So anyway…

This shot pretty much sums up what it’s like to try to photograph mice. They’re very quick and very curious and they tend to move around a lot.

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More mouse pictures in the Picture Gallery.

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The Australian Government is proposing an internet censorship scheme that goes further than any other democracy in the world. That’s why I’m one of over 100,000 Australians who have signed the petition to Save the Net. Will you join me?
This Friday, the petition will grace the pages of newspapers across the nation. That way the Government, who are due to make a decision any day now, will be left in no doubt as to how deeply unpopular this kind of censorship is in Australia. Can you help me make that petition too large to ignore?
http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/AddYourNameSaveTheNet
Our Government should be doing all in its power to take Australia into the 21st century economy, and to protect our children. This proposed internet censorship does neither. The plan has even been slammed by children’s welfare groups, who say the filter is “fundamentally flawed” and simply will not work.
Can you join me and children’s welfare groups, internet providers, consumers, engineers, network administrators, and over 100,000 everyday Australians in defence of our freedoms? Let’s make sure this Friday’s newspaper ad has an impact too large to ignore.
http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/AddYourNameSaveTheNet

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The 23rd is the Vernal Equinox if you’re in the Southern Hemisphere, and the 22nd is the Autumnal Equinox if you’re in the Northern side of the planet (time zones, International Dateline, planet tilt, all that stuff, confusing, isn’t it?).

Welcome, Springtime! I’ve been looking forward to your arrival. Glad you’re here!

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Aye, we be talkin’ like pirates here on the scurvy side of the International Dateline, arrgh. Me first mate’s first words to me today were, “Arrgh, wench!” What a fine way to be awakin’ yer woman, eh? Yarrr!

What’s that? You don’t know what this is about? Yarr! ‘Tis International Talk Like a Pirate Day! So, talk like a pirate, or ye’ll walk the plank, ye scurvy dogs! Yarr!

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Kanye West just has something he wants to tell you about my website. Word.

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So after the kids were finished at school, I got them in the car and we went out to the local Bunnings Warehouse to get some basil seedlings. Technically it’s a little early for them, but I’ll pot them in a smaller pot and keep them inside until the weather is consistently warm enough for them to be outside. I also ended up getting some flat leaf (Italian) parsley and some pansies, which were on sale. Then I grabbed a couple of new terra cotta pots and went off to get some more potting soil and mulch.
And that’s where it happened. I put my hand on a bag of mulch to pull it forward a bit to read it and apparently there was a honeybee on the bag. I know this because the next thing I knew, I was in quite sharp and significant pain, just on the left side of my right thumb, on the joint.
Happily, there was a lady walking by who offered to pull out the stinger for me (thank you, Mary), and I’m pretty good at dealing with pain, but dayumm, that HURT. As the pain started to subside I noticed the bee on the ground, dying slowly, and I took pity on the poor thing and stepped on it, squishing it as quickly as I could. It’s not the bee’s fault that I put my hand on it, after all. It was just being a bee, and it seemed pointless to let the thing die slowly and probably painfully.
I went around to the pharmacy after we left and asked what to do to treat a bee sting. The pharmacist knows me and gave me an antihistamine (from a free sample pack he had on hand) and sold me a tube of cortizone, with instructions on how to treat the sting (basically, keep a generous layer of cortizone on at all times). I also took some ibuprofen when I got home, for its pain relief and anti-inflammatory properties.
It’s been a couple of hours and I haven’t got any sign of shock or allergic reaction, other than the localised one. The pain is quite tolerable, although my thumb joint is very stiff, thus making it difficult for me to prepare dinner, and allowing me to convince Andrew that we should get takeaway (we’re getting Chinese, yum). I feel a little woozy, probably as an after-effect of a big rush of endorphins and epinephrine.
See how exciting my life is? Basil! I bought basil! And pansies and flat-leaf parsley! I know, I know, y’all are dying of jealousy…

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