fear

i've always been scared stiff of mice, rats, snakes and sharks.  it's fairly easy to avoid the snakes and sharks but unfortunately the former two have been plaguing me of late.  it started when i noticed poop on the back veranda.  could it be rats?  yes it could.  we have had a very wet winter in adelaide and as i live next door to a cemetery and a park my theory is that the vermin got flooded out and moved into my slightly dryer shed.  there's lots of poop in there too.  today, between loads of washing, i leaned on the couch and looked out the window into the back garden just thinking about nothing in particular.  it's a little courtyard garden with a pond and lots of pot plants.  then i saw it.  out of the corner of my eye.  was it my imagination?  no it wasn't.  a mouse (i hope it's not a baby rat) ran out of the shed and into the back garden and it was horrible.  it's out there now.  running around the pots.  very sneakily and quick.  omg.  what to do???  i can ask my dil to put more baits in the shed i suppose.  i wanted to go in there and get the lawnmower out today but now i don't think so.  i was out there last night to water.  did i mention that a month or so ago there was a large dead rat out there?  luckily my dil removed it for me.  she's from the country thank goodness and not a fraidy cat like me. telling me that they are more afraid of me than i am of them isn't helpful.  i know this to be true but it doesn't help.  in my defense, i am not afraid of spiders.  there are red backs in the front garden. 

a few things

i went back to work this week and survived.  yay.  i just realized yesterday that it's only 17 months before i retire.  yikes!  i took the g/kids out for lunch and shopping yesterday.  we had a fab day and were all a bit tired by the time we got back to their place.  my daughter made me a cappuccino in their new (father's day present) coffee machine.  very nice.  i like my coffee :)  we bought lots of stuff.  i even started on my christmas presents.  just started.  my dil returned from cairns.  her mum's op was postponed until next thursday.  let's hope it goes ahead without problems.  i haven't caught up with her yet.

i woke up this morning and turned the laptop on, as you do.  it had crashed AGAIN. what the?  it's happened twice before and i've restored it.  shouldn't happen at all as it's only a few months old if that.  so....  this time i had no choice but to take it back to factory default. i lost all my unsaved stuff, including my tax file for this year.  i printed it out. :(  ahhhh.  i put chrome back on.  i've been using firefox coz chrome kept crashing and doing weird things.  for example, it loads google.com.au in chinese and then offers to translate it.  i've checked all of my settings and they all say i'm in australia and speak and type ENGLISH.  not very well i grant you.  :)  how rude!

as i was getting ready to go shopping a while ago i looked out of the bathroom window upstairs and there was a man lying face down next to the back of the office wall in the cemetery workyard.  i've told you i have a cemetery on one boundary and a park on the other.  i look into the workyard of the cemetery from my bathroom window.  it gets very dusty some days with their machinery etc.  anyhoo.  i didn't know what to do.  next time i looked he had rolled over onto his back and was looking at his mobile.  then, the next time i looked he was gone.  omg how spooky.  no, he wasn't a ghost.  well, at least i don't think so.  :)

i'm listening to the new bob dylan cd on itunes (click here) and thinking about island holidays.

sad stuff

the funeral yesterday went well.  it was emotional of course and very moving.  it was nice to see my cousins whom i haven't seen for ages.  years in fact.  my cousin from canberra is not well again. she had pancreas cancer.  my daughter and family came.  it was nice to see the g/kids.  ants got quite emotional.  today is my late husband's birthday, it's also Anzac day. a day that we remember the brave anzacs who gave their lives for their country.  i didn't watch the march as i always cry and i'm already a bit emotional atm.  instead, i went to the cemetery. (that sounds ridiculous i know) i took a small posy of wattle, rosemary and lavender with a few white daisies for everyone.  it is usually a bit of a trek as i visit my parents' grave, my parents in law's and of course the husband.  i can easily find mum and dad's grave and my pil are easy to find.   no so my husband's grave.  it's a bit of  a thing with our family.  i know where it is.  i line it up with the gate and some trees but it always eludes me.  so much so that i am ashamed to say i get quite pissed with it all. after looking for it for a good ten minutes i went to the office and found it on the computer and then printed out the location.  i went to pil's grave and my parents and had calmed down enough to try to find it again, this time with directions. it still took a while.  so let's hope that next time i visit his grave i'll be able to find it at least a bit faster than usual.  of course, i didn't have my phone with me so didn't take photos.  i expected a lot more people to be there as it's usually a busy day.  enjoy your public holiday where ever you are, i doing the usual washing, cleaning and watching shirley bassey videos on youtube.  

just some random pics from previous posts