Winter's Coming!

Two things conspired today which lead to me starting a new "hobby"...

First the weather took a turn for the worse and it was a day for doing something indoors and second, a present arrived for me from Colin....

Jean and Nick had recently been kind enough to give me some rough blocks of tuffeau, so that I could have a go at carving and I couldn't wait to get started!...

The block was easy enough to cut using a wood saw..

A second cut,

and I had just the piece I needed to try to recreate something like this

I did say "something like"! and here he is!

Tomorrow?? Michelangelo's David?!

Pretty good for a first attempt I say, but then again I am biased...

Rat update.

Last night ALL the Raticide was gone in less than 1½ hours... It has been restocked and the camera reset...

The old book...

I love old books especially when they have a family link.

This one belonged to my grandfather William Young and then my dad Colin and is evidently quite rare. It is a first edition but not in very good condition.  Johnson Gamekeeper Directory.

This is a synopsis from AbeBooks.co.uk , where you can buy a 2005 reprint of the second edition.

This important historical record of the ways of an early gamekeeper is extremely difficult to find in its original printing. First penned in 1820, it was revised, and then published by the author's son in 1851 as a second edition. Very few of either edition remain today. We are 

now republishing it using the original revised text. Its 200 pages detail the life and work of a keeper in the first half of the 19th century. Some 150 years on, the reader will find much of the contents and advice still remains relevant to gamekeepers and shooting men. The author offers his book as a Practical book of instruction for the class to which it is particularly addressed, as well as to Sportsmen in general. Thirty-five concise chapters detail methods of preserving game, whilst advice is also given on controlling some thirty species of birds and mammals then considered vermin. Other chapters discuss: Trapping; Poisons; Hereditary Instinct; Observations on Poaching; The Game Laws; Steel Man Traps; Dog Spears; General Observation etc.

It is a first edition as the date of the first owner in the picture above is Sept 17th 1850 and a digital copy of the second edition is available to read here, it differs from this copy. 

It has survived but been used for well over 100 years... 

and in a way is still in use today as I remembered what had been written on the back page by my grandfather:

"Written in 1905... For Poisoning Rats..."

I have to admit I had never heard of Nux Vomica but the internet soon put me right. Given what it is I think we will be giving this one a miss...

Rat Update... No sighting on the camera last night...

Raticide!!

A great name... Lets hope it does what is says on the tin...

Bought today after MUCH thought and discussion. We did not know there are so many rat poisons.

It's now been set, along with the camera to film what happens.

The access has been sealed to keep the chickens out just in case they can smell the wheat!

Raty still has access but it will find the chicken feeder missing tonight

The story continues, watch this space.

There goes our...

Chicken feed...

Following on from yesterdays post we put the camera on the feeder last night...

Here are some snapshots from the video...

Greedy B*****d!!! It also tipped over the water container seen in the background.

It will have to go... Watch this space...

A new inhabitant?

This video was taken with our wildlife camera on the 2nd October, it is several 10 second videos joined together.

The camera was located in the bottom of our chicken coop, fortunately the chickens don't really use it. (For scale the boards you can see are 20 cm wide)

We think it is a brown rat...

At the moment it is doing no harm, other than digging a few holes around and about.

The big question we have is, should we let it get on with life or should we get rid. My other question (Col) is will it eat a chicken or even three... The interweb appears to say... Yes Yes Yes Please...

Any advice would be appreciated...

The camera is going to look at the feeder tonight... Watch this space.

Not what you usually see

in a shopping centre...

This great interactive exhibition was in Saint Martial shopping centre in Limoges.

and it continued outside as well

Would have loved to have had a go in one of the simulators had we had more time...

Limoges at last..

Having made several trips down to Limoges airport and back this year, we decided that we'd go the extra 5 miles or so and visit the town itself.

The weather was overcast with rain threatening but we enjoyed a good look round the mix of old and new buildings.

Limoges is the oldest socialist City in France and during the second world war many of those working in the city administration were in the Resistance and protected both the workers and the large Jewish population. There were 5000 declared Jews in 1941. It was in 1942 that co-operation between the Jews and Resistance began. The Museum of the Resistance in the city houses a unique testament of the bringing down of an Italian fighter plane by resistance fighters.

The following links tell more about the history of the city  and here but for now, some photos of our day..

An interesting link between old and new...

The Cathedral

Narrow streets and squares of the old city...

 

 And a dull wall made more interesting with a lick of paint!

The Hotel de Ville...

And finally one of the many trams which criss-cross the city...

So if, like us, you find yourself ferrying folk to and fro from the airport at Limoges... take time out to visit the city. There's plenty to see and do and no doubt we'll be back.