Fishing Kyeemagh - Botany Bay

I've not been fishing for about 15 years so I couldnt' wait. Getting around to the fishing spots in Sydney is a bit tricky at Christmas time so I choose to ride my bike. It also meant that if I didn't like one spot I could move on much more easily.

There are quite a few snags at Kyeemagh and there was a good strong southerly which made casting difficult. But I caught a little snapper, unfortuantley too small to keep. Will be back in a few days to have another go.

Food for cats

My new pussy cat, Franc arrived on 5 December. Unfortunately, Amy is no longer with us, after 13 year she passed away on 23 November. My very loved little girl.

I want Franc to be fit and healthy, I suspect diet was behind Amy's liver problems. Cats are particularly vulnerable if not fed a good diet, not too much fat and carbs, good quality protein and the correct calories every day.

Whiskers is the main canned cat food in Australia, 80% of cats get fed this brand. It contains artificial colours and flavours and wonder if there is something better.

I found that the premium supermarket brands are worse, containing ingredients cats simply don’t need. Cats are meat eaters, their bodies are not designed to eat grains or vegetables. The veges are there to make me feel that I'm giving him/her a healthy dinner.

Franc is a big boy, just over 6kg of confirmed muscle. His body feels firm, I can feel his ribs slightly and has strong back legs.

He’s currently eating Science Diet kibble, Whiskers chicken gravy and my home steamed chicken. He’s a bit lazy and doesn’t like chewing, he's probably swallowing it whole. I will conquer his kibble addiction, he will eat more cooked chicken and a good canned food. I don't feel bad about canned Whiskers, its a matter of reading labels.

Also kibble/dried cat foods can contain lots of carbs and fat as well as fillers, corn derivatives and not enough good quality meat based protein.

I want to keep him fit and healthy as possible and also like doing things for him.

Tomatoes

After all the fuss and failures of previous years I've just bunged them into large pots(deep to the first leaves) and they've grown beautifully.

Basically do nothing special but find the biggest pot possible and provide lots of light. I fertilise with Charlie Carp and worm wee each week. They seem a bit slow in ripening, that still bugs me. I'll put some extra potash on next weekend. They've been a bit crowded in by other tomatoes so will spread them out so light can get to the fruit.

My first tomato vine had tomato spot which is a virus, the plant should have been destroyed. I'll get rid of it next weekend. I have three seedlings and another in a small pot, flowers are dropping so stressed. These will be all potted on next weekend. We've been so poor lately due to vet bills.

We are having an excellant season, not so many bugs around, every thing looks healthier.

Welcome Frank

His full name is Francois and he is a completely beautiful cuddly boy. He's my new garden companion. I miss Amy desperately, I love her so much and think of her everyday. I feel that I now have three cats, Holly, Amy and Frank. But every garden must have a cat and we now have Franc. He's got a bit of a fetish for paper.


There will be lots of photos here soon as Frank discovers his new home and garden.

My planter box was stolen

Very much to my annoyance when I got up to go for my walk this morning, my planter box had been stolen. They must of been determined as it was almost 2 metres long and 1 metre wide, about 80 cm high.

I was angry with myself as it was almost complete and had promised myself to finish it for Christmas. I was looking forward to planting herbs and other plants that Amy liked to sniff.