Chaos Reading discussion
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Unusually Chaotic Moderator
Ruby wrote: "Derek wrote: "Riona wrote: "I have no idea what a "bowls club" is. Is it like bowling?"No, it's like curling :-) ... but the button ("jack") moves.
Ruby wrote: "LOL. I was just thinking that. I'..."
Interestinggg.
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deep breaths....
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Could I suggest a stick sharpened at both ends?
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Could I suggest a stick sharpened..."
Bahaha! So apt. The worst of them were called "Coral Sea" and actually flew the jolly roger on their building and cars. They were also wearing pirate costumes and had an office cat called, Captain. Fitting, since they attempted to pillage everything in my bank account just to APPLY for a rental property.
Ruby wrote: "Whitney wrote: "Could I suggest a stick sharpened..."
Bahaha! So apt. The worst of them were called "Coral Sea" and actually flew the jolly roger on their building and cars. They were also wearin..."
Please please tell me you weren't joking about estate agents wearing pirate costumes. I LOVE it! (Even if they are pillaging scamming bastards, I still love it!)
Elise wrote: "Ruby wrote: "Whitney wrote: "Could I suggest a stick sharpened..."
Bahaha! So apt. The worst of them were called "Coral Sea" and actually flew the jolly roger on their building and cars. They wer..."
Well, it's nice to know that some people still believe in truth in advertising.
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So where are you staying while the pirates pretend to find you a rental?
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I'm at a motel for the time being. I'm having a terrible time trying to find a rental. All the big old Queenslanders (houses) on stilts I fell in love with online are a lot less..... substantial when you're actually inside of one. It's just like living in a tree house. I walked through one a couple of hours ago (behind a shop and next to a railway line) and couldn't shake the feeling that I would essentially be sleeping outside in the tropics. I felt very insecure! All the windows are basically wooden or glass slats to let the breeze through, but that also means it's just as humid inside as out. I don't think our "stuff" can survive it up here!
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OK - I understand the stilt thing, since it seemed all of Queensland was under about a meter of water a year or so ago, but why are neither of the houses beside it on stilts?Don't think of it as a treehouse - follow the pirate theme and think of it as a "Crows nest".
That or put a raised pool wall all around it, flood the yard and put in a diving board. Then you could fly the Jolly Roger from the roof and step right out your door for a swim.Of course you'd need a way to get across the pool with getting wet foe when you leave for work or something, maybe a raft.
Just making lemonade. :)
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Of course you'd ne..."
LOL. I'd do that if I owned it myself!
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That picture is taken from out the back of the property. I can see why. The neighbourhood is.... bad. Just really, really bad.
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Bodes well if you're working on the first horror story set in Townsville, "It Came From the Tap".
P.S.If you find some sort of strange discarded skin in the hallway, it means the thing is growing.
..wouldn't that be Stephenie King????
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Well, as exhausted as I am, things look like they might be starting to come together a bit. I have an application in for a cute little Queenslander cottage (fairly low-set though, no big stilts). Not only is the cottage cute, but the street name's cute - Lamington Road. In case you're not familiar, this is a lamington:
There's also a beautiful old cemetery around the corner. Maybe something will come out of the tap. :)
The new job is fabulous too, and the people are all so friendly! The Normanton part of the job sounds like it will be a challenge - I'll have to learn to drive a 4-wheel-drive on remote dirt roads for starters..... *gulp*
I haven't driven in over a decade!
But at the end of the day, I did get rained on while getting mildly sunburnt at the same time, so it was all worth it!
Sounds like the job will be interesting. Good luck. Hope the "cottage" woks out and all the residents of the cemetery are friendly.
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LOL - Just realised what you meant then. There are actually living residents of the cemetery - Apparently it's used as a bit of a town camp by some of the Indigenous people around here.
I just left you a terribly witty reply and Goodreads lost it.Anyway, one of the nicest houses I ever saw was in the middle of a cemetery. (I worked on the heating system a few years ago.) It was built for a care taker and was vacant. If it had been available I'd have rented it and lived there. I mean the neighbors would never complain, never gossip and talk about a quiet neighborhood.
Anyway, good luck.
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Sure, but only until there's no more room in heaven and the dead start walking the earth. Then you're at ground zero.
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Yeah. "Heaven" ;P
The cemetery is exactly the best place to be in that case. Less human time, more eatin' time! OMNOMNOM
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I love this - it's a set of windows inside the house (between the front room and the bedroom. All the old houses here have them, and the front rooms are all enclosed in glass slats that open to let the wind blow all the way through. Love it.
A racist old Scotsman taxi-driver just tried to scare me out of working in Normanton. Turns out he was verbally abused and got his car rocked in Napranum, which is an Indigenous community (ie non-residents need a permit to enter). The fact that he didn't know there was a difference between an Indigenous community like Napranum, and a European settlement where a lot of Indigenous people live, like Normanton, probably explains why he got his car rocked.
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Good luck to you in the new job and to Pingu in Brisbane! And how could a cat not love a house with internal windows?
Whitney wrote: "And how could a cat not love a house with internal windows? "The only other thing she could wish for would be integrated boxes (Oh, dear, I'm having horrible thoughts about curious cats and laundry chutes).
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Aw damn, poor Pingu dear! And poor Ruby. It's always so horribly stressful dealing with sick critter-sweeties, and having that on top of moving, and new job...You know those forms you can fill out to determine your level of stress, and how moving and new job are way up there? I'm impressed you can still type at this point.
Best wishes for Pingu. If you ever need to chat to someone who's been through the cat-cancer wringer, let me know. In the meantime, sending good (healthy) thoughts towards you and Pingu.
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Gertie wrote: "If you ever need to chat to someone who's been through the cat-cancer wringer..."Ah, the cancer wringer. My dog was diagnosed with terminal (mast-cell tumors) cancer four years ago. The junior partner at our veterinary practice said she probably had 6 months. Later the senior partner said not to let that scare us too much, because sometimes it was 6 months, sometimes it was years... A year or so later, we discovered she had suffered serious heart disease before we got her, and she's been on the verge of expiring from that ever since. This spring, we thought it had finally caught her, and I actually took her for her final trip to the vet - and literally ran into the senior partner leaving for lunch. She took one look at her, and said "she's going to be fine". She still is. More lives than a cat in that dog...
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I haven't even tweaked the colour on this. It really is this bright here!
View from the front driveway. That's Castle Hill, and the beach is on the other side.
Off to Normanton tomorrow, so forgive me if I'm out of contact from time to time. I have no idea what the reception is going to be like up there, so here's hoping my dongle works!
Hope things are great and everything works.
Been wondering how Ruby and Pingu are doing... I guess we'll find out soon.
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And here's the busiest part of town (being circled by a huge amount of wedge-tailed eagles and kites):
We eventually got the house and the Pingu sorted, although the furniture is still a couple of days away. Pingu LOVES her new home, particularly the underneath part:
...and the mountain out the front:
Today, an ibis landed in the back yard while I was hanging out washing.
Pingu is going to LOSE HER SHIT when she sees him. Assuming she wakes up again at some point this afternoon:
Glad Pingu's well and happy...oh and you to. :)
I'm happy that Pingu likes her new home.
What'd you decide about Pingu's doctorin', by the way?I love that last window shot. :-)
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It has been a big couple of days for Pingu- she's seen her first ibises, accidentally met the cocker spaniel next door, saw her first train (you can see them from the back yard), and learned how to abuse opiate based narcotics.
After the surgery last week, they gave her a 7-day slow release pain relief patch. Whoever thought giving a slow-release narcotic patch to a cat was a good idea should be shot. I keep trying to get the patch unstuck from her fur, by soaking it in water and dabbing with cotton wool. She keeps lapping up the drug-infused juice and sticking it back on herself. Meanwhile, I don't remember much of last night - turns out the drug can also be absorbed through bare skin. Sigh. So now I have latex gloves.
Anyway, the furniture arrives in the morning, and Pingu meets her new vet in the afternoon. The specialist couriered up her medication, (Palladia) which she'll probably start in about 10 days time. It's technically not considered "chemotherapy" but it's a similar protocol. The drug is fairly new, but showing very promising results in killing cancer cells in dogs and cats - so much so that they're about to start using it in human trials. The chances of her experiencing any side effects at all are apparently less than 10% - usually this takes the form of a bit of an upset tummy. If all goes well, it will at least slow the spread of cancer cells. If it goes REALLY well, it could kill off the remaining cancer.
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Ruby - if you have Avon 'Skin So Soft" lotion available, a lot of vets swear that is the best for removing patches, squeeze it around the edges and it dissolves the adhesive without irritating the skin. There's also stuff officially made for removing patches and bandages called 'Detachol' that your pharmacy may carry. Generally, pulling from the front to back while stretching the skin works best. Good luck!
Glad to see Pingu looking so good! What kind of cancer is she being treated for?
Ruby wrote: "Meanwhile, I don't remember much of last night - turns out the drug can also be absorbed through bare skin."In hindsight, that was probably obvious :-)
Whitney wrote: "Ruby - if you have Avon 'Skin So Soft" lotion available, a lot of vets swear that is the best for removing patches..."
Amazing. It's also so effective as a mosquito repellent, that Avon relabelled it after years of testimonials!
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Thanks Whitney. I wish I'd been able to log on and see that sooner! The vet ripped it off, and Pingu hasn't forgiven her yet. Than again, the vet also put a thermometer up her butt...
She originally had a fibrosarcoma in her leg. Now there's been a second one (which was just removed) and an indeterminate lump in her lung.
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.."
I know, right? I blame exhaustion for not thinking of that until it was too late.
We met Pingu's new vet yesterday, and she is lovely, but even she had trouble getting pills down Pingu's throat to show me how to do it. I foresee an apocalyptic shitfight when it comes time to get cancer medication into her 3 times a week. Particularly since the pills can't be broken down..
FYI - I should be back to my usual moderator-ey self by the weekend. My partner has Express Posted me a dongle :)
That IS still a possibility, yes.