Thunderbolts and Lightning Again

Nicole is relieved to have finished a stretch of ten days working with only one day's break in the middle. She now has six days off... all we need to do is fill the time... cheaply!

Whilst the taxpayer has been at work, the parasite (about which more, later) has been out and about having a good time! On Monday, Eloise was dropped off at nursery and once again bawled when left, which was a little heart wrenching. Reportedly though after five minutes she was fine and "in the thick of things." Kier from the nursery said that for the first few times the kids are generally fine but they soon figure out that they are going to be left there for the whole day and get correspondingly upset at the prospect.

We - the dogs and I - then went up to Mount Coot-tha and did the same circuit as last week, in reverse. Once again the result was very knackered dogs. It was quite a hot day also at around 30 degrees and I too was a bit sweaty by the end of it. However to my amazement when we went down to Simpson Falls there was actually a trickle of water falling over it, making it officially a non-fraudulent name, if hyperbolic.

We hung around on Monday afternoon, had lunch, messed about with photos etc. and dropped in at the Vets to picked up working tablets and check out progress on the diet regime.

The good news as that Tiny is up from 17.5kg to a much more healthy 20.2kg. The bad news is that Matilda has gone up from 25kg to 27kg; I can almost hear the hoots of derision echoing around the world. So some further dietetic adjustment is required, and some additional discipline with E. I have noticed the young Eloise, being the caring, sharing, kind individual that she has been encouraged to be, actively seeks out opportunities to give the dogs food, which can be very frustrating if you've just opened a "nutritional snack" (sarcasm implied by quotes is totally intentional, by the way) and she takes a mouthful and hands the rest over to the dogs, or tips half a cup of milk on the floor for the dogs to lick up. What I previously thought of as purely defiant misbehaviour I now suspect has a softer, more caring side also.

Monday night.... I think we watched Thelma and Louise. Not bad... a bit Eighties, i.e. dodgy American rock music with cheesy synth lines.

Tuesday Nicole was on a late so we went up to Samford Forest looking for the mythical longer circuit, but failed to find it. Forgot to give the dogs their worming tablets. Cleaned the house from top to bottom. Well, from slightly above the bottom to the bottom anyway. Went swimming. Eloise needs to hold on to the sides of the pool until picked up.

On Wednesday, it was overcast first thing. I went back to Samford Forest, refusing to be defeated in my search for a reasonably long walk there, and found a previously undiscovered outcropping of track halfway up a hill which looked as though it might be heading in the right general direction for the longer circuit, which is on the map, damn it, so must exist! We walked up it for an hour, and it was very steep, especially difficult with Squeezy in the backpack.


After it crested the path wandered around a ridge so we looked down into the forest and could see the tree tops receding into the distance, then distant hills punctuated with the ubiquitous lowbuild houses.

Continuing round the track, it still seemed to be going in the right general direction, but after an hour I started to lose faith as we approached some houses which I wasn't expecting. I decided to cut my losses and head back. Squeaky had been out of the backpack and done some walking and was getting tired, and the sun had come out now and 'twas getting a bit warm. It was only a twenty minute downhill walk back, but she was drooping and fell asleep for about five minutes.

And that was all the sleeping she did that day. I put her down for a nap thinking she'd be out like a light but she gurgled and squawked for half an hour before becoming more insistent and I thought enough was enough there were beans to be eaten.

Turned on the radio to do some cooking to hear reports of impending storms and looked out of window to observe large, grey, looming wall of cloud. By the time the beans on toast was done, the storm seemed to be impending and lightning flashes were obvious in the distance. The radio was talking of a humdinger which was dropping bucketloads of rain and hail.

Indeed it wasn't long before the thunder started crashing around us. Tiny was getting very excited so I calmed her down and was just about to give her a treat for not barking at some thunder when there was the most god-awful crack like a hundred foot tall Catwoman on steroids doing her worst with a bullwhip. I thought we'd been struck by lightning and maybe some had come down nearby. All I know was that it was immediately followed by crashing thunder and my treat giving was in vain. The wind was howling now and the hail started to fall.

Then before you know it it was over, the skies cleared and the sun came out.

Today the media are saying the storm was as near to a tornado as they get round here, though I think we were on the periphery of it.