Where flora and fauna abound - indoors

The flora, well that would be the blooms of mound from an outrageously wet summer/autumn and now winter. Plus I have herringbone fern that refuses to stay outside.

I live in a double brick home, which explains a lot of my problems. Not only can flora finds its way through the cracks, so can the fauna, though not the native variety. Mice are a constant in my life, in winter.

I have cats, and they do their share, even though their catch is often stolen by the dog.

But in an old house, with cavities between the brick walls, we can't stop the mice. Don't judge me too harshly when I tell you the drawer containing our dinner plates has a mouse trap set. So far we have trapped about six - three in one day. FYI the dinner plates are kept in the dishwasher, which seems rodent-safe.

And of course rats have been known to move in, and are much harder to move out. In past years we have spent weeks trying to out fox (?) a rat that has set up home in our home. One year, in total frustration, we made a huge effort to ensure every scrap of food was locked away in an endeavour to finally catch this one particularly canny rat. Imagine my surprise the next day at work when I reached for my morning tea in my handbag - only to find my apple had been half eaten. Lucky I'm not squeamish.

And regarding the accompanying photo, I plan to clean my windows in the very near future, and maybe get a strangle hold on that fern growing up the outside of my bathroom. For the designers amongst you, that's Porter's Paints' Priscilla on the wall.

Toni Bell

Editor, Manning River Times