Happily Ever After
Life in The Rural Retreat with a beautiful wife, three cats, garden wildlife, a camera, a computer – and increasing amounts about running
Earlier posts can be found on Adventures of a Lone Bass Player, where this blog began life. Recent entries can be found here.
The Beast Beneath The Stairs
by admin - 21:36 on 07 June 2011
Now it can be seen – the mystery creature that steals food from the bowl of The Rural Retreat's unconcerned moggy.
The video was taken during our recent holiday by cat-sitters Soo and Tony with the aid of a motion-activated trail camera. The visitor didn't appear every night, but on one of them the camera was set off more than thirty times.
Or thirty-plus individuals set the camera off once each...
We've seen mice in the past but this visitor appears to be more of the ratty persuasion. Matchgirl, while not delighted, was surprisingly unconcerned. Not totally unconcerned, however. Following internet research, peppermint oil-soaked cotton wool has been placed strategically around the kitchen. Rats are not keen, it seems.
Of course, it may not be a rat. It might be a Siberian hamster.
A further natural drama took place this evening when high wind and lashing rain (it is almost summer, after all) stripped The Nutella Tree of one of its branches.
This wasn't unexpected, for the branch in question (fortunately, not one favoured by pine martens) had been half-separated from the trunk for some time. How much responsibility rests with woodpeckers is impossible to say.
A woodpecker in The Nutella Tree yesterday when it was still whole. The tree's lost limb is beyond the left-hand edge of the snap.
Late News: One of the peppermint-soaked cotton wool pads has disappeared. Matchgirl may have to revisit her internet research.
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