The portrait and the mouse

For the portrait Toad is painting of me, I had to dig out an old kimono that I used, in the warmer climes of southern Britain, to use as a dressing-gown. It has lived in my old student trunk for quite a few years because it's rarely warm enough to wear it in the frozen north 🤣. Seriously though, living on the Boggy Brae requires roughs and scruffs most of the time.

The trunk's lock got smashed on its very first trip up to Dundee from Lancashire, sent up in advance as one did in those days. One of the student hall of residence sub-wardens helped me get it to a mender in Dundee and, 40+ years on the trunk and its replacement locking hasp live on in good health.

The photo shoot got a bit tedious so I started messing about. The Lastolite that Toadlet was commissioned to hold seems to have deteriorated and bits of its metallic side flew off and filled the air with specks of dust. They won't appear in the portrait.

Toad is doing the painting in the den 'studio'. This morning he thought his painting mediums had exploded out of the cling film cover. One had disappeared altogether. The one on the left (the white blob) is made of linseed oil and chalk. the other, which had been to the right of that but was all gone, was made of linseed oil and fused silica (it's called oleogel).

Then he noticed the well chewed squidgy ball...

...and that some of the paint had been eaten off the canvas. The mice must be hungry! The paint that was eaten was oleogel with ultramarine blue paint. Portrait progress below.

The mouse traps will be baited with peanut butter. Only if they turn their noses up at that will we resort to posh, artistic bait. Toad has just said he's glad the rest of oleogel was in a tin. "They might have chewed through a tube". (Try saying that fast).

A headache, snow, and scratched car kind of morning

Went to bed soon after eight last night with a humdinger of a headache that nothing would shift. Woke up with it three hours ago too. This morning's dosing of decongestant and antihistamine seems to be taking effect, thank goodness. So, this morning:

I've dealt with a dead mouse (flung it in the field for a scavenger), noticed it was snowing and that the temperature was below freezing, decided to take the car down the hill in case of further freezing, scratched it on a wall trying to dodge some ice, repeated my favourite slang word of annoyance all the way down the hill, parked at the bottom, walked back up, snarling at myself, had more coffee.

The day's got to get better. Right? Hey ho.

It's actually quite pretty out there:

The Irrepressible Rose
by the front porch

The dead flower head of a Reflexed Stonecrop at the end of the drystone wall. The wall runs across the front terrace at the edge of the steep bank that the house is built on.

New shoots of Reflexed Stonecrop among the mosses

Still a lot of (light) snow cloud out there. I hope it clears to the sunny morning the Met Office forecast. 

Here is a feather from yesterday. And breathe...

Mouse invasion

I have spent a good chunk of the morning spring cleaning a kitchen cupboard because when I went to get out flour and sugar to make muffins (apple and milk chocolate chips), I noticed a mess! Several bags of flour had been ripped open at their bottom corners and flour spilled. Not a lot but enough to arouse my suspicions.

I commented to Toad, who is at home this week, that there were no droppings. He said: "Constipated mice, then". Then I noticed that they hadn't gone for the icing sugar. His comment? "They've been watching the telly and know sugar's bad for them."

Since he was planning to go round the loch for primer and base coat paints for various walls, I gave him a grocery shopping list. Because of the damage to the flour bags, he asked if he should buy flour too. "Nah", says I, "it's all going in a hot oven. I think we'll survive if we eat it". Toad left, looking slightly alarmed. It'll be interesting to see if he can resist the muffins ;)

The flour is in mouse-proof containers now or cupboards inaccessible to mice and mouse traps (instantly effective and therefore humane ones) will be primed with peanut butter tonight. Next door's cats are not earning their keep. Sorry, mice. You are very welcome in the garden but not in the house.