So no, my cats aren’t spoiled….at least not by comparison. 
Categories
-
Recent Posts
Want to find something?
It's all relative…
Posted in Cats
2 Comments
Going Pink for October
Anyone who knows me reasonably well knows how much I really do hate the colour pink. It stems from spending 21 years of my life in a delightfully girlishly pink room – despite the fact that I prefer blue tones.
In any case, I am going to try and add a little pink to my blog over the coming month (albeit temporarily) for the Go Pink for October cause to raise awareness of breast cancer and get people talking about it.
This is something which is very close to my heart, especially since late last year when my mum was diagnosed with breast cancer. Fortunately she received very prompt treatment and the prognosis so far is good. Although you never really know when you’re free and clear when it comes to breast cancer. We only hope that it does not rear its ugly head again.
Please talk to your friends and family about breast cancer and breast screening. If you don’t currently self-examine your breasts, please start now. If you’re eligible for free breast screening, take advantage of it. By all means, don’t live your life in fear of it but be aware of your own body and get any changes investigated. It is something that won’t just affect you but your whole family.
If you have a website or blog yourself, please consider Going Pink for October, even if it’s just the smallest little bit.
Posted in I read it on the internet
3 Comments
Our waterways – the rubbish tip of the urban jungle?
Rubbish floating in the mangroves on the Brisbane River
Earlier this week, I found myself wandering along the banks of the Brisbane River. It was a pleasantly warm spring day and there were families out enjoying everything that South Bank has to offer – the pools, the grassy picnic areas and the cycle ways that run through the whole area. There’s no doubt in my mind that the development of South Bank has been a positive contribution to the health and wellbeing of our community. It was great to see so many people getting out and being healthy and active.
It’s a different story on the other side of the river. The Goodwill Bridge links the most eastern edge of South Bank to QUT Gardens Point campus and is for pedestrian and cyclist access only. The majority of people would probably follow the signs towards the city, the Botanic Gardens nearby or the university campus itself. I wonder how many choose to walk along the river itself, unless they needed to catch the ferry at Gardens Point.
The access to the ferry landing is a complete contrast to the one on the opposite side of the river. It is a narrow walkway, shared by pedestrians and cyclists which takes people underneath the Riverside Expressway. It is dark and dingy, although blessedly cool in the heat of the day. The smell hits you as soon as you round the corner. Mangroves smell at the best of times but I was unprepared for the stench of rotting food and dairy products left behind by people too careless to make sure their trash goes in the bin. Lolly packets, leftover MacDonalds meals, water bottles and old milk containers have all made their way into the mangroves. Having almost been hit by a flying Coke can thrown out of a passing motorist’s window from the above Expressway, I get the distinct impression that it is not an unusual event.
Despite ongoing education of the public about improving the health of our waterways, it seems it is falling on deaf ears. For the past two years (based on 2007 results), the Lower Brisbane water catchment has consistently scored the lowest rating available in terms of river health. This is despite some clear improvements in other regions of the state. I am sure the answer lies within education and increasing awareness of how improvements in the quality of our waterways can in turn impact positively upon human health.
Please do the right thing by our waterways and the environment in general. Throw your rubbish in the bin and if you’re travelling, keep a plastic bag in the car for your waste and dispose of it properly at your destination. Encourage your friends and family to do the same. It is the small things we can do which can contribute to changing attitudes and behaviours, therefore improving the quality of our environment and subsequently our lives as well.
Posted in Ramblings
Leave a comment
Potential energy
I think I have contracted a nasty virus – it’s called biting off more than you can chew! When I first moved here six years ago, the block was in appalling shape. My other half had already bought the land and had a house built, put in retaining walls and a driveway but that was where the whole concept of landscaping finished for him. I remember pulling up in the driveway for the first time and seeing weeds as tall as my car dominating both the rock walls and the back yard? Well there was no yard to be spoken of, just an endless forest of weeds! The only place they did not grow was on the concrete slab outside the back door!
Of course, having only ever lived in houses with fully landscaped gardens, I was pretty gobsmacked but all I could think of was how the block had so much potential in it. The rock wall formed a natural area for planting, as did the rock wall on the side of the house. One weekend, I decided the weeds really did have to go from the front of the house and once they were gone, I could see how the top part of the retaining wall would be great for a hedge lining the driveway. The lower garden bed was much wider, so I had thought a few more plants spaced widely apart would look really nice.
After a lot of hard work, we soon had a row of callistemons along the side of the house in the rock wall there, a hedge of lilly pillies lining the driveway and a few grevilleas and “tiny trevs” in the front garden bed. A few years later, the patio was erected, the fence thrown up and it was starting to look like a proper back yard as opposed to just some land that surrounded our house. Just before the fence was put up, we were offered a second hand spa to put in and knowing the hot Queensland summers, we jumped at it. We have since had a little buyer’s remorse as it is an in-ground spa and digging the hole for it has been the bane of our existance for much of the past year. Just search for “spa” in the archives and you will see what I mean by that!
The garden bed that we recently put in is coming along nicely and the plants are flourishing. So in my infinite wisdom, I decided that we could easily put in a terraced garden bed along the slope to complement the top garden bed. In my mind, I can see two retained garden beds with bromeliads and some more sedges. I need another DIY landscaping project like I need a hole in the head but I can just see how it could look so much better, not to mention be easier to maintain. Once it’s all done, it is going to look awesome! And it is that potential outcome of all of this which keeps me going when it all looks like it’s going to putty. I’ve put in a snapshot of how things are now….you’ll just have to use your imagination to see what I see in my mind’s eye.
Posted in Home & Lifestyle
Leave a comment
Change in perspective
Pensive cat or cranky cat? Two photos taken around 30 seconds apart – basically long enough for him to realise that his photo had indeed been taken and glare at that pesky human with the camera. Night time shot, lights on with no flash. No laser kitty eyes!
Posted in Cats, Photography
1 Comment
Bubble wrap is nothing to fear
One of our members on All For Women is currently having a problem with her cat being a pest and jumping up onto her kitchen bench. She’s currently after suggestions on how to curb her kitty’s habit – personally I think it is in vain but more power to the girl for trying! Thankfully the only jumper in this house (Mojo) regards the kitchen counter as sacred territory and won’t go further than the breakfast bar where he is fed.
I remember when he was a kitten he would repeatedly jump up on the kitchen table and despite all the suggestions, I have never been able to curb him of this habit. My only solution has been to feed him right before I serve dinner so that we at least are not sharing the same eating space.
One of the suggestions given to us was to use bubble wrap to line the edges of the table so that when he jumped up, his claws would bust the bubbles making a loud pop which would disuade him from doing it again. That really didn’t work. In all reality, I think it actually encouraged the behaviour because he would then repeatedly jump up in different places just to hear the bubbles pop. And who can blame him? I love playing with the stuff myself. He’s not alone either….Rosie has also discovered a fondness for the stuff. Bubble wrap is not to be feared, it is to be chewed on!
Posted in Cats
3 Comments
Getting rewarded for sustainable home design
The most cost effective way of having a sustainable home is implementing green alternatives during the building process itself. If you’re looking at building a house in the not too distant future, it is worthwhile taking a look at the different levels of rebates available for environmentally friendly alternatives to energy production, cooling, heating and the housing design itself.
There are rebates available for a range of environmentally friendly housing design products but the amount can vary from state to state and are dependent on the applicant meeting eligibility criteria. As part of the Solar Homes and Communities Plan, the federal government is offering a rebate on solar photovoltaic systems to a maximum of $8000 for a residential installation. Similarly a $1000 rebate is available for solar hot water systems, with the option of buying back of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs). A full list of various rebates and grants for water and energy use is available from the Alternative Technology Association website.
So that’s great if you’re building a home but what if you already have one that needs retrofitting to accommodate renewable technologies? What if you just can’t afford the upfront cost? In 2009, there may be a solution available to home owners in this situation. The federal government announced in May this year that there will be an Green Loans Program to assist with costs of retrofitting a home with green technology. The loan is intended to be low interest to a maximum of $10 000. As yet, the eligibility criteria has not been released but it is anticipated that this will occur late this year. If you’re interested in this prospect, you can find more information here.
Posted in Ramblings
Leave a comment
Any port in a storm
Last night, we had the biggest electrical storm come through my area which coincided rather unfortunately with the same night that my sister had made plans to go to QPAC at Southbank to see My Fair Lady. Around 6pm or so, I received a stricken phone call from my sister saying that one of the dogs had gotten out (a lovely lady had called the hotline number on her microchip registration tag) and could I go over and make sure that both of them were okay. Of course, my first thought was only of the dogs given that the one in question is quite elderly and is usually petrified of storms. So I flew out of the house with my other half….leaving all the windows open and of course both computers still on because we just dropped what we were doing at the time and left.
When I got to my sister’s place 20 minutes later, I couldn’t hear any barking so I was quite worried that both of them had gotten out. But there was Mischa lying calmly in her kennel. I let her inside and called Mindy but no little silky terrier came to greet me. I thought perhaps the lady might still have her at her place but a short walk down the street in the drizzle confirmed that she had already returned her home and that she must have gotten out again. Ordinarily, I would not think of going out walking in the dark let alone in an electrical storm but I needed to find her so I sent my other half off driving in the car while I walked in the rain, calling for her every so often.
Half an hour later, I’d met about 20 new cats but no little Mindy. I was determined not to go anywhere without finding her so I just kept plodding along, even though the rain was getting increasingly heavier and the lightning frighteningly close by. Thankfully, I got another phone call saying that she had found another home to shelter in and that she would hold onto her until I got there. Even better, thanks to my new phone, I had GPS and a map so I could easily find the house even in the dark. Poor little thing, she was bedraggled and scared stiff but she had made herself at home on an old crate and some blankets while waiting for me to get there. I couldn’t thank the home owners enough for offering her shelter for the short time she was there because I knew that company and protection was all she was after. As soon as my other half picked me up, she was happy as larry and back to her usual self.
It is reassuring to know that there are still lovely people out there who are willing to accept a stranger’s pet into their homes in order to make sure they are okay until their owners can collect them. And how grateful am I that I convinced my auntie (the dog’s owner) to microchip her when she moved down here recently. Without having the microchip details clipped to her tag, we may not have found her so quickly.
Sticks and stones will break my bones….
But nasty names won’t hurt me, so there’s no harm in fulfilling rah’s request to play the name game.
Porn star name (first pet, first street where you lived): Sambo Fenlon (yeah that’s ultra smexy!)
Rock star name (favourite pet, current car): Rosie Corolla
Gangsta name (favorite ice cream flavor, favorite type of shoe): Rum ‘n’ Raison Sneakers
Native American name (hair color, favourite animal, favourite hobby): Chestnut Horse Travelling
Soap opera name (middle name, city where you were born): Maree Rockhampton
Star Wars name (first 3 letters of last name & first 2 of first name, last 3 letters of middle name): Neb Karee
Stripper name (favourite perfume, favorite candy): Hypnotic Poison Clinkers
TV Newsreader name (grandparents first name, any town that starts with the same letter): Gladys Gilmore
Spy name (favourite season, favourite flower): Winter Frangipani
Cartoon name (favourite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing now): Banana Threadless
Hippie name (what you ate for breakfast, favourite tree): Crumpet Eucalyptus
Posted in I read it on the internet
4 Comments
Screw-up Tuesday Strikes Again!
Ikea and I have a bit of a love/hate relationship. I love looking at their products in the catalogue and imagining what would work well in this house. I must love Ikea because despite my deep desire to thrash the brains out of whoever invented flat pack, I keep going back. Our bookshelves are all from there, as is the coat rack, shoe rack, towel racks….well you get the picture. Most of our furniture is from both our parents’ places or stuff we bought before we moved in together. Consequently, our interior decorating is a bit mish mash at best. The great thing about Ikea though is that they have reasonably priced stuff in so many different finishes that it doesn’t matter what room I want to put furniture in, they will have something that will tie in reasonably well.
So there is the love….coupled with the hate. The intense hate of arriving at Ikea at 9:45am and forgetting that while they are happy to let you in the building, you can’t cross into the actual bit you came to shop in until the announcement comes over at promptly 10am. Then there is the number of parents who bring their kids there as some kind of fun outing for the day, so you have little kids who have no business walking on their own two feet trying to push a trolley and ramming it into the back of your ankles every five seconds. To top it off, no one seems to be moving faster than that of a very slow tortoise. Very few people even look at the catalogue in detail, it seems they just meander through hoping they’ll see something they like. I find my item, note its location in the self serve area and make a bolt for the exit. By this time, I generally start to mistakenly think the pain is over, as I descend down the stairs, only to find myself stuck in a new throng of dawdlers oohing and aaahing over some hideous plastic sculpture like it is the David or perhaps Venus De Milo! Finally, I see the self serve area in sight, I grab my trolley, find what it was I went there for in the first place and beat it post haste to the checkout. I pay for my goods with a smile that is far too enthusiastic and say a silent prayer to whoever might be listening, thank Yoda that is over for another trip.
Well usually that is the end of it…..I put it in my car, I take it home and I scratch my head over their next to useless graphic instructions that are provided in each and every box. This time….it all went horribly pear-shaped and for that, I blame crows. Yes you read me right, crows. For some reason, casa Stormy (that’s me BTW in case you didn’t already know) has become a popular hang out with some 25 odd crows. Most of the time, I don’t really care. The few we usually have in residence eat the lawn grubs and drive away the noisy Indian Myna birds that would have inundated us by now. We generally co-exist quite peacefully. Now I’m not sure exactly what disturbed me first but at 3am, all I could hear was the “ark ark ark” constantly. Peeked out the window and there is a whole jolly mob of them out there having a damn Country Crows Association meeting on my front lawn and in the neighbour’s tree. At 3AM!!!! Why are birds doing even awake at that hour??
Of course, the light started peeping over the horizon around 4am and with it started the whistles of the Willy Wagtails. Ordinarily I love the little chirps but not when they set of a chain reaction of every kind of birdlife within cooee of my house. Including the peachfaces which reside within this house. By close to 5am, I just couldn’t stand it anymore and I ended up giving up and just having a shower, getting dressed and tried to pretend it was a less ungodly hour. I started flipping through the Ikea catalogue….which is when I got the brilliant idea that I really did need a new desk for my study.
I think this is getting just a bit too long winded now, so I will surmise why my trip to Ikea ended up a complete Screw-up Tuesday:
- Forgot they opened at 10am and succumbed to the lure of fresh vanilla danish for breakfast (actually by then it was more like lunch, given when I actually had breakfast)
- Found my desk I was after but then got to the self serve area and they appeared to be out of stock. After a round trip back to the Ikea @ Work area, I found that they were inconveniently stored elsewhere but they had stock after all.
- Banged the crap out of my shin bones trying to get the damn trolley to stay still while I put my very heavy flatpack desk and drawer combination on it.
- Heaved it all into the car, spent 15 minutes driving down the freeway like an old granny because I had to have my drivers seat racked so far forward I could only just move my feet to operate the pedals.
- Lugged the whole lot into the back room by myself (given the cats are useless at any kind of manual labour) and started ripping the flat pack desk apart.
- Quickly found out that you can put a flat pack desk together with a wrench for a hammer and a butter knife as a screwdriver. It can be done!
- Mojo kindly alerted me to the presence of a screwdriver after I’d put the desk together with a butter knife by knocking it off the kitchen counter along with everything else that was placed up there (why oh why didn’t he do that much earlier!)
- Opened the box of drawers to assemble to find that there were two conflicting stickers on the box – and I lost out by getting the hideously ugly fluoro yellow filing cabinet/drawer set. Berk! Back to Ikea it goes.
- Finally get the exchange, get back home again to find that my intelligence has been utterly sapped after 14 odd hours of wakefulness and only 3hrs sleep the night before. I spent ages swearing and kicking various bits of metal and cursing why I’d decided to go to Ikea in the first place, only to discover I had read the instructions back to front and was trying to assemble the unit back to front.
Having said that, I have a rocking new desk that I put together myself, largely using tools designed for other things entirely. But OMG, how chuffed was I to see that it didn’t fall apart the instant both cats jumped on it to give it their seal of approval. BONZA!! 
Posted in Screw-up Tuesday
4 Comments