Me? Martha Stewart??

To my dismay it seems likely - OK, definitely not quite on the scale of Martha but seem to be on my way to becoming not too bad at the whole cooking and baking thing! Touch wood anyway - this now means that anything I bake and cook from now on will be a total flop.

I tried my hand at chocolate cakes,which came out great,but have worked out that my cake pans are too big for the amount of mix that I use and so my cakes are rather skinny yet large. New cake pans are expensive though so am holding out until I can afford smaller ones and living with what I have. Needless to say it could just be the icing and caramel that makes the chocolate cake so good!

I attempted cornbread which was OK - not fantastic but quite good. Again, I have a long and very skinny bread pan and would like to get a shorter fatter one, as my poor loaf looks decidedly odd. I found some gorgeous mini bread pans at Woerman, just the right size for one person, but as they are so expensive will have to hold off on that as well for the time being. 

On Friday I made a butternut soup which came out really well and fed us for the weekend, as well as a very nice Afrikaans pap-en-sous bake - only to discover that we weren't hungry after the soup and so half of it has gone to waste really. I am sure that the dogs will appreciate it though. 

Saturday morning I decided to make cheese and bacon muffins for breakfast,which came out great actually and I had the last ones for breakfast this morning - all cuddled up in bed with coffee, muffins, and Eureka. My next plan is to make a fabulous chocolate cake and take it to Ulf who has been a total life-saver for us regarding the Pajero and when I was so upset about the tax last week gave me a hug to cheer me up! Let's hope that it doesn't flop and I don't put it down on a hotplate on the stove like I did last time and crisp it again ...

Here's hoping that I manage to maintain this level of culinary semi-decency as I quite enjoy it - apart from the dishes!

Namibia's Coastline

I have been spending an awful lot of time on the beach this past week with the dogs. I have been attempting to take them out every afternoon now that things have quietened down for me and there isn't something that I have to do every afternoon and they get to run and play and I also get a good walk in.

We climb in the car and drive out past Mile 4; as soon as we're on the dirt road past traffic if there is any, the dogs run alongside the car and I drive the last couple of kilometers onto the beach itself and then walk from there. Bear is howling to get out the car and run the moment we leave the house and it just gets louder and louder until we get to spot where he can run his heart out. Yes, many passers by give us rather strange looks at this Husky that is screaming his head off out the window ... 

Even Kita is starting to enjoy the running, and is losing her totally ungainly galumphing crab-style sideways run and losing a bit of her grossly overweight body. She doesn't make it much over 20 km's per hour though,and usually gets left far behind as Bear and I cane off at about 40 km's per hour, leaving her far behind, but she plods on and catches up eventually. Normally by this time Bear and I have parked the car and are out on the beach already :)

Once out on the beach there is generally no one in sight for as far as you can see unless you look back to town,but during the week the beaches are empty - apart from Friday when we encountered some fisherman and so had to detour around them. I am slightly nervous being out there on my own as the dogs wouldn't be any kind of protection and there really is no one around. 

We walk down the beach and I try to get in at least a 20 to 40 minute walk; good for me and a load of fun for them as they get to sniff an ever-changing array of debris thrown up onto the coastline by the freezing Atlantic. There are hundreds of seagulls that Bear has great delight in chasing - although as of yet he hasn't caught anything apart from that daft goose he chased the other day - and a huge amount of dead sea-life, shattered mussel shells, seaweed, shark eggs even, and all sorts of other things.

The seagulls seem to eat the mussel shells,which somehow their iron stomachs break down into this fine grit that they mess all over the beach in massive quantities. There are also loads of little rock-like things; well they look like rocks until you pick them up and then they are semi-soft; must be some kind of ocean sponge.The dogs have great delight in digging them into the sand and playing - the whole experience must be a total sensory overload for them. 

On top of all the natural debris that the Atlantic throws onto the beaches, there is a startling amount of human rubbish - bottles, bags, fishing line, plastic, left over coals from fires, bones that people leave lying around and a huge amount of other stuff. All of this is detrimental to the sea-life in some way, and people don't seem to realize or care just what they are doing to the environment around them by refusing to pick up their litter. 

Each bit of plastic could be the end of some animals life; whether they think it's a jellyfish or if its fishing line that gets stuck in their claws or around their necks. It is shocking and depressing to see just what humans are doing to this last wild coastline as they use it to abuse the fishing, party, and run their quad bikes and cars over the Tern's nesting grounds. The authorities have cordoned off areas where no one is meant to be allowed to drive, but the people here have scant regard for them or for conservation and instead complain that they are ruining holidays and income from tourism by refusing entry to sections of the dunes and beaches. 

How small-minded - they don't seem to realize that when they are done destroying the coastline in the name of fun there won't be anything left to support our pathetic existence in this barren area and so won't be able to enjoy it anyway. What with rising sea levels and an angry Atlantic, it might not be long before Aranos is the new Swakop!

The Birthday Month

Well, it didn't work out quite as expected.

I had planned to go away on the 8th and 9th,have a big party on the 15th, and go to a lodge on the 22nd, which is our actual birthday. The 8th and 9th was scrapped as we had wanted to go to the farm but due to certain people (not us lol, read previous post) acting like children we didn't go. Then on the 15th we were invited to Omaruru, so off we went,and the party was scrapped.

It was the Festival of Arts or some such in Omaruru, so that would have been great to go to, but as usual that didn't work out either. Pio's cousin Behan and his wife Androette had a baby and so we collected Granny in Omaruru and drove on to Otjiwarongo to spend the night there and see the little mite. Kayla is tiny! We had a lovely evening and a braai with them, saw the baby, which sent Granny over the moon and she kept wanting to know when I would have one.

On Saturday morning we drove to Lilian and Jacks' farm on the outskirts of Otjiwarongo. Unfortunately I surprised them and so they weren't particularly happy to see me but showed us around. The farm hasn't changed a lot from when we were there - just bigger gardens and a lot more bird cages! They have the most incredible birds, imported from all over, in the most beautiful aviaries.

After that we drove back to Omaruru and had a really quiet evening, watched the rugby, and went to bed early.I also walked into a glass door without even having a drink :) proof that alcohol doesn't really cause you to do idiotic things! Sunday we had breakfast, Pio went to see Dan's huge collection of old cars, and then drove home.

Our actual birthday weekend went down the tubes as well as no one could look after the house, so on the Friday night we had a braai on the beach with Rian, Anika and Joani, which was really good. We had huge t-bone steaks, froze to death, and they made us down totally vile concoction to apparently celebrate our birthday. It hit Pio like a ton of bricks so he was man-down, and we then decided to go to General's for a drink, which we did and then went home.

On Saturday we watched the rugby at Gruner Kranz, ran into Vanessa and Wentworth, and they also did their best to get us drunk. We ducked home early after the game and had a very uninteresting Sunday chilling and watching TV.

So all in all the birthday wasn't quite what I wanted it to be, but we had some fun!

What a Weekend!

Every week, from Monday to Thursday, I complain that I am getting old and need to stop drinking and partying. Every week, from Monday to Thursday, Pio ignores me and somehow half the town lands up in my living room braaiing and making an incredible mess of my house. Thank heavens glasses are cheap - thank you Hardus who broke THREE on Friday night. Although him dancing with the mop whilst attempting to clean up his mess was rather amusing as well as futile - he missed most of the mess whilst managing to look like he had stepped out of Mary Poppins with a mop instead of a chimney sweep.

So there you go, Friday originally began as I spent the week saying that I did not want to party but we had to sort the Pajero out with Gustav and I wanted to make burgers. So this moved from Tuesday night all the way to Friday night, and instead of just being Gustav turned out to be Gustav, Joani, Hardus, Rian, and Annika. OK, great. There went my peaceful Friday evening. 

Then, at around 6pm on Friday night guess who rings Pio - Francois who is on his way to Swakop with Alex, an American mate of Pio's that he met whilst staying in the guesthouse. Fine, add some more people then, and hope that we have enough rolls, mince and salads for the burgers. 

And so everyone slowly trickled in, and all was going great until Francois and Alex arrived. I was sitting in the lounge next to the fire talking to Joani and Annika, and all of a sudden I hear Bear chunk and he comes bolting in to hide behind me. I knew something was of, but on asking about it was told that Bear jumped out of the car and landed wrong. I then went to the loo and he cowered behind me then hid on the bed and actually stayed with me when I cuddled up to him. So that was it, I knew something was wrong. 

So eventually they admitted it to me; Bear had gone to greet Francois and sniffed his crotch and Francois had belted the shit out of him. Pio had told everyone to not tell me as I would blow a gasket, but I know my dog. He asked if I could just leave it, so I said fine, and my dog hid behind me for the rest of the evening. I was furious. It only got worse; Francois and Gustav got into an argument about dogs as Francois kept going on about f'ing dogs up, and Francois was so drunk he tried to push Gustav around. Gustav, although on his ear, had stuck up for my dog and told Francois if he hit Bear again he would feel it.

So they attempted to get into a fight outside the front door, and I lost it, jumped in between them and then had a go and a half, and (screaming mind you) told them to grow up and that they could only come back into my house when they had made peace. Enthusiastically snarled at them, told them to stay the f out, and slammed the gate very satisfyingly behind me. I was clearly red in the face when I got back inside, so Rian and Hardus asked what was going on, I said fight and had another enthusiastic rant, and Rian and Hardus ran out the door lightning fast to see what was going on. 

Needless to say ten minutes later peace was made and everyone came back inside. Long and short of it, Francois was a drunk moron that is no longer welcome in my house nor will I go to his farm, and his mate Alex is an arrogant American twit that spent the night raving about himself and everything that he personally has done for this country and all the government ministers etc etc that he knows and has lunches and dinners with. I took great pleasure in telling him that the government here means nothing so he can stop bragging, and I probably know them all anyway so he has no reason to brag about it. MORON!!!

So thank heavens they left, and from then on we had a really pleasant evening and the burgers were a big hit - Pio and I only got one each so everyone else must have enjoyed them. Hardus took over the braai from Pio and happily splatted burgers (hopefully he washed his hands) and braaied them. Hardus then went on to break the three glasses (I suspect it might actually be 4) and then danced with the mop. Shortly after he also got out his harmonica and played along to a few songs, which was great. 

Saturday we were going to Rian and Annika to watch the rugby, and that was also great fun. Gustav and Joani joined us, and I blame it solely on Gustav that I got drunk - we were playing darts, and someone has to nominate someone else, then you pick a number, and depending on how many times they hit that number is depending on how many times the poor idiot (me that picked the wrong number apparently) drinks. I got hit 3 times, and that was me sitting in the corner woefully dreaming of my bed. 

Nevertheless, they all refused to let me go home, and before you knew it they had me dancing in the lounge with Rian, Pio and Gustav. Joani and Annika joined in and it was great until they started to go on about going out for a drink - Rian

Sunday we chilled and did literally nothing. Was great.

Photos

Good Food and Friends

Well, last night I got caught up ranting about my phone to everyone online, and so didn't realize the time until it was gone 4pm, and then hadn't taken out anything to defrost and so lost all interest in cooking. I thought to myself  "Possibly Pio will cook when he comes in ... " should have known that was too much - he said "Of course I'll cook" and headed for the frozen sausage rolls in the freezer. How original. 

Joani arrived, as she and I were meant to go and do a recce for an idea I have had, but we got side-tracked. So anyway, we decided to go to Ocean Basket for dinner as we haven't been in a while and cooking was looking less and less like an option. Pio normally eats a great big lunch very day, and so isn't hungry when he gets in, compared to me who is starving by 6pm as I eat very little during the day.

So anyway, off we go, after putting the dog bed outside for Bear and Kita, and giving them each a big bone to chew on to keep them amused in the time that we would be gone. It really is a huge relief knowing that they have each other now and poor Bear isn't lying there alone missing us with a soulful look in his big brown eyes!

We sat outside at Ocean Basket, its cold now but being horrible smokers that is the only choice we have! It was actually a very pleasant evening, we had a drink and then ordered 18 prawns with fresh bread, garlic, chillies and butter and had that as a starter, it was divine. For mains Pio and I had Kingklip with mussels and prawns, and Joani had a platter.

It was just so nice sitting there, chilling, eating, talking rubbish, and the food was great. We left just after 8pm so still had an early night, and good food. 

Came home to discover that Kita had found the niche in the dog bed and ripped a lot of the stuffing out ...

WTF? GULP

Right people, this is your chance to rub in my face what a sarcastic and short-fused cow I am. I woke up this morning, and as I was leaving for work start looking for my phone. I couldn't find it anywhere, and so then rang it - it was off. Sit back and think for a while ... the last time I used it was at DHL yesterday afternoon. So I thought OK, must have left it there, as I didn't look for it all of yesterday or use it, and used Pio's alarm clock this morning to wake up with. 

Off I go to work and ring DHL - of course they don't have it. I politely told them that if anyone has taken it I was going to block it and report it stolen so if I caught anyone with it would charge them. I was very nice about it though, didn't rant and rave at them THANK HEAVENS. I did rant and rave on facebook though ... never have you seen a comment deleted faster than that once I realized ... I swear, this bloody dog is going to cost me a fortune. Already has and it seems it's only going to get worse. 

Took them both to the vet this afternoon, Kita for her first shots which she hasn't yet had - not at all good considering she is almost 4 months old, and Bear because he is wheezing - no bloody wonder he probably has eaten a sock or something little monster. This garden must be a gold mine for the gardener!!

So now I have a chewed phone. The Blackberry will not come on, and after trying to contact Blackberry I feel that they can shove their  "support" up their behinds as they refuse to deal with my query. The T303 is still locked and it seems that no one can unlock it, so I may just have to use my phone with no back and full of teeth marks. And Vicky's phone sock that she so kindly gave me is all shredded ... :-( 

AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH remind me again WHY I wanted animals?? The cats and Maya have cost us a total of 18 thousand this month from destroying furniture in the other house, Bear has cost heaven only knows how much in chewed clothes and shoes and now my phone. The cats claw the furniture which means never will we but anything new other than electrical appliances as those they don't seem to scratch. The joy ...

Kita with the Curly Tail

The few funny things that happened yesterday I thought I may as well write about. Should have done it last night but there you go - Bear has literally just run out of the house with something of mine in his mouth ... So after me running in and out all day and cleaning and making dinner and and and and, when Pio got home I suggested we take them out. 

So off we went in the car to a beach near to us, which we hoped had no dogs on. Unfortunately it did, and as usual Bear went berserk. Pio had Kita as she is meant to be his dog and he must train her now, and Bear is mine (sodding good training I have done, that dog hitting the end of his rope lunging after other dogs almost took me off my feet more than once). All he wants to do is say hello, but other people dislike him as he is so rough and generally bowls their dogs straight off their feet in his enthusiasm. 

So there we were, me holding Bear whilst he jumped and lunged against his rope (which is literally just a rope as I haven't had time to buy a new lead) barking and looking like he was about to murder those poor other dogs. Kita, who hasn't had any interaction with other dogs, (Bear was the first stranger that she met) took Bear's lead and went mad at them as well - great.

We gave up and took them to another beach further away on the road out of town where they could have a good run in peace without chasing and mauling other dogs.We had hoped that by getting another dog, Bear's obsession with chasing and mauling stranger dogs on the beach would stop, but alas no it seems. Anyway they had a good run, Bear being a dominating male pig most of the time.

Once back at home, we had dinner etc etc and decided to watch a movie on the projector - Old dogs with Robin Williams and John Travolta. One of the first pics on the screen was that of John Travolta's dog, and Kita, seeing this, went ballistic barking at the screen. We don't know if it is the size of the screen so that it makes people look like they're real life-size or what was going through her head, but she was totally not on board with this whole story. Pio had to sit with her for ages to calm her down, it was really funny.

She is very protective of her house it seems, she barks and goes for poor Merencia whom Bear adores, and anyone else that she doesn't know as well. That's all well and good now that she's small but when she's the size of her Dad (who apparently weighs 65 kg's) it could be a problem. Johnny in the garden is coming today, and it will be after I have left for work, so am hoping that she leaves him in relative peace and doesn't bite him! So yes, we finally have a watch dog.

Bear yesterday also managed to destroy the new toy I bought the cats within 5 minutes of buying it - I hadn't even taken it out the packaging and he had broken it ... sigh. Poor Lucifer was dragging the feathers around as he absolutely loves them, and then Bear stole those and ate them another ten minutes later. Poor Luce, the little bugger loses all his toys to Bear, it's shocking. 

Anyway, time to get dressed for work and begin another day ... yay! Am so thrilled.

Another day

Has flown by, as usual. Nothing of particular interest or excitement though, and am rather bored which is the only reason I am writing anything now! Not that I know what to write - this means we get to find out just how useless my writing skills are when I have nothing of interest to say.

"Lizzy" and "Craig" have both chatted with me, insulted me and called me old, so all three of us are on good terms although Lizzy seems to feel she is a swingers chat room as all 3 of us were chatting at the same time and relaying sarcastic comments and insults. Feels almost like I'm back in England! 

Kita, the latest addition to the mad house, is settling in well. She is a "talker", and so when she gets excited or sees you for the first time she howls with excitement which is very cute. Bear has stopped howling at the gate like a lost child, so hopefully the old bid that keeps grilling me about his welfare will stop! Seriously though, who could ever mistake a big, fat, shiny-coated mutt that constantly has half my clothes and bones the size of himself to eat every day, as being ill-treated??? He eats better than I do. 

She took a chomp out of Lucifer this morning, vicious little bag, so got her bum truly smacked. My cats are totally off-limits to these crazy dogs and they better believe I will drop them off at SPCA if they do! Yes, I am an evil Mother that doesn't care for her children. Poor Lucifer who is a very brave if very small little soul tried to put her in her place and got taken out - he spent the rest of the morning quaking on the garden roof / wall and came running when I got home from work crying his little heart out. Kita Cow will get her ass kicked if she goes down that road again!!!

She kept us up quite a lot last night - I think she gets bored. Bear climbs in and out the window in the lounge and so keeps himself amused, but she is still too little to and so wakes us up. I was so amazed, Pio actually got up for her to let her out! It didn't help that I had to get up 5 minutes later to get her back in, but the thought was there and it was truly appreciated. 

I also got a long email from Hope which was great, and finally got to send some photos out to everyone of our menagerie and Pio and myself. Sharon kindly told me that I have lost weight and am looking rather thin ... sigh ... can we ever win? Scrawny me - comes from running after 5 animals and a male child of 30. 

Anyway, nothing interesting and exiting to report so am off to shower and read my book!

Well well ...

Who would have thought ... 

I got a very strange message today, from a good friend of mine in England. As she wishes to remain anonymous as no one apparently knows this secret, let's think of a name for her - OK, Elizabeth! Lizzy for short ha ha ha - that's out of spite as she calls me that lol. "Rhoda Elizabeth Jones!!!" She shrieks when she's annoyed with me; I don't have a middle name, but she says it carries more weight if she adds one in.

Now we need a name for the other character in this story ... difficult one actually ... he and I go back aways ... umm Craig will have to do. First thing that popped into my head apart from Pio or Tiaan and I can't steal their names, would just be weird really. Craig and I used to work together quite closely and for some time, and I thought he was really quite fit but I was in a relationship and so was he, and we were really just good mates, got along like a house on fire. Lizzy was always the one going "No I don't think he's fit, not my type at all!" Huh!! (very loud snort)

So Lizzy sends me a very odd mail this afternoon. It begins: "I have a bit of news for you and have no idea how you are going to react….so please read this very carefully and try and keep an open mind….looking forward to your reaction ... "
                                        

Right, so this immediately makes me think Oh Good Lord, she's pregnant; or something equally disastrous. On it goes, saying that she really would like it if I didn't bite her head off, and I needed to read and think before I reacted, and take things calmly dot dot dot. Hmmm. Turns out the great dramatic news was simply that the two of them had gotten together! Odd yes, how on earth they managed to get that right am really not very sure at all :-) but overall it is very good news. Apparently both of them were apparently terrified at my reaction and waiting for it with bated breath. Idiots. The only reaction Lizzy got was me pissing myself with laughter. 
                                                     

Then, the old evil side kicks in ... 

"Lizzy," I say, "Shall I mail Craig and tell him off as I imagined that he was saving himself for me and now he's pulling into my best mate, shock horror??? Am mortally wounded whatnot whatnot."
                                          

Lizzy is really just as evil: "Go for it!" she says. So there I go, type a quick mail to Craig and crap him out, saying how dare he go near my best mate, it's totally out of line! Unfortunately, the silly cow is obviously totally crazy about him as she bloody went and told him it was only a joke ... sigh ... there went my afternoon of fun. On the other hand, I could always email HER tomorrow and say that I had a good think about it and am horrified by it, they have broken my delicate heart! Bless her, could I be so cruel - uh, yes!!
                                        

Overall the jokes and laughs, it's kind of bittersweet for me, and really makes me think of ol' England and the friends that have been so good to me. Whenever I'm down, something will happen, and their comments and emails and words really have made a difference. The freaky thing is, I have this kind of feeling that this is it for them, etc etc - another "end of an era". 
                                               

Who knows, maybe I am wrong, but they fit. And whichever way it goes I can only wish them the best of luck, xo xo.