I did a rather absentminded online grocery order this week with the result that we now have 1.5kg of butter. I didn’t know that butter could be bought in 500g packs. Assumed they were always 250g. Oh well, cakes it is then.
I got caught in traffic on my way home yesterday.
As the farmer thanked me for waiting, he said I’d sleep well 😅.
#BloomScrolling in the wild
I’ve not had a great day, very down in the dumps. But it was a nice evening so I thought I’d pull some weeds in the driveway (an endless task and not one to help my mood). For some reason I looked over to hedgehog corner and there was a hog trundling about early, before I’d put the food out. I quickly filled up the dish and scattered some food for rootling. Hog made themselves scarce then shortly after reappeared. Watching him did cheer me up. He’s the one with the cough but a couple of videos reassured the hog rehabber that it wasn’t severe and that intervention wasn’t needed right now. I’m relieved, not least because he’s actually quite fast when approached.
It does seem to be his RBF.
The female blackbird also just followed him into the greenhouse but, unlike the robin, she made a meal of getting back out. Birds.
I thought I’d check when peach trees should be pruned (the answer is not now btw).
On ‘how to prune’ one website advises:
‘When you are cutting back branches, it is best to follow the “cat tossing” rule.
All the branches on your peach tree should be wide enough apart that a cat could be tossed between each of them without ever hitting a branch.’
Please be assured that when it does come to pruning my tree I will not be tossing a cat between the branches.
The robin giving me a look (and preventing me from finishing my coffee) because I don’t have any mealworms to hand
*goes to get mealworms*
I think one of my hogs may need a bit of medical intervention. I’ve heard them cough and their breathing has a rattle. I’ve sent a video to a #hedgehog rescuer I’m in touch with and if she thinks he (clearly a he) needs treatment I’ll be on a stakeout to get the right hog. There were two or three last night and a scuffle in the feeding station.
Driving back to Wales and finding it hard going. The motorway has been stop-start and I’m struggling to stay alert. Have stopped for a coffee injection. Hopefully things improve once I’m back over the border.
I’ve managed to do well with sweetpeas this year after a couple of lacklustre attempts. I have a wall of them in the veg patch, having thrown all spacing rules to the wind. The majority pink and white ones are ‘painted lady’, an old fashioned mix of colours is a bit slower to bloom. All have a divine scent.
I rounded a corner on a path to come face to face with a buzzard flying at low level in the opposite direction. It did an impressive midair emergency stop and 180° turn, without making a sound. I don’t think I’ve ever been so close to a buzzard.
Tell a lie, I checked the hog cam and there was a bit of rain. The ground is dry though so can’t have been more than an eggcup full.
No rain here last night but quite a light show on the horizon, over the coast. Only a rumble or two of thunder. Still 🥵
I thought I might get some outdoor jobs done this evening when it cooled down. It has not cooled down.
I planted out 12 sweetheart cabbage babies yesterday. Under fleece. All munched 😭. Those pesky voles.
Yesterday the OH drilled some exploratory holes in the floor of the shower room (didn’t like those tiles anyway) and used an endoscope camera to check if a leaky waste pipe was the source of our mystery damp. Apart from some dodgy plumbing decisions it was all fine and, more importantly, dry. So having ruled that out we turned our minds to finding the location of an apparent water source that predates our mains water connection. Neighbour remembers a tap to which water was pumped from a stream. Sadly the raised deck porch is collateral damage in these investigations, but it turns out it’s fairly rotten anyway. And underneath it, a weed membrane, a rusty sheet of metal and a load of earth and rubble is an old rusty pump in a pit! It’s pretty damp all around so we wonder if water still flows to it when levels high. Next up is trying to find the pipe to it and cap it off away from the house. Just the job for the hottest day.
My unscientific observation is that voles prefer whiskers kitten kibble and woodmice and/or yellow-necked mice prefer spike’s dinner hedgehog food.
So the robins have always been bold and mob us for mealworms whenever we step outside. Then the blackbirds learnt from the robins and now the sparrows have caught on. It’s quite a rabble. Obviously there are voles too.
