The World's Smallest Sheep

MBH and I spent a mad, mad Saturday looking at houses to buy in the inner west. We saw about 13 or 14 houses in a little under 4 hours, and I can confirm that I was driving in a blind rage by the 3rd or 4th last ones. There were lots'n'lots of nice ones we can't afford in places like Glebe, Annandale and Newtown. You know the houses I'm talking about. I felt like I had to wear a tie to impress them (no prizes for correctly guessing the Simpsons reference, just my eternal respect).

By lunchtime MBH and I were back in home territory checking out some terraces on Darling Street. We were meandering back towards the car when my exhausted gaze fell upon an odd looking creature crawling on the footpath. I stooped, and using one of the glossy real estate brochures as a platform lifted it up to have a closer look. At first it looked exactly like a slater than had been (perhaps inadvertantly) spray-painted white. MBH agreed and I got ready to remonstrate righteously along the lines of "I ask you, what kind of person spray paints a slater!" when I realised that the spray paint was in fact a fluffy or woolly looking substance. As carefully as I could manage after a long, hot day of house-hunting I placed the little fella on the palm of my hand and looked even closer. It looked like the world's smallest sheep!

I showed it to some people smoking on their front porch pretty much right where we were standing. The woman said something inane like "That's not natural!" to which I felt like replying "Actually it is natural, which is what makes it's unusual appearance so interesting" but decided that I wanted a coffee and muffin more than I wanted to create an awkward moment with a stranger, so I moved on.

After some online research we discovered that our pasty little friend is a mealy bug. According to the internet they are a pest, but in my opinion they are ridiculous cute! If only someone would cultivate mealy bugs and sell them as pets ...