Moving on

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 ????

(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.

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

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

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

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

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

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 +)

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

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)

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

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 :-) )