the newts.net

Me, Rach, Ben and Rio are having a compo to see who can grow the tallest sunflower. We have 4 sunflower seeds each chosen from a selection of 16. Rio got first pick, Ben got second pick, Rach craftily chose her four candidates next and I got the remaining four seeds. You can see our selections below:

Once chosen, each seed was planted at random by Ben in it’s own organic plant pot. Some went in vertical, some were on the horizontal, some were on an angle. A real random planting process :

The only seed that stood out from the others was one of Ben’s. It’s the second from the left in his picture. This seed was a big fella. It was like a twin sunflower seed. It’s one of Ben’s but we don’t know which number it is.

So all the seeds are now planted, watered and sitting on the window sill awaiting germination and outdoor planting.

So now it’s YOUR chance to make an easy £6. I’m selling a £1 bet on each of the 16 plants, the winner being the TALLEST sunflower at a pre determined date. £6 will go to the winning bet, and £5 each to Rach’s & Toni’s sponsorship of the Cancer Research Uk’s ‘Race For Life’

YOU can pick any of the seeds you like, and to keep it fair, Me, Rach, Ben & Rio will each have the one remaining seed in our name. So drop me a line and let me know which seed you want your £1 on and don’t forget people, not only can you win six notes, you’re doin your bit for CHARIDY MATE!

Rio 1 - Steve Courtney
Rio 2 - Trish Courtney
Rio 3 - C.J.
Rio 4 -Rio

Ben 1 - Wesley Brown
Ben 2 - Chrissy
Ben 3 - Ben
Ben 4 - Lee Ornsby

Rach 1 - Jenna Ornsby
Rach 2 - Donna
Rach 3 - Garry Ornsby
Rach 4 -Rach

Scott 1 - Oli
Scott 2 - Ellie Ornsby
Scott 3 - Scott
Scott 4 -Steve

Our littlest boy is 1/2 a year old today! He’s such a gem, just like his older brother Ben was at the same age. Sleeps all night, smiles all day and only cries if your 5 minutes late with his dinner. I must say, I think Rach and I have been so lucky to be blessed with 2 such fit, healthy, gorgeous, brilliant little boys.

Happy half day Rio!

This is Rio:

This is Ben at the same age:

Surgeons from Thailand have reattached a vet’s arm after it was torn clean off by a 200kg Nile crocodile. Taiwanese vet Chang Po-yu was attacked by the crocodile as he tried to remove a tranquilizer dart from the animal’s arse. Colleagues of the vet were forced to reach inside the reptile’s mouth to retrieve the severed limb.

The Liberty Times newspaper said Chang failed to notice that the creature had not been fully anesthetised when he stuck his arm through the iron railings of its enclosure. Zookeepers fired bullets at the crocodile’s neck to get it to release its vice-like grip on the torn forearm.

“The crocodile was unharmed as we didn’t find any bullet holes on its hide,” said Chen Po-tsun, a zoo official. “It probably was shocked and opened its mouth to let go of the limb.”

The vet was rushed to hospital along with his arm in a cooler box and surgeons managed to reattach it in a seven-hour operation. The 17-year-old reptile is one of a pair of Nile crocodiles kept by the Kaohsiung zoo. Known as a man-eater because of its voracious nature, the crocodile is listed as an endangered species and is rapidly disappearing from its native African habitat.

Chen said the zoo purchased the crocodile 10 years ago from a local resident who had kept it as a pet.

This darling little cutie is taking no enemies when the monsters come!