ROUS, Rabbits and work-tickets

Mrs ERJ reported a R.O.U.S. in the garage.

I used a bowl of Wild Cherry Pepsi for bait. The first time I have purchased soda-pop in over a year. I coveted the 1-1/2l bottle.

R.O.U.S. stands for a Rodent Of Unusual Size.

Rabbits

I am still enjoying the videos (copied from T.V. series) on wartime cooking in U.K. during WWII. The series has an urban focus but they mention that rural people had a harder time getting tobacco and seafood than the city people. In turn, the rural people had more meat and they specifically mentioned "rabbit".

Snippets from a collection of essays Life on the Old Farm by Tom Quinn

 

"...starve half a sheep to the acre..." when the post-myxy virus planning numbers are about five-ewes-per-acre. Myzy entered the U.K. from the continent sometime in the very early 1950s.

There were literally hundreds of pounds of rabbits per acre living in the hedgerows and in tunnels beneath the stone fences that surrounded the fields.

That sheds a different light on "Watership Down" and Farmer McGregor in "Peter Cottontail". 

Yesterday's work-tickets 

I split some White Spruce rounds. I won't go out of my way to get any more. Many "pin" knots made the larger, older pieces very difficult to split.

I could not get the motor on the wood-splitter to start, not even with ether.

I had lunch with my siblings. I brought up the topic of caretakers for dementia patients. My sister reminded me that many dementia patients develop intense paranoia ("Hey! Who moved the bathroom?") and anger and anger directed at their caretakers. My sister also reminded me that as doctors retire or are replaced by a new set of specialists, they often look at drug choices and dosing and make changes based on their preference "Hey, we can titer that down to a level that will not require pre-approval from your insurance company" and the resulting train-wreck is blamed on dementia progressing.

Today's work-tickets

Verify the accuracy of my cordless drills.

Post "No Trespassing signs". 

Question for my readers

Do you have any opinions on metal detectors? It could be valuable when looking for lost tools and fence wires buried beneath the tall grass. $100 now might be a good investment because of potential, future shortages of replacements.

Random photos

Interstem varieties in the foreground. Quince in the midground. MM106 in the background. Grafted trees on the right-rear.