It's not 'otter in the Vendée!

Half-term visit to our house in the Vendée last week. It was minus 7.1 one morning but the stream at the bottom of the garden hadn't frozen I noticed. Then for a golden five minutes I was really really happy (normally I tick-over at my standard really happy level). Funny, small-dog sized creatures in the field opposite. Crept nearer, they all dived into the stream but not before I saw their whiskers. Otters! One of the rarest creatures going - just fancy, at the end of our garden!

I started thinking, Tarka the Otter, Ring of Bright Water, perhaps I could tame them!

Put right very quickly by a neighbour. 'Blasted nuisance, Coypu (or Ragondin in French) - you can shoot them you know'. Apparently they make good pâte.

Mystery Story

At Book Group this month we had 'The Testament of Gideon Mack' and 'Snow Falling on Cedars' to ponder. Quite different, like comparing black with white said one member, which was quite apposite considering one was about the Devil and the other, well, snow.

There was some discussion on the benefits of clear endings and the more ambiguous makes-you-think variety. I prefer the latter, so that is why I finish with my own (true) what-was-that-all-about ending.

So walking home, in the evening gloom, a young lady passed me, she had two white ferrets on leads, pulling her along. And a greyhound.

A Foxy Tale

After the vegetarian foxes finished off my beetroot crop last year I resolved to keep aforesaid cunning creatures out this year. What do they see in beetroot anyway - I always thought my beasts (the correct collective noun can be lead, leash or skulk) looked a bit more purple than the average reynard. Not that it was straightforward for them, as they had to get through netting.

So this is my 'before' picture, prior to initiating anti-fox measures. Stronger netting is what I need. Or perhaps to grow something different. I wonder how foxes feel about carrots?