Three Blind Mice and Winter Roses

This week we seem to be inundated with little rodents. The clam traps I had been using were failing to go off and I seem to be feeding the dear little things with peanut paste by the spoonful. So set out to buy new traps but they no longer seem to sell the clam types. So bought some expensive plastic ones from the hardware store and they too were ineffective, or so I thought at the time and tossed one out in the bin. Then bought some of the good old wooden ones like we had in days gone by, only to find that the first one fell apart as I tried to set it and the other three proved ineffective as well.

 The little blighters were eating the bait out of the nylon stocking it was wrapped in even though I had tied it on as well....I watched one doing so this morning as I was writing my journal and drinking the early mug of tea, its little hands delicately unwrapping the nylon....
so decide to give the other new plastic trap another go and Bingo! it worked this time. So hastily dived into the recycle bin to recover the one I had thrown out in frustration....Above are the three caught in a matter of minutes and since then have caught four more......

The seasons are so weird now, there are roses still blooming in our garden despite the fact it is winter and the gumtrees are shading the rose garden. One is Apricot nectar and the other is Fire and Ice, very similar to Double Delight.
The vegie patch is not doing very well except for the garlic which is very enthusiastic and have two solid rows of green spikes. The rhubarb is very demanding and thinks it needs a drink almost every other day. At least the broadbeans are doing well.....

The pomegranates look quite beautiful with their green background but I don't seem to use them much at all as I am not sure how to work with them. I did strain the juice out of them the other day and used it on my muesli, they are supposed to be very healthy for you.
The Sulphur Crested Cockatoos were visiting a few weeks ago and eying off our walnuts. We had quite a good crop this year and I had to chase them away a few times so I harvested them as quickly as I could. We do have a lot of birds visiting but I rather fear the Noisy Minors are taking over and we don't see the greenies at all now or the blackbirds either and the willy wagtail was chased off the patio too a few days ago....I may have to take drastic actions on them soon......