Seeing as my “spider in the mailbox” was such a hit with readers of this blog, here’s another Madeley arachnid – I found this one in the laundry.

Dave took him over the road to the bush. Hopefully he a) won’t come back and b) doesn’t have any relatives in our house!

I don’t know if these are poisonous – from what I’ve read, most scorpions aren’t, particularly those in the southern parts of Australia.

Click the photo to go through to Flickr – the large version is much scarier! Dave took this one.

First, you need the appropriate amount of Australia Day Brand Little Aussie Battler Spirit ™. I found I was able to “get into the zone” with these fine $5 Aussie Ashes Tour cricket thongs. Oi Oi Oi!

Next, you need BBQ apparatus. Not being in possession of such equipment, we went to Bunnings on Thursday afternoon and purchased said kit.

Item came in three large boxes. We hummed and harred about whether the boxes would fit in the Monaro with an employee of aforementioned hardware warehouse, before deciding to go with the Australia Day Brand Little Aussie Battler Spirit ™ maxim “she’ll be right mate”. The third box had to be unpacked in the carpark and items from it pushed into various nooks and crannies of the car.

Next, the BBQ will need to be assembled. This is a Man’s Job ™. Dave elected to start this task approximately two (2) hours before scheduled commencement of barbecuing. There was much swearing and sweating: the former because the instructions were badly put together, as were some of the pieces (and Dave is a champion of Ikea furniture construction, Taiwanese computer component assemblage and Lego modelling, so he’s a good judge of instruction booklets), and the latter because it was 39 degrees and we don’t yet have air-conditioning.

After successful attachment of all pieces, the BBQ needs to be placed in an appropriate position. This task can be completed with the assistance of BBQ guests. Thanks Ben and Deb for that.

Finally, add food. Sit back with a beer and marvel at the Australian-ness of it all. If it’s 39+ degrees and there are flies buzzing around your head, all the better.

Oh, and don’t forget the flames. Always need some flames.

Continuing the saga of the spider in my mailbox… today I went out to check the mail. OK, I also went out there because I wanted to check on the spider. I’m fascinated and repulsed at the same time. She’ll have to go, but I’m getting quite attached to her.

Oh boy, today she’s caught herself a bite to eat. Another “little” spider. One about four times her size. I can’t tell what kind of spider the dead one is, it vaguely looks like some kind of black house spider. Thick legs.

The postie has been and there’s letters in there now, but no way am I putting my hand in there to get them out.

They look like bills anyway. Maybe if I get some tongs or something…

If you would like to be super-creeped-out, check out the super-large version on Flickr.

When I checked the snail mail today, I found a few snails but also this little red dude. I don’t know what species he/she is, but that’s some impressive striping. I spent a good 15 minutes trying to get a good photo, before realising I didn’t have a memory card in the camera. But I really wanted the shot so I went back and did it all again. Discovered the difference between the different metering modes while I was at it

Anyone know what kind of spider I have here?

Update: The spider-in-my-mailbox saga continues

Tying into Photo Project Day 16: here’s a gum tree.

Yes that right kids. I’m not much of a green thumb at all. It’s a miracle the pavers around the house haven’t shrivelled up and died. But we’re about to finally “do the garden”. This is a task that involves getting someone in to pave most of it, then strategic placement of some native plants that are difficult/impossible to kill and require very little water. See, I’m environmentally responsible too!

So back to this gum tree. It has decided to grow itself in a seriously stupid place down the side of the house. It can’t stay there much longer – it’s going to end up taking down the neighbour’s fence, among other things. But I’m a big fan of trees in general and gum trees in particular, there are no tall trees in gardens around our area and this one has four year’s growth up on anything we plant, so we figure we’ll try moving it to the front of the house.

Summoning the collective strength and bizarre mix of expertise that is the internet, I ask the question of my fellow Australian gardeners: do you think transplanting a tree of this size will work? Any tips to enhance our chances?

Secondly, it has a lot of healthy green new leaves, but also a lot with this scabby stuff on it. Here, let me show you:

Does anyone know what this is? Is it bad?

Technically, it’s just slipped past midnight, but this is actually Photo Project Day 13 (Saturday). We just got back from our nightly prowl around the suburbs. This is the front of the house. It looks stark and lonely at the moment.

But my plant is still alive.

At a grand each though, they’re a little pricey – and of course you’d need a pair at least.

So why was I out taking photos of over-sized garden gnomes? We’ve been looking around at concrete pavers for the back wastelands. Hopefully we can order them next week and within three or four weeks have the whole job done. A back garden, what a crazy concept!

Day 2: The Wastelands

This is the current state of the back garden, all 4 glorious metres of it. With some luck, in just a couple of weeks it will be a lovely sea of paving. I may even whack in a couple of pot plants.

Ha ha – pretty boring hey! I bet none of you will be back for day 3!  Suckers!