Waging war on ants, and books, and other...

Okay, so I'm still having an ant problem. I've sprayed all visible previous entrance sites - and they appear to be all clear- no more signs of ants... but I still have ants indoors. They were crawling on my bed and in my bedding. I went to pour a glass of water and there was even an ant in there. Grr. I was getting tired of ants. I've started to try another method- I bought one of those "raid" every 5 minute dispensors and put it in the bathroom. It's done a super find job of dropping those ants in their tracks. Hurray. I have noticed ants crawling up through cracks in the wood floors. I have also noted ants crawling on the ceiling. I think the ants live under and perhaps above the house. Hopefully they'll stay there more as I continue to battle them!!

I read a few books over the Christmas period. The one that really stood out as very interesting was "The Life of Pi"- what a tale and interesting read... it was, as one review indicated, a page turner.

So yes, I've had a Christmas break. I spent a few days in the Marlborough Sounds where the weather was fine, but windy. Little Allie had a great time exploring- but I think she now has her "trouble" hat on.

I arrived home after about 4 days away to find my garden has taken off. The volunteer pumpkin which was a tiny wee plant has probably doubled in size and has a nice sized blossom. Now 2 of my tomato plants have baby tomatoes on them. My petunias or is it pansies have exploded in colour. A rose has opened in the back yard and is looking absolutely lovely. The marigolds are looking rather ill still, and one of the silver beets has died, but all in all- quite impressed so far with the progress!

Christmas songs

Did you ever notice how many Christmas carols are geared towards a cold weather Christmas? It's hard to get in the feeling of the season here in summer. (Not that it's felt like summer - at least for more than a day or two in a row).

Chesnuts roasting on an open fire,
Santa & his sleigh
Jingle bells

The list goes on...

I'm feeling a wee bit homesick this Christmas. But it'll be fun to see whether little Allie likes her Christmas present- which is a new play tunnel/ scratch post. She's now up to 1.85kg & has turned quite hyper at times. She was just tearing through the house moments ago- but now she has mellowed and is sitting in the window watching the world go by. (Which isn't that exciting on my quiet street).

The Italians are coming

It was officially announced this past week for Rugby World cup, Nelson will host the Italian team. They will also play 2 games here- one against the US and one against some yet to be determined European team. The rugby following here has the same intensity as the hockey following back home so it'll be good to be in on the excitement!

I just got back from taking Allie to the vet for a checkup. She got to have another set of shots, lucky girl! She behaved so very well with only a little squirming during the physical exam, and a bit of crying in the car. She's now peacefully napping.

Wow, Christmas time is coming. The plan is to spend the 25th through 28th in the sounds before returning to work on the 29th.

We're getting our first warm weather of the season. It was 25 yesterday, but I think hotter in my old uninsulated house.

I continue to battle the ants. They discovered the cat food yesterday so I had to relocate it, and so far they haven't discovered the new bit yet. I DO NOT enjoy ants...

In other news, I bought a bike off trademe and picked it up this week. I haven't actually ridden a bike much since the days mom and dad bought Shawn and I new bmxs. We must have been 8 or so. Once that was outgrown, I've only been on them a handfull of times: Rental bikes in Ireland, a borrowed bike on a wine tour in blenheim where I totally held up the group, and for a short bike ride around the track in Nelson on my old flatties bike. We'll see how we go- I'd like to get out on it this weekend except that the weather is forecasting buckets of rain.

I decided to finally start playing the stock market game. When I first moved to NZ interest rates were so high that I couldn't pass up fixed interest investments. Them having dropped about 5% or more, I thought it was finally time. I signed up with ASB so I could do self directed trades- on either the ASX or the NSX. My first investment is on the ASX. In the next month or so I'll make another investment after I get around to doing some research.

Less than a week until Christmas. Wishing you all a very good one.

The adventuerer & other things

It was a busy week last week with month end stuff on the go, which means usually some later working evenings.

I had my first "rental property" inspection on Friday. I'm with an agent and they sent a letter about a week in advance saying they'd be here about 10am on friday. I left a note on the door and the counter telling them to be careful not to let Allie out! When I returned home from work at lunch on Friday to feed her I found a calender from them and a note saying the place was looking great. I didn't think it was looking great- probably more just lived in. I wonder what they were expecting. I also asked them to look at the cold water tap- which you have to turn so hard to get it on that I tend to avoid using it. It's equally as hard to turn off. We'll see if they manage to do anything about it.

On Friday night we took little Allie on her first big adventure to the Sounds. She travelled reasonably well in both the car and on the boat and settled in quite comfortably to the bach. She found new places to explore, and new "toys" to play with. All was good. Saturday I took her out for a short stroll on her harness- which she has finally gotten the hang of. I was proud of her as she strolled around exploring- for the first 4 or 5 times she was on it, she didn't budge. Today the trip back did not impress her at all. She did well in the boat again, but got grumpy on the car ride back and cried enough times I felt like a horrible cat owner. Of course, she was fine, just being a little dramatic. Once she got home, the cage door was opened, and she crawled right into the snugglepuss pink bed which is the single most expensive item I've purchased for her. It took her tiredness from travel to discover it, but she looked so cute in it. Hopefully it's a new favourite for her. She's now up from her nap, and is once again looking to get hyper and start tearing through the house.

I went and bought a pack of 12 marigolds today and they're now planted in front of the house in the "weed" bed. I've tore up half of the weeks, and think perhaps that some of them are actually herbs that have gone out of control. One smelled a lot like lemon- I wonder if it was lemon thyme.

Last week I also sprayed about $12 worth of the $16 bottle of ant spray around the outside of the house in the hopes that it would help me gain the upper hand on the nasty ants which have been taking over the place. Initially I had only noticed them in Allie's room- which they now seem to have vacated. But annoyingly they're taking up residence in my room- I find them in my bedding and crawling all over. They're occasionally in the bathroom- but this is usually worst when I leave the windows open. I also put out some bait stations. Hopefully it'll have helped, but I think I may exhaust this bottle of spray this week and need to go purchase more. The one good thing is they hadn't taken control of the kitchen just yet.

Christmas times a coming, and it doesn't feel like it for this Northern hemisphere girl. First off, its no where near as commercial here. Secondly its the middle of summer and there isn't the same sort of light/ decoration phase. Thirdly- the season isn't right for all the Christmas carols. No snow. No sleighbells. No sleigh. That said, I'm not sad to be missing the -30 weather settling in over Saskatchewan right now. We haven't had much summer weather yet but it was warm today- it must have been low to mid 20s.

I'm not planning on taking much off for holidays over the Christmas period. One day perhaps, as my new second kitten is due to arrive just before the new year. This kitten already knows Allie- and I hope they'll get along well.

The mighty hunter

This is what little Allie thinks she is. She likes to chase various things. She's really turned more energetic in the past week. Tearing through the house, she is...jumping on things, knocking things off the coffee table, repeatedly knocking the lamp off the night table in the bedroom. Oh- and hunting and chasing things. She is a mighty hunter as she does a cute little half waddle/ stalk after one of her toys with bells. I think the mouse would have escaped, in real life. She's had a number of visitors now- which I think- makes her happy. She's a people cat. She's also starting to venture close to the door where she usually meets me when I get home. She started to walk out today so I put on her harness and took her out. Then she didn't feel like venturing far. Just outside the doorway seemed enough.

It's been a week of rain, rain, rain. (or at least showers). If memory serves, it rained Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and Friday. And today. Good thing I got a chance to cut the grass yesterday. I've had enough of rain... My exercise regime it taking a hit. I'm not motivated when I wake up at 6am and hear the rain.

Speaking of 6am- it's hard to sleep past this these days. Little Allie has figured out this is the time I wake up on a work day and she doesn't differentiate between weekday and weekend. She just knows that I'm not out of bed- and tries to encourage me. This is easier for her to do these days as she's now grown and is strong enough to leap onto the bed herself. She's a good jumper now so she has the freedom to come and go as she pleases.

I really confused her yesterday. I tried putting her moist food into a different bowl than her hard food at supper time. I showed her, or so I thought. It got around to my bed time and I heard crying coming from the kitchen. The poor girl thought I had forgotten to feed her. I showed her again the other bowl with food and this time she found it, ate hungrily, and was ready for bed.

I've been chatting with a few folk about the rental market in Nelson. It's so hard to find a quality place at an affordable rate. I was reading that insulation wasn't required before 1978. And even then, lots of houses are built without wall insulation. Crazy... What houses are about on the rental market are often not very warm. I moved into a house with a heat pump but with lots of windows and no insulation at all... Hot hot on a warm day, and it'll be cold cold in winter... Not that we've had many hot days at all. Maybe one or two days of spring like weather in recent memory. But the days are very nice and long. Hopefully the weather gets it together over Christmas anyway.

In other house news, I have an ant problem. They seem to have abandoned bedroom #2- Allie's room. She may scare them off as she tears after them and jumps on them. But they have discovered my bedroom and this doesn't make me happy. I washed my sheets and there is dead ant residue on them. Yuck. I went and bought ant bait traps this weekend. Also ant spray- I need to go treat the outdoors once the rain is over and the grass dries.

Now note- I sort of feel a bit guilty about buying this ant bait as I've just finished reading Janet Frame's "Moana Minim and the Smell of the Sun". It's a book about an ant on her first journey out. Poor little ants... Nevertheless, I wouldn't bother them if they didn't come inside.

Wowzers, Nelson town is starting to get the holiday rush... I got a parking ticket on Sat am when I headed into the markets. $12 is the going rate. I'm glad I'm done my Christmas shopping now.

Back to work tomorrow. I don't feel I have had a break anyway- since I was there a bit on Saturday and today. At least that's an anomoly, not like back in my early CA training days.

Another week.

And it's month end again. My it seems to come around far too fast.

I've now had little Allie for a week and a half. She's such a cute little girl. She is usually doing 1 of 4 things: Sleeping, playing, cuddling, or eating. She tears through the house when she's in hyper mode. Everything is a toy! But she's equally as fun when she's in snuggle mode- then she is very keen to be held or petted. She has generally stopped waking me up in the middle of the night for a snuggle now, which is nice.

I'm almost fully furnished in my wee house now. Just waiting on a head board to be delivered so that it can be put up between the bed and the window. The current hazard is always hitting the blinds when I turn over.

It's been a couple of rainy days after what was the most stunning Sunday. I've been back again jogging for 2 weeks- but not for the last 2 days. Hoping it finds up so I can keep it up!

Is it funny to say I'm sad that poor kitten has only had one specific visitor to visit her since I've got her? She was to have two visitors the weekend I got her, but neither ended up making it and I was sad. She loves people, so I sort of wish more people who were planning on visiting would make it around to keep her entertained and happy.

We took her outside on the harness on the weekend and she wasn't very impressed. Big world, bright lights. She cowered. I'm hoping she'll learn "I can only go outside on my harness". She isn't overly keen at the moment, although she stands at the glass door and looks out when I leave or come home.