Monday

The moon is back! It's been a while since it's been visible through the cloud cover but it, Jupiter and ... what is the name of that other planet?... were bright and marvellous in the pre-dawn sky. It must be amazing to be an astronomer and have access to massive telescopes with which to scan the skies! But it wasn't just that they were there - it was that they were light and big just above the tree-line!

The weather stayed clear again today and I was harbouring hopes that the ground would dry out enough for a quick mow - but when it squelched underfoot, I knew it wasn't to be. But at least S was able to do a bunch of Washing because the sock drawer was looking a little empty.

J was just leaving as I arrived home - an early clean this week as M is due back tomorrow (everyone cheers!!). l called out to S when I couldn't locate her - and found she had been mopped into the office area when J did the floors. So, while she waited for them to dry, Pearl and I took the rubbish up to the road. Then, it was time for Pearl’s walk - where she proceeded to be less than the well-behaved dog to which we have become accustomed. I had her on the lead for going out the gate and away from Ebony's immediate vicinity and while that's usually trouble-free, today Pearl jumped and twisted around - and threw her collar! Luckily she didn't go racing into Ebony's paddock because I'm not sure how I would have separated them. Then as we walked down the lane, she ducked under a fence and into one of the horse's paddocks - looking for a tasty bit of processed grass? - when the horse politely asked her to leave and she didn't immediately. S, back at Latimers folding washing, said she noticed a horse start pig-rooting and galloping up and down its paddock, setting off the horses in the neighbouring and nearby paddocks. What she didn't see was it go for Pearl - who made it out of the paddock unscathed - and then went to nip the nose of the horse two paddocks down when it came over to the fence to suggest Pearl just keep walking past. On the way back, Pearl went under that horse's fence, through the paddocks and back to the tasty morsel. I didn't see what it was - and part of me doesn't really want to know what it was! The rest of the walk was uneventful!

S thinks Tinker is still harbouring some distrust towards her following her interventions to help me corral her for her recent Vet visits. Tink is incredibly avoidant when S tries to call her in for her dinner and shot - and last night as soon as S went anywhere near her, she scooted off the other way. She is not as wary of me it seems (even though I am the one who keeps talking roundabout with her) and she came straight in when I called her.

Monday is Trivia night and luckily N and S are back. And it showed because we came out as tied for first and after the tie-break question (at what percent is silver considered "Sterling"?) we emerged victorious. As we kept telling N and S, it has been a while between wins (or even places), so we hope now they can see they do make a solid and valuable contribution to the team - and understand why they will never be allowed to go on holidays again!

MasterChef featured an elimination challenge and we watched it when we got back from Trivia. It had gone over again and even though S had done her trick of recording the next program as well, it didn't work. When she checked it, it wasn't there. It stopped at Ben being safe, and the announcement of whether it would be Alice or Wade who would be eliminated was left hanging on the judge's lips. Thank goodness for the interweb - where we were able to see the final minutes of the program and watch Wade go on his way.

Then, since we have an early start in the morning - F is picking S up from Crestwood Zarraffas at 5:45 for their drive to Brisbane Airport to collect M - we called it a night.