Mild.

Peter had to go in to work today so I caught up on some much needed sleep. When I did go outside it was to find that it was quite a mild day. I was put off working outside straight away when I heard the sound of shotguns up on the hill. Luckily by the time I had spent some time on-line everything had quietened down. That was unlike the Saturday 3 weeks ago when it sounded like WW3 had broken out. Till then there had been a flock of about 30 pheasants up on the road and the top fields and I guess some so-called sportsmen were out on a 'shoot'. I thought about why I get so upset and cross when this sort of thing goes on and eventually I realised it's because they are a group of people who get enjoyment from inflicting pain on something that is weaker than them. Living in this household I can see the fascination that guns have for some people. Indeed I joined the gun club at uni for a while and learned to fire a handgun and enjoyed going to Bisley to shoot on the rifle ranges there. That's sport and if people want the challenge of moving targets they can always do clay pigeon shooting. But the reason people pay vast amounts of money to go on a 'shoot' is to main and kill things. In my mind these people are in the same category as those who bully their wives or employees or abuse any weaker members of society. Whew! rant over.

A nicer subject now, this painted lady butterfly has decided to hibernate by an upstairs window. I haven't seen it move but sometimes it is on one side of the window sill and at other times it is on the other. I got a bit worried that it might be expending too much energy moving around when it is warmer so I put some cotton wool soaked in sugar water out for it yesterday. Today it had moved near to the cotton wool. I wonder if it will survive the whole winter?

I spent the afternoon cementing outside in the garden. There were a few tiny patches of sunlight but most of the garden was covered in a heavy dew. 

This evening when I went to feed the cats in the conservatory there was a dead rat on one of the chairs which gave me a bit of a fright. I used a shovel to throw it out into the hedge but it shows the cats are still doing their job. Yesterday when the men were fixing the phone line, Speedy was sitting by the stream watching for trout. He did jump into the water after one but it got away and then I'm afraid I teased him by throwing bits of twig into the water which made him think there were trout everywhere.