Praying mantis

These are very prevalent in the garden at the moment, praying on everything they can get their big spiky legs into. Better bigger.

A very exciting thing happened yesterday! Except that I think it's only exciting to me, so I didn't blip it (I was tempted, but resisted). I awoke to the sound of a chainsaw - something that always gets my hopes up. But I decided it must be the workmen on the road, who are putting sewerage in (yah! no more septic tank!). And then I saw a vision of loveliness and couldn't quite believe my eyes - a tree feller all roped up and half way up one of my neighbours trees. These trees have been the bane of my life for many long years (they are in this image). In a wide angle shot they don't look too bad, but in reality, they are HUGE and really blight the views towards the city. We bought the house for the views, and then they gradually disappeared.

Anyway, it took all day (and I took many photos!) but the trees are gone, completely down to the ground gone! My next door neighbours must have got fed up with them themselves (they were within 10m of their house) and there was me thinking I would have to offer to pay to get them trimmed before I have to put the house on the market. So I am very happy to have my horizon back and hopefully the property value has gone up a little bit too! (every little helps in this very depressed market).

The other thing to report is that the rabbits in my garden appear to have Myxomatosis. We found one dead and another was blind and deaf and possibly unable to smell too as it could not sense us at all. There wasn't much left of it this morning... (fox got it). I don't like the rabbits, but it's a nasty painful way to go and they seem to go blind and have lesions and tumours on their faces. Not pleasant.

(and now I'm just waiting for a great sunset to show off my new tree free horizon!)