Day 134 (Monday)

I missed it when I drove in the gate at Latimers this afternoon - although I did notice the wonderful cleaning job M had done on the stonework out the front. Mind you, I'm not quite sure how I missed it because it is an amazing feat of construction. In an effort to help the mother bird - who is still alive but nursing a damaged wing - M put up a walkway so she could hop up to fence level - and one from the fence to the tree - a distance of some metres - so she could hop across it to where their nest is without fear of running in to the cats. M did a great job - the bridge, made of several long poles taped together, is sturdy enough for the willy wagtail but not strong enough to support any of the cats. Hopefully if there are any possums in the area, they will give it a miss as well.

Speaking of cats, it's only a few days ago - and I'm still trying to remember how it came up in conversation - that we were talking about that coffee which is harvested after it has been digested by the lawak, a cat-like member of the civet family in Indonesia. It (the coffee not the cat) is a delicacy and for December only it is available right here on the Gold Coast. Called Kopi Luwak but commonly referred to as cat poo coffee, it is supposedly a delicacy and gives the flavour of coffee without the bitterness. I would like to know what the circumstances were surrounding that discovery. I'm not sure if we will avail ourselves of this one but we have a few days to decide yet - we just have to be able to find where Merlo Coffee Southport is - and have our $10 ready to buy a cup of it!

We had a quiet night in tonight - watching some television, catching up on correspondence and M booked some accommodation for her forthcoming trip to Sydney. Unfortunately it's in the same week as Oprah is doing her broadcast from the Sydney Opera House so accommodation is a little scarce and what there is is a tad more expensive than usual.

There's a new fence going in on the Latimers lane-way up near Bernies' - well, the poles are there and laterals are on the ground waiting to be fitted. Oh, and the mailbox is off being fixed. It had started to rust up the top and was about to become a bit less useful as a mailbox - either because it would be swinging from one chain only and the mail would fall out - or because it would have been rusted through completely and the mail would have not stayed dry.

Even though the yellow breadbox may have been up to the task if it had a tow bar, it doesn't so M towed the rubbish up the front with the 4-wheel-drive this evening. Pearl couldn't go with her because it is too high for her to jump in, so she stayed with us. I'd already given her a game of "Fetch" and "Throw" so she was content to just "be".

We've changed Kathy from Friday to Wednesday for cleaning this week, and I'm wondering where to write the note to remind M about the shower ... because she's usually the first one to use it after Kathy's been in there and gets hit with the stream of cold water because the shower head is pointed outwards rather than into the shower.

Maggie was doing her best to look cute this evening and she did a very good job. I couldn't resist taking a photo of her and posting it to FaceBook so everyone can see just how cute she is. I think she is the most photogenic of the animals - or certainly the one that stays still longer so you can take a decent photo of her - and, yes, she does seem to pose!