The year has already begun - Jules style

Well I had to say a sad farewell to an old friend on Tuesday. I hate goodbyes, I love the saying “see you later” instead but in this case it probably isn’t true.

My dear old friend – we have been on many a journey together. I would never have ventured to the places in Australia without you.

You have been my old faithful and for that I thank you.

Because of you I made an effort to go to many places in Western Australia – we travelled to Geraldton, Denmark, Kojonup, Bunbury, Mandurah often, Darkan, Toodyay and many other places I would never have visited without you.

Sadly our journey together ended on Tuesday and I will never forget you. But as age creeps up on us all, sadly we cannot go on forever.............

To my old white Toyota Corona '85 I have to say cheerio, you done me well.

So what’s new in the car field then????

Hmmmm, well I need something that’s economical but will also comply with all my needs and requirements – of course along with the dog’s needs and requirements (this is a must).

Well what has replaced the old faithful then, nothing too exciting really, just something small and reliable and will get me from A to B, or in my case with the dogs from A to Z.

The funny thing is it was the first car I saw. I wasn’t sure what I wanted – quite clueless in fact. I went to a yard and saw it along with 1 other of a different sort. I left the car yard and had a look at a few others – same make and a range of others too – I ended up going back to the first one I spotted. Fate if you will.
As I claim not to be a material person (after having Diva who was one of the most destructive pups known to date I learned not to cherish material things J ) I wasn’t after anything flashy with all the bling so my non-materialistic heart was won over with.................................................
















OMG I Love it - not got a "name" yet but me wee Rav 4 has made me a material person again :-)

It's worked out really well for the dogs too. When I saw it I thought the boot was really small and would just be able to fit wee Minmin in and that would be it

The back seats fold down completely flat so I can fit in at least 3 crates in the back

Well I picked it up on Tuesday and got prepared to go training on Tuesday night

No probs for the big man - what was I worrying about?










You see the other problem was Samroc has always sat in the front seat beside me - since he was 6 weeks old, a little bundle of fur who started off sitting on my lap as we drove and then eventually as he got bigger his spot was the passanger front seat.

So we drove around the block and he was absolutely fine. I think he did think at first hang on woman I've got a grate thing here blocking me from getting in the front beside you - but then the view from being higher up on the road allowed him to see a heck of a lot more that sitting in the car.

We got home and I put Sambo back in the house and loaded up the girls - it's heaps more room than I thought.

The girls seem to like it too - good.
















Emmm mum this is my spot and nope I'm not sharing with the ratbags.....
















Yeh right big man - this is the Diva car.............
















Whatever you 2 - mum said the boot was only just big enough for me so this is my spot - talk to the paw!!!!!


But what about when I take them all to the river together - will the 3 of them be able to fit or am I going to have to take out the grate, fold down the seats, put in crates - or not?????















I said I didn't want to share the back, no I said it first, well I'm the oldest and biggest so I still think this should be for me only......


They all can fit in nice - and stand up or lie down with pleanty of space to be comfy, phew.

Also Samroc jumps in and out as if it was on the ground - mega phew!!!!!
















OK then, there's heaps of room for all of us, lets share and pose for the camera - cheese :-)))

Now I can relax and drive in comfort - my year has already begun, yeah baby!!!!!!!

Fancy food or horror film prop

Well getting into this life approach in 2009 I thought I'd be ever so daring and try something new - I'm not much into cooking - can do not too badly when I actually take the prep. time and have my heart into it - on the whole though my dinners compile of random acts of food - depending on the mood of the day - not usually a proper healthy cooked meal though. I don't really like Italian food - well at least the strong tomato paste based dishes, and mexican too for the same reason - oriental is nice when you're in the mood and Indian is yum - but can't seem to find a decent take away - got an indian cook book and it provides me the means to making a flamin' good curry - takes heaps of time though (not to mention all the dishes to clean afterwards) and it uses tomato paste - but I cannot taste in these dishes unlike the sauces you get from a jar - ewwww - so the quick alternative is something quick and usually unhealthy - I do eat a lot of fruit so I believe this is a good balance :-))

So I was in IGA and they have a range of weird and wacky foods in their deli section - well coming from a background where haggis, tatties and neeps, stovies, hotpot or a stew was a regular on the table I think the range of foods is weird.

I bought a tub of pasta with the dressing and it had spinach and sundried toms, which is ok and then I saw it - octopus, it was in some marinade and I just had to get a bit. So for tea I had the pasta and octopus.

Not sure at first if I could actually eat it so I just had to take some photos of the dish first. So do I actually have enough courage to put this to my mouth, open and chew - hmmmm!!! the tentacle thingys look like they could be used to sucker onto the wall and hang pictures from - although I'm sure the aroma or old octopus would overrule the beauty of the picture after a while.

Well I ate it - I must admit it was bizarre. Now looking back at the photo's I can't believe that this actually went into my mouth, OMG. I mean am I being outright daft here? Is this a common dish to which families sit around the table eating whilst discussing their daily activities and pass the salt please honey??? hmmmm!!!!

The pasta was nice though - plain and simple. The first bit of the suckers was a bit - rubbery :-)) didn't taste fishy or seafoody - the texture was a bit slimy and sluggish like - not that I eat many slugs (or can remember as an infant that is), and the pickle it was in seemed to overrule the actual flavour of the meat (rubber). The longer thinner piece was probably the worst - I swear it was still moving as it was being gnarled and ground about my mouth.

Well now as a well cultured food connoisseur (lol) and when I hold the dinner party with your invite in the post - guess what you'll be having -

.......probably a take away from the local Chinese :-)

Wonders of nature with the dogs

Down the river with the dogs where we venture each morning and if time permits each night too. They love to run and swim. I enjoy walking around with them and Samroc gets great exercise for his back swimming after the ball.

So the other day we're all down there and I have Samroc's daughter Jazz staying here too to make the gang a bit bigger. All 4 are in swimming, Mini and Samroc go the furthest out to swim for the ball, Diva really just goes along for the ride and Jazz is still a bit unsure of how to swim - unco would be a good old auzzie word for it :-).

Anyhoo, to make life easy I use 2 tennis balls, 1 for Sam and the other for Mini. Diva and Jazzy just play with them. So Mini's well far out and Sammy was on his way back to shore. Diva and Jazz are hanging around the shallow along with a few randoms who came down to play. I look up to see wee Mini and about 30m from her I saw a fin go underwater.

Panic alert - the news is full of shark sightings at the moment and it has been known for a shark to come this far up the river - what do I do if I see it going for her, OMG - I gave myself a shake and tried to think rationally - but it's my Minmin out there........

I called for her to hurry up and took off all the leads which were hanging over my shoulder and threw them on the ground - do I take my shoes off to swim faster - what will I do if I get there and it's munching into her - aaarrgggg, she was gaining in the shoreline and all the others were jumping and barking in the water - stop the attention, get the others out of the water and if I walk away may be Mini will swim faster. I picked up the leads again and started walking backwards, calling her with a slight desperation in my voice.......

Have you ever noticed when you are all hyped up and in a bit of a state everything seems to go every other way than what you want. I got the dogs out the water - Diva runs back in and lies down there, I get her out and Jazz does the same thing, I get her out and one of the randoms comes running over and jumping about splashing in the water, jumping onto mine, egging them on, then Diva and Jazz are scattered again - Mini for god's sake hurry up.......

She's now about say 10m from shore and I'm about to either have a fit or faint and she didn't have a care in the world. The positive words of encouragement had now flown out the window along with the keeping the others out and my words resorted to things like "just hurry up or you'll never get to swim again - hurry up or I'll take the ball off you" - what the......

Again the fin apears but this time it was say 50m out - and there were 3 of them - after all that it was dolphins..........

I love watching them swim down there and have only seen them 1ce before. The panic mode turned to a state of awe. I was staring at them in amazement and glee until I was disturbed by a high pitched squeek - and again - Mini shouting to me to throw the ball back in again......... awww wee Minmin :-))