Chocolate and Turtle tanning

Daile decided to get out the advent calendars this year, the ones that we brought from the UK. One is from Mum, and has pockets for sweets, and the other is a thing that requires chocolate moulds to be filled and the results go into little numbered plastic foil bags. Only thing was that neither of us really gave the problem of heat any thought until it came to deciding where to hang them. We realised that they would very soon be little puddles of chocolate in the bottom of the bags... and we couldn't think of anywhere that we could put them where that wouldn't happen. Our house is pretty hot, especially at the top, where Daile and I sleep. Even the bottom is hot, though there could be as much as 5 degrees in it.

We realised that we'd have to keep them in a fridge, not exactly festive, but in the end,, we put them in the fridge in my workshop. Normally this is my beer fridge, but hey, y'know, I love the little blighters and thought that perhaps I'd share it on this occasion! (Especially as there's no beer in it right now!).

So, I duly strung out the little tartan ribbons that hold the bags up, having first taken out the door furniture and given it a wipe down. This is what they looked like; I was actually really pleased with it, as were the girls!





The day after we got back from Melbourne we picked up the class turtle from Matilda's class. We'd been asked if we'd like to have her, because I'd expressed an interest in building her a larger tank at the beginning of term. Since no budget was forthcoming and the glass alone would have been circa $200, it didn't happen. Never-the-less, I'd obviously acquired the label 'sucker' in the process and so when they asked me, I just HAD to say yes! The girls were thrilled... and all Matilda's class mates were either jealous or just sad to see her go. Trouble was that at 8 years old, she was just too big to keep in the class tank any more.

This pet acquisition is like a creeping ivy, it just sort of happens whilst you weren't paying attention and before you know it you're committed to another being's welfare!

'Squirtle' is enjoying 'retirement' according to Mrs George and Mrs Day, two of Matilda's teachers, and we've been getting her out of the tank, something that hardly happened at all before. As a result, her shell is beginning to dry out, and flake away, a healthy sign I'm told. She LOVES sitting in the sun!



Here she is in the back of the Ute. I was trying to work and she kept trying to go down the garden and across the road! Jack the cat is trying to show her how to get out... but she's not got the hang of it yet!



Here's a picture of her proud owner!