stuff and things

Water restrictions are off

2012-01-27T19:46:00.001+11:00

So I might have had a bit of a height advantage, but I promise I was as wet as the other two (Felix started off with the hose, that was a mistake)

Possum

2012-01-26T17:19:00.000+11:00

We had to drive to the Burnley DSE depot today. We were nearly there when we say a tiny possum in the middle of the road, being dive at by indian minors (got I hate those birds) The car in front of us nearly ran over it doing an illegal U turn, but we pulled over and grabbed the blanket out of the back of the car. I picked it up. I was a ring tail, but I surprised how tiny and light it was. I took it off to the edge of the road. I was awake and didn't seem to have any injuries. We offered it it a bit of water, but it didn't seem interested. I think it might have been 'clipped' but a car or fallen from a tree and was a bit daised like birds get when they fly into a window. Any we, we left it in the shade where it was quite hidden away and hopefully it will have been ok. If it was in a really bad way and going to die, it was still better off where we left it, rather than in the middle of the road, where it was only a matter of time before it was run over. So that was my wildlife experience of the day.

Mad as a hatter

2012-01-09T16:52:00.001+11:00

Christmas Animation

2012-01-06T12:42:00.000+11:00

I made this animation for my/Neil's nephews. I had gotten them some vouchers which are for a cool thing, but the vouchers themselves are ugly and don't explain what they are for very well.

Anyway, I made a nice card for the boys to open on Boxing Day with the url written on it. After a tiny argument about the best method to access said url, they both watched it. I must admit the reaction was not as ecstatic as I would have liked, but they are only 10 and 8, so it's a little hard to compete with slim at that age (that was definitely the favored present of the day) Anyway, I'm sure they will love the session once they go, and I'm looking forward to seeing the film they make. Their mum says were will be a premier!! Will be fun :)

Stored for two years, sewn in an afternoon

2011-12-31T18:21:00.001+11:00

Yes this is a fuzzy iPhone photo

nearly white Christmas

2011-12-26T08:53:00.000+11:00

So we nearly had a white Christmas, in Melbourne, in Summer. Does a whole heap of hail count? Here are some photos and a video.

Candles

2011-12-23T15:16:00.001+11:00

Today I had the day off work to make candles with the nephews. It was very successful, the boys had a great time and made quite a few candles each before we ran out of wicks and the temperature got a bit much for us all. Here are some photos

the finished products

The nephews

Action Shot

work

2011-12-19T17:10:00.000+11:00

Recently at work, we have been implementing two new systems. One I haven't heard anything about and I'm not going to address in this post. The other I have been really involved with the preparation of the data for loading into it, and in signing off the data model and the general day to day project management issues of, even thought I am not the project manager.

The firm is seeming to forget, every now and then, that we are the customer. Even though we should know the answers to questions, some times we don't. If we can't give them the answer, cos we don't know, they shouldn't just keep saying, tell us the answer! Today we finally decided we are just going to say 'right we're not going to do that bit anymore' (the bit we don't know the answers about) and the project manager (our employee) got all shitty. It will cost us some money to make a change to the project, but that's normal, IT project especially, change as they go along. I wish she hadn't reacted that way. *sigh*

I have to do a fair bit of work now, trying to manual work out the process we will use, to be able to answer the questions. I can see this ending up in a version 2 (or 3) of the application, if we ever have enough money. *double sigh*

===end whingeing===

got qr?

2011-12-18T18:42:00.002+11:00

Yes, yes I am a nerd :)

Sad day

2011-11-17T11:53:00.001+11:00

I know this is really quite old news now, but it has taken me a while to write this port.On the 21st of October, we had to make the decision to have Molly put to sleep. Molly was approaching 16 years old, and with the exception of the last two years, had not had a single health problem her whole life. Her run ins with Cushings Disease and having to have her eye removed had both knocked her in the last little while, but even so she continued to be a happy girl, and to boss the pupps around. In the end, she wasn't in any pain, but her kidneys had failed, she had developed a very evil sounding cough and was mostly sleeping all the time. Neil was with her at the vet at the end, as I was in Canberra. Neil made her a lovely box and we have buried her in the front yard.

I will always miss her, and am glad to have had her with me for such a long time.

This is an older photos of Molly, looking the way I like to remember her.

2011-10-13T17:26:00.000+11:00

Look, its my name in Japanese

Anyone need an ironing board?

2011-10-12T15:28:00.001+11:00

Dog diary and I at a meeting

2011-10-05T12:00:00.001+11:00

Caching

2011-10-02T10:54:00.001+11:00

The other day I decided to go shopping on the way to a meeting at the other end of town. I walked the whole way, I really hurt my hip, but that's a whole other story.
When you go caching it is necessary to carry a round a whole lot of stuff. Gps, stamp, pen, treasures, camera, note pad, sometimes even a torch. For ages now my main caching bag has been my leather three compartment backpack handbag. Unfortunately, caching hasn't been very gentle on my bag and I want stop using it before it get wrecked and I can't take it 'nice' places. I decided to look at Crumpler bags. Eventually I found their shop in Melbourne Central. The lady way very nice and helpful and I came away with a great bag. I think it will turn out well. I am thinking of heading out soon to try it out in the field :)

The show

2011-09-25T20:34:00.001+10:00

I am at the show this year for work. It's the first time they have had a stand since guy that used to organise them retired. Any way my question is: who's stupid idea was it to make the shirts this color

Scotties

2011-09-19T22:46:00.001+10:00

Look at the sort of things I have to put up with. And this is all on my side of the bed

The mess after 1 Scottie jumped on the bed

The mess after a second, obviously much wetter Scottie jumped on the bed.

A different view

2011-09-19T11:53:00.001+10:00

This the view I have now I am back at work. My back is so much better. It doesn't really hurt at all any more I am just being careful because of the Scottie show on the weekend. You are all welcome to come along if you want. But be warned. It will be boring

Training

2011-09-15T18:32:00.001+10:00

Why do trainer feel it is necessary to ply the student with chocolates? I have eaten sooo many. They are yummy and it have no ability to say no to them. Today I have had a mini milky way, bounty and a honey comb freddo. Lets not talk about the number of Minties I have eaten. Those things have to be the moat evil lollie, I mean they are great, but really evil. I don't know how I have any teeth left. That reminds me, the dentist sent me a reminder. Oops

My lunch time view

2011-09-14T13:04:00.001+10:00

It's not very exciting is it?

Back

2011-09-13T18:35:00.001+10:00

Done me back, bugger. It's no where near as bad as last time, which was nearly two years ago, when the puppies where small. Still it's not fun. I have a corse all this week which is a bit of a bum as I really have to sit. This really bad for my back. I am able to spend each break and all evening lying flat on my back, like I am right now. Lucky it easy to use the iPad like this. I also have to spend the whole weekend lying down. Fingers crossed it doesn't get any worse, although the physio who I saw tonight thinks it will probable get worse before it gets better. Bloody perl corse :(

my Scottie babys

2011-09-11T16:38:00.003+10:00

Clarra
Guthrie
Conner

Watch my video

2011-08-13T22:05:00.001+10:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv8Ysci8XUI&feature=youtube_gdata

Sent from our iPad

Shiny new

2011-08-13T17:07:00.005+10:00

Following my mothers excelent example, I have gone out and bought myself something shiny and new. Not a mini laptop in this case, but a new camera, which if I do say so myself, I sorely needed. My ye olde Olymipus µ camera really hasn't been up to scratch for a while and I haven't liked the photos it has been producing for a while (The link is to a similar one, I think mine is even older).
So today we went off to have lunch, across the road from the Digital Camera Warehouse and I bought one of these:

It's one of these. To , I went in to get one of these, but in the end, the camera I got takes better photos in low light, and that's what I have been least happy with on my current camera, so I decided that even though it's a bit larger than I was thinking, I think I will be very happy with it.

Also in news from our house, on Tuesday, the electricians came back and did the last of the work, except the spiffy light switches, which I have to ring them about. The kitchen looks amazing!

Me with curls

2011-07-16T17:39:00.000+10:00

It's all done :)

2011-07-16T16:38:00.000+10:00

Big week, big month

2011-07-02T16:56:00.002+10:00

It might only be 4:30pm on a Saturday but we already sitting in front of the tv with a beer each and we are both buggered. I have been thinking about everything that has been on this week and it no wonder we are stuffed! Especially when you add in the last weeks worth of things as well

This week:

Plaster sanding
Plaster cleaning
Boss returned to work
Two 3 hr workshops
Dog school
Re installing the projector on the ceiling
Painting and more painting
Snigger had to be put down
Bosses boss announced he is going to 3 days for the rest of the year
Bought shiny now light fitting

Last week:

Had plaster installed
Was 'acting' as the boss
Installed the projector onto the roof and removed it
Removed all the old plaster
Tidied up after removing the plaster
Removing the roof supporting beam

It's no wonder we are stuffed. All we have left we have is 1/4 of the roof and a small amount of walls for the first coat of paint and the final coat of paint. Then all that's left is the skirting boards
Oh dear!

My scotties clearly have a hard life

2011-06-24T09:31:00.001+10:00

Pie on a plate

2011-06-23T13:04:00.000+10:00

Yep that's me lunch, no garnish. Just pie and mash

Kitchen mark 2

2011-06-22T20:37:00.001+10:00

Cathedral ceilings and crap iPad camera

2011-06-20T19:06:00.001+10:00

Look at out lovely cathedral ceiling. I have better photos on my real camera, but the computer is currently covered in plastic, to protect it from dust, much like the sink in this photo, if you can see anything in this photo, it's such awful quality

We are so connected

2011-06-19T19:54:00.000+10:00

Ok so the house is a total mess, but look what's hanging from the ceiling!?!? :)

Not spoilt

2011-06-13T11:18:00.001+10:00

These are the pan cakes Neil made especially for the dogs. I don't think they are spoilt at all

Tired

2011-06-05T18:30:00.002+10:00

This photo is from before Finn went to his new home in the hills and the three puppies were still together. Don't I look tired? Clearly this was a while ago, cos I look at this photo now and think aren't they cute, I miss Finn, why didn't we keep them all? This shows I have forgotten all the pain of trying to keep three puppies in line, with only two hands, I have forgotten the wee, everywhere. I have forgotten the noise and general havoc. Oh well, they are cute, I will just remember that and try to move on.Conner, Guthrie, Finn, with me

Hmm cider

2011-05-28T20:03:00.001+10:00

From England

Eurovision 2011

2011-05-17T19:51:00.003+10:00

So it was Eurovision. I had my thrid annual party. I had everying this year!! three fondues (oil, cheese and chocolate) beer kransky sausages (which we forgot to cook) sauerkraut (oops, forgot this too) wine and bubbles. We a great turn out and everyone had a great time. Here are some photos:

Eurovision 2011

It was a great party and as Azerbaijan won I am going to seriously look in to having a holiday there next year. I have already discovered that there are 8 caches there and one of them is an earthcache :)

Before and during

2011-04-27T19:48:00.002+10:00

So, we have ripped the lining out of the kitchen, and oh boy. I don't really want to talk about it right now.

Molly the one eyed westie cross

2011-04-16T21:58:00.002+10:00

So there has been a fair bit of pressure from some areas for me to put up a photo of Molly in her newly edited format: ie with on eye. She looks both good and bad. A lot better than I was expecting but still fairly awful. From one side she looks almost normal (if you don't count the bucket hat/Elizabethan colar). From the other side she looks a lot like a chinesse crested dog, with a missing eye of course. The stitching that has been done is very neat. I'm sure that by the time the fur grows back she will look quite in-offensive. Right now..... Not so much.
For our upcoming Eurovision party (gibe me ring if you want to come, it'll be ace) I am thinking we might need to rig some sort of eye patch for her. I know that she will fell a lot better with out the eye, even if she doesn't already.
Any way. I'm not keen to put up a photo, cos she really does look yuk and I don't want to embarrass her. Any one can come and visit if they want to.

hope this works

2011-03-25T14:58:00.002+11:00

How cool is this?!?!?
Yes, I am a super nerd.

In case you are wondering, it is a very tiny movie of all my cache finds in Victoria

Long time no sew

2011-02-27T19:04:00.007+11:00

So all you regular readers (hello all 3 or so of you!) It's been a long time since I actually sewed anything sensible. I've been slack and uninspired, I can handle that, too bad if you can't.
The other day at work, I saw a girl in a really simple a-line skirt. I decided I should make one. I made a pattern this morning. No worries there. I looked through my extensive material collection and there was nothing that did it for me, that I hadn't already penciled in to be something else, so oh dear, I'd have to go to Spotlight. What a shame. :( but really ;) he he he
I roped Fiona in for the trip, partly cos I thought she'd like to go, partly cos I hate shopping by myself. Then I realised my money was in the car.... with Neil..... at the steam club.... 30 min car trip away. Bugger. I was going to cancel the trip, until Fiona remember she owed me some money any way! Yay :) Off we went.
I would a nice material, I have a feeling it is upholstery, even though I found it in the dress making section.
Half way through making it, I thought "I have a wedding to go to next week and this would be perfect, if only I could come up with something to wear on top".
By the time I finished sewing it up, I had the whole outfit in mind, here's a test run:Some how, not sure how, I have managed to make the thing a little large in the waist, I guess I can run up the edges a bit, but not for the moment. The rest of the outfit is an Intimo top with a scarf I've had for ages. Nice hey? (just don't say if you think it's awful)

No Mow

2011-02-27T09:44:00.002+11:00

I don't think there will be any mowing today :(

Meet the new mower

2011-02-20T11:55:00.002+11:00

Don't you love the way the dog paths show up so well, even after mowing them

80's Wedding

2011-02-18T21:46:00.000+11:00

This is me and the bride, doesn't she look lovely?

Creative

2011-02-06T15:30:00.005+11:00

I haven't made anything for a while, but recently I decided it would be cool to make the geocaching badges you can earn in electronic form, into REAL badges! Here they are:Yes, that's right, I am a total nerd ;)

Bad Bad News

2011-01-23T09:53:00.003+11:00

Before I start let me just tell you that everything is now fine.

On Thursday I took these cool photos and on Friday evening I was going to write a really inane post about them
Instead, just as I was getting ready to leave work on Friday, I got a call from Neil asking me if Molly was out the front of the house for any particular reason. After a few confused minutes of conversation, it turned out Guthrie was also out the front. I hung up from Neil and told him to look for the others and give me a ring right back. It took a few minutes for the badness of the situation to sink in. Eventually, I rang Neil back. The dogs were missing. I felt sick. They had literally ripped TWO bits of wood off the back of underneath of the house OFF with their TEETH (we had teeth marks to prove it) and squeezed into a small hole under the house, then there are quite a few places they can get out to the front of the house and away. Again at this point I mention the feeling sick. I rang the council, who were unhelpful.
I left work and rode my motorcycle home, I got home, changed and left the house to start searching for them, which Neil was already doing. I walked around the parks we normally take them for walks in. I looked in the creek we walk beside, hoping not to see black fuzzy bodies. After an hours or so of walking around, calling out to Clara and Conner, I went home. I called the council again, who were closed by this time and spoke to the after hours man, who was even less helpful, bordering on rude. I rang the lost dogs home and left a message on their answering machine. By this time, I had an enormous blister on my heal. I had to change into sandals for my other aimless depressing walks around the streets. I continued this, looking for little black fuzzy bodies, when I was in the street, until dark. Neil ordered pizza for us, our normal Friday fair. I could only eat two bits, again with the feeling sick. Neil continued to search, with a torch, until ten. At this point we went to bed, there was no real sleep here, as both of us got up a number of times to check if the dogs had returned to the front door and we trying to get in. It's amazing the sorts of noises you can imagine.
In the morning we got up around 7, ate and went looking again. What else could we do? The lost dogs home didn't open til 9am. I made it home again around 8.30am ish, my feet where hurting quite a lot my this point, as walking the streets and parks in sandals isn't really a great plan. The phone rang, it was the lost dogs home and they had Clara. Relief at this point is somewhat of an understatement, but oh my God, where is Conner! We jumped in the car and headed of to North Melbourne, arriving just before they opened their doors. After a whole lot of paper work, and a very upsetting look around the small dog cages to see if Conner was there, but miss identified (I could only walk down two isles before I was too upset and Neil had to do the rest), we got Clara back. To be honest, she didn't even seem pleased to see us! When we started driving home, the reason for this became apparent. She was exhausted, I don't think she had slept at all or at least, not much. Poor thing, she is used to her queen sized bed, not a blanket on concrete!
We were able to find out where she was found, and decided to start a new search there, as we assumed Clara and Conner would have hung out together. This area is nearly 1km from our home! (I'd put in a map, but you might be a burglar or strange stork-ie person, and I might not want you to know where I live).
So the search started again, but this time it must have been 10.30am or so, so there where heaps of dog walkers out in the park, I spoke to 20 or so. Neil, who was walking in the direction of our place spoke to heaps as well. After walking the park for ages. I walked an S shape of all the streets between the park and the street where Clara was found. I checked on google maps this morning, I walked about 3km, in this park and the streets nearby that morning. This was my 3rd or 4th trip out, I think I have worked out why my feet are so sore, I was carefully avoiding looking at them, so I wouldn't know how bad they were and I could keep looking. At around lunch time we went back home, getting increasingly despondent.
I was sitting at the computer, having been looking for more numbers to ring, and the phone rang. It was a Vet in East Hawthorne, they had my dog Yellow, what the? Then I remembered, when I micro chipped the puppies, they didn't have names yet, so we gave them their colored wool names, they had Conner (all this took .3 secs in my head, it ok) It turns out a man on his way home from work had picked Conner up, from the same area as Clara was found and taken him home (to East Hawthorne). He spent the night playing with the mans Pug. The man was ready to keep Conner and took him to the vet to check if he had a micro chip (thank god he did!) What a relief! At this point I rang my Mum, it was her birthday on Friday and I didn't want to give her a whole lot of worry as a present. So we drove to East Hawthorne and picked up Conner. He also didn't seem that happy to see us either, little bugger! I was really happy to see him though.
When we got home, Neil got to work repairing the dogs little bit of house renovation. Now if they want to get out, they will need to have a cordless drill and perhaps a crow bar.
So it's moral of the story time:

Don't go to work EVER
always stay at home with your dogs
maybe my dogs should wear collars, even if it will make a mark in their fur
make sure your dogs (and cats) are microchipped!!!

regrowth

2011-01-15T13:36:00.003+11:00

So, remember how the other day I cut the crap out of a whole lot of bushes in the back yard? Any way, I noticed today when we were wipper snippering (not mowing, as our mower is stuffed and the grass was 3 feet tall, AGAIN) that one of the particularly pretty natives, that was looking a bit shit and getting a bit tall, is coming back with vengeance. I have always known that you can cut natives back really hard and they will come good, but it's a completely different thing to actually see it! How cool is this?:

No Camera

2011-01-14T15:22:00.002+11:00

Yay I found it!!!! I also found the book I have been missing, the remote for the AC in the back room and all the other things that were beside the bed when we packed it up on Christmas morning! Yay. Neil then proceeded to pick on my packing method, cos the stuff was not on the top of a pile, it wasn't on the bottom either, so I say my method is fine. Anyway, got it and that's all I care about for the moment :)

No Camera

2010-12-26T22:27:00.002+11:00

Twice today I really wished I had my camera. We went up to Beaufort to visit with my parents and I didn't think I'd miss it, I mean: Car trip, boring!
The first stop was for a cache (surprise surprise) up the hill behind Kryal Castle (I've always wanted to go to that!) I walked in, logged the cache, no worries, I got back to the car and my pants (trousers for you folks from the UK) and from the knees down I was covered in little burr/seed pod things! It was amazing, and kind of annoying, cos I needed to pick them all off before we could get back in the car. I didn't want to become a weed vector after all!
After having lunch with Mum and Dad, hanging out for a while, doing a cache with Mum, taking Clara for a swim in the dam etc, we headed back home. There was one other cache (a travel bug motel) I wanted to go past, cos I heard it was secured with a padlock that you need a combo for, how cool is that? Anyway, we drove into Ballarat, found the cache, entered the combo, opened the door and WOW! The cache was all set up like a dolls house, with furniture and things and little rooms, with their own doors and numbers for the travel bugs to stay in while they are at the motel. This is the best put together cache I have ever seen, just an amazing amount of work has gone into it. I have someone sending me a photo to show you, it is too cool!

cool

2010-12-19T12:01:00.003+11:00

I'm not a big fan of posts that are notihng but a link, but I love this guys games and I think you should go and play them

http://bartbonte.com/factoryballsxmas/

bored

2010-12-12T16:12:00.004+11:00

I am so bad at doing nothing. Neil is at the steam club. I could go out caching but then I'd be doing something, and I have it under good authority, that I am very stressed and need to spend sometime doing nothing. That's easy for them to say. Doing nothing sucks. Today so far, whilst doing nothing, I have been to the brand new shiny Spotlite that has appeared near ~~Northland~~ Norflans, been to the JB round the corner (spent money), sorted out meeting the new people for Sparky (a Scottie I have been helping to re-home after his elderly owner died), spent far too much time playing Farmville (for those of you who don't know what this is I have two things to say: a) Have you been living in a cardboard box? and b) Don't start playing), eaten food, read some more of Anne of Green Gables (Man that's a good book, why didn't I re-read it years ago. There is one really good thing about having a memory as shit as mine. For me re-reading books is like completely re-discovering them, I might as well have never read them before. I mean technically it has been over 20 years since I read this the last time, but seriously it's way better then I remembered. Note to self, buy the movie!) and though up about 1000 things I could do, but all of them would count as 'doing something'. Seriously people, how are you really supposed to do nothing?
P.S. If anyone else is bored, ring me, we can do something.

arrival

2010-12-07T17:37:00.003+11:00

Look what I got!!

online

2010-11-28T15:49:00.002+11:00

I think I feel like it's OK to be "online", when other people I know are on. This is why things like face book and google chat are a bit evil, because you can see when other people are online, even if your not chatting with them, it feels like your not by your self. but when they drop off line, it make it seem a bit lonely, even though nothing has happened at my end..... OK, yep sad. *sigh*

Busy - part 2

2010-11-21T13:55:00.003+11:00

The trailer arrived today, and we loaded it up,As you can see it looked hugh, until Neil did the tie down. Now I'm hopefull we can get away with it being 1m³

busy

2010-11-14T12:17:00.004+11:00

As we all know, I am completely incapable of doing nothing. Today we decided and needed to so some gardening. I hate the garden and the only reason it isn't fence to fence green concrete is I hate that idea slightly more.
Neil was cutting down the tree that will not die and moving the compost heap (ooooooewh yuk.) on top of it's (hopefully soon to be) dead trunk.
I was "trimming" all the alive trees.
The dogs, at least the black ones, were helping.
Neil ripped out the x-clothes line pole.
Now it's lunch time and we are both buggered. All we need now is Steve to bring his trailer around so we can get rid of all the evidence:

(It might not look like much in these photos but I promise it was heaps when your cutting it and moving it all)
P.S. and that's just the back yard! I'm doing the front yard after lunch... maybe

headache

2010-11-12T15:04:00.003+11:00

I don't get headaches, as a general rule, unless I am hungover.
The optometrist recons that my weird vision thing this morning was the visual aura thing for a 'mini migraine'. By the time we got home in the car, my head was feeling awful and I went to bed, until about now. I still feel a bit average, but at least my head isn't as sore. Yay. I bloody hope this doesn't become a regular thing.

I'm blind or dying or something

2010-11-12T09:05:00.001+11:00

I can't see properly. I am looking at things and there are bits missing. It's getting very disturbing. I am going to the optometrist this morning. I really hope they say I am really tired.

And I'm back

2010-11-07T23:11:00.002+11:00

I'm very glad to be home. The holiday was great! We saw ace stuff and did heaps. Next time I think we'll make it 5 weeks, rather than six. I missed my doggies and my bed.

I'm it

2010-10-15T07:36:00.002+11:00

I know I'm on holiday, but my cousin did this post, so I decided to tag myself. Plus, I have never done one of these, or if I have, I have completely forgotten

1. What is the last book you read, did you like it?
Yay!! trashy Romance. The last book I read was a Georgette Heyer I bought from a second hand book shop in Bath, it was good and crap at the same time, love it!

2. Do you have any travels planned in the near future, where to?
What you mean other than the holiday I am at the moment? I guess my next bit of travel will be to come home from the UK.

3. Do you prefer tea or coffee?
I don't drink coffee and like my cousin, I will answer Peppermint tea also, usually from T2. Also ditto for the comment of "The smell of coffee makes me want to spew"

4. Where were you born?
At the Queen Vic Hospital in Melbourne, which has now been knocked down and made into a shopping centre.

5. What is your favourite work of art?
Hmmm, art.... It's not really my thing. If I had to chose something, it would have to be some sort of tapestry or something crafty like that. I also like the Yellow Peril, cos everyone hates it.

6. What is your favourite breakfast food?
I hate breakfast. I mostly don't eat it. Lately, on my flash tour in the UK, I have been eating a lot of chocolate croissants.

7. What is the last picture you saved/uploaded to your computer?
I just uploaded nearly 1000 pictures from my camera of my holiday... does that count? I can't even think of the last picture I got from the interwebs.

'stuff' is over, holiday roll on

2010-09-21T22:22:00.002+10:00

So, The Club Champ show is done, the Royal Melbourne show is done and now all I have to think about is my OWN holiday! Yay! We leave tomorrow, I haven't packed, half my dogs are missing (they are with Dad), I still have to clean the house for the house sitter who is looking after the other two dogs and I really think I am coming down with something. Oh well. For the next little while I can be found over here: My Travels

Oh No...

2010-09-12T11:26:00.002+10:00

We are getting new neighbours next door. This is fine, the man and his son, who I met today seem really nice. However... they have dogs, big ones, and there is only a small chicken wire fence between the two houses at the moment. We are departing the country in T - 11 days and I really don't have time to organise a fence during that time, what with organising a lunch for 70-80 people, working, having an international guest and trying to get my dog ready to go to the Royal Melbourne Show. ArrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggggHHHHHHHHHHHHHH can't things just stop of 5 seconds!

Keeping Scotties out the way

2010-09-04T10:39:00.003+10:00

I have finally found a way to keep the scotties tidy and out of the way! So far this morning they have been 'helping' me tidy the front room. In there I found place to keep them, all neat and tidy! Here we have Conner, Clara and Guthrie.

Long time, no blog.....

2010-09-04T08:12:00.004+10:00

Again.
Hi any random people who happen to visit my blog, cos god know no one regular must visit as it's been about a million years (aka a month) since I have posted anything....
but gees, I have been really busy ok?
We are going OS for a 6 week break in less than 3 weeks! This will be great, once we get there, until then it's tidy, organise, tidy, panic, tidy, worry, you know the deal.
The main issue has been what to do with the dogs. Usually I'd ask (really nicely) for my Mum to look after them, but as she is coming on the holiday with us, for part of the time, this doesn't really work. I could ask Dad, but frankly, I think looking after 4 dogs is a bit much for him especially with with Molly's drug and the boys generally being puppies and a bit fast for him. We looked into kennels and even for two of them it would cost multiple THOUSANDS for the time we are away, and I didn't trust any of them with Molly's drugs either. Michelle, one of the lovely Scottie Club members, recommended a lovely house sized kennel, who only ever take 2 or three dogs, unfortunately they already had some dogs and couldn't fit mine in. Last time we asked Scott to mind them, how ever he is also away for most of the time we are away. What to do?!?!?
Eva, has come to our rescue to mind the girls, which is fantastic, as I do trust Eva with Molly's dogs and general care (I know Clara would be fine anywhere). I was just starting to find a kennel to book the boys into when I had a brainwave about looking into a house sitter. I was about to chat with a friend at work who has done a bit of house sitting before, but doesn't personally like dogs, if she could recommend anyone to approach, when I just did a little search on the web. There are quite a few sites out there (we chose this one) set up for us this sort of thing! Almost all the listings are people with dogs that want them minded. The whole process was completely easy, I put an add up, all up we got 8 or 9 applications, we meet two lots of people and chose a guy to mind the boys. I have had to make 'house instructions' and of course we have to tidy, alot. but all up I think this will be a great solution.
Anyway, onto the reason for this post. In the spirit of sorting shit out prior to our holiday, I really needed to get to a Doctor, to have this spot that appeared on my face months ago, looked at. I went to the GP first, who decided I needed to go to a specialist. The first one she referred me to had no appointments til mid October, so she suggested another who, who was in the same bag, but they had a cancellation for yesterday, so I went along. The nice (expensive) plastic surgeon man took a tiny biopsy, and I now look like this:Pretty isn't it. He reckons I should leave this on all weekend, just to be on the safe side, even though it was only a 1 mm biopsy. I mean I will, of course, as I want to minimise the chances of looking like a scared freak. Not that I'm prone to over exaggeration or anything.
Anyway, better go as we have heaps of things to do, because we also have the judge for the Scottie Clubs 60^th show coming to stay next week and I have to get everything set and tidy by then, including setting up a room for her! I have ordered a curtain rail, I need to get the furniture set, and get a new quilt (which admittedly we need anyway). Then there is the bath room. It's just embarrassingly bad. I don't think I will even be able to bring myself to do before and after shots.

Not my real name

2010-08-02T18:14:00.006+10:00

So, I am a bossy, anal, unemotional, shy person. Hmm, that's a bit negative. How about:
I am an assertive, particular, objective, modest person! Ha ha ha !!!

You can click on the picture and do this test too if you like. Let me know what you got!

Not fixed

2010-07-28T22:03:00.002+10:00

So the men came on Tuesday morning and made a nice new flat bit of nature strip whilst fixing the gas leak, but it turns out.... it's not fixed after all.
Here it is.... on fire....

Gas leak!

2010-07-27T11:54:00.003+10:00

Look what they were doing out the front of my house this morning!You need a bit of excitement every now and then.

Conner's gone a visiting

2010-07-25T13:45:00.002+10:00

My Conner has gone to stay with Mum and Dad for a while. He will hopefully be catching a few of their mice. Also, this will mean Conner and Guthrie can hopefully learn their own names a bit better, rather than both answering to Connerguthrie, which I sometimes think they think is their name. Mum has just left. It seems a bit empty here now.

Melbourne Open House

2010-07-24T20:06:00.003+10:00

Neil and I went out today to the Melbourne Open House. It was quite good. We only managed to get to five buildings. It was quite interesting, and very tiring.
I got all arty with my photos, you can go look if you want :)

Melbourne Open House 2010

Recent Craftey-ness

2010-07-24T20:00:00.003+10:00

Quite some time ago, a very good friend of mine had a baby. I started making some little presents for him/her well before she was born. She is now 3 months old. Still haven't met her, but at least I have passed her little pressies on to her mum, who loved them, and lets face it, thats the main thing!
(hat kindly modeled by my teddy from the UK)

messy

2010-07-16T09:24:00.003+10:00

Long time, no post I know. Things have been rather busy at work, and not all that happy on other fronts. I don't want to go it, but see this post, it pretty much says it all.
Anyway, this morning, I got up (eventually, my hip has been giving me some 'gib') and opened the back door for the puppies. One shook him self in the door way. He made this pretty 'beard art' on the wall, my nice new, steal clad EXPENSIVE wall.....
And that's the wall! You should have seen the offending puppy that made the mess! It was Conner, of course. Lucky he likes to play bite the water with the hose so it wasn't to hard to clean him.

24hr movie marathon

2010-06-20T07:53:00.003+10:00

we're half way. Mind you, Neil is asleep on the couch with three Scotties tucked in around him. I think I am getting too old for this sort of thing

too much

2010-06-02T08:53:00.002+10:00

There is just too much going on at the moment:

I need to get more molly drugs
Molly needs another blood test
the boys are putting up a fight about being combed and I need to spend more time on that
I have a meeting tonight about the Scottie Clubs 60th Show, which is rapidly turning into a disaster
need to prepare all the things to talk about at the meeting
I have a real job to do as well your know!
the scottie club secretary still isn't talking to anyone
I need a shower
the house is a mess
lets not even talk about the back yard
Neil doesn't want to move mega couch out of the lounge room, and it takes up to much room
the heater fan seems to have stopped working
I'm cold
is that enough?

My head hurts

Mail

2010-05-26T18:33:00.002+10:00

Guthrie got mail today. I didn't :(

My vista

2010-05-25T14:12:00.003+10:00

I sit at a nice window seat at work. Only very special people get window seats. I really like mine, it has a nice view over the Dandenongs. Right now, it isn't that special looking:

Vet

2010-05-25T08:42:00.000+10:00

I should have posted this late night after I got back from the vet,
just to reassure you all. Clara is ok, the vet looked at her and
agreed with the vet nurse. It looks like Clara is having a "reaction"
to the internal disolving stitches. This won't go away until the
stitches disolve. This will take a couple of months. She isn't in any
pain or discomfort so there is nothing to worry about

Sent from my spiffy iPhone

Clara update

2010-05-23T20:03:00.002+10:00

Last week Clara had to have an emergency hysterectomy. Se was very sad for quite while a afterward,a s she had been quite full of nastiness (I could go into details here about what was wrong with her, but I won't cos it's very yukkie) Then the antibiotics kicked in and she improved out of site. She went back to playing with the puppies and being her normal self, which was a huge relief. Anyway, I am getting a bit worried again, as she seems to have a bit of a lump in the area where the chop was. It seems to be getting bigger, so we will be off to the vet again in the morning I think. I will give them a ring and see what they think at least.
This dog is such a worry!!! Oh NO! I have 4 for them! I don't think I ever get to stop worrying now! All you parents out there, including mine: Wow, I don't know how you do it (after all humans live a bit longer than dogs.)

I love the Dyson but.....

2010-05-21T21:37:00.004+10:00

Sometimes it is a bit yukky.

Steam Powered trip

2010-05-20T14:05:00.008+10:00

Ages ago, Neil started looking for a steam engine to buy. It was a bit of an up hill battle. They seemed to be a lot more expensive then he thought they would be and also a fair bit crappier for the lot more money. He passed up one or two early on, then started getting a bit depressed he was never going to get one and played 'what if' about the ones he hadn't bought. He was getting really quite down about the whole thing. Many many people from the steam club were looking out for one for him and most of them were really supportive about him getting one. Which was nice.
Anyway, early this month a Burrell Single Crank Compound engine came up in Queensland. Apparently only 37 engines were produced with the specifications of this one, and although as you can see it doesn't look all that flash, it has had a lot of the really expensive boiler work already done.

In the end, it might end up looking like this:
But not for a while, because this is what the wheels look like

Anyway, the point of this post is to tell you Neil has left me for the week/weekend, to go to Queensland to visit the engine. It might be a while before it makes it to Melbourne, as the cheepest way to ship it is to wait for a back load. He is very happy about the whole thing (not the back load, the engine.). He has taken the nice shiney new car. He left this morning at very dark o'clock (about 5.30am) and tonight he is staying in Dubbo, which is further north than Sydney. He is mad. Apparently the owners/ex-owners have organised a BBQ for him on Saturday night and he will be staying with them. They sound nice.
P.S. it's 8 horse power. This is very important....

My first cache

2010-05-16T17:07:00.003+10:00

I have made my own Geocache. I'm very excited about it. I placed it this morning, and sent it off to the approval person, who turned it on at 2.37pm. I got my first person logging their find at 4.16pm! They fond it with another cacher, so the First to Find (ftf) qudos has to go to two people.
I have another couple of caches in the pipeline, including two EarthCaches, provided the people who look after the land I want to put them on approve them.
Now your job is to go and look at my cache, then get out there in the real world and go and find it!

Tickets are booked

2010-05-12T08:43:00.002+10:00

Our holiday is now all booked in, at least the flights part is anyway.
Looking forward to our break to the UK :) Here are the entries from our last trip there: Our travel blog

New Car

2010-05-04T09:46:00.000+10:00

As you can tell, Neil hated having this photo taken, but I feel it was completely needed. It's us standing in the Doncaster Subaru dealer, pick up our new car :) The new car in question is a 2010 Subaru Outback. It's a diesel. It's very shiny and goes brooooom. This post has been deliberately back dated to the first day we got it, but I couldn't actually do the post then, as I wanted to surprise mum and dad with the car on the weekend. They were very surprised :)
We took all the pups up to Beaufort to visit them (They caught a mouse!)

Less guarding

2010-04-24T10:22:00.003+10:00

More sleepingToday is a bit over cast and grey, so this is how the guard dogs seem to plan on spending the day.
On Monday, I woke up with the head cold from hell. It was so bad, I didn't go to work until Thursday, in fact Thursday was the first day this week that I got dressed or left the house. I still don't feel exactly wonderful and I have the worst smokers cough, I sound like a 20 a day girl. You know the sort of cough, where you cough and cough and feel like to need to bring up a lung, and even then, after all that coughing, it doesn't help, you still feel like there is 'something' there. I have even left bad enough I have had Benadryl (not a useful link, sorry) That stuff is awful. I remember when I was little, it was kind of a dark red color and really, although it was hardly a nice drink, it really didn't taste that bad, for medicine, now however, it is clear and has a "great berry flavour" (sorry NOT true) it tastes like POISON! It has this awful chemical taste mixed in with the 'berry'. Not being a fan of either chemical taste or berry, you can imagine, I don't really find this stuff a joy to take. Mind you, the first two doses really did seem to be effective. Last nights? Not so much. Why would that happen to you think? Other than to give me the shits of course.......
Anyway, I have one thing on today, so until I have to go to that, I am planing on being very restful, like the dogs (who are now guarding again! (or at least two of them are)).

Clever me

2010-04-18T14:04:00.002+10:00

I started the first of these booties well before the baby they are for was due. I only just finished them today, when we were due at a party where the baby will be present.... 2hrs ago! Oh well, they are cute and I'm sure the Mum will like them.

Delivery

2010-04-14T16:06:00.005+10:00

It's here. I have been waiting all day.It's even bigger than I thought! Clara is in the foreground for prospective

P.S. In case you were wondering, it's a stereo, with many many many many many speakers (12 I think)

Guarding

2010-04-14T12:06:00.003+10:00

Here are guard dogs in full swing. Apparently the lady walking across the road was a dire threat.

Note to self

2010-03-31T10:52:00.002+11:00

do not try to move Neil's motorcycleAlthough it can make artistic broken glass photos, it does mean you have to spend a lot of time on the phone to the insurance company and time cleaning up glass, not to mention paying for the new glass.

The smaller the group

2010-03-23T19:55:00.002+11:00

the worse the politics.........
.......

Milko

2010-03-20T13:12:00.002+11:00

Do you recon Milko bars go off?

Neither do I! I'm going to eat it! Even if it is from the Show in September last year!

Note: I search and searched on the interwebs for a page to link to about Milko bars and there is NOTHING OMG interwebs, you have let me down! :(

Note Note: it was yum and not off at all.

Lip cream

2010-03-14T10:05:00.003+11:00

I think there are three sorts of lip cream.

The first is a sort that I never buy. It often comes in gimmicky packaging, can be colored or flavored and never actually does anything for dry sore lips.
The second sort is, I think, the most invidious of all. Usually, it looks like a very sensible useful product. When you put it on you feel relief. However! Some short time later the effect wears off, and you have to reapply the lip cream. Heaven help you of you are not in the position to reapply said lip cream, as you lips will continue to grow more and more anxious until you almost feel the need to remove them from you face, the irritation is so extreme! Hence this particular products main source of insidious-ness. It will 'addict' you lips to it, so you just have to keep using it and using it FOREVER!
The last sort is, of course, the only sort you should buy. It is the sort that works. You put it on, you feel relief, the end.

To add confusion to this story of lip cream, there are also three sorts of packaging for lip cream

Little pots, that you put your finger in and then wipe on your lips
Twisty ones: both the sort that work like lip stick and the sort that work like glue sticks with a post up the middle
lastly there are the tinny little tubes, that you squeeze a bit and carefully wipe the end of the tube on you lips to apply (danger danger)

The really confusing part about this is that the packing method is in NO WAY an indicator as to the usefulness of the product contained with in. I have 'good' lip cream in all three packaging types.

My advice (which you didn't ask for) is to find a good brand (either by trial and error or by recommendation by a friend) and STICK TOO IT! (well der!)

Finn's progress in Monbulk

2010-03-13T19:35:00.004+11:00

Hi Neil and Louise

It's been a hectic time here with Ellie, JF and Helen and I haven't had much time to think about writing to you both.

Helen's having a bit of a day off today and is relaxing at home so I thought it would be a good idea to let you know how things are going.

I am very well and have settled into their routine. Ellie and I are very good friends and we spend a lot of time play fighting and chasing each other. We growl and moan whilst we are playing and Helen says sometimes it sounds like we're killing each other...

I sleep on a big cushion next to Ellie in the bedroom and I also sleep on Helen's fleece which she puts down on the floor next to the bed. I feel very warm and comfortable both there and on my cushion. I usually get a bit restless around 7.45 am and Helen always takes me outside and I obligingly do my toilette duties. I'm always ravenous in the morning and I generally have two chicken necks and some puppy dry food or puppy wet food.

Helen has decided that Ellie and I need to spend a bit of time apart so Helen takes Ellie out for walks in the morning and I stay with JF and accompany him to work and help him open the office, patrol the building and check all is in order. Helen says that I'm still too young to go on proper walks and I really don't like that silly lead she sometimes tries to put around my neck. Usually all three of us go to the park in the evening and Ellie and I run around and sometimes we meet and play with other dogs, or sometimes children. Ellie got into big trouble the other day at the park because she found some very smelly pooh and rubbed herself in it, all over. She smelled absolutely wonderful and I started licking her. Helen rushed us home and Ellie spent ten minutes in the shower. She didn't smell as good after that.

On Wednesday evenings Helen takes me to a puppy school in Mount Dandenong. there are three other puppies there and two teachers. So far we have learnt to sit, stay and drop - I'm not too keen on the "drop" but it's worth humouring Helen occasionally as she gives me treats and then I sort of drop to please her.

My teeth are still very sharp and I try to chew anything that I think looks chewable - chair legs, table legs and of course slippers or other leathery things. Helen buys us chews and Ellie and I usually have a dispute over those and growl at each other because she tries to take mine or I try to take hers.

Helen says she will send you some photos. Please say hello to my brothers and my mum.

Love and kisses,

Finn

Edit: We got an update the next day to say that Finn has also been added to the Nathania Springs Team webpage. Just scroll down to see Ellie and Finn at the bottom, their photo is on the right

lazy

2010-03-10T12:48:00.001+11:00

So, this is what the puppies do all day....I think Clara had cottoned on to the fact that I was up and about. The boys hadn't though

News Flash

2010-03-04T23:11:00.003+11:00

Conner has lost a K9! Puppy teeth are on their way out! Thank God! Come on adult teeth!

it's safe now

2010-02-28T11:41:00.002+11:00

The puppy pen has been dismantled, it's safe for visitors with sensitive noses to come and visit again.

Edit:
Trying to mop with one puppy attached to the mop is difficult. Trying to mop with two puppies attached is next to impossible, but very funny!

new feature!

2010-02-27T13:44:00.005+11:00

So, for those of you who know me, I am somewhat.... "specific" about some things.
I like lists for example, as demonstrated in my 101 things in 1001 days thingie. Listing things also shows up in my desire to catalog things. Like our DVD collection. For this task, we decided to purchase some spiffy software. This is fairly cheep and quite cool. I discovered this morning that it also lets you automatically create web pages of your collection. This I have duly done. I am personally not very impressed with the template, but it seems to be quite complicated to create your own template and I haven't attempted that (successfully) yet. Anyway, you can now look at our DVD collection online and marvel at our ~~terrible~~ interesting taste in DVD's. There is also a link above on the header bar.

The potato cake enigma

2010-02-26T18:21:00.003+11:00

What is it with potato cakes. You go into the fish and chip shop and you order n potato cakes

   n = the number of potato cakes you want

and inevitable you end up getting n + 1 potato cakes

   number of potato cakes you actually get = n + 1

So next time you go to the same fish and chip shop you think, "Hay, I'll be smart, I only want n potato cake, so I'll order n - 1, knowing I'll get n + 1 potato cakes

   being smart, next visit you order = n - 1 potato cakes

Then the man gives you bloody n - 1 potato cakes and you are now one short!

Arrrrrrrrrr, you just can't win can you?!?!?

skip

2010-02-22T19:11:00.004+11:00

We love a good skip here at our house! It usually means hours of back braking work, especially for Neil. Here is ~~our~~ his latest effort. He is currently out there now putting even more on it, even though I think it's full.

Message from Finn

2010-02-22T18:53:00.001+11:00

I received a lovely email from Finn the other day. Here it is for you to read:

Hello Louise and Neil,

It's Finn here and Helen said I had to write you a quick note to let you know how the past 24 hours have been for me up in the Hills.

Well, after I left home I was plonked into a little doggy bed on the back seat of the car. I was quite pooped so I lay still for the whole trip. When we got to their house I spent a lot of time sniffing in every nook and cranny and familiarising myself with the layout. they have lots of steps in their garden and Helen had to help me get up and down some of them,
Later in the evening we went to the park and I had a good run around chasing a tennis ball and following Ellie wherever she ran. By the time we got home I was starving and I ate Ellie's food and she ate mine - Helen tried to intervene but didn't succeed. We went to bed at about 11pm and I was a bit unsettled and kept fidgeting around. JF picked me up and let me sleep on their bed for a while. That was great until I fell off and then I decided to sleep in my bed on the floor. I woke up at about 6.45 and made sure they knew I was awake. Helen took me into the garden so that I could do my pee. Ellie and I ran around a bit and then I did a bit more sniffing around the place hoping I could find some food. I overheard Helen saying to JF that I have a huge appetite. Helen gave me some of the food you left for me plus a yummy chicken wing.

After breakfast we went to the oval in Monbulk and Ellie chased the tennis ball again and was running around like a whippet - I had to chase her of course to show her that I am just as fast as her. After that Helen put me on a lead for a while and we walked to the post office. I was too tired to do any more walking so Helen picked me up and carried me back to the car.

I went to the office today and spent a bit of time sniffing around when i first arrived - lots of interesting smells, especially from their big kitchen. When Helen or JF weren't around there was always someone else to look after me and I got lots of tickles and scratches. One young couple came in to have a look around because they thought they might like to get married at Nathania Springs. When they saw me they made a big fuss of me and even wanted to take me home with them. I spent a bit of the afternoon asleep under a desk where it was a bit cooler. Later in the afternoon when Helen had finished her work she took me downstairs to her office where it's comfortably furnished and airconditioned I had a big sleep in my bed with Ellie close by and Helen sitting at her computer.

All these young people started arriving for their shift in the late afternoon and they all kept coming and disturbing me downstairs to say hello. I kept hearing the word, "cute, cute, cute" all the time.

We went back to the park again in the evening and I had another good run chasing Ellie. We met another little pooch called Nelson (Ellie knows him) and they played chasey together. I tried to join in but Nelson kept snapping at me and trying to put me in my place . I think he thinks he's top dog...

When we got home I ate an enormous dinner as I was starving again. Ellie's food is really yumm and I like to eat out of her bowl.. when I growl and bark she moves away so that I can eat from her bowl. I can tell Helen is a bit miffed as Ellie seems to like my special puppy food which Ellie isn't supposed to have.

It's bed time now and Ellie and I are on the bed and it's very comfortable. There's a nice ceiling fan which makes the room nice and cool and I think I will have a good night's sleep.

I will write again soon when Helen and JF tell me to as I know you must all be missing me!

Love and cuddles from Finn.

good/sad and good

2010-02-18T22:27:00.003+11:00

Today Finlay went to his new people. I have been very sad because of that, but I do know that the people will be very good parents for him, so it is also good. They run a reception center in Monbulk, where they work from home. They dog Elli, sits in their office with them all day, on her own couch. We are wondering how long it will take Fin to become the boss and own the whole couch. Apparently their whole staff and looking forward to the new puppy coming. So even though I am now crying AGAIN, I know Fin will be very happy there.

In other news, today Clara caught her first mouse! (Don't even thing of asking why there was a mouse in the house for her to catch, it probable isn't worth it) I had seen the mouse earlier in the day, whilst on the phone, and pointed out to Clara where is was hiding, under the fridge, so she know it was in the general area. Later tonight, Neil was helping Clara sniff around by moving things. He moved one thing in the 'alcove' and the mouse came zooming out from under some stuff on a shelf in the alcove towards the middle of the kitchen. Clara whizzed around and snap, the mouse was dead. Clara took the mouse outside, then the puppies came and took it off her.......... and ate it. There is obviously no picture for this post, as that would be gross.

concreters

2010-02-18T11:38:00.003+11:00

Today, after a seemingly interminable wait, the fencing man arrived to put in the posts for our two new gates (it hasn't actually been that long, it's just the puppies can;'t be outside during the day, when we are not home, until the new gates are in, as our front gate is a bit dodge). This was duly accomplished, all before 11am. So I let the puppies outside. Then I noticed one puppy had a dirty nose.....
I had a look and yes, it was concrete. What a helpful boy, he had decided to have a dig in the nice wet concrete. Thankfully, when I found the spot he'd had a go at, there was no real damage done, I smoothed it over and it will be fine. I nipped back inside to get the camera to take a photo of the naughty puppies face (God why do Scotties get into everything) and took a nice photo of Finn's face, only to realise, I had been looking at Conner's messy face not two seconds ago!
Oh Dear. Two dirty puppies.
I cleaned then up, with a face-washer, in the laundry trough (in face, I think it was actually the same I just about 4 years ago to clean tortured slug off Clara's face in the first week we had her home).
Anyway, I put their fence around the offending concrete and went to write this post, only to discover Guthrie also has a concrete-ie nose. AHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhh. I am yet to discover which of the 4 bits of concrete he has gotten into. God I should have gone to work, it would have been more restful!

Lump o cake

2010-02-06T15:34:00.002+11:00

As I was pouring the cake mix I had just made into the cake pan, I realised that the pan was really too big. 'Oh Well' I thought, 'the cake will just spread out and be a bit thin'
Little did I realise this would not happen. Hence: was born.
Oh Well, I'll put some icing on it, it'll be fine.....

away

2010-01-31T10:02:00.002+11:00

I have just gotten back from a fire deployment to Cann River (what a party town that is) and running the cache for the base camp there. While I was there I had the weirdest 24hr flu thing I have even had. I had a head ache for 48 hrs and 'hot colds' for almost exactly 24 hrs, starting at 7pm ish on Monday and finishing at 5pm ish on the Tuesday. Really odd. Being sick at fire is always a pain in the bum as it involves lots of paper work. All of the paper work in question is is designed to be filled in for injuries, not being sick, so it never really makes sense. Anyway, the deployment went really well, all the people on it were great and we did lots of good work. The equipment cache was a total disaster when I got there and I left it perfectly up-to-date, so I am very happy (and smug) camper.

Puppy problems

2010-01-16T16:14:00.003+11:00

this isn't any actual problems with the puppies them selves, they are great! They had their first showers the other day, they have so much more stamina now, they have had their second vaccinations and gotten their microchips. I will be sending off their registration form next week.
No, the problem is I now have no buyers for them. I am not sure what to do about this. I am currently adjusting to the idea that we are going to have 5 dogs. I don't know how to train 3 dogs at the same time. Molly and Clara think their names are interchangeable enough, how on earth do you get three puppies to know their names apart?
Anyway, to this end, we have finally named them, so I would like to introduce Finlay, Guthrie and Conner! (previously known as Red, Blue and Yellow.)

FinlayGuthrieConner

I am about to go out and have a go at clipping the little guys heads, so you can go off and look at the heaps more photos I have loaded up of them! Also, please let me know if you know any one, preferable in Australia, who might like a perfectly lovely Scottie puppy!