Since moving to South Wales, I’ve tended not to talk about the people that I work for. There are exceptions, the incorrigible Prof for one. The lovely Welsh Ann also gets a mention from time to time. A little self analysis would suggest that it has taken some time for me to make a connection. I miss my North Devon friends/clients and it would be ridiculous to expect to walk into a facsimile of the same. Now, although quite different folk, I am going to make a concerted effort to reverse this omission and share my gardening adventures with those who wish to listen.
First we have The Fit Family. They live in a barn conversion, situated down a stress free lane (unlike those to come) and have a medium to large garden, well planted with shrubs and trees. Too many shrubs and trees, which are beginning to fight for dominance, and not enough herbaceous perennials. Over one low garden wall is an arable field planted with some kind of cereal crop and beyond a small wood and the grounds of an ancient priory. It is a lovely location.
They are not gardeners. They are runners/cyclists/skateboarders/footballers/frisbee players. They have been adopted by an enormous black cat with no name. I have named it Panny due to its similarity to a panther. It is affectionate and noisy.
Last week I spotted this cat jogging across the garden and smiled. “There goes the lovely Panny”, I thought. Then, “What is that in her mouth?”. This curiosity soon turned to dismay, as I realised her bounty was a squirrel and she was heading intently for the house. I hurried to cut her off at the pass and cried out for Mr Fit, who rushed to find out what the commotion was about. Panny dropped her prey, which lay motionless on the ground. After a close-ish inspection, Mr Fit announced “It is still alive” then “What should we do?”, as Panny lurked in the background. “Have you got a shovel?” I asked. With a look of absolute horror on his face he said “You want me to bash it on the head?”, beginning to regret that he hadn’t taken up my offer of references. “No!” I explained, equally astounded, “I thought you could use the shovel to move the poor thing to somewhere shady and out of reach of the panther!”
Mind you, on reflection, its not a bad idea to let your client believe you have a dark side.
Off The Edge Gardening 
For the avoidance of doubt, I wish to certify that I think you are a wonderful person, without any hint of a dark side; a wonderful gardener and all round good egg.
I will though, just to be safe, move all my spades and shovels from the shed to the garage.
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Wise 😁
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Oh good! I was just lamenting to my other house residents the lack of gossip from your longsuffering clients since you moved. Good to know that you are still having these exciting adventures. Nice cat there!
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That is nice to know. Just a moment ….. longsuffering clients? I think you must be mixing me up with someone else. 😊
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Sorry must have been a typo- lovely is what I meant
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🤣
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Living as I do on the edge of red squirrel territory, my inclination would have been to despatch it, as the greys are slowly forcing our reds further into the wilds of Northumberland. When I lived in Sussex we were in constant battle with the grey squirrels, they would strip fruit bushes and cause a lot of damage in the copses.
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Yes, they are a big problem in this country and I can understand just where you are coming from. I don’t think I would have it in me to dispatch it. They are, like many of these kind of things, a man made problem. Careful and compassionate solutions need to be found. I hesitate to use the word humane, our species does not have a good track record.
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That reminds me – I forgot to tell you earlier – that Horatio has at least two “siblings” and, it seems, Harriet is still with us.
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You should be renamed Dr Dolittle!
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For info – Matt Ridley posted this note about defending red squirrels recently on his blog:
https://www.mattridley.co.uk/blog/we-are-losing-the-war-to-save-red-squirrels/
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Thank Will, I will take a look.
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It sounded more like your client has a . . . . well, he sort of thought of it first, right?
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Exactly!!!
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Oh, I did not mean to state the obvious. Duh.
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Another amusing post, how it made me smile! In my mind I would like all my grey squirrels despatched, but in truth I could not do it myself, but applaud all cats, foxes etc who see them as fair game.
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I’m glad you enjoyed it. Grey squirrels are a big problem, I am sure there are people far cleverer than me trying to sort it out. Do we learn from these mistakes? I am not so sure.
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I agree, I shall talk about the red squirrels on Tresco in a forthcoming post.
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I know you are a cat lover and I am sure Panny has his lovable side. But the neighbour’s cat here is constantly after the birds in my garden and a very good job he has done too as there aren’t many. I have murder in my heart after finding a headless blackbird on my doorstep.
Nice to hear about your new adventures in Wales.
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Yuk! She now has a bell on her collar, which may or may not help with her murderous ways. x
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It’s lovely to welcome the Fit Family to the blog!
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Good for you! Ha ha ….
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