The fireplace

Winter is arriving soon. Our usual method of keeping the house at a comfortable temperature is, in Summer we keep all the doors and windows open to keep cool and in Winter we close them all and wrap up in a blanket .We only have a few days of cold, thankfully. For the last couple of years we have been thinking of getting a fireplace. As our house is a timber frame design, putting a brick fireplace in would have been a big project. The alternative was to get a metal free-standing one, but the prices in the hardware shops I felt where a little high, so was backed off from buying one. The other day we went into Builders Warehouse to get some paint and to our delight we saw they were selling off the old stock for half the price and there they had a fireplace which was exactly what we wanted. So I bought some face bricks and Tam started to build the base. The table in the front, Tam made for Brionys' 60th birthday, which was a couple of weeks ago. She made it out of scaffolding planks that we had laying around. Here below is the finished product. The temperature outside was 30 C so it was nice and warm inside , we will wait patiently for a cold day. In the meantime we have been collecting firewood from around the property.

Tam also made me a clock with our family crest on which I think is absolutely brilliant.

Beetles and Bugs

Here are another couple of pics of creatures that visit us.
The tiles that it is walking on are about 10 inches square (25cm).
It has a pattern as if it had been painted on.

Below is a month with very similiar markings.
I don't think they are related.

These grasshoppers arrive when the rainy season starts,
there are clumps of them all over the place they move enmasse
and the birds don't eat them so they are obviously not very palatible.


A couple of mating millipedes which come out with the rain.
We call them chongololo's. Which is an African name.



A stick insect which appears every now and then.
We put the apple there to give the size comparison.
We have had slightly larger ones.

Here is a wasp carrying a spider quite a few sizes bigger than itself.
It is a bit cruel, The wasp stings the spider, but the spider does not die
it is paralysied and the wasp then lays its eggs in the spider and when they
hatch feed off the spider.

A monster looking beetle.

This is a bag worm which builds a cocoon on the

side of a tree.

This is a spider which is alive and related to the one that

had been caught by the wasp.

A mythical looking grasshopper which looks

half unicorn.

A centipede hiding in the corner it is about

6 inches long(15cm).

This strange looking creature lurking under the rock is

actually a fungi the tentacles are about 8 inches(20cm)

long. When we first saw it we thought we had been invaded

from outer space.

I am always amazed at the variety of insect there are.

Over the years I have seen some very strange creatures.

The Residents

A frog on a lemon


A chameleon trying to hide



A gecko looking for some bugs

A lazy lizard

What you looking at ?

A Mozambique Cobra which was caught by the dogs luckily they were't bitten that time. Not so fortunate the second time. Told in a previous blog.

Can you see me now??

Well I'll be off , don't bother me.

Inside the cave at the back of the house.

Who is hiding in there??

A swallows nest.

Roots of a fig tree growing on the top of the kopje (hilllock) above the cave.

Random Pictures

Here is a chicken wondering what I am doing. I tried to make it smile but I think she had food on her mind.

A couple of great explorers Scabilabs on the left and Telly on the right. They make the main chicken frustrated as they keep on scratching up her newly planted seedlings.

Mother chicken followed by another chicken with Fos on guard.

One of our secretive Duikers who is very elusive and it is a treat to see them appear every now and again.

A Natal Robin looking for some grubs. We have plenty of bird life here but don't have a decent enough camera for long shots.

A baboon surveying his domain on the rock behind the house.

A flooded Crocodile river. Which is just down the road from us.

A rainbow after a rain shower. I am still looking for the pot of gold as some of the rainbows end at the bottom of the garden. It is rumoured that Paul Kruger in the time of the Boer War buried gold in our vicinity.

A stormy sky which often means we end up with no electricity for a while with all the lightening bolts that ensue.

A couple of fledglings which you will be pleased to know reached maturity and flew the nest.

A couple of homo sapiens having a siesta on the stoep. The one on the right looks a bit suspect.

Well there is a peek into my life.

Fos the miracle dog.

Fos the miracle dog.


We had a incident on the property the other day, were Fos was caught in a snare.
This is the second time that it has happened. The first time he was up in the hills and he was able to bark as the snare had caught him around his midriff. He had been in the snare for about two hours before we rescued him. He was then bitten by a snake, his sister died in the same incident, and it was only through the vet and anti snake bite serum that he miraculously recovered. Unfortunately we found his sister too late.
This day, as was the day of the previous crisis's, was quite normal. I was cutting grass with the brush-cutter. Expecting no dramas.



What happen next was what one would normally see on the Discovery Channel on Animal Miracles. Desi who is only just becoming bush wise and is a little worried around the machine when I am cutting the grass, started to get in my way. She seemed to be trying to stop me and, even with all my choice expletives, she kept on hindering me . This went on for about an hour when I decided to break for lunch.

On returning to the house I just assumed that Fos had returned earlier as they sometimes do and in passing said “is Fos here?” We looked around for him and could not find him. I suddenly registered the reason for Desi's behaviour and realised he was still in the bush. Tam, Desi and I went to look for him.

Desi went runing into the bush, whereas she is normally a lot more cautious. Tam and I were discussing going to look down at the stream as we had no idea where to start. However, Desi was heading in a different direction and kept looking back to make sure that we were following.

We decided to follow her.

She led us into a thicket off the track and gave a big woof. Then we peered through the thicket and saw Fos lying very still, the snare had tightened round his neck so that he couldn't bark. We thought he was dead at first but when we saw his tail wag, we all rushed forward with great jubilation.

Fortunately the snare was made of steel cable so when he stopped struggling the knot released and he was able to breath but he must have been caught for well over an hour.

As you can see, if Desi hadn't have led us to Fos we would have never have found him. Desi certainly raised her status in the pack and has become a fully fledged member. The affinity between the two has increased and whenever we go on our walkabouts Desi is always keeping an eye out for Fos. He still disappears into the bush as he is a curios little fellow but we always make sure of where he is. Desi, although she goes with him, tends to like to stay with us and watch.
The photos were re-enacted. Tam even put her CSI shirt on but the event was real. Where is one's camera when you want it?

Here is the snare that caught Fos. I also found the culprit who had put it there. He sincerely apologised, as he is fond of Fos, and said he would never do it again. Maybe.