Same boring old topic

Steve vacuumed yesterday (in advance of the Home Fairy coming today) --- he got 53 daddy long legs.  I try to leave them alone when they are in an unused corner because they catch lots of flies and midges but these were in very obvious places and there are visitors coming this weekend.

He also got one mouse in a trap and 2 which died by their own hand.  The Talon really does seem to work ------ or are these mice dying of old age?????   Perhaps we have become  a Nursing Home for mice.  

I found a third body, behind the laundry basket.  It contained only Steve's socks and jocks.  Does this explain a death???

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They came, they saw, they conquered.

We arrived home tonight (Friday) after our 2 week baby sitting in Melbourne.

The mice are still here.

I could cry.  

There was one caught in a trap and 2 others were dead on the floor.

My "experimental drawer" had its normal results.  I had left a clean microfibre wash cloth in it and it was covered in mouse dirt and poison pellets.   I had been thinking that this was going to tell me when all mice had finally left the building.  

Now I realise what is really happening.   I am house training the mice to use the wash cloth for their toilet!!

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The fortnight is up

We return home on Friday, after a visit to an Aunt.

It has been a wonderful, but busy time and we've managed to spend quality time with all 4 of the darlings (and their Mummies!)

My 80 year old Uncle came down from Myrtleford to have an op in the Royal Melbourne Hospital.  I was pleased to see him looking awake and chirpy the next day.

Tonight, I put Indy to bed and crawled in beside him, to tell him a story.   He wanted one about a flying saucer.  Off I launched but soon realised that I was nodding off to sleep.  His voice would wake me up, "What happened then, Nana?"  And away I would go again until the next time. He went to sleep beside me.  He had been to the hydrotherapy pool with me earlier in the day and we both found it too hot and very draining.  I hope he has forgotten all about the story in the morning, or he'll want the finish!   I used to love telling stories to my own kids and pupils.

PLEASE let there be no mice or other vermin when we return home. 

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Grandkids

We have 7 grandkids but only 3 live near us.  We came down to Melbourne a few days ago and have now seen the other 4.  That makes life more complete!

For the next 2 weeks, minus the weekends, we are the chief cooks and bottle washers, while the Mum is working in country.  It's no great hardship!   Maddy 14 and Josh 12, are capable kids and fun to be with.   Although I have noticed that their voices have become softer in the last few months.  Ahem!

We spent the weekend with Rachel and Tom and the oldest and youngest grandkids.  Tatum will be 21 in August and Indy is 6.   Tatum amazes me --- she is working for a marketing firm for 4 days a week and attending Uni one day a week.  Somewhere there are 2 swimming classes fitted in.  She has always been a diligent worker.  Indy is a child who turns a dreary day into full sun!  He has many interests that he likes to share, so our time with him is always full.

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Follow the Bouncing Ball

Earwigs up the vac

Earwigs up the vac

Here we are rejoicing

With earwigs up the vac.

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New Invasion

Now it's getting interesting!!!!

  The plagues are occurring while we watch.

At exactly 10.45pm tonight, Tuesday, hundreds of EARWIGS came under the kitchen door and scuttled everywhere.

If you have ever had a dog and watched it deal with something in its ear, you can picture Steve.   Writhing, moaning, stamping, turning round in circles, shaking the head, we see the poor dog's/Steve's suffering.

He has resorted to using the vacuum cleaner, snapping it quickly on and off, catching them one at a time before they escape.  I am in grave danger of having my head clipped by a flying aluminium tube, as he swings from front to back to side. 

My contribution has been to roll up a wet newspaper and place it at the back door.  I remember that the earwigs used to attack my dahlias and I wet newspaper with beer and the critters crawled into it by the hundred, drunken, no doubt.  I didn't have any beer this time, (well, not any that I cared to waste.)

For some reason, they are all heading towards Steve.  Only a handful are coming my way.  This has got him very twitchy!

It's a warm night and the kitchen light is on, to entice all light enthusiasts to the fly wire.   I can see moths, midges, flying ants and small locusts.  Ah!  Variety!

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Weekend of March 5

What a great weekend!  We towed the van up to Mildura on Friday and stayed in a great caravan park.  It was right on the banks of the Murray (which wasn't in flood.)   It had fabulous trees and flowering plants and luscious green lawns, a lot of which was lippia and there was also a collection of animals.   Usually, places with beautiful gardens are very ordered.  This park had trees and flowers growing here, there and everywhere and best of all, so were the caravans.  No neat, formal rows of cabins and the vans were parked east/west or north/south or anywhere in between, so long as they fitted on the lot.

Saturday night was magic!  Underneath the stars, the music was especially beautiful.  It was all classical, plus a couple of songs from Showboat.   I missed the big screens from the Lock.  That way, we could see close up but no matter, the audio was excellent.   

Once again, I was hard put to enjoy the main Tenor, Roy Best.  And as before, I preferred the 19 year old Scholar, in his second year of the program.   He had a very deep voice for a tenor, so I wonder if he may develop into a Bass, one day.   An 18 year old Coloratura-Soprano amazed everyone with her bell like voice.  I can't be sure how high she went but it was quite a long way above high C, maybe between F and A.  I was tempted to ask our friends to get out their wine glasses!!  She too had only completed one year of the Scholars' Program.

The singer who was the most popular with the audience was Kamahl.  He didn't look a lot older than I remember but his voice had aged some.  Nevertheless, it was lovely to hear him again.  His best song was Old Man River, which brought forth great applause. 

We had morning tea with Peter and Jenny the next day and saw their house for the first time.  They've been in it for 17 years, so we took our time!!

I would like to go to one of the other "Operas" next year.  There's Opera at the Market, which would be my first choice, and Opera in the Alps.

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Advice from my cousin .......

 

SO if you bomb, zap and get a cat or a fox-terrier and the mouses are still there, I think you should leave the house to them in your wills because, if they get a good barrister, they will probably have good enough grounds for a claim of squatters' rights.

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When the cat's away ......

We're still getting mice. Grrrrr. There seems to be one/some resistant to our efforts. Each day I clear the mouse poo out of the drawer and Steve resets the untouched trap. There is always mouse poo on the dish cloth and a few pellets of poison. It's like they are spreading out the picnic blanket and sitting down for their Talon treat!!!
Is this a different mouse each time or the same one taking a loooong time to die?????  

My Home Helper looked today and decided on TWO mice, because she saw smaller and larger poo.    

Maggie's nose is like mine and she can smell a mouse in the bedroom too. But where, where, where?

We are going away tomorrow for a couple of days.  This will give the pests the opportunity to tun amok!     

We booked tickets last October for the Opera at the Lock.  I'm looking forward to it but wish that it wasn't this weekend.    Our nephew Matt is having his 21st birthday party this Saturday and I would have liked to go to that.    

This concert has its own orchestra, the Alpha Sinfonia, led by Dr David Kram.  Antoinette Halloran and tenor Roy Best are appearing, as well as a special guest, Kamahl.  Heavens above, he's a blast from the past!  It will be interesting to see how he and his voice have aged.  They are joined by a choir of 90 voices.  I didn't much like Roy Best when I last saw him.  In fact, I much preferred the young student tenor.

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