Sunburn, Dolphins and Cheeky Birds

This week my wife and I went for a day trip to Nelson Bay, a work colleague of my wife was holidaying there and asked us up for the day. I wasn't sure how the day was going to go as dark clouds seemed to be rolling in.

We had coffee before going out on a dolphin viewing cruise and wandered around the water's edge. There was a fish feeding area which was absolutely teaming with small fish! I'm not sure if you can see them in the photo? Taking photos of fish underwater with a phone isn't the easiest trick! I took about 8 photos and deleted all but one lol

Naturally, where there's small fish, there's going to be critters that love some seafood in their diet as well as maybe some hot chips that get thrown their way! So I wasn't at all surprised to see that there were a few seagulls hanging about! One which later took a hot chip that I offered from my hand while it was hovering in mid-air.

By the time we were on the cruise boat, the clouds were gone and it was boiling hot! Both my wife and I got sunburnt and are still feeling the effects a couple of days later. It's been a while since I've been burnt, I'm always so careful as I'm whiter than white!  

The sun was so bright, trying to take photos of the dolphins when they appeared was actually quite difficult, even with the brightness turned all the way up on my phone. In the end, I decided that I would take video footage and take some stills from the footage once I was home.

There really weren't all that many dolphins about, however, we did get to see a mother and her baby. According to the captain, this isn't a common sight. So I was pretty happy with this!

Again because of the sun, I couldn't get a photo, so I just took a screenshot of the video footage.Trust me, it was a lot more impressive in real life when they were swimming lol!

Once the cruise was over, we were hot and thirsty! So we thought we'd pop into a nearby cafe for a drink before driving back home. A couple of cheeky little rainbow lorikeets had made themselves at home! They were the funniest little things! There were pulling sachets of sugar out of the holder, ripping the tops off and eating the contents LOL! 

Myself and three other people all rushed to get photo thinking that the parrots would fly off. These birds had no intention of going anywhere lol It was very funny! Eventually, a sullen female teenage employee walked over and told us the birds had to go. We all took our last snaps before she shooed the birds away. Watching the birds for just a few moments, for me, was just as enjoyable as the two-hour dolphin cruise lol What's the saying? Small things amuse small minds lol That reminds me of this meme that I saw on Facebook yesterday:-

Anyway, I'll catch you next time!

March Mini Break

Towards the end of last year, we went to Hobart in Tasmania, it was the first holiday we'd had in years! We loved Tassie so much, we've already booked our next holiday which is towards the end of this year to go there again. In the meantime, my wife has a month of leave over March, so we've decided to go down south for a few days for a bit of a mini break.

My wife's been to Kiama before, but I've only been as far as Wollongong, so we're going on a road trip to Kiama for a couple of days in March. To me, Kiama is best known for its blowholes and Jamberoo Action Park. Due to the time of year that we're going down there, Jamberoo Action Park won't be open, but that's ok, there's plenty of other things for us to see and do. There's also loads of smaller surrounding townships and villages with lots to offer tourists.

One place I'm looking forward to visiting is The Treat Factory in a nearby place called Berry. Guess what they sell? Treats! You can check out their online store here and their Instagram page here for some yummy looking photos!

Kiama also has a mid-week Farmers Market on Wednesdays which I'm also looking forward to checking out. I love markets! You never know what you'll find lol 

We've got about a month before we head off on our mini break/road trip, so we're both busily checking out what Google has to offer in ways of ideas! Who doesn't love a road trip?!?!?

The Hills Are Alive With The Sound Of Music!

Okay, dumb title, I really can't stand that movie lol In saying that, the hills really are alive with the sound of music.... In my area in any case! So in a previous post I wrote about having six remotes, one of those remotes had just been added to the ever-growing collection and that was the soundbar remote. **All of the Soundbar photos below are stock Samsung images because I'm too lazy to take individual pics :) 

So this is what it looks like, fairly plain and ordinary. You know that saying about not judging a book by its cover? Yeah? That applies to soundbars also lol

We had a surround sound system, which one day, just up and died on us. As they do! Anyway, after its death, I couldn't find anything I was completely happy with to fill its place. In the end, I think I just stopped looking. This was at least three years ago! YES! Three years without decent sound! 

Then along came the Soundbar! What is this strange looking rectangle? I was curious, to say the least! How could this rectangle produce the same quality of sound that five previous speakers did? Impossible! Then one day I was visiting a friend and noticed this rectangle under their television! The sound was amazing! You could hear it from all angles and it really packed a punch when it came to playing music!

I had finally found my replacement! Aside from having brilliant sound when now watching telly, the sound of music was mind-blowing! You're able to connect your mobile device using the Multiroom App via bluetooth or wifi and play all your tunes.

I'm not a fan of Apple or any of their "i" products, so all of my music is stored on my home server. How does the soundbar cope with this? Like a knife through butter! So yes, I'm in love with the new soundbar, even if it means one more remote to contend with and one more app on my tablet lol

**This is not a paid for post or advertisement. Just a post on my happiness with finally having decent sound in my home :) 

The YouTube Trail

If you're anything like me, you have regular channels on YouTube that you watch or subscribe to. Then there are those days where you either search for something or you're watching a regular channel but something in the sidebar catches your eye. I had one of those moments last night.

I was watching one of my usual channels on my tablet in bed, then there was something that caught my eye in the sidebar, so I watched it. To be honest, I can't even remember what it was, the title was far more interesting than the clip lol (don't you hate that!). However, in clicking on this clip I was now on the YouTube Trail! There was another clip which caught my eye, it was called "Casually Suicidal - Sarah Liberti - TEDxAdelphiUniversity". I had to watch this, what on earth was casual suicide?!?

So I watched Sarahs TEDx and while I was watching, I thought to myself "this is something that I should write a blog post about". After watching Sarahs clip, there was another TEDx that was in the sidebar and I also watched it. This one was called "Why We Choose Suicide - Mark Henick - TEDxToronto".  

Both clips were different, yet similar, I won't go into detail here, I'll let you watch them for yourself. Why did I feel the need to write about suicide after stumbling across two clips that weren't at all related to what I was originally watching? Well, in my "About Me" page (which is sooo old and needs updating lol) I briefly mention that around 2011-2012 I was diagnosed with Rapid Cycling Bipolar 2 and ADHD. 

Never in a million years did I think I'd receive a diagnosis of either of these mental health issues. Ignorance had actually led me to believe that ADHD was only something kids had! Prior to my diagnosis, I used to joke with my wife that "If ADHD was around when I was a kid, I would've been the poster child"!!!! 

So how is Rapid Cycling Bipolar 2 different to Bipolar 1 and Bipolar 2? Well, to really simplify it Bipolar 1 or 2 means you live life with more extreme mood swings (and other symptoms) than the regular person. Rapid Cycling is exactly how it sounds, I cycle through moods faster than those with Bipolar 1 or 2, which can make medicating a right pain in the backside for both my Psychiatrist and myself - the one who has to swallow the multicoloured happy pills.

Okay, so back to the two YouTube clips, I said that they were different, yet similar. So how were they similar? Well, both Sarah and Mark touched on the feelings of shame, guilt, stigma etc in relation to thoughts of or attempts of suicide. Having lived on the medication roller coaster now for a few years, has suicide ever crossed my mind? I could say "No". However, to say this would undermine the work that people like Sarah and Mark are doing in telling their stories in a very public way - trying to remove the shame, guilt and stigma from mental health issues.

So Yes, suicide has crossed my mind. It crossed my mind in my early 20's and right up to quite recently. Have I ever attempted to harm myself? No, not since being medicated in 2011-2012. In saying this, medication isn't a safety blanket and shouldn't be treated as one. For anyone who lives with any kind of mental health issue, you'll know that your medication needs to be tweaked every so often and dealing with negative thoughts or thoughts of suicide can take immense mental strength - sometimes when you just don't have the strength to spare! When you're taking the right medication, you're only three quarters there, the other quarter is a deciding factor that only you can make.

If you need to talk to someone, contact Lifeline 13 11 14 or visit their website:-https://www.lifeline.org.au/ 

Six Remotes To Watch TV!

Sadly I'm at that age where I (vaguely lol) remember when televisions didn't have a remote control. If you wanted to watch another channel, you had to get up off your backside and physically change the channel by turning a dial or pushing the channel number button. Or if you had kids, you told them to do it lol

Fast forward to the present! If you want to watch tv at our house, you have to use at least 3 of the remotes pictured. Starting from the right we have:- Foxtel, DVD player, DVR, Soundbar, the ACTUAL tv and finally the Telstra Roku box.

When did it get so complicated that up to six remotes were required to watch something that you're probably not all that interested in to start with? Firstly you need the tv remote to switch the telly on, then you need to choose one of the other remotes. Will you watch Foxtel, a dvd, free to air or something recorded or will you watch Netflix or something on demand? Then you need the soundbar remote so that you either don't blow yourself out of the room or so you can turn the volume up because you can't hear it....... Because naturally, none of the volumes are the same across all platforms and devices!

It's exhausting just thinking about it! I might go and read a book.... Paperback or Kindle?!!? Geez!

Meet Lily - Part 2

New Year's Eve fell on Sunday, December 31st, 2017. Yep, Sunday, the day that a whole lot of stuff is closed. New Year's Day, the public holiday that follows NYE, another day where a whole bunch of stuff is closed.....

What does NYE have to do with Lily? Well, I woke up at 7am on the morning of NYE to Lily being in bed beside me, this wasn't unusual. However, she was howling. This was and wasn't usual, as sometimes she would meow for breakfast, however, this was not meowing, this was a whole other sound. I sat up and as I gently picked her up and she screamed in pain. I immediately put her back on the bed and started checking her for visible injuries, I couldn't find a single mark on her.

My wife was still at work (night shift) and due home shortly, I sent her a text letting her know Lily had to go to the vet. Then I realised it was Sunday.... Our regular vet was closed. I looked online for the next closest vet, they were closed, as was the next and the one after that. While I was doing this, somehow, Lily had managed to drag herself off the bed, through the lounge room and out to the dining area where I was and she had howled all the way. I didn't want her moving, so I sat on the floor with her until my wife arrived home. I also checked her for ticks, again I couldn't find anything!

When my wife arrived home, she started ringing the vet clinics hoping for an after-hours number, thankfully our regular vet had the number for SASH (Small Animal Specialist Hospital) on their answering service. We had no idea that there was now a SASH in our area! So My wife rang them to let them know we were on our way while I got changed and grabbed the cat carry cage. 

All the way to SASH I drove as carefully as I could as Lily was clearly in a lot of pain. I had no idea what was wrong with her, she had no wounds, no ticks that I could see (which cause paralysis), the only other thing I could think of was that she had been bitten by a snake.  Once we arrived, they took her straight away. We waited, we could hear her howling. When the vet came out, she asked more questions and said that they needed to keep her for the day to run tests and would let us know throughout the day how she was doing. 

My wife went to bed as she had worked all night and had to work again NYE. I spent all day researching snake bites as the vet said that if they couldn't find any ticks, that she had possibly been bitten by a snake. The afternoon swung around and I received a call from them, the blood tests were back, she hadn't been bitten by a snake and she didn't have any ticks. She had been given pain medication and was asleep, they asked for permission to take x-rays. I agreed. Later that night, I received another call, the x-rays didn't show any issues with her skeletal system, however, she was full of gas. This prompted me to tell the vet about her intestinal health when she was a kitten. The vet said they'd call me in the morning.

I woke up early, not sure if Lily would be coming home today or not. I waited for the phone to ring. When the vet did ring, he didn't really have any further news, except her pain had decreased some. He wanted to run further tests, again I agreed and waited for the next phone call. He said that at this point his greatest concern was that she had Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP) - it was fatal.

The next call was late that night, they still couldn't find out what was wrong, she was however now able to sit up as well as take a few steps, which she wasn't able to do the day before. Although she was still in ICU, she was stable. They wanted to keep her another night and wanted her to see a specialist the next day.

The third day a specialist rang me in the morning. Lily had now eaten a small amount of food, the specialist asked me about her health issues as a kitten. She couldn't explain what was wrong with her as she had a mixed bag of symptoms, she also mentioned FIP. My worst nightmare. After advising the specialist about her previous health issues, she wanted to do an abdominal ultrasound on Lily, she said she'd ring me with the results. 

So later that afternoon we received a call from the specialist. She basically stated that Lily could come home. The ultrasound was clear, although she couldn't rule FIP out, she didn't believe that Lily had this as she was now walking. She wanted to see her a week later for a follow-up and wanted her to eat a special diet. The specialist, although she hated to say it, felt that Lily had been bitten by a spider or insect as insect and spider toxins don't show in blood tests like snake venom does.

Fast forward one week. Lily has been on a strict diet, which she's not enjoying one bit! She's had no further symptoms either. So off to SASH. After chatting with the specialist, she said she'd like to do a blood test to compare to her admission bloods. The results wouldn't be in until the next day. She was happy with her progress and reiterated that she believed in her experience that Lily had been bitten by an insect or spider. Although this caused her a great deal of pain, I'm so glad that this seemed to be the issue and that FIP wasn't looking like the cause of the problems! The following day, I was advised that her bloods were all good and that she could go back to her normal diet.

The poor little thing has had so many medical problems in her short life!

Thankfully she's all better now, her fur is still growing back, they had to shave her neck, abdominal area, back and leg - she sort of looks like she's been at war with a lawnmower and the lawnmower won!

Given that she loves her food, she's extremely happy that she's allowed to eat her normal diet again. We felt so cruel when she had to eat the prescribed diet, she didn't like it at all.

Well, fingers crossed that she's grown out of getting stuck in strange places and the only way is up regarding her health. She's such a spoilt kitty cat as you can see in the photo above, she squeezed in between both of my pillows for a snooze.

Till next time!

Meet Lily - Part 1

This is Lily, the worlds laziest cat! She's just over 12 months old and we love her to bits! So here's some background info on the worlds laziest cat, we adopted her when she was 6 months old from Claws 'n' Paws Rescue. She was living in a cattery with 22 kittens all of which were 6 - 8 weeks old. She had been in care since she was 6 weeks old, but couldn't be adopted out because she had recurring worm infestations and other gastrointestinal issues. So the poor thing spent the first 6 months of her young life in a cage.

Then we came along, and there was no question, she was purrfect for us! She had to be desexed before adoption and then about a week later, we were able to collect her. Due to her being so unwell for the first 6 months, the vet did let us know that her growth had been stunted. This wasn't a problem for us, she was like a pocket cat!

When she came home with us, although she had been exposed to the cattery owners dogs, they were small.... We have two Labradors. For about the first week and a half should either of the dog's venture near her - which they did because they both love cats, they got a snout full of claws! Are you noticing a theme here regarding sleeping positions? She does like to sleep on her back!

So what kind of personality does Lily have? Okay, well aside from being extremely lazy, she's a total busybody! So far we've found her in the washing machine, so the lid is always closed now! She's fallen in the pool, she's fallen in the toilet - the bathroom doors are now always closed! I found her in the dishwasher, I was trying to push the lower drawer in and it wouldn't budge, sure enough, Lily was in there! Shes jumped in both the fridge and the freezer too! The only places shes not been stuck are the dryer, the oven and the microwave as those are always closed.

The worst 'stuck' moment was when she didn't come home for her dinner - the second time. Given that she's a rescue kitty and has had so many intestinal issues, she's is quite a hound when it comes to food! She really does put the Labs to shame!

A couple of days before, she was an hour late for dinner - the first time ever! I was frantic! It was a hot summer day and after calling and searching for what seemed like forever, she casually wandered inside an hour later. Her coat was warm, so I assumed she had fallen asleep in the sun somewhere. Anyway, the worst "stuck" moment happened a few days later.

It was dinner time and she hadn't turned up, my wife was freaking out a bit and I reminded her that Lily did this just a few days before and to give her an hour. So we had dinner, as we finished our dinner we heard the rumbling of thunder. So off we went! We walked down one end of the street calling out her name while lightning went straight to the ground!

Nothing, so we turned and went the other way. We walked down a street and as we turned to go back the other way and my wife said "did you hear that?!!?" At first, I didn't. I stood still and called her name again while I scanned nearby gardens. Then I heard her! However she wasn't curled up in a neighbours garden, she was down a stormwater drain! Just when I thought she already been "stuck" everywhere possible! 

I tried to coax her out so that if she did this trick again, she could get herself out. However, she wouldn't have a bar of it. My wife went home and got a sachet of food and even THAT wouldn't change her mind. The thunder was getting louder, the lightning more frequent and the skies were about to open up and little Lily was down a drain! So I ended up pulling the grate off and reaching in and pulling her out by the scruff of the neck as it was the only way I could reach her. Literally moments later, it poured with rain!

Needless to say, she pretty much chose to stay inside for over a week! Touch wood - we've not had anymore stuck issues since!