What do you do when you see a bird on the deck?

In Zari's case you catch it, bring it inside, meow a lot, demand praise then wander back out onto the deck - leaving it in the middle of the lounge for me to clean up.  

Mmmm terrible cell phone photo.

In Basil's case you spot it while still inside, chatter you teeth madly (first time we'd ever heard him do this - hilarious) then race out on the deck at full speed, screech to a halt under the railing where the bird is perched and... well... sit.  Perhaps pace back and forward a bit, or reach up to it (he could've tapped its toes if he'd tried), or get distracted by other birds flying past.  But definitely don't try and actually catch it.  

After about 10 minutes (I kid you not) Zari joined him on the deck, although this time she seemed to be about as clueless as he was...

Birdbirdbirdbird!

Huh?  What are you doing here?

Go away, I saw it first!

Aw.

Wikipedia says:

Cats use two hunting strategies, either stalking prey actively, or waiting in ambush until an animal comes close enough to be captured. Although it is not certain, the type of strategy used may depend on the prey species in the area, with for example, cats waiting in ambush outside burrows, but tending to actively stalk birds.

It truly was the most pathetic display of cat hunting we had ever seen.  Did he get mixed up, thinking he was meant to ambush birds and actively stalk burrows?  He'd never got this close to a bird before.  Did his brain overload and shut down?  Was he trying to figure out a way to get on the railing without it noticing (after he'd run at it across the deck oh so subtly)?  Or is that giving him too much credit?

A Santa Sack for Alex

Next time I have the genius idea of appliquéing something, shoot me.  

I'm not really happy with it - I managed to miscalculate where the middle was so her name's too low down, and I probably should've just chosen stars as they were the easiest to sew!  But, alas, I'm lazy and can't be bothered doing it again.  I will instead be counting on the fact that Alex will be too busy ripping open her presents to critique my sewing skills.  Though if she's anything like me, mocking should ensue as soon as she's old enough to know how (to mock, not sew).

Click for bigger (if you dare)

My favourite

Don't click to make bigger on this one, there's some wonky sewing on the A.  I think the holly berries look OK though..?

Stuffed full of presents on Christmas morning

On a semi-related note, play pens around the tree are a great idea as the tree cannot be pulled over.  Unfortunately toddlers have long skinny arms and can still reach the branches and pull things off - so the tree only has lights and the star on it.  Also, evil girl-cats can fit through the bars, climb over the presents and sit in the middle of the tree chewing the branches - all with a smug expression on their evil girl-cat faces because there's nothing you can do to reach them.

Staglands, or Duck! Duck! Duck!

I bought two 50% off vouchers off a daily deal website and they were about to expire so we thought we'd better go.  Alex had much fun with all the animals, though the Kea was a bit loud and scary and apparently invisible.  Where was that noise coming from?!?!

I took some semi-decent shots of some of the (very exotic) locals, which I am going to make you scroll past to get to the Alex photos.  HA.

Kunekune piglet!

Ringneck dove (I told you they were exotic animals..).

Peahen.  I felt bad for her as everyone was photographing the Peacock.

Wow, amazing shot of a Peacock with his tail fully spread.

The Clydesdale, whom I thought was pretty cool.  Alex found him to be a bit large for her liking.

Donkey:  Oh hai, baby!  You has food??

Alex:  Argh!  It touched me!

Duckduckduckduckduckduckduckduck

Much concentration is required.

Sprinkles!

Toe-nibbling sheep.

It generally helps if you open up your hand so the sheep can actually get to the pellets...

It was good fun, though I'm a bit torn - she'll like it more as she gets older, but having to carry her meant that she didn't have the chance to get covered in all the many kinds of animal poo like she could as a proper walking toddler..!  I suspect we'll go back one day, despite the horrible narrow road you have to drive along to get there.  

New Deck is Finished

Well, it was finished about a month ago but I'm slack (or sleep deprived...damn you tiny baby teeth).  As promised, here are some photos of the process and the finished product.  The only thing that would make it better is if we could find some outdoor furniture that won't blow away, isn't ugly, isn't uncomfortable (I'm looking at you wooden chairs), doesn't have a wafer-thin glass table top and doesn't cost a small fortune.  I'm not fussy, really!

Here's my post before we started, just in case you wish to admire the awesome rottenness of the original deck one more time.

Once the uprights were concreted into place, the builder knocked some of the original deck off.  He only really had to threaten the handrail with the hammer and it was more than willing to fall down.  When finished, he walked inside, shook his head and said "amazing...." - and I don't think he meant it in a good way.  

The builders were well supervised throughout the process.  At one point they were wiggling their tape measure back and forth so Zari could attack it through the glass.

Once concrete was set, they knocked off the rest of the deck.  At this point they confirmed that the water issues we'd been having in our bedrooms downstairs were due to water getting in via the rotten joists.  That's all sealed up and has brand new weatherboards over it now, huzzah!

Then we got some framing...

And some decking.  Cats of course felt it best to sit as far out on the individual planks as they could.

Old deck!

New deck!

Zari for scale next to middle upright.

The tiny human and the not-so-tiny cats all approve of the new play area.

And then Basil figured out that he could do this.  I've seen him almost fall off twice, but it is quite hilarious watching him run along the rail after the birds in the tree.  I'm sure it's just bad luck and not his complete failure at stealthiness that's kept him from catching any.  Dork.

And one more before/after shot, because I can.

What a year to drop to one income - we've spent about $28k on the house this year.  BUT with the new deck and new windows the house is weathertight at last!  It's almost like we can finally sit back and enjoy the summer.  At home.  Because we're too poor to go anywhere.  :(

Halloween 2011: Toddler Torture

Alex and I had nowhere to go this halloween, but that didn't stop me dressing her up purely for my own amusement.

Materials required:

• Yellow socks
• Black tights
• Black hoody
• Flesh coloured felt
• Two black pipe cleaners
• Polystyrene ball
• Vivid
• Red fabric
• Cloth nappy and pin
• Needle and thread

Instructions:

1.  Cut felt into a circle, sew onto front of hoody.

2.  Fold pipe cleaners in half and twist all four pieces together.  Poke folded end into ball (glue on if it won't stay in) and draw a pupil on the ball with the vivid.  Sew pipe cleaners to top of hood.

3.  Pin toddler to the ground to measure how long her cape needs to be.   Cut semi-circle for neck, fold over edges and hem.

4.  Grab toddler and dress her.  Chase toddler when she power-crawls away before you have the cloth nappy on her properly.  This will make the cloth nappy fall off, and her sad once recaptured.  

5.  Distract toddler with videos so she'll sit still instead of crawling towards the camera, then get in her way while you set up the shot.  This will frustrate her.

6.  Sing along to music videos.  This will amuse her.

And there you have it.  One smiling 14 month old dressed as Nibbler.  Unfortunately her legs failed to work tonight (hover-baby) so there are no photos of standing Nibbler.

Mysterious Adventures of Special Cat

The cats were outside in the courtyard this morning while the builders were busy working on the deck.  The builders each have a large dog - dobe cross and a ridgeback cross.  Both are lovely dogs and just hang out in the car port, occasionally wandering down to see what the builders are up to.  Zari is a bit wary of them, so was busy being brave outside then being a chicken and coming back inside.  Basil was very brave.  Or oblivious.  Probably oblivious.  Either way, he wasn't fussed.  So not fussed in fact that he jumped* the fence and went walkies.  He usually comes back pretty quickly, so I wasn't too concerned.

Midday rolled around, still no Basil.

It got to 2pm and Zari started getting antsy.  I assumed all the building and dog activity had stopped him from coming home, but he'd reappear after they left for the day.

5pm, the builders were gone and I started to worry that the numpty would get himself squashed in rush hour traffic.  Zari continued pacing.

Dinner time came and went (7pm, or 6:00 ...or 5:30 depending on when Basil decides he's staaaarrving and commences nagging).  Still no Basil.  I went outside and very loudly opened a tin of tuna, very loudly dished it up into his food bowl - not forgetting to loudly scrape out every last drop of sauce from the tin.  Zari chowed down.  

We left the food out there, hoping the smell of tuna would waft down the street and entice him home.  Instead we enticed a blackbird.  I did not know blackbirds liked tuna.

That's a bit of tuna on the ground in front of her.

At 7:45 I decided to go for a walk before it got dark and see if he was hiding somewhere down the road.  Nev assures me cats don't get lost, but I wouldn't have put it past Basil.  I was half way down the hill when I got a text saying he'd arrived home.  

The smell hit me as soon as I entered the room.  God it was awful.  So very foul.  He was still puffing 5 minutes after arriving home (haha fatty) and his paw pads were a bit raw looking.  Otherwise no obvious sore points, but I couldn't stand being near him for too long...!  

Do you know what happens to cats that smell like a swamp? 

Now he smells like porridge.  

Whatever he got up to today on his smelly swamp adventure, he's too busy recovering to nag for dinner.  Zari's just glad she doesn't smell like porridge too.




*  Awkwardly climbed/scrambled/heaved his way over

Goodbye Rotten Deck!

We managed to get the price of the house lowered because this deck was in such a shocking state when we bought the place.  Three years ago.  

Then one of Nev's friends decided to marry an Irish girl (in the South of France) so how could we NOT put the deck replacement plans on hold to go on holiday to their wedding?

Seriously.

The next year we went to Japan.  $800 return!  Japan is awesome.  We didn't need much convincing at that price.  

Come to Japan and get mugged by map-eating deer.

Then there was a tiny human on the way so we had to buy a car big enough to fit a car seat in the back seat.  

But now the day has finally come.  This death trap is being replaced with a deck big enough to actually put a table and chairs on and use (without fear of plummeting to your death) this summer.

That upright looks sound.

Basil can't wait to be closer to the birds in that tree.

Stay tuned.  Right now we just have some giant holes in the ground, but I'm told they are going to "dismantle" the existing deck tomorrow.  I suspect they'll just need to threaten it with a hammer and everything will fall down.

Wellington Zoo

We went to the zoo this weekend, so I thought I'd share the better photos from the afternoon.  We left it a bit late in the day so didn't see every animal, but Miss Alex enjoyed pointing at ALL the things.  Especially if they were monkeys, lemurs or chimps.  We decided not to photograph the chimps as the one closest to us had his finger up his bum the entire time we were there.

"Da!!"

"Da" means this, that, look, Zari, Basil, thanks, here you go etc.  Alex was not implying that her father is a spider monkey.

"Do you like the monkeys?"..."dudn dudn"

It is important that you pay attention to the signs around the zoo. 

These little guys came right up to the glass and moved quickly - the perfect combination for baby excitement.

We saw some other animals too...

Giraffe photobomb.

FINE.  You can have a close-up.

Normally Nev won't let me near the gift shop, but since we had an Alex with us I was allowed in.  We were not surprised when she chose a white-handed gibbon toy over the cute white tiger or red panda toys I was eyeing up.