Public loos.

Nobody likes them much, but they are a nessecary evil, as the saying goes. We went to Naracoorte an Monday, and I had to use the loo. They have just had new loos built, and it was the first time I had used them. They are not at all attractive on the outside, being a dull, uninspriing dark grey. They appear to have been architcially designed. Probably by some 'new age' up and coming young male, with very little imagination. They are semicircular on the outside, and quite spacioue inside. The deco could have been more colourful, as well. They doors are painted a pale khaki green. I wonder if that was someone's idea of a joke? The seats are black, concave and hard as the hobs of hell. Most uncomfortable and quite painful to sit on. As we pay rates in this council area, I have been toying with the idea of writing to them, and telling them what I think of this aboniation.

Stick 'em up, Riley!

I have sent activity books with stickers to my three grandsons, and my daughter told me that her son Riley loves stickers, only problem is, he sticks them on himself and anything else they will stick to. I sent him a Bananas in Pyjamas book, and he was running around with a chook sticker on his forehead, so she decided that it would be prudent to stick them in the book for him. Deb has just rung me, and I asked he about it again, and she told me all the above, and that she and her brother,(Frugal Bastard) and their step cousin, Nick, bought a roll of stickers when they were very young, and stuck them all over our car. I have no recolection of the incident, and their father only vaguely remembers it. It seems I am going to have to rethink my 'Granny gifts' for Riley, in future.
They were all here yesterday, as they had hoped they could get Deb's Corolla going, so her mother-in-law could have it to drive to work. Riley was very excited, as small boys are about such things, and ran inside to tell me what was happening. Neville could not turn the motor over, and has had to take it out again. He said the crank shaft had siezed as it was too tight when he put the motor back in before. It has been sitting in the back yard for six months or more, and that is not good for it, either. He has put the crank shaft bearings in back to front, according to the diagram, as it is the only way to get the motor to turn over. Pete's mother, Margaret, has just bought an old Ford station wagon, and of course, as she went on her own to buy a car, she got 'dudded' by the salsman. She put $30.00 petrol in it last week, and it was all gone when she got home from work that night. She only had to go roughly 60 miles, there and back. Hence the need for a more economical car.

Adelaide sojourn

Last Thursday, Neville & I went to our capital city for business and medical reasons. He had things he needed to buy for the car and farm, though he was not very successful on either score, and he had a chiropractor's appointment. I met my mother and sister at Castle Plaza shopping mall, as mum as having her hair done there. Mum had shopping to do as well. While mum was at the hairdresser's, Bron & I went and had a drink and a chat, at one of the food kiosks. My mother is recovering from knee replacement surgery, and is doing very well indeed. She had a cane, but doesn't really need it to walk, but it is a security thing. It was a nuisiance most of the time, as she does not have a strap on it to put over her arm when she is paying for things. When we got to Coles, mum gave me a list and asked me to go to the bargain shop and buy her some cards. Thank you, sympathy, male and female birthday.She wanted several of each, but didn't give me any money. That was not a problem, as I knew she would pay me back when we got to her place. Bron came over and gave me some money from mum. Don't know who remembered.
We went to a much larger shopping mall down south.Westfield Marion. Mum had to pay her rego, and get other things. We had lunch at a bistro, We had doorstops on Turkish bread. Mine was cream cheese, smoked salmon, avocado,and melted cheese. Yum! It was very rich and very filling, but as mum was paying I didn't feel I could leave too much. Don't like waste, anyway.
By the time we got back to mum's, I was exhausted. It is a real struggle for me to get about as my back and knees are 'shot'. Mum cooked Porterhose steak and veg for tea. I' hit the sack' early. Very early! I was in bed by 8.30. I don't usually go to bed before 10.30. We stayed the night at Mum's. It was a first for me.
The next day was mum's birthday. It has been a long time since I have been able to spend any time with her on the day. Neville went back to the chiro early, and mum and I had a nice quiet time chatting over a cuppa. She had opened her presents the night before, as she said it would be too lonely doing it on her own, on the day. We gave her a blue plant pot with some bulb potting mix and Fresia bulbs, which I planted for her the next morning.We also gave her some Ferero Rocher chocs, and I gave her some boxed note cards for Mother's Day, which was the previous weekend.
When Neville came back, we had to make haste, as we had to be at the eye specialist's for our biannual check up. All is well in that department, though I think our doctor must have had 'vinegar off a fork' for breakfast that morning. He was in a very 'funny' mood. He was quite rude to me, which is unusual. After the eye check up, we made our way into the city, which is close by, as I had an appointment at Daved Jones for a fitting. After that, we went and got the car and I grabbed a couple of Pasties for lunch. They hardly filled a small crack, so I bought salad sangers when we stopped at Big W. I tried to buy some track pants for one of my grandsons. They had them in his size in every colour but navy, which was the colour required.

You learn something every day!

We have a very old car. It used to belong to our son. We have two other very old cars that are in the shed. They have not been going for a long time. The old car we use does not have a shed to protect it from the elements. This has not been a problem, untill this morning. It has been raining, well, drizzling anyway, over the last week. This morning when we wanted to go to the shops, the car would not start. Neville discovered it has moisture under the dizzy cap. He wiped it with a rag, and tried again. No luck. He tried several times, still no luck. He then poured some petrol down 'it's throat'. Still nothing. He sat in the car and said idly, that when this happened in the 'old' days, you could put it in the oven for a few minutes and it would dry it out. I said he could still do that. He said we don't have an oven. I am very proud of the fact I held my tongue and did not make any comment on that score. It is a VERY sore point. We don't have an oven as such, as the damn thing has not been working for nearly THREE years!! I said he could put it in the toaster oven. This he did for about two minutes, and it did the job, and we were able to go to the shops. The guy just does not get it, or he is being deliberately obtuse!

Telemarketers. (Nuisiance phone calls!)

My mum has been having trouble with this type of call. She had one Indian bloke ring her every day for nearly two weeks. This is not something that is easy to take for the rest of us, and my mum is in her eighties, and has recently had major surgery. She was advised by her phone company, to leave her answering machine on, to screen the calls. This caused another problem, she then had to play the message and ring the caller back, thereby adding to her phone bill.
I had one of these calls on Monday. The young lady sounded Asian, probably Thai, by the sound of her name. She was calling on behalf of some discount travel firm. I hung up when I heard this. If we want to go for a holiday, we will decide where and when and how much we can afford to pay. I object very strongly to being 'head hunted' so someone can get a commission when they get so many 'hits'! It is to no avail that I try letting the calls go to the message bank, as there is not set time for them to call. I also had an Indian bloke call from somewheere,but the call dropped out. I wish I was quicker, and could remember to ask them for their number, and say I will ring them back, reverse charge. I think they would hang up pretty quickly.

Fun with Grandies.

This past weekend, we had the very great pleasure of one of our grandsons to stay. This does not happen very often, one reason being, the two eldest are at school, and one of them is too far away. We do not get to see this one all that often, because school takes up a lot of his time.
This weekend, Lachlan and I played Fish, (a card game) Connect Four, a game of strategy, he did a jig saw puzzle, and played games on the computer. I read him a couple of stories the first night. Saterday, he went to the Town Hall, where a clearing sale was being conducted, with his Pop, (grandpa.) Pop bought a good netball among other things, for Lachlan to play with. He bought himself some overalls, a new pair of boots, and a hat. That afternoon, we all went out to get a load of fire wood. That evening, Lachlan played with the Lego.He did some water colour painting in a big scrap book . He told me it is very quiet here. I guess he gets sick of the constant noise at home. He ate all his meals no trouble, even when I accidently put gravy on his Saterday roast, after he said he didn't like it!
He and his cousin turned six this week end. Lachlan is a very quietly spoken lovely boy. He said he had a good time.

Crime is not for the fainthearted!

I was talking to my aunt tonight, and she told me about her daughter and her fella,who live out of town, and how they had been having trouble with thieves stealing fuel from their bowser. They have two medium sized dogs, which they normally keep inside at night. I think they must have had a good inckling as to who was flogging their fuel, so one night, they chained both dogs up, just within reach of the bowser. Sure enough, in the wee small hours, the thief came again. Took the top off the bowser, then suddenly, whoomp, one of the dogs landed in the middle of his back. There was much consternation from his family, and many nasty things said. One being the obvious, 'You'll have to have the dogs put down.' The police said, as he had not been bitten, that would not be happening, and please explain what you were doing out there at that time of night! Most of the locals have been very supportive, and made comments to the effect, 'So, you fixed that theiving (bloke's name) have you? '

That Riley Boy!

My son said we have to watch what we say, as you never know who knows who. It is also true, we need to be very careful what we say in front of children. With video games etc, it is very hard for kids to get a proper sense of reality and perspective on life.
My three year old grandson, Riley, is finding it hard to understand/believe what he is told about anything. He is going through a phase where he contradicts everything we say. F'rinstance:- this morning, he and I were sitting in his mum's car and we started talking about people's names. I told him my name is Susan, 'No it's not, it's Nan". I said it is, and he was having none of that. Deb's friend, Kylie got in the car, and I told her he didn't believe me, and she told him, it is true. 'No it's not'. Kylie said everybody had a Nan. Even she had one,though she was not around anymore." Where is she?" I said she went to heaven. "Is she dead?" "Yes". said Kylie. "Who killed her?" "Nobudy killed her, She just got old, and wore out".
Video games have a lot to answer for.

He's at it , again!

This evening, our daughter rang and asked if I knew if some local farmers still sold bags of potatoes
She said the school was selling 50kg bags of spuds, for $45.00 as a fundraiser. She wanted to know if we could get them cheaper. I did some ringing around, and discovered that one farmer had one bag left, and they were $15.00. I said we would take them, and come out after dinner, and collect them. Neville had bought 10kgs from the super market, for $7.00, and is NOT impressed! I rang our daughter back, and she said she would be happy to go halves with us. She will sell half of them to her friend.
We duly tootled out to pick them up, but when we got going in the car, there was a noise, as though a piece of wire was caught on the car somewhere, and it was banging in the wind. Neville stopped the car and had a quick look, and found nothing. We set off again, but it was still making the noise. He pulled up further along and got out to have a proper look. Still could not find the source of the noise. It was nearly dark by now, but we continued on our way. Suddenly, he said, "I know what it is. I have left the other key in the door!" This key has a piece of tin on it, so he knows what it is for, as he has many keys for the car and the farm. He wound his window down and pulled it out of the door. Problem solved!

More funny things husbands do.

I do wish I could video some of the things my husband does. This morning, he asked in a roundabout way, if I would like him to trim the Ivy back. After his efforts in trimming my Bouganvillia to near anihilation, I made sure he knew EXACTLY how far he could trim it back! While I was in the shower, which took all of three minutes, he had trimmed it back. While I was sitting on the verandah, waiting for my friend Sue to come and pick me up so we could go down to the shops, he started to put the Ivy into the wheelie bin, He came over and picked up the step stool and took it back to the bin. I jokingly said was he going to push the Ivy down, thinking he would use the step stool to do it. He said of course he was, how else was he going to fit it in. He then proceeded to climb onto the step stool and into the bin, to press the stuff down. Some mother's do 'ave 'em!

Party, Party, Party.

We don't travel at Easter, as a rule, but this year my elder sister's 60th birthday was on Good Friday. He son and his wife put on a Bruch party for her on the Saterday. We travelled to Adelaide on the friday, and went to see my mother, and take her some home made Apricot jam, and some Easter eggs. (Red Tulip, of course) My mother is recovering from knee replacement surgery, and is not very well. Her knee is still very swollen, and she is still in considerable pain. I made us a cup of tea and we stayed and chatted for about an hour and a half, then we went to my friend, Lesley's place as we were staying the night. If we lived closer, we would have gone down on the morning of the party, but it would have been too much for me. We would have had to get up very early, as it is a three hour drive, and the Brunch was at 10.30 am. Neville wanted to stop at our daughter's for a while anyway, as he wanted her to give him a much needed hair cut. She would NOT have appreciated being hauled out of bed at 6,30 am!
I tried, several times, ringing my friend to let her know we were on the way, but she didn't answer.
When we got there, she was surprised to see us and said the phone had not rung. I tried it with my mobile, and it was dead. I reported it, and hopefully it will be repaired today.
My friends from Queensland have just arrive. See ya later.

The Funny things Husbands Do.

As I am not able any more to do gardening, I get my husband to do the few tasks I require. I bought some Spring flowering bulbs, and wanted them planted in large pots. I already had the pots, and Neville put some soil in the top and mixed it through. It will hold the moisture better than just potting mix. As one of the packs of bulbs had four different kinds in it, he came in and asked me if I had a 'new one of these.' He was holding a green hilighter. I asked him what he wanted it for, and he said he needed to write on the pots so we will know what bulbs are in which pot. I gave him a black marker instead. I had a look yesterday afternoon, to see what each pot had in it, only to discover he had written,Fulham Favourites, on all of them.That is the brand name, so I am none the wiser as to the contents.

Pseudo Food

As reported in last posting, I went to a local cafe last week with my friend, Sue, and had a Mongo smoothie. I asked about the other smoothies this week, and discoverd two things, 1,they are all the same price, 2. they come out of a packet! They have a scheme, for want of a better word, whereby you are given a small card which is divided into squares, with pics of cups of coffee in them, and every time you have a coffee or other drink, they stamp it and when it is full, you get a free drink.
I was . of course, horrified to discover that the smoothies are not made from fresh ingredients, and have resolved never to have another. I did wonder about it, as the Mango season is a very short one, and uaually finishes in February.
Sue had her 9 month old grand daughter, Stacy, with her, and she has got to the stage where she hates being restricted, and wants to go, go, go,! It makes it very awkward for Sue to have her drink in peace, as she usually has Stacy on her knee, and she jumps and throws herself all over the place.

Friends

I have a 'new' friend, who is also called Sue, and her husband is also called Neville.He is legally blind like me, but from a different cause. Sue and I have been friends now for about a year. We met many years ago just once, when she drove me home from an evening out somewhere. We renewed our aquaintance in 2004, when we did a biginners computing course. It wasn't untill about a year ago that she started to call on me on a regular basis, a couple of times a week. Our friedship has progressed in leaps and bounds, and she very kindly takes me down the town to do my errands when my Neville is not home.
Last week she picked me up and we went and did our errands, and then went to the bakery cafe for a coffee, or what ever else we felt like. Sue has her nine month old grand daughter to look after on working days, as he daughter is now working full time, so Stacey comes with us. She is a lovely baby. This week when we got to the coffee shop, I wanted something cool to drink, but didn't fancy one of their iced coffees, as they don't make them properly. After our visit last week I noticed a list of new smoothies on the door as we were leaving. On top of the list was a Mango smoothie.I remarked that I would have like to try that, but had not noticed the advertisment as we went in.I had forgotten about it, but as I was having trouble deciding what to drink, Sue reminded me about it, so I ordered one. I got the shock of my life when the girl said it was $5.00! I thought, what the heck. You only live once, go for it.It was very nice, but it wil be the only time I buy one. I will wait untill mangos are in season again, and make my own.

Family, Friends & Fun.

Yesterday started out to be just another boring day. The same ol' same ol'. I was feeling so 'flat' and fed up and tired, I had an early 'Nanna Nap' just before lunch. I awoke about 1.30 pm, and heated up something for lunch. I had just finished it about 2pm, when the phone rang. I got the shock of my life when the woman said "Hi, Sue. Joan here. We have just arrived in B'town and will come around to see you in about half an hour." My heart sank down to my boots on hearing that, as I do not have a happy history with this sister-in-law, and I was dreading it.I told her Neville was not here and my house was a pig sty, as my cleaning lady had not been as the previous Monday had been a holiday. She assured me it didn't matter and they would come around and get me and take me back to the caravan park to their cabin. I have not seen Joan or her husband Athol, for three years, and that was at the funeral of my mother-in-law. I find Athol very heavy going as he never talks any sense and tells outragious lies and stories. He is a very sick man and looked dreadful yesterday. He is a diabetic, and never took proper care of his health. Joan tried desperately to make him eat the right things, but he refused. Now he has to suffer the consquences.
About an hour later they finally arrived, and Joan said she had rung Neville's brother Peter and discovered another brother, Lew and his wife were at his place, likewise Lew and Maureen's friend Dawn and her fella, Ron. Dawn is a ball of wax, and when she and Maureen get together, there is no telling what they will get up to! I like her immensely.
We went out there and had afternoon tea, amid much chyacking (?)and merriment. It was then decided we would have a BBQ tea, so the fellas went in to town and bought some meat, while the other three women made salad and fruit salad. I felt as' useful as a hip pocket on a singlet,' as I can not stand for more than a minute at a time, and they said they could manage. While we were waiting for tea, Athol started making outragious statements about my late father, and how he used to kill and skin Porcupines, (Echidnas) and sell the skins. I was of course, insensed by this and hotly denied it, but he was not about to back down, especially as Dawn fell for it! I could not make her see that he was pulling her leg. My dad never did kill one on purpose. Who in their right mind would believe such rubbish? What could the skins be used for, anyway? It turned out to be one of the nicest days I had had for a loooong time. Athol and Joan were travelling to Naracoorte today to see another brother and his wife, and to go to our farm to see Neville.