A Mollusc’s Revenge
I’m not a morning person.
Not any more. In the dim and distant past I’d have been up long before dawn, on the first plane out, then sitting waiting for a 9.00 a.m. meeting in Germany or elsewhere. Drumming my fingers on the table if the natives were late.
These days it needs coffee. And plenty of it at that.
So it’s on caffeine power alone that I emerge to do the first garden inspection of the day.
They know this, don’t they.
Oh lord, I am just imagining putting a bare foot inside that welly.
It was a close run thing..
Phew, relieved you didn’t find Miz Sluggy with your bare foot!
Miz Sluggy had better not pull that trick tomorrow, or it’s the river for her..
better or worse than a mouse?
I was going to say the mouse would be worse, on account of teeth. But then slugs must have teeth too, mustn’t they? Certainly they can munch through my beans. Mousey teeth must be sharper though, they can chew through anything.
If he had fingers he’d be raising two 🙂
They are taking it out on me for the nematodes aren’t they?
Three posts to catch up on here, because life’s like that at the moment … and now I’m ready to tackle my afternoon with a smile 😀
No worries Annie, I hope your afternoon went OK.
Shuddering here . . .
Me too. Still..
They’re even prepared to sacrifice themselves to annoy us….unbelievable.
What worried me were all the friends and relations that might be lurking down the toe..
I am a morning person but am becoming a night person too! As soon as daylight fades I am outside on snail and slug inspection! I can now even pick them up with my bare hands!!!
Yuk! Snails I can do, by the shell, but not slugs!
Can’t stand anything that doesn’t have (visible) legs myself! Does it make you feel any better to know that I once put on a pair of those very low ‘foot’ wellies – only to fit that a cat had p**d in one? I was halfway down the garden before I realised why my foot was wet!
Yuk again! I have some of those foot wellies too. No cat, but I will still be thinking about that for a while!
Better that than on your seedlings!! Julie x
I’m not so sure!!
Now come on, Jessica…I bet you can think of at least three things to find in your wellies that would be worse than a slug? Poo things? Dead things? Spidery things? (Mind you, I do give my allotment wellies a good upside-down walloping before I pop ’em on! Just in case…)
Wasps. Maybe wasps?
Better that you came upon that handsome chap in the morning, imagine a midnight Squish! Crikey it doesn’t bear thinking about.
Hi Sue! Great to hear from you and welcome back!
You’re right, that would not be nice. In the dark that squishing could be anything. Denise’s poo things and dead things would be particularly front of mind.
I loathe slugs – I can’t bear to see them, let along touch them! I never did like them, then it was made worse when I started reading a book (or possibly just a short story) about slugs growing in your brain and bursting out through your nose …….. I’ll stop there!!
On that note I am going to find the wine… 🙁
Oh yes I remember those early morning flights and meetings [in my case in the Netherlands]!! Glad that’s not part of my life anymore. The numbr of airmiles I clocked up was beyond serious.
Yuk re slug! think I’d rather have the mouse. Was once bitten by a shrew I’d rescued from the cat. It didn’t hurt. 🙂
I still have nightmares about those flights. But it’s lovely to wake up and realise that I don’t have to go anywhere after all!
Bleeeurgh! I hate slugs soooo much! Yuck, yuck, yuck!
But, I have to say, even through the slug-rage, nice hunters, missus!
Sarahx
They’ve just split. Either the slug chewed them or they’ve collapsed under the strain.
Don’t know what to get next… quite fancy those joules ones with the bow on the back?? OK, maybe not.
Mine have just split too, as I discovered when standing in our pond. Perhaps we should do a joint post on which wellies to get and everyone can leave advice? Not bows though Jessica. I can’t do bows. Or spots. Or patterns. Or anything fancy. Huntresses it is again then….
Wot no bows???
I spotted them a year or so ago when we were renting on a farm and I was looking after the pigs. It would have been a great wheeze because the farmer already had me down as far too designery for the pig pen. The trouble is, the piglets had already found the buckles on the hunters and loved to nibble them… what would they have made of the bows?
I always shake my boots out !
Just watching Nature Watch & seen that woodpeckers raid bird boxes & nests ! I didn’t know that !
They do, sadly. Nature can be cruel.
Sometimes I wish everything was vegetarian and ate plants.. as long as they’re not mine!
Oh No!! the thought doesn’t bear thinking about!!
Tomorrow morning I’ll be shaking them out..
I am very glad you saw it before putting the boot on. It is the worst to step on those with bare feet. What is it about their slime that makes it so hard to scrub off?
I’ve noticed the same. It’s horrible. And now inside my welly too…. 🙁
Well, on a plane it might be snakes……………………. x (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snakes_on_a_Plane)
Suddenly I’ll take the slug..
Not nice, how did you dare to put them on, not knowing if there’s more of the family awaiting in the bottom?
They had a very good shaking out, but even so I did not enjoy putting my hand in to make absolutely sure.. I’m thinking about one of those boot racks that you can fix high up on a wall.
Something worried me when I read this, and then I realised what it was – do you think slugs might be developing a taste for wellies? If you come down again to a cropped pair – more like crocs, we’ll know.
There’s a positive side to that.. maybe I could put out an old leaky (even more leaky) pair, perhaps planted up with peas, as a diversion?
Is this an escapee from the nematodes? It does look a bit like slug-revenge. I’m glad you saw it first, before it surprised you.
I wondered the same. Although it looks rather too fighting fit to have had a brush with the nematodes..
Oh, yuk and more yuk! I must admit though that for me it would have been far worse to find a spider in my wellie!:)
I shouldn’t really leave my wellies in the outhouse, there are all manner of horrors lurking in there. Cold Comfort Farm: ‘something nasty in the woodshed’..
Keep your boots in the hall and get spiders instead!
By the way the most comfy boots ever are Le Chameau ladies vierzonord, been wearing them for years on the farm, in fact we all do here. Well worth the extra dough!
Pats. x.
Thanks for the tip… I will look them out. Mostly I just use them for gardening, but they do need to be watertight, for the boggy areas and the occasional wade through the river. I have some Le Chameau clogs, they are the bees knees.
Bleugh! Those slimy monsters get in everywhere. Glad you spotted it before putting your foot in.
At least it wasn’t one of those foreign invaders from last year.. they were HUGE!!
I know you checked that boot before you wore it, didn’t you!!
This morning I definitely did!
aaaagh!!
My thoughts exactly.
EEK!!!! I too am not, and NEVER have been a morning person. I only get up early if I absolutely have too!!! xxxx
Quite right.
Eugh. Could have been worse though. Squidgily worse…
It doesn’t bear thinking about does it? 🙁
Urghh, is nothing sacred? They get everywhere.
Don’t they just!!
Yikes! I am glad you looked down there before stepping in that boot. Would have been a very interesting moment otherwise. Hehe. 😉
It would have been interesting for the slug too.. 😉
It could only happen to you. lol.
🙁