Cheery's path to fulfilment - finishing the DIY, looking after myself, appreciating the garden 🌻

Cheery_Daff

Won't be getting a cat im afraid. Don't want something else to be responsible for, and Mr C wouldn't stand for it killing things. So we will battle on with our live traps - I recognise most people would find it ridiculous and unacceptable! 

greenbee

Live traps are fine - but you should be careful if you're releasing them as you need to comply with the wildlife and countryside act. 

We've had significant success reducing the numbers here by blocking holes with wire wool before filling them. There were masses coming into the house (and attic) via the garage and this seems to have stopped them. 

EssexHebridean

You do you with the mice Cheery - cats are efficient, but they do have a habit of either bringing the stuff they have caught into the house for you to admire before they've actually got to the stage of killing it, then releasing it to run free, or alternatively leaving you "presents" of small dead creatures which you then have to pick up while making admiring and encouraging noises...it's also incredibly difficult to get them to kill the things you want gone (mice) but leave alone the things you want left alive - ie birds! 

I'd probably go the live traps route now if we needed to as well to be honest. The others can be perfectly effective of course but in my experience mice get very savvy to them, and I'd hate to return to a trap with a "bit of mouse" in it... 

Jellytotts

We have live traps set in our built in wardrobes, the place the little baggers always run to when brought in.  One of our cats bought in 3 rabbits in a half hour period last spring. 2am is not the time to be chasing rabbits around the bedroom…come to think of it, no time is for chasing rabbits round the bedroom.

She tried taking one in to our neighbours too, they chased her out, the rabbit got free and legged it, we came inside with the cat to find another one dead on the doormat and one bouncing around the conservatory.

So in my opinion, don’t get a cat unless you want more wildlife

Cheery_Daff

Evening MSE chums 😊

Gosh, what a week. Thursday was a bit of a write off. Got up too late, rushed to the dentist, dentist was fine though. Bit of work, then drove to the hotel. Only managed an hour and a half of work before being picked up for a visit to Mr C Snr, and then on to Mr C's sister, who as of Thursday morning is having her own personal crisis. NOT what she or anyone else needs right now 😕 Helped her dismantle some kitchen cabinets. 

Friday was an all day work-fest. Mr C and his helpful friend were filling the skip nd shifting stuff upstairs, I was on errand duty - dehumidifiers, DIY equipment, food supplies and the like. 

In the afternoon another family member turned up, and we pulled down the rest of the affected ceilings, and the whole of the kitchen wall - the plasterboard was so damp it was never going to dry properly. Glad we did, there was quite a bit of mould inside the stud wall 🙄 cleaned the lot and hoping it'll dry quickly enough that we won't have to take down the other side of the stud wall too. 

As we were leaving, a loud metal CLUNK happened in the car 🙄 called the breakdown people this morning, confirmed it was the top of a spring, and was safe to drive (although had to confer with the boss once he realised the car had done over 171k miles 😬). Excellent service from aut0@id though - I logged it through the app, they rang straight away to confirm details, sent text to take supplementary payment (£25 per call out cos the car is ancient - we knew about this when signing up). Guy turned up with a breakdown truck within an hour, confirmed everything was fine and left again within 10 mins. Meanwhile we'd hit the ETA and I had both a notification and a phone call asking if the van had arrived yet. Efficient and cheerful. Phew.

Tedious and cold drive back as far as work (remember the car heater isn't fixed yet 🙄🥶) - Mr C had a gig, I went to work for a few hours to try and catch up what I missed on Thursday. Then another tedious drive home.

Can't even find the bloody kettle, it's in the car somewhere and it's too cold to look for it 😂 Boiled water in a pan for my hot water bottle.

Fingers crossed though, lights are on, heating on, no wind damage that I could see in the dark, and the only post was a driving licence renewal for me and an invitation for a smear test 😂

Very much looking forward to a day of unpacking, washing, batch cooking, and general relaxing tomorrow. Hope I haven't jinxed it by saying that 🙄

KajiKita

Hope you manage to recover the kettle this morning! (Why did you take it with you?) 

That sounds like a hard week. 🤞 for a quiet, pottering, doing what you want to today ….

Kk

Cheery_Daff

KajiKita said:

Hope you manage to recover the kettle this morning! (Why did you take it with you?) 

That sounds like a hard week. 🤞 for a quiet, pottering, doing what you want to today ….

Kk

Took it with us because the one there was a flood casualty and got thrown out. We were going to just buy one, but Mr C threw its in the car so that wasn't the first thing we had to do. I think there's a chance we left ours there... but he insists he put it in the car. I'll be buying a new one if we can't find it!! 

KajiKita

Sending kettle finding vibes …! 😉

KK

rtandon27

An extra kettle is definitely in order! If the budget can stretch go for a new one!

VintageHistorian

We have a spare/emergency £10 kettle in one of the kitchen cupboards, just in case ours breaks at an inconvenient time. It used to be buried at the back of the cupboard but the toddler loves having it out so he can put spoons in it, so it's migrated to a more accessible bit of the cupboard in recent weeks