Down The Back Paddock

Moving on

2011-01-12T07:54:00.002+11:00

Seems that every time I have to move, we get wet weather - lol.
Found another place to buy - 4o acres - bit small, but still it will be a roof over my head, and somewhere to set up again.

The plan was to start moving some of the stuff that I dont need on a day to day basis out to the new place, and leave it so that there was a minimum of stuff for the last shift - been busy washing bedding etc before it was packed, and will start on the kitchen cupboards over the next day or so - still have a little bit to do outside as well when the weather permits.

It doesnt help that we are currently under major flood warnings - the river here is running at 13 mtrs +, and Grafton is expecting a 7.9 mtr peak this evening - about 400mm less than the last big one which lapped the tops of the levee system,and am not able to get to town

Bad Weeks ????

2010-10-06T20:06:00.002+11:00

(or " how many chinamen have I killed recently" - lol )
Last week started off as one that I wished that had not started , ie came home on Monday to the news that my property was basically sold, just required a few signatures etc -then came home on Tuesday knowing that my sister was undergoing surgery for breast cancer, and unable to contact her husband for any updates ( and they are still waiting for biopsy results etc) only to be informed that Fred had most likely been bitten by a snake at least 6 hours earlier and had not been seen since. Finally found the mutt, unable to stand up (ie semi paralised) and over the next 3 hours was basically convinced that the little "chick magnet " was dead on two times of not being able to detect a pulse - heartbeat etc. The little bugger is tougher than he looks tho, cause Wed morning, hes lined up for a feed as if nothing had happened, and was out chasing rabbits when I left for work

Signs of the times.

2010-10-06T19:24:00.003+11:00

Came home a few weeks to see this attached to the front gate -was expected, but did cause a lot of emotional hurt, this basically is the end of my owning my "little bit of paradise" and also the end of my childrens access to a special place. I knew that it was going to have to happen sooner or later, but it still hurt big time to come home and see this attached to the front gate. Re the top line of the sign, change the first two words to "Sold", as I signed the contracts of sale this morning

Sudden Changes

2010-08-15T02:52:00.003+10:00

Last night saw a bit of turmoil in the family households. Got a frantic phonecall late in the evening from No 2 son to come and get him.
Ended up this morning going and picking him up along with a ute load of clothing etc - he and his mother had a big barny, something which has been building up for a long time, she does not seem to think that the children should be aware of what is happening between myself and her, rather forgetting that it also affects the children in one way or another. There were also a couple of issues between them on other matters, mainly to do with her work and the responsibilities that he was given in regard to the other children.

So here I am,starting into the "batchelor dad" routine - which will mean a few changes to my afterwork life, as well as my fuel & grocerry bills - lol

Lack of blogs recently

2010-08-11T18:47:00.002+10:00

Was going to post a few blogs over the last few months -mainly about the ruggies and Fred, the chick magnet, but gave up after being unable to upload pics - seems that dialup ISP is becoming more obsolete every hour, cannot access some sites that were readilly accessable 6 mths ago, and a few others are starting to become a bit "hit or miss" with the emphasis on the miss. Have gone to Mobile broadband ,which is brilliant (compared to diallup), but since I am very marginal it does not work as often as I would like - generally am running on 1 bar of connection which roughly equals diallup at the faster rates that I sometimes am able to get.

Christmas Wishes

2009-12-13T23:08:00.003+11:00

To the (few)regular readers of my infrequent ramblings/rantings(esp the Yank dog lover & the Yank bikie), and anyone else who visits , a very merry Christmas, and best wishes for you and yours throughout the New Year, this year has been a big roller coaster (emotionally) for me in a lot of ways, so things can only get better????? (lol) Down the back paddock :-)

Kids Birthdays etc

2009-09-20T20:28:00.005+10:00

Yesterday saw another milestone in the Gumbo household -the 2 littlest ruggies reached the age of 8 (bit of a miracle considering all of the %*#( that their older siblings etc have subjected them to - lol.)

Perhaps I should throw in here that they were eventually delivered as emergency Caesarions at 4 -15 & 4-17am, the doctors were very concerned that the littlest was not strong enough to survive a natural birth, esp if she was the second child that would have been delivered this way, and all the tests indicated that this was the most likely scenario.

So rather than being in the labour ward as was the case with the first 3 (and it is rather amazing what expletives that women can think up in that room -would rather leave the best of "Bullockies" far behind in the dust - lol),I sat outside the operating theatre door for a llllong time till there was a cry at 415 am, then the extra llllllloooong wait till the second cry at 417. Add to this that there had been a few sessions over the week or so prior (Iwatched the 9/11 events unfold on the tv in the maternity ward over a few days)

So there I was waiting outside, then one of the natal care gurneys came out and was rushed off to maternity, followed a short time later by the second one. It was a fairly long interval between this, and finally being told that all was ( nearly) well all round - there was some concern that "the littlest feral one" might have suffered oxygen starvation for a few minutes, with the result that she was put into specialised treatment for a fairly long time - a period that was distressing to the ex (she hadnt seen the baby at that stage - only a polaroid snap taken by the staff - and was still coming out of the post op shock as well) ,tho surprisingly,I was not as concerned as some of the staff at the time - it was an automatic reaction on their part given the circumstances, but the little tiime that I spent with her in those early hours of her life did not indicate any negative effects, and this was the general consensus of the midwifery staff - but they were initially looking at it as a possible "worst case" scenario - and the treatments (mainly an oxygen rich enviroment) could not harm.

Ironically, it ends up that the littlest feral one is a normal, healthy "tomboy", and her brother has been classified as autistic - something that the ex has never showed any interest in sitting dwn and talking through what thing can be done to enable him to lead a normal life -just a pile of papers that I was supposed to be able to sit down and understand the medical gobblygook after being at work for nearly 11 hrs.

(ps. Kid pic is the two littlest & the next one up}

Side effects

2009-09-13T00:11:00.004+10:00

Given the rather large amount of crap that the ex has been sending my way the last couple of months, I was getting a bit stressed (??) lately, and on Thursday night it rather went into overdrive.
Woke up late on Friday morning, still absolutely pie-eyed, and no chance of being able to work, even if I had taken the risk of driving there,but given the boss's attitude, who cares anyway.(I had drunk my weekly quota in one night)

One positive (hopefully long term) possible benefit was that I ran out of cigarette papers early in the piece, and have now managed 3 days with a total of 4 smokes - rather need to cut my drinking back somewhat, but might focus on stopping the smoking first, its an addictive habit that has been part of my life for 40 + years -did quit fr 10 weeks + a few months ago, but then got a load of crap from the ex to sort out, so fell of the wagon big time

Fred -(at 6 mths +)

2009-09-12T22:00:00.003+10:00

Been a bit (lot - lol) slack in posting lately but will try to upload a couple of pics of Fred in recent times - last attempt was a dismal failure = I shut the whole system down-bottom pic is Fred at 6 Mths - top 2 are today with Fred in his new home -Kennel that was started prior to the floods, and is not quite finished yet, hes a rough, tough, working dog tho, so can handle it - rofl

Children, breakups , etc

2009-08-27T20:55:00.003+10:00

Had the youngest 0ne (The little feral one) on the phone tonight, saying that she would rather spend every weekend here, than every second weekend.

This rather made me take a few (figurative) backwards steps,. as what I can provide them (physically ) is a lot less than their mother should be able to provide them, especially considering that she would have received in excess of $10,000-00 of Govt Economic Stimulas paymentsin the last 8 mths or so - did she piss it up the wall at the pokies like she did with my income, or splurge it on a doomed to failure enterprise with lover boy (who actually owns little more than maybe his vehicle- lol - dont know if she is aware of that little fact)

A while ago, while sorting out some of the debris that was left here, I found a hair dye kit that she had bought, thinking that I would use it to look "younger" than I am - after seeing the results of her hair dieing efforts a couple of times -no way was I going down that path - I'm me as I am right now, 55+ yo, and if you dont like how I appear, tough titties, and look the other way.

Maybe this is the bottom line coming into play, I havent got much to offer my children,other than love and a sense of stability re "home".

The new addition (update lol)

2009-07-21T20:38:00.004+10:00

So now I have had the pup for a bit over 4 months, vaccinated, wormed, microchipped him (whish that kids could be done as easily :-) ) and finally got around to actually paying for him the other day - rather broke the bank(2 beers = $6.00 lol)

He was classed as a "chickmagnet " by a couple of women who see him regularly, but it seems that as he grows older, this label doesn't necessarily apply any more - hes not a cute little puppy but still and all, he is shaping up to be somewhere near what I hoped for , other than I might have to change his name to "Herpes" (will not heel{heal} -lol)

He is starting to take an interest in working with the cattle etc, but given the above condition it is a bit of a problem, but we still have a way to go, and I can see possibilities in his prowess.

But when it comes down to push and shove, he is a faithful companion, and that is the main thing when all is said and done.

Flood side affects

2009-07-21T20:00:00.006+10:00

Here we are nearly 2 months after the major floods that basically brought the North coast of NSW to a standstill for a week or so, and the side affects are still with us.

I have nearly finished repairing/replacing my fences (the main lines are done - just have to reset some gates etc and find some fill to put around a line of posts on one boundary. This rather pales into insignificance when you consider some people are still to start refencing whole areas of properties. - they have mainly got the boundary fences cobbled up, but have not even started on internal fencing yet.

It was also a big impact on most of the primary production in the region, the sugar cane harvest was just about to start- they were faced with waterlogged paddocks & mud covered cane with a consequent loss of value to the crop, cattle prices crashed badly for a couple of weeks, and there has been a major decline in the quality of cattle available due to the damage to the fodder, the timber industry has been living very much hand to mouth as the logging crews just could not work the bush to provide the logs to the mills.

Thankfully things are starting to return to normal, tho the actual weather patterns that we have experienced cannot necessarily be called abnormal or due to "Climate change" , - rather a return to the weather that was common here in the mid 1970's

(ps -All of the fence in the photo ended up completely washed out + a mile or so of other fences :-) )

After the floods

2009-06-03T19:36:00.002+10:00

So now we are in recovery mode, following the floods last week over the whole North Coast NSW and southern Qld.

The flood on the Clarence River system (which starts in the Border ranges to the north, west to the Great Dividing Range, and south to the Dorrigo Plateau) was the fastest rising flood that I have seen here in 36 years, and was also the first major flood event that involved all the tribuartaries to the Clarence River System at one time. Whilst the peak levels were somewhat lower than the 2001 flood (450mm lower at Grafton), the damage bill is going to be astramonical due to the ferocity and rapid rate of rise in the river levels

Reports are starting to come in of people who have lost up to 150 head of cattle,and countless cases where people have lost their source of income for a substantial time, till they can get feed back in their paddocks, repair fences and other structures, andtry to return to a normal life.

Personally, I am one of the lucky ones who has had relativelly minimal losses. I had all of the fences on the lower parts of the property flattened, with the subsequent dramas of juggling cattle into 30% of the place for a week till the boundary fences could be rebuilt (about 700Meters) - still havnt had a chance to check out what is left of half of my internal fences - some of it may be totally gone- and havnt even got to see what damage has been done along the river banks

Still and all, once I had moved the cattle to high ground, the biggest worry that I had was the possibility of losing my electricity supply, as the fridge & freezer were stocked up for a weekend of the ruggies visit( + no pressure pump to put water into the house - lol )

In amongst all of this, we witnessed again the stupidity of a few teenagers who thought it was right to go and frolic in flood waters. A night in the cooler might have made an impression, as that is where they ended up - should have been a week or more though.

Floods etc

2009-05-22T14:09:00.004+10:00

Over the last few days, the north coast of NSW Australia has been hit by heavy rains, winds& storms

As I type, there is an prepare to evacuate order being put over the local radio networks for Grafton and low lying areas of South Grafton ( this follows an evacuation order already in place for the communities of Ulmurra & Brushgrove which are downstream from Grafton).

After 30+ years of dealing with flood situations locally (including quite a few as a volunteer with the State Emergcy Services) , this event doesnt come as a total surprise, as it may be the first time in recorded history (including the Aboriginal memories prior to 1788) tha both of the northern and southern areas of the Clarence Catchment have been hit with high rainfalls (one area posted rainfall of 300mm {approx 12 inches} between 8 pm & 6 amthis morning) and cionsidering that the Bush workers were only just getting back into the bush, the countryside was already wet from the rains over the last few months.

It will be interesting to see what legal claims etc will be put to the local council if this does happen as there have been rather extensive developments in the low lying areas of Grafton over the last 20 or so years :)

(ps this have given me a day + off work)

pps as I type an evacuation order has just been broadcast for Grafton & low llying areas of South Grafton

Additions

2009-04-22T02:11:00.003+10:00

Last Sunday (19 April) , I finally managed to be in the right place at the right time.

For some time now, I have been looking around for a pup, but generally by the time that I heard of any that fitted what I was looking for, they were gone.

Sunday arvo, after my shearer friend and family had finally been and shorn the sheep (that in itself being a series of having to cancel for a period of 3 months for lots of reasons from car accidents to rain !!), I slipped up the road to get my mail, and have a couple of beers. Got into a conservation with a bloke and on the way home slipped down to his place and picked up a pup (and no Pita, it ISNT a gr8 dane) He is a Border Collie about 6 weeks old.

Got the little fellow home , and then started to work out what I was going to do with him esp through the week, as I'm away from here from daylight to dark now, and named him Fred.

So now there are two of us going to work each day, and I dont know what my daughter is going to say when she finds out - tho shell probably hug the poor little fellow to death - lol, and life is now a case of watching out for puddles and landmines :)

Bushfires etc update

2009-04-21T20:25:00.004+10:00

Recent news has been that the toll of 210 originally posted has since been reduced to 178 _ Still way too many and have yet to see any sorts of counts on livestock, native animals etc but have seen an article where logging contractors & sawmills have lost 10's of millions in machinery,which isnt going to help as the forestry community generally tries to recover some of the timber from trees that have been killed .

Charges have been laid against a person in relation to one of the fires, and the communities around Australia are still donating money and goods to help those who have lost so much.

Fires update

2009-03-05T19:57:00.002+11:00

It seems from the news over the last couple of days that the extreme temperatures and winds that were the final trigger of this disaster in our nations south have finally subsided, and even though there are still 4 major fires and a lot of smaller fires still active, they are burning at a level where fire crews can finnally control them - this weather pattern is predicted for at least the next week, and with the resources that are deployed in Vict at the moment, hopefully these fires will be contained in the next 48 hrs or so.

I am not aware of any recent fatalities/ major injuries over the last few days, and the death toll was still 210 last I heard (but there are still people unaccounted for). I have yet to hear a report on deaths to native animals, livestock etc - but would imagine that this figure would run into the 10's of thousands or higher.

Now we will watch and see if the various charities that have had over $100.000.000 so far in cash donations, let alone clothing, food, fodder etc, can do the right thing , or stuff up as was the case following "Cyclone Tracey" in Darwin in 1974, where the people who were supposed to benefit from the nations response got stuff all

Re Climate Change and a few prior blogs

2009-03-03T21:11:00.002+11:00

As some of you who read this may remember, I entered this year with the certainty that some close friends& fellow firies were going to depart this mortal realm very soon - unfortunately this has happened, along with the mother of another close friend (and fellow firie) who was a friend to many

Jack was a fairly close nieghbour,with his wife Shirley they ran a small farm with goats, Jack Russells, & Maremmas as their choice of stock- even into their 80's, they were an active part of our brigade - Shirley has been treasurer for many years and both played a part on the fireline till age limited that possibility, but they were both there doing what they could to help in a crisis

Judith (wife of our own "Lanky Yank") was secretary of the brigade for a number of years - was initially thought to be a "Greenie" till we got to know her , then we realised that she was a die hard conservationist - but not one eyed like the leftist greens. She was always keeping the long term preservation of the flora & fauna in the forefront of my decisions with hazard reductions, and continued that with my successor as captain. I think that after a few years, she came to accept that we who raced out and strategically burnt areas of the bush in a seemingly ad hoc manner, were actually being conservationists as well in that we were reducing the chance of a major fire impacting to a large extent on the native plants and animals.

"Shine"- Lover of the land - mother of a very good friend of mine - loved and respected by all in the community that was a large part of her life -even in her mid 80's, when she was finding it difficult to saddle up a horse, took to a 4 wheeler bike to be able to check on her beloved cattle -and help out with the associated husbandry -a genuine country woman.

Fires update and other nature events

2009-02-20T20:37:00.004+11:00

Ok - so the fires in Victoria still go on but there was a bit of better news today with a revision of the expected final death toll back to approx 220 - they have been able to trace 70 + of the missing, believed killed to being alive.

Unfortunately the death toll currently stands at 210, which includes 3 firefighters - 2 volunteers and a professional firie who was working out of area to help out. Also there have been a couple of reasonably serious injuries, including members from brigades near me who were providing assistance. (Consider the fact that I live 800miles -1200 kms away from the fire scene and the enormity of the task might become a bit clearer)

On the other end of the continent, we have witnessed major flooding which has isolated communities and properties for weeks, with a number of deaths by drowning and one case of being taken by a croc (why any parent would condone, let alone allow a child to play near or in floodwaters beggars belief - floods are similar to wildfires, mother nature is running rampant and is totally unpredictable and unforgiving - to call playing in floodwaters "a rite of passage"
is akin to letting children play hopscotch in the middle of a major freeway.

Nearer home there has been major floodingto the south of me (Coffs harbour, Bellingen, Kempsey and a few areas south to Newcastle. I am under minor flood alert which is not a real issue to me at the moment - the river was rising on Tuesday so I pulled my pump etc out to high ground (dont need the pump at the moment, the tanks are full and rain is pattering on the roof as I type) ,and the cattle will work to the higher ground if the river does rise towards major levels, so all is well in my world in that respect as we needed this rain now to give us a chance to get some winter feed in the paddocks and some ground water back into the soil.

" Climate Change ???" - Mankind and the enviroment

2009-02-16T20:48:00.001+11:00

Over the last week , we have witnessed the savagery that nature can inflict in Victoria, Australia,
with fires of a magnitude that has been equalled to the equivalenty of 660 Nagasaki / Hiroshima events.

Whole towns have been completely destroyed, approximately 200 people are dead and another 100 are feared dead at this stage -most of these towns are classified as crime scenes whilst the police and other specialists undertake the gruesome task of searching for bodies in the rubble, and also try to determine the actual cause of the fire - arson is suspected in some cases ( 1 arrest has been made in relation to one particular fire)

For those of you who have not had access to the dramas that unfolded - consider that one town that was almost completely razed - pop 500 - they expect to recover 100 bodies .

The talkback radios have been full on with comments , critisms , and debate over the causes and management/ mismanagement that led to this whole tragedy unfolding ( and the fires are still burning) , but the greatest lot of bull that I have heard on this was on the news tonight with the Xspurts blaming climate change for this event, and even going to the lengths of obtaining opinions from forestry fire fighters in the US -they might know there flora, but they dont know ours.

The bottom line seems to be the extreme influence that the radical "Green" element has imposed on the management of the Australian "bush", which has led up to the declaration, then basically locking up, of large areas of National Parks - with an ever increasing number of beauracrats & "Xspurts", and a 3 fold diminishing of the staff who were responsible for the on ground maintenance of these areas for the safety of the flora and fauna, and responsible for the control of exotic flora and fauna in these areas - and also their attitude that they can control what someone who owns property adjacent can or cannot do on their own property - perhaps thjey should look back on their own achievements in recent years - 3 dead employees at a prescribed burn + 7 hospitilised for months, properties and livestock destroyed because they refused to allow a backburn to be put in to contain an out of control fire -etc this all in NSW.

Whilst they wring there hands about the possible extinction of the "lesser known double spotted frog " and his ilk , perhaps they should consider that once there were mammoths ,dodos etc. These are now extinct, and thousands of other creatures, and perhaps we are the lesser for their passing, but it must be remembered that we live in the enviroment that is here now -and mankind has made many grave errors over the last200 years or so, which we must endeavour to rectify as far as possible, and endeavour to not worsen the damages done, - but also, we must ensure that the enviroment that we create is safe for us, and the flora and fauna that is a part of that enviroment. Destruction such as is happening in Victoria is unforgivable ,especially when it is known that a few people with "common sense" instead of a degree could see the problem, but were shouted down.

Perhaps I should mention that I am a (volunteer) firie of 30+ yrs experience and count as fellow brigade members and friends a collection of people (including 2 Yanks) who are conservationists, people who are willing to put in the hard yards to try to prevent large scale fires and devastation,whilst also trying to maintain a secure haven for our native friends on and in the earth.

Life, and its strange cycles ??

2009-01-18T20:43:00.002+11:00

I know its been a while since i posted anything, but there have been various reasons that overlapped to cause this,mainly the ruggies and trying to get the house done inside (still not finished - had a financial setback and machinery failure at the same time which lost me 6 weeks or so - lol) butalso had the odd issue at work, and a couple of nights on the fireline for good measure thrown in in the leadup to Christmas - wont even mention thefact that my main email address was chokedwith large emails for 5 weeks till I finally found a way to get them in - bloody frustrating.

Unfortunately, todays email offerings was the news that a neighbour and fellow firie had died this morning after a period of deteriating health - this will be the fourth funeral that I should attend since Christmas - but also got the news that another friend and brigade member is also not expected to live for very long - she has a tumour on an artery in her neck.

A couple of years ago saw the end of my fathers direct generation in a period of less than 18 mths, there is only an aunt by adoption, and an aunt by marraige - both a fair bit younger than the rest -left of that era of our family. This string of events did have a consequence in that there was a family gettogether organised for all of my cousins and any children etc who could get together for that weekend - were only3 who couldnt attend out of13 and a lot of the next generation was there as well.

This event was also used as an opportunity to collate the family history - a lot has been researched - but there were gaps even within the current generation (Maiden names & DOB of spouses etc) so hopefully that info is now together and we just have to fill in some of the gaps in prior generations in Australia - Noone has been able to find records on my paternal GGG Grandfather & mother other than their names an area of residence in Sthn England

7 Years (nearly)

2008-09-18T21:26:00.006+10:00

7 years ago on 9-11 I saw the images that were streamed around the world from New York on the TV in the maternity ward at Grafton Hospital during a "false alarm" start to the birth of the twins.

Back home next day, but with the edict from the doctors that something had to happen soon, and 7 days later,things were happening, but not as well as they should - so next morning a quick trip to the op theatre and at 4-15am No4 son was brought into the world , followed 2 mins later by No 1 daughter (AKA "the littlest feral one).

No he's not trying to cut off No 3's head (though think that he would like to sometimes - lol) just trying out his presents.

Seven years ago they were cute, controllable(??) and cuddly - what did I do wrong ??????? - oh well, they all get older and become their own individual selves, but sometimes ------(wish, wish)

Oh well , Happy 7th Birthday for tomorrow Ethan & Lilly

Stuffed up days

2008-08-24T19:35:00.002+10:00

Woke up Saturday morning ready to get into the current (repaint ) room -everything needed purchased over the last week, so a couple of coffees and ready to fire up the sander -wrong - both the new belts were not correct (too loose), so change of plans and go to plan B (using coarser belts) -they were too bloody shortand would not even go on the machine, so much hairpulling, ranting and raving, then looking for receipts etc and off to the local hardware store to get replacements - end result was belts that fitted, but 4 hours lost, so the room that should have been well and truly finished now still needs a couple of hours at least. Given that I leave home in the dark through the week and usually get home in the dark, the loss of 4 hrs + of daylight is a big negative in my plannings - lol

Life, and its entails

2008-08-19T20:38:00.002+10:00

I suppose that I have been a bit slack/ negative over the last couple of weeks, there were a few inputs into that happening, including being played for a dupe by a threetiming cyber friend, but that is now history. Was going through downers last post in that I couldnt achieve the goals that I was striving towards in the timeframe that I had set initially - those goals mainly being to repaint the interior of the house, and make it a place that I was not ashamed to have as a home for my children and for friends to visit - still got a way to go but Im slowly getting there.

One big upset was last Thursday (13th) coming home to a series of phonecalls from nieghbours that a young man in similar circumstances to me had hung himself in the park adjacent to my property- the ultimate form of self harm - turns out that his ex had made it that he could not go near his children through legal channels : Dont the mothers of children realise that at least 99% of the fathers of these children have deep feelings for them - its NOT just a mother thing Girls, us blokes do have feelings/ love/ affection/ etc towards our children, and to create a situation that leads to this result ultimately is a losing situation for the children - they now have NO father.

Out of sorts

2008-08-05T19:11:00.004+10:00

The last few weeks have been a bit of turmoil in my life -have had a workplace situation finally come to boiling point ( a result of "Workchoices") that has seen me and a few of my workmates dudded for making the effort to work when we were not 100% ok- seems that we have lost our entitlements to untaken sick pay, so now if we are not feeling ok, off to the quacks and a couple of days sickies. ( given that this amounted to $800 in the Xmas pay packet, not getting it, and not being told that it was not being included led to some stuffed budgets at the least) but the chickens are going to come home to roost in the next few days - 1 bloke takes a " sickie" - and the whole place stops - noone else can do his job - rofl

Also been doing some floor sanding and painting - which has meant a lot of time just trying to clean up the mess (and loads of washing) before the kids fortnightly weekend with me.

Throw into the mix a series of (large) bills all at once, and the dreaded tax time as well, it has been an eventfull 6 weeks or so.

Waste (of natural resources)

2008-07-28T19:54:00.002+10:00

One of the things that has interrupted my blogging access this last week was the failure of the alternator in my ute. This led to some rather drastic measures to actually being able to get to and from work (with the subsequent time involved - :-) )

There were a few possible causes of this problem, starting with a blown fuse as the first check - none blown - but the worst case scenario was a blown diode pack, which was a real possibility as the ruggies had used the ute to jumpstart the tractor last weekend.

Come Saturday morning, I stripped the alternator and did the necessary tests to find (happily) that it was no more than a worn out set of brushes that was causing the problem , so off to the auto electricians for a new set of brushes, bearings and an oil seal (max $50.00). whilst they had the brushes etc in stock, they were most insistant that the only thing to do was to throw the old one away and buy a new (aftermarket) unit for $600 - $800. Funnily enough, I had been repairing these items when the people trying to tell me what I should do were still in primary school, and have decided that there will be no more dealings by me with that firm - I may not hve the tickets but I DO have the qualifications in this field.

It struck me most tho, that in this age of greenhouse effects, climate change etc, that to just trash a whole assembly for the sake of a small handfull of parts and an hours labour was a negative way of looking at things.

Flying Foxes

2008-07-22T22:15:00.002+10:00

Hope that this might show the general idea of a "Flying Fox". This one is a bit more elaborate than most, but was a part of a commercial operation.

It is also the common name for the fruit bat, a small bat that is native to Australia, and lives on fruit and poses quite a few problems to orchards.

Billycarts

2008-07-22T21:51:00.003+10:00

For the American readers _ this is a couple of comic strips that should show what we in Australia call a "Billy cart".

"Ginger Meggs" is the basic "Ocker" kid,always in trouble at school for wagging to go fishing, being a bit entrepreneurial at times, getting bashed regularly by the local bully ,not understanding his girlfriend, etc.
This comicstrip has been a part of Australian life for a long time,nearly as long as the "Phantom" and a few others that are still going, it has changed a little bit over the last few years following the retirement and death of its founder, but to the best of my knowledge, the tradition is being maintained by one of his grandsons.

If you are interested , there is a website , and if you are on a reasonably fast connection, you should be able to access the archives (I cant, keep getting timed out

Nostalgic Saturday

2008-07-22T21:17:00.002+10:00

,
(May also be called Gumbos "Booking Sunday" as it is the result of his first purchase online - lol)

Whilst it may not seem to be an item of great significance to many, this particular book has a place in my families memories for a couple of reasons.

The one reason that relates to nostalgia is memories of the author and my mother exchanging numerous letters over a period of 2-3 years in the late 60's- early 70's passing on information , then confirming the information ( The author was sourcing info from a lot of others as well)

The other reason that this is special to me is that it gives a detailled history of my ancestors back to their Irish times, but also goes back to the actually Scot origins of this line of my forebears, and I do even get a mention.

It was a self published, limited edition (750 copies, numbered and signed by the author) , and I have had the good fortune to get na copy in very good condition.

Friday Foto Challenge - Green

2008-07-22T20:58:00.001+10:00

Friday Foto Challenge - Timeless

2008-07-22T20:50:00.003+10:00

(very late) Friday foto Challenge -Time

2008-07-22T20:31:00.002+10:00

Billycarts and Flying Foxes

2008-07-15T20:49:00.002+10:00

For the Americans who read, I was hoping to put up a cartoon strip and a pic to show what they are, but my scanner is still buried under a dropsheet - so will try and have it ready for the weekend, plus a few missed friday fotos -

Nostalgic Saturday

2008-07-05T05:07:00.003+10:00

"Down the (Old) back paddock" - This is a photo of an oil painting done of the back paddock of my childhood. It was painted by Mrs E Winkell, a friend of my grandparents following a visit to our place.I remember that she sat on a log near the woodheap and daubed and dabbled on a piece of masonite, and what left that day looked nothing like the finished product - it was her way of placing the colours. She did 2 of these paintings, a larger one that she exhibited at Epping art show, and got a major prize for, and this smaller one that she gave to my parents.

The painting is slightly smaller than a sheet of A4 paper, and she got a very close image of the reality ( with the exception of the water - there wasnt that much in the creek, and the fences - they were originally post and rail, but by this time had been replaced with posts and wire.) The creek was actually a billabong which was nearly the full length of the property.

I must have been in my early/ mid teens when this was painted as can remember that she had 2 daughters, but girls were not a point of interest til a little while later - lol

Friday

2008-07-04T04:04:00.001+10:00

Sorry folks, but mine will be late this week - need the old comp for part of it and it is currently buried under a dropsheet :-)

Nostalgic Saturday

2008-06-28T07:21:00.003+10:00

Christmas holidays, early 1960's. My cousin David spent his holidays with us for a few years as his parents ran a milk bar- takeaway at Dee Why beach, and were fullon at this time of the year.We used to do a lot of things that kids did then - build billycarts, flying foxes, and the like.
Photo - me, cousin David with Ginger the cat, my sister.

Humour

2008-06-21T05:23:00.003+10:00

Nostalgic Saturday

2008-06-21T02:15:00.003+10:00

Just going back to the "Golf" theme of a couple of weeks ago - this is my (maternal) Grandfather doing one of the things he loved. This photo would have been taken late 30's to late 40's

I never knew my maternal grandparents, other than what my mother told me and my sister about them, but the memories of looking through the various photos, newspaper clippings (my grandfather was in charge of the Sydney Cricket Ground from late 20's till after WW11, and was mentioned in a lot of the articles that were on cricket tests etc at that venue) and other memorabilia from that time, which was kept in an old Gladstone bag with my mother remain.

Sadly, there are a lot of the old photos that we now have no way of putting names to the faces - which nurse out of a group of nurses was my grandmother ? or is it one of her sisters who is the family connection in that particular photo etc . a lot we know, but equally, there are a lot we dont as well

Friday Foto Challenge - Texture

2008-06-21T01:55:00.003+10:00

Late again - had a camera (operator) malfunction on Thurs night, and had to go back after work Friday and try again. :-)

2008-06-14T16:20:00.006+10:00

My Paternal Grandparents 50th Wedding Anniversary (1964)

First pic ; Norman and Hilda (with A- youngest g/child{adopted})

Second pic;Uncle R, my father S, Aunt H, Uncle N, Hilda (Grandmother) Norman (Grandfather) , Uncle L. There was a natural daughter who died at age 3 - Aunt H was an adopted child.

Third pic; All the grandchildren (+a ring in - the girl standing between my grandparents was being fostered at the time, and was in the process of being adopted , but something happened and it never eventuated)

I do remember these times as one where you had to be dressed up ( including a tie - yuk), that there were certain formalities that were followed (starting with the Royal toast and Grace), and that you could do a function such as this on a limited budget with help from nieghbours. The only pic that was missed out on was all of the sons and daughters by marraige (ie my mother, my aunts and uncle who married into the family.

Nostalgic Saturday

2008-06-07T04:12:00.002+10:00

This is a photo of my Uncle 'Paddy' and my cousins on holidays at Budgewoi on the central coast.
They used to come up from Wagga every year, and was the only time that we got to see them, us travelling to Wagga back then was just not practible. The car is a Standard 8, that he had owned from new - about this time, he was looking into upgrading, but when he was offered 10 pounds ($20) trade in - kept it and "drove it into the ground" for another 8 years or so.

He was an avid golfer and part of the reason for this trip was to participate in the country week of golf around the Sydney courses. I always remember him as a laconic, cigar smoking (it wasnt frowned on then!!) contact lens wearing ( glasses werent much good in the rain playing golf :) )
and competent person.

He was my Godfather and my mothers only brother, and these visits to the central coast meant that we got to go to the beach - which was a novelty back then other than to my grandparents.

Work - Stress and Tension

2008-06-07T02:03:00.004+10:00

In my workplace , there is an ongoing problem with stress and tension.

The industry has a band of doctors who are specialists in resolving these issues, and for the smaller firms, there are doctors on call who are employed by one of the major suppliers of the specialist equipment that we use. they are located in areas across the state and might be responsible for an area covering 400 kilometres or more.

They are usually needed every 3 - 6 months, tho if things go wrong, may be neeed in a lot less time than that.

The specialised nature of their work, and the ease that a good one can achieve the desired results with, has led to a smattering of "wannabes" who can often achieve the results, but with a lot shorter durability - or some who simply are taking money under false pretences. Also, there is a couple of newer methods that are available, tho the results are dependent on the skill of the doctor, even with these, as we have found at work this week.

Pictures are
Top : The operating table(anvil), instruments (hammers -he has 6 more, some heavier - they have specially shaped faces to enable him to stretch or shrink the metal to get the right tension into the saw -if the tension is in the wrong place, or the tension is lost from overheating, then the saw will not "stand up" and it is nearly impossible to cut straight and true timber)
He uses a series of 'straight edges' to check the results and to do his diagnosis

Center; A cured patient, the marks are from the heavier blows to achieve the tension, there are a lot of lighter blows used to get the saw back to a flat surface

Bottom: The next patient -the ring marks are from the rolling method that was used when making the saw -these saws have only been used once as the tension was in the wrong area, and wouldnt "stand up"

Friday Foto Challenge - Nature

2008-06-07T01:09:00.003+10:00

Magic Moments

2008-06-01T16:04:00.004+10:00

My magic moments consist of time with the kids - limited to 2 days/ fortnight with 4 at the moment, and had very little with No 1 till the last week or so since the New year.
He offered and then came out to help with the cattle work ( but the kickers were 1he eats a lot- lol and 2 he wanted to introduce a mate to the blood and guts side of cattlework)
So here he is , knife in hand, doing what he is good at,and Im cursing flat batteries - cause i couldnt get any more pics - but hes a bit bigger than the cream covered urchin a few blogs back now :-) {Big J in orange shirt, his mate L watching}

Now I have to work for a fortnight to replenish the larder - lol

Nostalgic Saturday

2008-05-31T07:33:00.004+10:00

This is a picture of my Grandfather and Mary, the lamb.It was taken about 3 months after my Grandmother died, and his next door neighbour gave him this lamb as a newborn orphan. He raised her on powdered milk, and she used to go everywhere with him, including shopping at Ettalong, so he always had people stopping and talking to him.

After a couple of years, she got too big for him to handle ( he was in his 70's ) so went to my uncle and aunt's place in Dora Creek, where she was popular around the neighbours as a cheap lawnmower.

Friday Foto Challenge - Manmade

2008-05-31T02:15:00.002+10:00

Friday foto

2008-05-30T04:16:00.002+10:00

Silly me forgot the bloody camera yesterday, so wont get a pic and post it till this evening (Cameras going in ute as soon as I finish this - lol)

Nostalgic Saturday

2008-05-24T05:12:00.003+10:00

Footy Days - South Lakes Junior Rugby League (Under 10's) about 1964

This was a club that was based at Dora Creek (Central Coast, NSW) . We played in St George colours (the "V" is red ) so have usually tended to favour them as an NRL team to follow.

This is how we played, no boots (not everyone could afford them) and the only padding was 2 squares of foam that were in an internal pocket on each hip.

The coach is my Uncle L , Im second left back row, and my cousin G is 3rd right front row (with Bandaids on knee). He went on to play in the Newcastle league for a while and would have most likely played with or against "Joey" Johns when Joey was starting his career in footy.

My father was the coach of this team when we were Under 8's , and can remember the away games usually involved fitting most (if not all ) of the team into a 1937 Pontiac (no seatbelts those days - lol ) and away we would go.

Friday Foto Challenge - Taste

2008-05-23T03:15:00.002+10:00

Cordon Bleu cooking - Batchelor style ?? lol

Nostalgic Saturday

2008-05-17T05:04:00.004+10:00

"The cats got the cream??" - Nah -

This is No1 son (Big J) at about 15 mths after tipping 1/2 liter (about 1 pint) of cream over himself - jug on right was full before he managed to do this. He was not a happy chappy - think the cream was stinging his eyes - but we were all so busy laughing at him,its a wonder that these pics were even taken.

He was a bit of a bugger for this type of exploit, got pink primer in his hair on another memorable occassion, and had 2 goes at burning the house down - lol - but still, he is my firstborn and gave an indication of what was to come with the next 4 (and they have all followed his lead in one way or another)

Friday Foto Challenge - Number

2008-05-16T04:17:00.003+10:00

The back paddock -seeing that that is the blog title bestowed .

2008-05-11T06:23:00.007+10:00

Managed to get these pics out of sequence - lol -thi 1st pic is supposed to be last !

One in 100 year flood (they evacuated the local hospital!!)

Near back boundary
Back boundary (southern)

Back boundary (Eastern) -This stretch of the river is approx 300 mtrs wide (1oooft) and is considered by some skiers to be the best section of skiing water between Sydney and the Queensland border.

"The Jungle paddock" -Scrub in middle foreground is approx 15 acres -and 100 cows can hide in there

House etc in background is over the southern boundary

More of same - Dead tree is an old River Red Gum- and has at least 4 separate bee hives in it -

And another - All the country in the last 3 pics goes under in a major flood - tho that generally only lasts for 2 - 3 days , but have had repeated floods in the past

Nostalgic Saturday

2008-05-10T00:01:00.000+10:00

This photo was taken in late Spring, 1954 of a crop of oats my father and a sharefarmer grew for chaff to use in the dairy that we had then. I cant actually remember the crop, but remember playing in the temporary storage that they used for the chaff in later years, and the hustle that was involved in chaffing and storing it. This crop was a bit remarkable in its height, Westy (the sharefarmer) was 6 foot 2 - and another photo taken on the same day shows the crop above his raised hand - far different to the crops nowadays that only grow to waist height. My parents closed the dairy down when I was 8, and went into beef cattle - a decision forced in part by the requirements of the dairy inspector to spend more money every visit -the last one that he wanted to see done would have cost more than a years income, and this was on top of a string of requirements that had already been fulfilled.

The girl in the photo is my sister (at nearly 3 yo) , the man is Westy, the baby is ...................................................................................................................................................... yes youve guessed it - its yours truly - Me :-)

Friday Foto Challenge - Angle

2008-05-08T04:43:00.002+10:00

A bit about me

2008-05-07T20:19:00.002+10:00

Hi Blogger viewers.

Since I have now been dragged (kicking and screaming - lol) into the world of blogging in the first part {and not just commenting on Random, MG's Musings or She dreams in colours blogs} here is a little about me.

"Down the back paddock" is Abbeys (very artistic) interpretation of me as a farmer/ grazier, which I am ( tho not always as good as I would like to be), but I am also the father of 5 (4 boys and 1 girl[tomboy who is supposed to be a lady :) ], ranging from 16 to 6.

I also work in a sawmill to get the money to survive from week to week, and also used to work as a mechanic and "goffer" with a trucking company.

I am a member of the Rural Fire Service, and was captain of the local brigade till the arrival of my last 2 children (twins) which event meant that there was not enough time for work, family and brigade - something had to go to a lesser priority, tho I always wonder if I made the right choices - the current situation seems to indicate otherwise at times :-).

Computerwise, it is all a big learning curve for me, there has been a computer here for about 8 years, but "you are doing it all wrong, let me do it "prevailled till about 18 mths ago when the (original) comp, the kids, and the missus changed address, and I had to start from scratch ( didnt help that the it bloke that could explain things to me in plain English died just after all the above events).

So I started looking around the web and ran into a very special person there, and from that (cyber ) meeting (and 2 computers later -lol) I have ended up here in Blogland (with a few more friends) - thanks Abbey

More flowers -(for Indigo Daisy)- Blue Ginger Lily

2008-05-05T03:58:00.004+10:00

This is the rest of the photos I took for the friday foto (blue) -I'm not the greatest photographer in the world tho.(Disregard the date -I was running out of daylight and didnt reset it)

Had one of those --

2008-05-04T03:17:00.008+10:00

-but the wheel fell off !!

That time of the year -rego fast approaching and some bushes had to be replaced, so am going to do the lot, as the extra cost was minimal and could see me having to do them next year anyway.

Bit hard getting back into a mechanical frame of mind, it seems to be a long time since I did any,though it is a hobby (and trade) of mine. Still, there have been other things to be done, so there hasnt been much time for hobbies through the day.

Nostalgic Saturday

2008-05-03T07:27:00.000+10:00

This is a photo I took of my (paternal) Grandparents on the front steps of their house at Ettalong Beach. It was a place where all of the grandchildren had enjoyable times when there on holidays -it was a 1 block walk to the beach, and an easy walk along the beach to Ettalong. The beach was protected, being in Brisbane Waters, and was very safe for youngsters. We used to hire canoes (based on the American Indian type of canoe) for 6pence/ hour (5 cents) and have a glorious time, catch whitebait and just swim and enjoy ourselves as only children can.

The novice blogger

2008-05-03T06:41:00.000+10:00

Since I have now been dragged kicking and screaming into the world of blogging by the lovely Abbey from 'Random', I had better let you all know that what you see is actually her creation - and a very nice creation she has produced for me.

I'm not as good at writing "in depth" types of things such as she or MG do - I dont have the gift of the gab (despite my 1/4 Irish origins lol) so there wont be much in he way of deep and meaningful posts here unless i steal them from somewhere else.

So with many thanks to Abbey, Ill finish this, my 1st post.

Original 'Mudmap'!

2008-05-03T04:09:00.000+10:00

Nostalgic Saturday

2008-04-27T02:20:00.000+10:00

This is about my grandmothers brother. There was a mix up as there were two Percival Loxton's enlisted - though some clerk made an error as this one was actually just Percy. The confusion over the names resulted in my grandmothers family not getting confirmation of his death till mid 1918. There is about 25 pages of correspondence listed in the National Archives on this matter.

Forgiving Your Enemies

2008-04-18T04:01:00.000+10:00

All women should live so long as to be this kind of old lady!

Toward the end of Sunday service, the Minister asked, 'How many of you have forgiven your enemies?' 80% held up their hands.

The Minister then repeated his question. All responded this time, except one small elderly lady. 'Mrs. Neely?'; 'Are you not willing to forgive your enemies?'I don't have any.' She replied, smiling sweetly.

'Mrs. Neely, that is very unusual. How old are you?' 'Ninety-eight.' she replied.'Oh, Mrs. Neely, would you please come down in front & tell us all how a person can live ninety-eight years & not have an enemy in the world?'

The little sweethe art of a lady tottered down the aisle, faced the congregation, and said:

'I've outlived the bitches.'

Friday Foto Challenge - Blue

2008-04-05T03:45:00.001+11:00

HMAS Sydney

2008-03-28T04:20:00.000+11:00

(17th March 2008)

The wreck of missing Royal Australian Navy cruiser HMAS Sydney (II) has been found.

HMAS Sydney (II) was tragically lost in November 1941 off Western Australia with its entire crew, following a fierce engagement with the German raider HSK Kormoran.

The search first focused on finding the German raider Kormoran which was located on 12 March approximately 112 nautical miles off Steep Point, Western Australia lying in 2,560 metres of water.

The discovery of the main battle site, less than four nautical miles south of Kormoran’s position, was then used to direct the team’s effort in searching for Sydney. The wreck of the Sydney was confirmed , approximately 12 nautical miles off Kormoran , under 2,470 metres of water.

Finding Sydney Foundation now has photos and ROV (remotely-operated submersible vehicle) video footage of the wreck. The ABC has a documentary on the hunt for the Sydney which will air April 15. MG also has a post on the memorials at Geraldton here. 645 crewman lost their lives when the Sydney went down.