Another unexpected find, wrong on so many levels….

Remember that post I did the other day about the crocodile egg that hatched in a wardrobe? In the comments EllaDee and I both voiced our never-to-be-realized desire for guard crocodiles to keep the world at bay.

After reading this article it appears we are not the only ones who would like this, the big difference is that we are only thinking it.

In Washington recently police were called to a shooting report and, probably not too surprisingly, during their investigations they discovered a room full of marijuana plants.

Less expectedly they also found that roaming freely around the room, guarding the marijuana plants, were two alligators. I am sure the officers were quite surprised at this find, but I guess the next bit surprised them more. The room also contained an ‘adult entertainer’ and a floor to ceiling stripper pole. Hmmmm….

I am sure that there are people out there thinking this is a dream come true; a room full of dope, alligators and your own personal exotic dancer.

I did wonder if the dancer was just standing around with the alligators waiting for the next show, or if she was trapped there, ready to shimmy frantically up the pole if the alligators got too close?

An early Christmas visitor.

Number 2 son is well known for his love of bugs and small critters. Well, not all, they must have less than eight legs to get on his good list.

If there is ever a bug who has made its way into the house or caravan and needs evicting we call for him. It will be rescued with glee and returned safely to a more appropriate environment.

Last weekend this Christmas Beetle needed rescuing from Jack. It was hanging around near the glass back door and, because of the cold, couldn’t move too speedily. Because of this it nearly became a doggy breakfast entrée.

The beetle was saved, examined, warmed up in little hands, and escorted to the front yard, well out of canine reach.

Not breakfast.

An unexpected gift. 1935.

I am going to have to bite the bullet and do bit of Xmas shopping for the boys soon. I hope that none of the presents I buy will conceal the kind of surprise that this gift did though.

Barrier Miner 14 Mar 1935 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article46685170

What kind of present was this from Miss Margaret Bignall’s parents back in 1935?

Surely if they had a plantation in the Solomon Islands as reported there would be many other interesting things that they could have bought home for their daughter as a gift rather than a crocodile egg, still full of crocodile.

I wonder what on earth she was really going to do with the egg anyway. Keeping a not-so-fresh egg in your wardrobe is probably not best practice and could only end in disaster couldn’t it? Stinky, gooey disaster…. Yuck.

I really think that finding a small crocodile hanging out with your frocks, while surprising, is the best case scenario here. 😛

Gardening can be deadly.

As you know, the Man and I have been doing a fair bit of work in the garden at the moment. Reading this article from the Herald-Sun website today makes me glad that we aren’t getting any garden supplies delivered from these guys in Perth.

Today a house in Hazelmere, a suburb East of Perth, received a delivery of sand that came from a building site in Perth’s south. Mixed in with this delivery is what appears to be a 14 inch bomb left over from the Second World War.

I say appeared because at the time of writing the street is cordoned off and I expect that people are giving the sand pile quite a wide berth!

After all, if it is an old bomb it has recently been picked up by a mechanical loader and dumped into the back of a truck, driven across town, then spilled out onto the ground. Any one of these indignities could have detonated a live bomb so I think we can assume that it is safe.

Doesn’t mean I would want to be standing poking it with a stick though…

Saving it for later. 1911.

The first thing I thought of when I read this article was that old joke “Do you like rabbits?” “Yes, but I couldn’t eat a whole one”.

Kalgoorlie Miner 15 Jul 1911 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91304244

Well, the joke really goes “Do you like children?”….. but of course the alligator would have no problem eating a stray child 😉

This article reports the strange friendship of an alligator living in the Southport Zoo in England, and a white rabbit.

The rabbit was not an exhibit, nor a member of staff, but intended as part of the menu.

Strangely, the alligator rejected this fluffy meal and at the time of this report both were living peacefully together.

I wonder if the rabbit really won over the cold saurian heart as suggested by this article, or if the rabbit just had an overdeveloped sense of self-preservation and stayed away from the end with teeth?

Happy birthday present to me! Cheep cheep…

If you read yesterday’s post, where I moaned about being too tired to write, you will know that the Man and I spent all weekend working in the garden. Today’s post is about what we did.

Some of you might remember that it was my birthday earlier in the month and that I posted about some of the silly things I received from my family (puppet cakes and a book about poo!). Well, this weekend was all about the present I got from the Man.

My present from him was a shiny new chook pen in a (very big) box just waiting to be put up!

I was a little scared that it would remain in the box gathering dust until guilt drove him to put it up shortly before my next birthday though…..

My present.

Surprisingly, this weekend was spent shovelling gravel to help with drainage, picking up concrete pads for the floor (so the fox can’t dig underneath), building fences, collecting a box of small chickens and putting the whole thing together.

Now, I know what you are thinking. Two people putting up a pre-fab shed is more likely to result in shouting, things being thrown, and angry accusations than success isn’t it?

Amazingly though, after a few hours we were finished, with the undamaged shed standing up all by itself, no leftover parts, and we were still speaking politely to each other!

The kids and I excitedly let our box of little 7-week-old chickens, two Leghorns and two Isa Browns, out in their new home to see what they thought of it.

Happy chickies.

They happily investigated every corner and dived on me when I dared step in there with a bag of crumble to sprinkle on the floor for them.

Although it will be a while before we get eggs from these little girls they have already given us quite a bit of amusement. When they see us coming they gather at the door in the hopes of something delicious arriving with us.

This made it quite hard to get photos of them because they won’t stay far enough away from me for the camera to see them!

We got young chickens because we wanted them to be friendly pets as well, not just egg layers and I think we will probably meet with success after seeing them with the kids after school on Monday night. I had to prise the kids out of there to do some homework!

Smooching the kids.