Anti-social: unable or unwilling to associate in a normal or friendly way. That's what toads are.
I LOVE frogs (as you may already be aware), but I really, really, really, really, really HATE toads! They are the most disgusting creatures on the planet. They are ugly. They are poisonous. They only come out at night. They kill frogs (and any other creature that gets too close). They lay eggs in still water, so even the dog's water bowl is not safe. They can squeeze through the smallest opening to get to where they want to be and they smell!
I have three phobias. The first is sharks. Even though I adore living close to the water, I dislike swimming in it, because I am terrified of sharks. I was bumped by a shark while swimming in the ocean when I was 17 yrs old, so the fear is strong!
The second phobia is dying in a plane crash. This is residue from watching all the 'Airport' movies as a teenager. My biggest fear is surviving in a plane that crashes into the ocean and THEN I am eaten alive by a shark!! ***shudder***
My third phobia is toads. When I was little, about four or five years old, I had a puppy that was killed by a toad. The toad squirted it's poison into the mouth of my puppy and it died a painful death during the night.
The house that we lived in at the time, had a timber ramp that went from the back door down to the concrete path that led all the way down the back yard to the 'outhouse' (or 'toilet' for you young ones who have only experienced shiny white flushing indoor varieties).
Picture this: You're standing at the back door in the middle of the night looking out over the yard. There is a full moon, so it is quite light out. The dew on the grass is glistening in the moonlight. You see movement out of the corner of your eye and you look towards the movement. There, about six metres away is a big fat brown shiny toad, hopping towards the concrete path.
As he hops, he disturbs another toad about a metre away, which also takes a hop. This, in turn, creates almost a domino effect and suddenly there are thirty toads hopping all over the back yard, onto and over the concrete path. The concrete path that your little 5 yr old legs need to carry you along to reach the outhouse.
Those killer toads, one of which, killed your little puppy!
Nope! Not doin' it! Pull the jammy bottoms down, hang on to the railing of the ramp, swing myself over the side and pee into the garden!! Run inside and slam that back door before they getcha!
So, one night recently, we accidentally left the garage door open after dark. Our double garage is part of our house with a door that enters from it to our family room/kitchen. That door was also open. I closed the garage door at about 8pm. Adoring husband went to bed at 8.30pm. I went to the kitchen to make a cup of tea at 9pm and there to greet me were two large, ugly brown toads!
I gasped loudly and quickly stepped back into the lounge room. OMG! What do I do? What do I do?
Stop hyperventilating and get Adoring Husband!
I opened the bedroom door to the sound of Adoring Husband's loud snores. "Adoring Husband! Adoring Husband!" I shouted. He sat up with a fright. "What's the matter?" he gasped, probably thinking the house was on fire or something equally devastating!
"There are two toads in the house!" I shrilled.
"Well what the hell do you want me to do about it?" he asked through his sleepiness.
"Get them OUT!!!!" I demanded, wondering what the hell he thought the other options might be!!
He cursed me as he dragged himself out of bed and put some clothes on.
Of course, by the time we got back out to the family room, the toads had disappeared! This meant moving all of the furniture until we found them ... or I should say until HE found them, because I was backed against a wall holding my breath and refusing to move in case the killer toads GOT ME!
It took him about 20 minutes to find them and he threw a tea towel over each one and threw the toads over the fence (this does not kill or injure a toad, so no toads were harmed in this story!) and the tea towels were then disposed of.
New rule: Garage door MUST be closed before the sun goes down.
Last night, somehow the laundry door was left open. This created a 'party effect' for all beetles, mosquitoes, crickets, bugs and TOADS! What a mess!
Luckily there was only one toad and it was very small. Small enough that I shuddered and gasped and grunted and squirmed but was still able to remove it without waking Adoring Husband.
New rule: Close all access points to the house before the sun goes down!
UGH!! Toads make my skin crawl!! They are the only bad thing about living in Queensland!
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Friday, March 25, 2011
Carting Me Around the Golf Course
What a lovely afternoon I've had with Adoring Husband today, playing golf in The Bay!
Neither of us has ever played this course before. The Club has a deal where you can play after 2pm for $20, so we hired a cart and played eighteen holes together.
The course was very pretty with an abundance of wildlife and bird life. The recent bad weather has obviously played havoc with some of the fairways and the putting greens played fast compared to the greens that I usually play. I found quite a few sand bunkers, but I didn't lose any balls (Adoring Husband did!) and I didn't find the water once!
We both played some great shots and we both played some horrendous shots. Adoring Husband had a mini tantrum and almost broke a club when he smashed it into the ground after one of those horrendous shots!
His punishment for that was the promise that I would tell everyone in my blog post. ***chuckle***
It was quite busy and we played close on the tail of the team ahead of us and we had golfers close on our tails as well, which probably didn't help our game a lot.
This was the first time that I've ever used a cart to play golf and also the first time that I've played eighteen holes. I even got to drive the cart a couple of times, which was pretty cool (I have never learned to drive a car). At the eighteenth hole, I put my foot down on the accelerator and scooted off yelling to Adoring Husband "You can walk from here!"
We even found our way to the nineteenth hole and had a beer at the end of the game and had a little flutter on the pokies.
I've been playing golf for about eighteen months now, and if there is one thing that I've learned, it's this. Unless his name is Tiger Woods, a man will always try to hit the ball too hard and will always end up in the trees.
This does not just apply to Adoring Husband, but to all men who step foot onto a golf course! I have become very familiar with that cracking sound that a golf ball makes as it hits the trunk or the branch of any sized tree that lines the fairways.
I have also become familiar with the sight of small groups of men wandering aimlessly through the trees, backwards and forwards as they desperately search for yet another lost ball.
But enough about that. If I spend too much time bagging the male golf game, Adoring Husband might choose to take somebody other than me next time an afternoon of golf is on offer!!
I would much rather he be carting ME around the golf course!
Neither of us has ever played this course before. The Club has a deal where you can play after 2pm for $20, so we hired a cart and played eighteen holes together.
The course was very pretty with an abundance of wildlife and bird life. The recent bad weather has obviously played havoc with some of the fairways and the putting greens played fast compared to the greens that I usually play. I found quite a few sand bunkers, but I didn't lose any balls (Adoring Husband did!) and I didn't find the water once!
We both played some great shots and we both played some horrendous shots. Adoring Husband had a mini tantrum and almost broke a club when he smashed it into the ground after one of those horrendous shots!
His punishment for that was the promise that I would tell everyone in my blog post. ***chuckle***
It was quite busy and we played close on the tail of the team ahead of us and we had golfers close on our tails as well, which probably didn't help our game a lot.
This was the first time that I've ever used a cart to play golf and also the first time that I've played eighteen holes. I even got to drive the cart a couple of times, which was pretty cool (I have never learned to drive a car). At the eighteenth hole, I put my foot down on the accelerator and scooted off yelling to Adoring Husband "You can walk from here!"
We even found our way to the nineteenth hole and had a beer at the end of the game and had a little flutter on the pokies.
I've been playing golf for about eighteen months now, and if there is one thing that I've learned, it's this. Unless his name is Tiger Woods, a man will always try to hit the ball too hard and will always end up in the trees.
This does not just apply to Adoring Husband, but to all men who step foot onto a golf course! I have become very familiar with that cracking sound that a golf ball makes as it hits the trunk or the branch of any sized tree that lines the fairways.
I have also become familiar with the sight of small groups of men wandering aimlessly through the trees, backwards and forwards as they desperately search for yet another lost ball.
But enough about that. If I spend too much time bagging the male golf game, Adoring Husband might choose to take somebody other than me next time an afternoon of golf is on offer!!
I would much rather he be carting ME around the golf course!
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Spoilt Rotten - That's ME!
Adoring Husband did two things for me yesterday that have me very excited.
After returning from Sydney, he caught up on some reading, which included the last 5 updates on my blog. He read the post about me missing BGWLBH and almost immediately booked me a return flight for the July school holidays (BGWLBH is a Catholic School teacher) so that I could visit her!
That post wasn't meant to trigger such a fabulous response, but I'm so glad it did! I'm very much looking forward to seeing BGWLBH and some of my old friends again, although it will be the middle of Winter and it is bitterly cold down that way at that time of year!
I guess I will have to drag out the old Winter woollies - if I have any left that is.
The second thing that Adoring Husband did was take me on a treasure hunt. The 'treasure' being a new camera!
As you know, he did lots of research to find just the right camera for me, after I had told him that I would very much like to change from my old Sony (which has been a great camera and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to upgrade from a simple digital to DSLR) to a Canon.
After doing the photography course at USQ McGregor Summer School last year and also after talking to other amateur and professional photographers over the last year or so, it seemed that Canon was the camera of choice at both levels.
The range of cameras available were wide and varied but we knew that it was time to upgrade, not just choose something at the same level that I currently had.
I wanted to feel more confident about taking on job offers like weddings and birthday parties and we knew the grade of camera that would help instil that confidence. We chose a Canon EOS 5D Mark II.
It is the DREAM camera for photographers at my level.
I'm so excited! I am almost beside myself! I have to wait about seven working days for it to be delivered and in the meantime my other one has gone to camera hospital to see if it can be saved. It had everybody bamboozled as to what the problem might be. We did all agree, however, that it might be possessed!
Adoring Husband is still researching and almost has more knowledge about this particular camera than the Canon rep who was, co-incidentally, at the store yesterday when we were there to ask questions.
He keeps passing on little snippets of new information and directing me to places online to watch short training videos. He gets excited about every new piece of information he finds. So far, all of the information is positive and that's gotta be a good thing!
So now I wait! Yes, I am spoilt rotten! But come on ... I deserve it!
After returning from Sydney, he caught up on some reading, which included the last 5 updates on my blog. He read the post about me missing BGWLBH and almost immediately booked me a return flight for the July school holidays (BGWLBH is a Catholic School teacher) so that I could visit her!
That post wasn't meant to trigger such a fabulous response, but I'm so glad it did! I'm very much looking forward to seeing BGWLBH and some of my old friends again, although it will be the middle of Winter and it is bitterly cold down that way at that time of year!
I guess I will have to drag out the old Winter woollies - if I have any left that is.
The second thing that Adoring Husband did was take me on a treasure hunt. The 'treasure' being a new camera!
As you know, he did lots of research to find just the right camera for me, after I had told him that I would very much like to change from my old Sony (which has been a great camera and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to upgrade from a simple digital to DSLR) to a Canon.
After doing the photography course at USQ McGregor Summer School last year and also after talking to other amateur and professional photographers over the last year or so, it seemed that Canon was the camera of choice at both levels.
The range of cameras available were wide and varied but we knew that it was time to upgrade, not just choose something at the same level that I currently had.
I wanted to feel more confident about taking on job offers like weddings and birthday parties and we knew the grade of camera that would help instil that confidence. We chose a Canon EOS 5D Mark II.
It is the DREAM camera for photographers at my level.
I'm so excited! I am almost beside myself! I have to wait about seven working days for it to be delivered and in the meantime my other one has gone to camera hospital to see if it can be saved. It had everybody bamboozled as to what the problem might be. We did all agree, however, that it might be possessed!
Adoring Husband is still researching and almost has more knowledge about this particular camera than the Canon rep who was, co-incidentally, at the store yesterday when we were there to ask questions.
He keeps passing on little snippets of new information and directing me to places online to watch short training videos. He gets excited about every new piece of information he finds. So far, all of the information is positive and that's gotta be a good thing!
So now I wait! Yes, I am spoilt rotten! But come on ... I deserve it!
***HAPPY DANCE***
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Ten Things That I Love About Being Fifty
- When I see attractive young males at the beach wearing board shorts and nothing else, I can make animal noises, whistle or tell them straight to their faces how 'hot' they are and they always give me a big smile and laugh (as if to say "it's ok for us to give the poor old dear a thrill"). I would never have had the guts to do that when I was younger.
- I can play sport with little effort for five days a week and people consider me to be fit and conscientious.
- Where I used to fight so hard to find my identity among all of my titles of daughter, wife/partner, mother and grandmother, I now take pride in those titles.
- I can leave a party and go home to bed at 9pm and nobody questions it.
- As long as I don't look in the mirror, I can pretend that I look like Elle MacPherson, and almost believe it!
- Men in their seventies and eighties think that I am a hot young thing.
- I don't feel self conscious about doing things by myself, like drinking coffee in a cafe or going to a movie.
- I can look a man in the face and tell him if I don't like his attitude.
- My life has slowed down enough that I notice all the colours and the beauty in nature.
- I lie down for a nana nap in the afternoons and nobody thinks anything of it.
For Vegan Chickie
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday dear Vegan Chickie
Happy birthday to you
Lots of love, hugs and kisses from your favourite mother in the universe.
xxx
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday dear Vegan Chickie
Happy birthday to you
Lots of love, hugs and kisses from your favourite mother in the universe.
xxx
Some Wise Words
"There comes a time in life, when you walk away from all the drama and the people who create it. You surround yourself with people who make you laugh, forget the bad and focus on the good. So love the people who treat you right and pray for the ones who don't. Life is too short to be anything but happy. Falling down is a part of life. Getting back up is living."
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder!
Adoring Husband arrives home today, after five days and four nights in Sydney.
His lovely Mum turned 94 years young and he went down to spend her birthday with her and to make sure the Nursing Home was taking good care of her.
Unfortunately, Sydney had torrential rain for the whole time that he was there, so she wasn't able to leave the nursing home and he even missed out on watching his beloved Cronulla Sharks play football on Monday night. He did go to the ground but it was just too wet to watch comfortably so he jumped in a taxi and ended up watching the game in the comfort of his motel room.
I think five days and four nights is the perfect amount of time for couples to be apart two or three times a year.
Catch up on some reading. Listen to your favourite music. Spend time in the kitchen and cook your favourite food, and then eat it any time of the day or night that suits you. Watch your favourite TV shows. Have a nap on the couch with the fan directly on you. Go to bed and let the sound of rain on the roof lull you to sleep (instead of the sound of your husband snoring hehehe). Close up the house and sit enjoy the sounds of silence.
It's just long enough to enjoy some solitary time, and then look forward to your husband's return.
His plane landed about twenty minutes ago, so I am expecting him home some time in the next thirty minutes.
I have absolutely and thoroughly enjoyed my five days and four nights of complete freedom and I am very much looking forward to him returning today.
So welcome home my darling ... a short absence really does make the heart grow fonder :o)
His lovely Mum turned 94 years young and he went down to spend her birthday with her and to make sure the Nursing Home was taking good care of her.
Unfortunately, Sydney had torrential rain for the whole time that he was there, so she wasn't able to leave the nursing home and he even missed out on watching his beloved Cronulla Sharks play football on Monday night. He did go to the ground but it was just too wet to watch comfortably so he jumped in a taxi and ended up watching the game in the comfort of his motel room.
I think five days and four nights is the perfect amount of time for couples to be apart two or three times a year.
Catch up on some reading. Listen to your favourite music. Spend time in the kitchen and cook your favourite food, and then eat it any time of the day or night that suits you. Watch your favourite TV shows. Have a nap on the couch with the fan directly on you. Go to bed and let the sound of rain on the roof lull you to sleep (instead of the sound of your husband snoring hehehe). Close up the house and sit enjoy the sounds of silence.
It's just long enough to enjoy some solitary time, and then look forward to your husband's return.
His plane landed about twenty minutes ago, so I am expecting him home some time in the next thirty minutes.
I have absolutely and thoroughly enjoyed my five days and four nights of complete freedom and I am very much looking forward to him returning today.
So welcome home my darling ... a short absence really does make the heart grow fonder :o)
Monday, March 21, 2011
Camera Heaven
***sob***
My camera died today. ***sad face***
It was showing signs of illness yesterday when I was trying to take a photo of a lovely little green frog in our en suite bathroom. It took an hour, but I finally got it to work.
I thought it might be the battery, but even after it was fully charged, as soon as I put the battery back in the camera, it caused a red light to flash, even when it was turned off! It's possessed!!
I already miss it.
This morning there were turtles swimming close to the bank of the river.
A tiny little green tree frog attached itself to a leaf on the frangipani tree.
New lilies have opened in the fish pond.
Our hibiscus has four beautiful flowers blossoming on it.
Ten inch tall mushrooms are growing on the front lawn of Grace's house.
The butcher has a new little bulldog puppy who is just adorable and crying out to be photographed!
A storm bird was lurking in the massive fig tree on the riverbank.
It is incredibly frustrating to not have a working camera when these photographic opportunities arise!
My camera is two and a half years old and I have used it every single day since I bought it, so, I think it has lived a full life and I have definitely got my money's worth.
When I first got it, Vegan Chickie also bought a new camera while overseas, and we decided to send each other 'pic of the day', which would be a photo of something that we had seen or done each day with a description of the circumstances that led to the photo being taken.
It was a great way to have daily contact and be connected with each other's lives. Our photography has improved over time and I think both of us have taken some pretty spectacular shots.
Quite strange that for the last two weeks, Adoring Husband has been researching new cameras. His intuition must have been tuned in ... he DOES have that strange electrical energy around him ... maybe he could sense that it was ready to die??!!
So he has already emailed some camera details to me and has some good ideas about what is available and what costs we are looking at. If money was no object... oh my goodness! The fun I could have!
I am feeling very sad that my camera has gone to camera heaven, but I am very excited about making friends with a new one!
My camera died today. ***sad face***
It was showing signs of illness yesterday when I was trying to take a photo of a lovely little green frog in our en suite bathroom. It took an hour, but I finally got it to work.
I thought it might be the battery, but even after it was fully charged, as soon as I put the battery back in the camera, it caused a red light to flash, even when it was turned off! It's possessed!!
I already miss it.
This morning there were turtles swimming close to the bank of the river.
A tiny little green tree frog attached itself to a leaf on the frangipani tree.
New lilies have opened in the fish pond.
Our hibiscus has four beautiful flowers blossoming on it.
Ten inch tall mushrooms are growing on the front lawn of Grace's house.
The butcher has a new little bulldog puppy who is just adorable and crying out to be photographed!
A storm bird was lurking in the massive fig tree on the riverbank.
It is incredibly frustrating to not have a working camera when these photographic opportunities arise!
My camera is two and a half years old and I have used it every single day since I bought it, so, I think it has lived a full life and I have definitely got my money's worth.
When I first got it, Vegan Chickie also bought a new camera while overseas, and we decided to send each other 'pic of the day', which would be a photo of something that we had seen or done each day with a description of the circumstances that led to the photo being taken.
It was a great way to have daily contact and be connected with each other's lives. Our photography has improved over time and I think both of us have taken some pretty spectacular shots.
Quite strange that for the last two weeks, Adoring Husband has been researching new cameras. His intuition must have been tuned in ... he DOES have that strange electrical energy around him ... maybe he could sense that it was ready to die??!!
So he has already emailed some camera details to me and has some good ideas about what is available and what costs we are looking at. If money was no object... oh my goodness! The fun I could have!
I am feeling very sad that my camera has gone to camera heaven, but I am very excited about making friends with a new one!
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