In the morning we did our weekly shopping, and stopped off at the aged aunt to have a shower and collect our post. Then in the afternoon I finished the bricklaying for the support columns for our rainwater recovery storage system.
Of course this meant I was hot and sweaty; and as LSS had been tackling the brambles, so was she. So we had a bath in the garden in the late afternoon sunshine. Two washes in one day – we feel like we’ve won the lottery!
The following reminds me of a story I read somewhere a while ago – I don’t know how true it is. Some time in the fifties, someone placed an advertisement in the New York Times. “Guaranteed Cockroach Killer! Send in your dollar now!”
People that sent in a dollar received, by return post, two pieces of wood, with the instructions to place the cockroach on one piece of wood and hit it with the other. A complaint was received, but no action was taken because the advertisement was not actually misleading.
Why this story? Well, tonight LSS and I carried out several Colorado Beetle patrols. These beetles are out in force amongst the newly-sprouted potato plants. We took it in turns to patrol up and down the rows of potatoes, armed with a half-brick and a small piece of roof-tile. We place the Colorado beetle on the small piece of roof-tile and hit it with the brick. Guaranteed results. We must have disposed of well over 20 beetles in the space of an hour or so. Patrols will resume tomorrow, as bad light stopped play.
Wildlife diary: I decided to exclude the Colorado beetles from this as, although they are technically wildlife, they’re not welcome. Instead, I chronicle the rescue by LSS of a very bright green 30-cm long lizard from the cat. It was playing dead (the lizard, not the cat). We released it into the garden where it lay motionless, its little sides heaving for breath. We left it alone and when we returned ten minutes later it had gone. So it had obviously run off into the shrubbery. Mind you, the cat was looking rather well-fed. Although that is her normal appearance.