In the garden – tale of two spiders

I saw some squiggling going on below the table where I keep my gardening things.  It was a little shadowed so I grabbed the camera with the flash.  At first I thought maybe some of the cute little lizards that are always running around were “getting busy”.

Once I got a better look at what was happening, it was clear that one of the lizards had gotten snared in a spider web.  It looked like two additional lizards were trying to help free him.

I saw the redback making her way down her web to get to him.  (the redback is the Australian version of the black widow spider, easily identified by the red stripe on it’s abdomen).  I’m not a fan of redbacks, especially around my work area, so first I rescued the lizard, then I went back and sprayed spider poison.

Spider 2: I’m using some old boards from a fence to edge my garden beds.  I’ve seen the type of grass we have in the back crawl up the granny flat and up onto its roof.  Without a barrier, the grass would quickly grow back over the spots I’ve cleared for veggies.  As I put the first board down, I noticed a young huntsman crawl away from it.  (Huntsmans don’t build webs, they normally hide under something until they’re ready to snatch something walking by).  I laughed at John when he first encountered a huntsman – he saw one on the porch and swore that it leapt at him.  This guy seemed to be walking right at me.  I figured I would just back up and to the side to give him room to go wherever he wanted to go.  Then he turned and continued to walk toward me.  After a couple meters, he decided to wander off in a different direction.  I was a little more careful picking up boards after that.

A friend gave me a pair of toddler overalls for my little scarecrow.  I picked up a straw hat from the dollar store.  I need to do a little sewing for the head, but I should be able to finish it before too much longer.

Sunday Blasphemy – Pernicious Man Sex

A wonderful comic strip. http://www.jesusandmo.net/

Sunday Blasphemy – t is for … ?

Perhaps it is short for “time to leave”

Marriage in Australia – I’m Confused

I’m a little confused when it comes to marriage rights in Australia.  When we came over our relationship status was that of “interdependent partners”.   Australia has been ahead of the US in recognizing gay relationships for immigration purposes, but “interdependent” could just as well indicate someone taking care of grandma.  In July the laws changed and we could be considered “de facto spouses” which goes a lot farther to equality.  While straight couples can get married, they can also opt of being de facto spousal relations.

The part that confuses me is the ‘talk’ is that the government wants to end any discrimination, but only heterosexual couples can have a legal ceremony.  From my background the ceremony is important to the couple but legally meaningless.  What makes a legal marriage in the US is the piece of paper that’s been filed with the county clerk.

The Australian Capital Territory has passed a law to allow gay couples to have a ceremony – being careful to communicate that it’s not supposed to be like straight-folk marriage.  The Rudd government has promised to overturn the legislation, but couples are starting to get married ceremonied whatevered – and it sounds like any that take place will remain after the law is overturned.  (that sounds even dumber to me – like California).  I would have thought if it were going to act, it should have done so before the law went into effect.  I think I need to find an Australian who can explain it to me like I was a dumb American.

Today

This morning we got up and drove into they city.  John had been to the building before when he had to get a replacement visa.  We had to wait a little while in line but when we were called to the counter it only took as long as checking our passports and applying the sticker.  We got out quickly enough to swing by a Medicare office and turn in our paperwork for the national healthcare plan (and get organ donor forms).  Our cards will arrive in approximately 3 weeks but we have our numbers in case we need them.

Hurray!  We’re basically done with anything else we need to do for a year, at which point we’ll be able to take the citizenship test.  While it’s a “permanent” visa, it will expire in 5 years if we don’t go ahead with citizenship.  After 5 years it wouldn’t be a big deal to renew the visa again, but since we don’t have plans to move back to the States, citizenship makes sense.

In the garden – I didn’t decide where to put the pumpkin patch.  It started raining, so I stayed out of the backyard.  Wouldn’t you know that after finding the seeds at Big W, I also found them at Bunnings.  I’d looked at both places several times.  Now I’ll say that I can’t find habanero pepper seeds anywhere – and hope they show up in a couple weeks. 

On the way back from the city, I picked up a baby rhubarb plant and a small ficus.  There’s been a ficus in the house for most of my life… it’s just one of those things.  The rhubarb will take a few years to get to where we can harvest any of it, but if we end up moving, we can always take it with us.  I also got some sunflower seeds.  I figured I’d plant a row by the fence as a backdrop for the garden.  I’ve also decided on the art for the veggie patch – a small scarecrow.  I’ll ask my friends with kids where I can get a pair of toddler sized coveralls.  It’s not like I’m growing corn, a baby scarecrow will be more in proportion.  My other thought was a Buddha, but that would be better for perennial beds.  (I’ll likely find a spot for a gnome someday).

I broke off a small tip of a jacaranda branch and now I’m trying to get it to root.  If it doesn’t work this time, I can try another way.  If it takes, I imagine we’ll grow it in a container until we have a permanent home.  They’re really beautiful this time of year.

The pumpkin cheesecake and pumpkin pie are all ready to take to work.  The cheesecake recipe called for a gingersnap crust.  It would have been a little more convenient if I’d made the gingersnaps yesterday.  An online friend mentioned that he had good luck with butternut squash when making pumpkin pie here.  I have a kent pumpkin I was going to try, but with any luck I’ll have ‘real’ pumpkin after a few months.

Not a bad day – I even had time for a nap.

Sunday Blasphemy – Seeing is believing

I thought of ranting about the Catholic church trying to force D.C.'s hand by threatening to abandon services to the poor if they're required to treat their employees equally. Of course, it's not a new tactic. They stopped providing adoption services in Boston. Realize that they are paid by the city to provide those services - they don't do it as charity. Big reason why "faith" based charities are always a bad idea. Thankfully D.C. figures they'll be able to find someone else who is willing to take their money.

Anyway, since I'm not going to go on about that (It's been a long, very hot, weekend and I'm a little tired) - for this week's Sunday Blasphemy, I bring you an old schoolmate of mine.  Recently reintroduced via Facebook, here is Adam.

Who wears short shorts?

Wrangler Really Tiny Jean Shorts - watch more funny videos

Sunday Blasphemy – Fake but funny.

see more Epic Fails

 

A retailer may take it too far for a sale, but Safeway isn’t this lame.  On the FAIL site, someone takes credit for creating the signage as a joke.

Spell Check

I know the “right” enjoys thinking believing that the “left” is somehow elitist (as opposed to simply elite), that we hang out at universities and read stuff, that the “right” is made up of ig’nant rednecks and bible thumpers.  Well, the right could go a long way toward a new, smarter image if they would simply learn to use a dictionary.  Heck, a lot of programs on the computer even auto spell check.

Random Joke – The year of…

I'm not really concerned about swine flu. Here's my concern.

3 years ago, Chinese calendar year of the cow . . . Mad Cow disease.

2 years ago, Chinese calendar year of the bird . . . Avian flu.

This year, Chinese calendar year of the pig . . . Swine flu.

Next year is the year of the cock . . . Anybody else worried?

Sunday Blasphemy – Atheist Alert!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWKDOikIgIs

Sunday Blasphemy – Religion: Believe in stuff

Religion - watch more funny videos

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/ca861703b8/religion-from-danny

Happy Birthday to Me!

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to wish me a happy birthday.  Even our Nintendo Wii wished me a happy birthday complete with streamers and confetti.  It’s now updated with a system patch and Fit Plus.  Oz and Taz (our corgis) now have pet profiles on the system so I don’t need to save a file on the computer to track their weights.  (Oz is doing very well on his diet).

Tonight, after a wonderful Thai dinner, we’re watching Star Trek (sweet!). 

Stewart on Fox (not)News

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-october-29-2009/for-fox-sake-

I’m grateful that we have a “fake” news program like the Daily Show to shine the light on actual fake news programs.

Sunday Blasphemy – Send god a message

From the Facebook Group:

Recently the Atheist Foundation of Australia and the Global Atheist Convention websites were the target of a significant DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack, which began on Monday 19 October.

This is a call to all non-believers and advocates for freedom of speech to join us in a global coordinated minute of prayer with the aim of inundating God (in this context, the Christian god, God, as distinct from the Greek god, Zeus, the Egyptian god, Ra etc etc)… with so many useless prayers that it causes his divineness to go offline as as result of our own DDOS ('Divine' Denial of Service).

The prayer minute will be at exactly 8pm (Eastern Standard Time) & 9am (Greenwich Mean Time) on Sunday 8 November 2009.

That’s only a week away so mark your calendar!

Sunday Blasphemy – Broccoli

hmm… I thought he was the prince of peas.