IN WHICH I GET A LITTLE PEDESTRIAN

When I posted the picture of the (yes, Ziggi!) rusty old car engine I had to use that photo, which is not a photo of our “new” car. You see, had I posted pictures of our car it would hardly have been a mystery…

These tail lights are a signature give-away…

And, if the tail lights didn’t do it, then the grill badge certainly would have! Still too young and too “green” to get it?

This is what ours will look like when restored.(But not black.)

Yes, The Man has a new hobby! He’s buying a 43 year old car, in need of major restoration, which will keep him occupied for the foreseeable future. And probably keep him short of cash!
Jeremy Clarkson, eat your heart out!

Oh, did I hear someone ask what sort of car it is? Tsk,tsk! It’s a 1965 Ford Mustang V8. Perhaps better known in these days of catalytic converters, bio-fuels and emission controls as a Yank Tank, or Gas Guzzler. And that’s about all the technical information I’m qualified to give. One other thing…it does not have power steering, air conditioning, electric windows or CD player.

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Geiger was purrrfectly certain she could be of great help in the cleaning of fan blades…

She and Sporran are extending their range; they seem to think neighbours’ gardens are more fun than ours. Certainly, the neighbours’ gardens are much neater, with their regularly shaved lawns and clipped shrubs and tidy mulch. But there is nowhere for snakes and frogs to shelter and little in the way of insects for birds to catch.

Whereas, at home, we have all of these natural delights…

I didn’t have time to nip back up to the house for the camera the day the “girls” caught a whip snake (Demansia psammophis; above) down by the front gate. I just happened to notice a furiously swishing black tail as I looked from a window. So I walked down the drive and there was Geiger, jaws clamped on a yellow faced whip snake, and Sporran eager to “help.”

Now the whip snake, while venomous, is not considered life-threatening to healthy adult humans, but bites to pets can be fatal. Rusty spent some time at the vet’s hospital about 10 years ago and gave his then family a worrying week or so.

So I was not afraid of being bitten myself, although I didn’t exactly want to suffer intense pain and swelling and nausea, thankyou very much! But I managed to separate cat and snake with no further harm to the whippy. But it didn’t slither away when released, so I just watched for a few minutes and when it still lay there, I picked it up for closer examination. Yes, there were bite marks, but no bleeding and the snake could move so I popped it into an empty can and put the can in an old pillow case and just left it in the basement for a while.

Three hours later, it had slithered out of the can and was coiled in the pillow case so I walked to the end of the street and released it into some rough grass.

I was pleased to see it take off at normal whip snake speed. They are extremely fast movers.

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After a full day of art, meetings and, it must be said, chin-wagging, yesterday, I need to play catch-up on the domestic front…