I found my GPS!

Exciting news and I'm sure you all feel better for knowing this.

Back in January I wrote an entry about the case of my missing GPS that was in the safest of all safe places. Yep, January. It's now, what, almost the end of June and it's only just re-appeared.

Before exploring this scintillating topic further I do need to correct a slight untruth in the heading of this blog entry. I didn't actually find my GPS. I need to extend my gratitude to the hard-working cleaning staff at Bulleen Wash and Wax, or Suds and Duds, Clean and Spiffy, something like that. I had attempted half-heartedly on a few occasions to track down that hiding place of my GPS with no luck. Using The Force to find locations had been working thus far with no major mishaps. Now before you go and call me lazy, I have some damn good excuses (excuses - classic sign of a lazy person).

1. Usually my back seat (and rearvision mirror) is taken up with these two furry critters.

And even if they're not in the back seat, their dog rug is, which makes rummaging under the seats a trifle difficult and if I'm wearing a material that fur can cling to, I exit my car resembling a female version of Chewbacca after just a few minutes of hunting. So really, unless I was going to go hunting for my GPS naked, it wasn't going to happen. And I don't know the neighbours well enough yet for them not to call the cops on me.

2. Even though I've been living in this house for almost 5 years now, each time I go to see my parents I seem to accumulate another long lost possession of mine that they don't want to keep on storing and it ends up in my boot.

Anyone want to play, guess that object and its purpose?

There's many layers to the contents of my boot. And I did briefly start shifting things around to have a hunt around for the GPS, but once I realised that it has taken years of speed humps and vibrations to make those objects click together to fit into the boot I didn't want to disturb it further. And before you state the obvious by saying, "Why don't you just take all that stuff inside?" I'm going to rebut with, because our house is also full. The previous owners of our house were not storage idea geniuses. Who installs a set of wardrobes in a bedroom where the doors never open up completely to give you access to the shelving? You can either get to half on the left or half on the right, but never the entire shelf! Sheesh.

Anyhoo....

So back to Bulleen Vac and Wax, Shine and Gleam, maybe I should go and check my receipt for their real company name?

I can see the look of despair on the faces of the staff of this car wash when they see me pull in. I try to make the time between their tortuous task as long as possible, because I care about their mental health, but sometimes the fur just gets beyond amusing and I have to make the trip.

The Manager walks up, greets me, looks at my car, sighs, I make my best "Sorry" face and go and get a coffee while they go about their business.

It's amazing some of the long-lost objects they uncover. If the car-washing business doesn't work out for them, I'd be happy to write a reference to pursue a career in archaeology.
This time the Manager came to see me mid-clean with a message from the cleaners. "They want to know if your dog is now bald". Ha ha, very funny.

He then went on to suggest ways in which I could perhaps reduce the amount of dog fur accumulating. He suggested one of those dog harnesses. Yep, got one. Imported from Germany by BMW no less. He said that maybe I should leave the harness in, rather than pulling it in and out as the fur is probably falling out during that process. No worries, except that the only time I take the rug out is to come here for a clean. Out of ideas, he then asked how big the dog was. When I said there were two and one was 45kgs he muttered under his breath, "Well that explains it".

And indeed it does. I know how much I moult, and while I weigh the same as our big guy Ralph, there's a much greater fur/hair to surface area ratio happening. I just have my head, he's got an entire body of moulting potential. And he has the pointy sticky-in fur too.

So now a week on I still haven't put the dogs back in the car and I'm the worstest dog Mum in the whole world... according to them.

Just give me a few more days enjoying my fur freeness and then they'll be back in the car, furring it up, heads out the window, doggy grins on both their faces and I know I'll feel better having them back in there too.

Next time, leather interior.

Living with Nature...

The Good and the Not So Good
If you've read some of my other blog posts you'll know that from our little home on our bit of land we wake up to sunrises like this...

Marvel at the beauty of nature on mornings such as below...

Be amazed at the colours in nature when one of these appears ...


And other times just think, "Wow".

All which make us sigh in contentment and is a big part of why we love our little patch of dirt.

There are a lot of people that move to our suburb so they can experience old trees, sunrises, sunsets, rainbows and watch storms, but they forget what also comes with living surrounded by nature.

For example, meet Edward. Arachnophobes, I dare you to click on that picture to see it enlarged.

The irony of what we named this spider only became apparent after I'd read the Twilight saga (yes, yes, start mocking me). And also for the fact that due to the size of the spider we believe it's a female.

She stupidly wandered into the house one evening. Luckily I found her on the wall before my Husband. He has a shoe/spider reflex that would match that of an upset Iraqi with a certain former US President placed in front of him. I managed to trap her and throw her outside. Even though I can't bring myself to kill spiders (or anything for that matter), it's still a little unsettling when you throw the spider out into the dark and you hear a deep "Thud".

Now meet Jim. He's a 2 foot long Blue Tongued Lizard. Harmless. Really. Just don't go poking at him with your digits, should you value them. During Summer he brings himself to my attention when I can hear him at the front door trying to get in.

It's good to have a lizard like Jim living in your backyard. He keeps away the snakes. So yeah, watch out for those too in the warm months.

So now I come to the actual point of this entry. Our latest moment with nature is mice. And naturally there are no photos to show you because the little buggers are so damn fast. Except for the one we found last night lodged in the bread crumb tray of the toaster. Glad I didn't feel like crumpets. It would have been interesting to see how long it took either of us to correctly identify exactly what that burning smell was. "Chicken with its feathers still on?", "No, no, it's a more meaty smell".

In an effort to drive them away just by removing opportunity, our pantry is now empty of anything that they could possibly find appealing. Ok, now that we've removed the chicken stock cubes there's nothing else they could find appealing. Then there's the things that you just forget about.
Such as that personalised Easter Egg that you never got around to eating. Mice took care of that for me.

And last night, as I'm cooking away at the stove, my Husband and two dogs are diving around the house in pursuit of two mice who had decided to risk showing themselves in public. A Kelpie, Ridgeback x Bullmastiff and a man who refuses to be outwitted by a mouse make a formidable and determined team.

I have friends who say they couldn't live in a house knowing there were mice, but if you decide you want old trees, uninterrupted views of sunrise and be surrounded by nature, you need to take the good with the not so good. I'm still yet to coax my friend down from the ceiling after telling her about the mouse that kamikazed out of the pantry onto me before scampering away.

We haven't had this many mice before, but previously when we've had a few around, nature usually just balances itself back out and they disappear. What's the hold up nature?!! Ahem, sorry about that.

So why did I decide to write this pretty meaningless entry? As I was typing this up I had a mouse run out from under my desk and another jump out from the empty box I'd had my lunch in. It seemed appropriate. Hey, at least it's not rats.

This is my desktop wallpaper at the moment...

Doesn't it suck?!

There isn't a day when I don't think, "mmmm Thailand."
The people, the weather, the food, their love of the surroundings and appreciation for what they have. **sigh**
If you've ever thought of travelling there, it's a must!
And if you need any advice with locations, time to travel etc, happy to help!

Update: If you are feeling extremely concerned about the riots in Bangkok, make sure you do some reading into what is really going on and not just the stories the tabloids are running.

Oh Gad and Where's my GPS?

Even if I had have needed to turn right, I would have gone straight.
The driver saw me take this photo. I was a little worried he thought I was going to report him and come and persuade me to delete the photo.
Should he have quizzed me on my intentions with the photo, I wonder what he would have said to my response, "Report you? Nooooo. This is going on my blog. Personally I think you could have fit a few more on!"

As for my GPS...
All I know is that it's in one of those "safe places".

How can you not find your GPS I hear you say?
Or maybe you just "Hmph"'d to yourself and thought "Who really cares?".

Anyhoo....

I keep on getting told "Well, just think back to when you had it last".
And I do, but it's not helping.
Why?
Well, seeing as you asked.

A normal day with clients goes along the lines of this.
I have a presentation/training session to do. So as I'm leaving the house my thought processes are something like:
"Ok, lights off, dogs out, doors locked, fans off, garage door locked. I've got my laptop, laptop charger, mobile internet, phone, USB key/s, manuals, notebook, client notes, GPS, wallet, Software CD's, FTP usernames and passwords, list of client usernames, Reader, water bottle, keys, oh crap, keys, heels (because I don't drive in my heels), cardigan for if the room's cold, coins for a coffee on the way. Check."

That's while I'm walking down the hallway to get out the door.

I drive to the location through peak hour traffic and finally get to a carpark.
As I'm getting out of the car my thoughts go:
"Ok, put shoes on, take cardi, bag, water bottle, hide iPod, put phone in bag, don't forget to get the manuals out of the boot, projector, laptop, notebook, GPS needs to be hidden. Ok, a thief won't be able to see it here."

Turn away from car and start walking where my thoughts are now, "Ok, so Chris, Jeff, Wayne, Craig and Michael are going to be in the meeting", then remember the positions of the people, go through what they need.
"What level are they on again?"
"I hope the SSRS Reports run as they should, my SQL has been playing up and running slow of late. Really must get around to formatting my laptop. If only the ATO would get rid of that stupid software I'd do it tonight. BAS is due soon. Need to free up some space on my external hard drive before I can format. I should back up all my pics too incase the hard drive fails shortly. Crap, should have paid the phone bill before leaving. Don't forget to put your phone on silent. Did I lock the car?" Pause. "I think I locked it. Oh well." Start walking again.
Walk into the reception of the client...

So while I know exactly where and what I was doing last time I had my GPS, that incredibly sneaky place I hid it is just a blank space in my memory as I was trying to remember to not call the MD by his last name. Both his first and last name could be first names and sometimes that can catch me out if I'm not paying full attention.

How do you go with people that have potential first names for both their first and last name? Ever get mixed up?

At some point in the next couple of weeks I'm going to have to pull my car apart looking for this sneaky little place. Hopefully the GPS holder is with the GPS, because that's hiding somewhere too. Another thing to add to the never-diminishing To Do List.

That's the universe for me right now.

I thought I knew dogs - until we went to Thailand

Hubby and I love our dogs.
And like most owners we think they're pretty smart and rather special.
I think Jack is pretty smart and Ralph is rather "special".

Yes, Jack is in this photo.
Just look closely under Ralph's chin.
You can see Jack's little grey nose.

As our Niece put it, as only a 5 year old can, "So, Jack and Ralph are your kids?". I had to nod and agree. Points to the kid. Jack and Ralph go everywhere with me in the car, they have their Gran's house they go to when we are away and generally they live a pretty carefree life and don't ever grow up.

This had always been my impression of dogs; an IQ of a two year old and were just always bouncy balls of fun who did whatever we asked them to. Perfect kids.

Then we went to Thailand.
There are so many reasons that we love Thailand, and their dog culture is just another reason.

The towns in Thailand have two different inhabitants; the humans and the dogs.
These dogs are not like the kiddy dogs we know and love in a country such as Australia where they are dependant on humans for their survival, but they are independent and adult-like in their actions, you can see thought in their eyes and can I say probably behave in a more mature fashion than many of the humans.

What I loved was that the humans did not control the dogs.
There were no Rangers, dog catchers, signs up about leashing your dog, fines if you didn't clean up your dog's poop, and why? Because the humans don't own the dogs. The dogs are their own society. Good luck in fining the dog!

They are completely aware of the humans but they co-exist. Not once did we feel threatened by any dog. They hang out on the beach in the morning enjoying the shade and cool off in the water happy to get a tummy rub off a passing stranger, then they move into the main streets at night and hang out at "their home". It seemed they each had a shop they called home and every night the same dog/s would be there. Sometimes there would be a sleep over where the usual dog would have a couple of ring ins for the night.

On a few nights you would have a dog follow you for a few hundred metres. You look behind and they would stop. Give you a tilted head look of, "I know I act all independant and all, but I can chase my tail and eat my foot if it means you'll take me home". And yes, I wanted to take them all home. After a while they would realise you weren't going anywhere they wanted to go and would head back to where they were laying.

We nicknamed her "7/11 dog". Imaginative I know.
Each night we would wrap up our leftovers and take them to her.

Have you ever watched a dog cross a busy road by looking left, then right and then left again? I was forever amazed at their level of intelligence. But I am blonde so maybe it is all about expectations.

Every now and then you would see a dog with a limp. He either forgot to look left again or he got bowled over by the scooter in his blind spot. All the dogs were very similar in shape and size so it would seem that natural selection had a part in which dogs have formed their society.

Credit also to the Thai's who treat these animals with such respect. I know there are issues with dogs being in poor health and no one to take them to a vet or provide assistance so there's always a down side. I'll buy that Tatts ticket next week and if I win, I'll quite happily move over to Thailand and open a free Vet clinic that can treat these dogs.

I can see the negotiations now for the dog in the photo above.
Dog: "So, here's the deal. Let me hang out in your air-conditioned shop and I'll keep and eye on the place for you. Fair?"

Here are some Big Buddha dogs on Koh Samui. Just trying to stay cool in the shade during the hottest part of the day.

In Phuket we found the dogs had beach territory. An invisible line that would mark their patch of sand. We sat and watched as a dog wandered into another dog's territory. Our automatic reaction was that it could get nasty.

The wandering dog saw the dog who's territory it had passed in to.
He lowered his head and walked slowly up to ruling dog.
They sniffed.
And sniffed.
And sniffed.
And sniffed.
We got distracted by the huge wooden crate that came in on wave - closer inspection showed it was from Indonesia.
We remembered what we were watching again and checked back on the dogs.
By this point they had started to run around together and about 10 minutes later both flopped onto the sand thoroughly puffed.
It was worthy of the comment, "Now if only we could learn to share our territory like that".

So to the Thai's and their impressive dog society, Love Your Work!
And I mean it about opening the clinic if I win the Lotto.
Donations anyone?

Christmas in Australia

A Pre-Christmas Ramble

Christmas in Australia is, well, unique.
For a start, we pretend it's cold, when it very obviously is not.

Each year we all sweat our way through every kind of roast meat you can think of, with roast potatoes, pumpkin, hot corn, peas, carrots, cheesy cauliflower and broccoli, piping hot gravy then finish up with a steaming hot bowl of Christmas pudding with heart warming custard.
Yep, it's hot outside and we're pretending not to notice.

But what makes Australia unique when it comes to Christmas traditions is not the actual day of December 25, but what comes the following day; Boxing Day, or more importantly, The Boxing Day Test Match.

The Boxing Day Test is not a competition between you and your spouse/significant other to see who can put empty boxes on both their hands and get all that built-up pre-Christmas angst out of your system by punching each other until someone loses consciousness, the Boxing Day Test is a Cricket Match.

"Cricke-wa?" I hear you say.

I could explain what Cricket is for hours and it still won't make sense, so let's just go with some of the basics.

Cricket is made up of two teams of 11, with some poor sod being called the 12th Man who only gets to play if someone gets injured, but he still has to dress up for the occasion. His job is to hand out the drinks to the other 11 players when not looking incredibly bored in the stands.

One team bats - you have two guys at each end of the pitch who run up and down it until they go out by either:
1. Having the ball hit their wickets directly (the three sticks at each end of the pitch with bails on top) while being bowled at with a very red, very hard ball,
2. They don't make it back behind the line (called a crease) before the opposition knocks off the bail of their wickets,
3. You put your body in front of the wickets to stop the ball from hitting them (sometimes intentionally, other times not),
4. Or you hit a ball and the opposition catches it.

Once 10 of the 11 of your team go out (because you can't play with one person unless it's Backyard Cricket) you swap over and you now go out and chase around the red ball while the opposition tries not to go out.

Did that make ANY sense at all?

Generally come cricket time in Australia it's the hottest time of the year. A perfect time to have 11 guys standing out in the pelting sun with no shade wearing long pants, collared shirt and oft a neat little woollen knit vest, all in the shade of cream. Perfect colour for sliding along grass and rubbing a red ball on your pants.
Here's one of our Aussie Cricketers and also body double for Jason Momoa, Andrew Symonds.
Google him, he must have been pipped at the post for the part of Ronon Dex.

So not only do you have long pants, socks, shoes and shirt, you also have a helmet, leg pads, gloves and other such protection in sweaty regions to go with your 40 degree day with no shade.

Did I mention this game goes for 5 days?
Not just a few hours a day for 5 days, but from around 11am to somewhere around 7pm, for 5 days. There's no stop watches to decide when to finish the day. All comes down to how many overs have been bowled (I'm not going to explain how that works) and the amount of light left. Very vague in this "every second counts" society we now live in, but hey, it's cricket.

To give you the complete picture, imagine the beating down sun with no shade, standing in attire suitable for Winter in England, chasing a red ball around a field for 8 hours a day until someone either wins or you just run out of time. Yes, after 5 days there can still be no result.

Right now, the cricketer's are puffing their chests out with pride as to the extreme conditions in which they play this game, but guys, I'd like to point one thing out, you run like a bunch of girls at the first sign of rain!

Oppressive heat; no worries.
Excessive clothing in oppressive heat; bring it on.
Excessive clothing in oppressive heat while having someone run at you and bowl a hard red ball at you as fast as possible with only a piece of wood to defend yourself; yep, it's a manly game...
Precipitation; are you kidding man?!

The Boxing Day Test is played at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) in Melbourne - hence the imaginative name.But as an Australian living in Melbourne, what does the Boxing Day Test mean?

It means that your Boxing Day will be spent doing one, two or even all three of the following:
1. Invite everyone over to your place for a BBQ to watch the game which no one really watches except when you hear "Got him!"

2. Go to someone else's house for a BBQ and watch the game without really watching it because you are catching up on the past year of people's lives that you haven't seen since last Boxing Day.

3. Head off to the MCG and be one of the 100,000 other people who have decided to sit in a hot plastic seat, without shade, quite often wearing a hollowed out watermelon as a hat and hoping that the last bit of wetness that fell on you during the Mexican Wave was water.

Which of the 3 options above you decide to do usually depends on the heat factor and which of your friends possesses an MCG membership, pool, spa or child's wading pool with a good view of the TV and/or bar fridge.

If you are a tourist to Australia at this time of year I can highly recommend any of the three options above. The crowd and atmosphere at the MCG on the first day of the test match is fantastic, but it's always great to catch up with a small group of friends as well.

Whatever you decide to do, it's always a great way to wind down from the chaos that Christmas has become and share some stories and drinks with those you only get to see on Boxing Day.

Cheers! Enjoy everyone!

International Creepy Crawly Survey

This is going to be a bit of a ramble to give you some back story, but I'm hoping to get some feedback from those living in other parts of the world and also locals to see if they have seen similar changes.

Growing up in Melbourne, Australia in the 80's meant hot, hot Summers, thunderstorms, lady bugs, earwigs, blue tongue lizards, skinks, kangaroos on the school oval, dust storms and bush fires.

It's interesting how as you grow up you don't notice certain parts of your childhood disappearing. Yes, I remember when Greatest American Hero and MacGyver went off air, but I didn't notice the lady bugs disappear, that is until this year.

The only reason I noticed that they disappeared is because they've re-appeared!

About 2 months ago Hubby called out for me to "Come and check this out!".

He had on a leaf two lady bugs mating. So either it was a gentleman bug and a lady bug or the bugs have gone all new age.

We hadn't seen lady bugs since we were 8 or 9 years of age. I was going to get footage of the two, but felt that it was a breach of their privacy and just felt kind of wrong so we left them to be and thought no more of the matter.

In case there is a lost in translation issue, here's a dinky little picture of a lady bug courtesy of Wikipedia.Look familiar?

Thinking our mating bugs was a one off it was not thought of again.
Until I found another lady bug on my windscreen, then on the lemon tree, the deck chair, they're everywhere! I asked my Mum if she had noticed them at her house. Turns out she had noticed them around again too.

Following the discovery of the cute bug plague, one day I heard a rustling noise at the front door. I went to inspect and found this guy...

For those of you that haven't seen one of these guys before, it's a blue tongued lizard. Extremely pre-historic looking, but they are gentle giants, until they latch onto your finger.

This one would have been a foot and a half long and a real chubber! He had a bit of a wander around, teased the dogs at the front door then went back into his hole. I've been lucky to see one blue tongue lizard every couple of years for the last 15 years.

Back in the mid-80's we would continually be rescuing them from the backyard in Summer and releasing them back into the bush. I've seen 2 more since this guy.. and no they weren't the same one.

So, strange re-appearnace Number 2 - blue tongue lizards.

Next on my list - grasses.
It's at about now you are wondering if I have a life?

I always had budgies growing up. Budgies, or budgerigars, are a native bird that love to eat grasses with seeds. They grew in abundance in our backyard in the 80's. The seeds, not the budgies.

Budgies... not be mistaken for

budgie smugglers..

This year, our back and front yard has been taken over by these same grasses I haven't seen since I last owned a budgie. And wouldn't you know it, they itch!

Strange re-appearance Number 4 - Earwigs.Earwigs always look like something that has crawled out of the primordial goo. And this one looks like it could crawl off the page. Eeek! Don't spray your screen please.

Also to add to the list, but you are probably bored out your brains by now are dragon flies, millipedes, butterflies and trees are flowering that don't usually flower.

The only other insect I'm waiting to see again are these ones...

I'm sure you will be holding your breath to hear an update if I find them re-appearing. Oh sarcasm font, how I seek thee.

With hardly any rain this year and all of these little beasties making a re-appearance, does it mean to expect bushfires and dust storms this Summer as well? Only time will tell.

For those not from Australia, a lot of our native flora requires fire to release their seeds from the pods and germinate. So as catastrophic as fire is, it is natural and required in this land. That means it is also cyclical and should be expected.

Unfortunately we live in a suburb that doesn't like you disturbing any fallen logs or cut down trees so we are in an extremely dangerous area for bush fires. On one hand we get told to be "fire ready" and to clear any debris, but if we attempt to move fallen debris we get fined. **shakes head**

So now I ask you, have you noticed anything re-appearing after a long absence in your neck of the woods?