Autumn, Fall, call it what you will & win

It’s that time of year again, my favourite season, Autumn.
What a relief after the horrendous heat of Summer, a brief respite before the Winters’ frosts arrive.

This is our first Autumn in our new home, and it’s so lovely to see the changes in the area:
Late-blooming crepe myrtles all along the street in all different colours, the end of our first tomato crop, neighbours venturing out with the lovely weather.

Even the cat is loving it, sunning himself near the vegie patch as I write.

It also means I have more energy, which is great.
~Apparently the tiredness of CFS is exacerbated by high temperatures, which also includes hot baths, showers and overheating generally.

Explains why I’ve been able to catch up with my blogging & photography, doesn’t it? So hopefully we can all expect great things from me in the months to come.

Just let me win lotto, so that we can spend Summers in Tasmania, okay?

Which season is your favourite, and why?

The best answer wins a free blog button made by moi!

Oops… It’s a Boy!

It’s a good thing that I had the kidz in hospital, because they might have grown up into very confused adults.

Why? I hear you ask (go on, ask).

Because I have made a grave error in the sex of our recently aquired stray cat, Kitty Camper.

That’s right, she is a he, and I had no idea that I was so far off base.

Luckily, the cat seems to have suffered no dire consequences from the mix-up, and the kidz aren’t too traumatized, either.

Who made the discovery? (yes, that’s you asking another question).

It was the vet. I finally got around to taking her… erm, him in for a check-up last week. Wren & Mr Bump came along to see what went on.

They were as surprised as I was to discover that the cat that they’ve been calling ‘Kitty Camper’ and ‘Princess’ is more of a ‘Prince’.

Renaming became imperative.

You can imagine the damage to his street-cred with a name like ‘Kitty Camper’, not to mention the other…

Might as well give him a pink fluffy collar, call him ‘Mr Campy’ and enter him in the Mardi Gras next month.

After a number of suggestions, I thought of ‘Mr Underfoot‘, the cat in Friday, one of my favourite Robert Heinlein books.

The kids think it’s hilarious, and call him ‘Undies’ for short.

It’s a slight improvement.

Now I just have to hide Mr Bump’s pink Barbie dress before he starts school…

All’s Well that Ends Well…

We’re finally settled in.

(Thank you so much to everyone who sent encouraging emails and so forth)

So much has happened, so I’ll just start back blogging by giving you a summary of what we’ve been up to since the 21st October, when I unplugged and went offline.

The removalists came and went almost three weeks ago, leaving a stack of boxes in the garage with half of their labels facing inwards or upside-down.

Finding a clean towel has never been such fun! ~Not.

WonderHubby drilled nicely-spaced holes and fitted the shelves I had cut at Bunnings for the broom closet, which will now be an extra pantry.

It’s his first handy-man job around the home, and I’m very proud of him, as he’s never had much confidence in his home improvement abilities.

The helpful people at Bunnings remained straight-faced at my inane questions, as I went on a pricing-spree for various items we will need in the future.

The fan-lights in the lounge and kitchen have been repaired after they gave out under warranty.

~Mr Bump made a “Best Fixer in the World” prize-ribbon for the electrician to wear, which he still sported as he drove off to his next job.

The plumber came on Monday and we now have a basic laundry in the back of the garage. - Remember, we only had a little space at the end of the kitchen for a front-loader, while our machine is a top-loader.

Vegie plants are growing in the vegie patch. Plus other precious seedlings are emerging in pots near the back door.

The Cat was quite happy to be transplanted and (I’m pleased to report) behaves very well indoors at night.
However, unexpected events have occurred which I will relate to you at a later date.

Linen press, pantry and appliance cupboards have been filled and we are beginning to remember where we’ve put everything.

Phone and internet are connected and at last I am back in contact with the world.

Nameless Kitty Camper

Or Trespussers will be Mollycoddled.

Meet our Nameless Kitty Camper.

We did just that on Tuesday last week.

Since then, she’s spent every day and night in our backyard, either snoozing in the Winter sun or curled up in the box we used to keep kindling in.

Now we keep a cat in it.

Fortunately, we love cats at the UpsideDownHouse.

The only reason we don’t have one is that our landlord said we would have to keep it outside. I don’t agree with cats being out at night, so we decided to wait until we buy a house in a couple of years.

Of course, if she hangs around I’ll be checking with all the neighbours and so on. But we’ve been here for 2 years so far and hadn’t seen her before this, so I have the feeling that she’s either been dumped or abandoned.

If we can’t track down her owners we’ll take over the kitty healthcare stuff.

And yes, I am a sucker. I’ve bought some cat biscuits and chicken necks and we are feeding her.

But she’s sooo affectionate. Even before I started feeding her.

So we don’t really have a pet cat, but we do.

Does that make sense?