Slug Wars episode 2

Last week I lifted inside 3 large potted palm plants to improve their chances of survival over the winter.

Two of the palms looked like they wouldn't last the week, but one looked OK. I checked the outside of the pots for insects and webs, brushed them down ,weeded them and stood them on large saucer like bases.

Yesterday morning I noticed that my son's jacket ( which was hanging next to the pots) had an interesting new decoration of wavy shiny lines over it.

I was pretty sure he hadn't rejected noughties indie music in favour of 7o's glam rock ( foolish boy! who can beat the incomparable Slade*, TRex Sweet or Mud? Must dig out my vinyl and listen to "Cum on Feel the Noize" again) so I had to conclude that the sliding beasties had invaded my house. Somehow they had hidden in the soil and had bided their time before making a break for it.

The cupboard next to the plant pots is where I keep the wine, spirits and beer so presumably that was their destination. Having given them a taste for beer they were taken advantage of their relocation and were heading for a drop of the hard stuff.

I checked the pots again, after I cleaned my sons jacket of course, I couldn't let him go to school looking like a 70's throwback, not without silver glitter platform boots anyway. Still no sign of the sliding slithering beer-crazed monsters. so I had to wait till after 11pm, when the house was dark and I could catch them in the act.

I debated whether to put a saucer of beer on the floor to lure them out but then I was concerned that the slugs outside would try to beat down the door to get in and I would be knee deep in the bl***y things. Ugh what a thought.

Darkness would have to do. ( Not The Darkness, I don't like their faux rock stance.)

At 11.15 I carefully opened the living room door into the darkened hall and sure enough there were two medium sized slugs sliding down the sides of the pots. Hah! I disposed of them and then wondered if there were more slugs lying in wait behind this advance party. Only one thing for it, I liberally poured salt in the saucers around the pots. It's a horrible death for them, but die they must. and die they die, two more slugs melting away when I checked this morning and my beer is safe.

*I'm delighted to see that the boys are still going strong and have a massive tour planned. shame they they are not coming to Scotland. Must find that vinyl .

birthday girl

It's our daft dog's birthday today.

Megan is 8, and is the oldest person in the house!

She has a new toy* to play with, some savoury foamy stuff for me to squirt in the toy, so that she can lick it out (and never the reverse, honest) and her own tub of doggie choc chip cookies. She seems very pleased with her pressies.

Now that she's a mature, respectable, middle-aged dog, it would be reasonable to assume that she would have a more calm approach to life, but I doubt it very much. I'm sure she will continue to chase squirrels without any hope of success, throw herself in the river for a lovely swim in muddy water, run too fast around the house and slip on the wooden floors and avoid having a bath & having her ears cleaned at all costs. She will eat , sleep and exercise regularly and generally be very happy and content. Grow up? Meh, why should she?

More medals!!

J1 & J2 played at Brass in the Park yesterday in Newtongrange. They played their best but the winning band was excellent. Our kids got bronze medals and the experience of playing on a stage in a large marquee in front of a big audience.

I'm so proud of them : they can do something that I cannot do, they played their best and sounded great.

Slugging it out

The first large beer traps were a success : 40 slugs ( yes forty!) and one snail were killed in the first night. I feel bad about the snail, he obviously got in with the wrong crowd. The second night as I was pouring the beer I saw another 10 large slugs heading towards the beer traps, but there were no slugs to be disposed of this morning.

It's not a pleasant job disposing of slugs but I was surprised that there were none to dispose of. Have they worked out how to enjoy a bit of beer and not get killed by it? Is it part of slug culture to brag about how much they can handle? I'm starting to think that I'm attracting more slugs into the garden as they seek out free beer and that they are crawling away with throbbing headaches to hide under some lush vegetation.

I'm also starting to think that I might be a bit too interested in slug behaviour.

At Strawberry Corner, the garden centre, the helpful manager gave me a recipe for making a garlic solution to pour over the plants which need protection ( veggies and hostas) and which acts as a deterrent but doesn't kill the slugs. My plants will be protected and and I won't have the yeuchy job of disposing of their slimy, bloated bodies. So I think I'll stop with the happy hour beer and drench some plants with garlic. It should keep the slugs away and also any passing vampires....

* Megan has destroyed many toys over the years so we have to get really hard rubber toys which will withstand her strong jaws. One Christmas she destroyed a tugtoy within half an hour... she's worse than the kids!

welcome visitor

This is what a want to see in my garden: butterflies feasting on the nectar of a buddleia bush. I think its been a bad summer for butterflies, its been too wet and cold and I've hardly seen any.

I've seen a red admiral in the garden once or twice this last week but not been able to take a photo, until today. the sun was out and so were the butterflies: this red admiral, a peacock on the buddleia in the front garden, and a cabbage white flitting about unable to decide where to land.

Oddly enough I see plenty of moths at night time, but its been a very bad year for butterflies.

I'm sure if slugs looked prettier and didn't destroy everything in their path then they would be welcome visitors too, but they don't, they do and they aren't.

I found four in the beer baited slug traps this morning, so I bought some more cheap beer ( Tesco's Value Bitter @ 41p per can, at least half the price of branded labels!) so hopefully some more will meet their drunken end tonight.

I'm enjoying knitting Lorelei now that I've got the hang of ssk . I think I have about 4 cm to do before the heel. I can see how knitters get absorbed with lace patterns, as its interesting seeing the pattern develop after a few rows of ssk, s1, k1, psso.

After I finished listening to The Spanish Game I started on " A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini , which is a heartrending tale of life in Kabul under the communists, the jihad and the Taleban. At times my needles have stopped with shock as the violence explodes. The domestic violence is just as appalling. Its a tremendous story and gives a lot of insight into ordinary Afghanis lives. I enjoyed his first novel " The Kite Runner" too.

The footy is going well, Sunderland beat Notts Forest ( just) and Newcastle beat Coventry ( again, just) to go through to the next stage of the League Cup. I hadn't realised Roy Keane had played for Forest as a young'un, so it was quite special for him to be going there for a cup-tie. I had forgotten that Cloughie had been a Sunderland player once, scoring 54 goals for the Black Cats.

A lot of the Forest fans were wearing green sweaters in tribute to their former manager Brian Clough ( Ole Big 'Ead, as he called himself). He was quite a character, passionate about football, incredibly knowledgeable about the game , massively successful as a manager and a thorn in the side of the establishment. He was beaten by stomach cancer in 2004.

He was a marmite kind of person, you either loved or hated him, there was no middle way. I thought he was tremendous, and the people of Nottingham & Derby do too, after all he won the European Cup twice with Forest (79 and 80) which is an amazing achievement for an unfashionable provincial club.