Of rats, bats, carpets and snow

RATS

A little while ago I opened up one of my garden compost bins and found some pretty large holes in the top of the compost, these (I instantly knew) were rat runs and whilst in general I am not squeamish I will admit that I don't like rats. I don't know why, I can hold in my hands a 6' python and not flinch and I have lost count of how many mice I have had to catch (often with my bare hands) as a result of one of our cats forays into the garden. I have captured a pigeon by hand, I have picked up frogs and dispatched war-torn wildlife from this mortal coil. I've even captured  squirrel on the loose in one of my Supermarkets but for some unfathomable reason   I   DON'T LIKE   RATS.

So I called a pesty man in.

Well we opened up the compost bin and the large holes had gone leaving several small holes instead, quite clearly mouse holes. I, feeling a bit of a fool, tried to defend my judgement by explaining how big the rat holes had been. He obviously sensed that my pride was injured and explained that these are mice holes however he then took me to the back of the bin to a massive pile of earth over a foot deep, "that", he explained, "could only have been made by rats". I felt vindicated. Furthermore the top of the thick plastic bin had been eaten by big, nasty, rat teeth. I left him (with an undignified haste) to do what he does. When he had finished I took the opportunity to show him some droppings by the back door of the cottage which I suspected were mice droppings. There is a small hole just above the door and I assumed that the mice were climbing up into the fabric of the building, although I was surprised that the mice were clambering up so high.


BATS

He picked up the droppings, smelt them, crumbled them between his forefinger and thumb and then declared "Bat droppings". So we now have bats roosting in a cavity above the door. We should have put two and two together as last year Claire was standing close to this area and a couple of times she had a bat fly by almost hitting her head.


CARPETS

After 2 years living with a dirty old carpet in our main living room, always feeling a little uncomfortable when using the room for guests we have now had a new one fitted. The old one was made up of tiles and had no underlay. The cold came up from the damp earth that the concrete floor had been set onto. So we bought the thickest underlay and a fairly thick carpet. The result is a springy plush feel underfoot along with a new found warmth in the room. It is fair to say that we are very happy with it now.


As you can see our cat also seems to enjoy it too. Or else she's having a fit!!

AND SNOW

Norfolk has been under siege this last week by snow. A lot of it at that.

We had a reasonable amount at first and when it let up and the sun came out I decided to put on the snow shoes and head to the coast for some photographs. When I got there I was quite disappointed as they seemed to have had very little snow so I took the opportunity to go to the Cley marshes bird hides instead. The coast had one of those fabulous vast Norfolk skies, totally blue without a cloud in the sky. I was only in the hide for 20 minutes and as I watched a cloud wall started to build up way out in the north sea. Then a flash of light caught my eye which at first I thought was lightening but as this seemed incongruous with the bright sunshine all around me I assumed it was a flash from someone's camera.


I then left the hide and started to walk the quarter of a mile through the reed beds to get back to my car. As I walked on I became aware of deep rumblings of thunder behind me. I turned to face the North sea only to find myself facing a wall of dark, very, very dark storm clouds moving in from the north. It was hard to gauge just how fast they were moving but I felt very small as I looked up at this thunderous mass. The blackened, leaden sky was an exact opposite to my view to the south which was bright sunshine and blue skies. This I thought was a very peculiar storm. I attempted to photograph the storm cloud which was an impossible task as I was right on it's coal face, it was just too so vast. It appeared to me to be moving as a clearly defined entity and the darkest, blackest bit was heading Cromer and Sherringham's way.

Later I found the next photo on the net that someone had taken of the same storm driving in from the North sea seemingly from nowhere. This is an amazing photo because it shows it coming in at Sherringham, exactly where I thought it would hit land and it is not too unlike a tsunami in appearance. The speed at which it moved took me by complete surprise and as I drove southward towards the bright blue skies and home the snow started to fall and this snow storm quickly engulfed me.

By the time I got home there was thick snow bellowing around and the local news started to report major hold ups and road closures all around the Norwich area, the real snow had started in earnest.

The next day the sun shone and the sky was again blue. The storm had deposited several more inches of snow and so at dawn I headed off with my camera. The roads were treacherous as it had been -13c during the night and everything was frozen solid so I did not even risk taking the 4x4 out and I chose to just walk around the fields near us.


These then are a few of those photos...

All done for now, I'll catch up with you all later.





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