BBQ guest Gus

I attended a BBQ this weekend and it was wonderful. Sunshine, great food, wonderful company, plentiful drinks and...well, I fell in love with one of the guests. And that guest was GUS THE CORGI!!!

We were sitting around enjoying our food when all of a sudden there was some rustling in the bushes and then something scampered past our ankles and into Tammy and Caspar's apartment!

I managed to see an orange blur and chubby butt when I realised IT WAS A DOG!!! Gus' owners, then came and introduced him to us.

I seriously then proceeded to chase him to try and get a photo to send to Pooey.

Eventually he obliged me.

After a couple of hours getting to know people, he was pretty friendly. He even came to love me once I fed him some sausage and cherry tomatoes (he catches them if you cut them in half first!). He also shook paws with everyone!

And he didn't use his puppy eyes too much to get food. In fact, he was pretty well behaved given all the food on the low table. The only naughty moment, which was actually kind of funny, was licking some spilled potato salad directly off the table after studiously ignoring it for a couple of hours...then diving for an open bag of chips. The face he gave after being told off for doing that...I was crying with laughter.  

Bedroom companion

I was lying in bed and about to go to sleep when I looked at this ceiling and saw this fella hanging around.

Possibly the biggest spider I've ever seen in my time in Germany!

I ultimately decided to let him be - it's been warm enough to sleep with windows open so who knows what kind of bugs he'll save me from.

Having said that, the spider wasn't there when I woke up in the morning.

Dogs of Munich u-bahn.

Munich people love their dogs. And I love that they love to take their dogs onto the u-bahn.

This fluffster camped himself right in front of the door and the expression on people's faces as they boarded was pure gold.

This photo doesn't really indicate how huge this labrador was. Seriously one of the bigger ones I've seen in a while

I'm thinking of starting a blog of dogs I see riding the trains on their daily commutes.

SCIENCE!!!

I think this is pretty cool. 

I kinda wish they actually taught it to dance though...

Oh, hurro!

This Easter is being filled with a variety of brunches which has required me to bake assorted cakes which I then transport around the city to be eaten. Yesterday I was doing exactly this when I felt someone nudging me on the u-bahn. I looked down and what did I behold? A fluffy critter trying to unobtrusively snuffle my cake bag! His (her?) owner noticed and apologised and Snuffles (as I shall now call him) went away.

Except not really because we ended up standing next to each other on the escalator out of the u-bahn! I took the opportunity at the traffic lights to take some photos of Snuffles.

Pointy ears! Fluffy butt!

Snuffles knows how to safely cross the road!

And yet another animal video!

This week I had a meeting with my boss where we were supposed to discuss the things that I'm wrapping up before moving to my new position. But more than that, my boss wanted to share this video with me!

Yes, he did climb a tree to bother a WILD ANIMAL. Cute they may be, but he's lucky that koala didn't take a piece of his arm!

And he also waxed lyrical on how wonderful Australia is and why would I want to give it all up for Germany...

Keeping on animal videos...

This is a bit of an oldie but it's still so awesome.

hehehe @ being crushed by a seal pup :D

This dog...

is so damn cute!

Patting other people's dogs is generally not acceptable on the u-bahn and probably Germany in general (at least, I never see other  people doing it), but when this fluffster sat next to me, I couldn't help letting out a squee and telling his owner that he was beautiful and could I take a photo! She allowed me and then I rubbed his ears for good measure. I love collies :D.

IT FINALLY WORKS!!!

Which is a bit of a relief

Ah-chee chee!

The day after the wedding, me, Poo, and Smee headed over to best man Aheugenah's place for multiple reasons. One - palm off wedding cake. Two - play Street Fighter. And, most importantly, thee - PLAY WITH ARCHIE THE CORGI!!! It's been a few years since I saw Archie, but he's JUST AS KYOOT as the last time I saw him!

LOOK HOW KYOOT HE IS!!!

Me and Archie getting reacquainted

Archie, *whut are you doing?"

Eyeing each other off

Puppy face competition!

Archie goes in for the smooch

And then looks away like nothing happened.

I'll admit, I kinda really love this photo. 

Pooey and Archie 

She restrained herself a bit more around him. 

After the initial excitement, we went off and did something else more fun - Smee taught Archie a new trick and we all took turns reinforcing it.

For each time Archie would put his paw on that rubber chicken toy and made it squeak, we would give him a munchie.

I think he learned it within 5 goes.

And then he went around to each of us, making the chicken squeak progressively longer and louder until we fed him.*

In the end, he got tired of playing with all of us and went to sleep.

*Smee went and visited a few days later and said Archie basically followed him around with that chicken asking for food. And then watching with a quizzical look when he wasn't fed. 

This dog!

I was at the airport getting ready to head back to Melbs when....HEILIGE SCHEISSE, CHECK OUT THIS DOG!!!

HE'S LIKE A CORGI-SIZED GERMAN SHEPHERD!!!

Moth traps - *WARNING*

WARNING!!!

THIS POST CONTAINS GRAPHIC PICTURES OF DEAD MOTHS IN TRAPS.

I hate moths, they're bastards. They're disgusting little critters who get into your house, lay their eggs and then then die so you end up finding moth bodies here and there if they manage to evade you. But those little eggs hatch into larvae which get into your clothes and chew little holes in them, the little bastards. This is particularly upsetting to me and Pooey because she left some nice (shared) knits in her closet for the summer months, and when I got them out to wear in April, they were holey! Bastards. We use things like naphthalene balls, oak balls, lavender patches etc. to repel them to no joy.

 

A few weeks ago, Mischka informed me about these awesome traps she uses in her wardrobe. They consisted of a small square of moth pheromone located in the middle of a glue surface. the pheromone attracts male moths which then get stuck in the glue. With the males gone, the females can't get preggers to lay eggs! But if they do lay eggs, they'll get traps in the glue as well! It's like a vicious circle of moth death. I ended up purchasing a packet with her - each packet includes two traps, perfect! One for me, one for Pooey.

 

The red spot is the pheromone lure.

 

The trap sitting on top of some knits in Pooey's wardrobe. 

And so three weeks later, this is what we got...

EUW GROSS!!!

  

But on the other hand, at least we know these traps work! They need to be replaced every three months or until the trap is *full*. I'm not sure what defines a *full* trap; it might be related to your tolerance for seeing dead moths.

More things I won't miss

Also high on the list of things I won't miss when I go to the colder climes are mosquitoes. 


Just when I think it's cool enough to sleep at night without choking on my own hayfever-induced mucus, I wake up in the middle of the night with those welts on my thighs. After getting up and doing some middle of the night activities to decrease the extent of the Type 1 Hypersensitivity reaction, I spent a good 30 minutes trying to track down the bastard in my room. Given it was now approximately 3am, I had to throw in the towel and try to get some sleep. But then, I think I spent the next hour or so hearing that droning noise before finally collapsing out of sheer exhaustion.


And then I had to endure the itchy at work today! Bring on the cold!!!

RIP, Paul the Psychic Octopus

It is with great sadness that I report the death of Paul the Octopus, World Cup Oracle. Here's some of his greatest hits:

Rest in piece, Paul. Rest in piece. 

Pet shop puppies

Like Pooey, I am somewhat torn between admiring the cuteness of puppies in petshops and the belief that they probably came from puppy farms.

Beagle x Cavalier King Charles Spaniel

Chocolate Labrador

Is it just me or do they look kinda bored and sad? I dunno :(
But for those who do think they look sad, go to http://www.closepuppyfactories.org and sign the petition to close puppy farms!

I want one

.

Kyoot dog!!!

I was happily walking my way down Johnstone St in Fitzy when something AMAZING caught my eye and I did a double-take then went :O :D :O :D

It was this DOG!!! Isn't he adorable?! I think he's a keeshond.

I don't know if the dog's owner get that kind of reaction much. He seemed pretty cool with me rocking over and saying with an excited squeal, "Can I pat your dog?!?!" and then going to the dog, "Aren't you gorgeous?!" while alternately rubbing his ruff and letting him lick my hands. And then when I asked, "Can I photograph your dog?!?!"...well the dog got really excited!!! And then he posed beautifully for this pic.

Awww, so kyoot. I want one!

Bestiality at its best

Been having a hard time at work (stupid thesis and last minute changes :@:@:@) but Jiggles posted this and it made me laugh so I thought I'd share the humour.

Apparently there are only 90 or so Kakapos (that fat parrot) left in the world so we should feel honoured to watch such a spectacle!

Help please! + *bonus* new love!

Some people like to mark new phases of their life but cutting their hair off or getting makeovers or the like. For my periods of upheaval, I like to get glasses. Okay, that's not true. It's more like I realised my current pair of glasses are five years old. I have thus spent a bit of time looking for a new pair but have been hobbled by the realisation that while I *look good* in glasses, it is difficult to find a pair of glasses that suit me due to my round face and anime-esque features (kekeke, whatever).

But now that Pooey is back, we took a day out to try and find me a pair some suitable and suitably different frames. I require 2 frames, one for general wear and one to get transition lenses - lenses that change to sunglasses in sunlight for when I don't feel like wearing contact lenses. Help me choose, please!

These are the options (excuse the funny faces I'm pulling).

CK5189

CK5590

Face a Face 1

Face a Face 2

Denmark

Please pick your favourite two. I've allowed multiple selections so hopefully this will work.

Also, while we were randomly ambling around, I found myself gazing into the deepest, sweetest brown eyes I had ever come across and fell instantly in love. With those eyes came soft honey-blonde hair and beautiful floppy ears.

Unfortunately, I can't really keep a puppeh right now, so my heart was broken asunder and with a longing glace, we parted ways. *sigh*.

Nature is my enemy

The weather is turning hot (well, it is coming into summer) and I hate it! Apart from my apparent inability to sweat properly due to ichthyosis vulgaris, mosquitoes love me and my O+ blood. H thinks it's also a case of Viet cuisine being awfully tasty in warm weather. But the really shit thing is the immune response I have in response to the little bastards.

Last week I got one on my knee and this is what it looked like without scratching, about 10 minutes after the bite.

You can see the classic signs of a Type I Hypersensitivity right there - the raised wheal in the centre surrounded by red flare (outlined) caused by vascular leakage. It kinda looks like computer game alien.

Later in the week, I acquired some more bites on my legs and they ended up looked like this.

You can see the flare on these bastards very easily! Having the bites so closed to each other caused localised oedema in my legs so they looked all lumpy and actually kinda hurt to touch. Curse that IgE/Mast cell activation!

I'm currently in the last phase of the reaction. The bites aren't itchy anymore, but all that red vascular leakage has made my legs look like they're covered in bruises.

Okay, that's all I needed to whine about!