Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Davesnave

I had mouse issues when I rented a Georgian top floor flat many years ago. I'd hear them trundling through from the neighbour's side and then they would pop out in the kitchen. This would usually be followed by a quick snap as my 'Little Nipper' got them. It wasn't pleasant, but it contained the problem.

'Containing the problem' is what we're doing with the cockerels, some of which are becoming feisty. We're now opening up/closing their house and re-stocking food/water in the dark. Mucking-out takes two; one to distract and the other to do the job! It's not quite as bad as this.....yet!

https://m.facebook.com/LADbible/videos/getting-chased-every-day-by-our-rooster/569738237528828/

Roll on the edible solution at the end of the month!

Rain on the wind this morning, but even milder than of late. Nevertheless, I put the side screens back in the polytunnel yesterday in anticipation of cooler times to come. If it survives the winter, it'll be a miracle with the cover at 11 years old. We'll look at relocation in the spring, or possible sale and replacement with something more greenhouse-like.

twopenny

Goldfinch it's lonely.
I used to catch mice by the tail. They can't curl up like snakes. Of you could get a snake?
There were humane mousetraps in my local diy store.
Or put a bird fatblock outside a door which you've covered with a bucket raised on a stone on one edge. They love those fatblocks.
Lots of rain and wind forecast for the next few days so that will give a test to Dave's tunnel

Davesnave

Yes, there are humane traps nowadays. If it's just one mouse you can release into the garden from whence it came, that would be best. Releasing an animal into an unknown and alien environment isn't necessarily as humane as people think!

Farway

Dull with Dave's rain on the way for later this afternoon, of course I watered the pots yesterday hence rain today, sorry 'bout that

Davesnave said:

Yes, there are humane traps nowadays. If it's just one mouse you can release into the garden from whence it came, that would be best. Releasing an animal into an unknown and alien environment isn't necessarily as humane as people think!

Oop's I'll not pass this info on to a veggie friend who drove miles to relocate a mouse she caught in her humane trap. It failed as it happened, one of the mousey cousins turned up later

The computer continues to annoy me, still on my slow treacle one at the moment, the new one I managed to get flashed up by cleaning RAM contacts, but just as I was basking in the glow of job completed the thing shut down again, bit like a tantalising  bl00dy mouse

I've got a refurbed Dell on the way, working on the assumption it could cost much the same to get a proper person to sort out the duff one and then I can tinker away for ever

No gardening today and none needed with the rain due. I never did order the quid seeds, check out never worked so I gave up. I may see if Father Christmas can bring me some sempervivum seeds from his den

RAS

A friend has been recording minimum temperatures in their polytunnel. 10 degrees last night after several when it was down to 3 degrees and it's now around our frost date.

Need to keep alert as we have a few specials in there.

Davesnave

I usually go Dell, but my machine that;s lasted even longer than usual was hand built by a pensioner in his Torquay attic. We had to ascend by ladder to reach it, and having met his wife, I received a subliminal message when he declared. " I just enjoy building them; it's peaceful up here and I get lost in my work for hours." He had quite a nice sea view from there. At £170 all in I couldn't see he'd made a profit and he even included all the receipts for the bits!

My new one, I must get to grips with, didn't come from this Devon source, but DB's laptop did. It looked brand new. This is the model I got from eBay which was also new, but I only paid £129:

https://microdream.co.uk/desktop-pc/windows-10-refurbished-computers/dell-optiplex-3040-sff-6th-gen-quad-core-i5-6500-8gb-120gb-ssd-dvdrw-hdmi-wifi-windows-10-professional-desktop-pc-computer.html

As you say, it's hardly worth investing more with something past it's prime.....Someone on the Bay will probably want it for a tenner or two (minus HD of course! )

goldfinches

My first mouse has been murdered and I'm now trying to entice all its little friends to follow its example. I have simply wiped what mess I could off the little nipper and reset it but I'm wondering if the gore that has soaked into the wood will deter the others or not. We shall see.

The weather here has turned wet and miserable but overnight a bumper crop of funghi have appeared. Here are some I spotted on the bank of a ditch at the edge of a wildflower meadow.



I'm expecting floods here quite soon as the rivers are very high now and they won't be able to hold much more than another couple of days rainfall so that will be the next problem to be coped with.

Farway

GF, a nice if unappetising photo, can almost feel the slime in it.

Hope the mouse murders continue as required, I suspect hunger would overcome gore in Mouseland

Had to smile at the PC attic Dave, I think my granddad had similar ideas except he was always in his greenhouse or up the allotment, in between visits to The Crown

Rain overnight but dry with sun for the moment, due more rain later it seems

Yesterday I picked a couple of my Pinovar apples, not really ready for picking but the snails were nibbling them so removed a couple

The one I tried was fine, far better than last year's having I moved them into a sunny spot.

I can taste the Cox heritage in there, not that I'm a big fan of Cox.Given the colouring and taste I can see how it is a commercial winner

Listening to R4 Farming today this morning it seems late apples cropping is so this year, a fortnight behind they said, which bu66ered up the pickers they had planned followed by Brexit whinge . A vineyard near me had same problems but put out a call for locals to help, some for cash others for food & wine , which they duly did as they wanted to beat this week's rain

PC is still in a coma and replacement on a lorry heading South

Davesnave

A slightly wet, windy day of disappointment with added power cut for me so far.

A trip to our nearest garage 4 miles away resulted in no petrol for the mowers. All pumps are E10, which seems mad in an area full of folk with ride-ons etc. Next nearest is unlikely to be different, which means I now need to go 14 miles to fill the jerry can. 

Next, I found out why the financial adviser I'd been dealing with seemed very slow. His firm's been taken over, he's no longer independent and he can't handle my sort of business now. Looking at the way the shares have gone recently, the delay may have cost me, but "Err, I only found out the full picture yesterday." Hmmm!

Those fungi look like I feel this morning....a bit past their best! Electric went just as I was about to contact another adviser. With thunder and lightning in the forecast I wasn't surprised, but my app says nothing of that nature in the UK, so it must be the wind.

goldfinches

Incredibly windy lunchtime here, my hair went full horizontal several times on my walk. I thought this photo of the groundskeeper using an automated spiker to condition the cricket pitch might make some of you rather envious. You can't really see unless you zoom in but the trailer the tractor is pulling has a set of sharp spikes that move up and down and pierce the turf. 

The Old English cattle are back in the meadow and I caught this rather intriguing expression today.