Wednesday 30 April 2008

Squirrels

You may wonder why i asked about squirrels...Well at the grand old age of 45 i have NEVER EVER seen a squirrel of either colour at all...That's despite growing up beside the sea but also surrounded by lots of woodland...Playing in the woods, going frog spawn colleting, rolling easter eggs in them, walking home from sunday school through them etc...I have never ever seen a squirrel...Well there was loads of red squirrels where i was over the weekend...They would come right up to the front of the house in the morning or late evening...And guess what...Yups i have still NEVER EVER seen a squirrel...Everyone else say plenty over the weekend...The little sods run a mile when they knew i was out in the grounds <sobs> Saw plenty pheasants and rabbits and hares and other birds but the squirrels avoided me like the plague <SOBS>

Above are some pics i took over the weekend...Ok it did rain a wee bit but still the weather was in the main glorious...The rooms were amazing...I was in the 'turret' as one of the regular people who help run these conferences calls it...In the middle between the front and back of the house...We had no keys for our doors although we could lock them from the inside...Being in the middle of nowhere then the only people around to nick anything were staff and the people staying there for the conference...Am putting a couple of links at the end of this entry about Douneside and the MacRobert trust...We had a book in our room about the Trust and as i hadn't taken anything with me to read and we were basically packed off to bed early i read it...Fascinating read actually :o) The views across the fields and the surrounding hills were fantastic...It was very peaceful and tranquil :o) In the evenings a log fire was lit in the bar area and we divided into 2 teams to have a quiz both nights...The team i was on won the 1st night and lost by 1 point on the 2nd night...I love quizzes and i did get quite competitive LOL...I have in the past written and run a weekly pub quiz for charity...M loves gameshows especially quiz type ones and i was asked if it was me he got it from...I'd never thought about it before and i suppose he does in a way...It may be a good fundraising idea for their Triple A team and i will suggest it at next steering group meeting...M could help me to ask the questions :o)

Have to go as someone wants to chat so will do the rest of what i was going to say just now another day.

History of the Trust

Douneside House Conference Centre and Services Holiday Country House

Toodle pip tc xx

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm astonished that you've never seen a squirrel Cathy!  At my old house we were surrounded by them and once I found 2 babies on the ground and took them to the RSPCA who promptly told me off - even tho I'd left them alone for several hours before picking them up.  My pooch is forever chasing them on walks, tho she never gets anywhere near catching one.  She usually ends up at the bottom of a tree whining in frustration while the chased squirrel sits out of reach and swears at her.
I've seen coal black squirrels in Slovenia and they are quite lovely.  Apparently they are now in England and spreading.  It seems it's going to be another of those Spanish White duck things, because like the ducks, black squirrels will mate with any squirrel that comes along whatever its colour so maybe someday there'll be black ones in Aberdeen.  I certainly won't grieve for the greys if that happens.

Anonymous said...

Hi Caff, you have NEVER seen a squirrel?   I have seen trillions of of grey squirrels though I had never seen a red until we went to Russia last year. When we were in Canada in 2005 we were amazed to see black squirrels, especially as neither of us had any idea they existed at all and they aren`t very attractive either. I hope you do manage to see one soon, if not I`ll catch one for you and send it by post...lol :o)

Love Sandra xxxx

Anonymous said...

Aww, I love seeing squirrels, if you ever get to chester thre is a park there that there are millions of them and they are all evil ;)

Anonymous said...

Aww, you squirreless freak :-P

When we lived in Wales, we had squirrels living in the trees at the bottom of the garden, so I'm fully squirreled up :-D
Lynnex

Anonymous said...

Oh Caff what a lovely place to stay bet you didnt want to go home ,red Squirels are rare black squirels are taking over even the grey ones now I hear ...love Jan xx

Anonymous said...

Gosh it looks a wonderful place Caff.

Anonymous said...

Caff what a lovely place to stay it looks so peaceful ~ sorry those squirrels avoided you ~ we don't see many Red ones anymore but plenty of grey ones ~ I agree a quiz night is a good way to do some fundraising ~ I love quiz's ~ Ally x