Toto Poll

Just added - Toto Poll (see right).

Don't forget to vote!

Toto

Allow me to introduce Toto (to be more precise, Totô), the newest member of the household. Having been abandoned by our erstwhile neighbours when they moved to another part of Manaus, Toto sat patiently on a heap of sand outside their house for days on end. Taking pity, Naice decided to give him some food…and the rest is history. I am still fighting a rearguard action and won’t allow him inside our gate, but as you can see he now has his own house (painted and weatherproofed by yours truly), gets fed twice a day and likes to take his walk with Ozzie every morning and evening.

So what do you say - should I admit defeat and let him in, or should he stay outside in his own house? I think I'll add a poll to the blog (if I can figure out how to do it), and count the votes after a couple of weeks...

Feliz Natal

First of all, Naice and I would like to wish a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to one and all. Thanks for visiting the blog and I hope you’ll keep reading in 2009.

Now, as promised, here’s the picture of a fine example of the world’s largest beetle, titanus giganteus, photographed in our garden in December. The beetle measured just over 8 inches including its feelers, and reputedly it can break a pencil in half with its jaws (why it would want to do this is beyond me, but there we are). It even flies. We were suitably impressed.

There are also a few other photos here snapped at odd occasions over the last couple of months: an unidentified creepy crawly (answers on a postcard please…); a nice lizard snapped with the camera an hour or so before it was really snapped by Kelly; a young sloth that deigned to visit last week and hang around above our chapeu de palha for a few days; and a little tree frog who appeared next to the house.