Month: July 2012

Dogs, rain and Weather Presenters.

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs
The Maltese Terrorist

Some time go I remember reading a page in which Wednesday was always referred to as ” Wet Wednesday” and I stared to look at a Wednesday here. I was  amused to find that it generally  is not the best day of the week as regards to weather. For us it means that by Wednesday the rotten weather off the West Australian coast has made its way across country and is now here. In essence, we look at Perth and that gives some kind of idea what our weather will be like in a couple of days. Anyway, it’s Wednesday and it’s raining. Was a nice day yesterday too but unfortunately, I was working.

I was asked if I was interested in a Kindle Fire and at first I was but having looked into it, I believe I will stick with my Kindle Touch manly because it is not tiring on the eyes even if you have been reading for a while – which I do.

One of the pages I follow said that she had her first harvest despite the fact that half of her garden has been under water for a bit.  Her area in England has just had so much rain. We have not been quite that bad  but we too had had more than our fair share. I would be more than happy to give  one part of our rain share to Ethiopia, or some place like that, yet on the news last night they said that we can “look forward” to about 50mm over the next few days “”and we certainly need the rain””. I  have always had doubts about the sanity of the Channel 7  presenters.

The dogs have been in early these last few nights. I  think it’s been as cold for them as it has been for us and there is still a full month of winter yet to go. My little man could do with a bath but it’s too cold at the moment so I  will leave him for the time being. Because of the rain and the dampness we have not been out walking as often as I would like so I guess, like humans, they put on a bit of weight over the winter. Both of the dogs have been with me for ten years now and I still get surprised with their antics at times, but I think that’s what living with dogs is all about.

Do you have to point that thing at me?

Slow week.

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Likes a nice bed!I have been trying to tackle the weed problem as best as I can at the moment, but with the rain we have been having, it’s not so easy. I did say the other day that they seem to just spring up overnight and the daily dose of rain is not really helping. Oddly enough our weather seems to be  somewhat European at the moment in that  much of the UK is cold and wet. For us here in South Australia we seem to have had a very ordinary summer and an early start to winter with more rain than we generally get at this time of year. But I take heart from the fact that I am not an orphan when it comes to weed problems since the grounds at the church  are starting to show an influx of weeds.

We were invited to a 60th Wedding Anniversary last night and on show was a very elaborate photograph album which contained  letters from : The Governor General,  The Prime Minister,  The State Premier, The State Governor; The Federal MP for the area, the State MP for the area and the Leader of the Federal Opposition – very impressive. And no, there was no letter from the Queen. In this day and age, this is quite an achievement, but then, they are pre-boomers so it’s really not that unusual for that generation and the generation that followed  even although the boomers sometimes get a bad name.

Because it’s cold at night I have been letting the dogs into the laundry earlier than usual. Once they bed down, that’s generally them until about 6:30 am. I give them their breakfast treat and let them out.  They are quite comfortable in their houses and their padded beds and  the houses are under the pergola out of the wind and rain. Actually, I think they are  more comfortable in their houses than in the laundry, but sleeping on a padded bed in the laundry is now a habit and by 10 pm they are generally at the door anyway. We are expecting more rain over the next few days.

Weeds and yet more weeds.

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

It had been forecast to rain all this week. Monday I was out at a meeting and we had a serious storm. The lightening was so intense that at times it was  daylight. My wife brought the dogs inside to the laundry and set  the bed  up for them. The Maltese just went back to sleep but poor Chienna  was going gaga. With her sensitive hearing the thunder really frightened her.  She was so terrified that she attacked the ironing board – we have no idea why she did this since she has never done anything like that before. Annabell gave her half a tablet to try and calm her down. I think I will have to go back and see the Vet because we have had these tablets – from him – for a while now and she still gets seriously stressed out. The rain, by the way, was fairly heavy at times and I believe we received some 35mm overnight. It had been calm today – dull and overcast but no rain, although rain was part of the forecast.

I think the thing that is annoying me most at the moment is the aftermath of the rain – weeds – lots of weeds!! They seem to just appear out of nowhere and they are everywhere, growing almost overnight.  There’s no point in using weed killer because it needs  few dry days to do its work and at the moment we are not getting that. It looked clear so I went out for a rid on the bike. Was only halfway through the circuit when it started to rain. No point in turning back – just as quick to finish, so I did, and came home all nice and  dripping wet and I swear even the dogs looked at me as if I was an idiot.

It’s not even halfway through winter and I’m over it.

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs
The Christmas Plant.
One of my Plants – this one was given to me as a gift.

Australia, like Florida, is generally associated with  sun, sea and sand and fairly laid back lifestyle. Much of the time this is generally the case but these last few years have been a trial and our weather has been very strange. We had some hot weather for a couple of days last “summer” and the same the “summer” before that but we have not really had what Australia would call a “summer”.  It wasn’t so long ago that I was saying that I was not too fussed about the heat and looked forward to weekends and barbecues. My barbecue  has cobwebs on it at the moment. I only used to a few weeks ago when we had a gas failure and no gas for four days so I cooked everything on there barbecue. The long warm, sunny evenings sitting outside with the laptop and a glass of wine- seem like something from another time and place  We have unprecedented rain and flooding and only last week two mini-tornadoes struck Adelaide causing a fair bit of damage.  Cold, wild and wet and this is global warming??? I think we should re-write the Song ” I come from a land down under, the place of rain and snow and thunder”  Raining Monday and a good part of Tuesday. It’s Wednesday and thus far it’s dry.

I  have to head off down to Adelaide this week. Normally I would call the Dog Rescue and see if there is any dogs requiring transportation and take them down with me, but this time, it’s not my car so I won’t be able to. I might try and organise a trip to Adelaide the following week – at least an overnight trip. Tomorrow I will get the Standard Roses and  plant them as soon as I get back from Adelaide.