Wednesday
Category: House, Garden and Dogs
Wandering, new lenses and vanishing comments
As suspected the Zoom Conference was a series of drop-outs ( NO not that kind of drop-out) and I dropped out 8 times and missed much of the discussions. Mind you, having said that, the last quarter has seen everything closed down, so, really, there was not a lot to discuss and anything I did miss, I’ll pick when the minutes arrive.. The last two days have been reasonable with regard to the weather. I even managed to take Benji out to Point Lowly and the lighthouse. For Benji it was an afternoon out in the car and a wander around old, familiar ground. For me it was an exercise in frustration. I bought a new lens for the camera – a 15mm wide angle lens and I just couldn’t get the setting right. All the photographs I took were just blank shots – nothing but white. To make matters worse, somehow a feature had gotten activated that was really frustrating me and no matter what I tried I just could not get it off. Eventually I gave up – put the camera in the car, took Benji for a last walk to the lighthouse and then drove home. Once home I took out the camera went into the back yard and stayed there until I removed this annoying feature – which I eventually did – and if you even think to ask me what I did – don’t – because I have no idea ! That’s about it for the moment since the next few days are forecast to be cold, wet and miserable again.
Before he went back up north to Olympic Dam ( Roxby Downs) Andrew and I spent a day in Port Lincoln. He drove as far as Franklin Harbour (107klm) and I drove to just after the Tumby
Bay (140 klm) turn-off and he drove from there into Port Lincoln. I wanted to go to Bunnings so we went there first, mainly because it was the furthest away and we would work back from there. Andrew wanted some things for Connor so we spent some time in Children’s Clothing. I wandered off to the pet section and had a look around finally buying a new toy for Benji. I did, however, get the photograph of the Champion Racehorse that I didn’t get last time we were in Lincoln. Same as last time, we went for lunch at Del Giorno’s Restaurant, which is always excellent. I found Andrew’s car new difficult to drive. What I mean is that it drives very well, responsive and smooth, but difficult for me. I am a midget a mere 5ft. 5 inches and this car was not designed for someone as small as me. The driving seat only went so far forward, which was not close enough for me. By the time I had
driven to the 140 klm, I was quite painful and had to pull over and change drivers. Yes I know but everything in this car is electric including the seat adjustment and Andrew has it set up for him and was unable to make too much in the way of changes to accommodate me. I was uncomfortable mainly because I felt I really didn’t have full control of the vehicle. Still, it was a good day out and I got the bench cushions that I wanted and a new toy for Benji. Andrew did get some things but not as much as he wanted and we did have a nice lunch. The following morning Andrew went back up to Olympic Dam.
Benji and I spend the yesterday afternoon (Friday 15th) at Stony Point and the lighthouse. I have been playing with a new lens and during the afternoon I took lots of photographs – dumped lots of photographs. This new lens will take a bit of getting used to and setting up. It’s interesting – frustrating – but interesting. It is supposed to be a nice day today so more than likely I’ll drive out to the Point again and play some more with the new lens, and Benji doesn’t care where I go to in the car just as long as I go with him. I might even get to keep some photographs this time :o) I have ordered a battery for the camera. I have the feeling I might need an extra battery. And again my comments have vanished from a post – both by the same person. Perhaps their server does not like me, they don’t like me or my server is playing silly beggars, I know not, but something is not right
Wednesday
Towards the Final Curtain V
The police are at their wits end and are at a loss on what to do next. Hardly a week passes without there being a death on our roads, drivers taunting police and engaging in police pursuits, which have to be terminated because it’s too dangerous for the police to continue. And if the clown ( not the word I really want to use) crashes the car and is killed- guess what – it’s the police fault – it was only a car for goodness sake! And it’s not just males. What made the police and the rest of us, shake collective heads in despair.? Less than five minutes drive from here ( my house) a driver rolled the car in the scrub, one passenger was badly injured and was flown by the RFDS to Adelaide, where he died. The other passenger suffered “multiple limb injuries” and treated here in hospital as was the driver of the car, who suffered minor injuries. This was NOT the outcome of a police chase. Ok having taken that in, now take this in – The driver of the car was charged by Major Crime Investigators with causing death and harm, by Dangerous Driving. There was also a raft of other charges. The Driver of the car was 12 years of age. The passenger who died was his 20 year old brother and the other injured person was 11 years of age. In Heaven’s Name – where do we go from here? This is not over – there will be more to come out of this. The main area for these deaths on the roads is Adelaide and surrounds and it is
concerning me that I have to drive down there in a couple of weeks and right at the moment I am not greatly enthused. A few days later a teenager walked free from court after a crash that killed his passenger, The driver suffered head injuries and said he doesn’t remember the crash or the fact that he was high on drugs and alcohol when he lost control of the car, so the Kindly judge gave him a suspended sentence and he walked free from court. In South Australia you can kill someone, go to court, plead guilty and get 40% deduction of your sentence just for pleading guilty and saving the state the cost of a trial.
I have had an email yesterday which now tells me that there will be no physical meeting next week. The people cannot come to Adelaide from Queensland so the Conference will be by Zoom- which is yet to be set up, so no doubt I will get all the necessary information in the fullness of time.`My problem is that the NBN is not stable in this area and I keep on dropping out. This is what happened at the RFDS Conference – freeze up, then drop out.
I have been doing some further reading on the South Australian National and Conservation Parks and discovered that with the exception of parts of the Flinders Ranges National Park, to even have a dog in your car within the bounds of a National Park can still attract a hefty fine. The reason for the part exemption of the Flinders Ranges National Park, is simply that the main road runs through the middle of the park. However, here’s an interesting thing – I have said that dogs are banned from National Parks – Service Dogs are not. Interesting.
On the subject of the Flinders Ranges, the weather, which is cold, wet and miserable was soo bad these last few days that it was snowing at the Flinders National Park and there are reports that it looked like a ski area. Apparently it has snowed there before but that was about 60 years ago. So, really, it has been cold here the last week or so. Down here it has just been raining almost constant, but a couple of times it has not really been “rain” but a continual wet and cold Scottish Drizzle. Might not be heavy but it’s just as wet.
Friday
Wednesday
Wednesday
Warning – photograph heavy.
Today Benji and I went wandering to the Wetlands, the Foreshore and the Ada Ryan Gardens. I have not been to the gardens in the evening to see the pathways with the new lighting, but it’s on my list. I have visited the gardens a few times in the last week and it has been quiet, despite it being school holidays. I did take a few photographs especially of the birds, but trying to get a good photograph through small one inch square holes is not the best. Still I did try. I also look at one of the plants – not really sure what it is but I did like the butterfly. The other yellow bush
is an Australian Wattle Bush at the Wetlands. The birds were difficult but not impossible, so I was able to put the camera hard against the cage and photograph through the bars. Not all were successful.
I am pleased to say that the Kiosk at the Wetlands is going well and most days it is very busy. It still has only limited seating due to the social distancing, but there ample seats and benches close at hand and there are seats at the barbecue area which is fairly close.. The council have made an extra entrance into the area so it’s much easy to access now. I have not been round the back of the Wetlands for a little while which means that I have not been feeding the geese and ducks. The reason for this is Benji. The back area is all gravel paths and Benji does not do too well in gravel. Some of the area is a “softer”gravel but where where we have to go is down through the hard stuff, I generally have to carry him. On bitumen, concrete, dirt and grass he’s fine, but not gravel. I did notice that the Black Swans are gone and I have not seen the Pelican for a while so perhaps he/she has also gone home – wherever that is. After our walk around the Wetlands we drove down to the Foreshore, but it’s still school holidays and I felt
there were too many dogs there so I took him into the Ada Ryan Gardens instead. Same flowers but no butterfly this time. It’s interesting that we are in the middle of winter but the temperature is starting to warm up just a little. For example, yesterday was a nice 22c – still a bit on the cool side but not bad. Cold once the sun goes down.
In South Australia we have only had 1 case of COVID 19 in the last month. However our borders are closed as the State of Victoria has recorded some 300 new cases, a figure that has been increasing over the last week. New South Wales is not quite as bad but our border there still remains closed. It is now fairly certain that the second wave of cases in Victoria are linked to the two protests and the rally that followed.. I mean Victorians could not go fishing or play golf as individuals, but the government allowed two major BLM protests and a rally to take place. In New South Wales, the police want the BLM protest banned and are going to the Supreme Court to get the authority to stop the protest but they expect that the Greens and other left radicals will turn up anyway. There will be fines of $2000 for those who do and the police chief has said they could set back the New South Wales economy by 10 years. Our borders remain closed with a two year prison term for anyone breaking the border restrictions. The reason for the prison is that the fines ($2000) just don’t seem to deter them.
I did go up to the Gardens later when the lights had come on. I was pleased with the time, but I don’t think I had the settings on the camera quite right and was not very happy with the final outcome. Out of the photographs I took I was only really happy with one – possibly two. Still, I suppose it’s better than not being happy with any. The last few mornings have been cold and foggy, so not walking weather.
Well, Nearly….
Thoughtful Thursday
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