The Good Mouser

As much as we had hoped to start setting blocks today, when we talked about it, today was a better day to till the peach orchard and sow a cover crop. We're dreadfully late as it is, but we have the seed, and today is a leaf day.

Sadly, after tilling just a small section, Phil realized the clutch on the tiller was no longer working. After checking the manual, he knows what the problem is (a pad wore through, or something like that): an inexpensive fix, as that failure is designed in the system, sort of like shear bolts. But he did have to quit early.

In some ways, as we prepare for the potential for five inches of rain in the near future, it may be just as well that the tiller broke, lest our entire hill slide away. All that Phil plowed today was the semi-level section near the road.

And because of the potential for massive rain, it didn't seem too appealing to go mark chalk-lines on the foundation: they'll just be washed away.

We had a funny mouse incident yesterday. I was moving form boards and came across a mouse, shivering with fear. The mouse was small and cute, but, really, I'm not enthusiastic about having a rodent problem before anything has even gone on the foundation.

We fetched sleek Cadbury, excited to watch the black cat of death using his instincts.

For several minutes, we laughed at the Keystone Kops routine that ensued. Cadbury spotted the mouse, and clapped a paw on the tail. The mouse ran away. Cadbury sauntered after it. The mouse ran into Cadbury's leg. Cadbury looked to the left. The mouse ran between Cadbury's legs. Cadbury looked to the right.

Now this may have been a most elaborate game of cat and mouse, but it looked to me terribly likely that the mouse would escape. Funny though it was, I was now committed to a mouse free work environment.

I went for Biggles.

When he spotted the cat, his paw jutted out and I thought maybe he had pinned down the mouse. But no, the rodent was dead in his mouth already, faster than my eye could follow.

Now we know which cat is actually a good mouser, and which is just a dabbler.