Hump of a Day

Former British Soldier Exposes The Monarchy

Today has been an interesting day.

Harley woke me at 6.15am which is the latest morning we’ve had so far and I was very happy! 

Just the two of us rode to the Lions Park for morning coffee with the art girls.

Harley knows when I take my little backpack out of the drawer that it means he’s going out, so he was very excited as I put his harness on and lifted him into the trike basket (I will be very happy when he’s able to jump in by himself!) attaching him to the harness strap for safety. He sat up like King Harley with a big smile on his face.

I parked the trike at our usual table and attempted to take him for a walk before everyone arrived but instead of his usual calm walk with a loose leash at my side, he pulled in front and wanted to drag me along. It didn’t matter what I did, he wanted to be in charge.

This means that I can’t allow anyone else to walk him now until I train him properly. BGWLBH took him for a walk and allowed him to lead the way - now I have to retrain him. It’s exhausting.

This mornings walk was a disaster.

He behaved himself while all the ladies were there and he said hullo to lots of people who stopped to admire him, including two young girls. One of my ladies asked if she could take him for a walk and because she is such a dog lover, I agreed. 

Being a dog lover doesn’t make you a good dog walker. She lengthened the leash and he literally dragged her for 20 minutes, running in all directions and jumping on people as they walked by. Ugh. They both had a great old time and she had a grin from ear to ear when they returned.

For me, leash training begins all over again and I have to deny others the joy of walking him, at least for a while.

We left there around 11am and Harley was exhausted so he happily lay against the cushion in the rear basket and we road home.

When we got home I took him out the back and opened the gate into the pool. He ran full throttle and slid into the water, swimming two laps before he climbed out.

THEN he still wanted to play fetch! That boy has so much energy. We played for about 15 minutes and then he gave up.

I then plonked myself in front of the tennis for the remainder of the day.

Adoring Husband drove to the local take away and bought some hot chips for lunch.

I reluctantly made dinner of honey, garlic, sesame chicken with salads. The Australian, Jason Kubler, was playing and I wanted to watch him play, which is why I ‘reluctantly’ cooked dinner.

Harley wasn’t keen on coming to bed tonight, but he settled after about ten minutes and is now sleeping soundly.

I shall fall asleep to the sound of a rackets on ball again tonight.

Nite all.

Rainy Tuesday

Girl brilliantly explains how the current financial system works.

Yet another rainy day - constant rain to deter you from wanting to do anything or go anywhere.

So it was lucky that I had a zoom meeting booked with The Gypsy and I killed 2 hours in the morning being inspired and energised by her teachings.

Her energy and health has improved considerably since we saw her last Thursday and I feel much better about her ability to thrive from here on in.

Whenever I spend time with The Gypsy I ALWAYS leave her company with my mood at least 50% improved. Everything she says makes sense. Her grounded intuition, common sense and spiritual wisdom feed and nourish me in ways that just can’t be explained.

Today, I knew her health had turned a corner because she chatted vibrantly about all the things we both needed to face in our lives and it all made perfect sense. I feel much more at peace.

Harley had an amazingly good day today. He was calm and obedient and affectionate. This is him sleeping against the gate to the lounge room where I was situated - when we got him, he fit about 2” longer than two tiles. Look how big he is now!

Adoring Husband’s foot seems to be on the mend although it is still swollen and painful. He needs to be more diligent with that moon boot though.

We enjoyed a nice chicken and salad for dinner and played trivia for 30 minutes before The Bachelors came on telly.

I will fall asleep to the sound of Djokovic playing tennis. He has injured his hamstring so I’m concerned as to whether he’s fit enough to see the match out. I hope it’s nothing serious. It would be such a shame for him to pull out after all he’s been through.

It’s a lovely cool night so sleep should be very comfortable. I’m outta here.

Nite all.

It’s Monday

Introducing The Reset | The Great Reset Docuseries (Episode 1)

BGWLBH and I had plans to visit Maryborough today. She had a Drs appointment and we were going to book into a hairdresser, visit the Bling shop and look around the town.

Unfortunately I had a terribly restless night with an upset tummy so I had to cancel and she did the trip solo.

Harley was in the worst mood today, which was not good for me when I was feeling so tired and lethargic from my uncomfortable night.

He did absolutely nothing that was asked of him. He would not sit. He would not stay. He would not come. He kept trying to bite everyone. He barked. He chewed the furniture. He jumped up at the table.

Ugh 😩

I even locked him outside for a while!

To escape him, I sat in the lounge room and turned on the TV. I was pleasantly surprised to see the Australian Open was starting! I’d forgotten all about it!

BGWLBH arrived home bearing gifts which was lovely and then offered to take Harley for a walk to get rid of some of that pent up energy. I accepted her offer.

They were gone for about 30 minutes and soon after arriving home, Harley collapsed into a deep sleep.

Tonight’s dinner was lamb cutlets and vegetables with a chilli mulberry sauce.

I’m feeling very tired so it’s sleep time for me now.

Nite all.

Lazy Wet Sunday

Immunology 101

It has been another drizzly wet day but at least Harley got to go for a swim.

We were playing fetch during a rain break and he was huffing and puffing from all the running and jumping so I opened the pool gate and in he slid for a couple of laps before getting back into the game.

Unfortunately he decided to dry himself on the couch in the family room and luckily I have a coverlet over it so I can wash it and get rid of that wet dog smell!

This is the interesting way he sleeps under the little table in the family room …

And this is Harley eating the basil plant from the garden …

BGWLBH and I spent some time in the art space and I finished my octopus collage …

I found a great YouTube tutorial for learning how to do a portrait using pastels. I got myself all set up with the iPad and YouTube on the bamboo stand, the right paper and my new pastels … then the first step was to sketch the face.

😳

I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to do something so detailed so I’ve set it aside for another day.

I won $40million in Texas Hold’em instead. Pity it’s not real.

I watched a couple of great Netflix movies. “Half Brothers” and “Along For The Ride”. I enjoyed both of them.

Sunday roast lamb and vegetables for dinner.

The Bachelors for Sunday night viewing.

I phoned Number One son and sang Happy Birthday to him very badly.

Now it’s time to sleep.

Nite all.

Drizzling

It has been a wet day with drizzling rain.

Aside from cleaning up all the messes that both Adoring Husband and Harley have made today, I spent some time in the art space - not doing art - but enjoying the space.

I have a Sports Bet account which I use once every couple of years - every second Melbourne Cup, if that - last year in November I put $50 in the account so that I could bet on the cup but didn’t spend it all so today I decided to watch the live racing and make some quinella bets at $2 a pop.

My first one came in and I won $20! Wahoo!

Then I proceeded to lose all of my money.

I put $2 each way on a horse called ‘Harley Fat Boy’ that was paying $126 for the win.

It didn’t win.

I had fun losing the $24 that I started with.

After I lost my money, I watched the World Championship Figure Skating on ice (couples) which I thoroughly enjoyed.

I cooked bangers, salad and fried rice for dinner.

Harley was a bit naughty today - no swimming in the pool on cool rainy days and too drizzly to play outside so I think he was a touch bored.

It’s Number One son’s birthday tomorrow (15th) so HAPPY BIRTHDAY YOU! 🥳🎁🎈

I can’t believe how tired I feel and it’s not even 8.30pm! I had a restless sleep last night because Harley kept rolling over against the walls of his sleeping pen and banging against the door. I woke at least 5 times.

Hopefully I can sleep soundly tonight.

Nite all.

Silence

BGWLBH drove Adoring Husband into The Bay today so that he could attend a Drs appointment and run some errands.

It was a long day, especially because the doctor was running 90 minutes overtime with his appointments.

He did purchase a new desk chair for me (which I still have to put together) so I’m excited about that!

AH has an infection in his foot which has a crush injury and he has to wear the moon boot for 6 weeks and is now on a course of antibiotics. I swear that man is going to be the death of me.

However …

I got to spend over 3 hours alone and in silence. It’s the first time in almost 8 months that I’ve been alone at home so I turned off the TV and set aside my devices and simply sat there. It was quiet and peaceful and meditative and lovely.

Harley was asleep or playing in the back yard for most of that time but we did spend about 20 minutes playing together.

I cooked some cheese and bacon muffins and served them with salad for their lunch when they arrived home.

Tonight we watched the Djokovic vs Kyrgios exhibition match which I enjoyed very much and I can’t wait for the Australian Open to start on Monday!

For now, it’s 9pm and I’m ready to sleep.

Nite all.

Mini Road Trip

We drove to Dallarnil this morning.

Our cargo was 10 x frozen vegan soup and 6 x vegan ragout plus 2 x containers of fruit salad and a jar of fresh green juice.

It was lovely to see The Gypsy but my goodness she is looking weak and frail. I hope my offerings help to build her strength because it was all made with love and good energy.

We didn’t stay long because she doesn’t have the strength and stamina to manage long visits, so after about 20 minutes, we hugged our goodbyes and were back on the road.

We stopped at Childers to check out the shoe shop (no luck for me), the cheap discount shop where we got some art and craft goodies, the dress shop (no luck again), one of the op shops, the PO gift store and we stopped for drinks and lemon meringue pie at a cafe.

As we drove through Howard, we decided to stop at the new rural produce place and discovered chook poo! We’ve been searching high and low for chook poo, so this was an exciting find for us.

Instead of driving directly home, we stopped to check the mail and pick up our weekly butcher order and were home by 12.30pm.

I prepped an easy lunch for we girls (AH had already eaten) and then played with Harley for a while.

Spent an hour in front of the TV.

Played some more with Harley until he dropped his toy and walked over to the pool fence where he sat and looked at me. I opened the gate and he went straight into the water and swam a couple of laps, got out, shook himself off, picked up his toy and brought it to me to continue our game! 

He’s so clever.

I cooked curried chicken for AH and BGWLBH. I wasn’t hungry for dinner.

It’s now 9.30pm and I’m struggling to keep my eyes open so …

Nite all.

Vegan Cookery

Not much happened yesterday.

Nothing to write home about.

Nothing to blog post about.

This morning was coffee with the girls at the Lions Park and there were nine of us squeezed around the table!

I rode the trike with Harley in the back …

He was very good at the park and only got fidgety in the last 20 minutes. He received lots of cuddles from the girls which made him happy AND the girls happy.

We arrived home at about 11am and then drove to the supermarket for some supplies so that I could make some vegan meals for The Gypsy who, after major surgery with complications, is on a slow road to recovery. Now that her partner is back at work, we thought it would be helpful to make some meals.

I’ve made an anti-inflammatory vegetable soup with turmeric and a Vegan Tuscan Butter Bean Ragout. There are two weeks worth of meals if it’s just The Gypsy eating them. 

We’ll drive out to Dallarnil tomorrow morning and drop them off to her. She is still too sick and very weak to be entertaining visitors so we’ll stay long enough for a hug and a 5 minute conversation.

I made spaghetti bolognese for our dinner tonight, which was delicious. 

Now it’s after 10pm and I’m exhausted.

Nite all.

Toy Boy

BGWLBH and I drove into The Bay early this morning.

While we were out, I purchased a couple of new toys for Harley. He really only liked one of them, a rope tugging toy. The other two make weird noises that he doesn’t like - which is strange because he loves all of his other noisy toys, but these sounds are a bit louder and he doesn’t get to control the noise. They make random noise depending on how you throw them or roll them, where his fave toys need to be squeezed to get the sound.

He was not so good for Adoring Husband today, knocking over a plant cover which had a dish of egg shells drying in the sun. He squished them into the grass and made a big fat mess on the lawn.

He can now jump on the family room furniture and AH found him sleeping on the couch …

AH’s foot is still very sore but he’s doing ok.

I had an afternoon nap on the couch and cooked some pork ribs that I’d been marinating for two days in home made mulberry chilli. Served with fresh coleslaw, leftover roast veg and a garden salad.

We played trivia.

I watched ‘The Bachelors’ … interesting.

Time to sleep.

Nite all.

Got the Boot

Well Adoring Husband’s foot was looking pretty nasty this morning so he drove himself to Hervey Bay Hospital. It’s his left foot that’s injured which is not required for driving. 

He was issued with instructions to not let them vaccinate him and to refuse any RAT or PCR tests.

As it turned out, they didn’t even ask if he was vaccinated and even though he was the only person not wearing a mask, they did not question him.

It only took three hours from when he left here to when he returned home and he even stopped at the drive through coffee place on the way home.

At the hospital they x-rayed his foot and fitted him with a moon boot. No fracture.

To top off such a surprisingly easy morning, at the coffee drive through,  he was told that the person in the car before him had paid for his coffee! How nice was that!?

It has been a good Harley day. The only hiccup was when BGWLBH and I drove out to Farm Gate this afternoon, AH left Harley’s treats on the little table so Harley stole them and we found the empty bag outside. Cheeky bugger.

He had a swim this afternoon and we played fetch a few times. He played with his toys by himself in the yard and he slept at my feet when we played trivia. He can now jump on the furniture under the Bali hut AND in the family room. He’s a growing boy.

In two days we ate almost all of the Farm Gate produce that we bought on Friday so we returned today and stocked up on more tomatoes, cucumber, watermelon, plums, garlic, green apples, eggs, ginger beer and mulberry jam (delicious in my chilli sauces and marinades!).

We stopped at the supermarket on the way home to grab some extras.

BGWLBH got very arty today and produced some nice work while I spent time in YouTube searching for ideas for me. No luck.

Tonight was roast chicken night with roast potato, sweet potato, pumpkin, carrot, onion and steamed broccoli and beans topped with home made gravy. It was delicious.

It’s already 9.30pm and I’m feeling weary.

Nite all.