Fish are worse than rabbits..

at least as far as breeding goes and maybe eating! I had 6 small fish left in the baby box and decided to release another two into the main tank this morning. I emptied all of them into another container and washed the box, filled it with new water from the main tank and returned the small fish back to the box with the other two being released into the big tank. The box was still floating around in the big tank when I noticed a very small fish hiding under one of the side pieces that connect to the suckers on the side of the big tank. I managed to catch it with my small cup and then I noticed another very small baby. What the heck! Just then I realised that the mother fish was dropping a tiny fish from her body every minute or so. And the older small fish were eating them! I spent about an hour watching the mother and as she wriggled away from the baby it would rise up to the surface of the water and then I would try to catch it. It was a mission as the light was shining on the water and these babies are really tiny. I think there are some more hiding in the tank but they are not showing themselves at the moment. This is getting a bit chronic now and I'm going to have to make a plan to get another tank or take some fish back to the pet shop if the big fish cant stop procreating. Anyway that was my excitement of the day!

On Sunday afternoon, after visiting my parents, I made a stop at the local shop to buy supplies and draw money at the ATM which is situated just inside the entrance to the shop. I noticed that their was a plastic gadget in front of the slot to insert the bank card and a notice attached said that this had been installed as an anti-skimming device. I drew money but this gadget worried me. On my return home, I went online to my bank's website where there was no mention of any device like this being used. I phoned the bank's fraud hotline and they advised me that they had no knowledge of this device and that I should stop my card. This I did and I had to start my week on Monday morning at the bank to get another bank card (at my cost). The owner of the shop as well as the guy from the bank that had installed the device phoned me to tell me that I had been rather paranoid as this was a legitimate bank device but my point was: Why did the no one at the bank know anything about the installation of these devices. The bank does not communicate with its clients but expects them to blindly trust and then wonders why people are being scammed by being too trusting. I was not and am still not happy about this inconvenience and cost to myself but what does the bank care?

The weather for the past three days has been hot and humid and it is difficult to find the energy to accomplish anything that requires movement.. I have started making small inroads on the jungle that is my garden late in the afternoon. It only gets dark by 7.30pm so there are a few cooler hours that can be used for this activity but I am a little out of condition and I don't chop anything more than I feel that I will have the energy to pick up and cart to the garden heap in one session.

The kitties are all asleep at this hottest time of the day and I think I'll go and see if I can see any more tiny fish bobbing around.

The cats are helping me sort out my cupboards..

and not in a good way.

My fluffy orange cat, Torgen, has always had issues of some sort. Some years ago when I adopted a big dog he was petrified and started hiding in odd and sometimes dangerous places. For instance he spent a whole day in the wood storage hole of a built in braai (barbecue) of a house we were renting. Another time he was found huddling on top of the support pillar of the precast fence in the middle of rolls of security razor wire. He would never come home on his own but would always have to be searched for and extricated. He can go for a while without any odd behaviour but something else eventually surfaces.

His latest thing is to not use the cat litter box for urinating or even go outside. He just holds his pee in until he starts peeing just wherever he is or he sprints to my bedroom and jumps in my cupboard and starts peeing there.

So this is how he is 'helping' me in my cleaning venture. I have had to clean one shelf FULL of items that were stored in there. He had been hiding and sleeping on a pile of stationery and just peeing in there as and when required. I had to eventually clean out and move everything from there and just toss out all the stationery which was obviously ruined by the urine. I have to make an effort to remember to close this cupboard. Dael's clothes are stored on one long shelf of this cupboard and he always leaves the doors open.

This morning, I had barely got up and ventured out my room when Torgen raced past me at high speed and leapt into his new cupboard. This section has been storing all Bradley's old toys, army men, some books, etc. An ideal hideaway spot for a troubled cat. As I peered into the cupboard, Torgen was urinating a steady stream of pee into the box of toys. I saw red and knew that some immediate action was required (at just after 5am).

With the cat still in the cupboard, crouching in the back, I fetched a black garbage bag which I placed on the floor and started pulling out the damaged contents of the cupboard onto the black bag. Eventually the nervous cat got the idea and leapt out of the cupboard and zoomed through the cat hole in the french doors and outside, which is where he should have gone in the first place! Once everything was out I could see that he has been peeing in there for a while and the urine has soaked through to the chipboard on the bottom of the cupboard which fortunately Dael says can be removed without causing the main cupboard to fall down. In the meantime I have just sprayed that area liberally with my Bleach and water mixture to at least sanitize it a bit so my room doesn't continue to stink of pee.

Now the next thing is to go through all the toys that I removed from the cupboard and throw them into a bucket of bleach water to clean them. Then they will have to be dried and stored in a bag probably in one of my top cupboards.

See how my cats help me to get to my tasks that I have been procrastinating about doing. They so helpful to their mom. :)

Getting into the New Year

aka known as My State of Mind.

I feel as if I am being torn in several different directions.

My immediate challenges are:

1) Organising my paperwork. This has been getting out of control for over a year now. My home desk is covered in papers and these are covered in paw prints. The cats LOVE walking and lying on these and this doesn't improve the appearance of anything that they have used as a bed.

2) Organising my Parents paperwork!? Several years ago (maybe 10) I bought files and sorted out as much of their paperwork as I could. This was a mission and for months afterwards I was being asked where various bits of paper were so needless to say I am not enthusiastic to do this again. The filing was never continued and papers are in various containers and boxes and heaps! Nonetheless, being the dutiful daughter that I am, I emptied one of my own alphabetical sorters and ventured forth yesterday to my parents home. I have started sorting out my mom's filing and need to get down there again for another session. This is likely to be a slow process as I don't have solid blocks of time to devote to this duty.

3) Looking for a job. My new procrastination. Mainly because all the consultants are situated out of town and my car is not up to scratch anymore so that making any trips at all are a cause of anxiety for me. Also this would entail me primping and getting all dressed up in work clothes which I am kind of getting out of the habit of! Terrible to hear, isn't it.

4) Cleaning up the house and the garden. Not happening. Oh I tidy up but please open the cupboards with care. You have been warned.

The easiest and most unnecessary pastimes for me at the moment are knitting and sewing my gorgeous toys up while I listen to (watch) tv. This is easily classed as being my escapism at the moment and I have to force myself away from it every day in order to achieve all or some of the above items which needs to be done. I wish I could be making a good living out of the knitting but I am not so I need to put it into perspective.

All this is part of the process for me. I will get there eventually but forging ahead with all that needs to be done requires constant mental organising and planning on a daily basis to get accomplished. Fortunately the angel of action on my shoulder is very insistent and NAGS to get me to move away from the couch and the knitting until I almost throw the knitting down in frustration and move off to get down to one of my many tasks to be done.

The best way I have of getting things done at the moment is breaking all the above big tasks down into small chunks and just doing a little bit of everything every day.

Wish me luck!

Continuing the theme of satisfying work environments

I have to mention that Dael has now completed his three month probation period at the panelbeating/mechanic workshop where he started just after I came back to KZN after my Jhb trip. After a few frustrating weeks where he just seemed to be sanding the vehicles and almost put himself to sleep during a bout of monotonous sanding, he has moved on to being a valued member of staff.

He worked until about 2pm on Christmas Eve and only received R50 extra on top of his week's pay as a Christmas bonus. He still raced off and purchased small gifts for everyone with his meagre money, carrying everything back home in his backpack. All I saw when he came up the driveway on his motorbike was the top half of a garden gnome sticking out of his backpack.

He had to return to work on the Tuesday following Christmas and that day was left to work in the factory as well as receive vehicles and talk to clients and also answer the phones as not everyone had returned to work. He proved himself with his reliability and responsibility.

He has become a working dynamo and knows almost everything about bodywork already including operating the hydraulic equipment used to pull out dents. He brings the vehicles he works on to primer stage ready for final spraypainting. He instructs the indigenous workers, some of whom have been there longer than him. They try to get away with shortcuts and he doesn't allow that but rather confronts them as needed to get the job done right. He is not intimidated.

Last week he worked one day less as he was off work the day he had his fall from his bike. The next day he worked overtime to finish a vehicle and in fact only got home at 8pm. He received R100 on the spot from his boss. On payday he received the full five days pay and R50 extra. He was very pleased.

He comes home filthy every day with dirt on his face even having worked on about 4 vehicles in a day, just going from vehicle to vehicle not having to be told what to do or how to do it anymore. As long as my son is learning new things and being treated like an intelligent being he is happy. I am proud of him and I am very glad we held out for the right job for him.

I drove him to work this morning as my old driving school instructor who taught me 27 years ago and also taught Robynne, will be meeting him at work after his day is over and taking him for a driving lesson, just to see how his driving is and to give him some pointers. I am sure he will learn fast. His driving test is next week Wednesday at 3pm and I am counting on him passing first time. Once he has his drivers licence, it will benefit him at his job too.

Things are moving ahead with my son and I am sure this year will be positive for Dael too.