A change is as good as a (near) apocalypse
Michael has asked us to blog about three things we’re going to change before March (he’s put another apocalypse out there for us to think about - our Doompocalypse Redux).
This is a WP challenge and, as you know – I love a challenge.
It was hard to think of anything I wanted to change before March, but once I got the old brain cells cranking … well, I’ll let you decide…
1. Road Trips – I’m out
I’ve just returned from my road-trip to pick up the dogs from my old place. Thirty-five hours in the car in the Australian Outback with a Rottweiler and German Shepherd made me wish the Mayan’s had been right. There are beautiful straight roads but it’s a pity that kangaroos, emus, wild pigs, rabbits, cows, sheep, dingoes or any one of a hundred different species try to run under your wheels (or jump through your windscreen). Hence, it’s not really wise for the safety of all to travel over the 110 speed limit.
You’ll be pleased to know that no animals were harmed in the making of this post.
The dogs were reasonably well behaved until we hit monsoonal weather 400 kms from our destination. There was nowhere to stop the car (without being hit by a truck or driving over the edge into cane fields) to let the dogs out to do their business. This was about the time the German Shepherd decided he would get a severe bout of diarrhea. Not one to keep his emotions to himself he decided to shower his problem from one side of the car to the other. Sorry, I didn’t get a picture to share with you but I should have taken notice of the signs.
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2. Bloggers for Peace – I’m in
While I was away, Kozo, asked the question - Wouldn’t it be great if peace went viral?
I think it would be great, so I’m going to pin that peace sign to the side of my blog, put flowers in my hair, take a deep breath and see if I can rise to his Monthly Peace Challenge. I’ll be tagging my posts with B4Peace to spread the word. Imagine if we could make a difference to the world (no matter how small) just by posting once a month about peace. I was actually going to write about our road rage incident for my first post of the year, but that wasn’t very ‘peaceful’ at all – maybe next time!
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3. Accidents – I’m over and under
I’ve been accident prone since birth. If there’s a nail on the ground I’ll step on it, if there’s a glass on the table I’ll break it, if there’s …well …you get the point…
This is one thing that MUST change before I do myself in.
Here are some of my more spectacular Darwin Award accidents:
- Trying to clear an outside drain with a small hand-crank ‘eel’ from Aldi that I twisted too tightly – it flicked up and the ‘claw’ end went haywire and I didn’t know where it was until it flew up my nose (try explaining that one to the paramedics).
- Locking myself out of the house and trying to climb in through the toilet window, only to slip and jam my foot in the U bend of the toilet bowl (fire department).
- Carrying a ladder through a room to have it hit the ceiling fan which hit my forehead and knocked me unconscious (paramedics again).
- Licking my finger and touching the iron to see if it was hot, only the find someone had broken off the base and I touched the live wire (electric shock and head injury from hitting the wall when it flicked me off).
- Stepping out the back door to have my German Shepherd’s discarded baby tooth embed itself into my foot (doctor registered it as a ‘dog bite’ because no one had ever been stupid enough to actually step on a dog tooth before).
- Breaking a finger trying to catch a cricket ball (yes – I’m a wimp).
- Crashing my push-bike and ending up with the handle slashing the roof of my mouth (hell yeah – that one hurt).
- Sliding down a cracked metal slippery-slid and getting my bottom cheek pinched and being stuck for ten minutes (big brother laughed a lot over that one while he was trying to free me).
- Tripping on my overly-long bedspread and falling out the window (black eye only for this one).
- Getting a paralysis tick on my eyeball (doctor looked at the black mark in my eye and said, “It’s got legs!” – emergency trip to the eye surgeon, no marks or permanent damage).
That’s about all I can think of now. I’m sure there’s more and I’ll probably remember them when I’m commenting.
Don’t forget to join the challenge if you’re that way inclined – if not, you can always read the other Doompocalypse Redux posts.
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year!













Dianne, you and I would make a good pair: you’re accident-prone and I’m a paranoiac disaster theorist who’s hyper-vigilant to potential dangers. We could lay odds which of us would prevail.
P.S. Happy New Year!
LOL – that’s brilliant, Janna! What a great pair we’d make
Happy New Year to you too, my friend!
Clearly I am late to this party, but I think Bloggers for Peace is a GREAT Idea!! I will try to find the sign for our blog, too. Can I just add that you are a disaster waiting to happen…Geez Louise…how in the world have you ever survived??? But, thank goodness you did. We are the better for it.
You’re never too late for any of my parties, Sheila!
I like the idea of Bloggers for Peace as well. Kozo is an absolute gem
I’m not sure how I’ve survived – good luck rather than good management. You know what they say ‘what doesn’t kill us…’
I’m so glad you’re glad I’m alive. Me too!
Oh, I’m so sorry but I had a few good chuckles over some of your misfortunes. I’ve always had a bit of a sick sense of humour! But…I did feel for you…the pain you’ve had to endure…I believe the road trip may have been the worst by far!
I agree, the road trip was the worst – but I can still laugh about it (luckily)!
Wow it’s always a little intimidating coming here to comment because there are so many people here, feels like a party where I don’t know anyone and I just hang by the wall! I love your road signs and I have to say, road trips: I’m in. I love ‘em, can’t get enough of them. And also blogging for peace, I’m in for that too. Not sure how much/many of either I’ll do before March.
Thanks for joining in, Jenny – it’s great to see you here
I think everyone here just hangs by the wall – some know each other, but most don’t.
Normally I love road trips and I’ve done that trip many times before, just never with the dogs
Bloggers for peace is a great idea and if you get a chance to check out Kozo’s blog at some stage, that would be great!
Those signs are just AMAZING … I have not ever seen such road signs before. Oh lord, if I was planning to visit Australia before…omg … what am I in for there?!?!? lol
Now, as to the accidents…holy crap!!! *mentally wishes your change #3 comes true*
Thanks Katie! I hope 3 comes true too (for my sake)
The road signs are amazing – I love the one where the bull meets the car
Ooooh, Dianne, I hope you don’t mind, but you had me roaring with laughter about your list of accidents…
I’m sitting here with a giant bandage on my left wrist from two 1X4X12 ft planks that fell on it when at the hardware store. (bruised, and two one inch cuts). On my right hand I am sporting a bandaid on my index finger from reaching into the dish drainer and finding a knife that had fallen out of the utensil holder, and yet another bandaid on my thumb from trying to grab my seam ripper when it dropped and fell between my legs this morning. Oh, speaking of dropping, I tried to catch the pruning shears, business end first, last month and probably needed a stitch or two, but managed to heal it on my own.
I think that you and I should never travel together, nor go to a glass/knife/saw/fireworks factory, or shark tank! Then again, maybe our abilities for self mutilation would be cancelled out in the presence of one another?
OXO
Oh, Lynda!!! You are really banged up at the moment you poor dear
I’ve got the scars on my hands from knives in the dishdrainer as well but I don’t think I’ve ever had anything fall on me in a Hardware store – touch wood (pardon the pun!) You sound very similar to me and I think if we holidayed together we would have to bring along our own paramedic!
Stay safe (I can talk – not) and have a wonderful new year!
Ack, my husband just messed around with the circuit breakers and knocked out the power and erased my last comment to you!!
This post made me laugh, Dianne, although I feel awful for those incidents. You are one tough cookie!
I’m not too klutzy, as I’m hyperaware of my surroundings. However, I am klutzy when I’m skiing. I have fallen off the chair lift, skiied into a queue of people, skiied off the mountain into trees…I don’t ski anymore. Instead, I hang out in the lodge and drink.
I love the bloggers for peace widget/tag. I think that’s an awesome idea.
I hate it when you spend all that time on a comment and then it vanishes – so frustrating, so thank you for persisting with mine!
I’ve never been skiing, but I have been on a toboggan in the snow an I ended up in a creek (it was freezing) so I’ve never been keen to do that again
I hope you didn’t fall too far off the chair lift (those things go high!) Best idea to hang out at the lodge, it’s a much safer option!
So glad you like the bloggers for peace – it’s a pretty cool idea
Bloggers for Peace? How awesome! I’m going to join the blogging mission. I will link their page with the image but reference you with a pingback when I get around to my peace blog post. Thanks for sharing!
No problems at all. Its a great idea and Kozo is wonderful! I know it seems like an enormous task, but it’s got to start somewhere and you never know – baby steps may lead to something bigger
With everything that happened in the world in 2012 – someone has to start somewhere to try and change things
Best of luck with the peace blog post – I’ll be looking out for it
Hi Dianne – I lived in Perth, Western Australia for 3 years (1997-2000), and twice I made the pilgrimage via bus from Perth to Sydney as part of a large group of International college-age students. On the first cross-country trip, our bus broke down somewhere in the middle of the Outback, and we ended up having to stay for 3 days in an abandoned sheep-sheering shed while our bus driver hitch-hiked his way across the desert, trying to find the parts that were needed to repair the engine. This would have been bad enough on its own, but we had just returned from a 2 month long mission trip to Kathmandu, Nepal, where I had been diagnosed with a case of worms (yes, like the kind that dogs get) and abandoned sheep-sheering sheds aren’t exactly known for their beautiful restroom accommodations… Needless to say, your dog diarrhea story brought back a lot of (not so) fond memories.
Oh my! What a terrible experience for you. It would have been HOT and the rest rooms very uncomfortable and icky! One day you must write a story about this trip. I hope the worms are completely cured now (sometimes these things hang around for years).
LOL!
Sorry
So glad this gave you a good giggle, Bluebee
I have nothing to add and everything to gain from this post and your reader comments! Thank you, Dianne!
Ooops… I think this is in the wrong spot! Sorry.
LOL!
That doesn’t worry me at all!
Diane, Diane, Diane… what we are to do with you?
I laughed so hard I cried. The accident with the pipe snake struck home the hardest having done similar but oh my — with your proclivities we’re all lucky your still alive!
Keep on writing. Just don’t travel with any more doggies.
cheers,
Peter
I’m glad you understand the pipe snake thing, I don’t think many others knew what I was talking about – but they do tend to flick around a lot!
There will definitely be no more travelling with the doggies – they’re here now and that’s where they’ll be staying for the rest of their lives (I hope they’re happy about that!)
Thanks for coming by, Peter. I’m glad this post gave you a good chuckle
I like your three areas and by now I hope you are accident cured… and fancy free.
I haven’t had an accident since writing this post, so I’m hoping it rid me of my bad luck (touch wood!)
So glad you lived to tell the tale!
I should have blown up the picture, Naomi and said he was HUGE! LOL