Miss Zelda is a very, very, very, very bad dog

From art plus

Meanwhile, Zelda, problem child, had to have a foreign body removed yesterday. It's about time. Given all the things I've watched her, stopped her from, and failed to stop her from eating!

I had seen that she demolished one of my socks one night last week when I was so tired I went to bed at 8 (and I swear that I put that sock in the hamper....the OTHER one was there). That is to say I found pieces of it the next morning. On Sunday we took her for a walk and Kevin was complaining that she wasn't acting right...when she stopped and vomited up sock strips. I picked them up with the poo bag(!) and we headed home. She vomited several more times - at least 2 or 3 times on the walk and then 6 or more times after we got home. I took her in to the clinic and placed an IV and took an xray.... and checked her on Monday. She was better but not right. We tried a smooth muscle relaxant since my boss thought it might just be cramping and she felt better and slept peacefully through the night. The next morning she was still uncomfortable, so I scheduled an u/s for her and - foreign body. It ended up being some blue rubbery thing I HAVE NEVER SEEN BEFORE!!!!!!!!! She finds weird treasures (mostly bones but perhaps blue rubbery things, too) in our backyard. She is a very, very, very bad girl. The bowel didn't look overly healthy, so we're keeping our fingers crossed that it all goes well.

She's wreaking havoc at the clinic today without me. (Chewed her IV line into three pieces, urinated all over her bedding, and then - and THIS is very impressive - she chewed the power cord to the heating pad they gave her. Last I heard they still hadn't restored the reception computers! Cringe with embarrassment.)

Tomorrow - I'll bring her home.

Wednesday afternoon guests

From mid August

At our back door. I'm not sure what these magpies had in mind but they were very forward! Afterward, I looked out to see they had a third friend "hanging" with them. A kookaburra.

From mid August

Which leads us to

Our car.

Once we got back to Brisbane (no additional problems) we left the engine running and dashed inside to change our clothes and pick up Zelda. Then, we drove to Aspley Automotive and turned the engine off. (Yep. It wouldn't restart.) We thought we could get the car to the garage and give Zelda a good walk on a beautiful sunny day. Perfect! Finally, a plan that was going to work!

Little did we anticipate that there would be a BONUS. Our walk took us past the Aspley State High School where their school sign informed us that they were performing "The Wiz" on Tuesday! Wow! I had to see this!!

Kevin is so agreeable. He did approach me later, after the heat of the excitement when I was no longer repeating the very few lines I know of "Ease on Down the Road" ("Come on now....ease on down, ease on down the ro-oad."), to let me know this was probably not going to be a "Glee" moment.

"Oh,no. I know that. I'm not expecting "Glee" performances."

I have been to High School musicals. I have been IN High School musicals.

Funny thing, though. It wasn't 10 minutes into Tuesday night's performance, when Dorothy is struggling to be heard off-key over the overly loud and similarly though differently off tune band, that Kevin leaned over and confessed HE was expecting something a bit more "Glee" -ful.

From mid August

We had such fun! I'm fully convinced we were the only members of the audience that might have been labeled "General Public" (as my call the day before to enquire whether I could purchase a ticket at the door was met by the need to put me on hold for three minutes while they figured out (pedophile!!!!) whether that would be possible.) The Scarecrow was good - and it makes more sense for the Scarecrow to be female than for the Tin Man (who was now the Tin Girl). The Lion, the Whiz, and the Wicked Witch (Evilene) approached their parts with zest and were great audience favorites. (Interestingly, they were really the only men performing - - yes, the Wicked Witch of the West was played by a man.) I cannot say that anyone had a particularly good or bad voice because the sound control was really, really, really abysmal. (Sound was provided by the 11th and 12th year Sound Production Classes. These students are not ready for the real world.) We are, of course, going to hang onto our programs for the next 20 years in case someone becomes FAMOUS.

Gold Coast Sunday

Ah. Doesn't that sound great. But, wait.

Car battery dead.

And, this time it is not my fault. Really.

We wanted to be away before 7 AM since we were anticipating a 90 minute drive. We came close - 7:06 - after charging the battery with one of our best Australian investments. On the way down we passed Ikea and the Daisy Hill Koala Park (you thought I'd say puppy farm - admit it).

"We should stop on the way home. See what Ikea wonders we can't live without. Actually stop and visit the park."

"After we take a walk on the beach."

From mid August

We made it to the Yacht Club in just over an hour - right on time for Paul and Kim's wedding reception breakfast. The food was great and the company excellent and we got a new deck of Tichu cards! Although you can hardly tell with my lousy under-exposed, overly back lit photograph of cake cutting (fruit cake - very Australian), Kim looked very, very glamorous. Probably with an extra "u".

Afterward, we debated. Do we walk to the beach, leaving the car in the lot since it won't start again? Or, do we jump it and dash for home without another "stop"? This was a day when having a mobile phone might have availed us with a modicum of comfort.

We opted to head directly home. Our only beach time on the Gold Coast being the view from the club and our little umbrella/chair seating assignments.

From mid August

Friday off!!

This is my first weekend off since our trip to the US. (For those of you who aren't living my life, that would be three consecutive weekends of work.) Yippee! That is the only thing I can think, say, do! That, and make a sojourn to Roma Street to take a few photographs.

I'm not sure what's going on - if I'm going through a more picky phase or if my camera focus is failing or if I'm just taking some lousy photographs...but really I have nothing to show from last Sunday's visit to the Ekka (without photographs nothing really happens...at least in my blog.) From today - only a couple. Because it is already 7:41 and I turn into a pumpkin at 8 PM - even on my days off - I'm going to cheat and just throw up the slide show. What I like in particular: the stamen of the white flower (some sort of vine) looks like a collection of dancers, the black and white image of the poppy, and the ducklings. Who doesn't love a duckling?

Breaking Bad

We've just finished binging on three seasons of "Breaking Bad" and my withdrawal symptoms are starting. Wow. The last season. The last episode. The last 3 minutes. How am I supposed to go without until July 2011???

If you haven't taken time to watch the series, run now to your local library. Join me in my pain.

It's beginning to smell a lot like spring!

From Singles 2010