Pond Life and associated advice (actual garden pond that is) - The Bear and Badger

Skerret

yourfavouriteuncle wrote:

I can't be arsed to try re-edit those typos due to ipad fuckery but you get the general gist. There's nothing fucking wrong with building, creating, engineering stuff with yer hands and muscles and what not. Cor blimey mate, look at dem jugs on page three today. Anyway I'm off to footie now, then a brawl n a curry.

Curry brawl.

davyK

I have a lot of sympathy for smart people who do work that has a physical element to it. There is an awful lot of snobbery around being white collar. The guy who is managing my extension at the moment is no dunderhead - he is managing loads of different things happening and their inter-dependencies. When you find a good builder you thank your lucky stars.

It's a different kind of intelligence in many ways (visualising shapes and their construction which I just can't get my head around for example), but there's a big overlap with other so-called professions when it comes to implementation of projects.

Escape

My dad was a labourer, and he worked with some right tossers (one used to whinge that his young kids were 'doing his head in', and about how much their boss was taking the piss). I could've had a job with them at one point. Thing is, besides bricklaying, I actually enjoy the work.

One of my uncles (also retired) was a sparky in Wolverhampton, but the work dried up and they moved him into their warehouse. He was later made redundant from there, and had to work as a binman for his last couple of years.

My dad's old firm went under before he retired, too, but he only had about four years to go. He spent a time travelling for work, just coming home on the weekends. Unless you've a relevant degree for restoration-type work, labouring in this corner's a right bad career choice.

davyK

Physical work is great when you are young - but it must be awful when you get older. It can of course keep you in great shape but if you get injured or have a condition such as arthritis it's no joke. There doesn't seem to be an awful lot of support re pensions etc either - I guess it comes from the nature of the commercials - a lot of self employed people working with cash in hand etc.

I guy I know in construction is almost if not completely invisible to the system and seems to operate entirely in the "dark" market.

I think that some degree of regulation would probably help - a robust licencing system would certainly weed out some of the cowboys.

mistercrayon

I like the idea of a pond in a future house but dislike the idea of cultivating a vending machine for birds and also an incompatibility with dogs (which is also future plan)

equinox_code

Where do pond skaters come from? I see them in every pond. It's as if they just materialise or evolve given a bowl of wetness and a short period of time. I've never seen or heard of them migrating between residences.

mistercrayon

maybe they parasite off birds and come in via poo.

Escape

davyK wrote:

have a condition such as arthritis it's no joke.

Aye, the old boy had to have surgery on his clawed hands when he was about 50. He still does an occasional bit of cash-in-hand for people he knows, but that's not too bad on him. For me, the biggest factor would be whether I was profiting well from hard work. If so, it's much healthier than staring at screens in an office; but if not, it's one of the worst ways to earn a living.

I put out two bird-feeders a few days ago, and the fat balls have gone already! The seed one's down to a third.

yourfavouriteuncle

Escape wrote:

davyK wrote:

have a condition such as arthritis it's no joke.

Aye, the old boy had to have surgery on his clawed hands when he was about 50. He still does an occasional bit of cash-in-hand for people he knows, but that's not too bad on him. For me, the biggest factor would be whether I was profiting well from hard work. If so, it's much healthier than staring at screens in an office; but if not, it's one of the worst ways to earn a living. I put out two bird-feeders a few days ago, and the fat balls have gone already! The seed one's down to a third.

Nature's a fast worker alright. We cut down some overgrown grasses last Thursday, didn't have enough room in our recycling bin to get it all in a oner, gone back today now the bins been emptied and two hedgehogs have made themselves dens/nests/condominiums/whatever the fuck they live in in the pile that was left there for a few days.
It's caused me a bit of a quandary though; leave the messy pile of pulled out weeds and have happy hedgehogs or have a nice neat garden but send the hedgehogs off to pit their wits against the cats, owls and wolves?

Escape

Is there a water source nearby, and how's their access to other gardens? I wouldn't turf them out if it's a highly urbanised area (get advice on rehousing from an animal sanctuary), but if their surroundings are perfectly viable for survival - hedges for a nest, crawlies to eat, few preds - they'll be fine. They're not territorial, so they won't mind if they've a decent alternative.

But like toads, they prefer to stay close to water if they can.

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