Okay, so maybe we don’t really have a menagerie or such at home just yet, we are kept more than busy enough thanks to our two lively little kittens and the shoal of fish inhabiting our currently thriving fish tank.
Actually, on the fish front, I must report that our tank could not look any happier than what it currently is. Long forgotten are those horrible vase tank attempt days and now that we have a proper tank to house our fishies, everything has become basically maintenance free. The three rapidly growing plants are threatening to take over the whole tank if we go away for a weekend, but I kind of like the way the fish, especially the two little Chinese algae eaters, love the great big green leaves.
One of the older Black Moors died a little while ago, making him our first casualty in weeks, but we have since replaced him with one beautiful Siamese fighter and two speckled goldfish, all refugees from the old Gordon’s Beach Lodge fish tank which Chantelle was finally ordered to get rid of after the conditions in tank went south and the fish bottom up with it. It turns out that when Chantelle isn’t at work, then no one bothers with the tank, meaning that her recent three week holiday was more than enough to kill it off for good.
(It also now seems that we are going to have some competition as to who has the best fish tank, particularly now that Monty has taken possession of the old guest house tank – at least we stole the fish out of it first!)
Slow swimming Oupa (as Chantelle likes calling it), the Siamese fighter fish, has taken to his new environment like a fish to water so to speak, although he WAS a little shy at first, hiding behind the filter for most of Day 1. Funnily enough, he is a quite a bit smaller than our existing goldfish and even the plecostomus is a lot bigger than him – maybe that’s why he has livened up so much since moving in from the old tank! The two speckled goldfish are also doing quite well (we tried to save a third one but he was too far gone to make it), although they have a lot of catching up to do in terms of size if they want to match up with their new brothers.
As for Coco and Olympus, the two little playful buggers are growing up at a rapid pace. The only problem of course is that the bigger they get, the higher places they can reach – meaning the naughty things that they can get up to increases tenfold! We are making them spend more and more time outside as well, but with all the other cats and dogs around the complex, these outside stays are seldom for too long and the minute we step inside they follow us in any way! Actually, it doesn’t matter where you are in the house now, a kitten is guaranteed to be right behind you! Nowadays we have to resort to trickery, food bribing and throwing them into rooms just so that we can get out of the house or sit down and eat our food without them following us about!
Still, despite all their playful naughtiness, there is nothing better than coming home and opening the door to find two cute as a button, purr machines waiting for you (or for food – one can never tell) to welcome you back into the house.
We’ve also finally changed their litter from the normal grit type to the fine sand type, in the hopes that it will make them more open to the idea of doing their business in the flower beds around the flat. A great idea in concept, but not so great in practice. Thanks to our two ‘digger’ cats, our tiled floor now looks more of a sandy beach than anything else!
Shame, but we did have a quite good laugh at Olympus’ on Saturday night. Chantelle was in bed early already thanks to this horrible cold that she is currently fighting and I was holed up in the ‘man-room’ busy working on my website when all of a sudden there was a great big splash. My door opened and a laughing Chantelle strode in, carrying a rather wet and bedraggled kitten in one hand.
It would seem that to leave a toilet seat up in the middle of the night may not be the best idea after all! :)