A cloudy morning today, but at least it did not rain during the night and it is also not raining now. I think the day will develop into a sunny one. It is a relaxed Friday today with the normal morning chores. This week my son’s bed is on the rota for refreshing with clean sheets, so I can leave him to it. I am in a tidying mood at the moment, although not too extreme. My porch now looks better after I cleared away the various objects laying under the table. I have even organised my watering cans, meaning filling them with water with the various sorts of fertiliser I have: one for cactus, one for my potted calla and one for the rest. Plants also need food now and again. I now have the garden cupboard to finish. I began a week ago and did half of it. Now I have to tidy the other half to make it uncomfortable for a new mouse home during the colder days. I had two living there last Winter, and did they make a mess.
Yesterday I did an hour’s tour of our part of the village. I did not want to go far, and had no shopping to do in town. At the end of the path we have a meadow reserved for a few cows. I was not sure if they had returned this year, but they were there. They used to be the only cows in the village with real horns, but it seems that this year the farmer had decided they should remain hornless.
It’s a shame really, a cow is not so interesting without its horns. The reason is apparently they can be dangerous and harm each other. I find it ridiculous. Human finger nails can also be dangerous if the grow too long and sharp, but we do not remove them at birth, so why remove the horns on the calves before they even start to grow. We once had a national vote in Switzerland, a referendum, that the cows should be allowed to keep their horns. I voted yes, but unfortunately the majority did not, so we still have many hornless cows.
Trees are flowering everywhere at the moment and I noticed this strange tree yesterday. I naturally did a search for the name and it is apparently a bottlebrush buckeye, another tree not really common to our country.
Our statistics for corona virus reached another bump in the levels yesterday and this time the cause was one of the towns in our Kanton. Apparently a group met in a restaurant and one of them had the virus, the result being that the daily statistic for Switzerland increased to more than 100 new infections and there are 300 in isolation being tested. Sometimes I think if it were not for the stupidity of the people the virus could be kept more in check. A week ago we had an average of 20 new cases daily. and now this.
And now to move on to my vacuum cleaner and mop for some occupational therapy. Keep well and safe everyone. I leave you with a view I saw yesterday on my wheelie through the village over our local countryside.
Chronicles of an Anglo Swiss 
Good Morning 🙂 The cows are sweet but always have such sad eyes. How can we be so cruel to them I wonder. Sad to hear that there is another spike of the virus..as you say- people are still not getting how we need to be careful- it’s still out there. Have a lovely weekend.
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With the cows it is all a question of money. No horns, more room in the stable for more cows.
People are now getting careless about the virus.
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Re the horns: Don’t get me started. I think this post should have been presented officially as a reason to leave those magnificent decorations in place – I could take somebody’s eye out with a finger (well not me personally) and we should worry about cows getting into fights…. it’s too ridiculous for words. Sadly, I couldn’t add my voice as I was still living abroad then.
As for C19: We have now striccter rules and overall we’re still luckily in a very privileged position…. no panic but observation of given regulations and we will be alright!
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The Horn Problem was last year but I wrote enough about it then. I was so annoyed. Apparently there is a problem due to overcrowding in the stables, but there would be no problem when the farmers would a little money in making more room for the cows.
It’s the groups that have to meet in their bars in the evening and do not realise the danger of the Situation
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Oh, I was well aware of the discussions, don’t forget HH was already working in Switzerland, but I couldn’t vote for this kind of debates.
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Have a great day Pat. Lovely pictures
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You too
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🙏
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The level of stupidity has reached new lows. Here in Florida, our numbers reach new highs every day and now we find another example of ‘what in the heck are they thinking?’ College kids are having Covid parties. They invite a bunch of people, including one or two who have tested positive for the virus and then take bets on who will get Covid first. Winner gets the cash. And the virus. But I don’t think they care about that. Absolutely nuts.
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That is the most stupid thing I have heard up to now. It’s the parties and meetings that are encouraging the virus to increase its numbers.
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Good morning. Great photos. We also have a plant similar to that bottlebrush one. Now i know it’s name. Have a great day. SLP …
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I think the tree is mainly more at home in the States.
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Good Morning.
Buckeye are the same genus as the horsechestnut that is popular in England, and perhaps other parts of Europe. The prettiest sort are hybrids, so do not produce the big obnoxious seeds. The California buckeye grows wild here, but is not very pretty as it defoliates through the middle of summer. It refoilates in Autumn, only to defoliate again in winter.
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Thanks for the information on the buckeyes, I didn’t know that.
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You are welcome. It is probably more information than you need. I tend to get carried away.
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I have been wondering about those trees I saw and never knew why. Likewise I trend to say to much.
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I saw that it was related to the horse chestnut in Internet, but they are not so common here. The name of the tree sounds so american.
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Buckeye are American; and horsechestnut are European, although they are the same genus, and the names are sort if interchangeable.
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Good afternoon, It is nice to have daily chores to keep you busy. We don’t teach biology in our schools. It just touched on. We can’t expect people to know what you should protect your self. They have no idea what they are doing and neither do the politicians. The virus is spiking here and masks are becoming mandatory. Its is the thing to do. I am looking forward to a trip Monday to The I Idaho Botanical gardens when I will turn 89. enjoy you day and keep safe.
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First of all may you have a good birthday on Monday and have a good time at the botanical gardens. I had 6 years of biology at school, but it certainly did not cover a pandemic. I don’t think the word even existed then. Every country says something else, because they do not know the answer either. We have to wear masks on public transport, otherwise you please yourself.
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That my point. If you put your finger on the mask and reuse, can spread germs. In school they cover just the base of science. It is not a like the other math, etc Biology is not a fix affair, you can never sure what happens in biology.
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Thanks for the birthday wish.
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The cows 🐮 are always so sweet to see… such big doe eyes and soft ears. 🤗
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And we really have beautiful cows in Switzerland 🙂
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I see that, they are so pretty! 🐄
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Well, I suppose that something has to be okay here, so our goats and cattle have horns. Well, here in New England they do. i have no idea what they do out west and probably I’m happier not knowing. One day they are going to wrap all of us — humans, cats, dogs, and all other creatures — in bubble pack lest to damage ourselves. There will be no sports, no bicycles, no swings, nothing that might hurt anything. I’m sure they’ll remove dog and cat claws. Maybe their teeth too and we will all eat gruel. Safety first.
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But it seems we can be careful as much as possible, but a tiny microscopic particle which we cannot see is a threat to the human race
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