An unexpected visit from Mr Krab

So, I'm home alone on a Saturday afternoon having just made a spectacular batch of apple fritters, when I hear a scratching noise.  Thinking that something fell, I ignored it the first time. And the second time. But after a while I realised something was not right.

Someone lurking in my house? I was about to find out. Armed with the fork I was using to eat my fritters, I went out to investigate. The scratching noise was coming from behind the lounge door.  I quickly looked behind it, not sure what I was expecting to find. A crab was the last thing I would have thought. But that is what it was.

Not the best photo - this one was taken on my phone. But here he is lurking in the corner.

After a panicked phonecall to my boyfriend and some moral support from my friends who I immediately messaged, I armed myself with a wooden spoon, an oven mitt and a tuppaware. The phrase "its more scared of you than you are of it"* came to mind as he put up its pincers in a defensive pose and tried to scurry away. But I got him into the tuppaware. I'm not going to lie though, I screamed like a little girl more than once.

Check out that defensive pose.

So after deciding he was too small to turn into a meal**, I threw him over the fence hoping he would be happier near the river and leave me alone .

Gosh ... my nerves were shot after that.  I decided to calm myself and paint my nails.  So, here I am sitting on the couch with my nails drying and messaging my brother the whole crazy story. When suddenly I hear a noise against the tin I keep my nail polish in. "Haha ...", I think to myself, "Now, I'm totally paranoid". Only I look down and the crab is looking up at me. 

Yes. I did scream like a little girl again.

I mean, what the heck. I can understand it accidentally crawling into my house once. But twice? That's some crazy crab.

So, I load Mr Krab*** back into the tuppaware. But suddenly my fear took a hold of me and I just kind of stared at him for the longest time wondering what I was going to do now.  And let me just say that crabs do make a noise. A kind of freaky clicking sound.

Mr Krab giving me the evil eye

Check out those pincers.

So this time I decided I am throwing him straight into the river. Only when I got to the fence, I realised that even on my best day, I would not be brave enough or precise enough to manage to throw him high enough to clear the barb wire and land in the river.  Plan B, I managed to drop him over the wall into the field.  I ran inside and closed all the doors.  He is not getting in here a third time.

The moral of the story is that even with all my manic screaming, my neighbours were not concerned enough to see if I was okay.

Well, I am definitely not getting any sleep tonight.  I can still hear the clicking noise he was making replaying in my mind.

A quick internet search leads me to believe that Mr Krab is a Brown Freshwater Crab.  I found a story of a woman who found one in her swimming pool after very heavy rains, even though she lives a kilometer from a river and behind a wall.  These little things are tricky fellows.

Is it just me, or does he look a bit cute in this picture.

* I don't think that's necessarily true. I was pretty scared. And screamed like a little girl. And hyperventilated a little bit.

**Don't worry, I wasn't really contemplating eating it.  I could never eat anything that looked up at me with those big eyes.

***Naming the crab is my brothers birthday present (its his birthday today). You're welcome Stewart, I know its the best birthday present ever.

Surviving Winter, Enjoying Spring

Winter seems finally on its way out and Spring seems to have arrived.  This winter has been long and cold and wet, the worst winter that I can remember. But I say that every year. So either winter is getting worse every year or I just have a terrible memory.

Winter 2013 was made bearable by some of my favourite winter things:

1: My Travel Mug and Jennifer Mug: they keep my tea warmer for longer, and my travel mug has been especially useful in keeping my hands warm in the morning on the way to work. Although I guess gloves would have had the same effect.

2. My hand painted gumboots (painted by yours truly and seen here in my garden which is severely overgrown after all the rain this winter). Although they are NOT warm, I always get to work with dry feet and I am pretty sure the worst thing in the world is having wet socks the whole day.  I wouldn't know, cos my boots always keep me dry.  I do have to carry a change of shoes for the office though, which can be a bit annoying, but its a small price to pay.

3. My Bio-Fuel fireplace.  Okay, its looks a bit unruly here, but there is nothing like a little fireplace to make you feel instantly warm and cosy.

And Spring brings some of nature's own awesomess:

This cute little duck family I have been watching grow - this photo was taken a few weeks ago and I am pleased to report that all 6 ducklings survived the winter rains and are growing up so fast.

Spring also brings with it flowers that come up in the most unexpected places sometimes. Although this also brings with it hay fever and sinus problems for me, seeing this jasmine flower on the barb wire fence at the end of my garden has really filled me with hope.