Ice Castles

Snow and ice carving competition

Is it a bird? Is it a pig? Is it a dustbin?

No, it's a Pippa dog!

Normally chickens get left-overs. But on our farm they don't. Because there are none. Because someone else eats it all. Here is Pippa dog demonstrating that she can eat anything a chicken can eat.

Sunflower seeds, husks and all

Notice how confused brown dog is at the idea that she is meant to eat this, while Pippa doesn't even stop to consider.

https://youtu.be/ku3LAQradDw

Corn

https://youtu.be/JXFRyS69s78

Wheat

https://youtu.be/TLWkTz3aoPk

Don't think I recommend this. I don't. Pippa will have her normal dinner tonight. Despite this, in the morning she will be starving. I don't understand this - why eating more leaves her hungrier, but dogs didn't evolve to digest cereals and I guess that's maybe got something to do with it.

The problems with mieces

I never thought mice would be such a problem on a farm with so few animals. 

The fields are just riddled with them.

Normally I'd leave my winter veg in the ground and harvest as needed.

But they disappear.

You come to pick it and find it is just a hollow shell with a mouse/vole/rat tunnel below.

And every autumn the mice move in.

The cats occasionally bring mice in the house. But we have traps for them and they are relatively easy to remove and once gone, they are gone.

The autumn invasion is different.

Every autumn we spend several weekends reinforcing mouse defenses.

This year in the cellar we had to cement the walls and build a mouse proof potato bin when they dug thru the walls.

In the barn we had to reinforce the walls everywhere they had chewed a way thru to get at the chicken feed.

And now they are in the house roof, between the walls. How did they get there? And how to get them out?

We think this is the most likely culprit:

These poles were put up to grow grapes on,

https://worldofwuwu.blogspot.com/2017/10/grape-vine-transplant.htm

but became repurposed for down gutter supports.

But maybe they have been repurposed once more as mouse ladders? 

Time to repurposed some old rusty metal sheets as mouse baffles

First, mark a large semi circle

Then a smaller one at the centre - the circumference of this semi circle needs to match the circumference of the pole.

Cut out

Bend

Drill hole (it helps if you punch a small guide hole first

Insert nutsert

Fit to pole

One way only sign for mice

 Fingers crossed for no more chewing, scampering and squeaking noises in the night. Otherwise we'll be back for round 2.

It's cold outside.....

......and the eggs are frozen

Hurrah! Pippa's favourite toy works again.

There were two reasons why Pippa's favourite toy hadn't got out of the cupboard much since we came to slovenia; I had no idea where to buy the blanks to power it (a neighbour helped with that 6 months ago) and my hands are no longer strong enough to hold it, so I always needed someone else's help.

But the making of a stool gave me an idea

See those triangles taken out the bottom to makes legs...?

Well, they make perfect wedge shaped supports.

A scrap bit of plank, 4 screws and a hole later,

And

The dummy launcher lives again.

Here's Pippa showing that she hasn't forgotten

https://youtu.be/iBxsMU9-T2E