I don't have the heart to move him, so I guess he's here to stay.We have had an incredibly dry spring, the water level is very low and our rivers which are normally high at this time of year sport levels that we don't even see in the middle of summer. Suddenly, there are beaches where there used to be water. Our frog pond is dry, observe:
Maybe that's why Mr. Toady McToaderson is in my herb planters?The weather has been beautiful - but dare I even say it? - it's almost too hot outside! We reached a scorching 31 C today with no end in sight for the week. It's hard to believe we had snow just a month ago. I always say it's all or nothing here - our climate can go from -30 to +30 in no time at all. In 2007, the last time we had wheat planted, it went into the ground at the end of May. This year it was planted on Easter weekend, nearly 7 weeks earlier.
Today I found my seed packets I kept inadvertently hidden (that's a nice way of saying I put them somewhere for safe keeping and forgot the location). I have some ornamental grasses and small sunflower seeds that I keep meaning to plant, but keep forgetting about. This is the year! I went to check out the potting shed where I put my potting soil from last year.
Behold my contraption:
A 20-litre pail with a lid, and an overturned terracotta pot for good measure.I lifted off the pot:
And underneath the lid, I found this mouse nest:
Finding something like this always makes me laugh. I can picture the little mice family, crawling through the hole in the pot, and then into the hole into the lid, and furnishing their little mouse den with bits and pieces of fibre glass insulation and grasses. They are so smart!We had mice at work this spring, and after much deliberation, someone brought in a Hava-heart trap. We managed to capture 7 mice, and convinced our equally animal-loving boss that he needed to relocate them a minimum of 2 miles away so they wouldn't return.
He obliged.
2 comments:
thanks for the smile your post put on my face. Toads only live in healthy environs. Enjoy him and shelter him till the rains come. I can't say I'm as kindly toward mice but I think they thought they had a good shelter in your white bucket under the pot. Cute!
Glad I put a smile on your face, likewise your comments always put a smile on mine!
You might be surprised, but the mice we caught at work were really very, very cute. (Especially when they're caught in a trap, and you can look at them eye-to-eye - LOL). I know some people can't fathom the thought, but they're really very pretty little animals.
The toad was almost completely buried yesterday afternoon when I got back from work, and before I went to bed, I looked one last time and he was gone. Checked again this morning, and he still wasn't back. Now that my herbs are established, I'd love to move them to a brighter spot, but don't dare move them without the toad! Ahh...what's a bleeding heart to do?
Enjoy your day, hope it's as spectacular as what we're having.
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