3rd January

[byslantedlight]

It was a grey day today, and the colour in this dusk sky (5.02pm) was as much as I seemed to see all day. The bright light to the right is actually the tractor working away at its evening jobs - I suspect mucking out the cows, who are a mostly inside while the fields are so wet and muddy. And the wee square light nearby, at the bottom, is my house, waiting cosily for me to get back from my late afternoon walk!

On the bright side it didn't actually rain, and I managed to make a bit of a sloping ledge for my bathtub pond with stones and pebbles, collected a few pond plants from a friend, and placed some other stones around the very edges of the bathtub to help stop soil eroding in. Oh, and filled it with water from my water butte! The plants aren't looking terribly happy at the moment (well it is winter), but I'll take some pics in daylight tomorrow.

I also managed to get through to mum this morning, who was sounding cheerful, so that was good.

Bu-ut... I'm not convinced about this 2022 lark yet. I decided to make a nice healthy Spanish omlette for dinner, and was congratulating myself on having finally found a nice sharp serrated knife for cutting tomatoes and the like, when... eek! eeek! eeek! (that's the knife sound in The Shining, in case you weren't sure) - I manage to slice into the top of my thumb instead of the tomato, across towards the nailbed... blood everywhere! And how hard is it to staunch a bleeding thumb with only one hand, while trying to get your first aid stuff out, and undo bandaids and antiseptic and all? Really hard! Also, ow, ow, owwww! It's still stinging under the bandaid now, which I'm hoping is a good sign of healing rather than a bad sign of infection-gangrene-sorry-we'll-have-to-take-the-arm-off...

Okay, I'm being a bit dramatic, I don't think it's a very bad cut really. *g* But it was quite dramatic at the time, and it does still hurt, and it was distracting enough for the rest of the evening that did I manage to get on with my writing for Thursday as planned after my nice active garden-based day? No... *headdesk* I have a back-up story to post, but it's not the post I want to do, which is actually the post I wanted to do last Christmas! And tomorrow is back to work, so that won't help either... *sighs*

But to end the day on a more cheerful note - I can hear an owl whoo-ing away just outside as I type this, which is always a cool thing. Oh, and there is a squirrel who's coming into my garden from the big farmhouse garden next door and stealing my half-coconut birdfeeders! I hung up two the other day, on big S-hooks from the branches of an overhanging tree, and yesterday I found one of them on the ground with the fibrous-string hanger eaten through. So I replaced them, and today they were both entirely gone! I'm still at the amused phase of this, as I watched the squirrel from my office shed the other day, running along the wall, climbing up branches to the coconuts, and then picking them up and putting her face right into them for a feast! But clearly I will have to find some way to combat this, because while I don't mind her sharing, they're for the birds! I thought the half-coconuts would be better since there's avian flu around, and they could be taken to the farm's burn pile rather than having to be carefully cleaned, but I suspect I'll have to get my rubber gloves out and clean the metal feeders after all... Oh - here are some pics I took of her the other day (from a distance, through a plastic window)!

Comments

[stellar_raven]

Oh no! I am so sorry about your thumb! I hope it feels better soon.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Thank you! It settled down overnight thank goodness! *g*

[shooting2kill.livejournal.com]

I'm always amazed at how very red our blood is and a bit frightening when it flows so I hope your finger's OK. And I was trying to work out what that top night photo reminded me of and I suddenly realised: 'O little town of Bethlehem!'

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

It really was very red and rather alarming!! It settled down overnight though, and I've been "letting the air get to it" today, and it seems to be doing okay. *g*

And wow - yes, I know exactly what you mean about the photo! In fact I rather think that's what I was thinking of when I took the picture, only I didn't know I was thinking of it, if you know what I mean... *g*

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Hope the thumb heals quickly. You have my full understanding of the problem: rush upstairs trying not to drip, open bathroom cabinet and throw out everything to find plasters which are always behind something, continue trying not to drip.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

That's exactly how it was!!! *g* And thanks - it seems to be doing okay today, so hopefully I'll survive! *vbg*

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Oh ouch! The thought of slicing the top of your thumb sends a shiver down my spine.

It sounds as if your bathtub pond is coming along nicely.

And living somewhere without squirrels, their antics always make me smile.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

It rather sent shivers down mine when I did it too! And of course being the top of the thumb it was very blood-y, and I must admit there was a little bit of me worried that I'd sliced further than I thought - but luckily not!

I meant to post pics of the bathtub pond today, but forgot - tomorrow!

I forgot there weren't any squirrels on the Island!

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

Oh, man, that's got to smart. I hope your thumb is feeling better this morning. My husband is always cautioning me (maybe a bit too much!) about watching out when I'm slicing anything that I don't end up slicing one of my fingers.

And, yes, squirrels! They'll steal whatever they can get their hands on. I had three of those hanging wire baskets that you line with coconut liners. Apparently, one was low enough that a squirrel was able to pull out all the fibers! I guess it makes a great nest liner, too. Luckily, the dirt held together long enough for me to reline the basket with plastic bags.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

It really really did!! It's doing much better today though. I did bash it once, and it bled again slightly, but it's settled down again now. *g* I'm usually very careful when slicing - but this new, very sharp knife (rather ominously called a "kitchen devil" in fact...) was something else...!

I don't think they came into my garden last year, so I didn't realise there were any around - but I do now...! I quite like it, though. *g*

[sc-fossil.livejournal.com]

Darn on cutting yourself.

Squirrels! I gave up fighting with them and now they have their own feeder. It seems to work but they are indeed destructive.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh, I was wondering about some kind of squirrel feeder to distract them - I guess you have the kind of food in it that they like to eat best...?

[sc-fossil.livejournal.com]

Actually I buy the cheapest bird seed I don't give the birds and they seem to like it. I do have those bird feeders that automatically close if a squirrel hops on it. They also seem to work. The squirrels will eat under the bird feeders but no longer try to get to them. They can't jump from the fence onto the feeder. It's too far for them. They are very smart and will figure out how to eat no matter what! Good luck!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Belated replies... already this year!

My squirrel has now been caught making off with half a coconut, so I changed my bird feeders to the cage-type - we'll see if she works out a way to deal with them! *g*

[keli]

Ohh I hope your thumb isn't too painful today!!

Your outdoor tub sounds lovely! Glad your mom was cheerful!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

It's definitely settled down, thank you! And phew! *g*

I completely forgot to post the pic I took of the bathtub pond, because it was on my camera phone instead of my camera camera... I'll try and remember tomorrow! I took it on purpose for you too, first thing this morning!!

[f-m-parkinson.livejournal.com]

Lovely photo of the dusk, but bad luck about slicing your thumb. Hope it calms down and heals quickly. And it sounds as though the pond is definitely getting there.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

The dusk is always so pretty around here - well, when it's not raining! And thanks - my thumb didn't actually fall off overnight, and I've been "giving it some air" today, and all seems well so far, so cross fingers! *g*

[heliophile-oxon.livejournal.com]

Ow!!!!! I hope it's not too bad? Sets my nerves on edge just to think of it, so I imagine it was pretty bloody unpleasant to be the main character 🩹🤕😕 Your bird feeder setup looks great, though (we have the same utterly unrepentant and irrepressible squirrels; tried all sorts even 'shooting' at them with dried chickpeas using a rubber band, but they just end up eating the chickpeas as well the wee buggers). We don't run to coconuts, just dried mealworms and mixed seed ground up with lard to hold it all together - seems to go down well when it's cold weather 🍽 Take care, eh, and keep well!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I must admit to being a bit worried last night that it was worse than I thought, because it throbbed away for a while, but it settled down overnight, and I "let the air get to it" today, and now it's a relatively neat square of blood-lined slice! Basically, I think it will be fine... *vbg*

Hee for the squirrels eating what you threw at them!! That reminds me of the time we tried throwing potatoes at a moose who was sitting across the door of my friends house when she needed to get in and get her bag to catch her plane - it just started munching on them! And my friend missed her plane...!

These coconut halves actually have some kind of mixed seed all ground up with lard to hold it together inside them - I'm definitely not giving them actual coconuts! *g* They don't seem to like them as much as the brand I bought last year though - but I didn't want to buy that one, because they cover the individual halves in extra plastic... *sighs* I keep thinking I should save the coconuts and make my own, but realistically that's not going to happen...

[heliophile-oxon.livejournal.com]

I think throwing potatoes at a moose is several orders of magnitude more advanced. Hope the moose appreciated it (presumably it did, if it ate the potatoes 👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽🥔🥔🥔😋

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Hee - the moose seemed perfectly content... Eventually the guys in the flat upstairs came home, and since their door was on the opposite side they were able to go upstairs and drop things on it instead. It finally got fed up enough to leave, but it was too late for my friend! Mind you, we did have the fun of calling the airline and trying to explain the situation so that we could get her on another flight....!

[freetraveller15.livejournal.com]

Happy New Year to you!! And gorgeous pictures, as always!
I am trying to resurface now after the Christmas holidays, as I had family guests from mum's side earlier this month and I spent a lot of time with them.
Hope the thumb cured itself no problem?
Cheers x

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Happy New Year! And thank you! *g*

Happy resurfacing too - it's nice to see you again. My thumb is getting better, thank you! I managed to catch it once part-way through, so sort of had to go back to the start, but hopefully it's straightforward now. *g*