals, it will not display properly on our TV. We only get half the picture. For some reason, this only happens with some Amazon content, and it happens with no other service.
I've twiddled around with our settings and whatnot but the only way I've found to resolve it is to pull up the show on my computer and connect the computer to the television with a cable -- in other words, stream it on the computer rather than on the TV itself. It's damned annoying and if there were any way to contact someone in customer service at Amazon I'd give them a piece of my mind. We're paying for Prime, for goodness sakes! I don't like the expectation that I have to sort out and correct these bugs.
The starlings were going mad on the bird feeder this weekend. I know I've shown you videos like this before but they never cease to amaze me. Such a racket!
The starlings were going mad on the bird feeder this weekend. I know I've shown you videos like this before but they never cease to amaze me. Such a racket!
The starlings are smart, they know winter is on its way there and are fattening themselves up ready for the spring nesting period. Or something.
ReplyDeleteCould be that! Or they're just hungry and greedy.
DeleteJUANITA Hello this is Juanita. How may I help you today?
ReplyDeleteSTEVE Hi. I am a Prime customer and I want to give you a piece of my mind!
JUANITA Oooo! I am a little bit scared. This is my first day at the call centre. Please don't shout at me Steve.
STEVE I am not shouting!
JUANITA Just calm down and explain your complaint then I might be able to help you.
STEVE I am calm! It's about season three of "Manifest". It won't display properly.
JUANITA Oh I watched that myself with my sister. It's rubbish. We didn't even bother with season four. Try switching everything off and then switching back on again. That usually works. Have a nice day! (Juanita rings off)
STEVE Grrrrrr!
Literally every "fix" I looked up online began with switching everything off and then on again. So tiring.
DeleteWhy on earth would Netflix offer all seasons but season 2? That makes no sense at all.
ReplyDeleteOlga looks pleased with her outing!
Yeah, I have no idea! I'm guessing one network cancelled the show but it was picked up somewhere else, and they don't have a deal with Netflix. Something like that.
DeleteI don't have those streaming issues but then I am a luddite who doesn't stream.
ReplyDeleteOlga looks content with a mud bath, eh?
You don't stream anything? God, that's all we do nowadays.
DeleteThere must be something unique to your situation as we have no problem watching Amazon Prime content on any of our televisions.
ReplyDeleteI usually check to see if all seasons are available before I start watching a series. I've been burned a couple times in the past of not being able to see the last season of something without purchasing it.
And it's only SOME content. Some things display fine. I don't get it!
DeleteI have NOT heard of "Manifest." Just read a little description and it sounds pretty good. I'm really enjoying "Only Murders in the Building." Have you seen that? It's on Hulu.
ReplyDeleteOlga looks so good that I'm thinking I should be taking mud baths myself.
"Manifest" is pretty good but you definitely have to suspend disbelief!
DeleteI have the same problem with Amazon Prime when trying to see BrtiBox- only half picture. Must be some across the sea thing? It is annoying, I bought brit box and can not see it.
ReplyDeleteAs you know , starlings are not a favorite here - invasive rats with wings, so appreciating the starling party in your garden is less than enthusiastic, but thanks for the video.
Olga, the queen of mud puddling! She does look grand!
Oh, yeah, THAT's frustrating. They need to fix that if you're paying for a subscription!
DeleteWe don't get many starlings this year, way down from previous years.
ReplyDeleteHmmmmm...wonder why? Then again, they're nonnative invaders there -- so you can celebrate the fact that fewer are around.
DeleteI have not heard of Manifest but we don't watch Netflix much anymore sonce the cracked down on how many viewers they llow on one subscription. everytime we want to watch something they send an email to my daughter to confirm if we are in her household. she does it but it's annoying which I guess is the point.
ReplyDeleteYeah, they're trying to strong-arm you into a subscription!
DeleteMy goodness, those birds really are going crazy. I think I saw one, lone dove in there trying to catch a bite.
ReplyDeleteI watched Manifest last year for a while. At some point I got a bit tired of it and gave it up. Not long after that, I read a book called "The Anomaly" which had a similar and yet different theme.
My issue with Amazon Prime is all the ads they play now. I find it irritating since I'm paying for the service.
I looked up "The Anomaly" and it DOES look very similar!
DeleteI haven't seen a starling here for a long time. They used to be common and yes make an unpleasant noise.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that both you and Boud say their numbers are diminishing, at least from your personal observations.
DeleteLove to see the pictures of Olga. You even caught the splash of her paw in the water in the first one! I gave up on having bird feeders a few years ago. I got to see quite a few birds I didn't know we even had here, but the mobs of crows, starlings, blue jays and non-birds (deer, squirrels) were eating me out of house and home!
ReplyDeleteYeah, that's why I like that photo! Bird-feeders have their drawbacks, for sure. I'm sure the neighbors would rather we not attract the starlings and the parakeets, but we have no control over who shows up!
DeleteWe, too, gave up on seed feeders. The chipmunks would get the millet and save it off to the front yard. Then we'd have to go dig it up when it sprouted. I may put the hummingbird feeders back up in Tucson, they're fun to watch.
ReplyDeleteYeah, we don't do seed. Just suet and peanuts. The seed not only sprouted, it attracted rats. (I think because so much of it fell to the ground.)
DeleteI find myself enraged that I pay for cable (stupidly) and have Netflix, Amazon Prime and Paramount + yet so much I want to watch is on streaming services I don't get AND even on the ones I have, they want me to pay for certain things. Maybe I should give up on TV and just READ.
ReplyDeleteIt's like a "Murphy's Law" kind of rule that whatever streaming service you have, it's not the one you need!
DeleteProviding a show should mean providing it in the entirety. Providing a portion and then expecting a payment to see more is a bit much. Paying more and then having to take on tech fixes to make it all work does not promote customer satisfaction. Amazon can improve. Your starlings are very vocal...they probably scare other birds away providing more feed for themselves. Olga loves her puddles. Consider providing a plastic kiddie pool in the garden for Olga. My dog loves his pool especially on a hot summer day.
ReplyDeleteExactly. I feel like they should be more pro-active in solving problems for their customers if they want our business.
DeleteA joyous video. Where’s Cinderelly? Muddy Olga is the only time I wouldn’t want to get near her. But I’m glad it makes her happy. Those prisms make me want to hang some crystals.
ReplyDeleteThe amazing thing is, the mud doesn't stick. She's clean again in 15 minutes. I don't understand it.
DeleteI had no idea about Olga and mud. She’s miraculous.
DeleteI don't think I realized starling were so small - at least they look small compared to the dove/pigeons on the ground. Maybe your dove are just bigger than ours!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad Olga had a good time yesterday and hope things went well for her today.
Yeah, they're not THAT small. Our pigeons are bigger than mourning doves, which is probably what you have?
DeleteThose birds seem to love your bird bath, too. Gadfrey, that's like a scene from The Birds.
ReplyDeleteHa! That's a new exclamation, at least to me. "Gadfrey!"
DeleteI just watched 2 episodes of a show called Elsbeth. It reminds me of Columbo and Midsomer Murders. It is a nice break from Tim's Mayor of Kingstown or For Those About To Die.
ReplyDeleteHmmmm...I do not know Elsbeth! I will need to look it up!
DeleteWow on the birds and the murderer boots (ha!). Two nods to horror, I guess! In all honesty, though, I've caught my Carl's bird fever. We've been making these little solar-powered hummingbird water features, and they really work!
ReplyDeleteI wish we had hummingbirds here! Sadly, they are not a UK species. But as you can see, our water feature (such as it is) works fine for our locals. :)
DeleteThat's way too much hassle when you're paying for Prime. Smiled at the boots story. That sounds like something I'd think!
ReplyDelete