Bats in the Belfry (or in the verandah!)

Just when I thought I had seen most of the foreign livestock this place has to offer, I had a ginzu knife experience (but wait, there's more!). I was seeing the WM off the premises on Friday night after chapel when she saw something small flying about the verandah. She thought it was a small bird but at the same time she was saying that, I was thinking, its awfully dark for a small bird to be out about. Just as that thought was bouncing from the neurons to the synapses, she said "it's a bat" followed by, be careful it doesn't fly into your hair!!!!!!! From a distance, it looked like a small black triangle about the size of a mouse with wings if you get my drift. Visions of Vampire bats et al went before me and I knew, if it did go for my hair, I would probably have a heart attack on the spot. I crept to the light switch and turned it off, turning outside lights on to encourage it back outside but it seemed to like where it was perched (Silly me, bats LIKE the dark!!). It was on bedtime for the girls, so zoomed around, locked everything down, slid carefully past the area it was attached to and locked myself in my room for the rest of the night. Thankfully, by daylight it was gone.

It was a quick week last week with some of the kids coming back on Tuesday after half term and the rest are still drifting back. I had a girl from up north to pick up on Wednesday evening from the airport who was just getting here for the beginning of the year, and there is one still in the wind to come - maybe. At the same time we got our return girl, two more left so we are steady at 6 girls for the moment.

On Thursday I decided to cook dinner seeing it was my day off. I looked in the freezer and decided upon a piece of corned beef. No problem there, left it to thaw and put it on late afternoon to cook. What is corned beef without Edmonds Mustard Sauce however? Herein lay the problem. I am without an Edmonds cookbook. I have bits of one (about 36yrs old), but not with me. In a Eureka moment, I decided to google Edmonds Mustard Sauce and would you believe it, there were multitudinous hits for the same. I read the first two hits - both had the same recipe which was as I remembered it - yay, all was saved. The WMH has cooked corned beef for dinner before but has done a white sauce and good manners have prevented me from casting aspersions, lol. Had the meat bubbling away merrily and proceeded to put in potatoes, pumpkin, carrots and kumera into the pot and sat down for a read. I checked the pot some time later - arrrhhhh, there was no bubbles and I had the gas on full tilt. Have I mentioned before that I HATE cooking with gas - yes, it had run out. Dilemma no 2! Fortunately, the DP had gas on at his place, (even though he had left the stove on 200C the day we all went to the beach, for the entire time we were away) and in a short space of time after transferring pot and extras to his place, was able to rescue us from having partially raw vegies ( though perfectly done meat).

I have also mentioned before that Aussi ingredients do not necessarily taste as good (the same) as ours - brown vinegar in particular. DMC Malt vinegar - I may have to bring a flagon back with me. It is called Brown Vinegar here and it tastes like cats pee in comparison to DMC. The mustard powder was not Coleman's either ..... Needs must however, and to the Aussi palate, they would know no better (heh, heh). It would not have won any prizes at a Country Women's Institute soiree but it did go well with the meal. I noticed in the google hit that one Aussi pub over here has 'stolen' the recipe for the Edmonds version of Mustard Sauce and it is a hit on their menu.

I rang No 2 son the other day to see how the new grandson was doing. I asked whether he was walking, talking and ready for school yet (you know, being the genius that he will be!) to which No 2 son immediately replied, - he just has to sit his licence and he will be able to drive to school , LOL. I miss that sense of humour that is peculiarly family/home indeed, though I do get plenty of laughs here too -(usually at my expense!!!).

Had a relatively quiet weekend - no car wheels falling off and an unremarkable trip to town and back with the girls, for a change. Did a spot of shopping in the morning and then went for two games at the Ten Pin bowling range. My first game was rubbish but managed to come second (out of four) in the next. The game was hilarious as one of the girls who is reasonably slight, did such a massive bowl the impetus kept her going sideways across three other lanes - which resulted in hysterical laughter all the way round. Fortunately there were only two other lanes going and neither close to us otherwise there could have been carnage.

Speaking of carnage, I took the girls down to the boys' boarding campus this afternoon (while the boys were away) to deliver some goat pellets we had picked up the day before (as you do). First stop was the goats enclosure which is at least three basketball courts (fenced) and a shed. My colleague let the goats out and one promptly hopped into our van, onto the back seat and then jumped outside through the side window. We then visited her abode to see a new kitten that she had picked up last week and her pet snakes - I kid you not!!! She has two she keeps in her bedroom - pythons and not poisonous. She got me to touch one under it's stomach where it was actually quite soft, but could not bring myself to touch its head or have it draped over me. There was a bulge in its stomach that was an ex mouse! fed to it the night before and its meal for the next week. Finally got the girls back into the van and headed back to school. On the way to and fro, there was a reasonably sized ex kangaroo lying to one side of the road, killed sometime between yesterday evening and mid afternoon today. On our return trip we saw something sitting on the carcass, and thought it might be a crow. I slowed the van down before we passed the carcass and realised it was not a crow but an eagle instead. What a magnificent bird. The wedge tailed eagle is quite a shy and we watched as it lifted off the body, spread its wings and flew in front of us and then circled off. We waited for awhile but it did not come back so may have had its fill or been too nervous to come back. It would of course be the one time I did not have my camera with me, - Murphy's Law indeed.

The rest of the day has mostly been spent blobbing out watching a TV series called 'One Tree Hill', and no, it is not a story about the rise and fall of the pine tree above Cornwall Park, in Auckland NZ, but a town set in America (where else), the story line following the lives, loves, and hates of a school basketball team/ cheerleader squad/ and their families. The girls were fixated and I have to admit to watching several episodes myself - ghastly though the story is.

Am sorting out flights home for Easter, and should have some news on that some time this week. Great to talk to several members of the next door neighbour's family at home today as they celebrated their March birthdays. Was told today we are now officially in autumn, so looking forwards to field mushrooms and picking pinecones for the fire when I get home.