Update

Tim is still slaving away at work so it has been left to me to post a few words.

Building is going slowly as it is entirely cash dependent but at least the roof is now insulated so the heating can turned on.

Our fantastic builder installed a large rusty wood burner into the living room of the part of the house that is habitable so at the moment all is toasty but we have already had a week of snow so I can tell you that I wasn't looking forward to the next few months without working radiators. With an electric fan, I am able to transfer some of the heat into the bedroom and the kitchen although the temperature differences remain high. At the moment it is about 30C in the living room and 8-9C in the bathroom.

As you probably know, when you use ground source heating, the temperature that eventually reaches the radiators is much lower than we Brits are used to from our gas/electric heating. Usually you have to install much larger radiators and/or underfloor heating. This will mean that whilst the heating - on this side of the house - in our standard sized radiators will be effective for most of the winter (especially as heat loss takes longer through metre thick walls) I will probably still need to use the wood burner when the temperature really drops.

Some of the plaster boarding is also completed. Our builders have curved the apex of the ceiling in the master bedroom and it is going to look beautiful when finished. Unfortunately, it took so long to complete this feature that we have had to make the decision that the other rooms will have to be boarded in a more straightforward fashion to save time/money.

Tim plans to share some of the photos of what was our garden at some point. I am glad that its winter as there isnt a blade of grass that survived the ground pump digging. We ended up with 6 x 90m bore holes (hit water 3 times!!) which were then connected via pipes buried 2m in huge trenches.

Oh well - we are in this for the long haul...

Deer Hunter

I am more than a bit behind with a few postings as you can see. The following happened a couple of months ago before "the snow came..."

As you are probably aware, Tim and I have a mad little “Min-Pin” called Spike. Up until Oz the “Mys hunter” came to live with us Spike ruled the roost and dictated the daily goings etc.

Since said relentless cat arrived we have made particular effort to take Spike for walks and give him some attention (He doesn’t get much with Oz demanding all of our full focus!). Funny thing is that whilst Spike seems to have become “all grown up” not he has a younger playmate he also become naughtier when we are out with him.

As you probably know, in Czecho you cant walk a few yards into the countryside without seeing a few deer loitering in a field or running across the path. Spike can smell the deer and it is clear that he feels the need to be with them! On the odd occasion that he has noticed deer (he isn’t all that observant!) he has chased them across fields like Pepe Le Pew, never quite catching up but very enthusiastically bouncing up and down through fields of corn/daisies (everything is taller than him) to get his bearings and further the chase. As “parents”, Tim and I find it all very disconcerting especially as Spikes excitement gets so much the better of him that no amount of calling and bribery will make him come back until he is well and truly ready. To this end – and also because it is now hunting season- he is now on “lead restrictions” except when he appears to be doing as he is told.

Our mistake…

Half and hour into a stroll in the forest and Spike just turns left off the path a few feet ahead of us and he was gone. Twenty minutes later and we were at panic stations. I was dispatched home to get mobile phone and car and Tim carried on calling for errant hound. At the hour point I think that we were losing hope but then this is Czech so what happened next shouldn’t really have been a surprise.

Tim turned back to retrace along the path that we had come only to hear a dog bark. (Ours doesn’t bark except at strangers at the house). Thinking – wisely – that where there is another dog, Spike might be drawn, he followed the sound… only to be met on the path by a woman with a large otter hound, Spike on a lead and…

a tame pet deer.

Yes, a deer. It seems that this lady has hand reared the fawn and now it follows her around like a –well behaved- dog. You can just about see the collar that it is wearing in the picture below.

So dog found and a new experience to add to the ever growing list.

Mysi

So we saw a mouse (mys)…

Tried to explain to Spike – please bear in mind that he is a Min-Pin and was therefore bread as a “ratter” – that he should catch and kill all small moving things. Most especially, we have tried to re-instill this killing instinct in relation to anything that runs across the living room floor or that jumps out of our kitchen cupboards. It hasn’t worked. In fact our not so bright hound is usually totally unaware when the little critters are eating out of his food bowl or running around behind his back. On the odd occasion that he spots one of the little monsters creeping about, he wags his tails and chases it in a sad effort to find a new friend!!!

By the time we saw the third mouse, we realized that there was a bit of a problem. OK, so we have lived in old houses before so I was prepared with the poison. The problem with poison is that it doesn’t kill the mys immediately. This leads to the unsettling problem of finding (or worse, Spike finding) small critter staggering around in the final throws. The worry that said dog might suddenly decide that dead poisoned mys might provide a tasty snack put an end to the poison stations.

Everyone said “get a cat”!

Our builder provided the second solution. He arrived one day with 5 of those spring loaded death traps and advice about potato. Apparently potato is the ideal bait….

No it isn’t, and neither is chocolate or anything else that I found in the fridge. In fact the little critters seemed to prefer Spikes food above all else and Spike didn’t seem to mind sharing at all. So dog food was the solution. The problem with dried dog food is that it doesn’t stick to the trap. In the first few cases the bait was taken and the traps remained set. So, I tied the bait to the hook – little buggers weren’t going to get it off without a struggle.

Of course, I hadn’t quite prepared for the first success. Spike saw it before I did! The trap had not worked exactly to plan and the mys was still writhing in it. Whilst I can usually cope with most things – I am after all a trained medical professional! – the sight of a spasming little mouse being harassed by an excited little dog was too much and I did the “girly” thing and ran out to find a man who dispatched the thing with a large boot.

Again, everyone said “get a cat”!

I sent a text to all English speaking friends to ask where it might be possible to find a “mys killing” fiend of a cat and was instantly besieged with messages and locations.

The next day my Czech friend and I visited a farmhouse. On entry the little girl of the owner presented me with a dangly little 8 week old ginger kitten who immediately became part of the family.

Oz is cuddly, cute and relentless. You should see him and Spike play together – no-one could have foreseen this strange bond occurring. When they are not rolling around on the floor play fighting, they are sharing Spikes food or curled up together in his bed licking each others faces.

And the mice…..

Well, we still see the occasional mys but now that Oz is the grand old age of 12 weeks the critter is usually very dead and soon becomes one with cat. Why is it that when we kill a mouse we feel inhumane and guilty but when our littlist boy does it we feel like proud parents!

Will post some photos when TOH brings back the camera cable!