The Field Mouse (An Luch Fhéir)

Well we spent almost 3 hours thinning out branches and clearing today and Mark found a nest in the wall probably a mouse but it could also be a stoat or hedgehog there are also foxes and badgers around, with all this manual work right enough I'm passing out about the time they wake up for their nightly roams. The island's population of badgers is still among the highest in Europe - an estimated 250,000 adults.

Angie has just decided to go to Cork this afternoon so she should get there around 2030 tonight and back home by 1700 tomorrow. I have the place to myself tonight thankfully its not halloween yet lol. Last year there were loads of kids round dunking for apples instead of getting sweets but I doubt I shall see anyone this year and if I do buy sweets I'd have to eat them myself.

I had made Chilli con Carne for dinner but it wont harm for keeping for 24 hrs and I'll just make something else for myself tonight.

floods

Well we missed out on the flooding that has affected Ireland thankfully although we have had a lot of rain since we moved in. FLASH flooding battered Ireland yesterday as more than a month’s rain fell in just a few hours. Torrential downpours caused nationwide havoc, inundating shops and homes, bursting riverbanks, blocking roads, disrupting air and rail travel and bringing rush-hour traffic to a shuddering halt.
Met Eireann had issued a severe weather warning with Leinster and much of the East coast the worst hit. A spokesman told the Irish Daily Mirror 90mm of rain fell in parts of the capital, adding: “The average rainfall for October is 70mm. Anything over 4mm an hour is considered heavy so this was well beyond that. “With more rain expected for tonight there could be an extra 20-30mm on top of that.”A major rescue operation has been launched in the Wicklow Mountains after a garda was swept away by a swollen river as he tried to direct traffic away from a dangerous bridge. He didnt survive unfortunately.

My pal Mark is coming over tomorrow to give me a hand, I cut the grass at Owenriff this morning and returned the keys, spoke to a really annoying Indian at Eircom to have the phone turned off, took me all my time to control my temper, they can wait for the last months payment after that and if they ask me why I'll tell them they need to address their customer service.

Got the patio powerwashed and the weather is nice today even had a blink of sunlight :)

Seals and a bog ride

Well I put the bike on the back of the car before it was light this morning and went up to the Bog road at Cow Corner or Bóthar Portaigh an Bo coirnéal if you fancy a tounge twister, I havent a clue what the right name of the place is but there was a cow there about a week ago and its on a corner and theres a bog. anyway the dogs had fun running alongside until we ran out of road about a couple of miles up the hill.

The plumber rolled up and put an outside tap in for me, when I took the dogs for a swim at high tide down at Casla Pier I met a Bodach who turned out to be the plumbers Dad, I'm getting quite good at quizing the locals and he was quite supprised when I asked him if he had a son called Paul then told him he had just done some work for me hours before. Its a small world to be sure. There were a couple of seals very interested in my dogs who were barking for the ball to be thrown they came close enough for me to nearly reach them with the ball when I threw it.

Last of the cleaning at Owenriff

Well we spent a few hours cleaning the house at Owenriff again today so its pretty spotless, I just need to go across on Tuesday and mow the lawns and take the keys back to the Real Estate. I will be glad when its all done and we get the bond back it can go towards some of the work we need to here.

Its a driech day here or else I'd be out with the whipper snipper as we speak, one of my next jobs is to whipper snip the grass along the roadside out front so it doesnt look uninhabited also there is a fence that is down that either need taken away or fixed up I'll have a go at the later first. I put a post box on the front of the house the other day as the door doesnt have a mail flap. I'll have to drop hints to my Dad that a house name plate would be a nice Christmas pressy lol heheheh I just dropped it. Something with a salmon on it might be the go and painted would also be ok if carving is out.

Plumber

Well its half four on Saturday arvo and the plumber never came lol I'm sure he said his name wasnt ORielly.  I was clearing some branches earlier and pulling them through the garden to one of my many branch piles my trousers slowly started to fall down, maybe the plumber was watching and saw someone else with plumbers crack and thought he had missed out on the job. I didnt want to drop my load so kept waddling through the undergrowth with my kegs getting lower and lower untill they eventually dropped to my knees, I sighed hitched them back up and carried on.

I pressure washed some more of the patio this afternoon and the sun came out to celebrate for a few hours, both my bedroom and the sitting room have dual aspect and its lovely when the sun streams in I suppose with them facing South and West the afternoon / evening sun will be bonny when it does break through the clouds.

There are multiple streams running through the grounds here that I shall have to clear as they are full of leaves and debris. Hurry back John lol.

Call centers

Well what a drama with call centers and staff who are trained to answer 40 questions but apart from the 40 answers they are bliddy hopeless, started off with the Bank in Australia or was it the insurance company err I cant remember but both were awful, so Angie got the job of sorting things out.
The Subaru insurance was changed to a new company and we couldnt find a document they insisted of having then they decided they wouldnt be able to insure the car as it was made for the Japaneese market not the EU, gawd knows why they think they know more than the Government department that let me import it and the insurance company that did it last year, anyway after two days of not being able to use the car they discovered they had made a mistake and all was well. The Bank had us ringing at <0600 every day this week to sort out transferring money 10 different people and 10 different ways to do it, was a joke.

Australia beat Wales at rugby but it wasnt a riviting game in the end, I was hoping for a classic game, I think New Zealand will romp home over France but then again I have been wrong before, one time in 1980 I think it was. I got a few more branches trimmed today and after the plumber fits my outside tap tomorrow I shall powerwash off the patio pavers. I put up the bird feeder the other day and they have emptied once already, its nice, as its just outside the big glass doors in my lounge and quite a show they put up chasing each other from the food source. After I get the pavers clean and have spread sand between them I shall take some photos.

Is that a new front door?

Yesterday I had a visit from Michael who used to be her Ladyships gardener for nine years until she caught him asleep drunk in his Lordships prize armchair with the tv on when he was meant to be clearing drains. I doubt he would try and get to sleep on mine as Gus is always on it when hes not swimming in a bog somewhere. He lives just a few houses up the road which is handy but he has had a hernia and likes a dram so I dont think he will be much good apart from maybe picking his brain. As soon as Michael left, Donna arrived, he was the replacment grass cutter bloke, he gave the lawns a quick cut which may well do them now for the year, it took him about 3 hours and he didnt do any strimming. They both commented on the front door Michael said "ohh nice new door" mind you he was drunk, and Donna said "that looks heaps better than the brown colour it used to be painted".

It was dry sunny and cold yesterday and today is less cold but overcast and there are clouds covering the mountains, the dogs had a swim at An Bothar Bui which is a coral strand beach near here.

In the summer there is a lifeguard employed but this time of year it was desterted, the land opposite is Goruma island and if you look out to sea you can see the Aran Islands, they protect this part of the coast from the big Atlantic swells.

The forecast isnt great again with more of a chance of rain over tomorow and the weekend, but as long as I get a couple of hours work done in the gardens daily it makes a huge difference at the end of the week. I was hoping John might get up but he has heaps of work on again next week.

I have a plumber coming on Saturday to instal an outside tap so I can get the pressure washer up and running, the patio pavers are covered in moss and weeds in all the gaps, I have spent a bit of time weeding the gaps as if I try powerwashing without doing that it turns into a mud bath.