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Hello, Pigale!
I'd say that is a fair result!
Well done for keeping at them!
Emma's email is quite explanatory and reasonable, I think?
Yes, we saw the "white tailed" bird mating with Lassie.
I understand the rangers position.
They can not and will not interfere with nature.
Just as the Loch Garten rangers would not feed EJ's starving chicks last year when Odin disappeared, and the chicks subsequently died.
I have not looked in on the nest since early morning.
Maybe best check up on that scandalous female bird !

BTW, had a peep at tweet and it sounds that EJ has found a mate -
there is a photo of the new pair.

I never asked for the rangers to interfere with Nature, but merely
to keep us informed and agree that there was indeed another
male mating with Lassie, that's all - it is their silence that annoyed
me.

Hello, Pigale!
That is good news about EJ!
No, I understand that you never asked the rangers to interfere with nature.
My clumsy way of communicating, I think!

Hi, Rusty!
Our daughter and the boys arrived here just before 12.
It hadn't been a very pleasant drive in the pouring rain - traffic build -up was bad - but they got here safely, which is all that matters.
All are fed and watered now......
My husband is going to take the boys to the supermarket, while daughter and I have a (childless) chat!
Now the crossword.....
I couldn't parse 8d?
I have "erode" = grind away(def)
And can see "ere" as "before, but what about the "od"?
The ones I still cannot do are
20a: P?U?B?I?E
and 23a: A?A?E?A
Otherwise all correct, I think......
I shall hopefully catch up with the Athletics this evening.
Are you going out for walk?



Hello, Pigale!
You fared better than I - I have not yet had a response to my email to the Rangers!
They are still saying, though, that Lassie has not mated with any other bird than Laddie!
But you and I (and surely other people, too) all saw that she did ...with the osprey with the white-striped tail!

Birds don't have any kind of moral code! I suspect the rangers don't mind which or how many male birds mate with Lassie as long as one does! - but their communication could have been more encouraging and helpful.

Perhaps the cyclist was altering his blood- we shall see. Has led to at least 20 deaths from heart attacks in young cyclists in the past. Easily proved.

Hello, Elle!
That's good the family have arrived!
No rain here!
20, across is word for a tip, "pourboire".
23a is "alameda", a walkway, often between trees.
The od is an abbreviation of "overdraft" in banking terminology.
No athletics on that I can see.
Boxing just now.
No, I had a walk this morning, so I did.

Elle, "the arrangement with bank" is "od" for "overdraft".
A bit vague, perhaps, or maybe not!

Good afternoon, Rusty!
I have been abandoned!
Gramps and the boys have gone to the supermarket...and my daughter has fallen asleep!
I shall not awaken her...the rest will do her good, especially after her migraine of the last two days.
Both "pourboire" and "alameda " are new words for me!
I am sorry but I cannot see the parsing for either?
I did not know that "od " was an abbreviation for "overdraft?
I thought "od" was "overdose"....which obviously did not fit the clue!
Still wet here.....




Hello, Ros !
What Pigale and I have been "objecting to" is the denial of Lassie 's mating with the alien osprey.......when we both - at different times - saw it happening!
The visitor was quite distinctive from Laddie .
I queried how one could decide paternity?!

Hello, Elle!
No, let your daughter lie, the rest will do her good!
No, I was not quite accurate, "o/d" means "overdraft", but "od" is what we have from the setters choice of words!
OD can mean "overdose", too.
I have seen "alameda" before.
The parse is "d"own "a"lley to begin with, after "a" comes "lame" for "halt", giving "alameda" for "walk".
Now, "pourboire", I found in Chambers but it is new to me.
My parse is, "bore" "tedious person" around "one"/"i", after "flow"/"pour", giving "pourboire" for "tip".
How's that?
It is dry here, quite a nice afternoon.

As Laddie mated with Lassie on the day he arrived, any eggs laid in the next day or so would be a result of Laddie's mating. ?
If there are no eggs laid for another 9-10 days, they would be as a result of the intruder's mating ?
....or have I lost the plot ?