Daydream fund challenge part 4

Davesnave

Yes otters are great to observe, except when fishing, which was the last time I saw one at Pete's place.

Once, when I was fishing a very quiet stretch in the 1980s, I came face to face with one that was inside a hollow tree. I didn't know it was there; I was just reaching beside the tree to drop a line in, when I heard a horrible screeching noise near my face. It wasn't half swearing at me, so I backed away sharpish! I imagined there were cubs there, so I cleared-off.

I'd look at what Martin says about the legal position on booked holidays, Wellies, as I've no idea what it might be. There's been a 20% increase in Devon road traffic this week and I've seen non-locals using our B road as a rat-run into the county recently, which is only to be expected. At least they won't stop here. What I think will happen somewhere is flash-mob, mass disobedience, mainly by the young and internet connected, but again, it's unlikely to happen in our top field!

Folks are stopping to buy plants, though, and we delivered most of our local orders for tomato plants yesterday, so no problems there. I also got the last of our home-grown saplings into the laid hedge yesterday on the back of the heavy showers. They'd been in a bucket of soil for weeks.

LessImpecunious

Ted_Head said:

We had a lovely stripey bird about today  - unusual markings and it was almost doing acrobatics in front of the window catching insects. Odd Cleopatra style eye markings - as if it's been at the eye liner. Brown and sparrow sized. Haven't a clue what it was
 

Spotted flycatcher has the acrobatics, size and colour; but not sure about the eyeliner!

Ted_Head

0212-B6B0-015A-9B32 - the photo on Shuttertock does have a pic with the dark eye liner flick. I'm sure that's what it is.

Many thanks.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Ted_Head said:

JoJo - Is there anything about your OH that you like? Just something that he does that is sweet and nice? I'm sure there is.

Oh yes, he's funny and smart, sweet and kind. He's also clumsy, flappy and a bit of a wally at times. I'm definitely the more practical/technically inclined one of the two of us and when I'm dealing with very reactive and largely irrational people whose first reaction to anything is panic, refusing to listen and shouting rather than make a decision and act on it in case it's wrong (or even worse, different), I find that my patience/tolerance is dramatically reduced. And then, rather than behave badly towards him, which would be a horrible thing to do, I grumble online where he is left unscathed. We've also been together 24 hours a day since the last week of March, other than his occasional forays to the supermarket, which is a long time when you're used to both working, both going out at different times and, most importantly for me, a change of scenery once in a while.

Lettuces are coming up. Hopefully I've got enough that the pests don't make too much of an impact. I've also planted peas and the herbs are all doing wonderfully well. The rain last week has definitely helped the garden as a whole.

pink_poppy

It's gone quiet on here, hope everyone is okay.
I haven't seen the otter again, but I've heard it's still around. We have some fantastic video footage (taken with a phone camera) of an otter catching what looks like a small octopus and bringing it to the rocks to eat. This was just after DH moved here in 2018.
The bird sounds lovely, Ted. A spotted flycatcher...wow 

Davesnave

Funny old week, and here we are at Thursday already, with a Bank Holiday in the offing, not that it'll make any difference to us.Temperatures are set to plummet on Sunday, but what bothers me most is the prospect of no significant rain for the foreseeable.

Our new neighbours down at the stream/mini-wood are, according to DW, sane and pleasant people. They've already fallen foul of our farmer neighbour across the stream, interpreting their title documents in the same way as we did and clearing some light reducing trees. Unlike us, they've decided to go for legal advice, rather than just bamboozling him, but I guess they're more of a threat as their land adjoins his farm/garden directly. Certainly, being down in the bottom of the wee valley, they'll need to get more light in after the neglect of the past 10 years or more....

Sad to report the other goldfinch nest was raided and the eggs taken. There are loads of them about, so they're doing OK somewhere. There are very few swallows or martins; indeed I can count them on the fingers of one hand most evenings.

Sales continue at a better rate than usual. We thought someone had pinched one of our most expensive shrubs, but sure enough, the next day a £5 note appeared, complete with a bag of pots and a brand new packet of labels. People around here are great!

Davesnave

Just had this through from DD2, who got up at dawn to enhance a roundabout in Sadly Broke ...sorry Bradley Stoke, Bristol.

pink_poppy

I think we're due some rain tomorrow, first time in a while. It's cloudy here this morning though, which is typical as we were thinking of having dinner outside after several days of lovely sunshine.
That's sad about the second nest, but nice that there's still plenty of other goldfinches around.
Do you think there might be trouble ahead with the new neighbours and the farmer?? Hopefully you won't get caught up in it.
This week does seem to have flown by...we'll be out clapping again tonight...extra poignant as I lost an Aunty to covid-19 last week 

Davesnave

Update on the first goldfinch pair. After a week or so, they're back and dismantling the nest, so they've chosen a new site.

We won't be affected by the dispute between the farmer and the neighbours, but it will be interesting to see how their solicitor interprets the title plans. We're sure we and they are right in the way we're viewing them, but let's face it, being right won't necessarily fix what's inside someone else's head!

Sorry about your aunt. Was she elderly or living with pre-existing serious health problems? We still know no one who has knowingly been infected, but a huge proportion of older people in this village have been isolated for many weeks now and don't go out for anything. I'm the exception, apparently.

Ted_Head

Jojo_the_Tightfisted said:

Ted_Head said:

JoJo - Is there anything about your OH that you like? Just something that he does that is sweet and nice? I'm sure there is.

Oh yes, he's funny and smart, sweet and kind. He's also clumsy, flappy and a bit of a wally at times. I'm definitely the more practical/technically inclined one of the two of us and when I'm dealing with very reactive and largely irrational people whose first reaction to anything is panic, refusing to listen and shouting rather than make a decision and act on it in case it's wrong (or even worse, different), I find that my patience/tolerance is dramatically reduced. And then, rather than behave badly towards him, which would be a horrible thing to do, I grumble online where he is left unscathed. We've also been together 24 hours a day since the last week of March, other than his occasional forays to the supermarket, which is a long time when you're used to both working, both going out at different times and, most importantly for me, a change of scenery once in a while.

Lettuces are coming up. Hopefully I've got enough that the pests don't make too much of an impact. I've also planted peas and the herbs are all doing wonderfully well. The rain last week has definitely helped the garden as a whole.

Yes, I know what you mean. We've always been a bit  joined at the hip as both of us mostly working from home for a couple of decades but I did have a couple of patience vacuums recently as it does seem much more intense and tricky at times.
My lettuces ar a no show but I have reused compost and have let it dry out a couple of times. That's how warm it's been here - which is lovely but strange also. I must admit I am liking the quietness and there does appear to be more birds around this year.