I have little monsters in my potting shed.

They only come out at night, and they cause utter mayhem.

Due to space considerations, I sometimes keep some of my houseplants in
there; specifically Aloe and Spider plants. The wee monsters seem to
really have it in for the Spider plants. They don't eat them, but what
they do is quite bizarre.

They dig all the earth out of the pot, scatter the earth all over the
shed, then dig up the gravel (drainage) at the bottom, and carry it off
with them - up to the top shelf. We're talking 1cm granite chips, in
some cases.

They also chew through any plastic or Hessian bags, and make little
piles of it in a separate location (still in the shed).

They completely destroyed my entire collection of fertilizers - bone
meal, fish bone and blood, slow release nitrogen, etc. - all of it.

Seems like very unusual behaviour for, say, mice. What would mice do
with granite chips?

So what are these little monsters?

-
[H]omer

[H]omer wrote:
:: I have little monsters in my potting shed.
::
:: They only come out at night, and they cause utter mayhem.
::
:: Due to space considerations, I sometimes keep some of my
:: houseplants in there; specifically Aloe and Spider plants. The wee
:: monsters seem to really have it in for the Spider plants. They
:: don't eat them, but what they do is quite bizarre.
::
:: They dig all the earth out of the pot, scatter the earth all over
:: the shed, then dig up the gravel (drainage) at the bottom, and
:: carry it off with them - up to the top shelf. We're talking 1cm
:: granite chips, in some cases.
::
:: They also chew through any plastic or Hessian bags, and make little
:: piles of it in a separate location (still in the shed).
::
:: They completely destroyed my entire collection of fertilizers -
:: bone meal, fish bone and blood, slow release nitrogen, etc. - all
:: of it.
::
:: Seems like very unusual behaviour for, say, mice. What would mice
:: do with granite chips?
::
:: So what are these little monsters?

It can't be anything other than mice (or possibly rats)...the fish, blood
and bone speaks for itself - it's organic, IE food, the other bags may have
smelled similar and so they were ransacked, the hessian is a new bed, the
stone chips don't make sense unless there is water impregnated in them? - if
there is no other source of moisture in there (and no escape), maybe they
were trying to get a drink?
At a best guess I would say it's mice, not rats, rats are ravenous creatures
and need lots of food, mice are more easily satisfied and 'stash' better
(you may find some or all of your FB&B and bonemeal if you do a thorough
search) mice are very determined and will toil all night to get one thing to
another place for no apparent reason...maybe they are building a mini
rockery?

:-p


--
"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we.
They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country
and our people, and neither do we."
- George W. Bush, 5.8.2004

Janet Baraclough wrote:
The message
from "[H]omer" contains these words:


Seems like very unusual behaviour for, say, mice. What would mice do
with granite chips?

That's a hard one. I suspect rats. Be careful....just because you
haven't found their secret weapon launcher, doesn't mean they haven't
got one. I reckon you've got about 45 minutes to dig that underground
bunker and make it air-tight.

It was mice after all; they left a note saying "Our experiment is now
complete." Turns out it was just one of their Human Behavioural Studies.

-
[H]omer

Phil L wrote:
[H]omer wrote:
:: I have little monsters in my potting shed.

:: They dig all the earth out of the pot, scatter the earth all over
:: the shed, then dig up the gravel (drainage) at the bottom, and
:: carry it off with them - up to the top shelf. We're talking 1cm
:: granite chips, in some cases.

:: Seems like very unusual behaviour for, say, mice. What would mice
:: do with granite chips?

the stone chips don't make sense unless there is water impregnated in
them?

...maybe they are building a mini rockery?

The 'water' explanation is plausible, I suppose; weird though.

It did, in fact, look like a case of 'mini-gardening'.

Maybe it was the mice out of Bagpuss?

"We will fix it, we will stitch it, we will make it new, new, new"

Perhaps I should leave out some butterbeans in the potting shed ... I
quite fancy a chocolate biscuit.

-
[H]omer

"[H]omer" wrote:

It was mice after all; they left a note saying "Our experiment is now
complete."

I'll bet I'm not the only one thinking that the note said, "The question to
the answer forty two is 'what do you get when you multiply six by nine' ".

It doesn't take many of them... I found holes gnawed in cereal boxes in a
cellar pantry, and set some traps. Only caught one mouse, but the damage
stopped, and the *baited traps have gone untouched.

*The usual extra chunky peanut butter wasn't good enough; I had to use
extra-sharp Provolone.


Gary Woods AKA K2AHC- PGP key on request, or at home.earthlink.net/~garygarlic
Zone 5/6 in upstate New York, 1420' elevation. NY WO G

On Mon, 18 Apr 2005 23:25:55 +0100, [H]omer wrote:


It was mice after all; they left a note saying "Our experiment is now
complete." Turns out it was just one of their Human Behavioural Studies.

-
[H]omer

Going the wrong way in a maze, eating the wrong piece of cheese, that sort
of thing?
BTW the film's due out soon.

--
Tim C.

On Mon, 18 Apr 2005 23:42:48 +0100, [H]omer wrote:

Phil L wrote:
[H]omer wrote:
:: I have little monsters in my potting shed.

:: They dig all the earth out of the pot, scatter the earth all over
:: the shed, then dig up the gravel (drainage) at the bottom, and
:: carry it off with them - up to the top shelf. We're talking 1cm
:: granite chips, in some cases.

:: Seems like very unusual behaviour for, say, mice. What would mice
:: do with granite chips?

the stone chips don't make sense unless there is water impregnated in
them?

...maybe they are building a mini rockery?

The 'water' explanation is plausible, I suppose; weird though.

It did, in fact, look like a case of 'mini-gardening'.

Maybe they thought they were hard seeds and were hoarding them, as they do?

--
Tim C.

Tim Challenger wrote:
On Mon, 18 Apr 2005 23:25:55 +0100, [H]omer wrote:

It was mice after all; they left a note saying "Our experiment is now
complete." Turns out it was just one of their Human Behavioural Studies.

Going the wrong way in a maze, eating the wrong piece of cheese, that sort
of thing?
BTW the film's due out soon.

I was a massive fan of the TV series, then the radio series (on tapes),
then the books ... in that order - i.e. the order in which I discovered
them.

I caught a glimpse of the trailer; didn't realise what it was until I
heard the "Life; don't talk to me about life" quote. Even then I thought
it was a MIB style spoof, rather than the HHG.

Nobody will ever replace Peter Jones as the voice of the Guide; Simon
Jones as such a pathetic and inept archetypal victim; or David Dixon as
such a psychologically detached, carefree, and all-round hoopy frood.

Ach well, I might go and see it anyway, just to see.

-
[H]omer

On Tue, 19 Apr 2005 13:38:45 +0100, [H]omer wrote:

Tim Challenger wrote:
On Mon, 18 Apr 2005 23:25:55 +0100, [H]omer wrote:

It was mice after all; they left a note saying "Our experiment is now
complete." Turns out it was just one of their Human Behavioural Studies.

Going the wrong way in a maze, eating the wrong piece of cheese, that sort
of thing?
BTW the film's due out soon.

I was a massive fan of the TV series, then the radio series (on tapes),
then the books ... in that order - i.e. the order in which I discovered
them.
I did it the "right"way round, the radio, tapes(self recorded from the
radio) then the TV series. I don't remember where the books came in ...

I caught a glimpse of the trailer; didn't realise what it was until I
heard the "Life; don't talk to me about life" quote. Even then I thought
it was a MIB style spoof, rather than the HHG.

Nobody will ever replace Peter Jones as the voice of the Guide; Simon
Jones as such a pathetic and inept archetypal victim; or David Dixon as
such a psychologically detached, carefree, and all-round hoopy frood.

Exactly, Peter Jones was just perfect. And Stephen Fry as The Book is a
good choice.
At least Simon Jones is the Magrathea hologram message....


Ach well, I might go and see it anyway, just to see.

That's what I thought at first, but thinking about it, Martin Freeman (Tim
from The Office) would make a good Arthur, I think. Thae cast is generally
interesting. I'll definitely give it a go with an open mind.

There's a good interview with the screenplay writer on the web site, which
made me warm to the whole idea.


--
Tim C.