07-Oct-2026
First crop of Happy hill was done at the start of good rain and it went OK, even though the yield was not very good. I had put seeds in cowdung in cleaned ground and never mulched.
This time wanted to have good amount of mulch and put seeds soaked in 24 hours.
05-Oct-2026
1st rice crop didn't go well since rain was less and seeds had maturity of 110 days. So just cut the grass using Scythe and put cowpea and lab lab seeds. Without Scythe, cutting this much area wouldn't have been possible. In some area Stylo grass is also growing and also put some more seeds of Stylo grass. Next time, wanted to grow in mulch and also seed which has less duration, may be of 90 days or so.
At home, we had two cats blackie and techie,they were brought from a house near malampuzha dam after our cat Dundu died. My daughter is fond of cats and after Dundu's death, she contacted some pet shops for cats and one shop owner gave her phone number of a lady who has many cats at home and wanted to relocate couple of them. So we went and collected 2 small kittens. Blackie was female and she was quite healthy and the other one was bit sick and he just sits and does not play much. We thought we will loose him, but he kept the survival fight. Since he does not move much, he used to look to the screen of the mobile and my son named him techie.
During this time, we had a lovely dog pinky and one night when we released for usual routine, she entered the house. Both kittens were inside and Pinky just chased Blackie for a while and came back. Techie was very angry on seeing this and he just went behind the dog and slapped her. We were surprised at his action, that is how, both were very close.
After a while Techie recovered well and grown to a very healthy cat, Blackie was also very healthy. Once Blackie got fever and she was very sick. She was taken to a pet hospital and she recovered well. After that Techie got fever and myself and wife took him to the pet hospital. We have a basket which has holes and he was kept inside and its lid is not very strong, so we tied this using a rope. He is generally obedient and was silent when we drove to the hospital. From the hospital parking I carried the basket and entered the hospital and there was a big patient dog standing there. Techie saw him and got frightened and he pushed the lid and came out and ran to one corner of the hospital. Hospital staff was very quick and they closed the front door and the windows so that he won't go out. Hospital is near a National Highway and if we go out it will be difficult. He was looking paths to go out and my Wife approached him and he just silently sat there. She carried him and put him in the basket and kept away from the view of dog and he was all fine. We were surprised that even at that stage, he just obeyed her. He recovered the fever and all was going fine.
Another story is that, both cats disappeared once, for 2 days they were not seen at all. We were searching here and there and no news about them. Blackie was pregnant and we were worried. One evening we heard cat crying and we found that it is just behind our house there is a hall which is locked normally and opened when there is an event. We got the keys and opened and both were inside, they entered through the air hole, mostly Blackie entered first and she was not able to get out and Techie also entered and he was guarding her. She being pregnant was not able to jump and get out through the same hole.
Both were lovely pets and they never harm you. Techie especially was very loving when we talk to him, he will answer in his own way. He sometimes follow my wife when she goes for a walk on the road in front of the house and he will roll on the road. When dogs come, he will quickly jump to the boundary wall and will sit there watching the dog. When we are away for a day or two, they will be fed by a neighbor aunty. When we normally come back by night, they will be waiting for us in the car porch.
Both of them roam around freely and watchful of dogs. Two weeks back, Techie went to the nearby temple car parking and he was under a car, and it looks like he couldn't get out since there were dogs nearby or it was an electric car and he didn't hear the engine sound. He just ran over by the car, we just lost him. He was such a beautiful and loving cat, Techie, we will miss you.
Fodder grass grows quite fast, and I was thinking that will generate lots of mulch and should be good. But it grows tall around 3 feet and very dense and after cutting, after 15-20 days, grows back to the same height, especially in rainy season. Also wild pigs nest in between, so it has become a threat.
So thought of managing them bit differently. Just kept rows of grass 10 feet apart and all in between grass were uprooted. In the rows added, mexican sunflower and glyricidea also.
Myself and Palani was clearing one area for vegetable. After lunch, I came back a bit late and Palani was looking in between grass very keenly and said, it is a Viper snake. He started hitting it, I just said stop and just looked at it and to my surprise it was a python. Not big one, medium sized, never expected a python. Couple of years back, I had sighted one while cutting grass using Scythe and with a help of one person caught it and handed over to Kollengode forest office.
This time I just let it free, even though it was hit twice, it just crawled further to grass and disappeared. If it is sighted once again, may catch and hand it over to forest office.
I just confirmed it with a friend, he checked in chatgpt and it said it is Indian Rock Python and he sent it to a person working in forest and confirmed it is a Python. Felt happy that I could correctly identify it.
Gondharaj lemon fruiting for the first time...There are 7 lemons and some more flowers, very eager to taste it. It is supposed to be very fragrant variety and used widly in Bengali Cuisine.I had planted many, lots of them didn't survive the summer and also were overgrown by weeds. I have 3 plants totally.
