The return of the absent blogger!

It has been quite some time since I posted a blog. My PC had been out of action for three weeks, but that is not the reason for my absence. I had forgotten my password! After using my 'little grey cells' like the fictional, detective, Hercule Poirot, I found my way back.
We had the pleasure of a five day visit with our son and his son, from Perth, W.A. over the first week of the recent school holidays. We also had our daughter's eldest boy that week, too. The cousins are the same age, but very different in appearence. They were born the same day, but our son's wife is originally from South Korea. They boys and I played lots of Scrabble. Got thoroughly trounced by my son, as usual! They boys also played many games of Monopoly Empire. They had their laptops, and played on them, as well.
Another reason I have not been blogging is, it is so easy to write on my FB page.
That is all, for now. I will return soon.

Internet safety.

This has long been a topic I have had grave misgivings about. Whether it is social media,  on line dating or cyber bullying. With any of these methods of communication, we must at all times be vigilant, and check our safety often. I will deal with each of these issues in turn. #1.Social media.Twitter and Face Book. Why do usually intelligent people tell total strangers so much about their private lives and themselves? It has been well documented in the press, that people reveal very intimate details, that the whole world can gain access to. This leads to humiliation and embarrassment. The latest 'craze', for want of a better word, of sexting, is a case in point. Have these people sunk so low that they have no self esteem left, that they would leave themselves open to ridicule, and worse? This practice is not something they will easily live down, if at all. It could haunt them for the rest of their lives. Where is their dignity?  Once they post something into cyber space, it is there for eternity.
#2. I have just read an article in a women's magazine, about a case of online dating that went horribly wrong. The lady was almost killed.Something tells me, people's common sense flies out the window when they are lonely. It is well known that criminals pose as nice, friendly people, and only reveal their true personalities when these, mostly women, actually meet them. We also know, this is how poedophiles operate, too.
This duplicity and dishonesty, is also something internet users must be aware of at all times.I am not in any way implying that all online dating companies are untrustworthy. Not at all. Just be very careful. 
#3. Cyber Bullying. I am vehemently opposed to bullying in what ever form it manifests itself. I was constantly subjected to this, from all sections of society. We did not have home PCs, or mobile/cell phones etc, so I was thankfully spared  that kind of attack. It baffles me that so many  vulnerable young people don't have the courage to just switch their iPad off. Have we as a society, got so engrossed in our own little world, that we fail to protect and equip our young to be able to deal with these issues? What needs to happen is, we get back to basics and care for and respect and love all people, as we would like to be treated. There is way too much nastiness and 'dog eat dog' in our world now.

Pet Peeve #10

I had a bit of a moan this morning, about the laziness of the Australians when pronouncing our town and city names. One that has annoyed me no end, for a very long time, is CANS, when it should be CAIRNS. I know we have some very strange names, and we have some doozies around here, but, surely they can read!

Been a long time between 'drinks'.

Well, I have not written a post for quite some time, and there have been a lot of changes made. I feel as though I am a beginner again. I just hope someone gets to read this. I am at a loss to know what to write.
I daresay it will take me some time to discover how to use this app again. It will fill in some time. I was a bit unsure, as I have been 'away' so long, and have had to change passwords, whether  I would gain entry, so to speak. But thankfully, I had no need to worry.

Been watching too many cop shows? I wonder!

Been having a bit of car trouble, Again! This time, it has been blowing ignition fuses. It started on Monday. The car had been running well until then. Hubby  called in to see the mechanic that night, when he went for his walk. Jeff came round last night, and guess what? Yep. The bleep thing started no worries. We decided to go to Enedhope, in Victoria, to sell a bit of lamb's wool. It started as it should this morning, but, when we pulled up at the farm, and hubby turned it off, it would not start again. He fiddled with it and then I called his brother, who lives in the nearby town. He said there is no auto electrician there any more, so, we 'hot wired' it. 

We were able to get over the border to sell the wool, but had to hot wire it every time we wanted to go again. This is a nuisance, as we have to go to Adelaide next Tuesday, for our Ophthamologist, [eye specialist] appointments. If the worst comes to the worst, he CAN get it going, though I just hope and pray we do not have a suspicious cop in the vicinity.

Out of the mouths of babes.........

My lovely young grand-daughter has some funny ideas about me. I am legally blind and have never held a driver's licence. 
Miss W is way too young(4) to understand about my lack of eyesight, and has never been able comprehend why I never drive a car. She asked my hubby a few weeks ago about it, and he told her that I have never had one. It must be weighing on her mind a bit.
Yesterday, she asked her mum something about my lack of car licence, and my daughter said I had never had one. 
Miss W piped up, "Nan must have been picked up by the cops, and they took it away from her." 
I, once again, tried to explain why I do not have one. It is more difficult for her, and others to understand, as my eye condition is such, the usual prescription lenses will never help. She will understand as she gets older. Her mum says she watches too much TV.
Ya gotta love 'em!

When is senior's day, not senior's day?

When the local pub decides, for whatever reason, it is not profitable enough. We had lunch at our 'local' today, to celebrate our 42nd wedding anniversary, which was yesterday. Hubby was at the farm the previous two days, hence the later day out. They used to have Senior's Day, every Wednesday. We were allowed 10% discount off the menu price. This included a dessert as well as the main meal. We were informed today that senior's day was not profitable enough and there was too much wastage. we still received the 10% discount. Dessert was extra. Well, I think someone's logic is off kilter, because, we had fish, and  normally, we would only get a tichy bit of thin fish plus a choice of two desserts. Today, we had fish, and were astounded to behold two LARGE pieces of fish on our plates.
I was unable to eat all mine, and hubby had two and a half pieces. I said to him that he had easily consumed his quota of two meals of fish we are told we should eat in a week.
If the mangagement wish to cut down on wastage, I think they should serve smaller portions. The older person can not consume such large quantities. One piece the size we had, would be more than enough for anyone.

Pet peeve #9. Queue jumpers!

This is one thing that has annoyed me all my life. I have never had the confidence to do anything about it though.Yesterday, I was waiting in line at the post office, when a young woman edged past me an put a large envelope on the counter. She said someting to the postal worker along the lines, 'I will just leave this here'. Said postal worked never batted an eye. I gave the young' offender' a hard look. 

About two minutes later, another young woman did the same thing with a post satchel. No excuse me, apology, nothing. The father of one of my sisters-in-law, was known to give these people a loud dressing down. I think the reason I do not do anything about it is, I am basically polite, and do not want to make a scene or embarrass people, or myself for that matter. I wish I knew how to do it without 'shooting them down in flames and belittling them. I know how I would feel.

It's time to............

A couple of weeks ago, I was sitting in my daughter's car with her little girl, who was in her car seat behid me. This little lady is never backward in coming forward,[I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing] and out of the 'blue' she said, " Nan." " Yes, darling." "Have you combed your hair today?" I assured her I had, but it made me laugh, and I realized it must need cutting. This I have had done this morning. Ya gotta love 'em.

Phone calls that are 'suss'.

I just had another phone call when the caller failed to identify themselves or their organization, and asked to speak to Susan. This is the bane of my life.
Conversation went something like this:-

Ring, ring, Me:- 'Hullo'
She:-, 'Hullo, could I speak to Susan please?'
Me:- 'Which Susan would that be?'
She:- 'Susan H.'
Me:- Yes, that is me. Who is calling please?
She:- My name is Helen. I am calling about a membership you had with us.
Me:- Who do you represent?
She waffle.
Me:- I am sorry but you have not told me who you represent. What organization are you from?
She:- Oh, I can't tell you that, it is a privacy thing.
Me:- If you can't tell me that, then I can't help you.
She:- There is not need to shout!
I hung up at this juncture.
This call was on my mobile and the number was withheld.
I am soooo sick of people ringing me no matter which phone they call me on, who just ask to speak to Susan. THEY get stroppy when I try to make them tell me the full name of the person they wish to speak to. It is just good manners to aprise the callee who is calling.

Pet Peeve #8. TV Chanels that alter programmes at the last minute from the one advertised.

I am not very clever when it comes to remembering the programmes I have hilighted in my TV guide, that I would like to watch in the day time. One reason is that I do not watch day time TV. The other is, I am usually on the internet, playing games or on Face Book.Usually the latter.

My computer has become my lifeline, and I enjoy doing things online.  I had hilighted a movie on Ch 7 called, 'Eloise' It is based on the children's story of a six year old girl, who lives at The Plaza Hotel in New York. She is VERY precocious and gives the staff, and her unfortunate nanny, a terrible time. My brother obtained a copy of the book a few years ago, but was not able to obtain one for me. I thought, I would tape it and, if, the film  was true to the story, I would give it to him to watch.

BUT, once again the bleep chanel put another movie on instead!!!!! They broardcast, Uptown Girls" Phooey! I am NOT impressed, but they can do this without compunction and to heck with the viewers, who, like me, had been looking forward all week to watching the movie.

You just have to love 'em.

Last Friday, my daughter and I went shopping in Naracoorte. 
A certain young lady, namely my nearly four year old grand daughter, came with us. 
I have taken great pains to impress upon the children that, as I have been designated Nan, as opposed to Grandma, I REFUSE to answer to Nanna,It has taken lots of insistabce and persistance on my part, to get them to accede to my wish. 
It has finally paid off.
On the way home, W wanted to ask me something and said in a sing song way, "Nanny" Her mother sputtered, "Nanny??" I said," I am not a goat." To which W replied, "Yes you are." Then she repeated the "Nanny". Her mum and I were laughing so hard we never did find out what W wanted. I suspect W had a cheeky grin on her face, as I could detect it in her voice even though I could not turn around to see.

How to get somfing for nuffing

First of all, you need to have a great friend, who is looking out for you. I have the great good fortune to have such a friend. [No names, no pack drill. She knows who she is]
I have been playing Bejewelled Blitz on Face Book for some time now, and recently, they have said the Bejewelled 3 is available. 
I went in to the computer shop on Tuesday, and asked if they could see if they could obtain it for me. I foolishly said, I did not care what it cost, then thought better of it and asked the lass to let me know before ordering it.  Later that day, she sent me a SMS to say it would cost $30.00 I could have downloaded it onto my hard drive, but I do not know how . I sent a text back and said that would be OK. I told my daughter just after that and she said I should tell them to basically, put it where the sun don't shine. She said the Pop Cap games are not usually over $20.00
Last evening, my good friend came around, and she was full of glee. She was clutching a games CD Rom, and anyone would have thought she had found the greatest treasure on Earth. LOL She and her son had journeyed to Naracoorte . as her son had wanted to see if he could purchase a particular game for his X box.[I think]
While in the shop, my friend saw the said game, and as it was under $20.00, she bought it.
She was so pleased with herself, and offered to let me load it on my PC, and not a red cent changed hands. I am not prone to looking gift horses in the mouth.

What a hoot!!!

My son has posted a couple of items on Blogger recently, about how he has dealt with Telemarketers. Very amusing too.
Recently, I have had phone problems of a different kind. No dial tone, then when that was fixed no Internet, unless I removed the filter/splitter and inserted either the phone cord or the modem cord.
Not at all satisfactory. I have since bought a new filter, and that has fixed that little dilemma. I also have had dreadful, at times, static on the line. I reported that nearly two weeks ago, The techie came and fixed that last week.  I have spoken with the same young lady a couple of times. Tonight, I answered a call, and she said who she was calling for and said she wished to speak to Suzanne. I said, if she wanted to speak to Susan, that I am she, but not Suzanne. She was taken aback, and very nonplussed, and just said 'Oh." A few seconds silence and she hung up. That was half an hour ago, and she has not called back.
I am still smiling about that.

Phew! We finally made it!

Last weekend I had  my birthday.The night before, spouse's brother rang to say that the part he was expecting for our irrigation motor had arrived, and the mechanic would be at our farm, 9 am the next day, if he wished to be there. My birthday. I knew it was pointless making a fuss and trying to stop him from going, so, when he asked me when I would like to go out for dinner to celabrate, I said the night after the event would be OK. On the designated evening, I had just woken from a longer than anticipated Nana nap. I do NOT function at all well when I have just woken up. Hubby has had his evening meal at 5pm ever since he became a Diabetic, nearly 19 years ago. As that was the time I woke, he was about to get himself something to eat. I didn't cotton on, and had my tea too. It was only when I was sending a friend a message on Face Book, that it dawned on me, we had forgotten to go out. I went outside and found him watering my roses. I playfully punched him in the arm, and, in a mock scolding voice, said, "You forgotted to take me out for my birthday tea." He just laughed and said, "You forgot too." He said we would go out on wednesday, as he would be at the farm on Monday and Tuesday. I said that would be OK. As yesterday was a public holiday, for Australia Day. Having forgotten once again, I said we would probably not get a table without booking.  Somehow I don't think we needed to book. The trade has fallen off at the pub of late. We finally made it tonight. We ordered battered Butter fish and veg. Weeeeeeeeeelll, the fish was OK, two decent sized pieces, but the veg. Blah. Aprox one dessert spoon of finely shredded boiled cabbage a teaspoon of corn, three small strips of under cooked  Zucchini, and a spoonful of hot Potato salad. No chips/fries. I also asked for a Chocolate Mousse basket for dessert. The lady had to check they still had some. When the waitress brought the dessert to me, she said that I could eat the basket. I said I realized that, She told me a lot of people left it, because they thought it was plastic?! They had drizzled chocolate syrup on the plate and had sat the basket on it. As the chocolate was quite firm, the whole thing was dancing around my plate. I had to go into the Bistro and get a fork to anchor the thing. Quite comical.