I want, I want, I want…

a puppy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I really do.  Yo, it’s hard having to go to work every day with dogs and then not go home to one of your own.

Yes, little Nilly is still floating around but she’s not MINE.  Not mine to snuggle above all others, not mine to be the boss of.  I just really love that bond between owner and animal.  It’s so beautiful (and I use ‘owner’ in the loosest sense of the word of course) and I miss having it.

And I know there are so many little ones out there who are dying to find a home.  And quite literally dying because nobody will take them.

But in all seriousness, I can’t have a dog.

I work too long hours.  The house I live in is not my own.  I have a semi lucrative side business looking after other people’s dogs.

But that doesn’t stop me from wanting one.  Especially when cutie pies like this turn up at work…




Look at this sassy little muffin!!!!!!!!!

Away again

Since Monday, I have been house sitting.  I'll be away for about a month.  And won't have internet.  So yet again, I must bid you adieu.  But I will be home every once in a while and I plan on writing blog posts to queue up in the mean time.  That's the grand plan anyway :)

I am looking after little Ted.  This is him a few months ago, last time I looked after him.

Now a few months on, he is six months old.  In that last picture, he was up to my knees.  Now he is up to my hip.  This is a particularly cute picture of him that I took today.  And he is still growing!!

He is still very much a puppy and trips over his feet when he chases the ball.  And slobbers ALL over me.  Every time I go outside to see him, I have to wash- not just my hands- but all the way up my arms too!  Being a puppy, he gets over excited and jumps up on me.  Which is a nightmare!!  He's nearly bowled me over a couple of times.  Taking him for walks is quite a mission.  But luckily there is a small park nearby and I can let him off the lead.  Even though he's still learning, he is a real people pleaser and always comes back when I call him.  I think he's such a goodnatured doofus.  And only I get to call him a 'doofus', if anyone else called him that I'd be offended!  From what I've seen of these big dogs at work, all of them seem to have that 'friendly giant' in their personality.  I can see why people are taken with those breeds.  I just wish they didn't slobber so much!

I have been getting TONS of house sitting offers.  On the one hand, it's great because it's money and people have super nice houses that I get to live in and I get to look after some of the sweetest sweeties.  But on the other hand... I miss my house and my Roomies!!

Last weekend…

my friend Anna and her husband came and stayed.  Anna and her hubby are from the UK but I originally met them when Anna did a year abroad studying at my uni in Australia.  We met through church and have been friends ever since (although I’m not very good at keeping in touch!!).

So I decided that it was my job to play tour guide.  Anna is a super organised person and already had the itinerary mapped out so I was more like the tour bus driver and she was the tour guide!  I LOVED being a tourist in my home town.  We went to the local water park that I have scandalously never been to and had an absolute blast!!  I am a little wary of water slides but I think I got over my fear.  The big ride there was the Aqua Loop.

(Pic found here with this article)

You get into a compartment and then there’s a countdown and the floor drops away and you do a massive vertical drop into a loop.  I was terrified waiting for the countdown but the ride itself was so quick that I didn’t even have time to be too scared!  If you don’t get enough momentum, then you don’t make it all the way through the loop.  I was worried that I’d get stuck!!

Then we went to Seaworld (we have one here too!) and Boy Roomie joined us.  I was very excited that we were going because… we were going to go swimming with sealions!!  We started off the day with the sealion show.  This is such a cheesy show but I absolutely adore it.


Then we fed stingrays (which was scary because they were so excited for the food that they seemingly kept trying to flop out of the tank) and we looked at sharks.



Then it was time to swim with the sealions!  We swam with two sealions and one seal.  The water was SO cold.  I couldn’t stop shivering but once I met Wendall, I instantly forgot about being cold.  I gotta admit, I was a little afraid when he got into the water and “stood” up in front of us.  He was just so huge.  330kg or 730lbs for those Americans amongst us, which Wendall technically is being a Californian sealion and all.


Not the greatest picture of me but Wendall looks a babe so I love this picture!!  I’m standing up in the water, so you definitely get an idea of how huge he is!  You’d put your arm around him and he put his flipper around you.  Then once the picture had been taken, he’d use his flipper to push you out of the shot so that the next person could take your place.  Cheeky boy!  We got to play ‘catch’ with him and pet him. 

Then there was an Australian sealion called BJ.  He was super cheeky and adorable.  He seemed about half the size of Wendall but was still a big fella.  We were able to fit a harness to him and I got to tag along beside him while he swam.  It was amazing.  Except for like I said, he was cheeky and decided to do some “dolphin style” diving.  I was so busy enjoying the experience and smiling that I got a mouthful of water.

Then there was a New Zealand seal whose name escapes me.  He was not in the mood to follow instructions and kept darting about in the water, which was breathtaking to watch.  We got out of the water and were able to pet him.  Because he normally lives in a cooler climate, he had fur on him.  I thought he felt like a wet daschund!  He did a few tricks to mimic his natural behaviour in the wild, like washing his face which was completely adorable.

Anna took a ton of photos and hopefully she’ll post them soon so I’ll probably talk about me and sealions again :)  It was such a magical experience.  I am desperate to do it again!!!

Hello again…

I just can’t seem to get a hang on this blogging business again.  I feel like every blog post starts with me saying “sorry I’ve been away again”.

I have been a bit busy these past few weeks with pet sitting.  It means odd hours and a slim to none chance of using the internet but it does boost my bank balance a little.

Because I have been so busy with work, I haven’t actually had Thursdays off.  So no new BRT for you.  Although the last Thursday I had off, I watched ‘Public Enemies’.  Don’t bother. 

I have been falling in love with my little pets that I’ve been looking after.  This is Jeffrey.  I just finished house sitting with him and two other dogs.  He is the cutest.  And the snuggliest!  This is how we go to sleep :)


This is Fudge.  I was house sitting for him and his bro Cino.  Just popping in twice a day to feed them.

Fudge disappeared for five days.  He needed insulin injections twice a day.  I called the council to register him as missing.  I put up an online poster for him with the RSPCA.  I phoned around local vets, animal shelters and pet emergency centres- all to no avail.  The owners weren’t worried that he was gone, stating that sometimes he would go into hiding.  Then they came home… and he still didn’t appear.  They came to me at work, saying that now… now they were more than a little concerned.  And then the next day, the little toerag just saunters up to his owners as if he hadn’t been missing.

So that was really stressful.  I spent a lot of time alternating between crying and walking around the neighbourhood, calling for the cat.

And so because I have been so busy, my mum suggested that maybe Millie might be happier at her place.  Somewhere where Millie wouldn’t have to worry about dogs or what time I came home at- if I even came home at all.  And so my antisocial little angel has gone to live with my mother… and has never been so happy!!  She LOVES my mum!  They keep each other company and she gets to lounge around my mum’s house and basically be the boss.

Adventures in Pet Sitting

Thanks to the (almost) non response to questions for my vlog, I have happily shelved that project until another time I get bored.  Knowing me, it won’t be long :)

Buddy was a gem as always.  Friday night, I let him sleep in the bed as per usual.  He’s so funny.  He knows the drill and gets right into the bed, digging his way through the sheets until he’s right in there with me.

Then on Saturday, I was like “No.  I must be strict” so I put him back outside where he normally sleeps.  Then I woke up at 2:30am and couldn’t get back to sleep, being in a strange house with odd noises… so I let him back in.

That picture is him judging me whilst I was having my dance party.  I love that picture of him!

The little guy suffers from separation anxiety pretty badly so if I’m to be away for a long stretch of time, there are some meds I can give him.  On Sunday morning, I was off to the movies with the Roomies.  The meds are given about 45 minutes before you leave.  I ended up leaving about an hour after and was saying my goodbyes to him when I noticed that when he came up to me, he couldn’t walk in a straight line.  He was like a drunk little doggie.  Of course, the first thing I thought was that he’d been poisoned as his owner had mentioned something about laying rat traps recently.  I was freaking out and doing all my normal checks on him.  I nearly cancelled on the Roomies, I was so worried.  Then I realised that it was probably just the anti-anxiety meds and I might have accidentally overdosed him.  Terrible vet nurse!!  But… the drugs he has are actually just generic xanax so I hoped it would be the same as a slight overdoes with humans, just a little bit sleepy.

I set off to the movies but my mind was in overdrive.  I actually practiced the phone call I would have with the owner, telling her that her dog had died.  I’m so melodramatic!  I did enjoy the movie (The Five Year Engagement) but thought it dragged towards the end and that kept me thinking about Buddy and his dead little body, lying cold outside as he’s dead by my hands.  I raced home and usually he is waiting for me by the door but of course he wasn’t.  I opened the door and started calling for him and he came flying through the door, absolutely fine and back to his normal self!   He got the biggest cuddle ever!!!

I walked further into the house and noticed some odd little black bits on the floor.  I picked them up and it was little bits of wrapping that seemed to have a coffee brand on them.  In the exact same instance, I see into the living room and on the carpet is a torn plastic bag.  My first (again- melodramatic!) thought was that he’d found a bag of chocolate coffee sweets and eaten them all, meaning he’d gotten a double dose of caffeine and would die.  I ran over to the bag and it turns out it was his dry dog food.  Somehow he had gotten onto the table and grabbed it… and ripped it open and eaten it all.

I still can't believe he got onto the table!  Thank goodness there was only about one more meal’s worth in there! 

So I am feeling very exhausted.  All that stress and worry.  It’s exhausting looking after other people’s pets!  But cute.

Sleeping in the little igloo he made for himself in bed…

Bulldog Puppies

For those of you who have been following my blog, you’ll know that I got to assist in a caesarean resulting in ten little bulldog puppies aka the best day ever (apart from that time, a convenience store’s fridge broke down and they were giving away free food).  I posted pictures and my thoughts on the whole thing here but if you can’t be bothered, here’s what they looked like at one hour old.



And here are the puppies at 6 weeks old. 



Ahh!  I love them so much.  They are such chubby babies.  And look at their pink noses.  And they have freckles on their noses.  Ahh!!  Why so cute?!?!?!?

And as usual when it comes to baby animals… photo overload time.





And look at little Patch.  From this…


… to this!



I love my job!!

A very bored Sunday

I woke up yesterday and felt horribly under the weather.  I bravely soldiered on but today I was like “nope, I’m having none of it” and I didn’t do anything today.  Except for one special home project.

From this tragic scene in Hunger Games

comes this delightful picture

This is called “The Art of Rue-ing by Marc Marcos”.  Here is a how to:

1. Find a sleeping victim
2. Arrange an array of flowers around said victim
3. Perform the Hunger Games salute
4. Take pictures

Happy Hunger Games.

I saw this a few weeks ago, giggled and then promptly forgot about it.  Until today when I was suffering from cabin fever and was home alone.  So I present to you: The Art of Rue-ing by me and my animals.





And a ‘true’ Rue picture:


I realised I never really got to write about my Hunger Games love before on my blog because I was away when the movie came out.  But I believe this post encapsulates it all pretty nicely :)

Puppy overload!

Because I have been a little slack in the blogging department AND because everyone loves puppies, I thought I’d go overboard in posting puppy pictures. 

This is from when I babysat my bulldog puppies.  True story- I have never babysat humans but I have babysat puppies.  In these pictures, these little ones are five days old.  Now they are about three weeks old and have their eyes open and are managing to make their way around.  I saw the owner today randomly at the supermarket and she invited me over to have a look at them now, so I must go and do that soon!

Patch at 5 days old vs Patch at one hour old

Proud mama!  She did a great job!

Quick Update

This is just a quick hello and howdy to everyone.  I am in the middle of a super busy week.  My beloved co-worker Jess is away for two whole weeks.  I miss her so much and not just because she helps me fix my mistakes before my boss notices!!  I am covering her shifts as well as doing my own and man, that girl puts in some hours!  Especially when some weeks, I only work two or three days.  My poor feet are killing me!  And I need some extra hours in the day to sleep.  Roll on the weekend!!!

Millie the cat is doing pretty darn well.  I can’t believe I’ve only had her since Friday.  She’s starting to settle in.  This is where she sat pretty much all evening.  She makes me laugh, she probably thought she was so brave, sitting outside my room.  She’s *in* the house… but only a step from my bedroom :)

She does have quite a few items in the ‘cons’ list though.

#1 She doesn’t really like to cuddle.  What is the point of a cat unless she wants to snuggle?!?!  I can usually force a cuddle for about five minutes and there is purring, but it’s just not the same.

#2 She really, really, really wants to go outside.  And that’s not going to happen for so many reasons.  Mainly because I live opposite a train station and near a bunch of busy roads.  And because she’ll probably try and go back to her old house.  So I have to put up with her crying.

#3 She learned how to open the security screen on my window.  She did it accidentally but I swear I saw a gleam in her eye as she realised how close she was to freedom. 

Pros

#1 I like cats.  Millie is a cat.

#2 She has sassy miaows and talks a lot to me.  I like talking to her, it makes a change from talking to myself.

#3 Despite the earlier photo, she’s been so brave and awesome about exploring the house.  This morning, she brazenly walked out to the kitchen and was only a teensy bit scared when the dogs barked at her.

I have a sort of fun weekend planned but am mostly excited about sleep!

More puppies!

Today I was all excited.  I was off to hang out with Danielle at her house, eat fish and chips and borrow Hunger Games off her.  I have been looking forward to it all last week.  And then disaster struck.  A phone call from work asking me to come in as another nurse was sick.  I was really tempted to say no but I am a sucker and said ok.

When I got there, there was just one dental to be done.  Super easy and could have been handled without needing me to cover someone’s shift.  I was a bit annoyed but then we got the phone call that the pregnant bulldog that I’d been petsitting was coming in for a scan.

Six puppies were spotted on the scan and the heartbeats were not very strong so the vet highly suggested a caesarean.  All action stations!

I was so excited that I was going to get to assist with another caesarean, not to mention a caesarean of a dog that I knew really well.  It’s not very common to see births in general practice as most births are done easily at home and the majority of them are at night.

Turns out there were ten puppies inside!  Five boys and give girls.  All healthy and ready to live.  Not as traumatic as the other birth I assisted at where the puppies had been stuck for a while.  These bulldogs were ready to come out and meet the world.  There was one little one who we had to work on a bit harder than the others, but even she came right.

And now, it’s gratuitous photo time!!!!!!!!!!!

About fifteen minutes old.

First feeding at about half an hour old.  Mum was still more than a little sleepy!

About an hour in and everyone was trying their luck.  Definitely a free for all.  These little guys were hungry!

And this is me and our favourite little one that we christened ‘Patch’ :)

New Obsession

As a joke at work, whenever I walk in and there’s a cat out the back, I always say “This one’s mine?”.  Today when I did my hilarious joke, the vet said “Yeah, this one actually can be yours”.  I was like “WHAT?!?!?”.

Yesterday, some people brought in a cat to be put to sleep.  They had been renting a place and keeping a cat there which was not allowed.  Once the owner of the place found out about the cat, the people were told to get rid of the cat or move out.  So they brought the cat to our workplace to put it to sleep.  I don’t really understand why they didn’t just surrender it to an animal shelter.  The vet was a little reluctant to put a healthy animal down so they said that they would take it and try to rehome it.  The owners were very grateful. 

It was a really sweet cat so yesterday was spent calling around animal shelters but nobody was willing to take it.  And I think the plan was to put her to sleep today but then when I came to work, I was like “NOO!!!!!!”.  And so now she is living with me.

Can you spot the cat?

I may have blackmailed Boy Roomie into letting us have the cat by sending him a picture of the cat and basically saying “They are putting the cat down this afternoon unless I can take him”.  So we have little Millie on a trial.  She already has everyone wrapped around her little finger and it’s not even been one full day yet.  The big test is whether Millie will get on with Nilly, the dog.  I’m not sure what will happen but at the moment, we are taking it slowly and making sure that Millie feels safe and comfortable.

I have already taken about a billion photos of her and can’t wait to go to the shops tomorrow and buy lots of fun stuff for her.  So I apologise if future blog posts are cat picture heavy.  I am obsessed.

It’s been a while

My friend came and stayed for a long weekend.  It was a lot of fun and I’ll be posting pictures in a bit.  Probably later this afternoon.  I dropped her off at the airport and went straight to work, so it’s been non-stop.  Today’s a day off in the middle of the week and one I am very grateful for.

I thought I would welcome myself back by posting a video that Boy Roomie took on his phone last night.  We’d been eating chips and Nilly had been drooling and begging for one so we decided to leave the last chip in the bag and put the bag on the floor.  The resulting video is what follows.

 

And you get bonus audio of ALL the people that live in the house.  Boy Roomie, Girl Roomie and moi.  I am the one that cackles “Why is she going backwards??”.  I promise I don’t sound like that in real life.  It was just hard to talk between giggling.

Just a little something for the weekend.

Tomorrow I really must have a day away from the computer. I’ve had a number of days off that I think have been wasted because I’ve just sat in front of the computer. I fully intend to do other “time wastey” things like read a book or watch a movie tomorrow, but there’s something completely soul sucking about sitting in front of the computer. I found this great quote today.

“You can't leave footprints in the sands of time if you're sitting on your butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?”

And I leave you today with some little pictures. I had to throw out my old ipod headphones because they suddenly stopped working. These headphones have been through a lot. All thanks to Timmies.

One earbud had been chewed by this Timmy.

And then the other earbud was chewed by this Timmy.

Do not name your pets ‘Timmy’ if you want your headphones to survive. Just a little public service announcement for you.

Also:

So true!!

Day 18: Bun with Braids

First day back at school and my hair was going to be fierce. I was going to rock my braids. I was going to be Gwen Stefani, man!

Instead I ended up wearing white girl cornrow braids and they looked so icky that I would have taken them out, except for the fact that I was like "No, the internet has to have it's 30 Days of Hair via me". I couldn't let the internet down.
Yes, that's right. I wore terrible hair just for you guys. I have no idea what my bun was doing and it's probably just as well I didn't study the picture too closely before I left because I definitely would not have left the house! It kinda looks like a dorsal fin. Like I am Jaws or something.

In other news, I have decided what dog I would like. Due to my obsession with Game of Thrones, I have decided upon a direwolf.










The pic on the left is part of my favourite direwolf scene but the one on the right I think is the most striking one.

Due to the fact that they don't exist, I will have to placate myself with a Northern Inuit which is the breed of dog that plays the direwolves in the show. They seem to have great personalities and are smart as well.
















These photos are courtesy of the Northern Inuit Society website which I have spent far too long on today. Unfortunately these dogs aren't for sale in Australia... yet!! Probably just as well as I don't think I could really buy a dog, it would be too embarrassing after all my big talk about animal shelters :)

But it's nice to dream!