Aldi L Plates - My Graduation

For those not in the know - In Australia when you are learning to drive you first get your L Plates.  You must be supervised by a licenced driver and do 120 hrs of logged hours driving before you can sit an exam (both written and practical) where if successful you will be given Red P Plates for 1 year and then Green P Plates for a further 3 years before being issued with a full drivers licence.  (long sentence!!)

So what has this to do with Aldi?  Plenty, because as a new user after many recommendation from my fellow bloggers from all over the world, i tried them out.  I can tell you that after my first visit i came out shaking.  None of you mentioned that the scanning person is as fast as lightening nor that you are expected to be at the other end to catch your groceries like a backstop in a pro baseball game.  At the same time you have to juggle all the goods back into your trolley without squashing anything and then proceed to a bench and sort it all with your "own" bags.  Good Golly!  I was almost white.

So, my first step was to go back and buy my "own" bags including a couple of thermals (love those). 

So why have i graduated?  After several return visits i now have it all worked out and have my own game plan.  I've mastered the stare and got myself all set up and I'm able to judge my competition, the checkout guy/girl.  First when i put my purchases on the belt I now know that whatever goes through first is going to end up on the bottom of the bags at the other end so i arrange them in groups of type (canned, cold, breads & biscuits, fruit etc) from the most sturdy of each group to the most fragile.   Then while I'm waiting for the preceding customer i whip out all the bags and open them right up so they look like fish with gaping mouths just waiting for nibbles.   I nominate which bag is for what and then as they go through I'm filling up each bag in turn and moving onto next with my card between my teeth ready to hand it over in a nanosecond.   I tell you, i feel like i need to raise my hands in the air when its all finished, like those guys who put the tyres on at car races (you know the pit-stop boys) so someone can hit a stop watch.    It certainly feels like a race to me.  

Now Aldi shopping trolley designer (probably a man), I've got a bone to pick with you.  Are you 6 foot tall or am i the only one on the shorter side.  When you have to load and unload quickly, how are you suppose too when you cant reach the bottom of the trolley.  Its so deep.  Two days ago, i was undertaking my game plan and actually pierced my nipple hurt myself on the top of the trolley (OK, the boobs are rather large, but I'm not Robinson Crusoe).  Ouch!  I couldn't stop as there were 15 manic shoppers following that all looked like they were warming up for an Olympic event  (picture leg shakes, shoulder shrugs and head rolls).


My Nemesis - The Aldi Trolley



So after said experience,  and since no one was taking any notice and giving me a trophy for my heroic efforts, i now feel entitled to award myself Red P Plates maybe even Green ones. 

Don't believe me, then check this out.   I'm not alone.   

http://www.mamamia.com.au/social/have-you-survived-an-aldi-shopping-experience/

On a good note, I'm saving heaps of $$$.   Using the hints and tips you guys have provided and shopping carefully, Ive now cut my shopping bill in half.   Its amazing what you can do when you have to.  Since my hubby lost his job before Christmas, I'm working hard bringing slightly less than half our usual income and making sure that every $ counts.  Rhonda from Down to Earth taught me that a dollar saved is worth more than a dollar earned ie. it has more buying power.  So what i do earn is working double time.   I use to do all my shopping at a major local retail outlet.  Ive been going there for 15 years and i miss the interaction with the staff who have watched my son grow but i was on auto-pilot and wasn't really paying attention to prices - i didn't need to.  Well needs must now.   So thanks for all the suggestions on frugality and for all the uplifting stories that make my day when I'm feeling a little overwhelmed.

Thanks for visiting Living in the Land of Oz   

Sunday Cookup - preparing for the week

As a full time working mum, wife , , , , , ,  i find like many of you that if i put a bit of effort in on a Sunday night then my week day rush of getting home after six and feeding the "angry birds" goes a little easier. 

So tonight when i looked to see what was available i found a container of left over mashed potato from Friday night.   If i quickly take it from the pot after serving and put it in the fridge it saves me from going back and eating it right out of the pot later - so tempting.  So i opened up the pantry and found a can of tuna and from then on i was on auto pilot.   I love tuna burgers!

I'm sure that my recipe is no different from anyone else and I'm just a cook with a good foundation in good wholesome country cooking.  Its not fancy food but it fills the hole and sometimes it rocks.

Tuna Burgers



In a large bowl (capable of getting your "washed" hands into - yes i am that kind of cook) place the following ingredients:

1 can of drained tuna - 425 grams  Try and buy Australian and support our industry (please)

Quantity of mashed potato -  About 4 cooked potatoes mashed with butter, milk, salt & pepper

If you are making this especially for this recipe i find it nice not to mash it too well.  Leave some chunky pieces for a variety of texture so the burger is not too mushy.

2 small eggs or 1 large

1 chopped small onion or i use chopped spring onions from MY garden

Fresh mint and parsley (maybe a tablespoon chopped of both) also from MY garden.

1 Chili - I used a small mild sweet variety - its the one in my banner all grown up and blushing - aren't they gorgeous and yes, its from MY garden?  This ingredient is of course optional but since my 15 yr old wont eat them anyway, i can do what i want.

Salt and Ground Pepper

Bread Crumbs - enough to make the mixture not sticky and to allow you to form into a burger. I used a about a cup and a half.

Now get those hands in and turn it all over until mixed. Adjust the bread crumb or add a little water if too dry.  You will know when it ready.  

Wet you hands when forming the burgers and the mixture wont stick to your hands. 

If you want a quick meal and and no mess then you could lightly fry these burgers with just a spray or a small amount of oil in a pan, being careful when turning but i find them absolutely scrummy when they are crumbed and then shallow fried in a hot oil.  I use a large spoon to turn them over so they don't break up.



A burger before crumbing - you can see the fresh ingredients unlike those processed bought ones.



Plain flour, egg wash and bread crumbs (in that order)

Now warning - this is a messy job and helps if you keep one hand for dry and the other for wet or you will end up with very messy hands.  Or, you could do it perfectly like i did and then when you were putting the burgers on the tray, lean too far forward and dip you left boob into the egg mix.  Lovely!


3 stages





The finished burgers



Now that just looks yummy, doesn't it?  They'll be in my lunch box tomorrow and probably in my hubby's lunch or dinner with salad    There is enough left over to freeze and use later.  I just reheat in the microwave but they are also great cold. 

So What Else?

While all that magic was happening above, in a hot oven i was roasting red cheeks of capsicums and cubed pumpkin sprinkled with a little sugar.  This morning i put a tray of of tomatoes into a slow oven for roasting over say an hour and a half.  They had olive oil, salt & pepper and fresh rosemary from MY garden.    All these will go into lunches, salads, sandwiches, or turn into a soup if not used.   At the moment my fresh market grocer has small tomatoes for $1.49 a kg so i am buying a bag every weekend and roasting them.  I keep the ones from MY garden for fresh.



A bit mushy but i like to spread it on toast with feta



Don't worry I'll get sick of it soon. I'm pretty chuffed with MY garden at the moment and if you don't know why then don't be so lazy and go back and read my posts on The Veggie Patch (X2).

The other thing on the go in the slow cooker is a couple of budget steaks stewing away in onion, bacon and crushed tomatoes with salt and pepper.  I'll box them up individually for adding to veggies or rice at another time.   

Busy girl that i am I also marinated some chicken leg meat with Moroccan spices and froze that as well for pulling out during the week.  The leg and thigh have more flavour than the breast.  When thawed just throw on the BBQ.  So thats it for tonight.  I have a 2kg tray of premium mince from the meat wholesalers for $5.99/kg in the fridge and so tomorrow night 1kg go into making pre-cooked meat balls for freezing. Hubby had some today for lunch in a ciabatta roll with salad - eat your heart out Subway -  we make our own homemade meatball subs.  The other 1kg will make many small containers of Taco meat for my son to have when he gets home from school.  He defrosts frozen wraps and adds the reheated meat and cheese.  He than wraps it and toasts in a focaccia cooker. 

Oh, one more thing, this is a call out for Shelby from Fresh Eggs Farm to send her meatloaf recipe.  We all have one but hers is so special that her husband request it for a birthday meal - it must be sensational.  So don't hog it to yourself, OK!

Thank you for visiting Living in the Land of Oz



The Veggie Patch - Getting On with It



Half filled first bed

The Big Fill
Last Veggie Patch post on 3rd Feb I waffled on about inspiration, planning and finally getting off my butt and doing something.   With help from the guys at work, we built (not bought) 8 beds of varying sizes.

1 x 125cm wide x 125 depth x 90cm high - cream
2 x 200               x 75            x 90             - cream
1 x 125               x 125          x 45             - red
1 x 200               x 200          x 45             - charcoal
1 x 150               x 75            x 90             - green
2 x 240               x 45            x 45             - blue on the wall

These are not the real names of the colours - some person at colorbond dreamt up more imaginative names like paperbark, Tuscan red etc. but I'm a no frills girl so its red, blue, green... 

For those of you too lazy to go back and look, here they are again. 

 They don't look so big here do they - well let me tell you it takes an awful lot of soil to fill them.  And every single cm of it had to be brought from the front driveway around to the back by barrow because our only access is through a doorway in the garage or the side gate which are both just wide enough for the barrow to get through if you line it up straight and grit your teeth.  This was not easy to do when you are lifting something heavy and the path is curved or you a negotiating around a garage so full that it only has a wobbly path through it.   It was around Early Sept 2012 when all this activity was going on.  I was in a mad rush to get it done for the spring season and so pushed myself to the point of exhaustion with sore feet and a bad back.

Can you see that green green grass, beautiful isn't it.  Its bloody Kikuyu and trying to dig it out was going to be impossible and so at the bottom of each bed is a thick layer of newspaper and cardboard watered in to form a papermache bottom as i was advised to do.  I'd like to say it was successful but as others warned me at my permaculture coarse, there really is no way of stopping this stuff.  Six months later i see the odd blade poking through the soil and i quickly shoot it with round-up hoping it will tell its friends to stay away.

As you can see in the first photo i packed bales of straw tightly into the bottom of the beds to raise the level so i wouldn't need so much soil.  Even so it took 3 cubic metres of veggie mix soil to fill the first two cream ones at the front alone.   I quickly learnt that when you have to shovel it into a barrow, walk carrying a heavy load and then get to the other end across footpaths, around object, under clothes lines, over decks and then shovel it out at the other end that it i wasn't going to get it done before Christmas and that physically i wasnt going to last either.  They are very high, so i couldn't just tip it in.  So i negotiated with the soil company to get the soil in bags for the same price from then on, picking it up myself in the work ute, saving the delivery fee and at the other end just barrowed them round back and tipped them in.   I did this for all the other beds.   I wasn't so impressed with the commercial veggie mix and so for every 4 bags, i added a bag on manure, a barrow of my clay and some straw.   I then used my arms like a washing machine to mix it altogether to create what i am sure in time will break down into lovely rich soil.  Gosh, did i smell good at the end of the day, NOT!    At the time both Hubby and I were both working and since he often needs online retail therapy for his electronic gadgets we agreed we would each get $50 a week pocket money.  I dont like shopping and so mine just grew and grew.  This is how i paid for all the materials and soil.  This was important to me that i didnt take from the family budget to create MY dream.   



My first bed at the end of the day topped in pea straw

Looks good doesn't it.  I think it was at this time that my two men could see that i wasn't a raving idiot and that what i had been talking about for six months (while i was planning LOL) was actually going to happen and that just maybe i might be able to pull it off.    They were both impressed that it looked good.   I later had to scratch away all this pea straw because it wasn't warm enough and the soil was too cold under it.   It went back again in about mid December. 

Critters

I bet you a wondering about the chook.  This is Henrietta and it was given to me by my Bestie to pacify me until i had my own chooks.   Her feet are pegged into the soil so she cant fly away (HA HA).   All my beds have a feature animal.  That's how i identify them.  Not that anyone else is doing any gardening but when i talk about them its "The Chook Bed" or the "Ant Bed".  So here they are:

  

 

Windmill Bed - yes it turns, so fast the blade flies off!



Henrietta with the iceberg lettuces

 

Cos Lettuce and the Ants - you can see little ones at the far end.

 

There a Pig in with the tomatoes and spinach



A little Lady Bug overseeing the beetroot



A bike in with the radishes - it has basil growing in the basket.

The only other structural thing i have done is to add trellises.   Again, the boys at work powder coated some 2.4m poles the same colour and i bought a roll of wire netting at trade prices.   It was cheaper to buy a 30m roll than to buy 4 pieces cut to 2m lengths - go figure! I (and my sister visiting from NSW) hammered them 45cm into the clay.  It took all day standing on a ladder swinging a hammer onto the top of a thin tube while she used a spirit level to make sure they were straight. Just be warned that if you visit i might just put you to work.   I used clear cable ties to attach the wire to the poles so it can moved in different configurations.  At first i put them around edge of bed but because of the width of the bed i couldn't reach them on one side - DOH! A few weeks ago i undid them and put the wire diagonal from one corner to the other - much better.   When the blue wall beds were done, Hubby was gaining interest and so he built me some beautiful wooden brackets to nail the wire onto. 

Oh, also for hot hot day i made some shade sails.  As you can see the beds are out in the open facing north with no shade.  So i sewed some 50% shade cloth into curtains that slide onto the poles and if I'm expecting a day of 35 degrees, they go up.   Some of them are pegged to the wire to shade the bed behind.

My shade sails for hot days

My aspie son was rather dead against the garden and didn't hold back in saying so.  Neither of them like change but guess what.  He now has a chair out there and he escapes around the back of the house to make his big boy phone calls in private - among the veggies.

So, until i start the chicken coop, i think I'm done for big jobs and i can just enjoy growing things.  I'm in the planning stage of the coop so stay tuned later this year or next - i do take a while.  Hubby and son are a bit unsure about it so i have to go slowly.  I can see them both cuddling chooks and sitting on the bench I'm planning having long conversations with them.  I will be standing near by with the biggest smile on my face.

 Thanks for visiting Living in the Land of Oz

   



Many Thanks from the Technologically Challenged

Please!

  "Technologically Challenged" would definitely describe me.   I am not someone who actually enjoys the set up of software or hardware, or learning how to use a new TV or console in any shape or form.   I have two very clever men at home to do that and i know it sounds awful but I'd much rather pull out the "female card" and say i don't know how to do it.   Of course I could learn. I administer several companies don't I.  Truth is, I don't want to.    I've been working on computers since I was 17 (30+yrs ago) back when they were the size of a bedroom and needed special climate control.  My husband's special interest as an Aspie is electronics and technology and i am surrounded by it day and night so i just shut down.  Apart from that, I'm a fairly independent person,  perhaps more so than they would like, so this gives them a platform to shine and for me to stand back and play dumb.  You do know that they will read this and the game will be up.  Gulp!

When it came to setting up this blog i made my way using the simple template but got a bit lost adding all the gadgets and setting up banners and pages.  Thanks for the advice given from followers but I seemed to hit a wall and couldn't make my way past it.  Well what's a girl to do but ask for help.

This came in the form of good friends down Lara way.  They run a  a web design & hosting company  and for the price of a few strongbow ciders the blog got a makeover.   I love the banner and i am proud to say  it is a photo from my new veggie patch.  I cant wait until those chillies go red.  Of course, we were mucking around and eating yummy baked custard (eggs from their girls).  The result is in no way indicative of the level of his expertise as he works for some majors but it was what i wanted and what we managed in between mouthfuls before having to race home. 
So in thanks I'm putting his web page here www.refactored.com.au.  Thanks Rob.

Who is that curvaceous Lady in Blue?



Bathing Beauties in Lorne, Victoria, Australia

As you can see, my profile picture is not one of me.  Its a statue on the side walk at Lorne, a very popular tourist place on the Great Ocean Road in Victoria Australia.  I chose one of these ladies as a profile picture because there are very few photos of me and certainly none that i would want to broadcast to the world.
I could have used either as they both have a couple of features that resemble my own - big boobs and a big big butt.  To say I'm curvaceous is an understatement.  When most little girls were still trying to roll their bobby socks down just right, i was trying on training bras.   I'd like to think that my figure is very Rubenesque and that I'm living in the wrong century and the wrong country.  I hear there are places in the world where being a BBW (Big Beautiful Woman) is considered desirable and sign of wealth. Well you would have to be to afford enough food to produce the curves - wouldn't you?  Where is that place?

I hope you realise I'm laughing at myself.  None of this should be taken seriously.

For your information (for those abroad)

Lorne is about 1 1/2 hours drive away from my home outside Melbourne and is stunningly beautiful and definitely worth a drive on the weekend.  

 

Though picturesque it has become over crowded in summer and very over priced.  I prefer to go in winter when it is quieter and there is less traffic - Why?  The Road - that would be the Great Ocean Road and for anyone who enjoys driving as much as i do, it has been voted one of the best drives in the world.  Of course you have to time it right so you don't end up being interrupted by slow moving buzz boxes usually in the shape of camper vans full of backpackers or those out for their Sunday drive site seeing.   No, this is serious driving people, for those of us who in another life time must have been a performance racing driver.    

I'm not talking fast so much as the tightness of the curves, the ascents and descents and the flow of the drive.  Gosh, i can hear all the gasp of shock and horror from my readers from here.  Sorry - sometimes you have just got to let loose and have some fun - safely of course.  I dont drink, smoke or do drugs so coffee and driving are my vices, oh and cake (those curves came from somewhere.  Being from a farm, i was driving by the time i was 9 and from then on anything with wheels was fair game.   I'm about to apologise again and i don't know why.  I'm sorry but i love my car - Ford Fairmont Ghia 5.4L V8 - Big Black & Shiny.  Oh my, its beautiful to drive.  Open up the roof and pump up the tunes and just let me go, anywhere.  

 

Its 10 years old so don't go thinking I'm flash or anything.  My husband has his own so this one is ALL mine.

Thanks for visiting Living in the Land of Oz.





The Veggie Patch - The long long planning stage

This is the beginning of a story of what has become more than just a patch to grow veggies.   Even saying that i tell myself that it sound too grand a statement but then i think you need to understand that I've spent many years putting off my own hearts desires to serve my family.  It seemed easier to acquiesce to their many wants and needs rather than my own and so I found myself in the middle of last year, middle aged, stressed, resentful, tired, overweight and feeling very unappreciated and yes, even unloved.  A few sessions of therapy later and i discovered that the person not loving me the most was in fact me.   We discussed my options of how to find ME again and how to bring pleasure that was just for ME (nope, don't go there, this is about veggies and THAT was another session).

 

So the long long journey back to childhood began (i did tell you i was middle aged, didn't i) and in doing so I rediscovered the pleasure i had in being raised on a farm that provided everything for our large family and the many many lessons i learnt by my mothers side on growing and making our own food and being self sufficient.  We were what would be considered today"dirt poor" in monetary terms but in all other ways we were so so rich.  At the time i remembered wanting things but now i cant remember what they were because i had everything i needed. It was also around that time that i discovered a certain blog that i think most of us follow - It was Rhonda's Down to Earth.   I devoured it, the book and the other blogs that she also followed and found a kinship of shared values and a hope that life can be richer without the consumption of "things we don't really need".   I felt a bit foolish at being a victim of marketing and media and the years of waste where i could have paid my mortgage off but didn't.  The short story is i started planning a veggie garden. 

Did I Say PLAN?

You don't think i just went out into the backyard and put a shovel in the ground, do you?  No, no no - that would have been easy and way too uncomplicated.  I'm an Accountant.  I had to plan, and plan and plan for months.  Researching every possible type of bed,  raised or not, what materials to use, what was the cost of the beds, materials, seedlings and on and on and on.   I measured up every cm of available back yard and graphed it, making sure that i had enough space between the bed for the width of the lawnmower and that they were facing the same right way, they were at the right height etc.   I wasn't planning for now, i was thinking of my years of retirement, no future bending for me.  When i took that plan to my first ever permaculture course held over a weekend (still researching) i could see the amusement.  "Just Plant Something" they seemed to be saying behind grinning faces but i think i procrastinated at this stage because i was scared of not being able to meet my own high standards and looking foolish.  Gosh, there are some self esteem issues going on here, isn't there.   I drove everyone mad i am sure, just talking and talking and talking about what i was going to do.


That's right - you didn't think it was just a graph - it was a whole folder with suppliers, course to attend, recipes of what i would make with the veggies - bit of an overkill?

 I knew that my my garden had to look good to the eye.  Not only for myself but also for the others in my family.   They are definitely not into the recycled look though many of you have made them look wonderful.  The back yard was just a blank space filled with very thick Kikuyu grass that had in years past cushioned the knees of children playing.  It was tough and drought resistant (unlike the front turf) and nothing killed it (don't i know it now).  It hasn't been used for any purpose for years and is totally out of view given that there are no windows at the back of the house.  Other than to mow and pick up Peppy's little poos, we had no reason to go out there.

I decided on raised corrugated beds of various sizes.  I was about to push the buy button online when one  the engineers at work said, "hang on, we do have a sheet metal factory out there you know".   So my one bed (all i could afford) soon became many and we built them rather than bought them.  I'm sorry to all the people who have bought them but the materials to make them cost very little.  The price of that one box has in fact covered the materials for all 8 of them, with change.   Instead of curved ends, mine are just boxes or rectangles so i just ordered in the corrugated iron pieces in the sizes and colours i wanted.  The engineer designed a strong corner piece that was cut and shaped in the factory and then onto the powder coating team.  We had a production line going and soon i wasn't the only staff member with raised garden beds.  I am very lucky to work with such great guys and to have these facilities available to me. 

1250mm X 1250mm x 900mm high

We used door sealer that has metal in it that crimps the top of the iron so it wasn't sharp.

There are 4 raised at 900mm and 4 that are at 450cm with trellises.   The fence still needs a makeover. 



I love the color of these two and didnt my Hubby build some nice wall trellises. 

 That's it for this post but i will give you a sneak peak at the future - Im not the only one who spends alot of time in the back yard these days. 

Thanks for visiting Living In The Land of Oz.  

     

The Driveway is Finished - Well Done Hubby!

This sign has been up on our front window now for many months.  The front yard in under construction and I felt like I needed to apologise to everyone who came to the front door.   We lost all our beautiful turf and garden during the drought and what we were left with is a rock hard slab of clay with almost 5cm cracks.  I'd like to have had the money to just throw a landscaper at it and have it done quickly but we don't and so like most home projects, we do it ourselves with much sweat, tears and occasional swearing!

 This is the beautiful hardstand area that my hubby (with help from son and I) has made over summer and finished only today.  We first had to make a panel of our front picket fence (isn't it gorgeous, we built that too) into a gate to gain access.  The fence fully encloses the front yard except for a child proof gate.  We built it when our son was 2 to keep him off the road and for some reason it was also built in the middle of summer with many days over 40C.  I think we need to plan these projects a little better.  The next step was to dig it out  because like I said, its solid clay and we couldn't afford a bobcat or dingo so it was shovels and sweat.  Our nature strip out the front has huge mounds of clay on it that I am sure impresses the neighbours and those who drive by.  Unfortunately it will have to stay there until we can pay for someone to take it away.

Hubby used mostly old pavers left over from another project he did down the side of the house many years ago.  Because we were a few short, he created a pattern with the new ones.  I think it looks great.  To save costs he only did two strips of pavers for the tyres and filled the rest in with Tuscan toppings.  This area is only a storage area for our camper trailer currently occupying most of the garage and not intended for frequent use so it didn't have to take a heavy load. 

I think its a job well done on a budget and all it costs us was a few extra pavers, some sleepers, mortar and lots of muscle power.  I hurt my foot using the shovel on the clay in the first few weeks and thereafter all i could do was hand him things and massage his weary muscles. 

Size - under the folded canvas tent is a full size inner spring queen mattress.

All tucked up to bed and waterproof. 

This is the camper trailer in position and with the new car cover.  All weatherproof and hopefully seeing it there everyday will encourage us to think of more opportunities to get out there and use it.   I'll post another time on our camping (or should i say "Glamping") adventures.  The rest of the yard will be done as funds and time permits.  Its likely to involve some a seating area, drought tolerant plants and a water feature. As it is fully enclosed with a high fence it is private and can be fully utilised given that I have taken the back yard for my vegie patch (another post).

Thankyou for visiting Living In The Land Of Oz.

There's an Angel in my Home!

Yes really!  I am a person of faith so I can only believe that God in his divine wisdom sent this angel to me ten years ago.   Now before you reach to delete my new blog from your favourites, this angel's name is Peppy - my dog.   I should say it's my son's dog but then Peppy and I have an understanding that neither of us will tell him how it really goes down.   He's here now, at my feet, as always, waiting for that look, that smile, a tummy rub or the stray crumb that drops down.

 

Peppy is a pure breed Maltese.  I'm not a dog snob, but in this case its important.  He has 3,000 years of uninterrupted breeding in him as a "comforter".   Its instinctual for him to know who in the house needs him.  If ever anyone is ill or upset, he will lay with them alone and not move.  Historically they use to place them on the stomach of people who were ill.  Im not sure if it physically did anything but his presence sure has a huge psychological impact on me, reducing my stress levels.   As i mentioned in my first post, both my husband and son have Aspergers and life is not always easy for us as a family.  Peppy is often the bridge that binds us as we all love him equally. 

He sleeps anywhere, anytime but mostly with someone and his choice is next to me on a pillow on the floor.  He gets picked up and taken to my son's bed most nights but later when i've crept in to turn off the lights, the TV, the play station, the fan etc he comes back to me.

I had an amusing epiphany not long ago.  I was bragging to someone that he is barkless, truly he is.  Most people think, oh a small yappy thing but that only happens when you cross them with smaller breeds like Shih Tzu.  Peppy is larger because he is pure.  He looks at me and I know what he wants and it just happens.  Funny thing was, i thought this was because i had trained him so well.  Truth is, he trained me.  The vet said he didn't need to make a noise, he had me exactly where he wanted me, meeting his every need with just a look.   Though he will let out an occasion yelp that scares everyone, including him, he is mostly silent.  He communicates by huffing a bit harder to draw attention to him.  Its amazing how in tune we are.  He can wake me to be let out just by breathing heavy beside my bed.  He greets people at the door by laying on his back and begging for a tummy rub.  Not a good guard dog.  He really scares the neighbours cats.  They look at him from the top of the fence wondering what the hell he is doing huffing and puffing.

Last year we had a two scares when he jumped off my son's bed awkwardly in the dark and ruptured a disc in his spine.  He was paralysed for six weeks and we had to do everything for him.  Then several months later he jumped onto my lap from the floor and did both knees joints (luxating patellas) and tore the cartilage in one of his legs.  We had a choice of operating immediately ($3000 a leg) or doing it slow and steady in a cage again for many weeks.   This was a wake up call for us all.   He wont live forever and the possibility of losing him crippled all of us for a while.  I was a mess.  During this time he came to work with me and literally sat on the return next to the phone while i worked away.  The guys in the factory couldn't believe he was real, let alone a dog.  Funny how all these tradies seemed to make their way to my office to give him a pat. 

Goodness, he was hairy then.

So now you've been introduced to my second child.  I hope that everyone gets sent an angel that brightens their day and gives as much unconditional love as Peppy does to us.

Thanks for visiting Living in the Land of Oz.