Walking the Dogs

It started off alright. We set off for a trip around the lake. Bobby was all nicely groomed even. Then there was a disturbing encounter with bogans and an empty shopping trolley. They appeared to be of all ages. They left the trolley in the shrubbery.

Then we had a skirmish with a friend's kids and their Labrador. It ended after one kid ended up lying in the mud, Theo yelling at him to get his dog, me telling the other one to help do something with your dog while Theo literally hung our dogs in the air from their leashes, where they dangled, looking like skinned rabbits.
 
I think Billy started it, because the lab came running over off its leash. She seemed to be hanging off the lab's eye or ear or something. We threw them in the lake to wash the blood off them (they and our pants had blood everywhere). We could do without walks like that in future ;)

The Oven Is On Fire

And it was, but it all turned out OK (Mum hadn't used her grill in a very long time). Big flames. The fritatta had bits of ash in it. Smoke billowed. Tom ran around yelling 'the oven's on fire, the oven's on fire', much to the alarm of the blokes at the BBQ. In all that, I don't believe the smoke detector actually went off. I think they might need to check their batteries?

All part of the fun & games at Theo & Neville's birthday brunch. It was a brunch because it was Grand Final Day (AFL) and people were off to parties (not me).

Here we have two Collingwood supporter sisters:

Much food included pancakes (with lemon, sugar, cheese, maple syrup, warm berries in syrup, cream, strawberries and there would have been melted chocolate but someone forgot to get it out of the microwave), bacon, toast, crumpets (nobody got around to eating them), hash browns, little Italian spicy sausages, fritatta (with ash), and probably more things but I forgot already. Oh, cake, of course.

The cake was a 'Torta di Ciocolatta Angela' from my 'The Commonsense Italian Cookery Book', which didn't turn out quite how I thought it would, but still very rich & chocolatey & everyone loved. There was only one cake so the gentlemen involved thought they'd pose as a married couple and cut the cake. Quite ridiculous.

And here's Bobby. Just because.

Domesticated animals, gratuitous machinery & a birthday

It's Theo's birthday & he loves cake.

He did also get roast beef, vegies & yorkshire pudding.

And due to his fascination with engines of all descriptions, he got a hot air engine.

On our recent Ballarat road trip, we saw & therefore couldn't pass by another old dredge/other giant machinery.

And everyone is interested in the new duckling. The chooks want to eat its food. Daisy runs around outside her cage at full speed pecking at everything, including the other animals, & makes the chooks freak out.

The dogs think she's a mouse and so can't be left alone with her. They also just try to sit on me all the time because they can never get enough attention.

And then there were three of them trying to sit on me, because we were dogsitting Hayley's dog, Roomie.

And the chooks enjoy the sunshine :). And dirt. (Note the lemons which I have not turned into lemonade. Um).

So I sit down. The cat sits down. The chooks peck me, the dogs sit on me, the duck pecks everything, the chooks run away, the rabbit watches on & the other cat hides in the shed. I'm surrounded by crazy animals & it makes me very happy ;)

Family, feathered & otherwise

I don't think I knew how sociable chooks could be. With people, anyway. Lacy has been following us everywhere. Even helping us garden. 

 Lately she doesn't follow us around so much because she has two followers of her own. Gertie we picked up at the Violet Town Market, and Dorothy was appropriated from next door because they gained eleven and said well why don't we keep one. Actually, we fostered all the half-grown ones for a night, while the big ones slept in a dog kennel, until they built the pen :). I somehow seem to have neglected taking any photos of Gertie :). 

And, just to show we treat all animals as equal (flies and centipedes don't count as an animal), Theo felt sorry for Billy being scared of the lawnmower, so he finished it off like this: 

And here are three misfits just getting along fine. 

Theo's parents have taken off on their long trek north for what's left of not-quite-winter, and we visited for dinner and Jenga. Nobody broke any bones and we all survived. Although I did tip my cup of tea on myself, which is also what I did the last time I visited there. At least this time I didn't require a change of clothes, and feel like I wet my pants...

Here's a gift my little sister brought me because I was sick for two months & she thought she'd cheer me up. Effective :)

Home again

Yet again I’ve just got back from visiting my dad in Gippsland. His partner is currently working over WA for the mines & he’s a bit lonely all by himself! (not counting muffy dog, of course).

The night before I left, I started on some additional medication & I not only slept solidly through all my alarms that day, but I woke up with only one hour to get dressed, made up & ready, & finish packing instead of 3 1/2 hours. It was nothing short of miraculous that I made the bus at all :D.

For the first three or so days, my new meds made me so doped up that when I later thought about the first full day there, I wasn’t quite sure if I’d dreamt it or not. It’s sort of funny because my dad and I were both sort of similarly medicated & not always functioning quite right, although at least my dad wasn’t having dizzy spells J I found our dysfunction, (both physically and mentally) amusing, anyway. (Dad, if you read this, no offence is intended ;) ).

I spent a bit of time trying to organise our family history, dad got all the information together for me & I tried to organise it enough so we could at least give it out to the rest of the rellies. One branch we’ve got going back to the 1700s, which is really cool J. (Here I again point out how much significance I place on family & roots J).

Here are some holiday highlights: Thanks to Dad’s employer, I spent a lot of time

eating the pastries, etc. he’d brought home. Not to mention all the chocolate, icecream, biscuits and home-grown fruit & vegies I ate :). Let’s just say I didn’t come home skinnier…..

mmmm, berries, icecream & more!!

There was an abundance of silverbeet in the garden & I made this bee-yootiful delicious pasta sauce with mushrooms & cream. We both loved that one! The recipe, roughly was:

Chop1 Big bunch of silverbeet, microwave, covered, for 7-12 minutes, until almost soggy.

Dice two garlic cloves & 2 medium onions, fry in LOTS of olive oil (1/2 cup full at least! Hey, it’s olive oil, your arteries won’t mind so much!) in a really big fry pan or a large pot, until softened.

Add 500g mushrooms, cook until mushrooms are softened & coated in oil mixture.

Add silverbeet to pan/pot, add more crushed garlic (used jar stuff this time), ½ tsp ground pepper, 2tsp ground coriander, 2tsp ground cumin, cook, stirring, for few minutes until mixed well. Reduce heat to low, add 200 - 300ml cream & cook over low heat, stirring regularly, until cream has partly evaporated, mixture is not so runny & silverbeet is nicely cooked. Mix in 1/2 cup or more grated cheese before serving.

Serve with little pasta tubes (the ones like fat, short macaroni or half penne noodles!!).

Finishing burning off one of the patches of scrub down by the dam. It didn’t take off like it did when he’d started it, before I came. At least then I didn’t worry too much about the possibility of having to drag dad out from the burning blackberry bushes.

We had those gale-force winds when I was there & as dad was on night shift, muffy followed me around for hours, scared of all the noise, wanting to be picked up every time I stood still. When we went out on the verandah to get wood for the fire, I wouldn’t have been surprised if muffy had blown away, like Toto. I thought the roof was going to come off at one stage, it was so gusty. Dad later reassured me that that house had some special design feature involving beams and the foundation slabs that meant it was more secure than most houses, roof-wind-wise.

Nice bush trip

& evidence of winds

Muffy the dog kept me company when dad was working (nightshift) & I woke almost every morning to a muffy-face leaning over me, very happy to see me awake. I have my suspicions that face-licking was involved to make this happen. She spent (snoring) every night but one in my bed as well.

Hammock time (I did fall on my head the first time I tried to get in. Haven’t actually been that klutzy before!!).

Big breath, I'll finish these adventures later: to be continued!