Wednesday W’s #98

What’s top of my mind: How much I love my floorboards.

Well, last night made me glad yet again for my wooden floors. Poppy, pictured on the left in happier times, was walking around and around the room at 4 AM. Then I smelt something BAAAD, I leaped up and put her out. The poor girl had been trying to hold in diarrhoea… well, let’s just say that I was reminded of a fire hose when she got out onto the grass. She spent the rest of the night in the ensuite with a dog rug, but like MacBeth, my sleep was murdered for the rest of the night.

The clean-up on floorboards of the bit she couldn’t hold in wasn’t pleasant, but on carpet? I don’t even want to imagine.

She’s not in great spirits this morning, poor love. It’s hard when they can’t speak to tell you what’s wrong.

Where I’m going: I booked another holiday. Oops.

I have a timeshare that I bought back in 2006 that, until now, I’ve never used. It uses points and has various properties the timeshare owns that I can stay in, plus access to lots more. This is how I stayed at Kangaroo Island and how I was able to give David30 and Izzy a week’s stay in a very swish place in New Zealand for a week.

I was musing that I get back from the Ghan trip in the middle of September but then I didn’t have anything booked until February next year. That’s a big gap. I wanted another holiday but I didn’t want to spend any more money.

I decided to jump onto the Accor Vacation Club website to see if there was anything interesting available in Nov/Dec.

Turns out that there’s a place in Lake Crackenback (near Thredbo in the Snowy Mountains) that people have been raving about for years and others whinge that they can never get a spot. There was a 1BR available for a week.

I’ve never been to this part of the world. My geography was a little hazy about where it was exactly. Turns out it’s only a 6-hour drive from my place!

The real surprise was when, after I locked it in, I decided to go on the website to see how much I’d be paying if I was just Patricia Public booking from the website.

$2,300,

omg.

My club fees for the year are $1,200. It was exxy to buy into the club at the time, but I think Past Frogdancer did Present/Future Frogdancer a solid. I’m going to have a week of quiet contemplation among the gumtress, kangaroos and koalas. It’s right near Mt Kosciuszko, (not going to lie… I copied and pasted that name!), which for overseas readers is Australia’s highest mountain, rising to a dizzying height of 2,228m/ 7,310 ft tall. 

Now you know why I was so very impressed by Switzerland.

Where I’ve been: in the backyard.

It’s getting to the stage when the veggie garden is beginning to wind down from the summer. I’ve started ‘chop and dropping’ spent plants and loading up some of the garden beds with mushroom compost and mulch for the winter. I need to get to Bunnings to buy some more animal manure to really beef up things.

Since I’ll be gone for 5 weeks in May/June, I’m not going to have a winter veggie garden. Poor Georgia29 will have enough to cope with by looking after the little woofs, commuting to uni and getting home in the dark without worrying about veggies. Watering the potplants will probably be enough to send her over the edge!

What I’m reading: the latest Robert Galbraith novel.

I bloody love these books. When I heard that the new one was out, I immediately raced to put a hold on it at the library. I was something like number 80 in the queue.

I’m a patient woman. I knew my time in the sun would come.

It’s a 900-page whopper! I’m nearly finished and I’m loving it.

What I’m watching: Sleeping dogs.

I’ll let them lie…

What I’m listening to: the dishwasher.

We’re so lucky to live in these times, aren’t we?

What I’m eating: Soup and home-made bread rolls.

On Monday Blogless Sandy came around after her volunteer stint of walking dogs at the nearby shelter. I made bread rolls, and chicken and veggie soup from the carcass of a roast chook Georgia and I had been chomping our way through.

This is such a delicious thing to make. It’s different every time because it’s dependent on which veggies you have in the garden and fridge, but it’s the sort of food that’s delicious and at the same time you can FEEL it doing you good.

There was a bowl left over. Lunch for me!

What I’m planning: maybe Hawaii?

Megan is thinking that we might make a stopover to Hawaii on the way home from Alaska. This place has never been on my bucket list, but if it isn’t too expensive we might do it. She wants to be somewhere warm for her birthday.

Has anyone been? I’m not a beach person so is there anything else to do but sit and look at palm trees?

Who deserves a ‘thumbs-up’:

The guy we met at the beach yesterday who knew what breed Scout is and didn’t think she was a mongrel cross-breed.

What has made me smile: Seeing zucchinis that are growing and not dying.

It’s ridiculous. Who would ever think that I’d be glad to see zucchinis growing at this time of year? Normally you can’t give them away! This year we’ve had the grand total of 1 zucchini slice from our own garden. Looks like, if we’re lucky, I’ll be able to change that total to 2.

Dad joke of the day: