A Gruesome Find

Thursday 6th December 2012

Clear nights have their bonuses, as this morning's fiery sunrise testifies. The bright, starry sky last night was amazing too.
But a clear night is a virtual guarantee of a frosty morning and an icy start to the day. This has its pros and cons. On the plus side, the ground is nice and firm, the soil is being broken up by invisible forces and all the nasties are being killed off. But on the downside, we need the mattock to break the animals' water in the mornings, there won't be much digging going on in the veg patch and I come back from feeding the chickens with purple hands!

But the ice has its surprises too, like this!

I occasionally find rodents drowned in the bathtubs which are scattered around the plot to collect water. But this poor creature (it's a young rat, so not too much sympathy), got hit by a double whammy. Sue found it yesterday, completely encased in ice, like some sort of sick novelty ice cube. Unfortunately the camera wasn't working, but by today this hapless rodent had a pair of icy wings.
Could this finally be the niche in the market I've been looking for? Ice lollies for cats!