Minutiae

1. My small but feisty Cavalier King Charles spaniel last night went out to attend to some needs and started barking furiously. On the fence was a large brown owl, bigger than her. She wasn't having any nonsense though and kept creeping forward while the owl tried to stare her down. It decided the odds were too much when it realised we had come out too and lazily flapped off. Dog was as highly impressed with herself as she is when she deals with her mortal enemies, the ravens. I suspect the owl was one of the tawny frogmouths that nest a few streets away. We often hear their mournful 'morepork' cry.

2. Pisces has recently had a pterygium removed from his eye and is suffering post operative discomfort, not the least of which is the antibiotic ointment which has to be applied four times a day. He has long eyelashes - which were inherited by Sagittarius much to Virgo's annoyance. She got my much less lush version and considers it most unfair that the males of the family have the better lashes - and actually getting the ointment in contact with the eye is, to put it mildly, challenging. We are not having fun!

3. We are still pursuing the elusive leak in our front wall and still have bare concrete floors because we can't lay the new flooring until it's been dealt with. Given our overnight temperatures have been down to 2.5 degrees Centigrade again - we are not having fun.