Babbling waffle....with golden syrup on the side

Am lodging written complaint with hospital tomorrow, after having typed screeds and screeds.
Yes, I do have a photographic memory, something to do with recalling every.tiny.detail when nursing - which also involved giving a shit about my patients but hey, I'm ready to admit I'm a dinosaur and out of fashion.
The Pater is reclining in comfort and about to get the full workout when he trots off to rehab to which he tried to say "no, no, no" but we, physios/doctors/OTs and the bloke down the street don't take no for an answer.
Speaking of the bloke down the street the new next door neighbour chickybabe moved in.
I shall miss my next-door-bois, they were lovely lads.
*sniff*
Now, I have to break in brainwash train get another stranger used to us.
*sigh*
I hope she at least enjoys the odd Cold Chisel or Oils or Crowded House or Canned Heat.
At full volume.
At the ungodly hour of 4pm in the arvo on a Sat'dee after mowin' the lawn an' weedin' the garden when we bust out the cans of home-brand soft drink to slurp as we sprawl over the grass clippings....with the chooks.
Yes, we're regular party animals in this house.
Miss Beverley has been venturing out and about with the ballsy bully girls Trinian and Latte although she's left the whole length of the yard in between them.
Doin' the "I Told Ya So" jig while reading that the science dudes have found the genetics proving ADHD not only exists but that it's a "neurodevelopmental condition".
Ner, ner, ner ,ner , ner.
Yeah, I know.
Sooooooooooo mature *rolls eyes*.
But it does feel good *snort*.

I'm just a wee bit miffed....and then some

Am most displeased with several members of nursing staff at a particular hosp here in Melbourne.
How do I loathe this place?
Let me count the ways....
When you have two freaking good working eyes in your head and a functioning brain in your skull, please look at an elderly patient who is cynosed (blue around the the lips or in dad's case - lips, fingers, hands, ears, etc) panting for breath and falling out of a wheelchair and DO NOT fecking tell me his oxygen sats are 96% and he doesn't need oxygen.
Oh, yes they did.
And then do NOT even think of rolling your eyes at me, smirking and telling me in a sing-song voice it's my choice if I want to take him to a private hosp, because I will ( and I did) POLITELY request a patient ambulance transport to take Dad to a private hosp.
And do NOT try to trot out the 'against medical advice' drivel at me cos if I can see he's sick and you can see he's sick then fecking DO something.
You know what?
Basic manners in many of these cases would have made a HUGE difference, but at least 2 triage nursing staff were so antagonistic towards me (and me not having even spoken to them!) I am not surprised they need security.
Really, asking someone to leave the triage area is a simple matter of please and thankyou with a smile.
Certainly not
"You have to get out I need these chairs empty" in an aggressive snarl, emphasis on the 'get out'.
Bitch.
And kept glaring at us while Dad was left alone in triage getting bloods done, panting and falling out of the wheelchair while some other nurse made a right royal cock-up of reading the doctors letter and assigning medications/medical conditions my father has NEVER been on and NEVER had.
But what should I expect from the nurse who informed me, several months ago, that my son's meltdown and attempt to choke himself with a belt wasn't as bad as all the other children who needed to be seen ahead of him and that she doubted they could get anyone in to see him at all.
Again, bitch.
I see the formal complaint didn't sweeten your disposition.
But the kicker was finding out that basic communication skills in some nursing staff are non-existent.
I have been informing various members of the nursing staff since SUNDAY that Dad was going back downhill, that he was much improved Friday and Saturday on another ward, that he was eating, ambulating, orientated to time, place, person, sharp as a tack, on the ball, laughing and joking and conversing appropriately.
None of which he's been capable of, to a lesser extent each day, since SUNDAY.
No, if these type of concerns are to be raised apparently the freaking patient's family must be at the hospital at tell the doctors themselves, or so it was inferred to me.
Cos NOT ONE OF THE STAFF passed on anything I'd told them.
The lazy ones, who roll their eyes and think they've got a cruisy shift by having to look after the elderly with bare minimum of requirements and who tell family one story and staff a different one - yes, I know all about you.
LAZY.
Ineffectual.
The thin-skinned little uni grads so fresh from the halls of study they think a stethoscope waved in their direction is an aggressive stance.
Pathetic.
The I'm-so-busy-doing-nothing-but-I-look-good nurses - go suck a lemon, you'll have an ulcer by the time you're 30 for fear people will find you out to be the frauds you really are.
There are some fabulous nurses working at this particular hospital and they deserve every cent and accolade they earn, and then some.
It's such a shame they and the public have to tolerate the dropkicks.

Miss Beverley

Here is Miss Beverley partaking of her Weetbix breakfast.
Miss Beverley is rather partial to her Weetbix.
It's the breakfast of champion chooks.

She's a bit bigger than a pigeon but definitely smaller than a breadbox.
©

Spoiling chookens

Well, chickdees, I was going to say that Dad was on the up and up but today he's gone back a bit so we'll hold off on the Grand Parade for his return home.
The men folk found a pretty little Silkie hen which happened to 'follow them home' (after money exchanged hands with the breeder) and we are now blessed with a Buff Silkie hen daintily stepping about the fernery (as our 2 big white Leghorn gals, Trinian and Latte, were too bold, brassy and bullying for the little lady).
Yes.
I can see this one being spoilt.
*snort*
Must go macerate her mash with my own teeth before slowly roasting it in a light marinade of olive oil and oregano -
NO!
I'm only kidding!
Who on earth would use oregano as a roasting marinade when there's buckets of thyme available?
yes, yes, kidding.

Edit - 
The delightfully dainty Silkie now sports the moniker of Beverley.
*ahem*
©

Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da, life goes on, brah!

Well, the old boy isn't the best; he has pneumonia, urinary infection (think razor blades, boys), chronic renal failure and a heart rate that's up the Wazoo from too thin blood - antibiotic interacted with the Warfarin, yadda yadda yadda, we get blood that's too thin screwing with heart rates.
But he's as silly as a wheel, cracking jokes and segueing from one subject straight into another with hilarious results.
To quote "Derek & Clive" -

Laugh? We almost pissed ourselves.

I'll restrain myself from putting in a link to the .....Oh, bugger it, no I won't.
Here is the link to the flatulent patient screeching for a nurse skit.
Go on, you know you wanna listen to it.
Not that Dad is farting himself silly.
He's just burbling happily away on oxygen like a 2 pot screamer.
Some of his conversation (appropriately enough during dementia week)
"It's a lovely day out there (looking out the window). In fact it's such a lovely day I could piss on a wall."
"Of course Friday is market day! Friday and Wednesday! Wednesday was laundry day and Friday was until 11 o'clock at night!"
I have nfi what they called that last hour!
Looking at the door to his room and frowning,
"In all seriousness....I highly doubt that door is plumb."
Later after another 20 mins of burble,
"If you just plane about an eighth of an inch just off that side that door would be ok." Turning to look at us giggling he said with a straight face "I have no idea how they got that past the building inspector."
Pointing to the sky out of his window,
"I like the look of that out there, it looks rather nice."
Pointing to feral kid he said,
"You know what that blue thing is out there? Well, make sure they don't change it, ok?"
Feral kid looked at me and asked how does one not change the sky?!

I told him it was nice to see him with pink fingers instead of blue ones to which he said his fingers were always pink. I reminded him they'd been blue for a few weeks to which he then replied, waving his hand in a Royal manner,
"Oh, that's just all the work I do around the house."
Cheeky sod!

Barbara has just blogged a lovely post and pics of swallows and their mud nests.
Did you know they're in decline?
Coincidentally I had snapped some pics of old swallows mud nests under the Janevale Bridge that enters Laanecoorie just this Monday.
The swallows were swooping further along the bridge, over the water, where their current nests are.
These are Welcome Swallows.

This bridge was also the largest reinforced concrete bridge built and designed by General Sir John Monash.

Hospital or Dunolly photos...gee, the choice is soooooo difficult *snort*

Dad is back in hospital so posting might be a little light on for a couple of days.


The forest near the Corfu mine workings.


The sign is actually the only real remnant of the Murphy's Creek School, it was shifted hither and yon around the district to be a school building to many then eventually demolished.


I'm a lonely little tractor in the onion patch...


Beautiful splashes of vivid colour out the front of a house along Broadway.


We likes our aged farming equipment, we do.


Anotheree.

More to follow when I get time to scratch myself.

The land of milk and honey Part 1

A few pics to let your mind wander away from the dull work you're faced with....


A pair of picket gates under a giant peppercorn tree.
House is hidden waaaaay in back behind more trees and enough shrubbery to conceal Lord Lucan.


If you click on the pic you'll get a larger image.
Hard Hills was apt for the hard slog the diggers had when they tried to make their squillions out there.


The road out there was windy and interesting - and so corrugated we almost turned out ankles on the rocks and pebbles.


These majestic trees were everywhere we looked, posing in grand manners for the camera that I couldn't resist!


Big vistas like this would open up suddenly as we rounded another twist in the track.


Holes like this were appearing in odd spots all over the shop, not surprisingly this one is on a road.


A big mofo ant's nest.
With major big mofo ants that made bull ants look tiny.
We discovered how quickly we could walk at this point.


Drink it in, maaaaaaaate.


Bottoms up!


The frogs croaking in these ponds were some of the loudest we've heard.
Yes, through sheer bloody determiniation they win this year's So You Think You're An Amphibian Mime.


Yes, that is the road crossing that creek formerly a raging river a mere fortnight earlier.


This is the results of a river crossing - wire fencing all battered.


Another wee spot of the damp stuff.
Complete with deafening frog chorus.


This is actually a tide mark on a road in Dunolly.


No Thomas or Percy or Puffing Billy on this twack.

And we shall leave it there because I need my beauty sleep and have to drag Dad off to the doctor again in the morning.
So.
Nighty night.
©

Penguins stealin' freaky hot alien chicks to the moon

Bajillions of photos loading up still.
Don't hold your breath for any appearing tonight.
Cos this lil black duck is shifting her arse to bed before they'll be ready.
On another topic....how was the full moon tonight?!
Or were you blinded by the one that appeared at the Brownlow last night?
Anywho, he always goes off at the full moon.
Seriously.
Now he's claiming it's the work of those evil, dastardly penguins on the moon who are (and I quote)

"Stealin' all our hot chicks."

Yeah.
Hot chicks are finally shown to be the alien freaks us garden variety earth gals (who aren't that easy) always suspected.
Freaky alien freakazoids.
Yep.
Just get on up to that there moon and leave us a fighting chance to find a middling-to-reasonably passable mate to stick our talons into and drag back to the vulture nest we call home where we can devour his soul at leisure.

OH!
Wait!
Some are through!

I'll leave you with this teaser and schedule a post for tomorrow morning for the rest.

Stuff

Tired.
Pics to follow.
Barge poles to carve.

What is wrong with you people?!

This is aimed at those who feel the need to keep other people/cultures/sexualities/religions under the thumb, on a lower peg in the pecking order of life just to make themselves feel good.
This morning I've read several items that leave me in no doubt, whatsoever, that the bogan rednecks are running riot all over everyone's rights, trampling basic common decency and respect for fellow human beings into the dirt while screaming for their own rights to be enshrined in gilt-edged stone.
For a start - I'm so over this "stop the boats" bullshit.
Most of us arrived here on boats, on a plane or on a bloody broomstick.
It's a big frigging country, learn to share your toys, numbskulls.
This continued bullshit racism against Aboriginal People - get the feck off your lazy arses and go meet a  Murri or a Koori for yourself, go introduce yourself, listen to the other person instead of accepting racist stereotypes as gospel, you halfwit.
I bet most of you idiots wouldn't even realise you had met or knew an Indigenous person unless you were slapped in the face with it.
And this screwed up garbage about gay adoption and how it might influence a child's sexuality - give.me.a.frigging.break.
Gee, there's more gay children of gay parents - ever thought it might possibly be because the kids don't feel the need to be ashamed of who they are, rather than being influenced into a 'lifestyle choice'.
These dropkicks are on the rampage as they're feeling threatened - by what, who the feck knows (or cares) - but they're only appealing to their own sort who are, thankfully, a dying breed we may forget to enshrine in resin, behind glass, in a museum vault somewhere.

Pretty petals for precious poppets

Took feral beastie out to Brighton and 'stole' some colour snaps for those who are
A) heading into Winter and
B) hankering for some colour.


This one (above) and this one (below)

are only 2 in a whole slew of similar style houses, Edwardian-era, in the same street, obviously built by the same bloke.

Look at that cupola!
Doesn't it almost-but-not-quite scream Callie's Castle to you?
Failing that, how about deranged architect hitting the hops early in his career?

He used to give me...

...Roses....

...I wish he would again....

Name That Tune!

And you, too, could have a week of nightmares in which The Freak performs unspeakable things to you...

And the good old Elwood canal

Where one would be hard pushed to see any gondolas...

More colour...

...and more...

...and a dash of white...

Oz Spring Traditions for overseas readers

2010

On this day a few of my bloggy friends learnt some Spring traditions from Oz.
Sugar soap - this is when the housewife/househusband/any old body in the house fancy turns to a new coat of paint and the walls be needin' a scrubbin'.
Oiling the deck -  as Aussies have evolved, in recent years, to sprout decking around the outside of their abodes a new tradition has begun which involves the manly scrubbin' and cleaning of the decks before oiling the decks can commence.
As I have taken over this job this year and I used Canola oil we shall soon see if I will keep this job in the coming months *snort*.
Better Homes and Gardens - as the sun peeks out more people begin the seasonal sheddin' of the Winter sloth and rediscover both the tv show and new gardening trends along with new Frankenstein hybrids the scientists bred in petri dishes over the Winter months.
Spring Cleaning the BBQ - this involves much scrunched up newspaper, oil, stainless steel, swearing, purchasing charcoal, refilling the gas bottle (unless it's passed its use-by date and is headed for holding up the bodgy end of the outdoor table setting) and battling the male of the abode who has spied the latest BBQ model in the catalogue and is finding every excuse why it is necessary to 'invest' in the newer version.
This includes the wild promises of cooking every meal out doors, as well as being responsible for the traditional roasts.

Should the dog start licking the decking or the table wobble too much or the neighbourhood cats dig up the latest hybrid Spring plant or the male sneak in the new BBQ you can be assured there will be much sugar soap scrubbed with vigour across the Great Isle of Oz!

Show and Tell with the pretty petals

And, for your Spring eye-ball delight, I give you.....

The cast-off cast-iron hand basin planted with pansies.

The vibrant blue of the Blue Pacific just outside the back door - it GROWLS with bees all over it humming in bliss.

And the bath tub underneath the plum tree dripping dizzily with blossom.

September of the 14th type

Have been potting up a storm.
Shoving plants in pots, both edible greenery and the sort that are only here for their good looks.
The pansies and polyanthus' and tulips and daffs and...and...the rest of the vegie sort will flower.
Eventually.
Had an old cast iron pedestal hand basin sitting in the backyard (along with 2 old cast iron bath tubs...can you see a pattern forming here? Yes, I collect homeless bathroom ware of the cast-off cast iron variety) so I bunged a bit of wood across the plughole and planted it up with potting mix and pansies.
Stand still long enough and you, too, could have a plant shoved in somewhere!


1828 The Bank of Australia in Sydney was robbed of a large amount of money by a clever-clogs gang who broke into the strong room via a water drain.
1936 A nurse, Dorothea Palmer, was arrested for handing out birth control info; she was later acquitted.
1982 Samoans who took up permanent residency in New Zealand from this date were entitled to New Zealand citizenship.

The Nylex Clock is still busted.
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Orange  = Canada
Green = Australian
Red = UK or other nationality
Italics, bold and coloured blue are links to further info. 
Anything outrageous is usually sarcasm and/or humour

Septermber 13...tomorrow, tomorrow, I'll love ya tomorrow....or will I...?

I have worms.
Giant red slimy critters chomping their way through the kitchen scraps, getting all hot and bothered over the shredded paper we toss 'em and breeding like rabbits in amongst the muck.
They've been known to fling themselves madly into the teabags and revel in the mushy bits of old banana while others have been witnessed as performing questionable acts upon avocado seeds.
Yes, my compost heap is a hip, hot, happenin' pile of crap.

1882 John R. Booth opened his own railway line, the Canada-Atlantic, the lucky bugger.
1915 Not only did the Federal Govt grace us with the law that voting was compulsory in Federal Referendums but they decided we needed to give til it hurt by imposing income tax to pay for the war.
Then they sunk the boot in by telling us Bunyips and Santa didn't exist....
1985 More than 20,000 people marched across NZ to support the Homosexual Law Reform Bill.

The Nylex Clock is still busted.
Yellow = New Zealand
Orange  = Canada
Green = Australian
Red = UK or other nationality
Italics, bold and coloured blue are links to further info. 
Anything outrageous is usually sarcasm and/or humour

Watch out, folks! She's got a gardening glove and aint afraid to use it!

Exciting times, dear reader!
I weeded the hanging baskets in which the strawberry plants Wintered.
Yes, I know, the crazy shenanigans I get up to *shakes head with a giggle* it amazes me, too!
And, seriously, I may get really wild and weed the front garden later today.
That's if I think the world can withstand the unfettered feralness of the whole event, otherwise I may just shelve the idea.
For the sake of the safety of others, you understand.

1861 The Toronto Street Railway line was opened with a flourish allowing the first horse-drawn streetcars in Canada to gracefully go forth and convey commuters quietly.
1889 Maori artifacts were found at Moncks Spur.
1973 From the 11-15 it was Gay Pride Week in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide.
Goodness, Adelaide was certainly letting it's hair down!
I notice Perth refrained from joining in the jocularity.

The Nylex Clock is still busted.
Yellow = New Zealand
Orange  = Canada
Green = Australian
Red = UK or other nationality
Italics, bold and coloured blue are links to further info. 
Anything outrageous is usually sarcasm and/or humour

Books, glorious books!

Am having a ball trawling through new-old history books I picked up for a song at the Prahran Mechanic's Institute, plus the library books I borrowed from them, too.
1984 Tina Turner was at the top of the Oz charts for one whole week with "What's Love Got To Do With It?"
1994 Vancouver-designed fantastically wonderfully all-things-geeky, fabulous ( yes we all loved it to bits and pieces in this house) cartoon series ReBoot debuted on American ABC
2006 Tongas King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV passed away in Auckland.

The Nylex Clock is still busted.
Yellow = New Zealand
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Green = Australian
Red = UK or other nationality
Italics, bold and coloured blue are links to further info. 
Anything outrageous is usually sarcasm and/or humour

Public transport is treated as a joke

This is me having a good old whinge.
Public Transport Minister Pakula is living in la-la land.
He thinks buses are perfectly acceptable and the answer to all our public transport shortfalls.
Let's have a look at trying to push a wheelchair onto a bus - near impossible.
The driver has to get down to lower the retro-fitted ramp, the person pushing the wheelchair has to shove past a dogs leg bend in the aisle then swing the wheelchair around to fit into the (often) only spot reserved for a wheelchair on buses and make certain the wheelchair is facing forwards without crushing other commuters in the process.
To exit the bus is almost as painful, with the gradient on those retro-fitted ramps so sharp that one is almost running when you reach the footpath and then you have to drag back on the chair so as to stop it from careening off into god-knows-what.
The connecting coaches to the V/Line regional trains, which are supposedly the replacement for all those regional railway stations remaining closed?
Go look at this HERE.
See the wheelchair symbol?
That is to signify that the service is wheelchair accessible.
You know, accessible as in the fact that the person in the wheelchair can actually get on the service whilst still in the wheelchair.
Nope.
The wheelchair can be folded and stored in the undercarriage of the coach whilst the disabled person can CLIMB the steps into the coach (with other people trying to support them).
We searched high and low and couldn't figure out how the flock the coach qualified as being wheelchair accessible in any way, shape or form.
While perfectly good railway stations sit idle, except maybe for rail freight, which could take umpteen trains which are all perfectly wheelchair accessible in the correct meaning of the term.

Coming soon to a doorstep near you!!!! Run. Flee to the hills!!!

Am a little tired, crappy parts of the day tend to be exhausting.
What-eva.
Am hoping to run away for at least some of the day on Thursday, with feral kidlet as I can't run away on my lonesome with my dodgy eyesight, just to get out of the 4 walls and speak to someone who is
A) a neurotypical
B) not over the age of 70
C) continent
D) able to process complex sentences in one take
E) not likely to be snoring in my bed tonight.
Yes, I'm like the Princess who was picky about the pea under a squillion mattresses...a little too much fibre under my belt, but meh.

1836 But, wait!!!!
There's more!!!
Port Phillip Colony was declared officially OPEN for settlement!
1919 Alexander Graham Bell was a clever dicky bird and his hydrofoil became a rip roaring success when it took out the world speed record of 122 kph.
1988 8.5 degree frost was a tad chilly, being the coldest recorded temp since they began scribbling mercury readings a quarter of a century earlier.

The Nylex Clock is still busted.
Yellow = New Zealand
Orange  = Canada
Green = Australian
Red = UK or other nationality
Italics, bold and coloured blue are links to further info. 
Anything outrageous is usually sarcasm and/or humour

Sharin' the birthday love all 'round

Dad was so sick for his birthday he ended up at the GP, then having xrays at the hospital then home to doze for the rest of what remained for his birthday while we waited for the local pharmacy to get in the super-dooper heavy duty antibiotics.
My fabulous cousin dropped by with a sensational Black Forest cake from Wild Holly Cakes which cheered him up and which we inhaled in tiny increments...


Yeah, they got a freebie plug.
Cos their cake is so freakin' scrumptious.
And lighter than air so you don't realise you've nommed the whole lot...except for the unladylike belch at the end.
And they support the Brighton Historical Society, so they must, like, totally rock.
*ahem*

Events in history on this day?
Meh.
Too, too busy wondering how to stuff the extra quiches in my tummy....

I shall be waving from the rolly-polly position one assumes after one has gorged oneself...

Rah, rah, rah!
Dad turns 87 today and, by God, has it been a hard fought birthday goal of late, but he shall be over-whelmed with many nom-worthy goodies involving much chocolate and cream and jam and licorice and chocolate and perhaps scones and more chocolate and several extra dollops of jam with a slight edging of cream scooped on....
....and chocolate....and jam and some more cream and....

1572 In Chateau Bay some Basque fisherman bloke bought 4 scallops and consequently fell into history as the first consumer making the first transaction in Canada.
And no one listened to his complaints....1850 The first Canterbury Association settlers set off under sail from Merry Old England on board the Cressy, Charlotte Jane and Randolph.
Bet the SS Great Britain could do them a decent send off with fireworks...
1854 Fireworks from the party animals on board the SS Great Britain (who were whooping it up that they were out of quarantine but who'd bust open a bottle of bubbly at the opening of an envelope)  had the woosy pants-wetting Melbournians running about like chooks with their heads chopped off thinking the Russians were invading.
Yeah, fun times.

The Nylex Clock is still busted.
Yellow = New Zealand
Orange  = Canada
Green = Australian
Red = UK or other nationality
Italics, bold and coloured blue are links to further info. 
Anything outrageous is usually sarcasm and/or humour

She'll be comin' 'round the mountain when she finally gets her morning cuppa tea

Oh, what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day....

Yes, I'm off-key but at least I'd earn an A for effort despite your bleeding ear drums *snort*

1952 Canada's first telly station began broadcasting when CBFT started airing the dramatised play of Oedipus Rex.
1976 ABBA hit the top of the charts for the beginning of an 8 week run with Dancing Queen.
See that girl, watch that scene, diggin' the Dancing Queen.....
2007 Goodnight Kiwi returned to the telly screens when TVNZ6 began shutting up transmisson at midnight.
Go watch Goodnight Kiwi HERE.
And don't forget to wave goodnight!

Today also marks the 70th anniversary of the arrival of the Dunera Boys; HMT Dunera gave her name to the lads who were deemed to be enemy aliens and transported out to Oz to be interred in PoW camps, where they held concerts, started a soccer team and began a University, amongst other activities.
Further info in the links coloured blue and HERE.
Photos and collections HERE.

The Nylex Clock is still busted.
Yellow = New Zealand
Orange  = Canada
Green = Australian
Red = UK or other nationality
Italics, bold and coloured blue are links to further info. 
Anything outrageous is usually sarcasm and/or humour

Sunday Roast at my house! Apple and Cranberry sauce included

Ok, coincidences are abounding over on the Dunolly and District blog.
Excitingly I've been rather organised for a change and was able to snaffle a Father's Day card into the house without Hubby finding out; feral kidlet duly filled it in and waved it under his dad's nose, earning some brownie points and a warm feeling.
Although the warm feeling may be coming from the oven where I'm roasting a pork Scotch fillet (scored and stabbed with homegrown rosemary twigs) with vegies baking merrily away (only a few homegrown the rest were liberated from the harsh conditions of the local greengrocer).
Managed to find some potted herbs and brightly coloured Polyanthus at the local Sunday market, only $1 each.
Woot!
Happy Father's day to all the Daddykins.

Looks like the worst of the flooding might be behind us although quite a few roads are still closed.
More updates on the Christchurch earthquake HERE.

1939 NZ PM declared NZ's support for Britain from his sick bed.
1945 ZEEP - Zero Energy Experimental Pile - Canada's first nuclear reactor became operational.
2008 Quentin Bryce was sworn in as the first chickybabe Guv'na Gen'ral.
Chin chin!

The Nylex Clock is still busted.
Yellow = New Zealand
Orange  = Canada
Green = Australian
Red = UK or other nationality
Italics, bold and coloured blue are links to further info. 
Anything outrageous is usually sarcasm and/or humour

September 4

Well, by now you'll have all heard the news out of The Shaky Isles.
More info on the earthquake HERE.
Best wishes to all, hope everyone has remained safe.
Further info on the recent quakes and 'aftershocks' HERE.

1863 The wreck of the Delaware; bugger the boat, check out the brave chickybabe who helped save the crew.
Further details on Huria Matenga HERE.
1916 Sir Billy Hughes was booted out of the NSW Labor Party.
Something to do with 'promoting conscription'.
When Dad worked at Parliament House post-WW2 he knew him as a mad little freakazoid.
1917 The Montreal Municipal Library was officially opened.
Woot!
Wait til they see the DVD movies the future has in store for them to borrow on their library card....!

The Nylex Clock is still busted.
Yellow = New Zealand
Orange  = Canada
Green = Australian
Red = UK or other nationality
Italics, bold and coloured blue are links to further info. 
Anything outrageous is usually sarcasm and/or humour

Waving, not drowning

All during the week I planned to be at the State Library on this very day doing research work in the newspaper microfilms - well, for as long or as little as my eyes would let me - when I won tickets to an event yesterday.
The catch was that I had to pick them up from the State Library today.
Ahuh, I hear the Universe, loud and clear.
So, feral kid and I trotted in, collected the tickets (which are to an event this Sunday involving history, of all things!) then we got stuck into the research.
There were a few others in the room, one in particular who was becoming increasingly agitated and loud in his speech.
I was keeping an ear on him, judging him to be a possibly unmedicated schizophrenic by his mutterings, behaviour and flat effect when he began making wild LOUD confrontational statements to total strangers about murder, following the person out of the microfilm room into the library.
Feral kidlet was getting upset and I packed it in straight away, informing the security staff at the front desk on our way out.
I'm sure some people would prefer to blame this poor bloke's parents entirely for his behaviour, rather than say that 'shocking' M word out aloud - Mental Illness.
*gasp* Oops, it slipped out!
What'll it be next, a fine, 30 days in gaol or a week in the stocks for mentioning that dreaded word in polite society?
*insert sarcastic eye rolling and flipping the bird here*
No, Mental Illness is not an excuse but it can be the reason behind a lot of disturbed, violent behaviour. 


1979 CFMT-TV was blasted onto the air for the first time in 26 languages, the world's first private full-time multi-lingual TV channel.
1994 Absolutely Glamourous Lesbian Spring Ball held with gay abandon in St George's Hall in Newtown.
2005 The Kiwi team won 4 gold medals in the World Rowing Championships in Gifu, Japan.

The Nylex Clock is still busted.
Yellow = New Zealand
Orange  = Canada
Green = Australian
Red = UK or other nationality
Italics, bold and coloured blue are links to further info. 
Anything outrageous is usually sarcasm and/or humour

Back on the blog again

Well.
Had some news we had to digest and get our heads around the other day.
The news was huge - apart from the fact my son is probably having Complex Partial Seizures due to the head injury he received from being pushed off a trampoline in January last year - we had to contend with something massive....
The fact yesterday was the first of SPRING and what it meant.
C'mon, you know what that means.
Don't you?
Oh, alright, I'll explain it for you.
I had to log the new growth forest.
The legs had to be hedge-trimmed with the hubby's extra heavy-duty razor.
He complained last year when I used the Whipper-Snipper, totally blunted it's cutting edge.
So now....his razors are back on the endangered species list while the legs get aired in the (very little) sunshine.
Now, I won't rewind and waffle about yesterday's Wattle Day events, suffice it to give you the Philosophy Department of the University of Woolloomooloo.
This here's the wattle the emblem of our land, you can stick it in a bottle, you can hold it in your hand.
No poofters?
I think they doth protest too much *snigger*

1861 Just for B who is shifting down to this neck of the woods - the first bridge on the Murray River was opened at Albury.
1925 Just to give you an ear-worm for the rest of the day - the Operetta Rose-Marie opened in New York City; featuring Mounties belting it out in baritones it was later filmed Jeanette Macdonald and Nelson Eddy with the infamous Indian Love Call.
Garn, join in - "When I'm caaaaaaaaaaaalling yooooooooooooou......I will answer toooooooooooooooooo....."
1960 Kiwi foot sloggers won gold in Rome.

The Nylex Clock is still busted.
Yellow = New Zealand
Orange  = Canada
Green = Australian
Red = UK or other nationality
Italics, bold and coloured blue are links to further info. 
Anything outrageous is usually sarcasm and/or humour