Field Day

Dale and I spent a day collecting samples of invertebrates from 5 different sites on the river Cain with other volunteers and members of the Severn Rivers trust. 

Here we are getting our boots cleaned before stepping into the river. 

It was declared to be a wonderful day in November = cold, yes but more importantly, NO rain

Our feet stayed dry in wellies, but the coldness of the water still bled through! Our team leader brought a homemade date cake and a camping stove to provide warm drinks for when we 'luncheoned.'

When the collection methods were explained to us, we finally understood why it was called kick sampling. Whilst kicking up the sediments and water upstream of a net, we loosened and captured invertebrates disturbed by the kicking interference and they'd flow into the waiting net. I've been practicing kicking Dale's b@tt for years, so figured I'd be good at kicking up a storm of invertebrates for collection.

We learnt about many new local places, history and folklore by interacting with interesting locals throughout the day.

We weren't the only ones having a field day - looks like the Dems had a field day in the U.S. too 😍(in a different sense of course).

Red Blob

This is a tense day as we await midterm election results and fallout in the US. 

I was intrigued by this bright red blob on my garden walkway last week - was it a jelly mould, or the entrails of an animal eaten by another? Could it be something else? There was no blood or evidence of other body parts lying around, so internal organs didn't seem quite right.

Dale had seen something similar on the roof of our shed

We decided it was more than likely regurgitated cherries/berries. Google lens seemed to be on the same track: "Regurgitated or Excreted Animal Matter: Sometimes bright red or pulpy patches outdoors can be animal droppings or regurgitation (such as from an animal that has been eating certain berries or blood-containing food).

Fireplace Fail

We've been getting cold here, and we've been left out in the cold by the contracting company meant to install our heat pumps by the end of October. No matter many times we pester and contact them, the response is never promising nor informative. So we resorted to lighting the woodstove (miniature by US standards) over the weekend (it's about 40°F overnight, and warms up to almost 50°F inside during the day). Armed with the instruction manual, we followed directions to the letter. 

Ooh, it looks like we know what we're doing!

 But oh no! This happened

And soon the whole room was full of smoke - it huffed and puffed like an old steam engine. 

Ack! Nothing was coming out the chimney outside, so we had to shut it down, open every window and  run fans to direct the smoke outside. We sneezed, coughed and shivered while the cloying smoke cleared out.

So now the woodstove is sealed over with duct tape until we can get a chimney sweep to come and rectify what's wrong. I suppose the chimney's blocked ...

So much for having a backup!

Well Hung

Beef in the U.K. is 'matured' (dry aging) by hanging for a period of 21-30 days at a minimum. Longer hanging improves the flavor and tenderness of the meat fibres.

In the U.S. the hanging process usually lasts about 14 days.

And while we're at it, the price of a roast joint of beef starts around $6/lb, so yes the cheapest cuts here are similar to prices in the U.S. from my recollection. The pricier cuts are aged longer, and would be around $8/lb