What a great idea

After a number of discussions amongst the girls my work place has decided to do a 'biggest loser' style competition. So we weigh in every week, and it's based on percentage of body weight.

We start 1st October, and the winner is announced at our work Christmas party.

It's so much easier to lose weight when you have the support of other people.

Sad

Poor Bosca, I felt so mean leaving her at home today when I left for work. I hope she doesn't rip up the garden. She was pretty well behaved yesterday when we were out there with her. As long as she doesn't lie on my veggie patch I'll be happy.

Our girl with the little white socks

The first night is always the hardest with a new pet. You wonder will they sleep, will they wee all over the house? Will the bark in the middle of the night? Will the destroy my garden in the cover of darkness? and all manner of other things.

But no, not lovely Bosca, she has been perfect.

I get the feeling she was just following her Kennel Routine. Go to bed when it gets dark, then wake up first thing when the sun is up. She slept right through the night not waking us once, there was no surprises on the floor and not a peep out of her. I had to giggle though waking up to a little brown face, paws up on the side of the bed seeing if I was awake yet to play.

She can't decide who to follow around the most yet. She keeps going between Tony and I, in and out of each room. She seems some what curious at the dog in the mirror in Tony's room, and just wants lots of pats when she sidles up along side me and gives me a doggy smile.

So now we're off to to City Farmers in Hami Hill to find a bed that is a bit bigger. ALex and Renee kindly donated to us Honey's old bed and kennel. She kinda fits into it, but you can tell she is used to something bigger as she tries to stretch out but can't. Also we're going to go get some doggie shampoo (she needs a bath), and a comb or brush to get rid of loose hair.

How much is that doggie in the window

Today our house took on a new warmth, a new little life has entered our family and already our hearts. Bosca the little brindle staffy chihuahua cross.

So we left the house at about midday with a sense of excitement, nervousness and anticipation. Would we find the right kind of pet? Would we find what we are looking for? Would the reality of looking after a dog be too much?

So to Sheneton Park Dog Refuge we went. We entered the compound, and made our way into the tiny office block. After a brief conversation with the lovely staff we were given a map of which dogs where were and sent on our way, making a bee line for the small dog kennels.

I was actually surprised by how many small dogs they had, a few of which we were interested in. One little guy called Charlie took our interest first. He was a fox terrier X and about 18months old. Between each kennel, or run there is a piece of poly pipe in the wall to allow water to drain out, and we watched as he squeezed himself through the poly pipe into the adjacent dogs run twice.

Also a quiet tiny Jack Russell called Virginia took our fancy. She was very small and fine, looked quiet relaxed and docile. So we went back to the office to find out more about these two doggies. Here we learnt Virginia was quite sick with a lung infection of some kind, and thought better of that as we can see ourselves affording large vet bills.SO next onto Charlie who from what the lady read to us sounded fine. A little bit of a terror, but noting I didn't think we could deal with.

So we told the lady we'd like to explore the Charlie option more and she gave us some forms to fill out. In no time all the questions were answered and the forms handed back, we were then requested to wait for one of the dog handler to come and talk to us about how well we would match Charlie and visa versa. So we sat and waited, talked of Charlie and how he might fit in.

To our disappointment the lady advised us he needed to be homed with someone who is home all the time, and that we wouldn't be suited to him. At first I felt really upset that they didn't think we'd be good enough for him, but after the emotion died down I could see the reason in her decision, and I could see Tony was kind of relieved not to get him. I think Tony wasn't prepared to have to deal with such an excitable dog.

She said she'd keep our info on file and that new dogs come in all the time, so we can come back from time to time to see if any more suitable dogs. We thanked her and decided to go back for a second look, and that's when we not only saw Charlie escape from his run all together and do a runner (dodged a bullet there), but we also came across Bosca. She was sitting quietly in her run, watching as people came and went, generally being calm and well behaved.

Now Bosca is not the sort of dog we had in mind, we both went in there thinking we'd get some sort of Jack Russell type thing, and Bosca certainly isn't one of those. So a Staffy Chihuahua cross sounds like an odd mix doesn't it? So she has a chocolate brindle coat, and is stocky and short like a staff, but she has a pretty sweet face which has the chihuahua characteristics. She's very gentle and kind, sweet natured and loving. I think she's going to be just like one of the family.

Mary, Mary quite contrary how does your garden grow?

I'm obsessed, my garden has wrapped me around it's weed infested landscape, and I can't help myself!

So as per my previous post, you know I planted the first vegie patch plot. All was going well for about the first 4 days, until one morning I came to check my little green babies only to find a number of them had disappeared! I couldn't work it out to start with, they we're totally gone. Not just a leaf or two nibbled on but gone! After some consultation with my Dad we decided to check the plants at night to see what was getting into them.

So armed with torches we ventured out. At first we couldn't see anything eating the plants, but once we looked at the rest of the soil we could see lots of tiny movements coming from crickets! And not just one or two crickets but LOTS of the little fuckers.

So to the Internet (at annoying dial up speed), and we read how garlic and chilli mixed with white oil and sprayed on the plants will put the little guys off. So we put the lot in a spray bottle and off I went to marinade my plants. So far it seems to have worked as nothing else has been eaten.

Yesterday late arvo, early evening I also planted some dwarf snow peas and some multi coloured silverbeet, along with more thyme and marigolds which also help but bugs off.

I just can't wait for everything to grow big and strong so I can eat it!! :D

Composting

On Sunday we finally got a chance to start doing stuff to the garden. Tony made a brilliant compost bin, and we both weeded a vegie patch each.

So we now have the following in our garden:
*Carrots
*Apple cucumbers
*3 types of tomatoes
*yellow capsicum
*beetroot
*mixed lettuce varieties
*rocket
*thyme
*oregano
*basil
*marjoram
*lemon Balm

I can't wait till we can start eating them!! :)

Also
i read a book on composting from cover to cover. Who knew it was so
interesting! The book was written by an English guy, so it will be
interesting to see how composting in the Australian climate is
different to the UK. I wouldsuspect compost is produced much more
quickly given the heat, but we will have to make sure we keep in moist
and not let it dry out. at this stage our compost is made of weeds,
paper we used for packaging, blood and bone, sea sol, and some urine...yep that's right, apparently it's good to get the compost started due to the nitrogen in it.

Home

This is my first few hours at home alone. I just want a week of this, doing nothing but enjoying the quiet, the bird songs and the sun coming through my kitchen window. Tomorrow we start the garden.

One left, one right that's how I organise 'em

Today I went to buy bras at Booragoon, and so I pick up my usual size in a few different styles, only to find that I fit into a D cup!!! What??!! Seriously?!! That can't be right.

Well it seems putting on weight has at least one advantage! :)