Handling your naughty pet.

That naughty pet for my wife and I happens to be a Rottweiler afflicted with ADD (attention deficit disorder) and hyper-activity thrown in for good measure. It all began when my daughter acquired two kittens, followed by the arrival two weeks later of our Rotty pup, Baxter. Soon Baxter realized that he had a size advantage over the kittens and followed his instinct to chase and tease the kittens relentlessly, causing my wife and daughter to react with squealing panic. Baxter loved the resultant confusion, understanding it to be encouragement.

My cure for the situation, as proposed by some experts, was to ignore the situation. The animals would sort themselves out. The pup had teeth but the kittens had claws with which they were very fast on the draw. The thing to do to defuse such a situation is to turn your back and leave the room. With the attention gone, the pup will more than likely lose interest and follow.

My wife has a habit of having her evening meal in the lounge while watching her favourite soapy. Baxter loves this and makes it clear that he should have what is on her plate. Her raised voice and waving hands again serve as encouragement. He is an animal and reacts as such. He does not understand plain English.

The answer is a mild reaction to most situations and to keep a level headed disposition. I have practiced this and to a large part Baxter never bothers me. If he tries it with me I turn my head or walk away, and it works. My wife is almost always the target as it is not in her nature to give a cool reaction.

The secret is to under-react, not over-react resulting in a calmer household, where you will not feel as if you are ‘living with an alien’, a book by Pam Whyte.

BBC News - Police investigate Habbo Hotel virtual furniture theft

BBC News - Police investigate Habbo Hotel virtual furniture theft

How can people get serious about stuff that does not exist, not to mention the money wasted? It is beyond me.

Maybe the answer lies somewhere in the 'ego', or the lack of it!

Facebook | Casey James (American Idol)

Facebook | Casey James (American Idol)

Olde architecture

Many of us pass this area without giving it a second thought, a long time survivor in Port Elizabeth. One wonders for how long this solitary building in the area will remain, a footnote to the South End of long ago.

Presently change is ongoing in the city, driven by the need to house an ever growing population. At the moment this area is uncertain about which way to go, represented as it is with dwellings like this and light industry just half a kilometer further on, actually less than that.

It is interesting to ponder the ultimate direction of the area, especially with the Baakens river not far away, which is occasionally prone to extensive flooding. Do you remember 1968?

Before Hoopoe in the kitchen

It all began when my wife and I heard shuffling in the under-drawing. We thought the starlings had rediscovered a nesting location. My first move was to block their entry point with wire netting. I remembered the previous residency of breeding starlings when at one stage it seemed almost to rain lice. We were not keen on the same again.

Using a ladder I peered through the trap-door in the bathroom ceiling and there to the left, about three meters away was this hoopoe looking right at me with what seemed like no fear at all. I asked my wife to pass up my camera and was lucky enough to get a number of satisfactory shots. What amazed me was the apparent lack of fear on the hoopoe's part, not even a wing flap. I then returned outside and removed the netting.

My plan was to discourage the bird from taking up residency and building a nest with its mate, so I left the electric lamp up there, hoping it would perform the duty of a scarecrow. Needless to say the ploy did not work. I then decided to leave be and allow nature to take its course.

The following few weeks proved to be a busy time for the birds. I suspect it was the male we saw regularly swooping past the kitchen window with a worm in beak, food for the female who was incubating the clutch. The sight was a rare treat. I am sure that they shared incubation duty, although on this I could be incorrect. Soon the new chick or chicks made their presence known with insistent high pitched chirping that really made feeding time a demanding chore for the parents. The frequency of colour swooping passed the kitchen window increased with the need to keep the food chain moving, relieving the tedium of my dish washing chore as I gazed through the kitchen window.

After roughly twenty nine days the activity ceased. Another happy task completed by nature.

That was not quite the end of it though. We were to meet one of the hoopoes fairly soon, but that is another story.

Hoopoe in the kitchen

I was lucky enough to find this hoopoe in our kitchen. It had gained entry through a small hole in the ceiling. I ushered the dogs out of the kitchen and grabbed my camera. A real opportunity!

I think this is the chick of the pair that had been nesting in the ceiling. It all started when we began hearing noises in the under-drawing. I blocked the entry gap in the tiles and went up to investigate, and there was this hoopoe, not starlings as I had thought. I remove the blockage so as to allow freedom of movement. We were obviously thrilled with our new tenants. It was a real pleasure to see the parents busy back and forth at feeding time, which seemed to be all the time.

After that things seemed to quieten down and we thought the birds had left the nest, until this morning when I heard the shuffling in the ceiling. As it turned out, most fortunate, as it resulted in my getting the luckiest shot of all.

I thought that this kind of thing only happened to other people!

Fish dish.

Fish dish.

Main ingredients.

2 tins light meat tuna.
A tin of denny mushroom soup.
The larger packet of crisps, any flavour of your choice, I tend to stay away from cheese flavour, or any other that may be overpowering.
3 level teaspoons of English mustard powder should go into the roux making the white sauce.

Make the sauce
Drain then add the tuna
Add the tin of soup
Add most of the crushed chips
Pour mixture into baking dish
Sprinkle the surface with balance of crushed chips.

Bake at 170 for 25 minutes

Allow to stand for 5 minutes

Then serve with leafy salad

Optional: Fresh fruit and cream for dessert