Who invented driving anyway?

Man, learning to drive is STRESSFUL.

Oscar smooching in the garden

Sleepy head

Saffy is either 'on' or 'off'. I was using the flash right in her face here, and

she barely raised an eyebrow.

She's like this from around 10am - 4pm each day. She makes me laugh so much.

Success!

I just bought two lounges on ebay for $212.50 and I can feel the adrenaline pumping! Something about online auctions is just so exciting. I was quite careful about bidding - I watched who was bidding and figured it was likely to be one of those ones where all the action happens in the last 30 seconds, so I waited till there was only 9 seconds left to bid. And I won!

The lounges are in Berowra so I guess we will go and pick them up on the weekend. They are dark blue and only 2 years old, from Freedom, so hopefully they will be ok quality. We will probably put them in the front room and they will have to be Pet Free Zones, as I'm sure the pet hair will show up beautifully on the dark fabric. Hmmm.

I'm off now to recover from the excitement :)

Cleaning

This morning I have cleaned up our computer desk. I think it probably had about 6 months worth of stuff piled up on it and it's such a relief to be able to see the desktop again!

This is a sign that I am on holidays - I've had a few days of resting and getting Christmas stuff done, but now it's action stations - time to get things done that annoy me when I'm working but I don't have time to do normally. Usually this involves Putting Things Away or Rearranging A Room. I'm prone to starting with great enthusiasm and then deciding I've had enough when everything is strewn across the floor waiting to go to its new spot. The key is to pace myself and be realistic.

I think there's a therapeutic aspect to it - getting my house in order. I always do it when I'm on holidays, usually towards the beginning. Maybe it helps dispel some of the stress of working and then I can relax.

What are your holiday rituals?

Fruits of the Season

This is a baby cherry tomato, it's about 5mm wide.

Visitor

This chap was sitting outside our front door this morning. He let me get quite close with the camera - I think he was too scared to move!

Cammomile Euphrates McCann?

In an idle moment this evening, I've been trawling the internet for baby names. It's amazing what some people will call their kids - here are a few of the names that I will NOT be using:

• Cammomile
• ESPN (Yes, some people actually name their kids after a TV network!)
• Euphrates (isn't that a river?)
• Agamemnon ( I know this is a name from history but perhaps it should stay there...)
• Paprika

Slimy

Frogs aren't the only things that come out after rain around here...

Aha!!

I did some research tonight (thanks, Google!) and found out that the noisy creatures in our backyard are......

RED EYED TREE FROGS!!! (otherwise known as Litoria chloris).

There are more than 50,000 in the country, so I'm afraid UD's suggestion that they are a rare species only found in my backyard is sadly off mark.

Apparently the males call out from the ground after Spring and Summer rain,which is certainly what's going on here.

Adam discovered some tadpoles in a puddle under the deck today, so we might have a whole tribe of them if the rain keeps up. Hmmm, not sure I like that idea!

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

Those of you who have visited our house will know that Saffy is sometimes a little hyperactive. So we enjoy it when she's more relaxed!

Here she is tuckered out after a hard morning running around with a big stick in her mouth, knocking the edges of doorways as she barged through, and stealing my socks on the side.

And here she is being a washer woman...

Christmas tree

The Culprits!

The frogs were back in force tonight, I think they come out to play in the rain. We found two of them, amazing to think they are just hanging out in our backyard. I took a video of one making its noise - the camera doesn't pick up sound too well so it might not seem very loud to you but it's quite ear piercing in real life.

I can easily imagine them having little froggy personalities, they seem sort of cheeky to me.

You can see in the video how much his throat puffs up to make the noises. Adam thinks it sounds a bit like a car with a turbo - vroom vroom vrooom pish!

Minnie working on her next opus

Drama at the Dog Wash

We had the dog wash man around today. Saffy screamed her head off the whole time she was in there, but came out smelling much nicer (and looking whiter, until she rolled in the dirt. Hmmm.) It was a bit of an ordeal - no wonder we only do it every 6 months or so!

More on the Frogs

The frogs kept up their racket for quite a while. In fact we could still hear them when we were trying to go to sleep, so Adam got up to go and find them and get them to be quiet(which would probably involve being squashed or thrown over the fence - not good for froggy health!)

Turns out it wasn't two frogs - it was one. A green tree frog with orange eyes and an orange mouth that puffed up to make the noises. Adam said he was small and had his legs wrapped round a tree branch in the back yard. He was too cute to silence so we ended up having to shut the bedroom door and put the ipod on to drown out the noise.

If he does it again tonight, I'll go and have a look at him.

Aaargh!

You should hear the frogs that are outside at the moment, they are incredibly loud. There seems to be two - one sounds like a rusty gate, the other like a twittering bird. This is the conversation they keep having:

Frog 1: RAAAAR RAAAR RAAAR RAAR RAAAAAAAR
Frog 2: Chirp Chirp Chirp Chirp!
Frog 1: RAAAAR RAAAR RAAAR RAAAAAAAAR RAAR RAR RAAAR!
Frog 2: Chirp Chirp Chirp Chirp!

[Pause while I think they might have actually given us a break and stopped for good]

Frog 1: RAAAAR RAAAR RAAAR RAAR RAAAAAAAR
Frog 2: Chirp Chirp Chirp Chirp!

...and so on. They are very enthusiastic.

Flea Explosion

I've been noticing Ruby scratching a lot lately so today I gave her and Saffy a tablet each that kills any fleas on them, just to give her a break from having to scratch all day (and planning on giving them some proper flea stuff soon).

Unfortunately for poor old Saff, she had heaps of fleas on her too who spent the whole morning squirming all over her trying to get away from the effects of the tablet! So she was really itchy - and before the tablet she was fine.

I decided it was time to mount a full on flea attach so I washed all their bedding. It really needed it because the water in the machine turned very brown before it had even started the washing bit!

I've booked them in for a dog wash on Saturday and after that we'll give them the flea stuff that goes on their skin, I think it's called Advantix. Hopefully that will work...

Weetbix

I've started eating Weetbix for brekkie, after many years of not touching them. i think the last time I used to eat them would have been high school.

I was most disappointed to find that they no longer have the little collector cards in the packets. I used to like reading them and it was always good fun to open a new packet and get the card. It's just not as fun without them.

'Tis The Season

I really like this time of year, because it's the lead up to Christmas. Although I don't like the crowds in the shops, or the huge amount of junk mail stuffed in our letterbox that seems convinced that Christmas is all about spending, I do like the festive nature of the whole thing.

I particularly enjoy and appreciate Christmas traditions - the things families and individuals do every year to mark the occasion. One of my favourite memories of growing up is Dad reading us "The Night Before Christmas" on Christmas eve every year, always pausing dramatically at a key moment in the line "Away to the window I flew like a flash,tore open the shutter, and threw up...the sash!"

My latest tradition (only two years old!) is to buy a few really nice things to hang on the tree. Nice tree decorations are not cheap so I only get a few, plus I think it will be great to look back in years to come at a collection amassed bit by bit. This year I got a few vintage looking ornaments from the shop Bed Bath and Table - they have great decorations and I had to hold back from buying more.

What's your favourite Christmas tradition?

You're in my purrsonal space...

I just think this photo is funny

Mr Cute Turns on the Charm

I took these photos through the window, because if I had gone outside he would have moved. He likes lying around like this on hot days. It reminds me of a fridge magnet I used to have that had a picture of a sleeping cat and said "How nice it is to do nothing, and then to rest afterwards!"

Spring has Sprung

Here's a few more shots of the garden in Spring. It's the first time we've seen what the garden does at this time of year and it's been nice to watch it develop.

Hmmm, which handbag will I choose today?

It's a hairy, hairy world

Hair collected after about 7 or 8 mins of brushing.


Raking the lawn...for dog hair.


The culprit.

Blowin' in the Wind

Well, the photo I put up before of the hair saffy is shedding was nothing compared to what we're getting now. Whole clumps of her undercoat are just lifting off at the slightest touch. It's called "blowing the coat" in technical malamute circles.

She likes to eat the clumps if we let her. Weird dog.

Frogs

I can hear two frogs croaking outside, they are really loud. How do such small animals make so much noise?

One of them croaked for real last night, I found it belly-up in the backyard today. I'm sure it was the dogs' fault. Frogs make good toys unfortunately.

Election fever

I love elections. I particularly enjoy watching the ABC's election night coverage, with all the graphs and seat-by-seat analysis by Antony Green. You never know what will happen!

This is getting ridiculous

I woke up at 5.41am this morning. Stupid sun! I need to get one of those eye mask things, at least until daylight savings begins.

Funny

I read this on the Sydney Anglican forums:

Abraham and Isaac had a really old computer, a 286. One day Abraham came home and told Isaac that he was going to run Windows 2000 on the computer.

Isaac said “Don’t be silly dad. You can’t run Windows 2000 on a 286. Where are you going to get the RAM?”

Abraham replied, “Don’t worry son. God will provide the RAM.”

Family Portrait

Mum drew this, in honour of oscar's return.

Grateful

Last night we went round to the house where we found Oscar, to give the people a present to say thanks. I spoke to the wife, who mentioned that her husband was missing having him around, and that Oscar was very affectionate, and very vocal! She thinks he had a week without food, as he was skeletal when they saw him and started feeding him. We’re so grateful that they did.

Sleepy

I can’t wait for daylight savings to kick in – I’ve been waking up before 6am the last few days because of the sun.

Fellow travellers

I don’t mind moths. I know they are not too popular in Sydney at the moment, but they don’t gross me out. One sat near me on the train home yesterday and I wondered how long he’d been on public transport for. He might have been all over Sydney!

It reminded me of Archy the Cockroach, who used to travel the subway and write poetry. See below for an example...

pity the poor spiders

By Don Marquis, in "archy amd mehitabel," 1927
(NB Archy is a cockroach)

i have just been reading
an advertisement of a certain
roach exterminator
the human race little knows
all the sadness it
causes in the insect world
i remember some weeks ago
meeting a middle aged spider
she was weeping
what is the trouble i asked
her it is these cursed
fly swatters she replied
they kill of all the flies
and my family and i are starving
to death it struck me as
so pathetic that i made
a little song about it
as follows to wit

twas an elderly mother spider
grown gaunt and fierce and gray
with her little ones crouched beside her
who wept as she sang this lay

curses on these here swatters
what kills off all the flies
for me and my little daughters
unless we eats we dies

swattin and swattin and swattin
tis little else you hear
and we ll soon be dead and forgotten
with the cost of living so dear

my husband he up and left me
lured off by a centipede
and he says as he bereft me
tis wrong but i ll get a feed

and me a working and working
scouring the streets for food
faithful and never shirking
doing the best i could

curses on these here swatters
what kills off all the flies
me and my poor little daughters
unless we eats we dies

only a withered spider
feeble and worn and old
and this is what
you do when you swat
you swatters cruel and cold

i will admit that some
of the insects do not lead
noble lives but is every
man s hand to be against them
yours for less justice
and more charity

archy

4WDing

As mentioned below, we went 4WDing yesterday. We found a track on a hill that seemed like fun, not too hard but still a bit of a challenge.

That was until we got down the bottom of the hill and started climbing up the other side - it got REALLY difficult and a little bit SCARY. I was worried a couple of times that we would be stuck there or that the car would break. We kept going, thinking surely it would get easier as we climbed higher, but then we hit a steep rocky bit and there was no way we could get over it. This meant turning around, and going back through all the really hard bits again!! Shuddering stuff.

We did get out in the end, thanks to Adam's excellent driving. Let's just say we won't be going back there in a hurry, at least not without other people and some recovery equipment.

Wombles the Echidna

We went 4WDing on Saturday in the Watagans (mountains north of us), and on the way back we saw an Echidna. I christened him Wombles. He let us get quite close to him as he trundled across the fire trail. It's not every day you see an Echidna.

Look who's back!

After almost giving up hope, we had a call today from a man in East Gosford who'd had a ginger cat hanging around for a week. It sounded like Oscar, but we didn't get our hopes up because his description was quite general. Plus it's quite a hike from our house to East Gosford so it seemed unlikely that Oscar could have made his own way there.

We went to the man's house, he led us around the back, and there was Oscar - looking a bit thin but still our cat. He's lost his collar.

We couldn't believe he had gone, and now we can't believe he's back - what are the chances? Good thing I put a lost notice in the local paper. And good thing we prayed a LOT! God has truly been very kind to us. Oscar is part of the family and we were so sad when we couldn't find him.

He is on house arrest for a few weeks and we're going to get him microchipped.

TV = time vacuum

Sometimes I wish there was less on TV that I wanted to watch. Last night the new series of Heroes began and it's at a really inconvenient day/time, but I started watching it and now I'll probably end up watching the whole series. It is gripping and funny and unusual. TV is a bit of a time vacuum sometimes - too much to watch, not enough time. I actually prefer it over summer when the good shows are on holidays so I don't watch as much.

Running

I've started jogging with the dogs. I'm so unfit I can only do about half a block at a time, but I enjoy it. So do the dogs! We must make quite a sight - good thing it's usually dark by the time I go.

God is in control

It is a great comfort to me that God is in control. Easy to forget, but important to remember!

Moulting time

Saffy is losing her winter coat, and I've been brushing it out for her. This is a picture of the dog hair from two sessions:



And there's plenty more where that came from!

Word verification

I've switched off word verification, it was a bit unnecessary!

Fires

I'm on the train at the moment, wondering if I'll make it home tonight. Apparently the lines are cut at Cowan because of the bushfires. I can't believe we've had a 35 degree day in October - scary stuff. I was going to work from home tomorrow so wherever I end up tonight I'm not too worried as I don't have to go to the office in the morning anyway.

I hope the pets are all ok after such a hot day...might need to give them ice cubes with their tea!

Emails

I’ve had the brilliant idea of (wait for it...!) replying to personal emails WHEN I GET THEM instead of waiting until I “get round to it”, which usually takes a few weeks and involves having to remember to reply and feeling guilty for leaving it so long.

I’m not always in the mood to write emails but if I get them out of the way then I don’t have to worry about them.

Did someone say brilliant? Oh, it was me :P

 

Coffee

The place I occasionally get a coffee from in the morning has mysteriously closed – meaning this morning I had to walk the long way round to go to the other coffee shop I frequent. It’s quite disconcerting when shops close without warning.

 

 

Spring in our garden