Joe Byrne, bless him, decided this morning that a perfectly good place to go to the toilet would be just under my feet towards the wall. I heard some little cries, Amaretto came running under my desk and I had a look and there was Joe Byrne. At first I couldn't see what the problem was because he is Black, Retto is Chocolate and it's relatively dark under the desk. I got off my chair went under there and saw what the problem was. Joe Byrne was in the middle of doing a poo and this particular motion required all of his concentration. Fortunately, I managed to get him out from under the desk, plonked him in the litter tray where he started scratching around and then finally finished his business. Now if that wasn't bad enough, I changed the litter tray this morning but I made the mistake of doing this while the babies were awake and playing. Now even though the small litter tray was still in the room, I've come back in after washing the tray to find Ned Kelly had a keen interest in the floor where the tray had been sitting. Upon further inspection I realised that Ned Kelly had decided that even though the tray wasn't there, as that is where it should be, he may as well do a wee anyway. So, the floor then had to be scrubbed before I could put the tray back down. I guess at least he should be applauded for going in the right place, it wasn't his fault after all that mummy was cleaning the tray out.

The diary entries are rather short today as I have quite a bit to get through and as usual there is simply not enough time in the day. So I've added lots of photos so that it won't be too disappointing for our babies new families.

The older they get, the more active that Joe Byrne and Ned Kelly are becoming. They are awake just that bit longer now each day and their games are becoming just that bit more "rougher". They are both typical boys really. There is still very little interest in weaning from either of them. No matter how many times I put them in front of them plate when everyone else is eating, they simply do not want to know. Both of them are quite content with mum's milk and while everyone else has their meals, Joe Byrne and Ned Kelly run off to play games with each other.

Do you remember those books, going back years, that you used to read to your children when they were first learning simple words etc.? Things like "Run Spot, Run". Well I have now turned into one of those books because today, I have constantly been saying to Ned Kelly, "No Ned, No", in that exact same voice that I used to use to read to our daughter when she was much younger. Now the reason for this is that whenever Ned Kelly is awake, he simply can not help himself and has to do things that he shouldn't be. I spend more time picking him up and saying "No Ned, No", than I do getting any work done at the moment. This morning right, I was sweeping the floor and Ned wanted to help, so as I'm sweeping, he is running into the broom, and then running straight through the bits of cat litter/cat food that I have just swept up, scattering it everywhere. No matter how many times I picked him up and said "No Ned, No", within 20 seconds, he was back doing the same thing again. I emptied out the large hooded litter tray, so what does he do, but climb in it as I'm trying to empty it. After returning him to the bed with those famous words again, he then came running back and tried to climb into it as I was replacing the litter. I just despair of that child, truly I do. I must say though, that he is not actually being deliberately mischievous, he is simply just trying to help his human mummy because he is that kind of boy. Well, it's either that or he is trying to sneak in lots of extra cuddles :) But is it any wonder this boy is the way he is. He is being spoilt rotten in this home! Last night when I finished the ironing, I went into the kitchen to put the iron away and Graham was in there cooking. I got the shock of my life to see him stirring the food with one hand while cuddled up on his chest and being supported by the other hand was Ned Kelly! I was just gob smacked as neither Graham nor myself approve of our fur kids being in the kitchen, particularly Graham as the kitchen is his "Castle", so to see him happily cooking with Ned Kelly just totally stunned me. Joe Byrne has now finally located his voice and is making extremely good use of it. I think he has been watching his brother who has never been a quiet boy. It has now occurred to Joe Byrne that if he sits there looking up at me and then starts to talk, he will get picked up straight away for cuddles and conversation. It's really lovely to see him doing this because one of the best things about Orientals is the way that they chat and a quiet Oriental is not a good thing in my books. Joe is also fascinated now with the large hooded litter tray and is constantly going in and out of it when the babies are awake and playing. I'm not 100% convinced that he's actually doing anything in there yet but he is definitely getting the hang of what it is there for. Drambuie however, does not like him going in there and insists that he is still way too young so whenever he is in there, she climbs in also to try to drag him out.

If you are wondering why there is a photo of a pair of feet at the end of the diary, the reason for this is that our daughter insisted that I take a photo of her feet to put in the diary so that they will be famous and will be seen by everyone. Who could possibly argue with logic like that?

As you can tell, I managed to take quite a few photos for today's entry. This was helped no doubt by the fact that I am no longer frozen because the very kind boiler man gave us back our heating late yesterday afternoon thank goodness! Graham is insisting that we really "must" keep Ned Kelly here. He has totally fallen under his spell, as do most people when they first meet our Oriental Red babies. He is even going so far as to tell Elaine that he's not going to give him up. Fortunately, Elaine is a friend and knows full well that she will get Ned Kelly in the end. After a discussion at the dinner table last night though, it is looking like a certainty now that we will be mating Toussaint to an Oriental Red boy in 2007 in the hopes of producing a red girl for us to keep here. Although I'm not sure if I'm brave enough to have my torties AND a red in the home all at the same time because this will spell chaos and destruction. You may have noticed for the first time ever, we managed to get one decent photo at long last of Joe Byrne where you can actually see his facial features instead of a blob. I am sure this will please Lee and Susie. We're still struggling to keep Ned Kelly from running through any doors that we open. He is just so super fast that I am going to call him Zoomy Baby from here on in. Speaking of names though, Graham has chosen a registered name now for Ned Kelly, which leaves me to find a suitable name for my darling Joe Byrne. I have a few things in mind, but nothing that I'm happy wit yet. I still can't entice either baby to get involved in this whole weaning lark but at 4 1/2 weeks age, it is neither here nor there as their weight gains are still very good. I do remember when Joe Byrne ate the rabbit mince and loved it, but a day or two after that, he went right off it. I'll give them until they are 5 weeks of age and then I will probably make a more concentrated effort on weaning them.

I have come to the conclusion that our Bush Rangers were very aptly named, or perhaps I should have called them "Double" & "Trouble". I KNEW it would not be long before Joe Byrne started to become as mischievous as his brother and my predictions were right so it would seem. This morning, he has been running the mother's ragged because he is flat out refusing to lie down and have a nap with the rest of the furries. Instead, he has been darting about all over the room, trying to "hide" in all the places that his mum's can't reach him. For example, he came running underneath my office chair, got under the legs and would not come out, despite Drambuie pawing at him to drag him out. He then ran into the little blue pyramid, knowing full well that Drambuie can't fit in there so he was perfectly safe. After about 5 minutes of watching Buie and Amaretto swear at him, stick the heads in to try and grab him, stick their paws in to smack him, I felt so sorry for them that I just picked up the pyramid, exposing Joe Byrne to both his mums. Drambuie promptly proceeded to pick him up by the scruff of his neck and drag him back off to bed. This did not make any difference to Joe Byrne however and he decided to try a different tactic, rather than running out of the bed, he climbed up the covering that is pulled down whenever the babies are sleeping. I turned around and saw the covering moving back and forth quite rapidly and sure enough, Joe was right near the top swinging back and forth having the time of his life. I really did have to laugh as I took him off and put him back in the bed. As for Ned Kelly, well................................I don't remember when I last saw a baby move as fast as he does. Ned has developed the extremely bad habit of darting out the doors as soon as they are opened. Three times this morning as I've come into and gone out of the back room, Ned has gone with me. The little terror is out the door and in the lounge room before I even get a chance to open it! Toussaint got a heck of surprise when this little Red being just marched up to her as bold as brass as if to say, "Well, who are you?". It is virtually impossible to get out the doors now unless I first pick him up, open the door, step out, quickly put him back inside the room and then shut the door. I think, in a week or so our Pints and Bush Rangers will be given free run of the downstairs part of the house.

The Ice Age is upon us and I fear that our diaries may soon come to a close due to death by hypothermia! To explain further, last night our boiler refused to work. Up until yesterday afternoon, it was just fine however when our daughter put something away in the cupboard under the stairs she accidentally flicked the switch thing to off so the heating went off. Graham tried to light the boiler (for over an hour!) but the darn thing was flat out refusing to work. This is NOT a good thing to happen when it's like the Arctic outside and young kittens and Aussies reside in the home. We can not survive with no heating and if it doesn't get sorted out today, chances are in a week or so's time, someone will realise that they haven't heard from me, will break in to see what happened to me and all they will see is a frozen block of ice sitting here at the computer. Of course by then, it will be too late and no amount of defrosting will save me :( My first thought when this happened was the babies who are still quite young and can not be without heat, remembering that their bed is right next to the radiator so I went upstairs to grab a heat pad which I set up on their bedding and the babies and mum's have been perfectly fine and more than warm enough with the heat pad. I did think the sudden lack of heating might also make them less inclined to get out of bed and create havoc but no, after they all played like lunatics running around the room, they then played like lunatics in and around their beds so they aren't too badly affected at all. My next thought was Sheridans who sleeps indoors of an evening in the upstairs kitten room. So I went upstairs and gave him a heat pad also. Then we had the problem of the rest of the feline family, all of whom sleep in the upstairs part of the home at night (they are no longer allowed to have the run of the house of an evening because they spray on all the computers!!!) and it was freezing upstairs last night and I had run out of heat pads as the others are in constant use in the stud house naturally. Then I remembered that we have a king size electric blanket that is dual controlled however only one side of it worked. It used to reside on our bed but when it stopped working (on Graham's side) we had to buy another one immediately however, Graham did not want to throw out the old one as he though it might come in handy at some point. I will add here that Graham is a hoarder! He never throws things out whereas I throw out everything but for the first time ever, I was very grateful that he had decided to hang onto something that really was no use at all. So, I found it in the linen cupboard, got it out, plugged it in to the upstairs hallway, lay it out, and put Cointreau on it as her ears were quite cold. She loved it, and I then went and got the others off our bed and put them on it so that they would realise what it was there for. When I checked on everyone 20 minutes later, I was delighted to see them all sprawled out on their own electric blanket, which remained on the hottest setting possible I might add, and it's still upstairs plugged in at the moment. I am going to leave it plugged in until we get the heating back although mind you, if the heating does ever come back, someone else will have to unplug their blanket because frozen ice statues will find it very difficult to move!

I guess now I really should give you an update on our Bush Rangers. As you will no doubt be able to tell by the photos below, they are doing extremely well. Actually, poor Lee and Susie won't be able to tell much by the photos at all because as per usual, my darling Joe Byrne just looks like a black blob with no distinguishing features whatsoever! It's just as well that Lee and Susie have already met him in the fur because his photos do not do him justice at all. It will be lovely when they visit their boy again which I know will be soon, I'm just waiting for Guinness to be on the road to recovery before I have anyone in the home because I don't want to put her at any risk. Lee and Susie are very understanding about this which is really lovely. Both boys have an extremely odd habit which I've been meaning to mention on here for ages but I keep forgetting. Every time I change their bedding, both of them crouch down really low and sniff the bedding all over. When they have done this, they then both lick the bedding. I have absolutely no idea why they do this but it happens every single day. Still, while ever they are doing that, they are not terrorising the Pints or creating havoc which is nice :)

Four week of age today and Joe Byrne's weight is now equivalent to that of our Pints! He is also now 84 grams larger than his brother, Ned Kelly. Both babies have made steady weight gains since birth and they are just doing so very well. Typical Drambuie babies really. Ned Kelly is not quite as bad as he used to be now and he no longer acts like a child suffering from ADD thank goodness. He does still run around, sometimes squealing at the top of his voice, yet he is much more content to explore with the others and actually has some direction in his life now whereas before, he would just run aimlessly through the room not even knowing where he was going. Joe Byrne is changing slightly too and he is now of the opinion that he is sick and tired of simply being an explorer as he used to be. This week, he has decided to become a Wrestler. There is not a single baby in the room who can escape from his clutches and when he is playing, he jumps on whichever baby is closes to him and starts a wrestling match. All in all, they are doing everything that they should be at this 4 week stage although weaning has slowed down again and they are losing interest in some meals. They are still quite young though and are making great gains feeding off Drambuie so I'm not particularly bothered as I know that when the time is right, both Bush Rangers will be more than ready to eat proper meals.