Hockey...sweet, sweet hockey.

(Note to interested readers - some of you know about our recent emergency trip back to Minnesota - I'm not going to address all of that here. I just feel that this is not the forum.)


So I know what you're thinking. We're over halfway through the semifinal round of the playoffs, and no word about the ice? You're no doubt wondering where are my priorities? Like, am I even trying to grow a playoff beard?

Sadly for me, but happily for my employers and everyone that I have to kiss, I am not growing a beard this year. Had the Wild made it, I would be as hirsute as I can be. As it is, I'm not sure who I am even cheering for. I will say, however, that Tivo (or IQ as the call it here) makes the cheering much more fun! Not only is it recording all the games, rewinding and pausing the odd game that happens while I am awake, but it gives one a sense of power. If only it applied to real life - or even just stoplights - life would be greatly enriched.



Anyway, back to the playoffs.

It was never going to be the Rangers. I just can't, ever, not even if he were on my team, cheer for Avery. (in their favor, though, Mara has the best beard since Commodore). It also couldn't ever be the Sharks, in spite of the resurrection of Claude Lemieux. I like Jeremy Roenick, but there is something about watching Joe Thornton flounder that makes me happy.


The obvious choice is the Devils, since Brodeur is not only the best, but the coolest. Unfortunately, they just didn't have the firepower. Flyers? Nope. Hurricanes? Don't make me laugh. Anaheim? Anaheim? Hold on (vomiting sound). So...who does that leave? Red Wings are just cliche. They will probably win, but it's no fun to cheer for them. Their estimated 712,000 games of playoff experience makes it seem automatic, but it would be more exciting for a cinderella team to show up.

Did somebody say exciting? How about Ovechkin? I hadn't had much of a chance to watch him before, but he backchecks, scores goals, and boy! can he throw an open-ice hit! Fun to watch, plus Varlamov adds that Cinderella aspect of completely untried goalie carrying them through the first round. Unfortunately for the Caps, it will come down to coaching.


And let's face it - the Caps are coached by Mr. Carlson from WKRP, while the Penguins are coached by Noah Bennet from Heroes. No contest. Even if Boudreau did play for the Minnesota Fighting Saints, we've seen him taken advantage of by the likes of Les Nessman too many times.











So, my ideal matchup would be Blackhawks/Capitals in the final. I would accept a Red Wings/Penguins matchup. I have nightmares, however, that involve watching the Hurricanes and the Ducks. Only time will tell.


In the meantime, where's my razor?

FLAT SAM'S Easter Blog

This Easter, we had a surprise visitor from the US--FLAT SAM (A 2-d version of my neice Samantha mailed to us as a school assignment). Our job was to show FLAT SAM a bit of Australia.....so this blog is from her.

I arrived in Western Australia after 5 days in the international mail--boy was it cramped! (although I hear flying coach in Virgin Pacific is worse). Kris & Nathan were going to Albany for Easter and promised to take me on their vacation.

Friday, 10 April

We woke up at 6 am on Friday morning, trying to beat the traffic to Albany on the south coast of Western Australia. By 8 am the car was packed with camping equipment, and we were on the road. After joining a steady stream of cars heading down the Albany Hwy, Kris began a series of frantic calls to try and secure a campsite in the holiday traffic.

At about 1:30 pm, we arrived in the Pronogerup mountains about 30 minutes from Albany. The campsite was already full, but they made room for us to pitch our tiny tent among the Aussie's portable castles. Since it was a beautiful day, Kris and Nathan wanted to get into see a bit of Albany and the Southern ocean. We had lunch in the sunshine, went to the county courthouse, and tripped out to West Cape Howe to watch the sunset over the Southern Ocean. The sunset was more dramatic because Middleton Beach is one of the best hanggliding areas in Australia and we watched the gliders soar over the ocean before drifting down to join us on the beach.

I got the chance to hike a little bit of the Bibbulman Track, one of the longest hiking trails in Australia. Albany is where the Bibbulman Track starts...Kris wants to hike it all someday when her feet get better!

Saturday, 11 April

We woke early to head to Albany for a tour of the town. After a quick stop at the farmer's market, Kris and Nathan headed to the waterfront to take in the Festival of the Sea. Albany's town festival featured local Australian wines, fresh seafood, cooking demonstrations, entertainment.

After tasting a "yabbie pie"(a pot pie made with crayfish), we decided to take a break and head out for another event across town--the "youth national soapbox championships"at the top of the hill. We expected amateur constructions of plywood, bike wheels, and homemade paintjobs, but were shocked to find moulded plastic bodies racing downhill at breakneck speed. We talked to one of the organisers and find that there are 3 major clubs in Western Australia that have soapbox races all year long. I got a chance to sit in one of the winning racers.

We went back to the Festival of the Sea to watch the boat race. Teams had 4 hours to build their own boat from limited supply of plywood and glue. You wanted to do a good job because you had to paddle or sail your construction 200 m to the jetty and back. I picked my favorite boat for the race. One of the boats collapsed before it left shore, 4 others made it into the water, only 2 completed the full trip.

For dinner, we went to a restaurant right on the beach called the Squid Shack. I ate fresh squid! and it was delicious. The best squid I ever ate. Kris and Nathan had some shark too, but the squid was my favorite.

We decided to head back to the tent for an early night since we had a big day the next morning. Kris and Nathan crawled into the tent to find it overrun with ants! It had rained on and off all day, and one of the zippers had been open a tiny bit. The ants took shelter from the rain in Kris' sleeping bag. Several hours later, after a bit of bug spray and many, many sleeping bag inspections we all hit the hay.

Sunday 12 April

While Kris and Nathan were up early fixing breakfast, I watched the kids in the tents next door were finding Easter eggs. Would you believe the Easter bunny didn't bring me any FLAT EGGs? Kris and Nathan had planned a morning boat trip, a visit to the whaling museum, with an evening Easter service. We arrived at the jetty at 8 am. The wind was blowing and the waves looked rough. It was a scuba trip! And I got to come along too!

After packing up the scuba gear (including Kris' new wetsuit:), we climbed aboard the dive boat for a very bumpy 30 trip to Seal Cove (I would have gotten sick but Kris made me take dramamine). At Seal Cove, I could see at least 30 seals lay on the rocks near the water. As soon as I jumped in the water, the seals dived into see the divers.

The seals were mostly white, with big black eyes, and tiny ears. They could swim so fast--and were very cute and playful--they even decided to play with the hood of Nathan's wetsuit. I wish I could have gotten a picture but Kris' camera doesn't work in water that deep. One of the other seals nibbled on a diver's hand--and I could see they had big teeth like a pitbull. I'm glad they were only playing!

After playing with the seals, I got to visit a shipwreck--the Cheynes II, a whaling boat. The boat had been sunk by purpose--blown up by dynamite. Now it was covered in coral and sea grass. I could still see all the masts and portholes, now it was covered in coral and sea grass and surrounded by bright coloured tropical fish.

After our dive, we went to visit WHALE WORLD where I got to see the Cheynes IV--the sister ship to the wreck in the ocean. The ship had a big harpoon gun on the front, a huge engine (it used almost a ton of fuel a day), and a big winch to help pull the whales to shore. We watched a 3-D movie about whales and took a tour of the huge factory that used to make whale oil and ambergris for perfume. Whaling is outlawed in Australia, so the ship is just a museum to show what they used to do.

The museum took so long that we missed church! We sang Easter hymns all the way back to the tent. We didn't have any ants but Kris checked her sleeping bag just in case.

Monday 13 April

Our last day in the Pronogerups was beautiful. We went to see "art in the park" a collection of sculptures that are set in the national parkat the foot of the mountains. My favorite was this one.--wait, that's a plant.

After looking at the art, we went for a hike up to Castle Rock, in the Prongerups. The Prongerups are the oldest mountains in the world...more than 1400 million years old. They are home to 1000 different types of flowering plants and more than 78 different types of birds. When we got to the top, there was a cool boulder that weighed 140 tonnes balanced on its end. We climbed all the way to the very top and you could see for miles.

On our way down we stopped at Maleeya's Thai restaurant. Nathan said the spring rolls were the best he ever had. I had fish curry--it was very spicy so I shared most of it with Nathan. after lunch, we drove home. We stopped at the "big ram" a giant sheep in the town of Wagin tha has WOOLARAMA every year--where they shear the sheep and sell the wool.

I'm hoping I can stay a while longer in Australia--because Kris and Nathan want to take me snorkelling on the Ningaloo Reef in a few months!

one lump or two?

I love working at Murdoch vet school. It is NEVER boring.

Part of the reason its never boring is that there so much good work to do. Sometimes its about the people, sometimes its about the animals.

Yesterday, as I popped over to see the staff about one of our successful cases, a trailer pulled up outside the vet school with a CAMEL in it.

yep a camel (can you imaginewhat the people on the freeway thought?)

Tanami stands about 6 ft tall, and weighs about 500kg (1200 lbs). He's one of a few camels on a nearby hobby farm.

He's at Murdoch for a the "snip".
Tanami has an undescended testicle, which means that his regular vet was only able to geld him half-way. He still acted a bit too much like a stud, so he needs the other one removed. After calling a few vets none of whom wanted to try their hand at anesthetizing this big fella, they called Murdoch.

So Tanami sits in our production animal barn, heads above the other sheep, goats, and alpacas. Tomorrow is the big surgery day. So far a steady stream of students and staff have visitedhim to wish him good luck on his surgery. I popped down for a cuddle just to make Nathan's aunt Molly jealous.

Tomorrow the media arrives to document this unusual case. I can't wait for the headlines. One hump or two takes on an entirely different meaning when you are talking about a camel gelding.

Our roommates

When we were invited to take up a cheap lease on our new house, we were excited about the opportunity but a little cautious. The conditions of the lease included the care and feeding of 2 cats.

It was clear from the first that we were moving into the cats' house. Before we could sign up for the deal, the cats would have to approve. I was overseas but Nathan, the cat whisperer, managed to woo these shy and somewhat high-strung cats into a little cuddle on the first date.

When Col and Clyde moved out, the cats were quite upset. Neither would stay in the same room with us for the first week. But Nathan again worked his magic and they have relaxed. Just last week, we made another test...moving Jake back (into his own half of the house). Jake's rather potent smell and earsplitting yowling have our new roommates a little nervous, (not that it looks it from these pictures!) and we are hoping to slowly introduce them to each other.

But first we'll introduce them to you:

To dance is human to Polka is Divine (Polka) is an 11 yr old female Siamese, who is quite timid and likes a bit of a snuggle. She is terrified of Jake, and even though he's behind a shut door, Polka runs in fear when Jake starts his usual yowling for company.
I had coordinated my previous work wardrobe with Jake--black suits to hide his black cat hair. Polka's cream colour fur means I need a new wardrobe for each part of the house.
She is a big change from ole Jake, as she is definitely a lap cat. Once she has found a lap she is there FOREVER. She likes Nathan best, perhaps because my tiny bladder won't allow for extended uninterrupted lap time. Polka is also convinced the way to get our attention is to sit on the computer keyboard while we try to type.

Pinky Freidman (Pinksta) is an 11 yr old neutered male Burmese who is slightly crazy. The first 3 weeks he would freak out if you were entered a room he was in, now 6 weeks in he's becoming a lap cat too. He has the most pitiful meow (like he has laryngitis).

Pinky gets to go outside every day with a belled collar. In the morning he jumps on the counter by the door to have his collar put on. Once it's on, he'll jump down ready to get outside for the morning scout.

He apparently is quite aggressive when he is outside (as we have already seen him fight with another neighbor cat). Although we hope to avoid any conflicts, Jake can take him. Not only does he weigh twice as much as Pinky, he doesn't have such a weenie name.




Jake "the Peg" (Jacque) is our big black 3-legged cat. He's probably about 14 years old, and wasn't neutered until he was 2 or 3. He has old Tomcat jowels, urine like napalm, and in London terrorised cats within a 6 mile radius. Since then, we have kept him as a house cat, with no other cats for competition. He has adjusted to the move to our new home graciously, with no malicious peeing and almost no curiosity about the cats on the other side of the door.

They all still live separate lives: Pinky outside for most the day, Polka on her own in the house, and Jake in his half of the room. Maybe someday we'll get brave enough to try and mix these 3 cats together.

As I was telling my sister about our cats, I was reminded of my neices and nephew predicting I would eventually become the crazy cat lady with 20 cats.

3 down, 17 to go.

On the move again

Where have we been for the last 4 weeks?
In purgatory, in limbo, in cognito?

Nathan and I spent our Valentine's Day weekend celebrating with a romantic getaway in a turn of the century stone cottage overlooking the ocean. It's our new house...

Unfortunately, valentine's day (valentines' ?!?!? see previous) was spent preparing for the move.
After a day of watching Nathan swim for his triathlon (okay it wasn't a full day, but a chunk of it), we packed our first boxes for the move that night. With folks coming at 11:00 am the next morning, we decided we would just move the furniture into the moving van and pack the rest into our cars after moving the furniture.

The next day we were up early to pick up the truck, pack a little more, and deliver Jake to the spa for a little holiday. Our packing was cut a little short by the fact that we had to return the first truck for leaking diesel all over. So at 11:00 am our moving crew showed up--Jeff, Emily & Justin. We had all the furniture loaded in about 1.5 hours (even with a beer break). We thought we might have a chance to beat our previous 4 hour record. When we turned up at the new house, unfortunately the owners (Clyde and Colleen) were still moving the last of the items out.

We took a break for lunch and started unloading again at about 3 pm. We moved everything in just over an hour. We had to take a break for a stressed out strategy session when we discovered the room we had planned on for a bedroom need to be a music room because the piano in it couldn't fit out the door (except for on its side). After a few minutes, we rearranged the plan and finished the unloading. Although the move went fairly fast (Jeff, Emily and Justin may not think so), we were exhausted so opted not to move the small boxes of things back to the house that night. Our old house was ours for another week, so we were able to procrastinate the rest of the moving and cleaning for a few more days.

This caused a minor problem the next morning, when I discovered that I packed no shoes for work and had to drive over to the old place to finish dressing. Over the next weekend, we moved shoes, food, tools to the new place and did a marathon day of cleaning.

Our new home is just 1 km from our old place. We are renting from some friends of ours, at a really good rental rate. The catch is that the house is "unusual" and comes with a pair of high-maintenance felines. As you know Jake doesn't play well with others, so he spent a few weeks at the spa while we tried to settle the inherited felines down. He's just moved back in...so we know have divided the house in half: Jake's half and the other cats half.

The good news is that this house is perfect for that. It is 2 stone cottages from 1899 and 1900, which have been blended into 1 house. It has 2 front doors, and the front of the houses are 2 seperate lounges, and bedrooms connected by a long hallway. At the rear of the house there is 1 shared common kitchen and dining room, with 2 entries, and 2 bathrooms. It also has 2 seperate gardens at the rear of the house. It has 2 gas bills, 2 electric bills, 2 days to take the garbage out. At least we only have 1 phone number (the same number as last time--email if you need it).
I thought you'd like to see some photos of the house, and our new housemates.

Valentine's Day

Hmm, maybe I'm losing my touch as the apostrophe police, diluted down by the Australian relaxed attitude towards the apostrophe. After 2 years of seeing "egg's 4 sale" and "wall repair's" advertised on high-quality, commercially produced signs, I might have been a little desensitized. That's why, when writing out a greeting on Feb. 14th, I found myself faced with 3 options.
A day belonging to the valentine, Valentine's Day.
A day belonging to all valentines, Valentines' Day.
A day of valentines in general, Valentines Day.
(and has anybody else noticed that it is abbreviated VD? Coincidence?)

My ponderings were cut short in the morning of the day in question by my preparations to make this a truly memorable (if not romantic) day.

First, and this is important, Kris got up and did the dishes. A gift from her to me, I like to think. Then I got up and got ready for a triathlon. Yes, another one. No, I'm not getting any better at swimming -- quite the contrary.
This race was held in fresh water, and warm enough that I wasn't able to use the wetsuit. Not that I needed it to keep warm, but I have become reliant on the suit and saltwater to keep me somewhat more bouyant, and without those two aids, it was the worst swim ever. Kris has videos of the lifesavers, after everybody else is out of the water, trying to keep themselves amused while I inched nearer the finish. I am more and more appreciative of whoever named this stroke the crawl, as that seems appropriate.
I thought that the bike and run had gone okay, but the clock said otherwise. Cursed technology.
All the while, Kris has been absolutely starving. She declined by polite offer of a tube of Gu, but was sitting at the finish dreaming of an omelette. It was a late-starting tri, and by the time my race was done, and the elite runners were in, and the spot-prizes had been dished out, and the medals awarded, it was 4:30, and Kris was ready to gnaw off her own hand. Or mine.
A snack bar behind the seats of the car saved me from being savaged, but we were still bitterly disappointed that the restaurant that serves my new favorite dish, Fish on Fire, wasn't open yet. Instead, we returned home and, while I tried to unsuccessfully to scrub off the race number, Kris made huevos, trying to build up energy.

After all, we would need our strength, for it was only 16 hours after we got done eating that we needed to pick up the moving truck. And we had yet to pack...

Happy Valentine's' D'ay'!

She's Baaaaack!

Straight from her recent tour of Sydney, Honolulu, San Francisco, aaaaaand Elmore, we welcome back to Perth...Kristin!

The travels went well, but on the return home, there is always something that doesn't get done. Anticipating her return, I had a clean kitchen, all the laundry done and folded, and even shaved off my whiskers. But I am far from perfect. I feel like I let her down. You see, I hadn't - quite - emptied the pantry of all food.

I had worked hard, working my way through stuff that requires actual cooking (black bean lasagna, anyone?), but was still left with couscous, a can of beans, some sweet chilli tuna, a jar of cranberry sauce, and the title-holder world-record worst puffed rice wafers ever. (I have years of experience with rice-based diet foods in various sizes and shapes, but these are MUCH less appetizing than the corn starch packing peanuts.) Anyway, I could tell by the look on Kris' face that she had expected more of me. I hate the disappointment.

But I know what you're all thinking -- you're wondering about Superbowl coverage in Australia. Well. For the first time, it was aired live on terrestrial TV (and for the first time, an Aussie was participating -- coincidence?). The game was great. They showed some commercials, which the commentators really did not understand ("They seem to really love their Dorito's over there" said one puzzled announcer). What more could we ask for?

Intelligent commentary. I was hoping to never say this, but the commentary from Aus made John Madden seem like a genius. Really. The only thing they had a clue about was punting, and that was pretty limited in their knowledge. The best play by play comments were about the halftime show ("With a new album hitting the shelves, The Boss won't just open with one of the old favorites" and whatnot). Furthermore, since the Aussie on the Cardinals is the punter, almost all of the dialogue focussed on the kicking game.

I will say this, however. Watching the Superbowl in 101 degree weather sure makes that cold beer taste great. And I was so absorbed in the game, the first I've watched in 2 years, that I even ate two of the rice cakes.