OMG

I have been taken to task for not posting. Well, I found that sitting too long at the computer in the heat was making my feet swell. Besides which, I have had to spend much time finishing off an Album for a lady at work. She came back from leave today, so I promised I would bring it in tomorrow. As I rather felt this was going to happen (even though someone at work said she wouldn't be back till Friday) and so I put in the extra effort. I will be taking photos tonight and will put them on my craft blog on the weekend.

TAFE enrolments are on Friday, so I am re-enrolling in my computer course and the daughter is enrolling in it for the year. She will be doing it mostly full time to finish in a year. I will do diploma in Semester 2, but she doesn't think she will - atpit.

The really good thing is that it will enable her to get better use of her computer as it is quite advanced technology with a gaming board in it as well. (We got the gaming board so that Grandson1 and I can go onto World of Warcraft, but so far we haven't - still winter beckons.)

I will write a much long blog over the weekend.

cya

"Obfuscate" ....

The old person was flipping around the channels this morning and came across a show on the ABC where they were talking about "Howard" and his ability to "obfuscate" issues. When a member of an audience uses this word and everyone else is sitting there nodding as though they know what it means you know that the program is completely rigged and a probably paid audience. Or by special invitation only.

So you are not going to get any impartial views. Anyone who comes out from the opposite point of view is treated as though they are non educated drug smoking scum. This is typical of the ABC and its extremely left wing bias to issues. And it is de rigure (or something like that) to be an atheist. If you are not, you are considered a Bible bashing, right wing, red neck Fundie.

Well, ABC, while you are the main channel I watch for my news and programming, I am a proud member of the "Forces of Darkness".

******************

YESTERDAY ....

The sister did get here. She got the train the long way round to Liverpool and had to catch a bus to Campbelltown, and another bus here. What normally takes about an hour and a half took about two and a half hours. Had I realised, I probably would have put it off till next week. The daughter had to do the trip in reverse to get to her girl friend's engagement party.

The buses are quite modern and travel really well. They are not the most comfortable means of travel, but passable for short trips, which is what we usually take them for. Long distance they can be quite cramped.

So Sunnyboy played quiety with the grandsons who I was babysitting. Usually he and Grandson1 get into a bit of chest thumping, but they were very good. So the sister and I were able to yak in peace and quiet. It rained and rained and rained. And then it rained some more.
So the old person drove them to Campbelltown station for the return journey. Six people in the car is not on for lack of seatbelts.

Sooner or later, Saturday night or Sunday morning one is obliged to listen to the woes of the old person's crappy day at the races. He is so rude to his mate Frank these days, it surprises me he still talks to him. I think he only does because his wife takes tips from the old person, as the old person rarely wins, but his horses usually place. I have heard more hard luck stories that you have had hot dinners (or cold ones, and breakfast and lunch and morning tea). Whatever I am doing he will follow me around talk, talk, talk. I am sure this constitutes psychological abuse, but I doubt if any police would see it that way and take him off my hands. And if I get really exasperated and yell out "Shut the f**k up, I am sick of listening to you." he draws in breath, and away he goes again. If he isn't badgering me with his hard luck stories, it is the daughter. And now he has taken to singing little songs while he does things. Little songs about how marvellous he is and how lazy and rotten we are because he is doing work and we are not. I have explained previously his attitude to our art and craft doings. I can fully sympathise with women who kill their spouses. I do not think they should be put into prison, but given a medal for not doing it sooner.

He is adamant that humans are descended from apes, and when I look and listen to him, I can fully believe it.

I did some more work on the Wedding Album today. I am pleased with how it is coming along, and I am itching to finish it and photograph it. It is a pleasant distraction to the above.

There was a thunderstom this afternoon, so herladyship actually stood under her shed after she had finished eating her dinner in there. She dried out. But once the worst of the noise was gone she was outta there. But it is a step in the right direction. They say a Southerly will come up later tonight. Be nice after all the humidity we have had because of the rain.

I am back to part time work. Yippee ...

Insanity rules ...

So the further adventures of getting to work Day 2:
I was running late this morning. Only half an hour, but oh, what a difference it made. No trains. Get the bus. The lift does not work, so I clamber down the stairs, ask the Cityrail person who points to another person. Luckily the bus pulls in just at that moment. All aboard. It is a little cramped, but sitting down. Bus turns around and drives off. Talk about the long way round. It took 45 minutes to get to East Hills station. Then I have to wait for the next train.
Waiting and then it leaves. Station by station. I was glad I wasn't going to the city.

Finally reach Padstow station. Walk down to Georges' to buy some salad for lunch. It is a mile from the station to work. Luckily it is downhill. Lucky too that it was not stinking hot. Got in at nine fifteen. Aaarrrgh! Lucky it was a Millenium train going home.

The Boss wants us to think up a name to have a Newsletter and put some pictures on it. Since I am doing computer studies, I get to look at clip art. Joy, oh, joy. I know full well that someone else will be doing the exact same thing and it will be their work that is selected. There is just no way known they will go with what I have selected - it just does not happen. But dilly me is still obliged to sit there goggling (and googling) at clip art. Not as there is all that much else to do, so I can't complain. I guess that is just the way it is in my life.

I am starting to look forward to the end of the year, let me tell you. No more employment, no more old person (I don't want to move to Queensland, what's in Queensland?), her ladyship will be off getting a foal, just peace and quiet. The daughter says she and the grandsons will look for a little cheapie farm, so later her ladyship can live with them. If I can find a nice little caravan on the coast somewhere, I shall be so happy. Well that is the theory anyhow, and what is going to keep me motivated for a few weeks at least anyhow. Till real life kicks in again.

I have asked the Sister and her Sunnyboy to visit on Saturday. We have some hot dogs for lunch and rice crackers with gerkin dip. Usually we don't have anything interesting. I will load her up with some tomatoes. Red, red, yummy sweet organically grown (thanks to Cody pooh) tomatoes. Even the wasps like them. lol.

Look at that lot. There were 17 of them there before we knocked them down. Right under the kitchen window. Real puce coloured they were. If ever you want to see what puce looks like, enlarge the photo and have a gander.

Insanity rules ....

Back to work ...

I returned to work today. It was a fairly good day, could have been filled with drama. Cityrail is busy upgrading its railways along our line, and for the most part has put on buses. However, it turns out that they are still running peak hour trains. I have to leave a little earlier in the morning and get in a little later due to a change along the way, but at least it is train travel and not the buses.

One of the guys at work, who lives even further out than me decided once to catch the bus. It got stuck in traffic for about two hours. So he decided to drive in. Yesterday he got stuck for almost five hours. Bugger that for a joke. I'll keep a bottle of water with me, as the train took almost an hour for a normally half hour trip. If it is any longer in the heat, it will be a killer. Luckily both trains today were Millenium trains and like fridges to sit in. It is only tomorrow and Friday. Next week will be back to normal.

Surprisingly everyone was pleased to see me back. I spent the day using a Stanley knife to cut teeny little squares in pieces of paper. The challenges of working in the Public Sector never cease to amaze me.

On the walk to the station, which is about a mile, there was a thunderstorm threatening, but it never came to be more than a few drops of rain. I am the biggest chicken when it comes to lightning. I can run faster than her ladyship the ex racehorse when it comes to that. The boy picked up from me to be afraid of storms, and he was as big a chicken as me.

The vet came out yesterday and gave her ladyship her second vaccine. He had to also take blood from her jugular vein. It took him three goes, and she was totally unimpressed. Still a carrot afterwards always helps. Vet was glad to be on his last run. He looked really tired. He still has his normal practice to run on top of all this EI. But he was quite chirpy and a little chatty.

I was able to finally tell him about the boy and how he died. He also confirmed that the operation that can be done does not give the horse quality of life, just drags it out indefinitely. The way we spoil our horses and give them the best food, farrier, veterinary care etc., he could have lived in misery for 25 years. So hard and all as it has been, I know for sure that I did the right thing putting him down.

His horses had EI, which would have been an added worry for him. Apparently they came through it okay, however. They have better immunity than is gained from the vaccines. However, a matter of demographics means that most of the horses on our side of the freeway did not get EI. Also, as I have previously written, we are pretty isolated here.

Still working on getting a buddy for her ladyship.

So it has been a not too bad couple of days...

Yellowbeard ...

I watched Yellowbeard this afternoon. I haven't seen it for about 15 years and it was as funny as I remember and I enjoyed the good laughs it supplies. Now I am trying to convince the old person it is worth watching. The old person has totally no sense of humour. He misses 99.9% of jokes and one liners; much of the movie is missed by me having to explain it to him. Still, I can chuckle again.

I also watched Children of Men again, which isn't funny. But I like watching what is going on in the background, key themes other than what is going on immediately with the heroes and talking heads. That is why I like the Mad Max movies and Terminator movies. Gratuitous violence isn't really my scene, but if you think about what is going on around about, you can get ideas. Well, I do. You may not. Maybe I am a bit weird that way.

Been busy with the Wedding Album and trying to make space to set up my sewing machine permanently.

Better Day today

Well, as I posted, I spent time at the Scrapbook shop working on things for the Wedding Album I am doing for a friend. I used the Accucut to die cut the words that I wanted for the pages, and began matting them. I had photos developed which was not expensive at all. The lady who owns the shop helped me go through, and she fixed up the red eye and colours. They turned out really well. When I have finished I promise I will photograph it and load some of it here and some on my craft site.

Later I came home and slept three hours straight. I was, for some reason, exhausted. Maybe it was the airconditioning in the shop or something, but I slept like a log. My daughter woke me to feed her ladyship the ex racehorse.

I spent a little while this afternoon, after I awokeand she had finished eating, just patting and stroking her. She so enjoys it now. The old sweetie. I have been putting word out to get a companion for her. The guy where we bought the car from says his sister has dumped her old gelding at his place, so we have offered to take him here. Hopefully that will be positive. She still has not had her booster vaccine for the EI.

It is getting hot in here and the poor old laptop is about to run out of battery. Must go ...

Something more ...

I want to make more space in my lounge room, because unfortunately that is the ony room I can use for my work. At the moment we have the old person's television, the table for the craft/art, a desk for my laptop and a computer desk for the daughter's computer. It is the only room with a telephone jack. So along with the dining room it gets heavy use. There is just no other room.

It is rather frustrating because when the old person watches television nothing must disturb him. He is like a 5'8 two year old and can throw a tantrum to match. It is getting beyond a joke. There is no way to get anything done. One would think that the Aged Care people would be able to do something for him, but not unless he asks for it himself. He could be a babbling, raving lunatic and they cannot come unless he asks them. Still, I have yet to contact the guardianship board and seek their advice. I am convinced from my research he has alzheimer's. His doctor wont take me seriously, so I am going to see his Doctor's boss and put it on him to bring the other doctor into line. The difficulty is getting to do it without having the old person in tow. I have to get a bus, a train and a long uphill walk to get to the doctor's office. Then reverse it to get home. In summer.

So tomorrow I am going to hide out in the Scrabook shop for a few hours to concentrate on getting some work done. I have an album I really need to get on with and it is just not happening at home. The daughter is taking the grandsons to the Zoo (if they are "good"). So the old person will have peace and quiet to get on with mowing her ladyship's paddock so she has nothing to graze on.

The object in last night's post is the ultimate punch. It punches a line of holes into which you place a wire spine for a book or box and close the spine with the front (black) part. Real rocket science, that is.

wish me luck ....

Hmmm ...

Took me an age to do it, but I have finally loaded up the pictures on Bilum of my preliminary stages of the challenge and pictures of the artwork I did for my youngest sister's birthday. I still have it because I have to get it framed. I hope to get it done fairly soon, but I don't know when yet.

There are plenty of details about the piece on the blog.

Grandson2 got bitten by a mouse this evening. The cats were trying to catch it, and he thought he would give them a hand. He got it, but it bit him and ran up his chest onto his shoulder and launched off into space. Of course, it scared the life out of him, and he was jumping around screaming - mostly with fright. There was no skin broken where it had bitten him. We all laughed at him which probably wasn't very nice, but he kept denying he was trying to catch it, that it had just bitten him out of the blue.

We have had native pigeons and top notch pigeons visiting to help her ladyship finish off her dinner. Well, the got a good worming tonight, as I put wormer kibbles into her food. She has had an assortment of pastes, so I am interspersing it with the kibbles. She never has a problem with them, but the boy used to smell or taste them and look at me to argue the point. He learnt quickly enough if he wanted to eat it was the kibbles in the food or nothing. He only ever upset his dinner with them once and I just picked it up and gave it back to him.

Here is one of my gizmos. I will tell you what it is tomorrow.

Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes

Did I say tomato? We have had a glut coming in from the garden. Some huge cucumbers, and lettuce. I will have to blanch some of the spinach and freeze it tomorrow.

We have been having tomato sandwiches, with cheese, silverside and with chives. Adding them to whatever is in the frypan. Even the old person has been eating them. They are so sweet. Although there are many, they are coming in just a little faster than dribs and drabs, so not enough to make into sauce or salsa. Although when the last ones come off and are left to redden, I might make a couple of bottles of each. I managed to sneak away some coffee bottles from the clutches of the old person's throwing away everything attitude.

I would love some tomato soup, but to be honest it is far, far too hot and humid to cook much. I hope to plant some pumpkins and onions (the last batch disappeared in the weeds) soon for winter. I make a mean pumpkin soup.

The heat with the humidity is just so debilitating. I am supposed to be crafting but all I want to do is lie on my bed with the fan on and nothing much else - okay let's not go down there either.

Tomorrow is day one of reporting on our crafting during the week, of the Take it Further challenge. I don't appear to have done much, but I have read and researched so much, dug out old books and magazines that I almost forgot I had. It has been really interesting reading and making notes. I shall put up the final pictures on the 31st or thereabouts and type up an essay on alien horses that should be of historical interest.

I also made some interesting discoveries that I am going to have to check up on if I can access the resources; not anything world stopping or contraversial (this is me).

I am working on the scrapbook for my friend of her wedding and that has been time consuming but something enjoyable. I am also going to make a box. I haven't really finalised the design, but I love making books and boxes, so it is going to get done. I'll also post all these things on my bilum site.

My sister swung by last weekend, she really liked the Egyptian thing I made her, so I will post that as well soon. Really just gotta get the pickies taken.

Well, the tomato fairies are calling ...

Just a short note ...

I have just noticed that my blog has gone onto North American time/date. This is almost opposite to here in Australia. I will try and work this out. Otherwise add about 10 hours to the time listed. For example, the thread below was written on Wednesday and as I write this it is Thursday. Yet the time is showing first of 2008. Not so.

Will write a longer blog very soon. Still sorting the dear laptop.

Yay, w00t, happy dance ...

My laptop is back on line.

Thanks Telstra. The connection is slower than a wet weekend, but it is my laptop and I am so happy. Now I just have to transfer everything over here and I will be up and running. Woo hoo.

The modem is new looking, but works without the antenna. Looks really ITish with a big Next G logo on it.

I will post the old antenna back to them tomorrow, and they can have an autopsy. I sure would like to know what went wrong, but only out of curiousity, not for any particular technical reason.
I get attached to the weirdest things. lol.

This is going to be fun afterall.

Merry 2008

In Australia it is all of 11 hours into 2008, although in some parts of the world it is still 2007.

Everyone talks about their "New Year's Resolutions". I made a resolution years ago not to make New Year's Resolutions, because I never stick to them. I usually do stuff through the year, but when I start on anything, the old person comes along and takes over and nothing gets done or changes. So there is totally no point in even thinking about it.

Sharonb put up her challenge: we have to find someone we admire or look up to and do something about it. I have been thinking about doing Lady Ann Wentworth of Crabbet Stud. She was an important contributor to many Arabian horse breeding programmes all around the world, among other things. The thing is what do I do? And I guess this is why it is a challenge.
I could do a collage, I suppose, and use stamps and emphemera on it as well, if I can get some coloured photos, it would be good. Maybe not an over emphasis on the horses but the woman herself.

Well here I go ...