Close encounter with ick

Summer time is over and the clocks have gone back; trouble is, I'm still waking up at the same time, except it's dark.

This morning, I don't think I mind too much.

It's a rainy morning, and a heavier burst of showers woke me. I'm one of those people who, once awake, cannot go back to sleep, or doze. I've just got to get up. So, I rolled over and reached out to the lamp - it still being near dark and all - and stopped a couple of inches from the switch.

The mind just does not work well before six a.m. In the pre-dawn gloom, I'm feeling like an idiot, with my hand stretched out to the lamp, trying to work out what the hell that darker patch is on the shade. Touch the tip of your index finger to the tip of your thumb and that's the size of the darker patch.

Discretion being the better part of valour, I rose and turned on the overhead light. Yeah, a spider. Hairy, with it's legs curled in camped out on the lamp shade. Watching me sleep. Plotting. Planning. Waiting...

Now I've squicked myself out. The spider is still there. I backed away, out of the room for my morning cup of tea. I know I sprayed for bugs, but I guess it's super-spidey. I figure I'll get paranoid about it later, when my thought processes become more focused.

Long-range visitors

This is a White-throated Needletail, otherwise known as a Spine-tailed Swift. It is the largest of the swifts and we had a flock overflying the house this morning.

According to the book, What Bird is That? by Neville W. Cayley, they breed in Siberia, Mongolia and Japan making a migratory journey to the warmer climes of Australia during late spring and summer.

These birds rarely settle on the ground, preferring to eat on the wing and scoop water when they're thirsty. They're also harbingers of a change in weather. When I saw them, the sky was a clear, cold blue; now, a couple of hours later, it is grey and overcast. It's also bitterly cold, like mid-Winter.

I've never seen these birds here, which was why I was so interested in identifying them. They wheeled and whirled overhead, into a very chilly wind. I suspect they usually stick to the warmer inland areas, but the gale force winds have blown them to the coast.

They've come a long, long way for a summer holiday; shame summer has decided it's staying home this year.

Short and sweet

Prezzo run done and I now only have two more gifts to get - go on, hate me.

I'm also dog sitting for a week or so and Canine, the Destroyer, is so far behaving nicely; he's collapsed on the carpet, 'zausted after the trip down and a walk. Hopefully, he'll settle down and not trash the veggie patch. I'm sure he'll find a way around the barriers I've put up.

Now, I'm off to finish wrapping, then putting my feet up.

Oh, and welcome to Australia, Oprah; have a time!

Lizard thinking

Printed out a final draft - I'll be reading it tonight and tomorrow for last minute corrections - and went ahead with the cover. Since this is the last of four books, I intended that all cover fonts and pictures match.

Oh... the horror!!! For previous books, I used a different computer, with an art package and fonts. Of course, when I tried to start the damn thing, it pouted, crossed its arms and said 'Nup'. After trying everything, I had to admit defeat.

My own damn fault. I changed to the laptop for convenience and because the desktop was making whiney-ass noises. Now, it won't go at all. I think I killed it; killed it stone-motherless-dead.

I set the desktop aside and did some pouting of my own.

Now, it's hot and humid here, tropical even; just moving around produces sweat - and a lizard.

Lizard?? Yes. A Blue Tongue, in fact. The garden has about five that sneak out of the garage to ambush snails and slugs (although, I don't suppose snails would rear in surprise and make a dash for the tomatoes - funny image though).

Because it's hot, I opened the front door - but not the security screen - and the back door - which doesn't have a security screen - to allow a sea breeze to pass through.

While pouting at the tragedy of a dead computer, I heard a rustle and glanced down. I looked at the Blue Tongue, and it looked at me. Then it made a dash for the couch. Those things are fast.

It took half an hour to remove the beastie back into the garden, but the sudden change in thought processes did the job.

I remembered the handy-dandy font software I bought... mmm... years ago. Sixteen hundred fonts to choose from and import. Oh, frabjous day, calloo-callay!!

Cover's done.

All I need do, is a final run through and the book should be posted on Scribd by the midnight deadline.

Confrontation

So the big-ass spider is still there this morning.

I know it's smug, I can see the damned smile from across the room. It is dripping in smug.

Yeah, come on, human, just you try coming near me.

"But... I need to go outside."

Not caring. This wall is MINE. Go find your own, and let me remind you: I have eight legs; I can run faster than you. And I jump. Can you?

"Whoa! Don't run at me! Jeez! Look, I just want to go out and check the veggie patch from last night's storm, check the weather station. Why don't you go hide behind the picture frame, hmm? I'll just nip out, make sure the zucchinis are okay and..."

What? Sneak up behind me with a rolled up newspaper? Spray me with stuff that won't kill me, but will piss me off? I don't think so.

"I could always go out the front door and around the side of the house. That way, I won't bother you, and you won't be bothered by me."

Why don't you do that. Oh, and say hello to one of my brothers. He's sitting on the bonnet of your car...

Spidey!!!

The heat is nasty. Add the humidity of the sea and woe.

Smug I was informing a sister of the onshore breeze that kept the temperature down - until sunset that is, and the breeze went away.

Today will be hotter, much hotter and this morning, ain't much of a breeze.

Writing will be nervous: there's a bloody great Huntsman on the wall behind me. How big and how worrisome is a Huntsman?



These are not small spideys. Think of a drinks' coaster, yeah, that's about right. Just to make me happy, I know they run and they jump. They are, to no-one's surprise, hunters, who go after smaller spiders and beetles and other insects.

Good things to have around during Summer, but they make me shudder. I so wish I had eyes in the back of my head... you know, just in case it... Nope, did not need that image.

Preparing

I'm actually off looking after my ailing dog, and I'm working on edits to post a book on Scribd by the end of the month. Not sure how long either will take...

Hump day

Wednesday and I'm working on edits; mine. I figure to be finished in the next week or two - depending on the time available. (Parental unit's 80th birthday bash coming up, so I'll be partying.)

It's been windy today, a perfect day for the washing. Trouble is, the sheets kept wrapping themselves around the wires of Hill's Hoist. I went out to fix them and what do I see? A juvenile Kookaburra sitting on one corner, barely a metre away. And what was it doing? Why, enjoying the ride! The wind blew the line around in a circle, and there's the bird, head into the wind having a hell of a time.

Shame I didn't have time to get the camera, but there you go.

I also finished Nora Roberts' Black Hills. Not a bad read. Lil Chance is a more modern and sensible woman, but Cooper Sullivan still has a stereotypical "I am de man and I make de decisions and you don't need to know why" arrogance which annoys the hell out of me.

I think the lesson is learned from Face the Fire where Mia forgives Sam wa-ay too easily and too quickly for leaving her years ago. I read the criticisms and they were mine over that, so Nora has changed the consequences in this book.

And finally, what's up with politicians accusing oppositions of "playing politics"? Not just here, but in the U.K. and the U.S.; they're politicians, it's what they do!

Eye, eye

I've been short-sighted for years - oh, yeah, chuckle, chuckle, like I haven't heard that comment before - since High School, in fact.

Anee-way, I duly took myself off to the opto-guy for a check up. Turns out my long vision is unchanged, but... OMG! I need reading glasses!

Well. Roll me in the mud and call me... dirty. Reading glasses.

I don't mind wearing glasses, they've protected me from potential eye injuries on a number of occasions, but now I'm getting a second pair for that close up reading stuff.

I'm also taking the opportunity to get some fashionable ones, half the size of my usual pair so I can look over them. My standard pair have been perched on my nose for, oh, twenty odd years (and odd they've been). I'll not be changing them, they're flexible, cost a bucket and still function - I'm not one for too much of a change, nor am I fashion conscious (a fact numerous members of my family will attest to).

Now I'll be able to read the fine print.

Escape

The on-going war with the mice took a... weird turn this morning.

The trap I set earlier on in the week went off, and when I looked, there was a mouse, struggling for freedom. I know I should have dispatched the little beggar... but I didn't. And yes, I felt guilty about that.

This morning, when I went to remove the remains, no mouse could I find. I spoke with the aged parent and she said 'what mouse'? Nope, she didn't move it.

Before you think the mouse escaped, it couldn't given the metal bar across it's back. The traps I use are uber-strong - as my swollen thumb can testify after being caught when I accidentally set the thing off.

Oh, did I forget to mention the trap is missing too? Yeah. I have searched high and low, moved furniture around but there is no sign of the mouse or the trap. I am running out of places to look. The mouse must be dead, but I cannot, for the life of me work out how it moved the trap as well, caught as it was.

I'm guessing it's one of life's little mysteries - until the scent of death permeates the house, that is...

Wildlife

Gah...!!! I'm am so not a fan of hot weather!

I know some people are, those who revel in the prickling heat, the slickness of sweat, the burn of the sun... me, I'm all for air conditioning. But me 'ouse ain't got none.

The local wildlife, though, are emboldened by it. This afternoon, I sat watching Band of Brothers and out from behind the book case comes a mouse, small and brown with twitching ears. It wandered around for a while and ducked back. Next thing, it was atop the wing-back chair across from me give me a right looking over. No point in trying to catch it and it zipped off with a sniff.

Downstairs, I continued editing the Nano novel - for which I still don't have a title - and I see movement out of the corner of my eye: a blue tongue lizard. The beggar wanted in, where it is marginally cooler.

I picked his warm body up and settled him behind some pot plants - then realised lizards are cold-blooded. Give you an idea of the heat here. Five-thirty in the p.m. and it's still 35 degrees celsius and no hint of the promised storms or cool breeze.

The dog, I should say, just lies there; I don't think she's interested in moving at all. I think I'll join her...

Bitey

Bitey weather here today; normally, the temps in the low to mid- teens (Celsius), but today, it barely reached nine degrees. Oh, and the rain. Not a lot, but constant. Overall, one might say a miserable day; not me. As Billy Connelly says 'it's not miserable weather, just different.'

So I fired up the laptop and then left it alone to watch War of the Worlds, yes, Tom Cruises version (he plays a shocked - if initially cowardly - survivor really well, followed by one of my favs, Mr & Mrs Smith. It has all I need: Explosions, sex and misunderstandings.

The delivery man also turned up so I have Tanya Huff's Valor's Trial, the hardback, two weeks early from Amazon and so I don't have to wait a year for the paperback. Whoo-hoo!

The bitter weather is set to continue, but there's nothing like curling up in front of the heater with a good book... except curling up in front of the heater working; yeah, I'll send out the last two tomorrow.

We've also had a change in the wildlife cavorting around the backyard. The blue tongues are hiding, probably because it's cold and they're cold blooded, but I did notice some new, small diggings. I figured it was another rabbit (last year's died under one of the camellias), but... it's not. The droppings are different.

According to my Park Ranger brother, it's a Bandicoot! I don't know what type because they're nocturnal. I shan't be hunting for it either; I like indigenous species living in the backyard. Rabbits are feral.

So... work... or book? Work... or book? No contest really...

Apocalypse... Now?

Not really, but tonight TU24, an asteroid discovered in 2007, will pass close to Earth. As close as 537,000kms in fact. Might not sound close at all, but it's considered a 'near-miss'. At 250 metres in diameter, it's a big chunk'a rock.

Better yet, it should be observable in the night sky, with a telescope - at least here - at about 7.30pm, which makes it around dusk. Where is it? Go here for a look at which constellations TU 24 will move through and when.

Apparently, TU24 will affect the magnetosphere. What will happen? Well... anything from radio interference to cataclysmic events - according to some sites.

Me, I'm grabbing the camera and hoping the sky will clear of cloud - and I'll try to find my tripod which I put in a safe, but convenient place, but can't remember where that is.

***

It's alleged that animals go a little... odd... when 'events' are about to happen. Animals head to the hills before a tsunami, panic right before an earthquake and so on. Saxon, my dog, did nothing but snooze as I wrote the above.

I heard some rustling near the back door. I looked left, but didn't see anything immediate. Figured it was a bird pecking through the dead leaves for insects... Nup.

This is an Eastern Blue-Tongued Lizard (Tiliqua scincoides scincoides) - a rare treat to see even in the bush. Last week, while mowing the lawn, I saw a small one in the garden but too late to get the camera.

So far, this little dude has headed for the back door three times before retreating when it saw me. Did I mention how rare seeing one was? How about... two?

As you can see, the one on the left is a near baby; the one on the right has raised up to intimidate the younger one.

It's great to find them in the garden - uh... yeah, I don't do gardening very much - they eat snails and slugs and ants other insects and berries. (The backyard is a veritable feast for them, plenty for all, so there's no need for bitching.)

And when the little one made a dash for the undergrowth, I lowered my camera and turned:
Yep. A third Eastern Blue Tongued Lizard, sitting on the freshly mown lawn - did it on Saturday.

The behaviour is odd: Blue tongues are mostly solitary creatures, only coming together to mate between September and November. But I figure the back yard is big enough for all three - I suppose there are probably more lurking in the undergrowth - but the habitat is just right for them and as long as they keep eating the snails and slugs and other insects, I'm happy to have them. Of course, I'll have to keep a watch when backing out and for the highly poisonous Eastern Brown Snake, for whom the lizard is lunch.

Animals behaving oddly? Yeah, but I'm not assuming the apocalypse is here just yet.

It was an accident

Honestly! I didn’t mean to kill the mouse! It just… happened!

How many times have we heard that on television programs and thought ‘yeah, right’?

We reason it all out: if you hadn’t been drinking and driving; if you’d been paying attention to how frayed the wires were; if you’d controlled your temper and walked away; if you’d not bought the gun in the first place…

But accidents do happen, even to small furry creatures too cute to kill as soon as you see them.

You’ll recall the mouse, filled with bravado crawling around my desk, into and out of a container and later, over my keyboard and then ducked into the computer to hide under the spare fan bracket. I said I would close up the computer to stop it from doing any damage.

I didn’t put the cover on until I’d finished for the day; gave the mouse enough time to scamper off to its home – wherever that might be.

This morning, there was an awful stink and I knew something had died – in particular, a mouse. A couple of years ago, I laid out some poison upstairs and down.

Later that night, a grey mouse came out from behind the television unit upstairs. It glared at me with accusation deep in its small eyes and staggered off. I should have picked it up then, but the guilt… oh, the guilt of murdering the little beast kept me motionless.

The next morning, I found it behind the couch, cold and stiff; I buried it in the front yard and collected the bodies of four mice downstairs. The karma load felt heavy on my shoulders as I disposed of their mortal remains.

I should point out that mice often come into houses for the winter; no matter what I do, I can’t keep them out, and can only do something after they’re inside.

Tragically, the mouse didn’t scamper off to its home and was locked inside the computer; I found it this morning, still under the fan bracket. I have no idea what killed it – too short a time has passed for starvation. Heat maybe? It was on the cold metal of the computer shell. Maybe it was already sick? It gobbled down a peanut I left for it. I don’t know, but it’s dead, and I feel responsible.

I think it was already sick and was looking for a comfortable, safe place to die; chose my computer. I’ll console myself with that.

Wildlife

Outside and inside the house:

This little sweetie is an Eastern Rosella - the male. As usual, the blokes get fabulous plumage while the females blend into the background. The girls are a green to hide in the foliage.
They landed on this shrub - the name of which I have no clue - but it has tiny red berries. Aboriginal legend says the more red berries, the harsher the winter; it seems to hold true, though these parrots haven't got much to chew on... yet. He was joined not long after by a mate and together, they rummaged through the leaves in search of those elusive berries. Too soon in the season, though.

This is a female Huntsman. Go ahead and shudder; I did.
She came out from behind the cedar chest while I was vacuuming. They don't usually come out during the cooler months; in fact, they're more prevalent in the warm summer, coming inside to hunt down flies, spiders and other insects. Which is another reason I leave them alone.

I'm glad I have a zoom function on the camera. I don't like getting too close as these beasties can jump! Can you imagine? Or is that too nightmarish? It doesn't look to big? Okay, check this out:


They live in pine bark and behind the bark of trees, happily making more. But occasionally, they'll come into the house if it's too wet outside. Since we've been drought-ridden, I haven't seen too many. And in no way do I want to. I've seen bigger, this one, with her legs stretched out, is probably the size of a tea saucer.

By the following day, she was gone - probably back behind the chest - I'm not going to find out. Oh, the males, thankfully, are smaller, with longer legs.

I leave them in peace: fly spray just makes them angry and they are really, really fast, that long-term stuff doesn't work either, nor is our spider catcher big enough. They're not poisonous and I try to ignore them, but I'm oh, so aware of where they are.

As a kid of about nine, I woke up with one of them on my bed covers by my feet: no wonder spiders - as a species - scare the tripe out of me. Just thought I'd share...