Aussies and insects

What a beauty eh? It is a Sexton Beetle, about 3/4 of an inch long, it is a carrion feeder, finds dead things by smell, buries the body then eats it. More of this in a mo.

I spent a lovely evening with my bff (best friend forever) KT Wong who had come from her adopted home in Australia to visit friends and family. Along for the ride was Big Mac, the three of us used to work for the police as 'civvies', KT as the guardian of the front desk (enquiry office) and Big Mac and I as communication officers (taking phone calls to the police, sending police to 'jobs', recording and monitoring incidents etc). As you can probably guess, things got pretty intense at times and people who work under such close circumstances become firm buddies. Well, we had stew, we tried my wine, we put the world to rights. Good times!
I invited KT to come see Little Fink horse riding (KtTwas a wiz on a horse) and also say "Hi" to Nanny and Shouty Grandad who would be taking Little Fink to the riding school.
I picked KT up from her temporary abode and headed off to the riding stables. After about 10 minutes something came in the open car window, hit me on the head and landed on my shirt. I looked down to see that bug up there. I screamed, she screamed (the bug probably screamed for all I know) I didn't know what it was so didn't know if it would bite, sting or throw a punch.
I couldn't stop the car as I was on a fast road with no hard shoulder.
The bug dropped off my shirt.......down between my legs....I was wearing shorts.
I made a turn off the main road, started to slow down....as I stepped on the clutch, I felt the bug hard and spiky under my leg, I screamed, she screamed, the bug might have screamed.
I eventually managed to stop the car, jumped out and KT flicked the bug out of the car where it landed with a considerable noise considering it's a bug.
She and i began laughing slightly hysterically, I got a big dose of the heeby jeebies - you know when you kind of shake your shoulders and shake yourself down.
After that we headed of to the horses and the afternoon (glorious late summer/early autumn weather) passed without further incident.

There you go KT, never a dull moment with me bff! xxx

It's all happening

Well, well, well. What a couple of weeks we've had.
First a lovely holiday with my mucker and her family. Very relaxed and lazy - I was!
Then Little Fink returned from Denmark/Sweden, with many tales to tell of trips to Copenhagen, long boat racing, she was blown away by the jamboree and came home with lots of badges from around the world, Japan, USA, Sweden, Norway, Kowloon to name a few. Apparently the next one in 4 years is in Japan and she tells me, "I'll be old enough to go." Oh really?!
Little Fink has taken an interest in ice-skating so her and some pals went off to skim the ice at Wally World.
I bought an electric bike with the intention of cycling to and from work but have realised I am more unfit than I thought so, more work needed.
Mr Fink has been working hard and also enjoyed a couple of long weekends in the static with Mr Hammer playing "Twack"! (that's golf to you and me)
Last night I enjoyed the company of my bestest bud KT Wong, over from Oz, we chin wagged, put the world to rights and had a lovely evening - hopefully to be repeated before she goes home next month.
Tonight The Finks will be heading North to see The Foggs and The Cadwalladers for the annual Meteorite BBQ and outdoor hot tub experience in York. I hope the skies are clear to see the meteors - having said that, last year we got so drunk we were all in bed by 11pm! I will of course be providing some liquid refreshment made by my own fair hand.

Candles, Traps and the return of the Mercy Dash.

It's a picture taken in my parent's bathroom at the weekend. It's shows a hard skin scraper and a candle.
Nanny (my mum) lives with Shouty Grandad (my dad) so you can imagine I've seen some odd things in their bathroom from time to time! nanny looked at me with a straight face and said, once she'd taken the hard skin off her feet, she rubbed them with a candle which makes them nice and soft. ???? (Well how come she still needs the foot scraper then?)

Little Fink (11 yo daughter) and I replaced the crayfish traps in the local river on Tuesday, we'd tried to get permission to locate them at a more secluded spot but there was no one around to ask so we used our regular place. Wednesday, Nanny and I went to check on them and 1 trap was missing. It looks like the rain had swollen the river causing one trap to move with the water. It appears the anchor string broke and fell in the water allowing the trap to become beached on the shallow gravel. A branch had recently been broken of a nearby tree (just call me Miss Marple) so I surmise that someone took the branch and manoeuvred the trap out of the water and away. . However, the loss of the trap was almost worth it, just to see Nanny knee deep in the river searching for the missing trap wielding an extendible decorating pole with a big hook taped to the end. (3 crayfish in the remaining trap, killed, cooked and frozen)

On Sunday I had arranged to go metal detecting with Nanny, the fields our club has permission to dig on are about an hours drive away. Hold that thought......
Many years ago, I used to share a house with KT, we were young and daft, had parties and loads of fun. We encountered the phenomenon known to us as The Mercy Dash. This was generally accepted to refer to the urgent trip to the toilet required after a night on the beer - if you know what I mean. It's been 13 years since KT and I shared a house and I had forgotten about the fabled Mercy Dash.....until Sunday.
So imagine, if you will, me - we've been walking the fields for an hour, no loos for miles around, then suddenly it's Mercy Dash time. Oh boy did we get home quick! The downside of metal detecting.

Steve the Plumber saves the day

So the heating has been on since....the first day of Summer. I just had my best mate who moved to Oz over to stay, she was freezing so i turned the heating up. I didn't realise until she had gone back down under - the radiator in her bedroom wasn't working.

You may recall the 'interesting' time we had when the central heating was updated. (see previous blog).

Well, I went to the new radiator, easily bled it, ran a couple of bottles of water off, still no hot water. tried again the next day and the next day. Nothing.

Mr Fink called Steve the Plumber - Steve managed to fit us in tonight. I got home after the shop to find the two men in the kitchen drinking tea.

"Thank you so much Steve, I'm sorry to have called you out, I tried everything I could to fix it but I can't get the water to come through hot. How did you fix it? "

"That's ok, the valve was stuck, I just hit it with the pliers and it worked!"

DOH

Something to Melt Your Brain

My best friend, "KT Wong" moved to Fremantle, Western Australia 18 months ago. She was explaining how hot is has been over there at Christmas time (the hottest place on earth one day over Christmas) and I had trouble getting my head round the following...

It is cold here in England, I have my heating turned up to 22 degrees C to keep warm. It is hot in Aus. (about 40-44 degrees C) and KT has her air con turned up to 25 degrees C to keep cool. HOW DOES THAT WORK?

Anyway, do I feel sorry for KT and her hubby sitting in the spa all day to keep cool? (Nah) Wandering off to the country to spend time in their place there? Not to mention the resident wild possum that lives in the boat in the roof of the outhouse. (Why are all my friends sooo eccentric?)

RabbitFink Pie for Tea

Ah the poor bunny, after the torrential rain (and snow) we had at the weekend, I was feeling sorry for RabbitFink, he was absolutely soaking this morning when I went out to feed him. I resolved to make some dry places in the garden to make life a bit more comfortable for him.
RabbitFink came to us a year ago from Freecycle (the recycling website) and has caused grief pain and amusement ever since.
He is very territorial, chases the cats out of the garden, bites your trousers and has even started 'spraying' Little Fink when she goes outside.
Tonight I set to, took the old damaged tarp off the hutch/run and rummaged about in the shed for something more suitable. I found a gazebo with I inherited from KT Wong when she emigrated. (There seems to be some corner fittings missing and the cover was still sealed in its bag, so I'm not sure what KT Wong used the bits for?) So I covered the hutch, tied it all down and made it cosy. It is bombing down with rain by this time, I'm totally wet through. The rabbit is driving me nuts running in and out of my feet, chewing the string and the gazebo cover.
I decide to use the old tarp to cover the bench to provide some more shelter for BunnyFink, tied that all off. Perfect.
I come inside to get some greens, when I return, BunnyFink is sitting under the bench - not in the dry..but right under a drip from the tarp. If it is possible, he is wetter than ever. I give up - rabbit pie anyone?

I probably shouldn't tell you this but...

I have a funny feeling that I shouldn't tell you this but I'm going to any way - these things only seem to happen to me.

One day when Little Fink was even littler - about 2 or 3 and had only just got her fangs, my friend KT Wong and I took her swimming to the local pool. Now Little Fink had started the nasty habit (as little sprats do at that age) of biting me if she couldn't get her own way.

We had been playing in the water for sometime when Little Fink sunk her fangs into my shoulder. I started my rant, "That is very naughty, we're getting out right now, you must never, never bite people, how would you like it if....." blah blah blah. I went on and on, trying to explain how naughty it was of her. We were getting changed by this time and I can imagine all Little Fink could hear from me was akin to the sound the teacher makes in the Snoopy cartoons, a kind of WahWah Wah, Wah WahWah Wah. I could imagine KT Wong in the next cubilce thinking, for goodness sake, give it a rest. The next minute, Little Fink looked up at me with big eyes and said in a loud and clear voice,

"Mummy, you've got a hairy bum"

The whole place went silent - the only noise I could hear was KT Wong slump against the side of the cubicle and slide down the wall - no doubt with her hand over her mouth clutching her stomach. Noone else in the changing room made a sound. I got us changed so quickly I think most of our clothes must have been on inside out or back to front. Kids. Who'd have 'em?