Resting Earwig...

What a stressful day that was!

We were back over at the house in the morning as we had our plumber in to check the gas boiler and gas fire for a safety certificate for the sale of the house. The boiler was fine but the gas fire was deemed unsafe so had to be capped off. We've hardly used it in our 18 years at the house, so it didn't cause us any problems. So we've had to inform the buyer of this change. Fingers crossed it won't halt the sale.

Then late this afternoon our cat went missing... We eventually located her by her little cries. She had climbed the monkey puzzle tree in the garden!! Of all the trees she could scale this was the worst. The branches are so spiny and she really didn't know where to put her paws. We had to call upon our neighbours to borrow some ladders. It took 2 hours of coaxing before we got her down. 

We tried food, and we placed blankets on the branches so she could stand on something less spikey. In the end it was the cat carrier that saved the day. Usually she hates it, but the only time she willing goes into it is at the vets, once they have finished handling her. She must have worked out this was a similar situation and calmy walked into it. The scariest bit was watching my other half up the ladder, not holding onto anything except the carrier, and then trying to fasten it before she changed her mind.... Phew!

On a calmer note, I'd found another dragonfly that had emerged from our pond. And again this one had deformed wings. The other one was still hanging on too. The British Dragonfly Society advises there is nothing that can be done when the deformity stems from their final transformation. It's just so sad to have both of them fail right at their last stage of life. The only other critter I could find was a resting earwig!