Phill and I returned home yesterday morning (Australia Day, how appropriate) at 4am. We were originally due to land at 11pm Monday night, but our plane was delayed two hours due to late arrival, which meant we landed at about 1:15am. Getting through customs in Australia was a huge process, taking about an hour (don’t get me started on their system which involves everyone declaring things to line up in one huge queue to get their bags searched by customs officers) and then we had about another hour and a half driving home. We were so tired we simply stumbed into bed … and I awoke at 7:30am with Puddy wrapped around my leg.

So where were we?

Bali!

I’d never been to Bali before but Phill has been many times growing up, so he loved seeing things that brought back memories. We did lots of shopping and bartering and of course, visited some of the local pubs to watch the cricket with a nice cold Bintang. We rode elephants (they are surprisingly uncomfortable!) and went on a Bali Hai cruise (I couldn’t stop humming the song the whole time) and did a lot of relaxing and swimming.

We are still pretty tired and today begins the process of a million loads of laundry, mowing the overgrown lawn, catching up on bills and credit card payments, cleaning the house and, of course, entertaining Puddy who is now outside and hasn’t seemed to have missed us at all! She followed us around last night because we’d come home in the early hours of the morning, then left again for an Australia Day BBQ at the beach with our friends, so perhaps she was worried we would disappear again if she let us out of her sight!

Anyway, I have a lot of housework to do before heading into work, but I thought I’d jump on and say hi.

I’ll give you some hints:

1. It involved a plane trip, but didn’t take as long as our trip to England.
2. I’ve seen monkeys and puffer fish, and tomorrow I’m going to see (and have a ride on) elephants.
3. I’ve been trying my hand at bartering… but I’m not very good!
4. Everything is so cheap, not like when we went to Japan in January 2009, so I am trying to buy lots of things!
5. The salesmen are very eager and sometimes get annoying, but it’s definitely an experience!

Any guesses?

Puddy is being housesat at our home by my brother, since I think she would prefer to be in familiar surroundings. I’m missing her heaps, especially missing her curling up with us at night, but it won’t be too long before we are back again.

So that is why it’s pretty quiet around here! I thought I would just pop on while I had Internet access and say G’day..

Cats are strange creatures. They like to sleep in strange positions that look really uncomfortable to us. One of Puddy’s favourite places to sleep is on our (messy, unmade) bed, with her backside hanging off. Evidence:

Notice where the matress ends? I can’t believe that would be comfortable, but she’s a cat, so it must be. She was so comfortable in fact, that she didn’t even stir when I took the photo, except for glaring at me a little. I’m pretty sure her backside is actually resting against the metal end of the bed, which would also add to the whole uncomfortable thing, right?

Has your cat (or dog or child!) have a funny sleeping place or pose?

True story.

I was pulling into the driveway a couple days ago when I saw a dead crow lying on the front lawn. It was buzzing with flies and looked disgusting. Huh. A dead crow. I didn’t really care – the crows drive me nuts in the mornings with their incessant cawing, so one less was a good thing. I briefly wondered if Puddy might have killed it, then rolled my eyes at my stupid optimism – my cat can’t catch anything bigger than a cockroach or a lizard. The birds have started sitting on the wall, screeching at Puddy while she crouches hopelessly in the grass, barking up at them. It’s tragic.

I went inside and informed Phill of the body on the lawn and asked him if Puddy was outside. He said no, but she had been out earlier. I said maybe Puddy had killed it and he just gave me a look as if I was stupid.

The crow stayed there for a day. I wasn’t touching it. I figured I’d force Phill to put it in the wheelie bin on the morning of bin day, so it would be taken away quickly. I assume dead crow in a hot wheelie bin would equal a very bad smell. I felt a bit awkward knowing everyone could see our dead crow because it’s not the most pleasant sight (bad omen anyone?) but there was no way on earth I would be touching it.

The night before the bin man was due to come, I wheeled the bins out to the curb, stepping carefully to avoid the carcass. It was so dark I couldn’t even see the crow. No, wait … it was gone.

Someone stole my dead crow.

There was absolutely no sign of it anywhere. It hadn’t been kicked into the bush or dragged away by Puddy since I hadn’t let her outside for fear that she’d start eating it or something and heaven knows what sort of disease it’s carrying. The only evidence at the scene was a small, leafy branch that had been pulled off the bush.

I have two theories:

1. The crows ate it. Crows are gross birds and I assume they wouldn’t think twice about munching down on one of their own.

2. A human ate took it. Maybe the kids down the road wanted to play with it, or someone was so sick of looking at it they took it away? Maybe they used the branch to push the body into a box?

I’m not fussed. In fact, I’m thrilled (and so was Phill). It meant we didn’t have to deal with it. It was a big crow and I was really not looking forward to having to dispose of the body. I never found out how it died and I never found out where it went, but all I know is it’s gone and the cat is allowed outside again.