Deterring Hunters

The goldfish are thriving.  The largest has grown from 3" to about 9" in the two years since I got them.  Until a few days ago when David was here I had never seen a seagull try to take one.  Then one evening a Black-backed Gull flew into the pond, attempted to get one (but got a beak full of pondweed instead) and flew off: all within a few seconds.  David was in the study and I was in the kitchen.  We both raced out.  We immediately erected a rough and ready defence-against-the-maurauding-gulls contraption.  It's still there and still deterring the enemy who makes constant forays to see if he can get at the fish.  So my next challenge is to see if I can find an acceptable deterrent which doesn't spoil my enjoyment of the pond and rockery but keeps the fish safe.  

I would perhaps understand a bit better and be more sympathetic to the seagull if there wasn't plentiful stocks of sand eels down in the bay a hundred metres away. 

Can I just add that the beautiful weather we've had the last few days has kept me from Blogland during the day and the fact that the internet has been down a lot and I've had visitors has kept me off in the evening and first thing in the morning.  It's a hard life.  My new bed has arrived though and is ready for occupation tonight so perhaps tomorrow...... 

Peace and Tranquility: A Study in Blue

with a little bit of red.

I can't make up my mind whether the beautiful weather yesterday and today with sun and blue skies intermingled with amazing high clouds giving an almost surreal effect at times.  It's been very warm too (by Hebridean standards).

It's Not My Fault

Many people complain about the nanny state.  Until, that is, someone does something that annoys us.  Then the first thing many say is "Someone should do something about that."  Which, of course, means the government in one of its many central or local forms.

At the weekend I came across last winter's magazine from the company that provides my vehicle breakdown service.  The fact that drink-driving is on the up caught my eye.  Then I saw the question "Who's to blame?".  What?  Surely there is only one person to blame when someone drinks and drives and that is the person who drank and drove.

The government may be able to help prevent it by executing drink-drivers or even by imposing some lesser penalty but does that make the government to blame for drink-driving?  You could outlaw alcohol production and sale (fat chance!) but are the producers and sellers of alcohol actually to blame for its misuse?  

Isn't it about time we actually started taking responsibility and blame for our actions?

Concreting: Day Four: Conclusion

The rain finished exactly at the time the Met Office had predicted late this morning and the blanket grey sky gave way to a mixture of blue and high cloud.  The rest of the weekend looks pretty dire so we uncovered yesterday's work to discover that the rain damage was minimal.  We set to work to do the final piece of the job which we had scheduled to be done when the rest was dry.  We decided that Molly had suffered enough being shut in the house and was unlikely to walk in the bit to be done today.

 Molly loves hoses!

She will do her best to 'catch' the water

Molly loves to know how things are done.

Job done

I still have to make a new flush manhole cover.  So hopefully from now on I'll not be tripping over the uneven surfaces and through puddles to get to the garden shed.  A job well done which I am sad to say I could no longer do alone.  Thanks to David and The Gazelle.