There was a redback in the garden...

I was just picking up one of the pots in my garden (about half a step away from my front door) to move it out from underneath the lavender bush that has recently had a growth spurt and is trying to take over the world and as I lifted it up I saw that about 1cm away from my finger was a Redback spider.

I thoroughly coated the spider in bug spray and then, as any good zoologist would do, went back inside to find my dissecting kit so I could safely retrieve and collect her. She is now taking pride of place in my insect collection (yes, I do realise that spiders are not insects, but I figure that a Redback is cool enough to collect for a while anyway).

I have also ensured that the egg sacks next to the spider are no longer, shall we say, viable.

Anyway, just thought it was interesting.

Are you sneezing on my pillow?

Alright, who on earth gave me the cold!?!

I'm not at uni anymore sitting in lecture theatres getting sneezed on by people I don't know. In fact I haven't really been anywhere for anyone to give me the cold.
How could I possibly be fighting off the cold when no one else has it - Well, no one I have seen recently. I do know people with the cold, but they have been avoiding me.

And yet, I wake up yesterday morning with the sneezes and that kinda tickle-ish, rawness at the back of my throat that announces the presence of a rather annoying virus. The question is, who has been incubating the virus and passing it on to me without me noticing? Is someone sneaking into my flat and sneezing on my pillow when I'm not looking?

Good news is, I seem to be fighting it off much more successfully and efficiently than normal. But it is rather inconvenient as I'm going to have to buy some more tea bags and honey as I am going through them at a ridiculous rate at the moment :)

And right when I was about to give blood, too. I should have done it last week, I guess.

Thanks to XKCD.com for this one : )

Fiday the 13th

Well, as most of you should already know, I am not a superstitious person. In fact, I am probably the opposite of having triskaidekaphobia - instead of being afraid of Friday the 13ths I rather enjoy them. I look forward to them with a kind of childish anticipation that maybe something spooky and unexplainable will happen. It is probably a good thing, though, that I have never experienced anything truly spooky on any of the Friday the 13ths I can remember. If I was superstitious, though, I'm sure I would have been freaked out by some of the events of the latest Friday the 13th.

I had decided to travel up to Mum and Dad's for the weekend so I was driving up the Midlands on Friday afternoon. I was thinking to myself that it was a rather beautiful day to be driving because it was so blue and sunny when quite suddenly I drove into heavy rain - it was suddenly dark, cold, wet, and much more like a Friday the 13th. So I turned up the volume and started singing along to some of my favourite songs. A couple of songs later (still in the rain) the back speakers just stopped working and suddenly there was only sound coming from the front of the car (I have it balanced so that most of the volume comes from the back speakers). I thought "Bother! I'm going to have to do something about that when I get home" and turned up the volume so I could continue singing along. Some of my friends who are superstitious would have freaked out at this point and begun to blame it on the paranormal - actually, I don't think that they would have been brave enough to travel to begin with.

A couple of songs later, I was still driving along in the dark and the cold and the rain, singing along to keep myself entertained when the back speakers suddenly decided to work again. Because I had turned the volume up so much, I nearly got my ears blown out, and was more than a little startled. After quickly turning down the volume and regaining my composure I was rather delighted that I wasn't going to have to do anything about fixing my speakers after all. My superstitious friends, if they hadn't already pulled over and given up on the idea of driving north, would, at this point, be extremely freaked and would have started the lookout for zombies and aliens and be blubbering incoherently.

A couple of songs later, the rain was suddenly over and it was sunny, blue, and warm again. The temperature according to Barry rose quite suddenly from the 10 degrees it had been in the rain back up to the 29 degrees it was in the sunshine and my Friday the 13th experience was over.

A good days Couch-ing.

Couch-ing is a recreational activity quite commonly practised by teenage boys, but much more rarely attempted by adult females. I can tell you, however, that, although it may take a little practise for a female to get good at couch-ing, it is definitely worth the effort (or complete lack thereof, as the case may be).

Couch -ing, for the uninitiated and unimaginative of you, is simply spending an extended amount of time (preferably an entire day) on the couch without actually accomplishing anything - it can not involve homework, sewing, or any other activity that can in anyway resemble work. It can involve snacking, dozing, napping, reading, listening, talking, or watching - in fact I heartily recommend fitting a little of all of these items into your day of couch-ing. Try not to do too much dozing or napping, though - otherwise you might as well be in bed and you will not get the full benefits of a good days couch-ing.

Before you all go rushing off to your couches, I should warn you that if couch-ing is practised regularly it becomes no different than laziness - and you become no more than a couch potato, bogan. But, on the other hand, if you take a good day of couch-ing every few months or so, it will be a day very well spent - and though, you will feel as though you have not accomplished anything, you will soon noticed that while you were busy doing nothing you have actually, quite by accident, managed to totally recharge your batteries - physically, mentally, and emotionally.

So what do you think I did with the Monday of my long weekend?

James Herriot

Anyone that knows me at all will tell you that I like animals.

Anyone who really knows me will tell you that I love animals.

Because of this love of animals I have always dreamed of becoming a vet. At the moment that dream is on hold, but I still indulge in any sort of vet-related things that I can get my hands on, and today I managed to get my hands on something that I have been wanting for quite a while - the James Herriot collection. I now own a rather thick volume containing "If Only They Could Talk", "It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet", "Let Sleeping Vets Lie", "Vet in Harness", "Vets Might Fly", and "Vet in a Spin". And all of this for only $4.00 - don't you just love secondhand stores : )

Of course, I have already read all of these books, but I am very, very happy to now own them.

Even if you are not as enthusiastic about all matters veterinary as I am, but you have a soft spot for four legged friends I guarantee that you would heartily enjoy these books. If you want to borrow them at any point just let me know because I now own them - yay!