Ours recently brought in a wood pigeon. There were enough feathers in the sitting room to stuff a small eiderdown. The week before it was a squirrel. Usually just a weekly mouse, at least, thankfully we haven't seen a rat here in the ten years since we moved. They were a problem in our old house because of the river at the bottom of the garden. Horrid creatures.
Sadly, I have not managed much in the garden over the holidays. It was so grey and damp and bleak here and between visiting and illness time slipped away.
I managed a few hours on 2nd January when the sun came put. Weeding the front beds, taking some old roses down as far as possible, and planting violas between the polys. Oh and clearing the gladioli leaves from a couple of beds at the back.
There are so many jobs to do and the weather hasn't been with us. Working gets in the way - roll on retirement.
Flowering at present: viburnum, winter jasmine, violas, cyclamen, hellebores, the last of the penstemon, one rose, daphne and the first of the polys. The bulbs are bursting through and the magnolia buds are velvety and beginning to swell. It will all go on hold now until the weather becomes milder again.
It is very cold but the sun is out.