Apologies Abound...

...from me to YOU! Yes, you. No, not that other you, butt YOU my faithful readers! Ah, this'd be "you" in the plural sense, not singular. Of course if I was typing this in Deutsch then I'd be using "ihr" instead of "du" and all this silliness of "you" vs "you" BS wouldn't even exist.

Butt since I'm typing this in English, I felt I should qualify the "you" to mean "you all", or p'haps "y'all" for short. Actually it wouldn't be "for short" as yawls are generally not too short for a boat.

Is everyone just as kon-phuzz-ed as I am? Or are "you" knot?

On a side note, I absolutely DID NOT think about the prose I used above. It just came to me. Now I do think about blog stuff throughout the day, but generally (how's abouts always) the thought shoots itself (for some unknown reason, drawn to the darkness, perhaps?) into one ear, bounces around for a fleeting moment or two, and then quickly ejects itself out the other ear --never to be heard from again. Gotta tell ya, this blog would be a heckuva lot more entertaining if you knew what some of those thoughts were. And then we'd both be in jail.

For those of you who know me (shut up, Karl) the above blathering is absolutely know surprise.

Back to my apology.

I haven't had the time lately to surf some of my fav blogs. And the times when I have had a squizz at them I haven't had time to formulate a comment. And that's bad cus there are sooooo many things I want to comment about. I think.

Why has time compressed itself around me? One word: Family. As in the one I married into. And also the other one soon-to-not-be in Alaska.

It all revolves around MIL --that's mum-in-law btw. See (read), she's had this surgery and doctor appointments scheduled for a while now. It has to due with her teeth.

Or lack thereof.

21 left, of which 12 were infected remnants buried in her jaw and of the 12 still showing over half of them were "bad". Bad as in REALLY F*CKING BAD. Why does she have all these teeth and gum problems "you" ask? 60 years (she's 80) of battling Crohn's disease will sorta do that to you. That and the 5 emergency bowel surgeries along with the cancer surgery.

She's a tough old lady, that is for sure. Oh, the best oral surgeon in South Oz said (without batting an eye) she will be so much happier with those teeth gone. He was right, 36 hours later and she really is happy as a clam.

Now she just has to heal up enough for the dentures.

To add to the drama: 10 days ago BIL got an urgent email from the Flinders Biology dept beggin for folks to cook for Australia's Biggest Morning Tea. This is country wide in all hospitals and Unis. Needless to say, I volunteered as every cent raised goes to the local hospital or Uni cancer research dept. My food was a huge success and there were no leftovers.

The Tea was the day before mum's surgery. And the preceding week was spent in various doctor's offices.

When I wasn't taking care of MIL, I was cooking --or, at least, thinking about cooking, kinda like I'm doing right now. To say that it was a busy week would be a rather sizable understatement. Rather Sizable.

Butt everything turned out great. Food was good, and MIL came through the surgery a million percent better than we thought she would.

Except for the bruising.

Did I mention she's a "bruiser" and a "bleeder"? Well, I have now. In fact just taking the tape off of her eyelids after surgery (don't ask) caused a wee bit of bruising. In fact, both the anesthesiologist and the surgeon personally called us to tell us that not only was it a success, but to tell us about the bruising and how shocked they were.

Didn't surprise us. We did tell them, but I don't think the really understood just how easily she bruises and how "interesting" the bruises can look. Yes, I keep a good supply of arnica cream around.

Anyways, when WP and I went to collect MIL, the nurses in the ward were telling us they had never seen anything like it. Apparently they must have been trying to fortify our constitutions for the impending hideousness we were about to see...

Nah, we've seen worse.

In fact MIL was laughing about all the attention, and yes, I've seen her looking worse --long story.

Now for the FUN part! MIL wanted pictures so she could remind herself of what she looked like with no teeth and being something out of a horror flick. And she even wanted to share it with the world.

The world being those of "you" who read this.

And

see

this.

A
r
e

y
o
u

r
e
a
d
y
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?

Just click on the pic to expand it up to full size, no worries!

Toot, toot!

Now how does that jingle go?

Bean, beans, the musical fruit
The more you eat, the more you toot
The more you toot, the better you feel
So let's have beans for every meal!

My dad taught me that when I was a wee little tyke.

Anyways, this post has nothing to do with that.

This post is about me tooting my own horn!

I put this up on my food blog today, but I figured since I've got 5 times the visitors over here that I'd make you people read it too. So there.



Biggest Morning Tea

Each year, the Biology dept up at our local Flinders Uni hosts what they like to call "The Biggest Morning Tea". It only costs $4 to get in (that's just a couple of Aussie $2 coins). All the cooking is done on a volunteer basis.

My BIL works at the Paleo lab in the Bio dept so he's on their email list. Last week he received an urgent email asking for more cooking-type folks. So far only 4 people had volunteered, and none of them featured any savory dishes.

Mike (BIL) told them about my cooking prowess, and I got in email contact with the lady in charge. She is very thrilled with what I said I could make for them.

Here's the list of what I'll be making between now (monday arvo) and thurs morn:

Cheese and bacon muffins

soft pretzels w/ cheese sauce

mexican chocolate fondue

zucchini bread

cumin seed crackers

wholemeal chia seed bread w/sunflower and pumpkin seeds

morrocan seasoned pan bread w/ grana padana cheese

fresh homemade ricotta cheese (it's easier than you think) to go with the cumin crackers and whatever.


They are expecting 100 to 150 people... This will be challenging, especially as MIL has a couple of doctor appointments this week.

Wish me luck folks!

Oh, the proceeds from it go directly the Flinders Med Centre (right next to the U) for their cancer research.

Alien Abduction Act XI --Smoke & Mirrors

Yes, it's true! The long untold story of my alien abduction continues! There was a momentary (6 week) lapse in the story due to some soft- & hardware probs, but the brain surgery was a success so it's time to entertain you some more!

Since you may need a bit of catching up...

Prelude

Act I

Act II

Act III

Act IV

Act V

Act VI

Act VII

Act VIII

Act IX -preview

Act IX

Act X

Whew! Is everyone now all caught up with the completely true, 100% factual story of my alien abduction whilst I was a lightning-charged, undead, brain-eating zombie with magic sledgehammer?

Just boggles the ole brain, don't it?

For those of you too lazy to reacquaint yourselves with the story, lemme add the last few pics so you sorta have an idea of how you just may be able to possibly think about perhaps slightly understanding just what the heck is going on somewhere in orbit above Oceania at this very moment, too, also.

Remember, a Chinese spy satellite was tracking my whereabouts at the time and got this great pic!




And as I approached I was able to make out the A.S.S.'s rego number!

C4P-PFP2012??? What could that possibly mean?

And then I materialized inside the A.S.S. (Alien Space Ship)!








Now, this is the point that things started to get a little weird (er). So pay attention kiddies!

I seem to remember that right after I materialized in the A.S.S. that there was an odd shimmering and everything changed to a cave/tunnel network. And, more importantly, I changed back into my normal, mundane, self --except for the fact that I was still craving brains. I quickly reasoned that any space-faring critters should have ample brains to eat. The rego of the A.S.S. which was C4P-PFP2012 had, of course, completely slipped my mind during the transformation.

I also deduced that I was still aboard the A.S.S. and that it was some sort of holographic illusion. Perhaps something similar to what happened to a Starship crew in the episode called "Catspaw" from ST:TOS. Oh, you know, that telly show from the 60's that Gene Reddenbacher was inspired to make (bloody-well stole every idea) from the 1956 movie Forbidden Planet with Leslie Nielson? Ah, now you know what show I'm talking about.

Anyways, I was able to re-create the transformation scene from my memory of the event! Would you like to see it?

Of course you would, otherwise you wouldn't have read this far.







Yup! I'm right back to normal!




Now it's time for me to go cautiously down the tunnel in search of alien brains, the control room, the head honcho, and a way back to Australia!

Stay tuned!

Short Video of Mama and Baby Koala

Well, there's just not much else needs to be said about this...




No, this was not at a zoo or a wildlife enclosure. Shot this vid while out bushwalking with Wifey-Poo the other day.

Speaking of which, WP and I are heading on out to go hide in the woods for the day. Fingers, toes, and eyes are crossed for some good pics.

Sarah Palin Plotting The Demise of Anonymous Bloggers!

And oh boy we had all better watch out! The Mean Girl Sarah Palin is definitely on a roll and has her groove back! I also have a candid picture of her plotting just how she'll get us and take over the world!

See, look!


If that's not an face hatching evil plots then I don't know what it is!

Just one glance in my direction of that mean girl glare of hers totally shocked me!





That evening I decided to channel my "inner" Sarah Palin and cook up some critters:




Mmmmmmm, soup stock in the making! I wonder if $arah Palin knows this recipe?




I then found peace and solitude with my chilli plants...




until I noticed one of her spies recording my every move!




Aiiiiiiiigh! Run away! Run VERY FAR AWAY!


*For you newbies here, I named one of the female galahs that hangs around in the backyard Sarah Palin. Not sure where I got the name from, but it sure did make for some interesting visitors to this blog in late 2008.*

Random Australia Pictures

I'm working on some new 3d stuff to continue my completely, 100% true story of my alien abduction whilst I was a zombie with a lightning charged sledgehammer. So don't worry, you'll get to see how it all ends!

In the meantime...

Do you think I need new cycling gloves?




Noisy Miner Bird begging for handouts.




The two bougainvilleas out front flower all throughout the years.




It's amazing just how comfy koalas look...




Dunno what it is but it comes up from a bulb 1 or 2 times a year. The stalk the flowers are on was 6 feet tall this latest bloom.




The two Bird of Paradise plants out front are flowering, must be winter...




These are the flowers on one of the types of vines covering the back fence and around the pool. I step on them when I need to get to the pool filter. They flower yearround and there are a gazillion of them.

Tag! Splat! I'm It!

Yep, I've tagged again. Ker-splat! Ti got me again, guess I didn't run fast enough, eh?

I always hated that game on the elementary school playground. Because of my dislike of the childhood game of tag, I usually don't pass them along. Butt I do post the tag. I think I'll pass this one along though.

I'm supposed to go to my 8th photo folder, find the 8th photo in it, and tell the story behind the particular photo in question. Fine, I can do that, no worries. I'm also supposed to pass it along to 2^3 folks. I'll pass it along, no worries. Maybe...

I went with my flickr account sets to find the 8th folder. Unfortunately there were only 2 in it and they were both vids. Since it was a vid folder I then went to the 9th folder which was the axshuual 8th photo folder. Did y'all follow that?

This folder was titled, "Me" so naturally I stood a very good chance of being able to make up some kind of crap about the picture that y'all might believe. Or I could tell the truth... Hmmmmmmmmm, decisions, decisions...

Well, for what it's worth, here is the picture:




Oh yeeeeeeeah!

This t-shirt tied for first place in my most coolest pressie of the Christmas just passed.

Here's what it tied with:


I can shoot water over 10 metres with this baby! Great pool toy!

Back to the t-shirt.

I like t-shirts, I pretty much live in them. Well, ok, sometimes I wear shorts too... Although I don't wear them when I sleep. Nude for me! Whoops, I'm starting to digress; back to the shirt.

Quite a few decades ago, whilst I was at Uni, I received a very nice t-shirt. It was from a girl I knew from hanging out and shooting pool with. And the bowling alley. And the pub. Is it any wonder I spent 10 years as an undergrad? Ole Sarah Palin didn't have nothin' on me when it came to goofing around as an undergrad! Although I never did pull a fire alarm in a dorm so she's ahead of me there, but I am one of the ones responsible for dorm floor parties being banned for a few years at ole UAF --so there, SP!

Anyways... this girl --whose name I've totally forgotten-- went to Disneyland for Spring Break. Naturally I asked her, quite suavely mind you, to "Cool! Bring me back a t-shirt!"

She did (yep, always have had a way with the babes) and here is what it was:




It obviously became one of my most favoritists t-shirts EVAH!

Fast-forward to the present, presently. My precious Goofy t-shirt was totally tattered. 25 years of me wearing and sweating in kinda did it in --and believe you me if you knew my sweat you'd be wondering how it lasted that long!

Around October of '09 one of my nice, kind, wonderful, loyal readers asks me if she can send me anything for Christmas. Since they are in SoCal somewhere I figured they'd know where a Disney store is in their neighborhood. Well, not only that but her niece was actually going to Disneyland soon!

A package arrived in late November. Wifey-Poo (the most wonderful woman in the entire world) made me put it under the Christmas tree. There it sat for a month until it's grand unveiling! I kinda had a general idea of what it might be, but dang this is just SOOOO COOL!




So thank you muchly to SV Meerkat, and I promise those DVDs I made for you will be in the post... tomorrow.

Now I get to tag 8 peoples...

How's abouts...

SV Meerkat
La Isla d'Lisa
Two Yaks
Up In Alaska
All About Her
Silicon Valley to Tanana Valley
Crazy in Alaska
Tundra Tantrum

Please don't feel any pressure on this tag, no worries.

This Is What Happens...

...to you when you smoke too many sunflower seeds...


Jus' sayin'



Now THIS is my kind of menu!

Go on and guess which two items I'd have! Go'an, goan, guess miss smarty-pants!


Did you know that I like making bread? Making neato-type designs in it:

Any ideas as to how I made the design? If you'd like to make it yourself and ask real nicely-like then I'll tell you. It's axshuuallie simple.

The Cat

His Royal Highness, Lord and Master of All He Surveys, Defender of The Rift, Protector of The Innocent, The All Powerful, King of The Realm, Defender of The Weak, Champion of The Just, Decapitator of Pigeons, Grand Sultan of South Australia, Bearer of The Fangs of Terror...

The

One,


*insert dramatic pause here*



The

Only,



Prince Bagheera!





Has anyone guessed by now that there is a very special cat that lets us share the house with him?





Whenever he has to go to the vet (this always involves copious amounts of blood loss on my part), the vet he sees ALWAYS remarks about how big his fangs are and how healthy his teeth are. I nervously tell him or her it's cuz he chews on my legs all day. They laugh, not realizing what is about to happen...

This





quickly becomes this as the vet tries to take his temp or give him a shot:




No prizes will be awarded for correctly guessing just WHO gets the shot and whose temperature gets taken!

Needless to say, we generally aren't welcome at the same vet twice. Neither is the cat.





I, however, have learned to live with (wait upon hand and foot) Bagheera. See? He can be nice:




And if has roastingly hot bricks to lay on



or some warm stairs to pose on



or some plants to sleep in



or perhaps a dirt-filled coffin to sleep in during the day



or maybe a lawn to flop on



and, of course, doing kitty porn whenever he wants to



and to pretty much hang out wherever he wants to



will hopefully prevent this



from becoming this too often!





Do you know how he likes to wake me up? Besides the nightly trampoline practice on my stomach at 2 AM, of course. He sits on the headboard above me, carefully puts a paw out, unsheaths an inch-long, razor-sharp claw, and stabs the end of my nose! Just imagine one of these waking you up:




The other day we had grilled lamb ribs for dinner. The cat reached up to the bone plate (without even having to stretch) and grabbed a rib. The next thing I here is the cat cracking and breaking the rib! I kid you not! Just glad it wasn't one of my bones.

He also likes to channel the Headless Horseman! Whenever he gets a pigeon or mouse or rat or lizard or wallaby or bunyip he always bites the head off in one chomp and eats it whole. No blood, no mess, just one very satisfied looking cat.

Switching gears!

Purdy!




Go on and try to guess which one is NOT a rainbow lorikeet!




Does anyone feel like captioning this?

Just How Stupid Am I?

Oh ho! Yes, I heard that collective laugh from way up north all the way down here! Gots good hearing, dontcha know.

So, like, just how stupid am I? Am I stupid enough to ask you (and all the lurkers) for advice? Well, DUH! Of course, silly. Butt the importance of the title of this post with relations to my stupidity is WHAT I will ask you about.

If you have your speakers on, then you'll've probably guessed it may have something to do with a certain fermented beverage that I'm kinda fond of.

Do any of you remember my posts back in December of '09? No Karl, that's 2009. Specifically, the posts relating to my chilli beers.

Here, let me refresh your mammaries...

Just how the heck did I make this toxic brew?

It can be rather tasty.

And just what does it do to you?

And of course I had to invite a kindly old elf of my acquaintance to partake in some before his big night.

Fortunately, he was able to recover in time to make his yearly rounds.

I'm sure by now not only are you wondering why the h*ll I'm bringing this subject up but that you've torn your speakers into little, itty-bitty pieces and buried them alive --Quick! What movie was that line from?

The movie line I'm referring to is the "...should be torn into little, itty-bitty pieces and buried alive..." Wouldn't want to confuse you anymore than I already have. *wink*

So, why am I bringing this up? I'll tell you. Actually, I'll type it and you can read it.

I was doing some housecleaning today *gasp* and I found a full bottle tucked into a corner of the brew room.

It.

Had.

A.

BIG.

Chilli.

In.

It.

That's right! My last bottle of chilli beer. Bottled 6 months ago. With a six inch chilli pepper in it. Bubbling and fermenting away ALL. SUMMER. LONG. Keep in mind it can rather warm down here; in case you didn't know.




My question to you, dear gentle readers, is this: Should I drink it? And if I do drink it should I live-tweet the drinking or should I live-blog the drinking?

Your opinion really does matter to me so please feel free to use the comments to give me your answers, ta.

BTW Wifey-Poo thinks I should use it for stripping paint. I disagree as it'd probably dissolve whatever is under the paint too, also.