Hello and welcome to The Compost Bin. I'm Compostwoman and I live with my family in rural Herefordshire. We have nearly four acres of garden and woodland, all managed organically and to Permaculture principles, which we share with Chickens, Cats and assorted wildlife. We also grow a lot of our own food, run courses in all sorts of things and make a lot of compost!

I am a Master Composter and have spent more than a decade as a volunteer Community Compost adviser with Garden Organic and my local Council.
I'm a self employed Environmental Educator so I run workshops and events where I talk about compost, veg growing, chicken keeping, cooking, preserving and sustainable living. I also run crafts workshops and Forest School/outdoor play sessions in our wood.

We try to live a more self sufficient lifestyle here, as best we can, while still having a comfortable life and lots of fun.


To learn more about us click on the About Compostwoman tab and remember to click on the photos to make them full size!


Saturday 11 April 2009

I REALLY should know better.....

I REALLY should know better.....

I posted a comment on a previous post earlier today....


The picture shows a shrew ( a common shrew I think, pigmy shrews are even smaller with even pointier noses!)

but the cats DO bring in bank voles, yellow necked mice, wood mice and ( whisper) the late Monty puss brought in a dormouse once, which I managed to rescue and release. The worst "present" was a live Moorhen, which was brought in through 3 cat flaps, 3 rooms and then killed ( very messily) all over the sitting room carpet...that was done by Kitty Cat many years ago, in his "catching Hares, Rabbits and full grown cock Pheasants on the wing" days...

I wish the young cats would bring back something edible, for a change, I don't really fancy shrew...(!


Guess what Sidney has just brought in?

A full grown, warm, dead rabbit....

I need to be careful what I wish for, I think!

8 comments:

  1. Oh dear, you wouldn't know whether to congratulate him or stand him in the corner.

    Margaret

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  2. He is SO pleased with himself Margaret!

    I really do not want to spoil it for him...

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  3. My Albert catches and brings me "presents" but does not kill. So the spit-out mouse or lizard sits for a moment, shakes off the cat slobber, and immediately runs for cover while the cat sits there dumbfounded. I have to look for tell-tale butts and tails hanging out of his mouth before letting him back in the house, or risk the "startle factor" of glimpsing his "presents" scurry across the room later.

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  4. We can rescue the live ones, no problem...but we had to empty the futility room the other day ( 2 x freezers, washer, water softener etc to move around!) because there was a definatly dead something in there judging by the smell(!)...we found a dead pigmy shrew under a freezer, quite astonishing how much it whiffed, given how tiny it was...

    Ho hum, cats...!

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  5. That's one good thing about living in a desert climate. Dead things mummify instead of stink. Last time I moved our china buffet cabinet there was a mummified mouse back there. I could hold it out horizontally from its stiff, straight tail - it hardly weighed a thing. Your shrews look interesting. I can just hear the Benny Hen (er, Hill) chase music.

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  6. Ahahahahaa! I'm loving your power of instant manifestation.

    Put it to better use next time though, eh?!

    ReplyDelete
  7. What with? "I wish for venison"?

    Best I keep my witchypoo ness to myself, methinks!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ooh, I like cats, really I do. I have fond memories of strays we adopted growing up. But two things stop me being a cat owner (or being owned by a cat, as the case may be.) One is a pretty severe cat allergy. The other is dead wildlife. If I had one it would have to stay inside or in an enclosure. Neither are an option so I will stick to occasionally petting other people's cats... :-(

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