Kevin's Watch

Yeah ... I kinda love xmas but mostly cuz its a family holiday. I like a low stress xmas ... but I work for it lol

The kids love coming home for the week and think its magical ... which it is ... but takes a bit of prep and behind the scenes shit.

Ive no complaints tho .. its fun and we enjoy each other.

This year my daughters bringing a dude friend and his 3 kids and my Seudo adopted son Eddie will be home for xmas this year. He lives in Melbs .. near my eldest son. So it will be packed.

Ugh just been dodging a snake my black kitty Lachie caught. He had it ... let go of it ... I was doing some potting .. and it came my way .. I jumped ... the cat pounced on the snake again ... Im yelling at Lachie to drop it .. hes ignoring me .. of course the snake wriggles out of his grasp ... heads back my way again ... FFS My shovel is in the back garden and Ive got a bag of potting mix and a bunch of pots ... finally Lachie grabs it again and carries it off ... I hope I see him again, Lachie that is, not the snake. I can well do without them.

Cagliostro wrote:That feels like a great sadness and wonderfully freeing at the same time.

Eh, I'm fine with it. Not that I didn't love the whole family get-together thing we used to do when my mother and uncle were alive, but that was more to do with the surroundings and extravagance we used to enjoy in them.

Without that, I'm just as pleased to shut out the world over that period and ignore it.

--A

Skyweir wrote:
Ugh just been dodging a snake my black kitty Lachie caught. He had it ... let go of it ... I was doing some potting .. and it came my way .. I jumped ... the cat pounced on the snake again ... Im yelling at Lachie to drop it .. hes ignoring me .. of course the snake wriggles out of his grasp ... heads back my way again ... FFS My shovel is in the back garden and Ive got a bag of potting mix and a bunch of pots ... finally Lachie grabs it again and carries it off ... I hope I see him again, Lachie that is, not the snake. I can well do without them.

Eek, that's scary. Venomous snake? I wouldn't want my girls tangling with a snake either way. I probably don't give them due credit for the fluffy murder machines they're evolved to be, but mine are terrible huntresses. They see a bug, they'll poke at it a couple of times and lose interest.

Haha, cats usually come out on top in encounters with snakes, although not always. Dogs are not often as lucky though.

--A

Sorus wrote:

Skyweir wrote:
Ugh just been dodging a snake my black kitty Lachie caught. He had it ... let go of it ... I was doing some potting .. and it came my way .. I jumped ... the cat pounced on the snake again ... Im yelling at Lachie to drop it .. hes ignoring me .. of course _ the snake wriggles out of his grasp ... heads back my way again ... FFS ____ My shovel is in the back garden _ and Ive got a bag of potting mix and a bunch of pots ________ ... finally Lachie grabs it again and carries it off ... I hope I see him again, Lachie that is, not the snake. I can well do without them.

Eek, that's scary. Venomous snake? I wouldn't want my girls tangling with a snake either way. I probably don't give them due credit for the fluffy murder machines they're evolved to be, but mine are terrible huntresses. They see a bug, they'll poke at it a couple of times and lose interest.

Yes a venomous brown snake ... we have a couple of venomous varieties.

Yes Av is right the cats .. touch wood have survived. Tho we lost our chocolate point raggie to a snake .. but thats when we first got here .. so they werent used to dealing with snakes.

My cats are all boys and very efficient killers, its always sad when the kill a rosella _ or a parakeet .. but they do eat every scrap of it from head to tail.

My dog however thinks she's anything but what she is .. and Im very careful to remove her immediately if I see a snake .. as she WILL come off worse.

The baby snakes we have atm are MORE venomous as juveniles as they will be as adults.

I have been killing them with my trusty shovel but apparently your not supposed to kill em ... so in December Im doing a weekend training course on catching and releasing snakes. Tho in truth if they come into my back yard where the dogs play ... Im gonna take my trusty shovel to them.

All snakes are venomous in my part of Oz, so I keep the dogs well away from them. We had a whip snake passing through our yard a couple of years ago - it was only about half a metre long, but it would have taken care of my dogs! We've had a few tiger snakes sunbathing on the road - they're much scarier-looking, so everyone keeps a wide berth from them.

https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/top ... cts/snakes

140 snake species in Oz and 100 of them venomous..

The most dangerous snakes belong to the front-fanged group, which .... include the tiger snake, brown snake, death adder, mulga or king brown snake and a few species of sea snake.

Skyweir wrote: The baby snakes we have atm are MORE venomous as juveniles as they will be as adults.

It's not that they're more venomous per se, but that as juveniles, they haven't learnt to control the amount of venom they release.

Where an adult snake will only release a measured amount of venom in a single bite, (in case it needs more for later), a juvenile will typically release all it's venom in the first bite, so the dose is much higher.

--A

My youngest would like the world to know that she is in fact a mighty slayer of snakes. I am issuing a public apology for insulting her hunting skills.

Indeed as evidenced in your pic lol

Yes Av thats true .. did you know cats were originally domesticated to control snakes? Clever little fur beings arent they?

Indeed as evidenced in your pic lol

Yes Av thats true .. did you know cats were originally domesticated to control snakes? Clever little fur beings arent they?

Skyweir wrote:140 snake species in Oz and 100 of them venomous..

::cancelling trip to Australia::

I don't have a problem with snakes as long as they mind their own business. Same with spiders. Had an Australian friend complain a while back about having a bad night because a huntsman spider kept galloping across her bed. I realize they are harmless, but I do have a problem with horse-sized spiders that don't mind their own business.

Haha . Well there are zero horse sized huntsmen down under lol

The size of a small hand definitely but they usually prefer to keep to themselves just like snakes do.

Cags theres no need to fear snakes .. we are a nation of 25.3 million people and a miniscule percentage ever encounter snakes.

I do cuz I live in rural NSW and StevieG has cuz Tassie is like a rural state lol Theyve got all sorts of amazing wildlife in Tassie that we dont have here .. prolly cos a pristine environment down there.

But I will be very happy to keep you and your fam safe. I will shortly be a registered snake catcher in NSW. so I got your back dude

We dont have many spiders here around the house ... had more huntsmen in Canberra than we do out here. We might see one in summer, if were lucky

We have an alpine roof, raked ceiling and no roof cavity to speak of ... so no real space for spideys

Tis beautiful down under ... Id be happy to show you all around ... and will keep you safe .. every last one of yer

Trust me, not a doctor

Plus out of the 100 species of venomous snakes only a handful are capable of delivering a bite capable of actually killing you .. perspective, right?

Well, made it to Friday...been a bit of a mad week, and fixing to get hot as hell again.

::Sigh::

Oh well, hope y'all have a good weekend.

--A

Skyweir wrote:Haha . Well there are zero horse sized huntsmen down under lol

The size of a small hand definitely

Yeah, anything with a legspan of over an inch or so qualifies as ginormous here. I'm allergic to spider bites even if the spidey isn't venomous, though fortunately we don't have many venomous spiders here.

Did work one place that was in the middle of the woods and had black widows that liked to hang out by the floorboards. Never had a problem with one, but if I dropped a pen under my desk I'd start to reach for it then freeze and think nope, that's the spider's pen now.

LOL Right? Definitely spideys pen 🖊

Im allergic to SOME spider bites and horse fly bites .. well in truth the spider bites I have had my foot and ankle swelled up and my leg another time. So not really noticed a bite if I havent reacted to

But all that aside I find you cant really live with fear of if and maybes. There are all sorts of things that bite and growl and even spit .. and youd never step outside.

And outside is where I most enjoy being

Uh, saw a pic this weekend of a huntsman eating a pygmy possum...

And in other news, it's Monday.

--A

I don't like any of that news.