That's life.

It's very hot today, expected to top 40 out west, and predicted to stay much the same over the weekend. I was sweating by 8, but strangely, it no longer feels quite as bad now at 2.

The heat must be making the pigeons cranky. The 1 flying decided to pick a fight with 1 of the ones on the wire.

A couple of others will not see summer.

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The red algae bloom which closed beaches including Bondi, earlier in the week, seems to have dissipated. 

This pic from the Herald Sun link above.

In the day, the bloom looked like a scene from a horror movie.

This and more scary pics HERE.

At night, it was beautiful.

This pic by: Davide Gaglio, www.photonature.it

CLICK HERE if you want to see a video of this blue light show.

Let's hope the bloom stays away from our beaches this weekend because when temperatures soar, that's where a lot of Sydneysiders end up.

This pic from HERE.

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"I know how to keep cool when it gets hot."

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 "This is not it!" 

"THIS IS NOT IT!"

"Seriously guys. Wouldn't a frozen bone have been simpler and just as effective?"

Sum*Mer is  here!

My idiot's guide to making offal treats.

After My Cushion abandoned me in the park, he felt very bad. In an attempt to make himself feel less like a loser, he made me some treats. 

Here is the recipe in case your humans want to suck up to you too.

My extra crispy 100% pure offal treat.

1. Buy offal. Buy lots because it's never enough. You can use hearts, gizzard, kidney or liver. 

This was a kilo of pork liver. 

It might look like a lot but looks are deceiving.

2. Cook the offal in boiling water then allow to cool.

Here you see me doing a quality test. 

This is important. You should insist on conducting such tests at regular intervals throughout the cooking process.

3. Cut the offal into thin slices. Thin slices! okay? or you'll regret it!

4. Bake the offal in the oven or on the barbie. Outdoor is better if you're going to be like The Typist and complain about the way the oven and house smells for the next few days week or so. Set the temperature very low, about 80 degrees C. 

Me guarding the barbie. This was around 3pm.

It will take hours and hours to bake! [This is when you will be very glad you followed instructions and cut the offal thinly.] 

At some point, you might start whining about how you should just have bought some cheap mass-produced treat from Woollies made in God-Knows-Where from God-Knows-What, but don't give up! Think of why you're doing it!

"Are my hand made preservative-free treats done yet, dear Cushion?"

This was like 7pm.

5. The treats are done when they're crispy and snap easily! To be absolutely sure, do more rigorous quality testing and eat a few.

FLASHBACK! 

Someone got lazy and bagged this lot when they were still a bit chewy. They turned mouldy in 3 days in the pantry and got thrown away.

This lot was PERFECT!

Crispy, crunchy 100% liver! Since it's now very hot here, we put my treats in the fridge. Also, don't forget to wait till they're completely cool before putting them in a jar.

I love my homemade offal treats! My friends do too, greedy pups. 

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But guess what? My Cushion wasn't the only one who gave me a pressie last week! I will tell you what The Typist gave me next time. Till then, hooroo! X

Okay, that's enough. [A diary of my attempt to outwit spam that is not ham.]

Has anyone else been getting excessive spam over the last week?

They used to go directly to the spam box but are now popping up in the comments. Out of desperation, I turned on word verification with the last post. Please tell me there's another way around it because I hate those squiggly words and numbers almost as much as spam.

How are those of you without even comment moderation keeping spam out?

Any advice would be much appreciated.


5 Hours Later. Step 1.

Thank you Jan, Kirsten, Jean, Ra, Anny and Friko for your advice.

Have removed word verification YAY! It worked though. No spam the whole night. (Of course, hardly any comments as well BWAH haha!)

Since the latest explosion of spam has all been Anonymous, I am now trialling using only Registered Users as suggested by Kirsten. Hope it works!

If anyone reading this has problems commenting, please let me know. Perhaps by email? If it sucks mightily, I shall try something else.


24 Hours Later. Amazing.

Not a single spam since I changed the setting. Not even in the spam box. It definitely works. Downside? Comments have also drastically dropped. I have no idea if it's because other people are also finding commenting too much of an effort now, or if it's seasonal. According to the stats, the number of hits has actually gone up! One of life's mysteries.

I also wonder how or if this affects Bert and Olivia and Petey, whose lovely comments always seem to end up in the spam box. Maybe they'll be kind enough to drop me a comment (or send me an email if that doesn't work) so I can find out. 

Googled Akismet (thanks Bunny and Kristine) which has some interesting reading about what spam really is. Unfortunately, Akismet doesn't seem to work with Blogger. Not for the first time, I wish I'd started blogging with Wordpress. I might try a new setting with the next post. Am in a mood to experiment. Wheeeee!


Another 15 hours has gone by.

It's been so quiet. I just published a new post and reinstated the original comments setting. BOOM! In 15 minutes, the spam came back. So no go yet. *sigh sigh sigh* I have to be patient.

Haven't found anything that allows me to close comments on older posts either, as a couple of you suggested. Could that be a wordpress feature?

A short love letter to my doggy.

X

Even though you bark at me when I come home.

And only follow me when I have a banana in my hand. 

Even though you ignore me all day until it's dinnertime.

And would rather sleep on the floor with Cushion than on the couch with me.

Even though you do terrible things to my self-esteem from which I will probably never EVER recover.

I love you Georgia Little Pea!

X

 

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Oi!

Could you please stop laughing? That's mean.

Cushion's good explanation.

So I got lost on Saturday while out walking in Callan Park with My Cushion. 

When we got back, he couldn't wait to tell The Typist blame me for what happened.

"It was near the community garden. She ran ahead down the slope and went out of sight. I thought if I kept walking, I'd catch up with her. When I got there, she was gone."

"I called but she must have panicked and run off to look for me. I walked around for at least 10 minutes screaming for her. Then I found her with Margaret and Angie! They saw her running around, called her and luckily, she went to them." 


"I did not lose you, Georgia! You went off to look for food, you naughty greedy girl!"

"Well, that's a good story, Cushion. But just to set the record straight, here's what really happened."

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"You abandoned me!"

"That's right. You didn't watch out for me like you're supposed to!"

"I was scared! Do you want me to end up at the pound again?"

 "Just admit it!" 

"You were slack and it was YOUR fault I got lost!" 

"Okay. That's all I have to say."

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"You guys believe ME, right?"




Thank goodness for tags, microchips and friends. 

Just got the sort of text message that makes your heart go thump.

Got off the potty to see I had 2 missed calls and a message from an unknown person.


"Hi Georgia is with me. Am at Callan Park. Angie."



My poor baby was lost? How? Why?

What luck she was found by someone who knew her. Thank you Angie!



Boy. Is Cushion going to cop it when he gets home.

The earthworm, the gympie-gympie and the pigdog.

Is it really true that Australia has an absurd number of scary animals? This writer seems to think so -

"There's a reason Australia is surrounded by nothing but water. God is trying to protect you from the hell trapped within."

BWAH haha! I say. 
What a wuss!

Forget our box jellies and bull sharks, our cane toads and funnel web spiders. 

Has anyone seen our earthworms?

Or a gympie-gympie?

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Here is another less-talked-about scary animal commonly found in the Australian backyard.

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The spoilt-rotten Canis lupus familiaris.

"What are YOU looking at?"

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"Listen here. If you do not give me some space on this bed, I will sit on your stomach and not move until you turn blue and die. I mean it." 

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"No one messes with us scary Strylian animals."

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"Oi you taking my picture. Shouldn't you be getting my breakfast?"