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... the sky is baby blue, and the just-unfurling leaves ...
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Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Sat Jun 16, 18 1:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Love the laid back cat Henry!

Not sure there is any real way to stop squirrels except an air gun pellet in the head, but Vasline might upset them a bit. I didn't realise they could climb smooth metal Jam Lady.

We haven't really got into the biochar market Gregotyn. We will see how much 'fines' we produce in the future and if we continue to get a reasonable quantity, may try marketing it a bit harder. So far our limited trials haven't been very successful. All British charcoal should have a similar calorific value per cubic measure I think, but not sure about imported. It has to be stabilised physically, so they use all sorts of things including starch, and it is rumoured, concrete dust for that, so the calorific value might vary tremendously.

You have been doing well with log nets. Would it be possible for you to reduce the number of days you work so that you cut your hours that way? You would be doing fewer miles, but get the same amount of money for the times you did go to work.

Noticed one of the baby bluetits in the front forks for the tractor had got most of the way up the tube, so was being fed ahead of its siblings. Hope it didn't hog all the food, but looks as if they will be out of the nest soon.

Jam Lady



Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 2501
Location: New Jersey, USA
PostPosted: Sat Jun 16, 18 1:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Have tried the Vaseline, buzzy. Was not an ideal solution - reapplication, greasy fingers, birds - especially woodpeckers, titmouse, nuthatch - like to land on pole then shift over. Especially aggravating for Himself as he made this wonderful swinging bracket so I could easily move it over to refill, with a widget to keep it from swinging when in use.

I have read that a bowl shaped baffle over the pole will work. Pole has a flange at the bottom to help secure it in the ground so how does the baffle fit over that?

PVC pole over the pole, too smooth for squirrel to climb. Same issue with flange.

I told a friend about the wretched squirrel climbing up the screen door. Yesterday she heard the crows cawing and carrying on. There was a large red tailed hawk on the ground under the bird feeder. It flew off with a squirrel in its claws. Nature raw in tooth and claw!

We have another friend who shoots the squirrels, claims they learn and after shooting a couple the rest stay away for a couple of years. I have my doubts, don't want to shoot them. After all, we are - in effect - baiting them in. But if the hawks want to serve as organic pest control I have no objections.

Jam Lady



Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 2501
Location: New Jersey, USA
PostPosted: Sat Jun 16, 18 1:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Our Domino cat admires your levitating cat, buzzy. Neat trick, he thinks. (Glass topped table, I imagine?)

buzzy



Joined: 04 Jan 2011
Posts: 3708
Location: In a small wood on the edge of the Huntingdonshire Wolds
PostPosted: Sat Jun 16, 18 1:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I wondered about Vaseline, re messiness and effect on birds, though ours don't seem to land on the pole first. Our pole is in sections, so it is relatively easy to fit the baffle.

I would have thought that if the squirrel can climb a metal pole or door frame it would have no problems with PVC.


The levitation is just part of Mr Blofeld's super powers, along with disappearing completely and reappearing at the blink of an eye.

Actually he has learnt that the wooden top of his 'cat tree' is barely visible if he flops all over it. I think he is practising illusions prior to appearing on one of those TV talent shows!

Henry

Jam Lady



Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 2501
Location: New Jersey, USA
PostPosted: Sat Jun 16, 18 8:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Domino is also a gravity-defying cat.


buzzy



Joined: 04 Jan 2011
Posts: 3708
Location: In a small wood on the edge of the Huntingdonshire Wolds
PostPosted: Sat Jun 16, 18 10:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I have just realised that our cats have names that are also names of characters from Ian Fleming's James Bond novels. Should we be concerned?

Henry

Jam Lady



Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 2501
Location: New Jersey, USA
PostPosted: Sun Jun 17, 18 3:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Oh buzzy, don't you know that all cats have three different names? As per T.S. Eliot in Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats

https://allpoetry.com/The-Naming-Of-Cats

Domino's house brother is Mr Poe. For Edger Allan



They came from the same barn colony, possibly same father but definitely different mothers.

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Sun Jun 17, 18 6:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Son has a cat called Molly or Molly Mog, but she is also called Miss Furry Paws. Not sure why as her legs and feet are a lot less furry than the rest of her so she looks as if she is wearing boots.

Like your cat pictures both of you.

cassandra



Joined: 27 Mar 2013
Posts: 1733
Location: Tasmania Australia
PostPosted: Sun Jun 17, 18 6:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

A flat I rented in Sydney had vaseline on the downpipes to discourage burglers. The burglers just climbed onto the top of the fence and approached the pipe from higher up (I know, I watched one doing it one Christmas Day when he thought I was away).

My household is reduced to tabbies who are confusing me as well as the dog as I am beginning to struggle to distinguish them one from another now Poppet is growing larger.

Today was wet and I stayed indoors other than to collect fire wood, go clean the bank and generally attend to basic requirements.

My elderly neighbour arrived with his family yesterday and turned up at my back door clutching a roll of lino I had given him to do his kitchen up with. It seems it is not up to scratch now he has loose-lay timber to do the job. I will have to advertise it on the local selling site and hope to get rid of it at a profit.

The decision does seem to be a good one as I noticed several lapses in memory and continuity as we talked (though hearing aides might sort that out) and he seems happy with it. He sought my advice on asking price and I suggested one at the high end of reasonable which he was happy with. I also suggested the two real estate agents that I know to actually work for a living and he toddled off happily. Meanwhile he had a call from a local asking how much he wanted so I am glad he had a price to hand. If he can sell it privately then good luck to him, but I suspect it was just the usual local circling vultures hoping to whack it over on prices.

Anyway I now have a key to his back door so can run in to light the fire when I know they are coming up, or to let in anyone with a legitimate reason to be calling in, so I will await instructions.

The outcome of FB discussions about the Council meeting demonstrate the half the people who turned up wanted to address a matter that was not even on the agenda, so I have suggested a solution that might provide them with either a day in court or a response from Council. Fingers crossed.

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Sun Jun 17, 18 7:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Sounds as if you have been busy Cassandra, even if you have been mainly 'staying in'. Do the cats work as a tag team, or is Poppet, as seems to be the case from you FB posts the boss? If she is, it should be quite easy to tell them apart; she is the leader in anything going on.

buzzy



Joined: 04 Jan 2011
Posts: 3708
Location: In a small wood on the edge of the Huntingdonshire Wolds
PostPosted: Sun Jun 17, 18 10:00 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Oh yes, Jam Lady, I know about cats and their names. Mr Blofeld is also known as Mr Thunderpaws

I just wondered if all this James Bond stuff was part of the great cat conspiracy.


Mr Poe looks like a bundle of mischief.


Incidentally, Mr Blofeld is not named after Ernst Stavro, but after Henry, as soon after he came to us he spent a lot of time looking out of the window at pigeons. If you are not familiar with English cricket commentary, this explanation will confuse, rather than enlighten!


Henry

Jam Lady



Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 2501
Location: New Jersey, USA
PostPosted: Sun Jun 17, 18 7:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Pussifer, used randomly for either cat. Pretty Boy, as in "who's a pretty boy" - ditto.

Domino has a weird habit. He waits until we are both in bed for the night. Lights out. He fishes a small toy mouse out of their toy bin and with the mouse clenched in his jaws starts to caterwaul, quite loudly, as he comes upstairs. Mmmr rowrr, mmrr rowrr. With a sort of rising note towards the end of each string of sounds as though he is asking a question.

Not every night, mind you. But frequently. He drops the toy mousie with a clunk, sort of randomly - in our bedroom, in the hallway, in the bathroom. Anywhere from one to three mousies, each requiring a separate trip. If more than one, still dropped in random places.

And never brings one upstairs in the daytime, or when the lights are on at night.

Jam Lady



Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 2501
Location: New Jersey, USA
PostPosted: Sun Jun 17, 18 8:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

My daughter just sent us the link to this 007 squirrel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9J6YsHyYAMw

If this furry tailed tree rat can manage this I don't stand a chance.

It has theme music so make sure the sound is on.

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Mon Jun 18, 18 7:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

That was part of an experiment to see if squirrels could learn how to negotiate an obstacle course. You will be glad to know that it takes a long time for a squirrel to learn it, so if you change things around you stand some hope. We had a programme on TV about that some years ago, and remember seeing that sequence.

gregotyn



Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Posts: 2201
Location: Llanfyllin area
PostPosted: Tue Jun 19, 18 2:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Clever little pests, squirrels! The red is dying out and the grey taking over. I have seen a small pocket of reds in North Wales about 20 years ago and many years ago in Scotland. My local greys don't cause me any trouble that I know of so if they are about I watch them and leave them alone, but 100% on ingenuity in the film.

I have done very little over the weekend, but chop wood. As long as I do 2 nets a day then I am ahead. I tend to saw one day and chop the next and seem to get 5 nets in the 2 days, aim is around 250 by the end of October, more would be good! I plan on gong to the Show in July, MR and will have a look at the kindling machines and see what is about. Failing that I will get an engineer to make something that takes the sting out of hand chopping wood. I have a design in mind, but I have no where near the ability to make anything with a motor attached!

Thinking of your attempted burglar, Cassandra, I would have waited till he got near and doused him in hot water with an 'Ooh I didn't see you there and a half hearted apology!

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