Mandarin-mad dog!

 
 Or should that be mandarin mad-dog!

Our normally sweet, but ever so slightly silly dog Angel loves this time of year.

 She loves her mandarins. 

She has weird tastes - which include mandarins.  She also enjoys bananas and tomatoes.

(Please excuse my terrible recording skills, but this is a first for me with new camera!  Hopefully you will be able to view the clip).


Enjoy.

cheers for now
Wendy

Look who is looking pretty sharp

Dexter just had a trim!  He gets pretty wild and woolly and I succumb and send him off to the beauty salon about 3 times a year.  I used to clip him myself, but he is a bit fiddly being so small and someone who knows what they are doing creates a much better result. 

Look who else was looking pretty sharp back in the day.  Actually this was my day, in 1992.   Just look at my handsome partner lol.

Yes folks, this is me on my wedding day, 19 years ago today.  My husband does appear in other shots (don't worry about that) but this was always one of my favourites, and he had it framed and gave it to my on our first anniversary.  Which was kind of him, seeing the dog featured in it, not him! 

Zoe was my all time favourite dog (sorry Dexter and others).  I bought her from a pet shop.  Long before they were flash sort of establishments, this one was the type which had lots of different puppies and kittens and birds all over the place in assorted cages.

 

I felt sorry for her, she was so ugly as a pup I didn't think anyone else would buy her.  She survived Parvo virus and grew to be something like a jack russell/corgie/cattle dog combo, and was a wonderful companion to me every day of her 15 years.

In fact, when I married, my boss at the time penned an amazing little poem about Zoe being stuck at home when everyone else was out celebrating.  That wasn't quite the case, because she was at least included in the pre-wedding photos as you can see! 

Excuse the exceptionally poor (wedding) photography, but the frame is rather large and on the wall fairly high.  So I just took a lazy shot from ground level.  Hope you get the idea anyhow.

A great day, a great husband - and now 19 years have passed already.  Apparently I am being whisked away for the weekend and son is having his first weekend home alone.  Hmmm.

cheers for now - Wendy



Here are my replies to your comments in previous post:

Daffodil  - thanks Daff.  It is amazing how well our garden has been going this season with very little help from us.  The chooks however, have been bad and doing some damage the last few days!  Glad you like the chair.  Motivation is a bit low on the ground here too.

Ali - sweet potatoes continue to amaze me Ali.  They just keep on keeping on.  There are a few things sort of shabby/shabby chic here lol.

Lyndel - thanks!  The chair was purchased for $3 at a garage sale.  The sad part was I could have bought 4 of them, but they were all damaged in one way or another.  This was the best one.

**Anne** - yes they are all pretty good at the moment.  The peas are just wonderful - my favourite uncooked veg.

Goodbye to an old mate

Last Thursday we farewelled our old friend Bundy. 

We knew that his time was approaching - he was close to 18 years of age which is a pretty good vintage.  18 years of loyalty and love - and  such a dignified  dog.  In the end his mobility issues were too much to delay the inevitable, and the vet put him to sleep.    

He was buried at our place.  He was a Smithfield cattle dog, a red stumpy tail.  A little unusual, not seen too often, they are a slightly different from the blue heeler type.  A little taller maybe than a standard cattle dog,  but solid and tough. 

I brought him home from the markets (back in the day when you could pay $50 for the pick of a litter in a cardboard box) and surprised my husband with a present.   There had been a minor burglary next door to us a few weeks earlier and we had talked about getting a guard dog.   A cattle dog turned out to be a good choice and  after Bundy came onto the scene, there were no problems.   

He proved to be a major part of our lives.  Always close by, well mannered and gentle to those he knew as accepted by us.  I think most people are a little wary of a cattle dog, but he was always well behaved.

In his later years, he had to put up with the intrusion of two more dogs into his life.  Angel, the bumbling black Labrador/kelpie cross, and Dexter the terrier cross.  Both well below his level of intelligence (sorry to Angel and Dexter, but it's true!).  But he accepted them into the family, while still maintaining his place as top dog.

Goodbye Bundy, you will be missed.

          

I've got a lovely bunch of ...

Bunya Nuts!  We have just found these - our first from our bunya pine trees which must be about 10 years old I think.

Down the back of our 5 acres, we planted a grove of Bunya and Norfolk Island pines - about 8 in total.  They are now pretty big and beautiful and have produced quite a few of these.  

Each one is fairly heavy and obviously break in impact after dropping about 5 metres at my guesstimate.  The large complete one in the middle weighs 1.47 kg!   I certainly wouldn't want one dropped on my head!  Spikey and heavy.

Now I'll have to look up some recipes.  I should be familiar with some as we have visited the Bunya Mountains quite a few times and the restaurant there features bunya nuts quite a bit.  From memory they are quite soft inside the kernel which has to be cooked first. 

Beyond our back fence.

No much decluttering going on, but I have sold a few things on ebay.  They were bigger bits of furniture - so the place is looking a little clearer - which is great.

I've had a bit of a playaround and changed the look of the blog a bit - what do you think??  I think I'm happy with it..... and I've even learnt how to link - wonders will never cease!

Cheers Wendy