Canstein Highland Games

Of course there are a couple of pipe bands competing musically too, this drum major even having a red toy dragon (instead of a green Nessie) on his bass drum.

The first field saw the clansmen tossing the traditional caber. About 20% managed it.

The second game saw tug-of-war matches and tug-teams trying to pull a recalcitrant tractor 50 meters against the stopwatch (no photo).

Field three saw a zigzag obstacle course for rolling a whisky barrel and carrying a large tractor tyre. The guy in the foreground was disqualified for obviously wearing underpants.

However, the corner which interested our dog most was the sausage & steak grill ;-)

The most unrealistic piece of this imitation Scotland was that it didn`t rain :-)

Comments (3)
Billions of Versions... wrote " It would have been fun to try the caber... about 40 years ago. And I've always thought it would be interesting to wear the outfit just one time to see what it would be like to go commando in a kilt." Breezy, Mike, breezy. Oh, and by the way, never say A kilt, it is always called THE kilt.
Jenny asks "What does a caber weigh?" Around 60 kilos, lass. And it must land end over end, as straight as possible, to be a valid throw.
Cop Car wrote " A kilt, it is always called THE kilt. Thanks for the “reminder” (AKA giving me my come-uppance). It turns out that my memory (one more time!) was faulty. Andy Stewart’s recording was of “That’s the Reason Noo I Wear the Kilt”. Aye, lassie, so it is.

Copyright ^© Ole Phat Stu on June 27, 2023 permalink Comments Email

Visiting the Falconer

You may not know this, but Germany has more castles than the USA has McDonalds. Many of the castles still have falconers, one of whom is a friend, Markus, older brother of Peter whom I mentioned last month. So SWMBO and a couple of her lady friends decided to pay him a visit and see some of his birds. Markus lives with his gf in a log cabin he built himself, on the outskirts of a nearby village.

This is SWMBO and Markus and one of his hunting falcons.

And this is a close-up of the falcon.

So you stoop to climb up onto Markus´stoop to watch the falcon stoop. They really are fast in the stoop, diving at over 100mph. Pray pity their prey.

Markus also has a female eagle, whom you have to treat with MUCH more respect. You see, eagles are monogamous, choosing one partner for life. And she chose Markus, so he is the only one who may touch her and she is the only one who can touch him, she thinks. So don´t try to shake hands with him or those vicious talons and beak are going for your fingers!!! She is used for the bigger game (hares and up) and the falcons for smaller animals (field mice, birds, rats, etc). An informative afternoon; thx Markus.

Comments (2)
Cop Car sent a table of bird speeds. List of birds by flight speed - Wikipedia.
Carol (UK) asks "Do you have a photo of his eagle?" Here you go :-

Copyright ^© Ole Phat Stu on June 20, 2023 permalink Comments Email

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Thursday, June 15

No word in English

Across the years, there have been concepts and ideas for which there was no word in English. So English just adopted the foreign words; sometimes from the German. So here are nine such German/English words.

angst

gemuetlichkeit

gestalt

gesundheit

kindergarten

schadenfreude

weltanschauung

zeitgeist

zugzwang

Tell me which ones you know and which you even use actively yourselves.

PS: And please note that that list of ten words doesn´t even include Rinderkennzeichnungsfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz: The officially longest German dictionary word.

Comments (4)
Billions of Versions... wrote " kindergarten - Regular everyday word here.
gesundheit - Use quite often.
angst; gestalt; schadenfreude; zeitgeist - Have seen other people use in writing.
gemuetlichkeit; weltanschauung; zugzwang - Nope." Thanks Mike.
Pergelator wrote " Know and use: gesundheit, kindergarten
Know but don't use: angst, gestalt, schadenfreude, zeitgeist
Don't know: gemuetlichkeit, weltanschauung, zugzwang " Thanks Chuck.
Ed (USA) wrote"We´re Americans. We dont need no German words. We all speak American!" I assume you know that the founding fathers spoke British English?
Lady M wrote " I use the words your other commenters mentioned. In addition, I use German words like doppelganger and kaputt." Super! But my list was not meant to be exhaustive, merely suggestive.

Copyright ^© Ole Phat Stu on June 15, 2023 permalink Comments Email

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Thursday, June 8

My 80th solar orbit begins today

At 08:02 GMT this morning I began my 80th solar orbit, having just completed 79 of them; so happy birthday to me.

Healthwise, I´m doing as well as can be expected, just some back pain. SWMBO not doing so good, she fell down yesterday bruising foot and knee, so that´ll take 3 weeks to clear up. I´m missing the motorcycling, so we do tours in my oldtimer car instead. Dog Clara is now 5, so we humans have to stay healthy for another 7 years. Wish us all luck and health.

Motorcycle friends turned up to congratulate me on their way to Bitburg.

In the meantime, some US official has admitted/claimed that the US is in possession of intact extraterrestrial spacecraft. Great discovery!

Comments (4)
Prim (UK) wrote " Yes it’s that time of year again. Have a good day!" Wilco.
Doug wrote "My calendar says it is your birthday - have a great one. Also wilco.
Bernhard and Monika, Lothar aud Udalrike mailed in German and a dozen friends messaged on my mobile phone. Susanne and Peter rolled up for coffee. Thanks to all.
Earth-Bound Misfit wrote " Well, Stu, that means you are, exactly, twenty years older than my sister. Her birthday is also today. (I split the difference between you two.) " Nice coincidence, Comrade.
Finding life hard? wrote " Penblwydd hapus, Stu! Hope SWMBO recovers faster than anticipated." As do I, Liz.

Copyright ^© Ole Phat Stu on June 8, 2023 permalink Comments Email

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Thursday, June 1

WW2 Warbird down :-(

L ast week there was a crash at the display day on Hildesheim airfield, about 135 kms NE of us and 34 kms SSE of Hanover. The warbird is registered as D-FIII, a 1945 Mk.18e Spitfire.

Hildesheim is about 135 km northeast of us, about 34 km SSE of Hanover. The airfied, EDVM (no jets, max 5.7 tons MTOW), has both asphalt and grass runways (25/07) about 1220 m long if I remember correctly. The warbirds prefer the grass. There are buildings on both sides of the runways close in. This means you can get perhaps hefty wind vortices, depending on wind direction, in the touchdown zone of runway 25. Maybe this was what caused the Spit to drop her left wing which hit the ground before the pilot could pick up the wing again. Afaik noone was injured, except maybe the pilot´s pride.

D-FIII is owned by Fliegerhorst GmbH & Co KG in Eschbach. She was built in 1945 and shipped to India. After use in the Indian airforce she was restored in the UK and registered as G-BUOS. She had a fatal crash in Norway in 2010, then was restored by 2013. Now that main spar is going to need fixing, which will take a while :-(

Copyright ^© Ole Phat Stu on June 1, 2023 permalink Comments Email

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Link to the previous month's blog.

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