3.11.2025 And then there were four.

 ~o~

  Monday 3rd 44F/6.7C [7.50] A mixed day of showers, possible sunshine and steady rain later. 66F/19C in the room. It reached 72F/22C last night thanks to the stove.

 Up at 7am after waking earlier and drifting. For all my irritation at lying awake I was completely unaware of the bright orange, flashing lights of the recycling lorry. The cameras recorded it with a quarter of an hour interval at the front and back of the house. Albeit at a distance of one hundred and two hundred meters distance. A male pheasant has taken up residence in the area. He keeps triggering the camera's AI software. I just watched him ponder on escaping over the hedge. Finally he jumped and was gone.

 I am expecting a parcel. The delivery company is, yet again, demanding my presence. Is there any other commercial business? Which can dictate a home owner make themselves available. Only to regularly fail to deliver on their side of the contract. May I go for my morning walk? They state only from 8-16.00 in their virtual missive. From previous experience I would hazard an after lunch audience.

 I decided to go anyway. No birds of prey visible. Though one was calling from behind the dense, roadside hedge. A gaggle of geese flew over. Sunny periods but rather cloudy. 

 9.10 My parcel arrived just as it became very dark. 

 15.00 I now have four security cameras covering the entire circumference of Chez Hovel. The last two were very inexpensive. Having recently been replaced by updated models. They still provide all that I require in image quality and night vision. With high scores on reviews.

I hope to catch, on camera, whatever is digging under the fiberglass pond. 

Dinner was a salmon pasty with chips and gravy. 

 

  ~o~

2.11.2025 Life is silly.

 ~o~

  Sunday 2nd 50F/10C [7.40] A grey, windy day with possible showers.

 Up at 7am. 

 I had a half hour brisk walk but there were no birds of prey this morning. I looked for the queue for a wildlife refund but it was Sunday. I also live right in the middle of nowhere. So being realistic.. it wasn't really going to happen. Like so many other things in my life. It tried to rain but gave up when I pressed on.

 For some unknown reason YouTube is suddenly flooding me with home improvement videos. When I would much rather be watching something else. Like how not to kill my plants. I was advised to bring my outdoor plants into the greenhouse for protection. Do they want or even need protection? Apart from protection from my haphazard watering routines of course.

 11.30 It appears to be brightening up. Blue holes are leading to brief sunny intervals. It didn't last.

 16.30 Back from town with plastic storage baskets and network cables. There is a group of big shed outlets open on Sundays. Very handy. The sky was black in the west as I left each shop doorway. Though it stayed dry. 

 Dinner was sausage on toast. Yes, I know it is very silly but the sausage was past it's 'best by' date. I added brown sauce for a touch of sophistication.

 

 ~o~

1st November 2025 25km in a busy day.

 ~o~

  Saturday 1st November 46F/7.8C [8.00] Grey and breezy. Supposedly a sunny morning but a rainy afternoon. Mild peak at 11C/52F.

 Up at 6.30 after getting bored with lying there feeling sorry for myself. 

 8.12 Time for a walk. 

8.55 And back again. I made it to my usual roundabout in the lanes. Despite the cold easterly wind.  Two, large, brown birds of prey retreated. A huge flock of geese went over at a good height. Heading east. 

 The traffic was quiet on the outward journey. Much busier on my return. Several pheasants were hiding behind the hedge outside the house. They exploded noisily into the air. I was glad for my gloves and deep pile fleece jacket today. The heavier jacket is much warmer and far more wind resistant than the other. Both are recycled and cost pocket change. 

 After morning coffee I shall have my routine Saturday morning ride. To another shopping village about 12km away. With two competing, supermarket chains we don't have locally. Plus a couple of charity shops.

 I have moved the poorly rubber plant into the room. It has suffered from brown stains on the leaves since purchase. Which was probably a couple of years ago. I liked the plant for its creamy variegation. So I hoped it would improve over time with new leaf growth. 

 The front hall, where it was previously standing. Suffers from large temperature variations and draughts. It was quite sunny but shaded during the summer.  All its new leaves are fine but the original leaves are still ugly.  

 12.25 Back from a 25km ride to the more distant shops. A headwind going but almost effortless return. A female kestrel was hovering at the end of the drive.

 14.15 It has started raining without ever turning to sunshine. 

 I removed the greenhouse pond filter and gave it a clean. Actually more of a repeated rinse. Using rainwater collected in all the buckets outdoors. The pump casing was covered in thick algae but still pumping well. 

 I rescued a few Anacharis elodea plants too and brought them into the indoor aquarium. There are no fish indoors. So I hope the many plants will use up all the build up of fish waste. The goldfish ate every plant in the tank. So I only restocked after they went out to the greenhouse pond.

  It was too expensive to feed them salad plants at weekly intervals! They ate almost all of the plants I put out in the pond too. Except for the Elodea. Which is currently spreading across the gravel in the pond.

 I am still trying to balance the lighting against algae growth in the aquarium. Currently two LED strips on for 12 hours per day. I have recently lifted the lights onto battens. An idea suggested online to combat algae. It spreads the light and simultaneously reduces its intensity.

 The water is crystal clear in both the pond and the aquarium. I have not removed the mini baskets from the plants. Because I planned to double the depth of the gravel. Which would require that I remove all of the plants for this operation. 

 It is presently running on an under-gravel filter. With two airlifts. The tank measures 100x50x50cm for about 250litres. Bought secondhand. I keep meaning to bring two of the smallest goldfish indoors but it has never happened. I will probably buy a couple of small goldfish for company over the winter. Let the others grow on in the pond. 

 A busy boy deserves a good dinner. Sausage, mushrooms, tweggs, tomatoes, beans and a round of toast. All helped down with a buttered roll.

 

  ~o~