Posted on by activejon

First guests of the year, more tree news and cat poses.

Twas a busy week what with getting things ship shape for guests and then some unexpected stormy weather. The pictures tell the story…

As you can see I have an extremely good crop of dandelions and talking of big cats here a black prowler makes his way stealthily through the long grass.
The latest batch of my peanut butter specials fresh out of the blender. Yummy! My recent guests heartily approved of the garlic one.
Lidl are selling their Almond milk at 50percent off this week, I stocked up!
It’s all very well being top of the food chain and having more little grey cells than the rest of the worlds animals but boy what I wouldn’t give to be able to stretch out like that and relax so easily!
Nancy takes the weird and wonderful positions and poses that cats can do to a new level of wierdness!
Some things as just ‘sent’ to test us aren’t they? I was wondering around my nascent arboretum one evening last week when to my horror I discovered some beast had been attacjing the bark of several of my trees. I assumed it was deer and so built a bunch of fences around the most important or at risk young trees I have. I researched what to do about the wounds and it seems the latest thinking on the matter is to clean away the dead bark and leave the wounds to dry and heal as best they can. I am not happy it looks like two of my best trees planted last year have been irreparably damaged.
My newly planted Medlar tree got emergency deer protection as it sits at the bottom of the old ‘clover patch’ barely visible from the house and so presumably easy picking for the beasts of the forest. The plan is to add many more sticks interwoven between the string and stuck into the ground.
Taking a well earned break after building multiple deer fences and watering a few new tree transplants.
A gratuitous bit of sunset thrown in to remind me of why I live out here. Not a building to be seen on the horizon.
After much online consultation and discussions with folk in shops it seems that the most likley culprits for my tree attacks is not deer but rabbits! DOH! So different tactics are called for. Two of the better DIY stores in Karlovac had nothing but a very expensive version of chicken wire so I demured and wondered about butchering flexible piping etc. Then I found these – and a friendly English speaking shop worker – at Bubic garden supplies! These things are cheap as chips and fit snugly around the young tree stem and do not taste good to greedy rabbits. So they have been installed along with the new fences and another coat of the lime white paint which I am relaibly told also doesn’t taste good to rabbits… lets hope my trees are safe now!
Much to my delight the two cyclists , Sam and Miriam who stayed over the weekend were keen to play pool and snooker. They even taught me another version of ‘Killer” pool style. Good times.
It not being wood cutting season anymore our guests are now put to work cutting the grass as best they can! Please note these activities are technically voluntary, we just use witchcraft to get such chores done “voluntarily”
Taking a rest from cycling Sam uses the rest to tackle a long shot at snooker.
I offered to take the Munich cyclists to see the local sights and that of course includes Petrova Gora. Unfortunately the only tarmac road accessing the monument has been closed due to the road being unpassable (heard that before). So we took the poor car “off road” and up some tracks to get to the monument which was unsurprisingly empty with no on else around at all.
The Partizan hospital and the Petriva Gora woods have new pathway signs all over them, some really in the middle of nowhere! But more interesting still is that the hospital in the woods now has a visitors book you can sign – helpfully all in Croatian – but its not rocket science! Hopefully this means someone is interested in how many people visit the place, so now you know put your paw print in the book hidden in the red box tat says Knjiga – book – on it!
Sam turned out to be very adept at spotting bugs and the like whilst out in the woods. He spotted a total of three Fire Salamanders! They are easy to spot with their black and yellow shiny skin and funny cumbersome walk but whatever you do DO NOT touch them they will mess you up!
The Croatian woods are all green after the recent rain. One can see how well the hospital was hidden in such conditions.
This little creature may have a lot of legs but seeing as it was starting to climb up a tree several times taller than your average house its gonna need all of them! Well spotted Sam!
This is the newly roofed old Partizan Print House. See back to last years blogs to see what a wreck it was. There is a new wooden floor inside so no more scratching around on the floor to find letter set printing souvenirs! I wonder what will be next in these renovations!
The first Fire Salamander we saw was trying to hide under the print house.
The third and most agile of the three Fire Salamanders we saw at the Partizan Hospital.
These intrepid pedalers are on their way from Munich to Athens by bike! Pretty damn impressive I’d say, It was nice to offer them a few days rest and recuperation.
Tis a nice way to start a days cycling going down hill for the first kilometer!
Its all the rage nowadays, funny looking men, with plaits, half naked and carrying large metal weapons! Ok so this example might not quite have the awe inspiring physique of a “Skarsgardesque” Northman but remember it was Obelix that the Romans feared most!