It was probably a silly thing to do, but on the weekend we bought a new kitten. Haven’t we got enough trouble already with two cats? obviously not!

He has the provisional name ‘viv’, possibly should be ‘vyv’ because it’s in tribute to Ade Edmonson’s legendary character with a girls’ name.

Actually, the little guy has a big task – our other two cats are female and fight terribly – one has adopted the ‘alpha male’ role. So we’re hoping that when this little guy grows up and asserts himself, the dynamics will change and the other two will have other things to think about. (Clutching at straws?)

More pics of Viv’s first afternoon at home here.

Do you like my shoes? Ok, they’re … bright, but they’re comfy, waterproof and slip on easy, so they’re ideal for the beach. They’re even better for clambering over the rocks when I’m going snorkelling… which is what I did today.
I left them wedged between two rocks and they stood up as a bright marker for me to swim back to when I’d finished… perfect. Except that one time I looked up and they’d gone!
I couldn’t believe it, someone was walking around in a pair of hot orange shoes that LOOKED JUST LIKE MINE!! I swam ashore and shouted at her at which point she looked nonplussed, left them and walked away.
By the time I clambered to where she left them I’d cut my foot on the rocks… grr!
So, lots of my friends laughed at my shoes, but i like ’em and you can sure spot someone if they try to nick off with them.

I usually check my gumboots before I put them on. Certainly when I’m out in the bush or whatever, but we keep our gumboots upside down on a rack on our very suburban back deck – not exactly wild! So I didn’t check tonight. Shoved my bare feet in when I went down to visit the chooks – felt something but assumed it was just grass – got about half way to the chook pen when the signals coming from my toes were telling me things were not all well down there. Off comes the boot quick smart and I’m face to face with the biggest f***ing huntsman I’ve ever seen. Once the hysterical laughing stopped I got the camera and snapped her portrait before putting her back in the garden to go about her life. (I suspect she’s about to drop a thousand or so young ones!)

Did I tell you? Always check your gumboots!

Ok, so all the cool blogs hopped onto the bandwagon ages ago… I don’t care, I still think linking George Bush to the phrase ‘miserable failure’ is kind of fun.

Try it, go off to google and search for the phrase ‘miserable failure’… you’ll find GWB’s bio is top of the listings.
It’s a bit pathetic really, but enjoy it while you can, cause as soon as the marketing boys catch on to this sort of link manipulation, the search engine boys will find a way to stop it.

Yesterday was a perfect late winter day here – clear sky, barely a breath of wind. Just for a bit of fun I took the canoe down to the Yarra mouth for a spot of fishing. Could have knocked me out when I actually caught fish… not just tiddlers either – sure, a few smaller fish, but a couple of decent ones too.

Took ’em home and cooked ’em up straight away. yum!