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8 hours ago, mary1947 said:

Just checked my Premium Bonds   for Aug    message  from PB (Sorry you did not win better luck next time)  message one day might change and say

                                             ""YOUR A MILLIONAIRE""

You could still be lucky this month Mary, the other results aren’t out yet! 

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Just got back from QMC again........the last eight days have been a bit Traumatic to say the least,,...blood tests,,X-rays,,and today a visit to a Consultant........cut a long story short......problem

Result........CT Scans all clear......just got letter..been sweating for a fortnight......

Two years ago today..........my life changed forever,,,about this time i was on my way down to the operating theatre for what turned out to be a ten hour operation...........its been life changing in

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15 hours ago, Brew said:

My daughter had six but Mr Reynard thought that was four too many helped to reduce the number. As you say PP amusing creatures. Pity their scratching makes such a mess of the grass.

We get people coming into the village wanting to lead the rural life and they often start with a few chickens ignoring the wise old yokels when they’re told about the foxes. They quickly learn!

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I lead a very rural life in France for 14 years and befriended a fox. Called him Charlie of course. Found him dead near the house where he had crawled to die after being run over. The year after I reckon it must have been his son that took over his dad's patch. He followed the exact paths at the same times. I was so pleased to see him. They never came too close but we both sat for a while most evenings just watching each other. I didn't attempt to keep chickens there. Had enough trouble with the Herons nicking my fish and the wild boar ripping up the lawns - not to mention the moles!

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PP  I felt sad/happy when you said that Charlie crawled near to your house after he'd been hit by a car.   I love how you and Charlie's son used to sit in an evening just looking at each other.  I think you really understand and relate to animals!   I'mpleased that your chickens seem to have established who's boss in the garden, but the chickens still need to make sure the cats and dog don't catch then off guard!

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There is a sequel to that story Margie. When I arrived at the cottage to stay for a week to do some work, it was quite upsetting to find son of Charlie dead, right in front of the cottage. He had been dead for a while and I could not see any damage. 

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On a more cheerful note, I've just been standing in my garden watching Mr & Mrs Wren with their little brood. I counted 4, perhaps 5, no larger than walnuts, in hot pursuit of the evening insects.  The racket made by the wrens was incredible and so intent were they on their dinner that I was able to stand within inches as they flew round me.  I'm privileged to have seen such a sight. Mrs Wren has been very busy since the spring and I'm delighted to meet her new family.

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PP I feel even more sad now  you’ve told us about Charlie junior...  I tend to anthropomorphasise (sp) so I’m thinking he was unwell and went to look for a human who could perhaps help him get better.  Poor little Charlie Junior. .... i can’t get him out of my mind now ....

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Katyjay, if you're reading this, I had a look on Youtube regarding rock art. Didn't realise it was such a big business, especially on your side of the pond. You can even get special tools and brushes for this type of work. Known as ,'Mandala dotting'. Thanks for the tip. Watch this space,or maybe Beekays paintings. Enough said for now, didn't want to interrupt.

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There’s a young fox wanders around Mapperley Park at night just recently.  We used to get foxes regularly, going through bins but didn’t see any for several years.  This young one seems fearless, he just sits and observes what’s going on, not timid at all.

At our previous, (rural) home we bought a dozen guinea fowl And one by one they were killed by Mr Fox. When we’d lost 6 we bought another dozen.  Eventually every single bird was killed by the fox.  Of course guinea fowl roost in trees, you don’t put them away at night so it’s pot-luck whether they remain safe.  They laid eggs all over the place but we never once tried one as we didn’t know how long they’d been lying in the middle of a flower bed or wherever!  
A friend who came over to do tree work for us would always bring his Border Collie along.  The dog kept himself busy all day by rounding up the guinea fowl and moving them all over the  garden.  

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10 hours ago, Brew said:

If the dining room light is just a switch wire  (no neutral), the fitting or a lighting junction box is probably used in a 'loop in loop out' configuration, there are other ways but that is the most common. Finding and identifying  a neutral will be messy.

 

You have a message Jim. :)

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Yesterday my daughter's little pup ate a fag end whilst out for a walk.  Stef managed to recover the filter tip, but he swallowed the 'baccy'.

 

Some hours later she found him shaking and 'weird'..so she took him to the emergency vets. 

 

Afer taking him into a closed room and allegedly examining him.. they declared him 'fine' and charged 150 quid.

 

Hmm.

 

I suspect he got a bit of nicotine poisoning and reacted much the same way as any of us did to our first Ciggy..  but since there's not enough of him to make a decent Butty.. he probably felt pretty ropey for a while.

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16 hours ago, mary1947 said:

maybe have a fleet of race horse's  with trainers's

Mary, horses come in stables, boats or cars etc, come in fleets, anyway my advice is go for it,  the feeling you get when your horse is first past the post is amazing. There are also the privileges you get at the meetings by being an owner, well, there are here.

15 hours ago, Beekay said:

Shouldn't imagine you'd get much change Mary, if you bought a decent racehorse.

Hi BK, There is a horse in racing here in SA called BEEOKAY makes me think of you everytime it runs

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Sorry for upsetting you Margie. Charlie and son did have a few good years and I like to remember them enjoying our shared territory. Charlie used to sit under a stand of tall cherry trees, listening for a ripe cherry to fall. The day after I would find little piles of cherry stone poo. The first time I saw Charlie jr he was playing with the apples that were hanging low on the branches. He was just full grown and a lovely colour. His dad had gone a different shades of brown and looked a bit dusty. He was probably quite old. So happy memories too.

Jill - how do you stop your cats from killing the wrens?...or other birds?

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PP's post reminded me of mums Freddie fox. Whenever I visited her in Scotland there was always scraps of meat left on the worktop near to the back door. He came every evening always at the same time. He'd wait at the top of the path looking towards the kitchen window. Mum would take the food out and Freddie would dash behind the shed only to pop his head round to see if she'd gone in. Mum loved him as she loved all sorts of animals. She would buy the multi packs of sausages from Aldis or Lidl and he would get two every evening plus the scraps so he was a very well fed fox. One day while I was there I managed to stay outside while he came back for his food and I managed to get quite close to him and managed to take a lovely photo. ( which I've posted before somewhere)  He even brought his wife with him once. When mum came to live here she worried about him saying that he wouldn't be welcome by the new owners and he would be shooed away. Every evening she would say " wonder what Freddie is doing, hope he's not hungry." I would spend hours just watching him and taking photos. He had some comical poses.

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Hi Oz, Beeokay is a bloody good name for a hoss  ! If I were there I'd put a bet on him for sure. You can't  beat

a 6d each way, now and again.

Sorry to hear about the curfews etc down there, it sounds awful. When I said 'Martial Law' it was tongue in cheek but now I'm not so sure. Take care mate. Gudday! 

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Some will laugh ...and let them...but I reckon your mum has found Freddie waiting for her, Nonna.  Those we love, be they human or animal, are linked to us always, in my opinion.  Doesn't apply to gold bars and money. Those you cannot take with you, love and kindness you can take with you.  We shall all find out, shall we not? ;)

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2 hours ago, PeverilPeril said:

Jill - how do you stop your cats from killing the wrens?...or other birds?

PP, two of my cats don't go outdoors. That is their choice. They aren't interested. My two older cats go out on a lead and harness. I live on a busy road and their safety is paramount. They have done so since they were kittens and are quite happy. The eldest has caught birds in the past but now just likes to look and doesn't seem bothered although I watch her carefully.

 

The killer in my garden is a sparrowhawk who regularly strikes and often leaves piles of feathers or an abandoned prey at the foot of a particular large tree.  It is distressing but that's nature, red in tooth and claw.

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Before I moved out here to the ‘sticks’ I lived about 2 miles from the market square in Radford. A small cul de sac off a cul de sac so it was pretty quiet. My garden was quite large and behind the fence at the bottom the ground dropped away sharply with a steep bank and retaining wall holding the ground back so that bank was quiet. Frequent visitors to my garden were badgers and a fox. The badgers were very timid and rarely seen, only at dusk. The fox was quite timid but did occasionally look in through the patio. I recall one day looking out to see about 3 or 4 fox cubs on the lawn play fighting with a local cat. They rolled and played for some time with ‘mum’ fox just sat quietly nearby watching. If I hadn’t seen it I wouldn’t have believed it.

When I worked through the night in the city I would often see a fox walk across the market square. I saw more wildlife in the garden in the heart of Nottingham than I do out here in a very rural village. The most memorable sighting I’ve had was seeing a pair of hares boxing as the mist rolled around them in the early morning.

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He’s right. I’ve seen more foxes driving through Mapperley Park at night then I ever see here in the countryside. Perhaps urban foxes are tamer. I’ve got a night view infra red motion sensor camera which I used to set up in the garden and that revealed lots of activity where foxes, badgers and hedgehogs could be seen picking up the dropped seeds from the bird feeder. 

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Back in the 1950s, the view from my Mum's bedroom window was straight out over the fields, with the old Rigley's Wagon works slightly left.  Straight ahead was the area which Rigley's later used for quarrying sand. but at that time was just rough heathland.  We often saw 'Mad March Hares' 'boxing' on that patch. They were usually right on the skyline so stood out dramatically.

I've spotted a few foxes around the Phoenix Park area when travelling to and from the M1 at Nuthall.

 

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I read somewhere that boxing hares were normally females fighting over a fella. Never had anybody fighting over me though.

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The only time I’ve seen hares boxing was from the window of a property we were staying in in the south of Sweden.  An amazing sight, to me anyway.

In our 5 acre wood in Hertfordshire we had a badger sett, possibly more than one.  I got a call from the owner of a neighbouring field who’d seen men from what I assumed was a Badger Protection League in our fields.  We’d got post and rail fencing, dividing 3 paddocks from the wood and fixed onto that we had sheep wire to keep livestock in.  Bravely I got our beautiful docile but scary-looking Rhodesian Ridgeback on a lead and went to investigate.  These men were cutting big holes in the wire-fencing, to allow the badgers to roam all over the fields.  I told them they were trespassing and to clear off, they went away without uttering a word! 
One moonlit night I got up for the loo, looked out onto the lawn and saw several badgers playing and having fun, little devils used to dig the lawn up regularly.  

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