It's not been much fun here since Christmas. Our cat (who was nineteen years old) had to be put down between Christmas and New Years. The Giant Husband has been having some health problems which luckily have turned out to be minor but have meant he hasn't been able to drive. Which, since I don't know how to drive, means we've barely left town for the past six weeks. And I've been plagued by Huntsman spiders.
Losing the cat was sad. I had had him for more than half my life and some perverse part of my brain really wanted him to live to be 20. But he had a brain tumour and it was causing seizures, his kidneys were starting to go and he clearly wasn't a happy cat, which helped. Our little dog on the other hand seems the most upset about it. She's very anxietyish anyway and when she gets stressed she gets bad dandruff and really bad gas. She used to spend half the day following me around and the other half sleeping with the cat. Now she doesn't seem to know what to do with herself.
Huntsman spiders, if you're not familiar with them, are theoretically lovely. They don't make webs. They eat bugs and other spiders. They have no interest in biting and aren't dangerous anyway. BUT they're big. Usually about the size of the palm of someones hand (that includes the legs, this isn't a horror movie) and I am terrified of them. They like to walk across the ceiling, and sometimes they drop to the ground with a PLOP! And one of my greatest fears is of one doing that, landing on my head and getting tangled in my hair. I have seen more of these this year, than in the last five years combined! My favourite (not at all my favourite) was the one I found at 5am, in the sleeve of my dressing gown. After I'd put it on! And now I can never wear my dressing gown again, unless it's been exorcised by a preist and set on fire first.
I haven't been online as much as usual lately because our internet has been terrible. I've been giving up on our home wifi and using my mobile phone data, even though it's ridiculously expensive, because the wifi has been so very bad. I thought it was just us. But Australia is getting a whole new Internet system, and lately heaps of people have been telling me that they've had the exact same problem since installation of the new system started in our area. On the one hand, that makes me feel better, it's not just me. On the other hand it's frustrating since the new system isn't ready to connect to yet.
Last weekend we took the Giant Baby to the Healesville Sanctuary to see the animals. We wanted him to see native animals. I wanted to take pictures of the animals. And the Giant Husband wanted to prove platypuses exist. I tease him by claiming I don't believe in them. I mean really, a venomous, egg laying mammal, with a duck bill and a beaver tail. It sounds like a bad internet hoax.
On the Friday we looked at the weather forcast for Saturday and saw it was only going to be 30 degrees. Not that bad, we thought, we'll go. Except it was more like 35 and when you're out in it all day, that's not really comfy. Most of the animals were lying on the ground or hiding because they were too hot. The Giant Husband told me off for saying that the kangaroos looked just like the ones we see dead on the side of the highway. But they did.
Even still, it was a great day. I got some pictures. The Giant Baby loved it. By the end of the day he could say Echidna and Cocky. And since the platypuses are kept in a pitch dark room, in tanks full of leaves and branches, I can still pretend not to believe in them.
