Collateral damage?

I came across this story yesterday from another blog.

Hic!

"My brother had great luck getting rid of slugs by leaving saucers of beer out overnight. Slugs love beer, and they do seem to get drunk very quickly and then die happy (drown). 


However, the alcohol-laced slugs were eagerly devoured by the local hedgehogs, who also became drunk, and kept falling in the (very small) pond. 


After fishing out several cold, wet, and very quickly sobered up hedgehogs, my brother put a little ramp in the pond for them to climb out by themselves!"


(from http://the-accidental-housewife.blogspot.com.au/)

Announcing...Dr Di!

I got official word today that my thesis has passed, and I have met all of the requirements for the granting of a Phd.

So, as of graduation on April 13, I will be a doctor.

Reading my mind

Stolen from a friend's Facebook page. Because imitation is the most sincere form of copyright infringement.

So what is a mini tornado?

No, it's not my fault I tell you. Just because I complained about the rain a few days ago, it suddenly got much, much worse. And I lived up to my reputation as the clueless one, because I slept through the whole thing.

Early this morning, around 4 or 5 am, Dave got up to do whatever it is that men do at that time of the morning. He heard the rain pouring, and the wind started bashing against the window. It seemed more severe than normal (it's been raining on and off for the last three weeks), so he turned on the news.

It seems that we've had a "mini tornado". In the middle of a severe thunderstorm apparently a small tornado formed, and it hit at least two of the suburbs near us. Houses had their roofs ripped off, and outbuildings or anything not tied down such as wheelie bins were sent flying.

A friend who replaced his roof and fence only a year ago due to cyclone Yasi now has to do the same thing again. At least the pool wasn't destroyed this time.

We're all fine, although the tornado hit only a kilometer (2 miles) away.

Librarian humour

Lately my office has been located in the library, and I've gotten to know a few of the people who work there. And although IT people can be very strange, librarians have their own quirky sense of humour.

The library is in the middle of a renovation, and I'm now working in the new wing. Its so new, that the signs haven't been put on the doors yet. My door just has a paper sign with my name.

The official parts of the library are being named with stick on letters. They look very flash, but at the moment the letters are just hanging about waiting to be stuck on the doors.

Here is what happens when you leave a bunch of letters out for librarians to play with.

See, they are a friendly bunch!

This one I wasn't sure about. The first one I read as "Man in Cupboard", but it now
looks more like "Manwich Board". Interesting, because they don't have Manwiches
in Australia.

The second line reads "carry on regardless" which is a particularly stiff upper lip type of British saying.  Maybe by Churchill.

Speaking of sayings when I first moved here I made a joke about trying out a keyboard by typing the old saying "Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country." I was corrected that the saying in Australia is "now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of the party."

This last is completely off the subject, but I thank my mother for insisting that I take typing in high school. Back in the day I couldn't imagine anything more boring than being a typist or secretary, and she said "well, you might need something to fall back on". Wise words indeed.

Jobs only a mother will do

No matter how far the cause of equality of the sexes progresses, there are some jobs that only a woman will do. And no, I'm not talking about changing diapers. In fact, I would go so far as to say, that some jobs only a mother will do.

Several nights ago we had a friend over for dinner. Dave cooked a very elegant roast chicken which boiled over in the oven, filling the kitchen with smoke. After the meal concluded he forgot all about it. Last night when I went to make meatloaf, the oven was still in its same sad shape. Of course cleaning an oven is not something the master of the house will undertake. Of course not. :(

And do you think that Old Mother Hubbard could get one of her many children to do it? Fergedaboudit.

So, yours truly spent a particularly grotty hour today cleaning the oven. Bleh. I had forgotten to do my old trick of lining the bottom of the oven with tinfoil when we moved in, so it was a rub a dub scrub operation. The worst part was getting down on my hands and knees with scrubbing implements of destruction, and then back up again.

Side note to self: when did you my knees get so old?

Anyway, this led me to ponder the many tasks that only a mother (or a woman on her own) will undertake. Because there is no way on God's green earth that a male will even think about doing them.

Ahem...

• scrubbing the toilet
• cleaning out the linen closet
• mopping or sweeping a floor
• cleaning out the fridge
• throwing out moldy green things that were not previously green
• changing the tablecloth on the table
• changing the bed linens
• scrubbing a stove

I'll stop here before I get feeling belligerent. Too late. :)

Rain, rain, go away

For this wet season we seem to have avoided the cyclones from last year, but have twice the rain.  The creeks and rivers are all up, and some parts of the roads are flooded.

The low part of the yard is filling up with water, and its not a pleasant experience to squelch your way from car, to work and back again with sodden shoes.

Even the dog is unhappy with the rain. Izzy hates water with a passion, and if you appear anywhere near him with water on you he will try to lick it off, certain that you are miserable having it on you. The idea that dog saliva might be more of a worry than raindrops doesn't seem to occur to him.

Yesterday Dave and the two youngest kids flew down to see Grandma in Brisbane for a few days. Poor Izzy didn't get the news, and as night approached he became more an more concerned for "his people". At 9 pm I locked the doors and you could see the worry in his little doggie brain.

"Wait! You can't lock the doors, they're still out there somewhere in the rain!"

For the time being Izzy will have to take it on faith that the wandering members of his pack will return.

Is there a Dr. in the house?

After many months of waiting, I finally heard a few days ago that the examiners have finished with my thesis and have decided that my research is worthy of a PhD. This is great news, and I only need to make some typographical edits to the thesis and return it to my uni.

Once it is signed off by the head of school and my thesis supervisor, the university will grant the degree and I can finally call myself a Dr. We are all happy to have this long journey be coming to an end.

Dave and the kids are all doing well in their studies also.

Eventually, I will be able to wear a silly hat like the one below.

And I may have to get this T-shirt as well!