Manners maketh man..tids

There’s no stopping me now! Blogger’s diarrhoea I like to call it, however distasteful that may sound.

I was feeding my two mantids today with some juicy flies.

“So?” I hear you ask.

Truth is, I have found a secret cache of them at the top of the garden near the compost bins. The place is positively swarming with the critters, so, armed with a jam-jar in each hand (one recently vacated by a very delicious, locally-produced, apple jelly and the other recently emptied of, presumably, strawberry jam – by the look of the very decorative top, covered, not-so-very-discreetly, with very large pictures of the plump red fruit), I patrolled the area several times, and honed my jam-jar, fly-catching skills for well on half-an-hour. Mr. Miggins (the Vietnamese mantis) made it perfectly clear that he is not at all pining for the late Mrs. Miggins, by swiftly catching and digesting a nice plump greenbottle dropped into his Jungle Jar for his delectation. This may not be of any great surprise to anyone who has ever, or still does, keep mantids. However, the fact that whilst doing this, with swift, almost arrogant, ease he caught another large specimen with his other arm, and held it in reserve whilst chomping on his first victim may. I thought it was pretty impressive – if not a little greedy - and never saw my dear Matilda do such a thing. But then, she was female and, therefore, perhaps had better manners!

What else has been going on in CFZdom today? Not too much, considering it is Sunday, but Richard and I have been doing some more work on the crypto book. Jon, bless him, has been feeling ‘under the weather’ today so we did not carry on with work on the new Exotic Pets magazine as we had intended so to do. However, the articles have all been written and laid out, and we are now in the throes of proofing and tweaking to make sure all is as it should be.

Mentioning locally-produced apple jelly reminds me that I did not tell you about the foray into the North Devon Food Fair, held at nearby Atlantic Village, towards the end of last month. There is not much to tell really, apart from responding to the sharp intakes of breath that may pass through many of this blog's readers at the very idea of taking Jon, Richard and Oll to such an event. As has been well documented, by Jon himself, practising anorexics they are not and letting the The Three Caballeros loose in such a place may not have been the wisest choice ever made!

However, it was not as bad as it could well have been. Yes, all four of us came back with armfuls of deliciousness such as chutneys, sausages, cheeses, breads, sweets, rhubarb juice, and even a couple of plants. Apparently, though, nowhere near as bad as Jon and Richard's past visits to such events in Exeter where they proved Robert Heinlein wrong because, as far as they were concerned, there is such a thing as a free lunch. Anyway, that aside, I am all for the practice of supporting local businesses in these days of the giants and can report that every one of the purchases we have tried so far has been absolutely wonderful.

Guess we shall be heading the same time next year?