The Year's Work Draws to a Close

My impending operation (see http://diaryofakidneydonor.blogspot.co.uk/) is now only a week away so the end of the year's work is close for me.  I will be in no position to be able to do anything at all strenuous or difficult for some time, almost certainly into 2014. That will of course mean that any lifting is out but even bending down might be too much for me for a while. These last few days have been concentrated therefore on doing various odd bits which either really must be done now (or wait for another year) or else are things which have a benefit exceeding the time and effort required (i.e. they please 'Er Indoors).

One important thing was to put an insert into the chimney pot for the fire in the third bedroom.  We have twice had an idiot wood pigeon fall down this, presumably by falling asleep and overbalancing (and probably not the same bird).  The first time was before I fitted the secondary glazing; it got into the bedroom and I was able to open the window and shoo it out.  The second time was this summer and I had fortunately removed the secondary glazing for ventilation; this time it was sat just up in the chimney refusing to budge, so I had to open the window, reach up with a gloved hand, grab and then quickly throw whatever I had grabbed out of the window.  It flew off leaving a trail of feathers, but it was not impressed at this treatment!

The difficulty in stopping pigeons falling down was that (a) I didn't want to block off the chimney as it needs to be ventilated, (b) the top of the chimney is about 9 feet above the gutters so it is VERY high and (c) the chimney is rectangular and no-one seems to sell a rectangular vented clay hat.  I therefore made my own device but it looks so odd that I'm embarrassed to add a photo of it. To fit it I borrowed a ladder which reached the fascia and used a long pole with a hook on the end and managed to lower the device into place without falling off the ladder.  Thinking about that now, perhaps I shouldn't have taken that risk as any injury would have scuppered the operation next week.

Secondly, I've had to cut the grass which was only laid a couple of weeks ago.  I thought that this would not be needed again before winter but it was almost 10cm high, so I've done a high trim. It looks as though it has been down for years.

Thirdly, I've been doing various bits in the lounge, such as tackling the plaster which was damaged during fitment of the window (the one fitted in June 2011...).  I've also sorted the wooden poles which form the corners of the plaster on the chimney breast and the window bay.  These had been papered over years ago but have now been scraped clean and given a coat of wood hardener which has brought them up nicely.  Finally, I removed the door and cut a half inch off the bottom so that we can lay carpet somewhen; while it was off I decided to remove the brown gunk (it's not paint or varnish) on the inside, ready for painting somewhen. When all the dirty work is done we can seriously plan to buy a carpet, which will please the other half a lot!

The final job was outside again: the ivy in one apple tree had been ignored as it gave privacy and security (as well as cover for birds).  I realised that it was very high so I decided to remove a lot of this to allow the tree to breathe again and possibly grow better next spring. It's a once a year job for the autumn only so it was now or leave it for another year.  Now I have to dispose of the foliage!

Fat Birds and Drunk Slugs

We've been getting some surprising pleasure form watching the antics of the birds in our back garden.  I knew there were lots of bird resident locally, and was quite worried about depriving many of them of their nesting places when we cleared the garden.  Hence I made sure that the hedgerow around the walls of the garden was left as it was, with thick ivy and various other shrubs growing up/on/through it.  Last autumn we put up a bird feeder in which Jane puts those fat balls that you can buy; this hangs from the apple tree just outside the new kitchen window and so we have a good view of the goings-on. 

Firstly, there is a healthy flock of house sparrows here (some of who actually used to live in the wall of our house!), and they are quite adept at imitating blue tits and hanging on the feeder cage to peck the fat.  The apple tree has a high canopy and a single low horizontal branch which is bare for the first ten feet, and there are often three or four sparrows perched there waiting whilst others are feeding.  Then there are some Blue Tits and the odd Great Tit - they prefer not to mix with the sparrows who are quite noisy and possessive.  A surprise earlier in the year was the sight of three juvenile Long-Tailed Tits, and we were very happy recently to have further sightings of several of these relatively unusual birds.  There are a couple of Dunnock who only peck at the bits on the ground which have fallen from the feeder, joined occasionally by a Chaffinch.  Finally, there's a Robin who is more than possessive.  He is a little thug who terrorizes the other small birds to claim ownership of the worn patch immediately below the feeder, and occasionally (largely unsuccessfully) tries his own impersonation of  Blue Tit on the feeder.

The heavy mob obviously are ground feeders as well.  There's a number of Wood Pigeons (and the Robin knows his place with them), but there's also a pair of Collared Doves who dislike the Wood Pigeons!  It's a real soap opera out there sometimes.  Blackbirds are rarely seen - there was a melodious one who used to sing beautifully, up and down the street every morning and evening, but he fell silent in August and so I expect a cat got him. The last of the ground feeders is a mouse who I have seen just twice, when the area was quiet. We also have a Wren who lives in the hedge on the wall, but he is rarely seen and is cetainly not tempted by the fat balls.

The front garden wall is unfortunately just the right height for passers-by to sit on. I don't usually mind this, apart from those who sit there talking loudly, especially when we are trying to sleep, but since I did the secondary glazing this has not been such a problem.   I also object to those who sit there eating and drinking (again, usually at night) and then leave their rubbish in our garden. One of these the other day had clearly had too much to drink, as I went to pick up a can in the morning and found that it was still sealed. Shame I don't drink lager...  At the same time I picked up another open can which clearly had some liquid still inside, and found when I tipped it out that it contained about 20 dead slugs!  Obviously the advice to gardeners to use beer in a can to eradiate slugs does work!