Cane Toad

Edit: Amazing, one year ago I was holding a reptile too....

Meet my boss...

Seriously though, this cane toad is one of the biggest pests in Australia. It was introduced from South America to combat the cane beetle in our cane fields and quickly developed a taste for anything but the cane beetle. Then there were predators like snakes that found out quickly that the cane toad has a nasty defence. See the bulge just on front of my thumb? That is one of its poison sacs. When it is threatened, a sticky substance will seep from the skin. It can kill a horse if ingested and not treated. The cane toad is responsible for driving numerous native species of reptile to extinction or close to it. They eat the toad and die, simple as that. It is now threatening wetlands in the Northern Territory as they move into new areas. The government isn't really doing much about eradicating them either.

We have had quite a wet summer after years of drought. The cane toads are back in droves. This one is quite small. I chased a large one around the garden in the dark and lost it, so this little one had to do.

Favoured methods of killing cane toads (not practiced by me. We let this one go which is probably illegal).

Trap,
5 Iron,
boot,
hammer,
shotgun,
dettol,
freezing (government sanctioned humane method, frogs legs anyone?)
fire,
brick,
etc, etc.

They run around our garden though. It is a sanctuary thanks to Jo, along with the mice, rats, snakes (yes, I saw deadly poisonous snake in our yard a week or so ago), chickens, cats, etc. And soon a Dad's dog when the fence is finished.

Other news.

I visited Dad briefly this morning and after a discussion with the nurse we have decided to give Dad a family break so he can have time to settle into the home. That is something that will be very difficult for me but I can see why it is needed. I am taking him to the dentist on Tuesday so I will see him then. I will have to phone and see how he is getting along. It is hard to let responsibility go.

Work was a nightmare today. I love the challenge of the job and what it entails. Today was no different on that front. On top of that is antiquated equipment, old processing chemistry, and one or two lazy printers.

Antiquated equipment:
Our hardware and software is way out of date. This makes it difficult when a client supplies work. We have to come up with long winded work-arounds to make RIPs crunch the files correctly. Otherwise things just drop off the pages. Around $50000 might fix that. If it had been maintained that figure would be a lot less.

Chemistry:
We aren't allowed to change the chemistry because of cost. The problem with that is a plate processor is the perfect environment for algae. Warm and lots of water. Our printing plates are coming out with large lumps of algae on them and the dryer bakes it on. If that ends up on the press, there will be a big blank on the paper. It is hugely time consuming trying to spot all the baked on algae on the plates. I know I am not getting it all off which is frustrating.

Lazy Printers:
Now firstly let me say that we have some really good printers, but a few of them don't tidy up after themselves. Their print samples are meant to go in a sleeve provided with he plates. That way when I go to archive the sleeve I just file them under the job number. However, often the samples are stuffed back and I have to sort them out before filing. Very messy. More time and not my job. Highly irritating.

Maybe tomorrow I will leave the baked on algae on the plates for the printers to clean off. I bet they complain... I won't really do it!

Jo and I went for a drink tonight and ended up having a meal too. The local Leagues club is unbelievably cheap for a night out. We came home with full bellies and a champagne buzz.

So the day ended well after all.