A few of my favorite things

I've been getting a lot of questions from native Australians about my favorite (and least favorite) Aussie things. I want to share some of these answers with you:

Fave food - Chicken & chips -- not completely an Aussie thing but better than any I've found in the states

Least fave food - Vegemite. Sick

Fave street - Lygon in Carlton

Fave place we've visited - Seeing the Sydney Opera House was awesome. So was Cairns. Cairns wins because I held a koala there.

Fave drink - Cider- it's not your mama's apple cider.

Fave clothing store (that I can afford) - Cotton On

Fave clothing store (that I can't afford) - Review

Fave thing about Melbourne - the rain and the large variety of shops

Least fave thing about Melbourne - public transport

I"m going to work on getting Hyatt to fill out a fave questionnaire and if you have any questions you'd like answered, leave them in the comments section!

Cheers!
Brandi

Belted Cattle

Do you know what a belted galloway is? If not, here ya go:

They're an oreo with four legs. That craps.

As you've probably figured out, Hyatt and I have been at the Royal Melbourne Show a lot (he is volunteering and I'm being paid) to help with the livestock pavilion. Last night, a lovely gentleman 'rewarded' Hyatt for helping him unload his belted cattle.

Behold...

A lovely interpretation of a Belted Galloway. Hyatt said the guy had FOUR BOXES of these things to give to people.

Look how excited he was to have received a present.

On second thought, I think that is much more terrifying than exciting.

Until tomorrow,

Brandi

Another edition of grinding gears

Earlier this week I posted this about what really grinds my gears. I've decided to widen the scope of what qualifies for these types of rants and have compiled a list below of criteria:

• Things that don't make any sense or were developed during a period that was lacking quite common sense
• Stuff that sucks
• Stuff that ticks me off
• Ironic things
• Things that are hilarious because they're blunt or sarcastic

I realized that a lot of things could fall under these guidelines but that's ok because I don't have time to think of 18 different genres for different blog posts. This is all encompassing. Take it or leave it. Please don't leave it. I actually put thought and considerable sarcastic effort into these posts so that you can all be entertained for 3 minutes everyday.

Ok - so for this edition of You Know What Really Grinds My Gears (to be recognized as YKWRGMG from here on out):  Crappy Shoes From K-Mart

Hyatt needed work shoes when we first got here because bringing them from home wasn't an option. So we went to K-Mart and got what we thought were decent work 'boots' for him to wear during projects at Dookie and for general work-iness. They have recently crapped out on him. See for yourself:

It's safe to say his shoes have been telling him they're done since the soles are flapping about.

We're off to buy another pair tomorrow. No use spending a ton of $$ on some nices ones when we're moving in 2.5 months (but who's counting?).

Until tomorrow,
~ Buzzard ~

Rest in Pieces

Lois died.

Remember Lois?

A short synopsis of her death (in Hyatt's words):

"She overheated on the way to Dookie. Cracked the headgasket which ruined the aluminum block. She was towed to Wallan, stripped of her registration and is now sitting in the junkyard."

We got a refund on the remainder of her registration (whoo hoo for ~ $250) but unfortunately we won't be able to re-sell her in December which leaves us out $1000. Such is life and sometimes life sucks.

Most importantly, we're on foot. Thank goodness we live in the city and not 2 hours away. We can still take the trams or walk to the few destinations we visit.

A short obituary by me:

Lois, you will not be forgotten. We will miss your squeaky fanbelt, broken backseat window and shoddy paint job. May you be reincarnated as a shiny, black Chevrolet Corvette.

In lieu of flowers, please make donations in the name of the Lois Frobose Memorial Scholarship for American-Australian Fulbright Recipients.

Until tomorrow,
~ Buzzard ~

Marriage Revelation #13

I'm certain I've had more than 13 revelations since we've been married, but 13 is my favorite number so it seemed fitting.

This is not only a revelation about our marriage, but about myself which affects our marriage. It runs full circle - get it?

I was clicking away on the wonderful world of Pinterest (if you don't know what Pinterest is, I'll invite you. No one should be deprived of pinning) and saw this list:

I read it and suddenly realized aloud - "I'm an introvert." Holy crap. It took me 25 years to figure this out about MYSELF. So many things that Hyatt and I get into teensy arguments about stem from these personality characteristics.

I've always known Hyatt was an extrovert but I kind of thought I was too because I'm very outgoing and loud around my friends and family but once I saw all of those pieces of information together in one list - it made it very clear to me why Hyatt and I get frustrated with each other. Hyatt is the first extrovert I've ever been in a relationship with (and definitely the only one I've married) so it's safe to say we have some personality clashes.

I promptly emailed him this list and told him that A) this would explain so much for him B) understanding and committing these traits to memory would help us grow as a couple and C) if he avoided doing these things, we'd argue less and be happy more.

I guess that goes to show that we never stop learning about ourselves or each other. Many thanks to Pinterest for helping me discover my inner introvert!

Until tomorrow,

~ Buzzard ~

p.s. just before I posted this, Hyatt told me he 'was glad I'm coming out." Cripes.

So good with kids

Hyatt and I have been helping out at the Royal Melbourne Show. Think American Royal crossed with Kansas State Fair but way less animals and no western shopping. Today, Hyatt volunteered to help with a booth about beef cattle run by Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA). He held a Simmental heifer and answered questions like:

- Is it a boy cow or a girl cow?
- What's it's name?
- What kind of cow is it?

(I may or may not have posed as a curious show attendee and asked the above questions).

Of course, as with any animal exhibit, there are a ton of people around. Look for yourself.

Notice anything interesting?

Look at Hyatt - interacting with all those kids. He'll be a great dad. Someday. Ten years from now.

Or more.

Until tomorrow,
~ Buzzard ~

You Know What Really Grinds My Gears....

this may not be the perfect title for a post of this nature but this is weird and funny. Refer here for the origin of You Know What Really Grinds My Gears.

Tonight Hyatt and I celebrated one of life's little accomplishments - his project is over (well, the data collection part is over) and we've been married for eight months and haven't killed each other. Bravo for us.

 We had dinner at Green Field, our favorite Asian cuisine restaurant in Melbourne. They make calamari that is ta-da-fo. Although we've eaten there several times, I had never noticed this ship replica until this evening. Have a look...

Cool, right?  But, ahoy there! What's that wording there on the helm (I don't even know if that's the right ship part).....

Oh, look - it's the Santamaria. Proudly display-st (sound it out) in an Australia based Vietnamese restaurant. Makes absolutely no sense. 

And that is today's edition of "You Know What Really Grinds My Gears."

Hyatt milked a sheep

Yep - check it out.

Awesome as, eh.

As part of a project for another graduate student at Melbourne Uni, we milked sheep. Well, actually Hyatt milked sheep and I recorded times, etc. It was enthralling and entertaining, all at the same time.

So there's your laugh for the day. You. are. welcome.





Until next time

~ Buzzard ~

p.s. - if you're thinking I put this on here because I've worked 38 hours in 3 days and had nothing else much to talk about because I'm exhausted......

you're correct.



Going On A Walkabout

A few days ago, while being bored between pig feeding and weighing, Hyatt wanted to go for a walk. I'm game for a walkabout in the Australian wilderness. My only concern was the potential presence of these:

brown snake = dead.ly.

Before we got out of the ute (remember what a ute is?) I asked Hyatt if he had his phone in case we encountered the aforeshown dead.ly. brown snake of Australia.

 

Answer. No. Cripes.

 

**I'm not scared of snakes - I'm scared of dying from a snakebite. Those are two completely different things. **

We proceeded to venture into the outback anyways because we were hoping to catch sight of some our favorite Australian animals - kangaroos, kookaburras and koalas. Like that?

 

We quietly walked through a forest/bush area (as quiet as we could be considering I was shooing invisible snakes away and hissing at Hyatt to slow down) when I spotted this:

See that? That's some sort of poop. Kangaroo poop, we hoped. Even though it's rather dry.

Continuing on we found this:

Clearly kangaroo track. Look at how they could be made from the jumping motion. **We have no idea if these are really tracks but they look kind of like them so we called it a win**

I found my favorite Australian bird hanging out in a tree nearby. I love his call.

While continuing to walk somewhat quietly through the bush - we saw more of this:

This looks waaaaaaay fresher and we must be getting close to something.

Next thing we know - jackpot.

If you look closely in the upper third of the picture, right in the center - that's a kangaroo bounding away.

And this guy is a wallaby - notice how he's darker and carries himself lower than kangaroos?

I found one more interesting specimen in the bush...

He hates it when I get camera happy.

All in all, the walkabout was successful. Sighted two of my fave Aussie animals. No snakes. No snakebites. Great day :)

See you tomorrow,

~ Buzzard ~



Battlewounds from Pork

Hyatt's trial is almost done. I have just finished washing off the sweat, pig crap, sheep crap, dirt and blood from a 12 hour day of livestock work. Yes, I said blood.

We loaded pigs this evening. I had a run-in with a nasty boar. This was the result.

Look at ma face!

While it's safe to say that the boar definitely won the battle after throwing the sorting board back at my face (literally), I can most assuredly claim I won the war. I'll be still be alive in 12 hours and he, well.....

I think I'd look good in a Bruce Willis movie.

Hyatt told me, "Guys dig scars."

Grrrrrrrrrreat.

You may notice that I am wearing my "I dig the pig" shirt from the Ohio Pork Producer's Council.

I am not, currently, digging the pig.

More tomorrow (but less blood),

~ Buzzard ~

Holy Canola!

It's springtime here. Lots of baby animals running around. Also lots of crops looking bright green and in some cases, yellow.

Yellow, one of my fave features of the rainbow, is everywhere here. Australia produces a heap of canola, which is used to make cooking oil, among other things.

So while Hyatt was feeding some pigs, I snuck away to snap some pictures of the beautiful stuff. Tell me what you think!

It's so bright it makes everything else look like a black/white photo.

Church near Dookie

And these are obviously not canola fields but how cute are they?!

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

Until next time,

~ Buzzard ~

Is Your Husband Awesome?

Because mine is :)

A few days ago I may have alluded to the fact that Hyatt was happier to get Cap'n Crunch than he was to see me. I stand corrected. On a scale of 1 - 10; 1 being feeling like a negative amount of money and 10 being the Buckeyes win the BCS Title (Hyatt's scale, not mine), I've been told that seeing me again was a 9 and the Cap'n Crunch was 6.5. I'm feeling pretty good about myself right now - goooo me!

My flight arrived at Melbourne International Airport at 9:30 a.m. I was through customs, luggage pickup and the food quaratine/questioning station by 9:50 and very ready and excited to see hubsy after 31 hours of traveling in order to be reunited after 6 weeks of separation.

**Sidenote: I have never gotten through customs so quickly! There was no line, my luggage was first off the conveyor and the snide food lady didn't make me open up my suitcase to show her the extensive confectionary (read: candy) collection I had. I probably could have gotten beef jerky into this joint. Rats**

At about 10:10 a.m., I'd been walking around searching for said hubsy when I saw a tall, handsome man leaning against the wall. Hooray! I wrapped my arms around him, teared up (I've turned into a crier since we started dating way back in 2008) and gave him a well-deserved smooch. Why well-deserved?


He brought me these!!!!!

In case you didn't know, yellow roses are my FAVORITE! He knows me so well and must love me a lot.

If that wasn't enough, when we got back to the Flat, hubsy had another surprise for me.  I've always wanted to be classy and cultured and go to an opera but Manhattan, KS and Colony, KS don't exactly make that opportunity available. However, Melbourne is the arts capital of Australia and I was delighted to find out that we were going to an opera that night.

IT WAS FREAKING FANTABULOUS! I was in awe the entire time. The opera singers just blew Hyatt and I away - they had some pipes, let me tell ya. If you have a chance to go to this opera, do so because you won't be disappointed. Bonus: it's in English, unlike this one.

**Sidenote #2: Hyatt says it was a musical. Yes, it was a musical play but they belted out some high notes so I say opera. If you google it, the know all genius Wikipedia says musical but I"m sticking to my guns and saying opera because it makes me feel fancier.**

Bonus #2: I can now mark #70 off of this list.

All in all, it was a great day back in Melbourne. I have an amazingly thoughtful and kind husband who made my bittersweet return to the driest continent very spectacular. I'm very lucky  :)

The next day we went to Dookie and started feeding pigs and cleaning pig crap up again. Oh joy!

Until next time,
~ FroBuzz ~
p.s. Let Hyatt know how awesome he is. I love to brag on him and he always brushes me off. ;)

I'll no longer be planking

Because, apparently, the new cool thing to do is this:

It's called OWLING - and in my *expert* opinion it's not nearly as cool as planking but I guess my opinion doesn't count.

I Googled 'owling' and these are some of the funniest images that came up.

See you tomorrow!

Cheers,

~ FroBuzz ~

I am the Queen

of packing.

Self-proclaimed.

But seriously, I would challenge anyone to beat me in packing two tons of stuff into two large suitcases. I'll win. **Disclaimer: I'm not responsible for how much the suitcases weigh when I'm through. They'll probably be heavy. You've been warned.**

I showed off my packing skills to my mama when I was preparing to come back to Australia a few weeks ago.

Everything in the above six pictures had to fit into one large suitcase, one medium suitcase, one small roller carry-on and a computer bag/personal item.

I succeeded in getting almost everything in - and I'll explain a few quick tips on how to do so.

Roll your clothes - this saves bookoo room. You can fit 5 pair of pants in to half the space if they're rolled. Added bonus: you can better see what you've packed if it's folded and not stacked.

Fill shoes/boots with items. I usually use socks but since I was bringing back goodies for my hubsy I decided to put spice jars in my tennies...

and Jell-O and gravy mix in my boots.

This is my favorite recent purchase. A pretty turquoise bag from Ripcurl that Hyatt bought me while we were in Cairns. It's got so many books, movies, papers and mags in it, among various technological devices, that it weighed about 25 pounds.

I put pliable materials between layers of clothing. This suitcase held all my jeans, research papers, all of the pictured food and some more shoes and boots.

Almost of the stuff made its way back to Australia. I had to leave some of the things from the first picture (Victoria's Secret body spray, extra bottle of hairspray, bottle of Dolce & Gabbana light blue) and some of the food from the third picture behind (Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce) because they were sending me way over the weight limit.

Hyatt was thrilled to get about 10 lbs of candy, a ton of Crystal Light, his favorite kind of Hamburger Helper (stroganoff) and mac n' cheese. I think he may have been happier to see all his goodies than he was to see me!

Until next time,

~ FroBuzz ~

What I learned today...

We recently got our bond back from our previous landlord. You know, the landlord of the ML? To get caught up read this, this and this. I'll wait.

Ok - back to business. So after a long drawn out process of rescheduling the 'court' date about 3 different times, we got approximately $950 back. That's about $750 less than we wanted but at least the issue is resolved and we're through.

The reimbursement checks came to Hyatt and I. Since we don't have the same last name (yet) they had to send half of the money to me and half to Hyatt. The only problem is that they addressed the check to Brandi Frobose. I have a couple of issues with this:

1 - That's not my name.
2 - If the reason for splitting it up is that we don't have the same last name, then why does the check I received say Brandi Frobose? Stupid.
3 - It's extremely difficult to deposit a check made out to Brandi Frobose into an account held by Brandi Buzzard. See the issue?

I made the 30 minute walking trek to the bank, which was rougher than usual because while I was in the states I reverted back to my lazy American self and drove everywhere, and finally got the issue sorted out thanks to the lovely staff at The Bank of Melbourne.

In closing, I've learned that you can do one of the following things if you're ever in my situation:
 A - don't move to another country 3.5 weeks after you get married unless you can magically fast track the name changing process on your visa and passport

-OR-

B - wait to get married until you get back from said country.

C - Confirm with authorities your name before the checks are issued

D - Make friends with a friendly bank teller named Darin who will vouch that you are Brandi Frobose (even though you're really not) and will deposit the check anyway.

I chose to follow through with option D.

Have a great day!

Until next time,

~ FroBuzz ~

Great Barrier Reef Trip #2

Most people don't get to see the Great Barrier Reef in their lifetime and this can be attributed to several things:
1 - Australia is way the hell far away from any other landmass except Antartica and Indonesia. There's a lot of water between us and the states, check it.

2. Most people aren't too keen on swimming with the fishes - ya know, da big ones.  We didn't see any sharks while snorkeling but we did see a few smaller ones while scuba diving. The big ones gotta eat something. Small sharks = dinner for big sharks.

3. It's bloody expensive to get across all that water.

4. They don't have the travel bug and are content to stay on their home continent - which is totally fine. There are many times that I wish I was on my home continent.

5. Did I mention it's a helluva long way over here?!

So, very blessed to have taken back to back trips to the GBR. This time it was with Lenny, Candace and Jenny.  We didn't roadtrip this time but rather flew there and back so that we had more time in paradise.

Our room deluxe huge suite was flippin awesome - look.

I"m not kidding when I say paradise. Look at all the cool stuff we did while we were up there:

Went to the oldest rainforest on the planet - The Daintree Rainforest. We took a monorail to get there (I'm petrified of suspended heights) and a somewhat antique railway to get down.

Jenny and I were very excited to hold koalas - it was the highlight of our day!

We also went on a snorkeling/scuba trip. This was our ship

Catching some rays

Lots and lots of fish.

Perhaps one of the most spectacular sites during their visit were the things we saw on the Great Ocean Road.  The London Bride, 12 Apostles (there are only really 6 or 7), koalas in trees, a gorgeous lighthouse and sunset over the ocean.

All in all - wonderful trip. So glad we got to see our friend if only for a short time.

Another post tomorrow - promise!

Until next time,

~ Buzzard ~