The OS Doorstep - a helpful and supportive thread in these tough times

[Deleted User]

MRS CHIP Little Al chose the very best place in the whole world to make contact with the human race in my opinion, when you think of all the people he could have cheeped at, it shows superior sense to have chosen you and Mr Chip!!!!! I think the expression 'bird brain' might have a different meaning for me from now on. It's lovely to hear how well he's getting on and thriving, you're doing a grand job as mummy sparrow, well done. Do you think you'll keep him or do you still intent to find him a shelter to live at? You're good people, Cheers Lyn xxx.

GreyQueen

FairyPrincessk wrote: »

Morning all!

GQ--your allotment is truly an inspiration. It is thinking of you that settles me down everytime one of those toads in my garden jumps out at me and scares the daylights out of me. Which reminds me, I have three courgettes that need looking in on! My mum has given me a book called 50 ways to kill a slug--is it wrong that I sometimes enjoy flipping through it, laughing evilly at some of the techniques? It is a bit of a joke book, but some of the techniques have proven mildly effective.

I borrowed that from the library and just may have cackled a bit, evilly.

My lottie is my joy and my bane, all at the same time. It's a long way off perfect but sooo much better than when I took it on in 2008.

Your comment about the toad made me laugh. Coupla weekends ago, I was pulling up the spent annual flowers from the "flowerbed" at the foot of the lottie whilst a lottie pal stood chatting to me.

I saw that there was a rat hole hidden under the tangle, which isn't anything unusual. But I shrieked when a toad which was hiding from the sun inside jumped out all of a sudden right by my feet. Other woman jumped out of her skin.:rotfl:

Today I have removed a barrow-load of weeds which have set seeds and will drop them if allowed to loiter (docks, fat hen and various other villains). Off they went to the green waste section of the tip. I have some piles of stuff drying out with a view to burning them on Oct 1st when the burn-ban is lifted on the site.

I do like a bit of pyromania. And I took the lottie across to the common on the way back where the tethered ponies are and trowelled up some dung, will be adding it into the soil to rot overwinter. It's all free for the taking if you can get yourself down there.

Have done a washload, vac'd thru, baked bread rolls and pizza and boiled up a batch of red kidney beans. Cooling now. Have decided that I will use up these and then not bother with dried beans, they're too much faff and it's cheap enough to buy them by the can.

Right, a bit more interwebs, back to my book, and off to beddy-byes as working tomorrow. Laters, GQ xx

Mrs_Chip

Lyn

I have looked online for somewhere that takes little blind birds, but not been successful, so it looks like we are going to have to keep him . He makes a terrible mess, has a very loud voice and needs a lot of attention, but also is a great character to have around. I only hope we can keep him happy as he grows up, if he started to look unhappy we would have a great dilemma to deal with.

[Deleted User]

Mrs Chip, perhaps when he's really a grown up sparrow you might be able to make him an outside cage where he can hear the other birds but not be in danger from them and he could be outside during the daylight hours, and come inside in the evenings. I think the biggest danger to him other than cats would be other birds sensing his disability and mobbing him, if he was safely in his cage, that couldn't happen but would give him a little independence because he would learn his surroundings and be happy there. I guess he's already what they call an imprint as he's identified you as Mum so he'd never be a candidate for release would he? Good luck all three of you, Love Lyn xxx.

FairyPrincessk

GQ--I'm glad I'm not the only one startled by toads. I'm trying to be less squeamish these days, but some things do really make me jump!

Mrs_Chip

We have a small enclosed yard at the back where we can put is cage on sunny days, there are lots of birds in the bushes above (but no sparrows, we don't get them here). I am also thinking of an aviary in the garden, but worry that too much space would be a problem as he has to learn where everything is. I guess we will just have to try things and see how he gets on. He learned where everything is in his case very quickly, so I am probably worrying unnecessarily, he may well manage fine. He has also learned that flying is not a good idea, he has stopped trying, and hops everwhere!

I jumped when I found a toad sitting on the black rubbish bag in the kitchen!

[Deleted User]

What a sweetie, he's a survivor isn't he? Maybe he'd be better off with something like a chicken ark, small enough to find his bearings in but big enough to hop about in. Wouldn't be too difficult to catch him again to bring him in from either, Lyn xxx.

FairyPrincessk

Mrs. Chip, before I went to visit my parents I carried all of my geranium plants inside and put them on the kitchen windowsill. I also had a small bowl of onion blooms drying that I was trying to save for seed. When i came home a week later, I was watering the geraniums and got such a fright when I noticed there was a toad literally stuck in the small bowl with my onion seeds. The poor thing must have been there for the whole week. OH took him outside in the bowl and poured a little water on him and he hopped off.

GreyQueen

I like frogs and toads. Not in the same way I like fluffy kittens, but I like looking at them.

What makes me jump is that they suddenly appear when I'm digging, even falling thru the tines of the digging fork. I have had so many near-misses with them, and eventually the inevitable happened.

I was very upset and didn't do any more digging for two months that winter.

The scariest toad I ever dug up was huge and lime green. Imagine heaving that up with a forkful of dirt. Gave me quite a start. I can only think that maybe this was an albino version of a common toad; it was very garishly lime green.

Mrs Chip, am treasuring the image of your wee sparrow nesting in a Kleenex on your shoulder. You are a lovely person.

Mrs_Chip

I was quite cheered by the toad being there - I assume he came in to eat the slugs that find their way into the kitchen at night :eek:

Al comes out of his cage for as much of the day that we are there, he has a bit of driftwood on the coffee table that he perches on. He will happily sit there until he decides he needs to be fed, then he shouts for me to feed him. He is pushing it a bit, by now his parents would have left him to look after himself, it will be interesting to see how long he will beg for if I keep feeding.

I don't think our ancient cat has noticed he is there, he shows no interest at all. He must be totally deaf, no self-respecting cat could ignore all that cheeping!