Butter: Golden Glob

When we first got our house, the designer recommended a dry and wet kitchen with a door separating them. I thought why? why? why? it would only add to the expense of the renovation. But he said it would be an entire theme...glass windows within and without. So we agreed seeing as neither hubby nor myself have an artistic flair (that's right! not one iota anywhere in our bodies)

In the early years of our move in, way before we had any of our "babies", i never understood the need for two different types of kitchens. Now i think i could lurve my designer to death!! Thanks to his foresight or need to earn more of my moolah - the door between the two kitchens have been a godsend.

Since the arrival of Sir wolfie - we have to be on our guard with food left on the table. The cheeky git has a tendency to stand on his hind legs and reach for the food using whatever means necessary to achieve his mission. you have to give him credit for creative thought. He once pull the cloth upon which a plate with chicken liver sat on till it was near the edge of the counter and promptly gobbled everything up except the plate. Thus far (touchwood) he has not broken anything yet.

Another time, we were all watching TV in the living room when i realised that it had gone absolutely too quiet for comfort! then counting my pooches .... one...two...where was number three? So i went round the house to investigate the missing pooch (feeling as though i have a real mystery to solve) moving around stealthy like, turning slowly into corners. When i rounded the last corner to my kitchen, i peeked and spied my third pooch rummaging through a ripped garbage bag (nose deep in its contents and completely oblivious to my stealth approach - which isn't too stealthy considering that every bone in my body creaks as i move)

I was more than a little annoyed at his behaviour as i have reminded them all the time (that they've been caught) by gentle persuasion or tough discipline or ingeniuos bribery NOT to eat from the bin!! So i thought i'd drive the lesson home for poochie no. 3.

He was really content and totally absorbed in his mission to find snacks - so i snuck up behind him with my little water cannister (the same one i usually use to diffuse any high tension situation) and when within distance i shot a spray up his bum and screamed "Gotcha!"

I have never seen a dog jump so high - for a moment i thought i might have caused the first doggie heart attack in the world! he totally freaked with the wet spray on his bum and the loud shriek! he huddled into the corner of the kitchen cabinets and looked on - still a bit dazed from the shock - That's when i told him in my very calm voice "No eating from the Bin" and walked away. I went back to the living room and wait for the guilty to arrive and eventually he did. And boy! I have never seen remorse done better by anything or anyone! He came over, head low and eyes looking up to lick my hand. That's when i took his head in my hands, looked him straight in the eye and laughed!!

So you would have thought that it would driven the lesson home! It did for a couple of weeks and then he was back at his old tricks. So now i have to keep that godsend of a door closed whenever there is food about! Sometimes i forget and he gets some munchies from the bin or the countertop. Which brings me to the point of this particular post. After the walk this morning, hubby took the butter out of the fridge intending to defrost it a bit to have toast and in the interim he was going to have his morning shower. So off he went to get ready for work and i remember that i needed something from the rooms below so off i went to retrieve it.

On my way back up, i could hear rustling and the tot that one of the pooches was up to no good did cross my mind...so i hurried up the stairs to find Wolfie had torn into the garbage bag yet again and was furious so i slapped him on the rump for good measure and gave him a good yelling to and then proceeded to clean up the mess.

Just when i was about the get the toast ready for hubby i looked for the butter that he had laid out to soften and it was gone. Half a slab of butter disappeared! It would only have been wolfie! I didn't know to be angry or worried! half a slab of butter!! What would it do to his insides?! Anyway worry i did but eventually i tot the following:

1) if he got the runs from it then that'll teach him never to eat half a slab of butter or whatever
2) butter is supposed to be good for the doggies' coat of fur...so he'll be pretty shiny for the rest of the year
3) On account of him being shiny for the rest of the year - we could rent him out to the solar people so electricity is generated in an environmentally friendly way!

So this is the official announcement that Wolfie is my environmentally friendly dog who still likes rummaging through bins and garbage bags and enjoys a true adventure/mission of stealing food from the hand that feeds him!

Dumaguete Diving Delight

Well...to be honest! I expected more! I expected to go diving off Dumaguete and watch their black sandy bottoms crawling with critters. Unfortunately that was not the case....it was long swims till we found something to "play with" or "blind" in my case (coz of my strobes with my underwater camera) Expectations tend to get more of a reality splash when you are actually diving and then you remember that most dive trips are like that! Long swims....critter.....long swim....critter!!

Overall it was a good trip. The resort was nice...will be posting some nice little pictures...
There were things that i have never seen (a different type of seaslug). If you dun know me by now then i will have to inform you that i'm a sea slug nut case. I luuurrrvvveee them. They're soft, bright and colourful and looks soooooooo huggable. Sure as hell beat the pillows back at the resort!

By ranking with best dive site at first place isssss.......

Dumaguete Island (The Pier)
This is a commercial pier (fairly large) with large columns going into the seabed at odd angles to support the weight of the concrete pier and all it's loadings. The first meter and a half at the surface has a yellowish tinge to the water....but once down it's blue and these great pillars are covered in soft coral growth. With the sunlight it looks like some kinda of underwater cathedral! It's fantastic. Loads of seaslugs - and i mean loads...you have to be careful not to land on any. But it is fairly mucky down below and in certain areas it gets realy dark (best to bring a torch)

Balicasag Island (Blackforest)
Hmmm...just like my favourite cake this comes in second place. It's a slope off to a wall dive. Excellent visibility - loads of sunlight and seaslugs. There is a slight current and i was told that if the currents were strong then we would catch the majestic sight of barracudas hanging out. Good thing current wasn't strong so i could rest easy in taking my pictures of all God's smaller and much slower creatures!!

Dumaguete Island (Banca Wreck)
There's a wreck (literally) around 26m. It's almost completely disintegrated leaving half a hull on its side. Nice dive site...marine life in abundance with pregnant mantis shrimps, all sorts of cleaner shrimps, giant moray eels, leaf fish etc...
On one of my dives here i got molested by a remoras. It found me whilst i was taking pot shots of the preggie shrimp then it started sucking on my wetsuit near you know where!! and it followed me all the way to the shallows where it was reluctantly relieved of it's position by a swoop of my charlie stick! Cheeky little bugger!

Dumaguete Island (Sarah's Place)
Another great place to dive. The coral life is healthy and marine life abundant! It's great to just drift along and see it all happening around you! Fishes feeding, pooping, getting cleaned, protecting their home making babies...etc This is where i saw my not seen before nudi! Fab place and just between the Pier and the resort.

Dumaguete Island (Dauin and Luca Sanctuary) & Balicasag Island (Diver's Heaven)
Both on either side of the resort. can be reached ia shore or boat! I prefer boat! It's a santuary so the coral growth is extremely healthy and marine life is definitely exploding like in any city in any part of the world! Ain't great for macro photography - would suit anyone with a wide angle lens with big ass guns for strobes! Nice site anyway!

Diver's Heaven is a wall dive with a great variety of soft coral hanging off the wall...they have lots of grooves in the wall and appears very canyon like - nice easy dive!

Apo Island (Chapel, Rock Point West & Cogon)
This is a little stump of an island about 30 minutes from Dumaguete! The diving is nice and again more suited for people with wide angle lens...loads of jacks/trevally/barracuda cruising and hanging out. At one point we saw a lone barracuda! Massive boyo! Scary indeed! Some turtles but all very shy! It's alright but i probably would not venture there again especially since my interest in is the small critters.

Dumaguete Island (CarCar Wreck & House Reef)
Not my favourites but good to be underwater...nice place to get reaqquainted with diving after a long break. Easy to dive except in the house reef where you have to battle current to get back to the shallows near the resort.

All in all - i would say a fairly good trip. I would probably come back but not so soon as there are many other places that i want to visit. Balicasag Island is very near Bohol and the sand is white unlike Dumaguete where the sand is black. I think Bohol may be more for a critter hunter like myself. All experiences count for something!

The travel to get to dumaguete is a long and fairly butt aching one (in a car for ard 3-4.5 hours depending on traffic conditions from Mactan Airport, Cebu to Santander, Liloan)
Along the way you see a lot of doggies running free and this makes me miss my babies at home. We get to see loads of goats, cows, pigs, chickens and one snake! The coastal road back (I was alseep on the way in and it was the wee hours of the morning when i was going in so i could not see JACK!) reminded me why Cebu is a place to dive with crystal clear blue waters as far as the eyes can see.

anyway - this got me thinking that i should start a separate blog for my dive trips instead of lumping everything into one blog! hmmmm.....
~Queen Bubbles~