Not having a great week.

[Paulottie]

Well, I gave up smoking ... AGAIN! (4th time in last 3 years)

So far my trials include...

Our much loved guinea pig dying (fair enough a happy pig at 7 YO)

Then...Yesterday afternoon at 5.30pm a fox got into the garden and fatally wounded Hinge....10 yds from our kitchen door, where wife was cooking tea... So, I had to take a distressed Brackett (accompanied by my two upset children) to a friends' chickens run. (so no doubt she is being bullied and pecked establishing herself there this morning).

Been wearing NRT patches that give me horrific nightmares.,...so two hours of sleep....felt empty and sad with no animals to see to when I opened the curtain at 5.30 am to discover.....

...that the badger, that has set up home under the neighbour but one's decking, has once again dug up my lawn shi*ting around as it went....I did tell the fool not to let the thing settle months ago...so now I can't grow my sweetcorn here or at the allotment either. (absolute plague of badgers there) and no doubt my children can risk TB, tapeworms and vile's disease just playing in our garden.

A reasonable amount of foxes and badgers is fine in the woods... but epidemic numbers pressing into communities is ludicrous, they are vermin.... just like politicians....it is time for a cull I'd say....particularly of the politicians.

Not a happy chappy me....now I must go and face the dead chicken in my workshop... Lord help anyone who upsets me today.

I suppose as I don't have an expense account with which to squander public money; I can just spend the tax money I save on smoking on electric fencing.

[di]

Why does life always decide to throw carp at us when we really don't need it!
Nowt seems to be going right here at the mo either...had a day of feeling carpy about chooks & it ended in A&E with DD,me enduring 15 mins of Hell being accused of punching her!!!...came home & had a darned good cry...didn't really help,but hopefully today will be better!
(I won't dare say at least things can only get better,as that's usually an invitation for the **** fairy to come play more games!!!)...Good Luck with the not smoking...try & hang in there!!!((x))

[Suechooks]

Paulottie -Poor old you! I gave up smoking 26 years ago and can still remember the black tunnel with no light at the end! No NRT then just cold turkey. Suited me cos I WANTED to give up and that's the secret of success.
I have purchased electric fencing to try and keep the foxes from my chooks but can't decide where to put it so am just doubling up on the wire/weld mesh fencing.
So sorry to hear about your poor chook. I kept one on it's own for a few months after some thieving b.....d stole my others from the lottie. Maybe you could make Bracket a little run of her own to keep her safe from predators and then get her a new friend or 2?
Keep going on the non smoking it's worth it (if only in smug self-satisfaction) in the end!
Hope you feel better soon and have Brackett back in the home roost. (((((hugs))))) to all of you including Brackett.

Di - you do seem to be having a sh...y time! How's Marigold today? Hope your babies are ok. Think we've all been down the road of A&E with kids - wouldn't be so bad if you hadn't been sitting waiting for hours! Cheer up today will be better - sun is shining here in Wales despite forecast of rain! Thinking of you

[Flummery]

Oh Paul - things never come singly do they? Foxes are really every chicken-keeper's nightmare and they are so bold. We've never had to deal with badgers here though.

I do hope things look up for you soon.

[Glutton4...]

Chin up mate . My DH has tried giving up on several occasions, but he has zero willpower, so still smokes . He's tried the patches too, and even using the lowest dose, and taking them off at night, he still has the most awful nightmares, meaning neither of us gets any sleep!

Good luck with it, do it for yourself, and for that lovely bit of Leccy fence you'll be able to get with the savings!

[lizzylemon]

Keep going - things can only get better (I hope). I've never thought of Badgers as being a problem but they're still few and far between in my area. Whats the local law on them - are you allowed to do anything to protect your garden / land?

Also what does the local vet say about germs n stuff. I thought only cows were open to the TB and Wiles disease was rats......

Seriously keep going with the stopping smoking thing. I was a smoker (heavy - it was the 1st thing I did every day for 20 years) and managed to do it. I used the Allan Carr book which a friend recommended after trying patches, gum and will power (of which I had zero). Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking: Amazon.co.uk: Allen Carr: Books. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a smug exxy by any stretch of the imagination and I still have days where I think of smoking again but it's an amazing book......(and it's a 1 off payment not a constant payout)

[pdblake]

I quit 8 years ago. I used the nicotine gum. I stopped straightaway, went from 40 a day to none instantly.

Unfortunately it took me 6 months to quit the gum. Seriously

Not sure what to do about the badger. Is it legal to trap the thing and relocate it? Couldn't the council do that?

[Paulottie]

Did the cold turkey thing for 4/5 months a couple of years back...found it ok after first few days...started again partly because it irritated me the pub ban...the anarchist in me! One of the school mums is the NHS anti smoking boss round here and is helping with the free patches etc. don't like them much but hey!

Re badgers...it is both illegal to kill them and to disturb the set...hence why I want it to be moved on quietly before it starts a family. I don't wish to trap it just put something smelly under there to discourage it setting up a home. I enjoy seeing a few in the woods but they are just EVERYWHERE. The pressure for territory is now ridiculous.

Wiles maybe rats...I think I meant limes(sp), I'm no medic but you can certainly get very ill from ticks, Perhaps TB is just bovine but again faeces full of worms and not pleasant with kids and certainly don't trust transfer of diseases from animals just now...apart from that the front garden looks like a battle map of the Somme and I don't need the assistance with turning the compost heap each week. They have caused a lot of damage to our vegetables in the past. it is becoming quite hard to feed the family.

Thought about snaring the fox with carcass as bait last night...but I don't keep any guns here...no room to use one anyway and don't fancy clubbing it to death much....I am an animal lover at heart... Don't think it would do much good anyway there are just too many around. Populations need to be in balance. It is just another ill considered, bad policy by a bad and corrupt government.

I didn't mean to moan on just a bit depressed at the loss of all my animals in a week.(not for the first time with foxes) ... thanks for the sympathy folks

[HeyWayne]

Puts my "problems" with squirrels into perspective.

Being completely naiive, but can you contact someone like the Wildlife Trust to provide assistance?

On the smoking front - for us, it was the habit more than the chemical addiction that was hardest to break. Good luck dude.

[bluemoon]

Well I'm feeling miserable too, broken toe, broken washing machine and a group of people at work who make the place feel like we're all back in the fourth form.......in a bottom stream. All of them perfectly amiable individuals but together, well childish isn't the word!
Think if I'd had a week like yours Paulottie I'd have gone back to the fags, well done for sticking it out.

[zazen999]

Well done on becoming a non-smoker.

These things are sent to try your patience, don't let them get the better of you. But, you've got to sort those badgers out haven't you - sounds a nightmare.

XXX

[Nicos]

Good on you for giving up.....those probs are bad enough even without the nicotine probs!

xx

[Two_Sheds]

...that the badger, ... has once again dug up my lawn

They do tend to rotavate lawns when food becomes scarce (eg. when it's very dry and earthworms & grubs are harder to find).
"Damage to gardens is often the result of food shortages, particularly in hot dry summers when badgers may have difficulty finding enough food. One remedy may be to feed the badgers until the hot dry spell finishes, although this may sometimes aggravate the problem." http://www.cornwallbadgergroup.org.uk/damage.htm

does this help at all? Eurasian badger (Meles meles): Badger problems - homes and gardens

[hmk]

So sorry to hear about Hinge.

Sorry, nothing constructive to offer on either stopping smoking or badger infestation (only a handful around here), but hope your week gets better...

HMK

[lizzylemon]

Well, well, well, looks like that link may be very helpful. Especially the section on the damage they cause building setts under homes. Not a major problem till it gets soooooo big it causes subsidence. Pretty good argument if you ask me. The stink chemical stuff sounds good although I do wonder if it stink to humans and maybe transferal?

Know what you mean about tick/worms/damage. Same reasons the chooks ended up being penned in the end. My little'un would have been shoveling chook poo into her mouth as fast as they could drop it I'm sure - they've had round and gape worm so far - it doesn't bear thinking about.