Night Raider

 

Look who I caught in the act this morning when I pulled my curtains. 

Mr Snail (or was it Mrs?) was making a quick getaway after a night-time raid on my strawberry patch, which sits immediately below the window.

With the warm damp weather, the snails and slugs have been out in force the last few days.  I know they are part of Nature, but why do they have to munch so much?

I can see I am going to have to resort to some slug bait to control the invasion or I am going to end up with no garden.

I remember one year, a while ago now, going out at night and “harvesting” snails and feeding them to the hens the next morning.  The chickens eventually got tired of their snail diet and I had to drown the things instead.

I’m afraid I’m not so organic anymore – these days it is much easier to use slug bait and be done with it.

Do you have a favourite method of getting rid of these slimy little night raiders?

Margaret 😊

 

Shriek!

 

I don’t know about you, but I am not very fond of little black furry creatures with four legs and a tail.

Millie, Mittens kitty sister, has been catching a lot of field mice lately and bringing them into the house.  Usually, she meows a certain way and Son goes and rescues the mouse and sets it free outside. 

Only sometimes he is not fast enough, and the mouse escapes to hide beneath some piece of furniture – we have had them under the coffee table, under the lounge chairs, under the dining dresser, and behind the fridge.

(On the good side, that meant the fridge had to be removed from its position – a difficult process – and I was able to take the opportunity to clean behind and under it.)

Image courtesy of smashd.co.nz

Yesterday I was using a bucket of water to sluice the dust out of our bath (it is never used, but it does accumulate a layer of dust in the bottom), and a mouse leapt up at me.

SHRIEK!!!

Water flew all round the room, Mittens dived out the nearest window, and Son came running to see what was the matter.

Poor little mouse!

It must have been curled up inside the plug hole but I have no idea how it got into the bath.  Son soon caught it and it should now be living happily ever after in the field behind us.

Mice don’t belong inside a house!

Margaret 😊

 

Garden Bugs

We have thick fog here this morning, with a muted shiny globe of sun trying to break through.  Once the fog clears the sun is meant to shine, but it will still be cooler than it has been.  Autumn is advancing and winter is coming!

We have had a few different insect sightings around the garden over the last few weeks.  Insects are always with us, if we only stop to see them.  This one is a Grasshopper that was sitting on the fence post.

These two Praying Mantids were presumably mating and not trying to eat each other, as is their cannibalistic tendency.  The female should soon be laying eggs that will hatch next spring.

Stick Insects are not that common, at least to find.  Their camouflage can be highly efficient, disguising themselves as twigs (brown or green) on different trees – we only see them when they move away from their usual haunts.

Our Brassicas (cabbage family plants) have been getting ravaged by Cabbage White caterpillars, so yesterday I dusted the plants with some Derris Dust and squashed any little green fatties that I could find.  

Hidden among the foliage I found the beginnings of a cauliflower.

This cabbage is also beginning to heart up.  I thought I might have planted things too close together, but nature has a way of still doing what it needs to do.

I found this quote the other day, by Hans Christian Anderson –

“The whole world is a series of miracles, but we’re so used to them we call them ordinary things.”

Enjoy nature all around you J

Margaret.

LINKED TO Saturday's Critters

Lock Down Day Ten

Today, Friday 3 April, is Day 10 of our total lockdown.  Have I gone totally bananas yet?  Well, I hope not but I was incredibly grumpy this morning!

I found more pantry moth grubs and discovered some seedlings I had forgotten to plant.  There was a dead mouse sitting out on the terrace and our toilet cistern has begun leaking again.  Blah, blah, blah – just one of those days, really.  They happen sometimes.

Coastal sunset in The Catlins, South Island, NZ

Anyway, son went to the supermarket and managed to find some gunk while he was there (three times the price of a hardware store) so that should fix the toilet.  He also got rid of the mouse.

While he was out I gave my car its weekly exercise – start it up, back down driveway, turn around on the road, drive back up our driveway and stop.  I know vehicles can deteriorate if left sitting unattended for several weeks on end, so Friday has become Car Exercise Day.

My sweet little Suzuki Swift, parked on a mountain

After that I tackled our pantry.  Every item has been removed and checked for moth contamination.  Some food has had to be thrown out (hate doing that), and the rest has been put into sealed Zip-Lock bags before being returned to their containers. 

The shelves have all been scrubbed down and disinfected.  I am hoping that, a bit like fruit fly, when there is no food available the pest will disappear.  As a bonus to all this, the pantry is sparkling clean and very tidy!

The sun rising over Zion National Park, Utah, USA

This evening I will plant out the viola seedlings and hope they survive.  We are still under water restrictions, although not as bad as some places further north from here, but I can water them in with a hand-held hose.

Son reported our local Pak’n’Save supermarket was out of or very low on several items, the strangest being six lonely carrots sitting in a large bin!  They have flour again, but only in 20kg bags, and all of the loose bulk food bins have been packaged up into huge bags.  I wanted a few walnuts, but I now have enough to last me for months.

The sun is shining and I feel much better for having achieved something today. 

Keep smiling J

Margaret.

LINKING UP WITH Skywatch Friday

Pantry Moths and Plovers

I sat outside in the sunshine this morning and enjoyed the peace and quiet until three plovers flew over.  What a raucous bird they are!  So much loud squawking and racketing – they must be one of my least favourite birds. 

They returned soon after, chasing a hawk, and still screeching.  Years ago, on the farm, they used to chase our Pied Stilts until finally there were none left living in our swamp.

A Pied Stilt on the beach

The plover, technically the spur-winged plover or masked lapwing (Vanellus miles) is a native of Australia and arrived in New Zealand under its own power, which meant it became classified as a native bird and in 1946 became fully protected by law.

This protection was removed in 2010 after the bird became widespread throughout every region, and officials received multiple complaints about crop damage and aggressive behaviour towards other native species.

A group of Plovers congregating on open pasture

The last few days we have been inundated with pantry moths which appear to be entering the house from outside each evening (through the cat door!).  Last night we found grubs in an open packet of muesli, which was then disposed of in the kitchen waste bin. 

About an hour later there was a shriek from grand-daughter when she discovered little white grubs crawling all over the kitchen floor!  I am still laughing!!

Horrid things, but we soon cleaned them up.  I have checked our other supplies today and found a few more and disposed of them.  Hopefully there isn’t any more lurking away somewhere in a dark forgotten corner of the kitchen.

Gathering pine cones is a favourite autumn activity, but will remain a memory this year

Life is full of little disasters – we just need to learn to laugh at them J

Margaret.

A Dead Mouse

It was a quiet normal everyday morning, doing a bit of housework and cleaning up here and there.  I picked up the sheepskin rug on my floor to shake it, and let out a screech loud enough to bring son running.

There, under the rug, was a squashed dead mouse – not only that, there were THINGS crawling around it and over it.  Ugh!  Double ugh, actually.  It was revolting and freaked me out a bit, especially the thought that it was probably squashed because I had probably walked on it. 

I am so glad I have a son who is not squeamish, and he cleaned it all up for me.  The sheepskin has been washed and is now sitting outside starting to dry, which I know from experience will take several days.

An hibiscus flower giving a last taste of summer

The weather today is decidedly autumnal.  We had fog first thing and that has lifted to 100% cloud cover.  There is no sun, no rain, no wind, but it is still comfortably warm so no problems.

I never let the mouse ruin my morning though, and have cooked both Savoury Mince and Beef Stew.  We will have some of the stew with veggies for our dinner tonight.  The remaining stew and the mince will be frozen so we can have some ready-made meals in the freezer.

Belladonna Lilies, also called Naked Ladies because the flowers arrive before the foliage

I have also been on the phone rather a lot this morning, or so it seems.  It is nice to catch up with people though, and hear all the latest gossip about what is happening in their lives.

Hoheria populnea, or Lacebark, is a native New Zealand tree

The flowers are all ones that I have seen flowering at this time of the year.  Autumn is arriving!

Margaret.

We Have Sunshine!

Today the sun is back in full force.  On Saturday we had a few lovely showers and yesterday (Sunday) we had two late afternoon thunderstorms that came through close together.  

Son checked the soil moisture this morning and it was damp for only a few bare millimetres.  We still need some prolonged gentle rain to recover from this spell of drought.

I could hear thunder rolling around when I took this photo

Today the skies are blue, the sun is shining, there is no wind, and it is getting too hot to be outside again. 

Back to blue skies

The hanging baskets are about at their end now and will need to be replanted for winter – I thought maybe violas would look nice. 

I was happy to see that the tuberous begonia in its wall pot is now finally beginning to flower.

Tuberous begonia 

Most of yesterday was spent with a trip to Auckland to visit a relation.  It was a pleasant drive up to the city and took me about two hours to reach my destination.

Coming home took me nearly 30 minutes longer.  The traffic was bumper to bumper on some parts of the Southern Motorway and Waikato Expressway, mostly due to roadwork disruptions and every man and his dog deciding to go out for a drive. 

A new section of highway that will improve things dramatically has now been officially opened – but is not yet open to traffic to use.  There was some excuse about needing to finish a crash barrier, but a lot of people are finding it ridiculous to open a road before it is open.

Today I am recuperating!  A long day seems to leave me tired these days, but I have still managed to do what housework needed doing (cleaned bathroom, washed towels, tidied kitchen etc.) but decided I will leave the floors until tomorrow.  They are not going anywhere!

Son found a new Paper Wasp nest by the compost heap

I am enjoying reading more of Gayelord Hauser’s Look Younger Live Longer.  As a consequence I have dragged the juicer out of the cupboard and had a lovely juice with my avocado and salad lunch.

Juicer and juice

I used several carrots, a long stalk of celery, one apple, and a large piece of ginger.  The ginger was a little overpowering – I used too much – but the juice was still very enjoyable.

There is a pineapple sitting on the bench, so I will chop that up later and may have some pineapple and celery juice before dinner.

It is son’s turn to make dinner tonight and I believe we are having nachos, so a juicy appetizer might be quite nice.

Cheers everyone J

Margaret.

Whitebait and Wetlands

It is hot and sticky here this week, and almost impossible to sleep well at night.  This morning I left early to visit the supermarket, fill up the car with petrol, collect a script from the pharmacy, and take a quick foray into a department shop to search for some drawers we need for the kitchen (no luck). 

Home again, and I went to change into some cooler clothes and discovered that Mittens had brought a mouse into my bedroom.  A live mouse!  One that ran everywhere!  It finally hid in a shopping bag, which son carried outside and carefully emptied until there was just the mouse left – it was freed and the cat immediately began chasing it again.

The mouse, only a tiny one, found refuge under a pile of cardboard waiting for rubbish collection day and remains there still.  There is one cat on one side of the pile, and another cat on the other side.  I begin to feel sorry for the mouse!

I have finished reading my first book for February – Whitebait and Wetlands, Tales of the West Coast by John Dawson and David Henshaw.  The book is a series of tales, both true and not-so-true, about the antics of some of the larger-than-life characters who lived on the West Coast during the 1960s and 1970s.

These men (and women) had their own sense of humour and a unique code of ethics that often resulted in a general lack of respect for rules and regulations.  A good read if you don’t mind the occasional bit of coarse language.

The photos above are a selection of some I took while driving down the West Coast last year.

Cheers,

Margaret

P.S.  Nearly an hour later, and I see the mouse has won.  The cats have given up in disgust and left the wee thing to its own devices.  Mittens is now sprawled out on my sheepskin rug, and Millie is sound asleep under the garden seat.  Sleeping is the best thing for a cat to do on a hot humid afternoon! 

Smoky Skies And Paper Wasps

We have had a lot of cloud around today, most of it tinged with orange.  This morning I was out on the roads and every time there was a view of the distance it was shrouded in a thick blue haze.  Smoke from the Australian bush fires has definitely reached our northern skies (it showed up in the South Island a few weeks ago).  I shall have to keep a watch out for spectacular sunsets, not that that helps my Australian friends who are still battling fires that keep flaring up.

This photo was taken in 2006 when we had smoke in our skies

On another note, I went for a wander around our garden and found the beginnings of a paper wasp nest.  We had a lot of them visiting us recently but numbers have dropped off dramatically and so we thought a neighbour somewhere must have destroyed a nest.

The new nest we have found

Three kinds of paper wasps are now found in New Zealand (they are different from the common wasp) – the Australian paper wasp which was accidentally introduced in the late 1800s, the Asian paper wasp which arrived in the 1970s, and the recently found Asian paper wasp which first appeared in the last ten years and is rapidly spreading throughout the country.

Paper wasps are now classed as the number one pest in urban environments and a summer campaign is being mounted to help eradicate them.  The advice is to wait until evening and then spray the nest with fly spray, making sure there are no vulnerable children or pets etc. around to face the ire of the wasps.  Once the adults have died, detach the hanging nest from its position and place into a bag.  Then freeze the nest to kill off any remaining larvae.

Years ago we discovered a large nest hidden in our rambling garden.  My husband sort advice from his workmates and was advised to douse the nest in petrol, which he did.  It killed the wasps immediately and he then set fire to the nest and burnt it.  Not a very correct way to eradicate these pests, but it was effective.

It is a shame these pests keep getting introduced into our country.

Margaret.

A Fly Invasion

One of my mother's oil paintings

We are being invaded by dopey small flies that hover in the centre of the room and, when you walk through them, threaten to turn you into the Old Woman Who Swallowed A Fly (loved that rhyme when we were children!).  These horrid little flies always seem to be the first ones to arrive as the weather warms up.  There are so many of them but I know by experience that their numbers will lessen as the season advances.

Next to invade us will be the big fat noisy blow-flies.  At least they will sit on things so I can swat them!  They are followed by the main troops – the normal house flies that will settle in for summer in plague proportions.  Just to make things more interesting, we can also expect to get grass flies after the cows have been eating in the neighbouring field.

I detest fly spray almost as much as the flies.  Flyspray dispensers are even worse, and if I have to sit beside one for any length of time I usually end up feeling ill.  Consequently I am quite an expert with the fly swat, except for the pesky hovering flies as they are almost impossible to hit.

Apples, a watercolour by my mother

Well, that is my moan over and done with!!  It has been a busy day so far, taking grand-daughter to school then visiting the shops, before back home and getting the washing hung out.  We are lucky to have a clothesline under the carport so we don’t have to be dependent on sunny weather to get it dry.

Then son and I put the final touches to our living room by hanging up some pictures.  Nine of them to be exact, and five of them were executed by my mother – three oils, one watercolour, and one pencil.  She loved her art and became quite an accomplished amateur artist during her lifetime.

Another of my mother's oil paintings

We have sausages, mashed potato, broccoli and pumpkin for dinner tonight, and it is my turn to get the vegetables ready.  Might have a cup of tea first J

Keep your mouth shut around flies!

Margaret