I've had a very busy week.

For someone who usually does not go out very much at all, I have had a busy week. I have gone out three days in a row, so far, and will probably go out again tomorrow. I went to Keith Tuesday, out to lunch here, yesterday, and down to Naracoorte today, to do the rest of the shopping, and so Neville could do some jobs at the farm. I am feeling a bit exhausted I must say. Have to slow down next week and take it easy!
After I had finished the shopping, I went to sit on one of the benches to wait for Neville. There was an elderly lady sitting on the only bench that had a vacant space. I asked if anybody else was going to come and sit there, and she said no, so I sat down. We got chatting, and I discovered who she was. She was someone I had only heard of, but I knew, some of he family, slightly. She said she was waiting for her nephew to come and pick her up. It transpired her nephew was a bloke I had gone to school with in grades six and seven.
She couldn't place me, even though I had told her my maiden name, but instantly knew when I told her my late father's name. Funny how people don't remember my mum. Her nephew duly arrived, and I said G'day. I don't suppose you remember me?' He looked hard, then said I think I do. Yes, you're Sue, aren't you?' I am not sure if I would have recognised him if he had been in the street, as he has filled out a bit. It has been 46 years since I saw him, too.
Neville came in and they had a chat, then I asked Neville to get the groceries. Edward asked me where my sister was now. I said, 'Do you mean Alison?' He said, 'No, the older one.' I said,'Bronwyn?' He said, "Yes, Bronny. That's the one. This is what I was talking about, before. No-one remembers me, they all remember Bron. This has been the way of things all my life. I never existed if Bron was in veiw!
We went to one of the three pubs for lunch, and Neville asked me how old Edward would be. He said,'He wouldn't be 50 yet, would he?' I said he is the same age as me. He said, 'Well, he doesn't look it.' I said, 'Thank you very much, I will kick you in the shins any time now'.
I rang me mum, who is in hospital once again, when I got home, and told her all about it. She is much better, and should have gone home today, but the doctor was going to put her on oral antibiotics, yesterday,then let her go home, But she still has not started them. She said he probably forgot to write them up! I bought her a bottle of Tawny Port, which she loves, just to give her a boost. I will see her next Monday, and will be able to spend some time with her, which will be nice.

I had a good day, mum.

My friend Sue and I went to Keith today, to see my daughter and her young son, Riley. Her husband is off work because he has done his back in, again. We normally go out on a Tuesday for coffee and to do errands, but decided to have a change of venue. We had coffee and cake at one of the cafes , Deb had a salad roll. Then we went into a shop called The Purple Paddock. It is a shop where people can sell their handy crafts, paintings and cooking. They also had some beautiful pieces of old furniture that had been restored. The prices were very much today's, though. I bought four coasters with Aussie farm scenes on, to send to my sister in Wales. When I told the lady serving me where they were going, she said it had been a bit of an international day, as there had been a french lady in, who had bought some things to take home with her, and someone else who was sending things somewhere, but it eludes me.Then Sue and Deb and Riley went to a craft shop. It was too far for me to walk, so I went to the newsagent's and checked my lotto and bought some magazines. I went across the street to sit and wait for them. It was quite chilly, as it has been an overcast day, and the wind had a chill factor of about -5. When they got back, I asked Deb if she was coming to lunch at the pub with us. She declined, as she had just had a salad roll. She asked Riley if he would like to come with us. At first he said no, as he is a bit shy, in spite of his exuberance and chatterbox nature.(The lady in the Purple Paddock said we would never be lonely with Riley around) We met Pete and his mum, Margaret, who is on two weeks holiday from the meat works, and Riley decided he would come with Sue and me. We all had bangers and mash and oinon gravy. I asked if they did children's serves, but was told , no. He ate nearly all of it by himself, with no coaxing from us! I don't know where he put it all, as he is not very big. Half way through the meal he said, "I'm having a good day". When we got back to Deb, he told he that too. It was very gratifying to hear. We went to Deb's house, so I could drop off some things she asked for when I had my cupboards cleaned out last week, and to see the new Bull Terrier pup. Then a van pulled up, and Deb was very excited, as she said they had come to fix he washing machine. When the men had a look at it, I heard one say they had the wrong parts, as they were told something quite different needed fixing. Goodness knows when she will get it fixed now.
Sue and I didn't stay long and came home and did some shopping and other jobs here. We were quite 'done up' when we got back, and had a cuppa and a chat. She looked through her catalogues she had got in the mail. I had a bit of a rest, as my legs were giving me 'hurry up'.

Riley

Last Friday, Neville went to the doctor, as he is a diabetic,the doc has him participating in a trial whereby he is gathering data about the disease and it's effects. Deb came down to do some shopping, and I usually give her a small box of Smarties for her boys. I gave Riley his, and he said thank you, and immediately asked, "Where's Pop?' I said he had gone to see the doctor. He came straight back with, "What did he do?" I said, 'Nothing, he has gone to get some more tablets". No flies on this one!

Naracoorte Sojourn.

We went to Naracoorte today to do the rest of the fortnightly grocery shopping. Neville dropped me off at the supermarket, and went out to the farm. He fed the sheep some Barley, and did a few other jobs. (He says he can't remember what, exactly?!) We have three dozen lambs, three sets of twins. The first ones are a month old, and he will have to tail them soon. I did the shopping, and had them put it out the back to be collected later. Then, I struggled down the hill to the main street and did some other errands. Chemist, video shop where I ordered Pretty Woman, then to the 'el cheapo' shop to buy paraphanalia for making cards, amongst other things. Then I struggled back up the hill, to find Neville waiting for me. He was earlier than he thought he would be. I sent him in to pick up the groceries. He said the girl asked him where they were. Were they at the deli? He said, no, they would be out the back somewhere. Duh! It was only 11.25 am, and I had no idea what he had planned to do for lunch, but it transpired he was planning on going to the pub. A different one this time. It was too early, so we sat in the car and chatted for a while. I was not too enamoured of the idea of the pub he had in mind, but decided to give it a go again. The last time we had lunch there, it was decidedly down at heel and scruffy, and the tucker was no better. This time it was not bad at all. Neville had the rissoles, onion gravy & mash. He said it was very nice. It looked it, too. I had three beef(mince) and spinich rolls. They were in puff pastry, and served with fries. (chips) Not bad, but nothing to write home about, either. We stopped at the post office, and he posted a letter for me. I was absolutely done up, and we came home. I slept all the way.
I bought some things for my mate, Sue, and rang her when we arrived home, and she said she would be here soon. That was three hours ago! Her daughter is a manipulative little minx, and makes use of her mother shamelessly. Sue babysits her daughter, and she shirks her parental duties whenever she can. She doesn't consider her mother at all. I daresay she will be here after tea, as there is nothing on 'the box' tonight.

Jessica.

I was blogging earlier, when my friend Sue came round with her son's girlfriend, Jess. Sue had been telling me last night how Jess had sorted out her cupboards for her, unasked. Sue was thrilled with the result, and I said she could do my pantry and cupboards if she liked. I said I would pay her of course. We decided to do it this arvo. This is why.
On Monday morning, before Neville went to the farm, I asked him if we could go to Naracoorte to do the shopping, as Deb was unable to take me this time. Her husband had only had one days pay after returning from holidays, as there had been no work on Monday. The pays are done on Wednesday nights. I had said it was another expense fuelwise, but he said, 'They're still making it, aren't they?' I asked him which day he would prefer to go, and he said Thursday. When I asked him last night what time he wanted to leave this morning, he said we were not going till Friday. I said that he had said Thursday. He was adamant that he had said Friday. I realised it was pointless arguing with him. This morning he said, 'Are we going to Naracoorte today or tomorrow?' I said that he had told me we were going Friday, and that I had made other arrangements accordingly. This is why Jess did the jobs for me today. This is not the first time he has done something like this, and it worries me. There are four possibilities for his behaviour.

Not a lot happnin'.

Well, not a lot that I can write about, or that you would be interested in reading. We have sold two semi trailer loads of fire wood , one last month and one this month. 22 & 15 tonnes respectively. The second one was a bit less, because the driver had some of his own to sell. Not a bad little earner, though the wood yards sell it for far more than they pay us.
Pete's mum is not driving the car Neville fixed for two reasons. One, the battery out of her car that they put in it is dead. Two, she is originally from Queehsland, and forgot to renew her licence. She will have to change her address on it, and has not bothered as yet, as she gets a lift to work. I guess she will do it when they can afford a new battery.
Neville's brother, Peter, has left the district, so he will mis him quite a bit. He has not managed to sell his property here yet, and will come back every fortnight to check on it. It used to belong to his son, and he had it on the market for a couple of years before Pete bought it. He has had to drastically reduce the price, but no luck. I think there have been quite a few people look at it, but it is next to a sheep skin tannery, and I guess people think there will be a nasty smell from that. That is not so, but some people you can't convince.
I am starting to get into making my own cards. I am gradually acquiring the nessecary equipment. It can be expensive, if you don't go to the right place. We have a shop in town that has things at very cheap rates, but they do not have a lot to choose from as yet.
My friend, Sue, does all kinds of crafts, and she is willing to help me, and do it with me.
Maybe more later.

Blowing one's stack!

As my readers will know, I am legally blind, and , unfortunately that seems to make people think I and interlectually challenged also, and not entitled to any consideration or courtesy. For over a year now, I have been receiving Home Help with the house work , as I have chronic back pain and two bung knees. This year I was, unbeknowst to me, allocated an extra privelidge, namely getting the outside of my windows washed. I was visited by a woman who had been given the job of allocating the funds, and was never told whether I had been sucessful in gaining this extra.
This morning, my friend Sue came to pick me up as usual for our Tuesday morning coffee at one of the local cafes. Just as she got to the door, I heard someone else call out, "Hey, Sue. Are you home?" Why she could not ring the bell, is beyond me. I am NOT some animal that needs to be summoned in this way. I opened the door and said,"Who have we here?" As soon as I opened the door I recognised her, and she said she had come from Handy Help and was going to wash my windows.
The job of window washing, pruning etc, had been subcontracted to Handy Help. I knew this from some weeks ago. My reaction, or over reaction to this news stunned even me. I went right off the beam, and said it was not good enough that I had not been, a. informed that they were going to do the windows, or, b. when. I let her know that I was not happy about the total lack of efficiency etc, either. Of course, it was not the poor unfortunate woman's fault, and I have probably 'cut my nose off to spite my face' and will not be surprised if they don't do them now. I was not about to go out and leave strangers here with the place unattended.Not that I think for a nanosecond this woman is in the least dishonest. I wonder what would have happened if Sue had not been late?!
I have had to deal with the patronising, condescending attitude of people all my life. They either talk loudly and slowly, because they think I am deaf and slow witted, or they treat me with utter disdain .
I am a perfectly normal woman, not brilliant, but not dumb either, who happens to have bugger all eyesight. I have run a home, and worked on farms, and raised two well adjusted wonderful kids. I can sew, kint and many other things. I can also use a computer. The thing that is scary is, it struck me I am turning into my mother. Some may say that I always was, but not those who have known me all my life.

Blackout.

I was reading the paper this morning at about 7.35, when the power was interupted. As it is winter here, it was still quite dark at that time, and for someone with very limited eyesight, it was very difficult for me to continue to read, but continue I did. At about 7.50, I rang the power company on my mobile phone, to report the power failure, to be told that they were already aware of it, and were trying to discover the whereabouts of the failure, and it's cause. I was also told of the extent of the failure. As this is Australia, we have some very strange, to some, district manes. These originate from the Aboriginal tribes of this country. They are very hard to pronounce at times. For instance, a couple of the areas that were affected were, Geegeela, and Pooganagoric. The recorded voice ronounced them thus, Gee-gee-la with a hard emphasis on the G. It is in fact Jeejeela. Pooganagoric, is Poojanagoric, but was pronounced Poog-an-a-goric. Again, a hard emphasis on the G. Many years ago, I was listening to the local news on the radio, and Kybybolite, was mentioned. It was pronounced Ky-by-bow-lite. I was it stitches! It is in fact, Kyby-bow-lite. The power was restored at 8.25. Thankfully,this meant I did not have to reset my programmes on my video recorder, as the power had been off less than an hour.
Yes, it has been a slow couple of weeks newswise.

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? '