February 7th, 2010 by dogbait
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I haven’t much to report for my faithful readers at the moment. Kiddies are back at school and some are really loving it and can’t wait for the next day. I can’t remember being that enthusiastic about school but then I did go to a Catholic one run by the Gestapo. I sometimes wonder if Sister Mary Aiden has moved on to where she belongs and now terrorising poor souls with her pitchfork.
We’re flat out around the garden at the moment getting those things done we said we’d do as soon as we retired. Retired means putting chores off until tomorrow and we’ve been doing that successfully. New paths, repairing several retaining walls, building a new veggie garden, painting and so forth all fills in the day successfully. We have a good work pattern going though, 30 minutes of yakka followed by a cuppa on the deck. I can tell you one thing, swinging picks and laying bricks is a lot tougher on the old creaking body these days.
When we get this done and the weather cools, we’ll head off with the van again and we’re thinking of a quick trip to New Zealand to burn up some Frequent Flyer points and catch up with friends. Beats work or at least the type I used to do sitting in an office listening to bullshit all day.
Back to that veggie garden. Now where’s my pitchfork?
February 2nd, 2010 by dogbait
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You may remember my post about the Aldara treatment for skin cancers I had on my face in December. The course finished on Christmas Day and I had the follow up with the surgeon today.
The cream created big, ugly blotches on my forehead and nose and cleared up very quickly after I stopped the treatment. Apparently, the worse it looks, the better the healing process. He took one look at my face and nose and said he was amazed at how the BCC’s had disappeared and said it was the most successful treatment he had seen. The skin cancers on my nose have always worried him and he said the improvement was a miracle. So okay, no doctor uses the word “miracle” but he said he was astonished at how the BCC’s had disappeared.
I told him my recuperative powers were so great that I could get savaged by a Rottweiler while reading meters and be completely healed by the time I got to the next house.
Unfortunately, I now have a lot longer nose to worry about.
February 1st, 2010 by dogbait
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Back from a few pleasant days with MPS and partner in Warrnambool. Will post some pics later.
You have probably gathered that the summer holidays are over and the kiddies go back to school today. Yippee, life returns to normal and we have the place to ourselves again. We drove past the Spit camping ground yesterday on the way home and it’s completely empty as they have to be out come the end of January. Usually, some stragglers have to be prized out but they all got the message this year.
We have a bit of work to do around the place this week but we’ll be off in the camper soon and visit some lonely, secluded spot to enjoy the peace and tranquillity that this country has to offer. We have to visit the travel agent today and get our China Bike ride in October organised. We were going to use our Qantas Frequent Flyer points but flight schedules get messy and it means coming through Sydney airport and that’s a nightmare. Hence, we’ll go with Cathay Pacific and spend a few pleasant days in one of our favourite cities, Hong Kong.
We’re just about to head out the door this fine morning for a run finishing at the beach for a swim. It so happens we pass the local primary school around 9am and the kids heading to school are usually puzzled but two old codgers high fiveing one another as the pass this fine seat of learning. MP for one is delighted as this starts her 3rd year away from the edukachon establishment.
Cruel aren’t we!
January 29th, 2010 by dogbait
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We’re heading west to Warrnambool for the weekend but will be back by Monday to celebrate the end of the holidays and the start of a new school year. This will be the 3rd year that MP hasn’t had to front up to school. Life’s good she reckons!
Sammy’s hutch has fallen to pieces and he doesn’t use it as much in summer anyway so MP bought him this cushion and plonked it on the deck below his usual sleeping chair to see the reaction. Ten seconds later, he curled up on it and no shifting him for the rest of the day. Life’s good, he reckons!
The retaining wall up to our front door has been slowly collapsing over the last couple of years and I’ve been slack doing something about it. A couple of days of hard yakka and it’s nearly finished. Some plants and painting the banister will complete it. Life’s good, I reckon!
The astute builders among you will notice gal brackets mingled with a treated pine post. Pipes and foundations at the edge of the house prevented a “C” bracket flush with the house so lateral thinking required.
January 26th, 2010 by dogbait
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I’m not sure I ever mentioned how I bailed out of my 9 to 5 job at BIT in 1999. The electricity industry was being broken up and sold off to private retailers with the promise that it would make electricity cheaper. Nope.
My section was sold off to a Melbourne mob but I was offered a job locally by another manager that turned out to be a dud within a few days so I was ready for retirement at 51. I applied for a severance package on the Monday and was gone by the Friday. Funnily, I had no emotions or nostalgia about leaving the place having worked there on and off since 1966 (had a 10 year break).
I wasn’t interested in an official send-off so I took all my workmates out for lunch and shot through on the Friday. They kindly did a whip around and gave me a nice signed card and this beautiful Seiko travel alarm clock which I’ve found to be invaluable over the years. 
It kept very accurate time until about a year ago when it stopped (yes, I did replace the battery) so I took it to the only watchmaker in Geelong who wasn’t interested/too lazy to repair it.
So I stuck it away in an ice cream container with a lot of other computer junk and forgot about it until four days ago. At 5am in the morning, I hear this loud shrill beeping coming from somewhere in the house so I crawled out of bed and had to snoop around everywhere until I found the clock merrily announcing that it was awake again and so should everyone else.
I checked that clock a couple of times over the last year and it was as dead as a Dodo and suddenly it comes to life again and has been working flawlessly since.
I tried to convince MM recently that our house had ghosts. Jeez, I’m starting to believe my own BS!
January 25th, 2010 by dogbait
6 comments »
Driving through Geelong on Sunday and came around the Bay to see a yacht race finishing. Stopped to have a sticky beak and the Roulettes suddenly arrived and put on a show. More of the same tomorrow when we celebrate Australia Day and get all patriotic and proclaim our independence and nationhood and wave lots of Aussie flags.
The ones with the big Union Jack in the corner!
January 23rd, 2010 by dogbait
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Back in May of 2008, I wrote an article about my father’s exploits while serving with the Palestine Police Force and mentioned how using his Beretta pistol had saved his life. More to the point, how not using it was probably responsible for you having to put up with my babble.
Scanning through my blog stats, I frequently come across Google searches for the term “Beretta”. What worries me though is that they usually come from places like Russia, Iran, Kazakhstan, and what’s more scary, the latest today was from Texas. Even more worrying is that the ISP is shown as “Education Service Centre”.
Jeez, I can see some terrorist or maniacal mass murderer having a vendetta with a Beretta being captured and the weapon being traced back to me. Next, I’ll have ASIO or the CIA armed to the teeth smashing down the door of one humble little blogger.
Yeah, a bit fanciful I know.
January 21st, 2010 by dogbait
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We get a lot of cockatoos around our place and this one stopped by for a drink. Flocks of the noisy sods regularily circle over our place before settling on the trees down by the lake.
I’m trying to clean the car and someone decides this is as good place for a nap. You’d think he’d avoid it like the plague considering the only time he gets in is to visit the vet or the holiday home. He is 15 now so maybe memory loss is kicking in.
January 18th, 2010 by dogbait
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Damn, this is a strange country. A week ago we were frying in 45c and I get up this morning to this and it’s absolutely freezing. I know you northerners will laugh but it’s relative. That’s bloody cold to us!
It got down to 14c last night and I was rugged up with a fleece jacket and the tracky dacks hence 9c had me looking for the thermals and a polar bear to kill.
Forget that 20c they forecast as it wobbled up to 17 and plunged down to 12 while I was at the supermarket and down came the rain while I’m dashing to the car dressed in my summer rain gear of shorts and tee shirt. In fact, my rain gauge had 19mm in it today and the weather station 800 metres away at the Ocean Grove Fire Station only recorded 1.2mm. Something odd going on here considering it pounded rain half the night.
Oh, well, probably back to the smell of burning human flesh next week. You just can’t keep some people happy.
January 17th, 2010 by dogbait
11 comments »
A good friend came and stayed for the weekend. She brought goodies including some chocolates and nougat.
When we were in Nepal in 2008, I pulled out a tooth filling chewing some nougat and I swore I’d never eat another one.
When I told MP she said, “Goody, I can finish yours”
She nearly got the lot today as I took a tumble on the roof of the house and nearly fell off.
Damn this getting old. I’m coming apart at the seams.
January 14th, 2010 by dogbait
7 comments »
How about that comment count for that post above. 
No more please or else you’ll stuff up this post title. Anyone new to my blog would look at that and think they were onto a literary masterpiece. There would be some head scratching when they realised all those comments related to a post that had nothing in it.
I’ve realised that we need an avenue for people who might want to post comments on subjects unrelated to the blog. Something along the lines of a graffiti wall where you can post comments about anything that takes your fancy hence you’ll see a page for comments on the top banner. For anything a bit more personal, you can use the email link if you want to tell me you love me or want to send me large amounts of money.
Please feel free to express your emotions and abuse me for all your worth if you like, but just remember, I have a Sicilian uncle called Alfonso who does house calls.
January 14th, 2010 by dogbait
2 comments »
Of course I didn’t ring 000 but it crossed my mind. Wil was on the ball saying that the mobile call would have been recorded and traced. I’m glad I didn’t do it because I’d be shitting myself now after being reminded about that. Actually, I’d probably be in a jail cell contemplating what the bar of soap was doing on the floor.
It reminded me about another post I did back in February 2007 when I came across a grass fire while reading out in the mulga. Nee Naws rocked up from the Mannerim fire station which I had to read a little while later. I always had trouble finding the hidden key for this small fire station and then squeezing past the fire trucks to read the meters, and when I came back down the road later, the guys were back in the station and I told them I just thought of a great way to make things easier for me to read the meters in future.
That got a laugh and they just reminded me about that bar of soap.
January 12th, 2010 by dogbait
8 comments »
I forgot to mention an incident from my meter reading last week. Reading the major accounts, we have to do the ambulance station and fire station which are across the road from each other in Geelong. I have to use a phone at the entrance of the ambulance station and ring a bell at the front door of the fire station to be allowed in to read the meters.
Everytime I go there, I have trouble getting anyone to answer the door at either station even though the two places are manned (or womaned). Someone usually saunters out when they feel like it much to my annoyance as time is money in this business.
So I was walking towards the stations and decided a quick call to 000 reporting a car fire and someone injured would be in order. Next thing, out screams a fire engine and an ambulance and in strolls one meter reader through the open door to read the meters.
Of course, I would only think that.
Or would I?
January 11th, 2010 by dogbait
4 comments »
I’ve found a great recipe for fried zucchini. Just leave them where they are in the big bath tub and the sun will do the rest.
Sorry, can’t write much more as fried brains are on the menu for dinner too.
January 9th, 2010 by dogbait
12 comments »
Zucchini soup, zucchini fritters, zucchini dip, zucchini salads, zucchini, zucchini, zucchini, zucchini, zucchini. I have nightmares about zucchini’s.
A few months ago, MP decided she wanted to grow some veggies so she rustled up a few large containers and I bought her an old bath. Some good soil and a couple of freebie packets of seeds from a garden magazine and away she went. Tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers and the dreaded zucchini were the main crops and some decent rain and warmth over the last month or so and they went berserk. Here are the results.
Of course MP is quite proud of her efforts so we’re going to build a larger plot and hopefully she’ll nurture something other than zucchini’s.
In the meantime, our lovely niece, Laura with young Jack, comes along and thinks she is the ants pants of zucchini growing with just these two miserable efforts.
War has been declared!
