Wednesday, December 17th, 2008

Time	Event
11:53a	trees, rain and gales Monday night Dean answered the door to find our neighbour there. "Did you realise one of your trees is now leaning on our garage?" He went to have a look. Some time during either Sunday night or Monday day the large tree outside the back bedroom window had been blown enough that it had finally toppled gently and was now happily leaning on to the neighbour's garage and the fence. This had probably been helped by the torrential rain we had over the weekend and the gale force winds from Friday night through to Monday. Fortunately there doesn't appear to be any damage to either the garage, the fence or the side of the house (although we won't know that for certain until it's gone and we can see under it properly). So today Dean's waiting for the tree-removal guy, who we were fortunate enough to be able to get hold of. Apparently he's had a busy weekend. It's a bit of a bugger though - firstly it was a mature tree which provided shade from the western sun to that corner of the house, and secondly we've no idea how much getting it removed is going to cost. And thirdly we'll have to replace it, which will involve us doing some actual tree research and then getting a sapling (which we then have to keep alive long enough to stop the geraniums and the bushy plant whose name I don't know from killing it and taking over the territory.) On the positive side, we should be able to get some other gardening cutting back done in that area while we're getting the replacement happening. The other effect the rain had on our garden was to turn what was slightly long grass into African savannah. Seriously we could scythe this stuff and sell it as hay (well, after we'd dried it of course). And it all happened overnight, I swear. Oh and my capsicum plant got very enthusiastic with the rain and doubled the size of its lone fruit (I think it's a fruit) overnight. So now I'm protecting the peaches and the capsicum from magpie predators in the hope of actually getting a harvest going this year. My tomatoes remain flowering and shooting up rapidly. And my parsley has gone to seed (again). I'm going to have to make tabouli before it gets too enthusiastic I think. (3 Comments | Comment on this)
3:20p	Happy meme, day 8 This has been making me laugh since it happened about an hour ago. The acronym for the trial that I work on is ASPID[1]. Don't ask me what it stands for, I've forgotten (and while trying to remember realised that I'm not sure I ever knew. I've come up for at least three options for 'A' and 'I' each.) Anyway, I headed down to collect the specimens from Pathology as usual. Got to the counter where there was a new guy who'd obviously just started. "Hi, are there any specimens for the ASPID Trial?" He looks at me a bit strangely. "The ASPID Trial? They should be in that fridge or that freezer." Still looking at me strangely. The usual guy who's showing him the ropes and has been busy off to one side realises there's a problem and starts coming over, just in time for the new guy to hesitantly say: ( Cut for suspense ) [1] The postdoc goes one better - her trial acronym is SCARE. (3 Comments | Comment on this)
4:46p	Some people shouldn't be allowed to name children. Father of "Adolf Hitler Campbell" calls for tolerance. Oh, and is surprised that people find his son's name (his daughters are named "JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell" and "Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell" btw) offensive. After all, it's just a really distinctive name. Seriously, aren't there grounds for removal because of child endangerment (particularly with spelling) here? And can't we kick them out of the Clan? (and into the Klan. heh.) But really, Honszlynn? Did you read that in a book or make it up yourself.. OK, let me guess. Speaking of stupid names, welcome to the world Cruz Hewitt! I mean really, Cruz. It was bad enough the first time - and Bec'n'Leyton aren't really Posh'n'Becks no matter how hard they try. (And you just know his nickname's going to be 'Booze' from about 16 onwards. Possibly even 15.) Still, at least they didn't name their child Bronx Mowgli I suppose. I've no idea whether that's supposed to be after where the child was conceived and "The Jungle Book" but really, that's up there with Otis Platypus. (Who's now very cute, but that's still kind of beside the point.) I'm surprised Knox Leon Jolie-Pitt made it into the "best boys names" list there though - it's the name of a shopping centre to me (although to the best of my knowledge he wasn't named after conception place, as I'm sure I would remember if Brad and Angelina had been there.) And someone named their twins "Adrian" and "Adriana"? Seriously, that's just cruel. (8 Comments | Comment on this)

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