Sunday morning – early (8 Dec 24)

Enjoying a table siesta.

I’m not sure what that M Kaz has been doing, but it’s not transcribing my blog for me.  She seems to be doing ‘stuff’ but I’m not exactly sure what that is but I think part of it has been helping Aunty M with her move.  M Kaz and Ravi (and sometimes M Sooz) have been going off to Aunty M’s place, sometimes bringing stuff back here, sometimes taking it to Vinnies (the charity shop) or Lifeline (another charity place) or to the tip at Molendinar or Helensvale.  I think M  Kaz likes going to the tip (aka waste collection and recycling centre) because she’s talking about taking some of her and M Sooz’s leftover things there.

Looking after Mimi’s cushion.

I’ve been doing quite well out of Aunty M’s move.  I scored Mimi’s cat tower which it looks like I’ll now be keeping, and last week M Kaz came home with a cushion with strange looking four-legged creatures with long necks on it – I think she said they were lamas – oh wait, I think that’s llama with a double l – not the other kind.  I’m not sure if Mimi will want this one back, but I am certainly enjoying looking after it for her.  It is very comfortable – although I did hear M Kaz pondering the other day about just how I am able to fit so comfortably on it. 

Keeping a lookout for KB.

There’s still been no sign of KB (the snake) but I am a little worried that the Mummies might find it out the front again (or out the side or out the back where they are not expecting to see it).  M Kaz was sitting out in the sun in the front courtyard the other morning and I bravely kept an eye on things from my window seat (all right, bed) in her office. 

My tray is dry (and fresh) today.

I don’t think the Mummies are going to move my tray back inside but they may have to move it somewhere else Outback if it keeps raining from the north.  While they were away in Toowoomba last weekend (yes, they deserted me again) the rain blew in and left a coating of damp clumping litter in my tray.  It wasn’t too bad but it’s certainly not something I want to get used to.

Did someone say ‘table box’?

But I am used to being back on the table in my box (and the insert from the new coffee machine box) and I’m getting as much ‘on-table’ time as I can before Uncle Wayne comes back next week. 

Friday (29 Nov 24)

What was that Mummy thinking?  Why did she put the air conditioning on and blast it straight at me?  I was just sitting here in my box on the table, minding my own business when I was blasted by this gust of freezing cold air.   I gave her the evil eye and she turned it off but she shouldn’t have done it at all.

I have been outside most of the day – it’s been a bit on the warm side but it’s quite cool Outback, especially up on my cat tower (previously Mimi’s).  M Kaz is going to see Mimi tomorrow – I think, unless she (Mimi) is homeless by then.  Aunty M is busy selling off furniture and other goodies (there’s a garage sale tomorrow) in preparation for the house settlement and I wasn’t sure how to take this but it seems Mimi has only two houses left.  She used to have more than I do – even though M Kaz keeps moving mine on.

There were fireworks out the back this evening (no, not Outback – further away).  I was a tiny bit scared and came inside – which is when I jumped up to my table box – and when M Kaz hit me with the cold blast from the air conditioner.   She enjoyed the fireworks though – especially because she had never previously seen an explosion that gave all the colours rather than just the one they normally do.  She said the fireworks looked as though they were at HarbourTown and that they had a searchlight there too.

It wasn’t until it had found a good place to hide that M Kaz told me about the dinosaur she’d seen inside.  There was a tiny one out near my litter tray as well, but I couldn’t get to that one at all.

Wednesday (27 Nov 24)

I have taken to the high ground – for no particular reason except that I like it up here.  ‘Up here’ would be the top of Mimi’s cat tower.  I spent a lot of time up here while those Mothers were away and now that they’re back and I’ve given them enough attention, it’s time for me to get back up here.  I think they understand, especially now it’s getting warmer and it’s too hot to be in there on the bed with M Kaz, even at night.

Chris came to do the lawn the other day and it appears that he didn’t see KB (that would be the keelback snake) and even though the Mummies have been looking for him, they haven’t seen him either.  Hopefully he’ll come back at some point.  It will be interesting to see if the Mummies try to use the barbeque out there when they’re not sure where KB is hanging out.

It’s good the Mummies are starting to get through all the washing they brought back with them from their trip – and the bed linen and towel that Uncle Wayne was using.  It means there is somewhere else Outback for me to relax – there’s nothing as comfy as a freshly-folded sheet on a table.

It doesn’t take much to make some Mummies happy.  M Kaz is so excited because the frozen Pineapple Chunks  she loves are available at Aldi at the moment.  She’s so excited that she’s even considering going and getting a few more packets to put in the freezer in the garage to tide them over until they’re available again.  She’s going to have to get a few because the last time they were available (for a limited time only) was over a year ago;  it may even have been two.

I’m counting down the days (not in a good way) until those Mothers start watching ‘Midsomer Murders’ again.  I know they went there while they were away and we know they’ll want to see if they can see where they went – like to the miniature village.

Now that Uncle Wayne has gone, the door to our bedroom is being left open and I’ve slept in there a couple of times when it’s been cooler but not cool enough to be on M Kaz’s bed/legs.  And that’s a good thing too because she’s started getting up early in the morning to go ‘down to the water’;  yesterday she was up just after 4am and didn’t get home until after 7.  She’d had a walk, taken some photographs and then joined the other folk down at Pelicanos for a coffee. 
 

Monday (25 Nov 24)

Uncle Wayne has left me – like they all do sooner or later.  The good news though is that I am able to get back in my box on the table – I wasn’t allowed to do that while he was here.  He didn’t say it straight out but as that dreaded spray bottle (which he isn’t afraid to use) is right next to it, I decided it wasn’t worth the risk.

Where has he gone?  He’s taken himself off to see the Toowoombas – it’s been a while since he’s seen some of them although Aunty Wendy did come down and spend some time with him and me while the Mummies were away.

So we’re settling back in to our routine here with M Kaz taking over my feeding, watering and looking after my tray.  Speaking of my tray, it’s still Outback and it looks like it’s going to stay there for the Summer.  I don’t mind, because while it’s Outback, that means I can go out there any time.  And I love being Outback because that’s where Mimi’s cat tower lives and I love that cat tower.  I am going to have to ask the Mummies to check with Aunty M that Mimi really doesn’t want it back because if she does, I am going to have to work out how I am going to hide it because I love it too much to even think about giving it back. 

The good thing about it too is that if I’m at the top of it – and I do love it up there – I am well out of reach of any wildlife that might wander in to the yard – and we know that the Outback is built so well that not much can get in – besides my dinosaurs and now those tiny cane toads – and I really don’t know how they’re getting in … neither did Uncle Wayne – although he did what he could to get rid of them.  He spent a lot of time on the interweb trying to find a way to keep them out or to move them on (that might be a euphemism for something else).  

And then yesterday afternoon he was on the interweb again trying to work out what type of snake he had found in the front yard when they came back from the HOTA markets.  The Mummies had already come inside when we heard Uncle Wayne saying “Snake.  Snake.”  He was very careful – trying to take photographs of it so it could be identified – but being careful so it wouldn’t feel cornered in the front yard and do something unpredictable.  It went into the pots in the garden and then he couldn’t see it for a while.  He was in the middle of packing so he went to concentrate on that and M Kaz kept a watch – and finally saw it stretched out along the green plastic border. 

Uncle Wayne came back out and carefully approached it so he could take its photo – but it was very skittish and you could almost hear M Kaz gasp (or was it a stifled scream?) when it jumped up in the air and came back towards Uncle Wayne.  He did get the photos though and M Kaz sent one through to the snake catcher.  Yes, it surprised me too that M Kaz had a phone number for a snake catcher in her phone!  He came back within a couple of minutes with an identification of the snake – it is a keelback, non-venomous, but if she was worried about it, the snake catcher would come and fetch it.  They decided to leave it be – and will spend the next while on the lookout for it.  Uncle Wayne is very brave – he was even sitting out there within an hour of seeing it!

Uncle Wayne talked with one of the neighbours who knew about the snake – it has been in their yard a fair bit over the last couple of weeks.  They were happy to hear that it was, in fact, non-venomous as one of their friends had apparently identified it as venomous .  Hopefully it will  leave Jannie and go back to live with them.