mja blog

Author: Melissa

  • Unexpected credit card fee

    I’ve had my Westpac Mastercard for nearly 20 years, and it has been very useful in that time. These days I rarely use it, if I do I usually pay off the balance pretty quickly. So I was surprised to find a “missed payment fee” of $35 on my statement this month. I had made a few small purchases over the past few weeks and my lasr statement had listed a minimum payment of $10 by 10th December.

    I’m sure it is in the fine print somewhere that I get whacked with this fee but it is crazy. My balance was only around $70 and the previous month I had paid $2,000 into it to reimburse my study fees. It is a “no annual fee” card, and the bank has been trying to get me to switch to another product for years. I guess it’s by hook or by crook that they sting you somewhere along the line.

  • No more ducks!

    By tomorrow afternoon the Great Ipswich Duck Race will finally be over! The final event with all 51 finalists takes place at Riverlink tomorrow morning. They each draw a key and see if it wins the new car.

    What an ordeal it has been coordinating the ticket sales for the weekly draws. Too much work for such little return, we only sold 3,400 tickets out of the hoped for 20,000. The words “never again” from management have been music to my ears.

  • Bloody printer

    Giving me the pips at the moment. Had to replace ink cartridge and discovered I’d been sent the wrong one. So switched from black and colour cartridge to just black, and for some reason the printer can’t detect it and wont print anything.

  • Crab walk

    Less stress about Ebony making a run for it since we took to tying a long line to her collar whenever she is let out into the yard. You normally have to hang on to the other end though, because she still heads for that corner where she can climb out. Something very fascinating about next door’s dam and new puppy.

    With the line on from time to time Ebony does a funny looking sideways walk, and sometimes her back legs seem to walk faster than her front legs. Sometimes there are lots of interesting smells around and she can’t get to them all quickly enough – it’s as if someone has pressed “fast forward” on the remote control.

    Feeding the three dogs together in the morning has been no problem (touch wood). Humorous to watch as they rotate to each other’s bowls looking for scraps, they are very well coordinated.

    I think Ebony is gradually settling in. She still does naughty things, like digging holes in her pen, shredding blankets and taking ages to calm down when we let her indoors, but I have this idea that underneath the high spirits she is a good dog in need of discipline and routine. She is very intelligent but can be a little wilful at times so when my leg is better I would like to do some obedience training with her.

  • Chook chaser

    We’ve discovered how spoilt we have been with well behaved dogs. Ebony is a real adventure seeker and you can’t take your eyes off her. After the dam incident she escaped into neighbouring properties twice yesterday when H was in the yard with her.

    This morning I let her out of her run and she took off like a shot after some chooks which had wandered into our yard. I hobbled after and watched as she caught one, there were feathers everywhere. Fortunately the chook got away, but I had trouble getting Ebony back. She wouldn’t come when I called so I ended up hobbling down to her and carrying her back to the house.

    Ah dear. H has just come back into the house after taking Ebony for a run. He’s not happy. Ebony ran right down to the bottom of the yard and climbed the fence into the neighbours property. H had to climb after her to get her back.

    It’s not nice to have to keep a dog restrained but we are going to have to accept that at least in the short term, Ebony can not be trusted to stay in the yard.

  • Water baby

    Ebony joined us again late yesterday afternoon, and settled in right away. It was hard to see how she could have been a problem at the other place but I guess it’s fortunate she and Boss seem to have made friends with each other. It would be different if they were constantly fighting.

    Panic stations this morning as I went out to gather the dogs dishes for breakfast – she was nowhere to be seen. She’d been about at 5am when I’d let Sasha out.

    I hopped into the car and drove around the nearby streets looking for signs of a mad black dog running around, while H went about on foot calling her. As I was coming back to the house H met me at the gate and pointed down the road – there was a soaking wet, happy black dog running towards us. She’d been for a dip in the neighbour’s dam!

    Little bugger, she is lying at the back door now with the most innocent expression on her face. No idea how she got out, unless she managed to squeeze her fat little body through the gap in the gate. We’re thinking of getting a kid’s wading pool so she can take a swim here at home.