We had another birthday a few weeks back as Bettina’s father Alfred celebrated his. We travelled down to Heppenheim on the Sunday where we enjoyed a flute or two of champagne for brunch before heading out to a local Greek restaurant for a slap up lunch with dips, platters of Greek style bbq meats and salads. I recount all told there were 18 of us. Great lunch that we walked off afterwards with a hike to the top of one of the local hills through the surrounding vineyards.
At the top is a 17th century stone tower, which affords stunning views sweeping back along the length of the Odenwald and out to the west and the Rhine River. Quite a hot day as well which saw us being extremely glad to flop into well-shaded deck chairs under the spreading boughs of the ancient plum tree in Alfred’s backyard on our return.
Fruit is so abundant at this time of the year and amidst the odd cooling ale I found time to wander aimlessly in and around the yard sampling cherries, plums and wild strawberries from the garden.
We ended up leaving in the late afternoon to travel back to Darmstadt and the Pfungstadter brewery open day, which was being held just north of town. They had several bands playing on different sound stages and there were a few close calls with calamity, stepping our way through the human minefield of pissed and legless locals each armed with large glasses of foaming pilsner.
A local town brass band stationed near the entry point was playing the theme from Monty Pythons Flying Circus, which was a source of great amusement to Thomas who is a first class fan of the show. It was a welcoming fanfare that left us both in hysterics and the ensuing laughter was hard to suppress for the rest of the afternoon. All in all a great day.
19.6.05
Smart Mice And A Peeved Cat
We have been getting quite a few mice arriving since the weather warmed up. We have a neat little wire cage trap with a spring loaded door which catches them but doesn’t hurt them. We then release the little suckers in the bushes up the road. A couple of the fatter ones looked extremely familiar on the 4th and 5th catch and we suspect that they were the same mice come back again.
Cunningly we marked their tails with Tippex white out to track them if they came back. Five mice in a couple of days and now not a single one since the Tippex program began. I reckon the little blighters are a good deal smarter than we give them credit for. Cheeky little mongrels are probably waiting for the Tippex to wear off before coming back.
Despite numerous attempts to capture them with various types of cheese, salami, and raisins we discovered in the end that as soon as we put freshly shelled walnuts in the cage they turned up one after the other. Looks like we have discovered the ultimate mouse bait.
The cat from next door, Ganja, had a spitzen Maus in its mouth the other day which is quite a rare type of field mouse that we get here. They have a long and very pointy snout which has a nose resembling a miniature red cherry on the end. Really cute. Quite the Walt Disney door-mouse doppelganger. Thomas had quite a time getting the mouse away from Ganja but eventually succeeded. Needless to say we were instantly relegated to the bad books by Ganja who failed for three days running to make her customary morning and nightly house inspections. Really had her own nose well out of joint. Normally she will be on the prowl anytime there is something fishy smelling on the cook but even a tuna salad wafting on the breeze from the garden table failed to break her out of her snoot. C’est la Guerre !!
Cunningly we marked their tails with Tippex white out to track them if they came back. Five mice in a couple of days and now not a single one since the Tippex program began. I reckon the little blighters are a good deal smarter than we give them credit for. Cheeky little mongrels are probably waiting for the Tippex to wear off before coming back.
Despite numerous attempts to capture them with various types of cheese, salami, and raisins we discovered in the end that as soon as we put freshly shelled walnuts in the cage they turned up one after the other. Looks like we have discovered the ultimate mouse bait.
The cat from next door, Ganja, had a spitzen Maus in its mouth the other day which is quite a rare type of field mouse that we get here. They have a long and very pointy snout which has a nose resembling a miniature red cherry on the end. Really cute. Quite the Walt Disney door-mouse doppelganger. Thomas had quite a time getting the mouse away from Ganja but eventually succeeded. Needless to say we were instantly relegated to the bad books by Ganja who failed for three days running to make her customary morning and nightly house inspections. Really had her own nose well out of joint. Normally she will be on the prowl anytime there is something fishy smelling on the cook but even a tuna salad wafting on the breeze from the garden table failed to break her out of her snoot. C’est la Guerre !!