Strayla

I’m grateful to my new blog proof reader (thanks Marilyn) who has [yet to] volunteered to check my posts.  Jan has lost interest since we left Waiouru and I’m rather lazy when it comes to spelling, grammar and punctuations.   I remember writing a essay only to have a member of the staff give me two A4 sheets covered in rows of commas along with instructions to insert them where appropriate.  So it’s Stralya rather than Stralia

One of our readers asked about Stralyan spiders and after searching Jan found the following poster.

Of course this is just a small sample.  Jan doesn’t spray them with the insect aerosol… she drowns them!  She has a particular dislike of the Huntsman.  I suppose it’s the eight eyes following you!  It would probably be better to not kill the Huntsman as it dines on flies, cockroaches and small lizards.  However you do need to be careful about the female Huntsman which is quite aggressive when carrying her young and will give you a venomous bite.  

When we last lived in Perth two decades ago flies were a big problem; mostly because our suburb had market gardens on its northern outskirt.  Animal dung and compost heaps were the problem.  Two things have happened in our absence.  The market gardens are now residential housing estates and the introduction of the dung beetle removed much of the animal waste issue.  It wasn’t until I backpacked through Egypt that I realised the ancient Egyptians revered the dung beetle as a god.  I’d probably do the same if it totally eliminated the flies.

So while Jan chases down and exterminates spiders I’ve been re-examining the Dyson vacuum cleaner.  I’ve now discovered two additional filters whilst the third (foam) filter has perished in storage and crumbles when touched.  Unfortunately Dyson stopped supporting our model in 2015 and no longer carries spare parts.  However eBay has come to our rescue and I was able to order a replacement set of filters for $40.

It’s 37C today so all outdoor work has been cancelled whilst we wait for the arrival of the cooler temperatures and rain from Cyclone Joyce which is battering the State further north.

Oh, Jan’s new fridge was delivered yesterday. The courier driver wouldn’t bring it into the house claiming he wasn’t allowed to do this in case it was damaged.  I suspect it was more a case of he was running late with his deliveries.  However we managed to squeeze it through the back door using my brother-in-law’s sack trolley.