The Patterdale Hall Diaries | On pinschers and poplars
- Published: April 20, 2025
By Chris Wyatt
March 22, 2025
Cool March days are upon us, and I need to spruce up the great room out at the Hall as I will be hosting a D&D session tomorrow.
Tinder and wood are all ready, but the gaming table is covered in trash and debris from the winter. I’ll take a bin bag out, purge everything and maybe even wash some pots up now that we have running water again. I noticed a cute pile of seeds on the bed which means a mouse is evading our traps and so I’ll strip the bed linen and do some laundry as well. D&D should be fun. I haven’t seen some folk for months and it will be nice to get together again. They are an entertaining crowd.
My obsession with Mexican bean recipes continues.
I am trying to master charro and borracho beans. My charro beans have lots of pork — salt pork, bacon, chorizo, chicharrones — in them and I am working on a vegan borracho bean recipe for the next “Cooking with Beer” event at the brewery. Delicious and tasty.
I will take some charro beans around to a friend who is currently recovering from achilles tendon surgery.
March 23, 2025
It looks like we will lose one of our tulip poplars this year, sadly.
I noticed the trunk was splitting lengthways a month or so ago and then yesterday spotted that woodpeckers were methodically drilling holes around the trunk up above my head.
I think this probably indicates that we have insects under the bark, but I will take some photos and consult our local village tree expert, professor Don Cipollini, later this week.
It is a shame, as tulip poplars cast wonderful shade with their massive leaves, and so I will look into planting another to replace this one. Or maybe a big leaf magnolia — those are structurally wonderful trees and seem to grow quite quickly.
The signature of a yellow-bellied sapsucker on Chris Wyatt’s tulip poplar tree. (Photo by Chris Wyatt)
March 25, 2025
Volker, Don and Jim have confirmed that the drilling on our tulip poplar is the signature pattern of a yellow-bellied sapsucker.
I think this sounds like a made-up name like a great-crested fad gadget, but I shall bow to their greater knowledge, even though the ever-useful “Field Guide to Dumb Birds of North America” is at my right hand.
A photo shows the method of the early spring brazen bark blaster. A persistent little bugger — it will delight everybody but the owner of the tree.
I’m joking, of course. Just look at the method this little bird has. It’s really rather incredible.
I will probably need to plant a replacement; it’s fairly apparent that this tree is not long for this world. However, yellow-bellied sapsuckers are beautiful birds and I really hope I get to see them in action.
All this drilling is from this spring — there were no holes in the tree through the winter, so the bird or birds have been busy and with any luck they are a breeding pair.
March 26, 2025
For my birthday this year I bought an Embark DNA test kit so that we can find out Archie’s genetic heritage.
We call him a Patterdale — and Betty actually was a Patterdale terrier — but Archie is really just a very fierce little black dog. He could have any number of different breeds in him, and I bet there is a significant proportion of Chihuahua given his temperament.
He also loves digging, though, so there is likely some terrier in him. His beard is getting majestic, so maybe some miniature schnauzer. I think it is the most exciting birthday present that I have had in years. I haven’t been this excited since Karen bought me a book called “The Goodness of Potatoes” which was published by the British Potato Council.
Heady days.
March 28, 2025
An exciting day of work followed by a wet but warm weekend.
The honeysuckle is revealing itself by going green before everything else, so I shall wander the woods with loppers and prune it all back. It takes time, but as I have said before several times, I’m not going to poison it. It also looks like I will be mowing in the next two weeks — a little later than last year, if I recall correctly. But then, we had a bone-chilling freeze in February, so that probably slowed things down a bit.
Slowly but steadily things are coming back to life again.
I used the “Big Jim” splitting axe to break up some oak to burn yesterday. It really is a monster. It seems to cause smaller bits of wood to explode on impact — which is very enjoyable, cathartic in fact. We will have fewer fires as spring begins to spring, but friends will be visiting on Sunday, and it is predicted to be quite wet. A small fire will drive the damp out of the house for a few hours and keep everybody toasty and warm. I should probably make some snacks, good bread, hummus, cheese, olives — that kind of thing. Simple, but tasty.
For now I’ll focus on work. I have reports to make and then this afternoon I meet with a seminar speaker from China.
April 2, 2025
The results are in and it’s official, Archie is not a Patterdale terrier.
He is mostly a Yorkshire terrier/mini-pinscher mix with some other terrier, spaniel and Shih-Tzu blended in. I can see the Yorkie/pin in him, but the rest seem to have faded a bit, although the spaniel explains why he is a little broader than a pinscher.
A good if somewhat terrifying result.
The miniature pinscher’s known origins are in Germany, where it was often referred to as the Zwerg pinscher or, better yet, dwarf biter. That’s nice.
Yorkshire terriers are of course all as mad as a box of frogs and Archie continues this proud tradition.
*Originally from Manchester, England, Chris Wyatt is an associate professor of neuroscience, cell biology and physiology at Wright State University. He has lived in Yellow Springs for 17 years, is married and has two children and an insane Patterdale terrier.
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