Acrobatic Squirrel

We've had a  visiting squirrel giving us some entertainment over the past couple of days. It has come into the garden and run along the top of the fence and then it stands and stares at the bird feeder from the left-hand side of the garden, Garry and Shelley's side. We re-installed the bird feeder a few weeks ago and used a thing in the ground which has four 'spikes' in it which you push into the ground and then put the central pole of the feeding station into this and lock it in place using the butterfly nuts and, considering the wind we've had blowing through the garden recently, the thing seems to be working successfully. It has stood firm and hasn't moved. I'd suggested we move the entire thing further away from the fence because of the fact we had a squirrel actually jump from the fence onto the bird-feeding station. Quit a feat and actually could have impaled itself on the finial which tops the feeding station. Amazed when I saw this with my own eyes. This new squirrel has managed to actually climb up the pole and hang upside down from the bird feeders, and climb down and change direction several times before running away into the long grass near the fence and then, somehow or other, climb back up onto the fence and was last seen running away along the branches of the over-hanging trees. And throughout all this, Alfie was asleep on the sofa and totally oblivious of all this going on outside the window. I did manage to get some photographs of this incident, but unfortunately the results are not as good as they might have been.

Alfie came in the house and there was a really bad smell. We couldn't find out where it was coming from. Had he rolled in something stinky? Dogs have a habit of doing this. It's not nice. So we had to stick him in the bath, much to his displeasure. He currently looks like a drowned rat (although I've never actually seen a drowned rat.) Running around the house shaking himself and rubbing himself against bits of furniture. But it's as well to do this as we couldn't spend the rest of the day with that awful stink.

Worsening Weather

As I've mentioned in the earlier post, we now have a repaired fence. It's taken long enough time to find someone to do the work, that is, within a reasonable budget. We knew our beloved landlord wasn't going to do anything about it as he's tight-fisted, to say the least. As a result of the work we are now hoping to transform the garden so at least we can use it to sit in and enjoy. I think 'garden' is a somewhat loose term as it's got no beds or flowers in it or any vegetables in order to qualify it for 'garden.' I spent some time yesterday removing some rather unsightly objects from the 'space', such as a really ugly black plastic dustbin and a pile of four white plastic chairs which has been in the garden since we moved in. Also, an ancient barbecue and unsightly rubbish which is now inside the shed, or at least, what remains of the shed. The door to this hangs on one hinge, but at least this unsightly paraphernalia is out of sight and out of mind. I had considered getting the local council to remove it all, but it would have meant lugging it all through the house and placing it on the grass at the front of the house, and it would have meant a payment of around £20 for the council to come along and remove it, so the idea of it all going in the shed seemed a far better option all round. It seems that we have to contend with former tenants of this property who left oddments of furniture such as mattresses and the like in the shed (why they couldn't be disposed of to the local tidy tip I can't imagine. None of these items, particularly the mattresses are well past their best and not fit for use, having been in the shed in all the time we've lived in the house.) Well, when we look out of the lounge window we now have a better view without the junk in the garden and a decent fence in place. I had spent some time yesterday mowing the lawn and had intended finishing it today, but the weather has turned wet and it's impossible to mow grass when it's wet as well as being somewhat dangerous considering the fact that the mower is electric. So I will now have to wait until the rain stops and the grass is dry enough to cut.

Yesterday was reasonably fine and dry for most of the day. Which is what prompted me to get on with sorting out the garden. I got about three-quarters of it done. At around the time I usually go to meet Carol from the Academy, the sky darkened and it spotted with rain. I was going to walk over, as it's only a ten-minute walk, but had thought, it's no good walking, because we'll both get soaked because there was a very dark cloud looming over Milton Keynes. As I stepped out of the front door there was a rumble of thunder. Not good. Poppy doesn't like thunder. It's no good. I know she doesn't like it, but there wasn't a great deal I could do about it. I decided I'd have to drive over, even though it actually takes longer to drive than walk, which seems absurd. You can't get out through the exit which is opposite the Academy because of the traffic, so I have to drive round the estate and go out near the shops. By now it was raining hard, so it was just as well I had chosen to drive. But the joke was, by the timeI drew into the carpark at the Academy the rain had stopped and it was bright sunshine again. Just shows how crazy our weather is in this country. I got out of the car and saw Carol walking towards me. Suddenly there was an almighty clap of thunder and she screamed! She ran towards me and wrapped her arms around me. She doesn't like thunder or lightening! To be honest it never bothers me. I actually like a good thunderstorm. There's something elemental about it. It's exciting. But I don't think Carol would say that. She got in the car and she was glad to be going home.

I am in the process of transcribing my written material onto word processing. It's a somewhat time consuming job and not all that exciting, to say the least. But it must be done. I have several sequences written and I'm currently editing and revising these bits and pieces. I can do around 20 minutes at a time but no more as I can't type for much longer. My hands begin to ache. I think, if you were working in an office, you aren't supposed to work on a computer for more than 20 minutes at a stretch. So I have left off for today and will continue after the weekend.

Little Brown Bird

The little brown bird is a regular visitor to our garden. It's been several times before, we've noticed. It seems to trust us, for whatever reason. Maybe the garden is a good source of food. As the neighbour's two cats are often hanging around somewhere as well as our two dogs, it is certainly putting it's life in  serious danger. When the dogs see the cats, they start off on a mad barking spree. One of the cats is very crafty. It knows well enough that the dogs can't reach it so it sits on either the shed roof or the fence and keeps peering into the lounge window to see what reaction it's having on the dogs. It is almost as if it's drawing them into a fight, but it's clear which side would win. I don't think Alfie would be able to cope with all the claws and teeth if it came to a one-to-one fight. Thinking about it, I think he'd probably run in the opposite direction if it really came to it. He's not the bravest of little dogs, even though he makes a lot of noise. This cat came very close to the window the other evening, sitting on the neighbour's fence and clearly staring into the room through the window. 

I think perhaps the little bird is either a blackbird or a thrush. It is probably part of a pair and they're in the process of nest-building, in preparation for a brood of chicks. The nest is perhaps built in a hedge or tree somewhere along the edge of the Redway which runs behind our house.

Alfie Goes Walkabout Again

It's 5.45 a.m. and I go downstairs to make tea, as I do every morning. Alfie follows me down to the kitchen and goes to the sliding patio doors expecting to be let out. I set up the mugs on the worktop along with filling up the kettle at the sink (now, fortunately, running away smoothly.) Having finished at the worktop I let Alfie out, but as I do so next door's cat is seen disappearing over the fence. Alfie shoots off across the garden, chasing the cat, barking noisily. I call after him, but he ignores me and then he disappears through the hole in the fence. I am not exactly over-pleased, as you can imagine. I chase after him, calling for him and going to the hole in the fence. No sign of small Yorkshire Terrier, as it's pitch black and with the small pocket torch I attempt to shine the rather ineffectual pool of light produced by the torch through the hole into the trees behind the fence and lining the Redway behind the garden. From previous similar escaping dog events from Alfie, I would have expected him to yap when I call his name. I panic as I'm not sure where he is. I return to the house to see whether he has gone back into the bedroom, as he has a habit of hiding either behind the sofa in the lounge or upstairs and under the bed. He will hide in these places if he thinks he has done something wrong. Meanwhile, Carol has come out and is vainly calling for Alfie but still no success in finding him. Our other dog, Poppy, is in the kitchen and barking noisily near the patio door. It's as if she's trying to tell us something. We can hear Alfie's bark from somewhere, but it's not clear where. Then I go out into the garden, having by now changed out of my slippers into my trainers as I went across the wet grass in them and as a result got my feet sopping wet. I go to the clapped-out shed, which has the door hanging off as the hinges have given up and it's been kept up with a variety of oddments to keep it shut. I can hear Alfie inside the shed and have to pull the door open as best I can and there he is inside. I have to pull him out of the shed through the narrow gap in the door by catching hold of his collar and dragging him out. I still have no idea how he manages to get into the shed, but as he's so small he can get through almost any small hole. But I'm just glad to have him back, safe and sound. I know he wouldn't go far as he's not the world's most brave little dog and would not have survived very long when it's cold and wet. Relief all round. I actually get to complete the making of the tea which I had been attempting to make when all the bother over the escaping Alfie began. He doesn't wander far when we go of a walk and he's let off his lead. He will run ahead and keeps within eye contact of use and will run back to use when called so it's odd that he was in the shed and didn't respond by barking when I was calling him. I was just so worried that he might have run off and got on the road and got run over which would be tragic and doesn't bear thinking about.

As I've said on here before, our landlord had promised faithfully to repair the fence and after something like five months we are still waiting for something to be done. The state of the fence has deteriorated considerably since we had the visit when they surveyed the fence and we signed a new tenancy agreement and when we moved away from renting the house through Smartmove rental agency. I can't in all honesty see why it has taken so long to get things fixed. We know it was difficult to get new fence panels after the high winds of earlier this year, when no doubt a lot of fences got blown down in the same way that ours got blown down. We spent some time looking for replacement panels in various garden centres and builder's merchants in and around the Milton Keynes and Buckinghamshire area, but I can't see why the landlord couldn't have done something to at least fix the fence even if it's on a temporary basis.

Rain and Thunder

We had a very heavy rainstorm mid-afternoon today. It not only rained but there was thunder and lightening. Both dogs got really scared as did myself and Carol. I just hope we don't get any more as the ground is very saturated. The garden, such as it is, is nothing but a quagmire and when the dogs did eventually go out they came in covered in mud and we had to keep them in the kitchen to make sure they were dry before coming into the lounge. The floor leading from the patio doors from the garden was covered in muddy paw-prints after they came in. All the work and effort of cleaning the floor earlier in the week for the house inspection gone in a moment. Never mind, it can be mopped again.