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Sunday, October 15, 2006

In which Duckie runs home to mother

Original plan for the weekend, made a few weeks ago: We all go to my parents' farm while my aunties come and use my house for a weekend in Canberra.

Revised plan for weekend, as of last weekend: I stay home and work on Mary Gilmore layout, locked in my study while Aunties have nice time in Canberra. Boys go down to the farm with the cats.

Revised plan for the weekend (Friday morning): Client tells me that he's going away for a week so original deadline has shifted by at least 5 days. DUCKIE PACKS HER BAGS.

I ran away down to Bega and slept. And slept. And read umpteen copies of Women's Day. And slept. And drank copious amounts of red wine. And slept.

Cat damage to farm: 2 lizards (saved and released), one baby red-belly black snake (saved and escaped under and maybe into our car, but not seen again), 1 harassed rooster, and 1 dead bird (head deposited proudly on doorstep). Colonel Duck (my father) cranky with the cats. Cats cranky to be dragged home again.

So now I'm back. From outer space. Looking like a mullet has just slapped me in the face. I should have stay and worked real hard, I should have never had that break, cause now it's hard to get my head into a working kind of space. [music swells]

Ahem. Yairs.

It was great. And I'm refreshed, I suppose! I don't feel it. It's always dodgy to take your foot off the accelerator halfway through a journey. Still, it was a taste of times to come, and now I can finish the job without falling over.

Huzzar! Couldn't be arsed cooking: hot chook and chips for tea.

20 comments:

Mummy/Crit said...

Wild, sounds like you had a good time. The beloved is freaking out about the snake story though.

Unknown said...

How do you stop the cats from disappearing forever when you let them loose on a farm so far from home.

(I couldn't face cooking tonight either and broke a BIG household rule and ordered Dominos home delivery.)

Anonymous said...

Red-belly snake! The best thing of my recent holiday was to realise that the great big repitilian thing hanging around our tent was a goanna.

I'm a bit shocked about Ron and the Dominos home delivery. It's something you'd never guess from the gravatar.

Dean said...

I'm there with you on the hot chook front. Hot chook sandwiches are the ultimate easy dinner.

Ampersand Duck said...

Ha! I was very worried about the snake, which seemed to disappear into the front left tyre, so I took the car for a spin down to the local(ish) general store for some tonic water... Bumblebee thought I was brave for even opening the car door. I felt brave too, and a bit jumpy. But there was no 'nake' under my feet or inside the car, so either he'd escaped or was very very dizzy inside the tyre. The cat was upset that we'd let it escape. He was enjoying the mongoose-like play he'd been having with it. I guess the bird head was the cat equivalent of a horse's head in my bed.

Hot chook is the best. My problem with Dominos et al is that you don't feel satisfied after polishing off a large pizza. It's like all that food goes into hyperspace without touching the sides. I lashed out tonight and opened a tin of baby beets with the chook. Mmmm. Such an 'Aussie' meal.

Anonymous said...

But whatta 'bout the tinned pineapple? Jeez

Ampersand Duck said...

Oh, wash your mouth out with soap, woman. Tinned pineapple is for pizza nights. iIf I'd had any spare energy I would have sliced some tomatoes and onion into a bowl of brown vinegar, but as I said, I couldn't be arsed.

Anonymous said...

Where I grew up, one of the great Friday night treats was the Hawaiin pack which was cooked chook, chips, battered pineapple and battered banana. Gravy came in later.

I'm not saying I agree with it, I'm just saying there is a pineapple and chook precedent.

Ampersand Duck said...

You're right... gosh, that takes me back. Red Rooter used to do packs like that.

I'm fond of pineapple & beetroot on hamburgers but Best Beloved says fruit on burgers is against the laws of nature. His loss, I say.

Mummy/Crit said...

I'm with your best, I'm afraid. Pineapple does not belong on a handburger. D'you remember when the Asian Bistro/Grotholes used to do banana fritters? Maybe they still do...

Anonymous said...

Thank you oh thirdcat - the batter is a bonus, yes? But i was thinkin' the grilled pineapple rings....& let us all remember that entire generations of Ozzies have only had vegetable/fruit contact through such creative efforts.

worldpeace and a speedboat said...

I didn't know there were mullets in outer space, Ducky?

btw two days is never enough to be refreshed. you need more! make sure you get it when Mary finally leaves home.


thirdcat, beware the goanna, they are cranky buggers and have very sharp backwards pointing teeth. as I found out to my disadvantage.


pineapple fritters are hawt, figuratively and literally. mmmmmmmmmm sweet hot juicy battered golden rings of goodness.

*snigger*

worldpeace and a speedboat said...

I said golden rings *snigger again*

man, I'm about 10 years old these days.

Suse said...

Just don't make the mistake of opening up your hamburger to peek inside if the beetroot is next to the pineapple. Pink pineapple is strangely unappetising.

(As is warm lettuce I suppose. Sheesh, what is it about hamburgers that we actually like?)

Stegetronium said...

pineapple on pizza I can cope with - on a burger though is hitherto unimagined heights [depths?] of ugh. But it was the sultanas in the curry that always used to do me in.

Ampersand Duck said...

a hamburger, when the meat is cooked so that it's slightly pink inside and dark and crunchy on the outside, when it has the right amount of trimmings and a dab of BBQ sauce, can be heavenly.

That makes me think of The Royle Family (does any of you know that BBC series? Family fav here): 'Here, isn't it funny, you liking red sauce, and me liking brown sauce, and yet we get on so well!'

Mikhela: and the apple, and the banana. Not to mention the sprinkle of coconut over the top. I used to think my mum was making fruit salad, not curry.

Golden rings! I don't think the bistro does them anymore, but the Watson takeaway sure does. mmmm....

Anonymous said...

"Oh, make us a cuppatea, Anthony."

Ampersand Duck said...

Oh Fyodor, poor Ant'ny. I love Jim:

"Christmas, my arse"

[puffs out cheeks, shakes head, never losing eye-contact with the tv.]

OR:

"He's as tight as a camel's arse in a sandstorm: wouldn't give you the steam off his piss..."

Zoe said...

Is Ant'ny ere? Pop down the offy will yer, love and get us me fags?

Ampersand Duck said...

Oh-- Ron, sorry, forgot to answer your question!

Um, we kept them indoors the first full day or so at the farm, and then kept close to them for a day so that we could make sure they wouldn't go anywhere stupid, and then as soon as dark hits we lock them inside. (We do that at home too, so they're used to the routine.) They've been lots of times now, so they're getting a bit braver, which is a worry. But they do tend to stay in the domesticated parts of the 20 acres, because they're a bit worried about the cows. The cows think the cats are very entertaining and tend to stand in a huddle within sight of the cats if they can. Guard cows! Highly recommended.