I adore animals (in case you hadn't figured that out already!)

I've been a bit slack with entries lately, mainly because of my inability to use my own photos now that my camera is broken.  This one came from my 'Worth Keeping' email folder and is just gorgeous, isn't it!

I got a reminder from Muffy's vet a few weeks back to take her for her annual checkup and vaccinations and I was a nervous wreck until the job was done.  She HATES being put in her cage to travel there and that really upsets me.  I'm such a softie, as I know it does no harm and she should just put up with it, but I almost come out in a sweat and get palpitations!!!  The vet did her treatments in another room so as not to upset me!!!!!!! Oh, how embarrassing.  Mind you, it's the bill that should be making me break out in a sweat and get palpitations!!!!!!!

Today I've promised myself I'll have a good tidy up.  It's long overdue.

Sunny and calm today

Yes, it is indeed a scary world!  This pic shows what a narrow passage the tornado took on Monday afternoon.  How unlucky were the owners of these cars in the station carpark!

My camera has worn out and I can't figure out how to use a new one Philip gave me, so I'll cheat and put in an old photo of the backyard, taken at this time last year.

The hydrangea is flourishing and looks just like this today.  Muffy, as usual, is lapping up the sunshine.

Severe storm in my suburb earlier this afternoon

Witnesses likened the storm to a mini-tornado, that lasted only 15-20 seconds.  It hit the main shopping centre, about 5 km from here, while I was safely tucked up at home.  But at about the same time we had a tremendous downpour of rain and I had to dash out in my rain poncho to pump the pool out; Philip has had to do it three times over the last couple of days.

New car

Philip got this car today - I'd 
never heard of a Skoda, let alone how to pronounce it, but
here it is: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMs1eXBn4VQ. Apparently it comes from the Czech Republic and is pronounced the same as in German.

Don't ask me why this piece has formatted itself this silly way - it was perfectly normal just two seconds ago, then it hopped like this while I was just looking at it!

Have been getting more and more fed up with the world, and have come to the realisation that it's best to ignore most things.  Instead of watching the stupid breakfast programs in the mornings I'll listen to classical music on the radio and only watch the news at night occasionally. I can't do anything about more people shooting each other, so there's no reason for me to know.  Better just to mind my own business.

And instead of watching other rubbish on TV I've been enjoying my uni course from Jerusalem on 'A Brief History of Humankind' and have started another one from Michigan on ' The History of the Internet'.  I get 9 or 10/10 for all the quizzes I've done on the first and not surprisingly the only quiz I've attempted so far on the second netted me a mere 5/10.  I say 'not surprisingly' because I know absolutely nothing about the internet and it is a real challenge for me.