Cooking

While searching some second hand shops the other day for a key for our old wardrobe (Henry lost the last one) we came across this fabulous cookbook for kids. Henry spent hours studying it before announcing which he'd like to try to make. We've tried the rainbow slushy and the green turtle, neither of which he ate but he had fun standing beside me telling me how to do it.

The Snake Saga Continues

Henry and I just spent the weekend with my sister and her family in Toowoomba. When we arrived my sister came running out to tell me she had a "surprise" for me. By the way she and the kids were behaving I was expecting to see that their kitchen had been beautifully renovated or that they had set out a lunch of delicious deli-meats and pickle vegetables but no, it was another snake. A beautiful snake but one my sister was beside herself about.

This snake was very safely tucked in an old football boot which was safely tucked inside a clear plastic container with the lid firmly taped shut. It turns out my brother in law was working in his shed with the thing just inches from his face. Once he saw it he jumped in alarm causing the snake to fall down from the rafter and onto the table in front of him. It then slithered its way into the footy boot making it easy for my brother in law to scoop it up and place it somewhere safe. It's a carpet snake whose job it is to help keep down the mice and rat population but my sister won't hear of it. I tried to convince her to let it loose again in the shed to do its job but she said if she knew it was in there she would never set foot in there again. He's harmless as far as snakes go and he was very dopey and docile. My brother in law called his cousin who is a Steve Irwin wanna be and he just picked it straight up out of the box and was instantly in love. He believed it may have been someone's pet because he seemed used to being handled and was healthy and looked very well fed. He took it with him to let it loose in the bush where it will hopefully enjoy a long and healthy life right where it should be.

Spiderman

Henry's latest obsession is Spiderman. He has spent many hours studying just how Spiderman positions his fingers while using his webshooter and if he shows you how and you don't get it right he gets very upset. He's wanted a Spiderman costume for some time and so last week we scoured ebay. We put in a bid on the one he's standing in for $4.50 and then promptly ignored it. No one else bid and so it was ours. He sat beside me while I went through the process of paying for it and alerting the seller to the fact that I had paid for it. He was looking around the computer everywhere and I finally asked him what he was doing - "waiting for my costume to come. Which part will it come out of?"

I had to explain to him that the postman actually delivered it so he ran immediately down to the letter box and came up crying because it wasn't there. An agonising week went by before it got here and he has had it on almost 24 hours a day since. Now he insists on getting Spiderman gloves and shoes just so he can look like the Spiderman in the picture on the packaging. Don't know where I'm going to get those.

New kid on the block comes back

So today, while driving the car out of the garage I spotted him again, lying smack bang in the middle of the road in the sun warming himself up in order to more easily digest whatever that is he ate. We're thinking it's probably a possum.

New kid on the block

We have a variety of wildlife in this neighbourhood, including some lovely carpet pythons. Just the other morning Ben woke to the chorus of some butcher birds singing a warning sign from the tree just outside our bedroom window. When he went to investigate he found this beautiful python all curled up in what appeared to be a birds nest. He remained there quite happily for most of the morning. I went out later and he was still there when I left but when I returned home he had gone. We hadnt' seen him again until today...

Making chocolate brownies

New Family Members

Henry and Maya are now the proud new parents of two yellow budgies - Tropical and Dud. Henry's wanted a pet for quite some time and we've put off the idea for several reasons - money, time and lack of space. A pet bird seemed like a good compromise. We have no room, time or money for a dog and the cat...well they cost money too. We figured that a bird would do for now.

We wanted to get an Indian Ringneck because they tend to respond well to human interaction and Henry could train it to sit on his shoulder and teach it to speak a little. It turns out however that it's best to get them in about September, when they're still young and can bond better with their owners.

A friend of ours supplied the cage and a couple of hours later we had the birds, sourced from the local paper. All the way home Henry and Maya argued over names and which bird belonged to who. Henry of course wanted whichever one Maya wanted. As I suspected though the novelty wore off pretty quickly for Maya. She dumped it and ran because people were calling her on Myspace. She'd been gone for at least a half an hour from the computer while we collected her new pet.

So Henry has decided their names, despite Maya's protests, are going to be Tropical Bird and Dud Bird. He loves them but wants them on his shoulder like RIGHT NOW!