We are digging a hole, we are digging it deeper...

Ever wondered what a puppy and a senile dog get up to all day? I'm thinking I could make a pretty good guess- thankfully I didn't discover this one after dark. I would be wandering around Shanghai wondering what had just happened...

Friday 13th not just for a day

I have always liked dates with a particular pattern such as the recent 12/01/12 for example. So as Friday started and I realised it was Friday 13th I mused sceptically about the 'bad luck' associated with the date. Hah! There is no such thing as bad luck... Then as I was sitting there at work at 8pm, 14 hours after arriving there I started to change my mind.

There is no fun springing the worst ever horror movie style scare on someone when they are expecting it, like say on Friday 13th. No, Friday 13th had better plans. It would lul me into a false sense of security before unleashing the ultimate terror on Sunday night. Here I was, snoozing peacefully when something soft flopped onto my cheek waking me up. I flicked on the light to see what it was, then kinda wished I didn't. It was a wolf spider. Yep, a massive freaking hairy spider had jumped onto my face. I did the only sensible thing in the circumstances and twatted it with a handy slipper (8 eyes and it didn't see that coming).

So now, as it lay there twitching slightly you would think the excitement would be over wouldn't you. Hah, Friday 13th had something more in store. Thousands of tiny baby spiders, everywhere. I have never seen so many spiders. The were all over the walls, floor and ceiling. Now I like to think I am pretty good with a handy slipper, but no slipper was going to make any difference to the swarm of tiny spiders covering everything (no, I am not exaggerating). Thanks to a couple of tins of mortein and an hour while the room aired out and every thing in that room was either dead or drowning in a pool of fly spray.

Thank you Friday 13th for holding out until Sunday 15th for true horror movie style.

Its another year Jim, but not as we know it

What a relief to wake up and find out the world hasn't ended. I had gotten a little confused and was a day behind everyone else wondering why everyone was wishing everyone a happy new year a day early. When the fire crackers went off at midnight I vaguely remember thinking they were quite keen letting them off one night early and they should save some for new years. How awful it would have been had the world really ended, and I was out by a day. There would be the smoking ruins of the apocalypse and me saying "but its still December isn't it?" Perhaps somewhere it still is.

So in celebration of surviving yet another end to the world I was asked if I had any new years resolutions (may as well plan since we have another year now). I thought this was fairly short notice, although I suppose the more organised people out there (i.e the people who actually managed to get their Christmas cards out in the same month as Christmas) probably had them all prepared in case the world didn't end. Of course I didn't prepare, heck I thought I still had another day (and I still have the Christmas cards all ready to go- just need to get them out of the box, although hang on its January now isn't it...), so all I could think of was possibly being more proactive in getting the lawns mown before they out grow the fence and the dogs get lost the moment they step of the back verandah.

Ah yes, to be more organised. 2012 will certainly be another year, but not as we know it...

NaNoWriMo

Last year was my first attempt at NaNoWriMo. And I didn't finish it. About halfway through I realised that if you are going to write 50,000 words it is probably a good idea to at least have a plot... or a clue. So this year I am prepared. I have a plan, a rough outline of what each chapter will be about, and a month to do it.

Whats big and red and green all over?

I got a new puppy! He is a cute little thing, I had forgotten how smart border collies are. Needless to say Jack is jealous of Hamish and is always trying to hog all the cool toys (Hamish doesn't care, he has more fun with the bottle of water anyway).

Here are some pictures of how cute he is...

It's alive! It's alive! Mwah ha ha

Jack is the equivalent of a a 57 year old man*, who acts like a teenager. He recently started climbing over the back fence and hanging out with the neighbours dogs.

This sounds like a lot of doggy fun, but what was actually happening was Jack was hanging out near the fence while the great dane cross zombie rottweiler chiuaua in the neighbours yard tries to smash its way through the fence to eat Jack and all his doggy I'm-outside-the-fence-and-you-can't-get-me-nyer-nyer-nyer smugness. Add to this, grumpy miners who work night shift and you can imagine how great it is to come home to find Jack sitting in the drive way with a large self satisfied grin.

At first I started tying him up through the day, only to find he started making his escape at night (keep in mind this is a decrepid old dog that can barely chase a ball or go for a walk longer than 10 minutes). He seemed to enjoy being tied up during the day since this allowed him to get in a good nap for the following nights escapade.


So then I started tying him up all the time and only releasing him for walks. He responded by tangling himself up every hour or so and howling. I haven't slept through the night for a while. Something had to be done. A red cattle dog was not going to out think me. So I did what any sensible person would do...

I put in an electric fence! Mwah ha ha ha ha

* http://www.onlineconversion.com/dogyears.htm

Blackout

You know you live in the tropics when you wait for a blackout to clean the ceiling fans. I'm just pleased I'm not in the middle of cooking dinner or trying not to set my finger nails on fire lighting candles. As a teenager I thought candles were cool- now that I occasionally have to rely on them in the evening as my only source of light (and have pondered more than once the possibility of using them to finish cooking dinner) I think they suck. I would much rather be watching telly while boiling an egg and curling my hair.