Benji – Page 6 – Edgar's Page

Around the area.

13/10/2018 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Benji relaxing – which he is good at :o)

I mentioned before that the day I was outside was a lovely warm, sunny day. The contrast is that yesterday afternoon it started raining, was cold and Adelaide had a major thunderstorm. We got a little bit of a side swipe, some lightening, bit of thunder and some rain. Today it’s dry but cold and overcast – very much back in winter mode although not quite as cold, but still cold. The army has now left their Cultana Playpen so we have a military free month until the next group come over from Canberra. The next group will be the Officer Cadets from the Military College in Canberra who will come here for their final exercise before returning to the College to undertake their final exams. This group will not be out at the PlayPen, but will be under canvas at the showground – same as last time – and they don’t have tanks. Not that we saw much of the tanks this time round. Interesting in that we were told to expect live-fire shooting from tanks and artillery. We heard nothing, but then the Training Ground ( Playpen) is over 2500 Square Kilometers in size.

Much of the last week has been cold and miserable with rain off and on. Also it is now dark again in the mornings since the clocks went forward an hour. My 6am walk with the dog is dark with the light not happening until close to the end of our walk at 7am. The forecast for the week is dull and overcast with possibly some rain. The weekend, however, should be warm and sunny. Today and tomorrow the RFDS Local Group are guests at the new On The Run (OTR) Service Station. Apparently the billionaire owner of the OTR is now a sponsor of the RFDS so we have been invited to the pre-opening tonight and the official opening tomorrow.

The problems and concerns with WordPress are not getting any better and I have to rescue more and more posts and comments from the Spam Folder. In fact most of the posts from Tales around the Ranch, Glasgow Galavanter, Spoon you, My Golden life (sort off because they do vanish and I have no idea where to). These are the main ones but there are others – Scotland with the Wee White Dug, is a frequent visitor to the Spam Folder. I am really thinking of adding a new comment when I reply to people – RFS – Rescued from Spam :o) Always providing that I find them in the first place. Others have either stopped writing or they are somewhere else and I have not found them yet. – but I will. This is only recent and I have no idea why it is happening.

The pre-opening of the OTR Service Station was interesting and attended by the Mayor, Deputy Mayor, The State MP for the area, the Federal MP for the Region, councillors, and business

leaders and the RFDS. It was quite an evening, lots of food, some speeches and some presentations. The Regional Manager of OTR will attend the RFDS Meeting in November and explain to the members how the sponsorship works and how the charity money is distributed by OTR. The RFDS is their preferred sponsor but they have a few other charities that they contribute to.

I have decided that I am well and truly over walking in the morning dark and the sooner we get into summer the better. Apart from being dark, it is cold and windy and not really the best time of the day. It was fine until the clock change. If I leave it until later his biological clock gets put out of whack and there could be an “accident’. When the alarm goes off he’s up and ready to go but he has to wait for me getting dressed – “come on dad, hurry up” . The Wetlands Kiosk has its opening today, so, sometime during the morning I will get down with Benji and have a coffee and a walk – depending on the weather, of course and the length of time I am at the OTR Service Station. I did drive around that way going home from the Service Station last night and there were a few cars and light on in the Kiosk and the area around it getting everything ready for the opening today, I expect.

Lazy Spring Days.

03/10/201803/10/2018 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

I have not written for a while, mainly because I was reluctant to do so until such time as I knew what was happening with this account. Well that can be summed up in a single word – nothing. I have written twice to WordPress without reply so I have – for the time being – decided to treat my spam folder as an alternate inbox. A sort of halfway house really since posts and comments do appear for a few seconds in the inbox and then dissapear

into the spam folder. Why is it so?? I have no idea!

A few weeks ago Benji and I went out to the garden. It was a lovely, warm spring day – about 28c -. I put up the umberella, brought out my laptop and my Filofax and intended to do some work. I had papers to sort out and a couple of emails to write for the RFDS. Benji plonked himself down on the padded bench until it became too warm for him so he slid under the table where the tablecloth and the umbrella protected him from the sun. It

was such a lovely day and I was sorry that spring and summer could not remain as this was. It will, however get hotter as the weeks go on, so I just enjoyed the day as it was. In the time since writing, we have been back to the Port, but, sadly, not the Arid Lands Botanic Garden, we have spent quite a few afternoons at the Wetlands and a couple of afternoons out at the lighthouse. I found some interesting birds at the Wetlands and put a photograph on line. I thought them to be pretty birds and at another part of the walk one of these birds approached me, then Benji moved and the bird walked away. I have since found out that these very pretty white birds are Feral Geese, and (so I am told) very aggresive. They seemed harmless enough to me. The Kiosk has been opened for an afternoon, selling coffee only and trying to get some feedback before official opening, which is the 10th. October. The above photograph of Benji was taken at what used to be a very popular beach on the way to the lighthouse. It was one of the areas we used to take all the children to fish and play – my sister’s children and my boys. Then it was decided that the point would be just right for the Santos Liquids Processing plant so much of the area was closed off for a long while. Now it is very rarely visited and even then only by people on the way to and from the lighthouse who see the expanse of white sand from the road, or people, like me, who remember it from ages past.

At the Wetlands the birds are slowly returning and we now have two pair of Black Swans. I hope the third pair will return. I did mention the Wild

(Feral) Geese and then there is this fellow and I have no idea who he is, but I have seen him a couple of times at different parts of the area.

I have also been doing some work in the garden. There is an area that has not been neglected but it seemed that whatever I planted there – died. I decided it must be the soil, so I dug it all out, removed it and replaced it with fresh soil toppoed by potting mis and fertilizer. Watered it all in and planted some flowers. They lasted for two days until the next door 87,000 cats dug them up. Kind of them, I thought.. I am not giving up and have bought new plants, posts and chicken wire. We’ll see how that does.

Trip to Port Pirie Pt. 2

10/09/2018 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Having had lunch at the Tin Man, we had a bit of a walk before going back to the car and heading off to Port Augusta. He did his usual – curl up on the front seat and go to sleep – whilst I concentrated on the driving. On arrival at the Port I managed to complete the remainder of the shopping and we had a small snack and a good long walk along the Esplanade, sat down and had a bit of a break. Oddly enough, although it was quite warm in Port Pirie, Augusta was not quite so warm and instead of the A/C I put the heater on for a bit. The drive back was uneventful and as we neared the town, I noticed a cloud of dust. As I drew near to the source of the dust I discovered that it was caused by several of the Army Tanks heading towards the live-fire area. (more on this later) The boy and I had been away since about 8am and it was now approaching 4pm, so all in we had a good day out together, The Shopping Center at Pirie was really interesting and I would liked some time to explore it. I have a ‘thing’about shopping malls and centers and find them fascinating places. It probably comes from the fact that when we were growing up in Scotland there were no shopping malls or shopping centers. In fact there weren’t supermarkets until the mid 1970s – and they were few and far between. Most shopping was done in individual shops – Fishmongers – Fruit and Veg at the Green Grocer – Grocers,( butter, milk, cheese, bread ) Butcher, Baker and yes, we did have a Candlemaker. (Shearer of Govan) We had two big grocer shops close to us, Galbraith and the Co-op. There were probably others that I don’t remember. All-in-all, we had a really good day out – well I did, he just curled up on the front seat.

Flowers along the pathway at the Wetlands

On Friday, Annabell had medical appointments so not much doing. Saturday I spent the day working in the garden sweeping up leaves and doing a general tidy up. I bought two new plants and will attend to them on Monday. On Sunday (today), after church and lunch the boy and I got in

the car and drove down to the Wetlands. Lovely day with a nice temperature of 25c, just the job for a circuit and a half together. Flowers out and to add to the day, the Black Swans were back again. The Kiosk is still not open. It was supposed to be open this week but there you are – perhaps next week.

This morning (Monday) was a bit on the cool side for our morning walk. Still it is supposed to be around 28c during the course of the day. A nice day in the Arid Lands. On the subject of Arid Lands, the Arid Lands Botanic Garden is under a cloud – re. funding. The ALBG was started many years ago as an initiative of the Port Augusta City Council, but with budget being “tight” the Port might not be able to keep the funding going for much longer. However, having read that I have to say the recent trip to Pirie showed me the amount of redevelopment going on in the port. The Feds and the State Government will start construction on the new major bridge soon. so there will be a fair amount of work at

Not too bad looking – but who minds as long as the coffee is good and it sells scones.

Port Augusta. I have started extra work in the back garden and have planted three new plants – two in the front garden and one (so far) in the back. The soil here is poor and thin so I do have three raised flower beds – two front and one back. They contain 280 ltrs of potting mix rather than soil. In the front I have a Plumbago and a Coleonema and at the back I have a second Coleonema. I also have a growing Sturt Desert Rose which I will plant in a different area. I have

a lot of hope for this because the native plants are growing well. I would like to get time this week to drive out to the ALBG but in order to do that I would have to leave Benji at home – and he wont like that. He does not like getting left – not at all. It’s bad enough when I have to go to away for days at a time.

It’s all happening……….

17/08/201823/08/2018 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

The fall-out over the sudden collapse of the South Australian Construction/ Engineering company, York Civil, continues with sub-contractors owed hundreds of thousands of dollars and projects in Adelaide, Western Australia and New South Wales now under threat. I was not being facetious the other day when I said that staff arrived at work on Monday morning and by lunch had all their things in cardboard boxes and were heading out the door – that is exactly how it happened. By Monday evening there was some hope – by Tuesday it was gone and the company ceased trading. In the last few months we have lost two Engineering Companies here – Stassi Engineering and Ottaway Engineering, which is not helping. However, York Civil was not involved in any projects here. I thought the big City Council / GFG Alliance Joint Announcement was yesterday but I was wrong -it is today (Wednesday) The reason for today is that the

State Premier, Steven Marshall, will be here today.

During my Adelaide trip Yogi went home. Jim’s son came and collected him. We don’t mind looking after Yogi – he is no trouble and he and Benji get on well. Jim is not allowed to drive and Fay is looking after him, so I have become the taxi driver for the Coffee Ladies ( well, three ) until further notice. Jim’s son will be going home to Western Australia to his own family today. I have spent the last two days organising people for the RFDS Stand at the Show this weekend. We have one and a half days to be on duty and I have managed to get everyone organised and ready to go. I will be there on Saturday covering two shifts from 1pm to 8pm and close. It’s really an information only stand. We can have donation tins and we can run a raffle but we are not allowed to sell anything. Still it should be an interesting day and a half and I would like to think that we get to talk to a lot of interesting – and interested – people. I spoke to the chairman of the Men’s Shed and they were offered a stand at the show, but couldn’t get any volunteers to help run it — which I thought was sad.

1st Announcement: The Premier has just announced that the State Government will commit $100 million to the building of a new 7

-12 High School to replace the three current, and declining High Schools. The Senior High School, was a 1960s style school and it showed it. The students did not like it, mainly because it was quite depressing and its facilities were old and worn. The labor government did an assessment of the school and suggested that it was too big for the number of students, so they wanted two wings closed down and classes merged – and – they would no longer pay for the cleaning of these areas. Three teachers refused to move because of the disruption it would cause their students. They were told by admin. that their classrooms would no longer be cleaned. Fine!! The three “rebels”bought a decent Hoover between them and undertook to clean the classrooms themselves. Their students decided that they would help out so some came in early to help their teachers clean up. Recently the School has spent a lot of money trying to brighten up the place. It’s not too bad looking now, but it’s still tired.

2nd Announcement: British Billionaire owner of GFG Alliance has announced the launching of a $1Billion energy program, the first phase of which will begin outside of Whyalla in early 2019. This will be a 280 Megawatt Solar Power Station capable of powering 100,000 homes and the larger part of the needs of the GFG Alliance Steel Plant. Initial creation of 350 new jobs. The company said the 600 gigawatt hours of generation per year was enough to power 96,000 average homes, with its 780,000 solar panels spread across 11 square kilometres, an area 550 times larger than Adelaide Oval. It would offset 492,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year.

3rd Announcement: GFG Alliance will supply the steel for the construction of the 165 metre Jetty. The Jetty was damaged in a storm surge over a year ago and has been out of commission since. A public debate was held and suggestions made for the shape and size of the new jetty and the final plans will now go out for tender. Once approval is granted, the Council, State Government and GFG Alliance will each contribute to the funding of the project. Again, the creation of new employment

There were a few minor announcements but these were the main three, so it is possible that things will start to look up and I hope this will start to rebuild the confidence since it is now certain that the major players, the State Government and GFG Alliance have illustrated their commitment to the future of the area.

Benji, sunny days and passing lanes

30/07/2018 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Despite the blood red moon today, it’s cold. Strange though, it was quite mild when Benji and I were out early (05:00 – early) because I wanted to see the blood moon – freaky.. So we decided to go for our walk since we were out anyway. As I said it was really quite mild but as the morning progressed it got colder. I was forced at 8:30 to put the heater on.

Benji catching some rays from the winter sun.

Although today was slightly unusual as generally it has been cold all night and through into the morning. The days have been mild, so much so that Benji took up residence on one of the outdoor chairs and sat facing the sun and lifting his head so the warmth could get to his chest. It looked strange, but he sat that was for quite a bit. We had a morning out at the lighthouse and then on Wednesday we drove through to the Port and spent the morning there. No Arid Lands Botanic Garden (ALBG) because dogs are not allowed in the area, well, in the carpark is the limit, and since the carpark is a fair bit away from the shop and the nursery, I wont leave him in the car for that length of time. If it is my intention to go to the ALBG then I will not take Benji with me.

I think I did mention that my niece has come back to town. Anyway I picked her up yesterday and took her to the airport to catch a flight to Adelaide. She asked me to look after and feed her cat, a black and white cat called Felix. I agreed to do this. It’s been great fun – and I have the blood on my ankles to prove it. The thing attacks me from under the table and I am so glad I was wearing a track suit and not just trousers, otherwise there might have been more blood. It’s like walking into a room with a snake there – it hisses. Generally I have no problems with cats, but this is one oddball animal.

You may remember that I talked some time ago about the Passing Lanes for the Whyalla-Port Augusta Road. Well the Feds gave most of the money for construction, the State Labor government procrastinated and delayed the project for three years. then, just a few months before the State Election, the project was started. The intention was to boost the Government’s chances of re-election. It didn’t happen and we had a new government to pick up the mess left by the last spendthrift government. Work continued on the bypass lanes and they were finally finished a few months ago. Almost immediately there were complaints about the quality of the new roads, great indentations where the road met the bypass lane – making it dangerous particularly for anyone on a motorbike – and after a mere three months potholes had developed. There are concerns about the quality of the road surface. The bypass lanes are partly closed, or are very reduced speeds, until urgent repairs are carried out. I did say, when I got home, that I was not very impressed with the bypass lanes, period. I thought the surface was poor and underwhelming. Talk about cheap and cheerful. Anyway the arguing has already started regarding who pays for the repairs – the government or the contractor. The contractor are doing what many contractors do –

blame someone else. In the meantime the roads are partly closed.

Flinders Drive and the entrance to the Medical Center

Towards the end of this week we will have Yogi again. No idea at this stage how long for but it might be a while until they return from Adelaide and Jim recovers from the operation at

Flinders Medical Centre. He is very casual about it, which I suppose is a good thing, but it seems to me that having a cancerous liver removed is not casual thing – but then, perhaps that’s just me. I don’t mean that you should make yourself ill by worrying but I just think it requires a little more “respect”.

I have lost several posts. I contacted the people concerned and they tell me that I am still with them and they are still sending to me, but I am not getting anything. Of all the UK posts I only have one remaining. My computer guru ( No. 1 Son) has gone thought my Outlook Express account and can find no changes, so I don’t know what’s happening.

Cutttlefish and Cold Water Diving

09/07/201809/07/2018 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

The AGM of our local RFDS Support Group took place on Monday. This is out tenth of operation and, of course, we had a cake to celebrate. Also highlighted was the fact that for a small group we have raised, over our ten years, $315,000.oo, which is not too shabby. It being the AGM, our Coordinator, from Central Operations was here. Now a new year begins for us and it starts off with four days looking after the cuttlefish divers, the last three days being this weekend. It started a few years ago with only a handful of people brave enough to endure the coldness of the winter waters. Now it has grown with people coming from all over Australia to take part in going out to see the Giant Cuttlefish which come to this area year after year to breed. Although it is classed as “diving” it is not really. The majority of people are only about twenty or so feet out from the shore, on boards, face down and the only part of you that is under water is your head – and you use a snorkel – but the water is so cold that you have to gear up in a diving suit as ‘protection’ from the cold. We are out there for all five days of the dive providing hot food and soup. No – I am not making a mistake it was five days, but one day was in the last month 30th June, with the remaining four days in July. I am not on duty this weekend but I will probably go out anyway – even if it’s just to take photographs. I did some years

ago, but I can’t find them – probably in another hard drive.

However, we did drive to the Cuttlefish area, along Cuttlefish Drive only to find the wind was quite strong, the water fairly rough and the place deserted. I had a look around and found a notice tied to the table that said that due to the water conditions the diving had been moved to the other side of the point where the wind and the water were calmer. We headed off round there. I was very surprised in that I had taken Benji out here many times ( just down from the lighthouse) and I never suspected there were cuttlefish here and so close to shore. It was a fairly quite dive when we were there but I was told that it got quite busy in the afternoon. Actually, as we left the carpark, the cars were starting to arrive. After

this we had a wander to the lighthouse, had a bite to eat, then headed off to the Wetlands for a further wander before heading home. We had a good morning out. This morning (Monday 9th) we spent three hours up at the hospital and Annabell bravely sat in the waiting room for this time while I underwent a procedure to cut out a melanoma from the bridge of my wee nose. It was deeper than first thought so it took longer than expected but it was all out and I was all stitched up. The offending bit of me will be sent to the lab in Adelaide and I’ll get the result in about ten days. Apart from stitched and plastered ( in a nice way) I am fine; some pain and discomfort, but nothing I can’t live with.laid I will get the stitches out in a week or so. All the stuff is now starting to wear off and it hurts, but I am told that this is normal and will fade in a little while – although I think there might be a variation between their little while and my little while. Go on – ask me what idiot put on a white shirt this morning :o)

Today is Annabell’s shopping day and we generally go out in the morning. Of course, that was off but we did go out mid afternoon, which I was not keen on doing mainly I didn’t want to meet people and keep answering questions about the plasters on my face. Anyway, it wasn’t too bad and I got through the shopping. Home and I lay down and my dog laid down beside me and Annabell said he was a sook.

Things Fall Apart

03/07/2018 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

I have to be honest and say that Benji and I have not really done very much of late. This is the coldest winter period we have had in many years with the overnight temperature and the early morning down to 1c. The Port was down to 0c and over the last few days this has been the morning temperature and just too cold to go wandering around in the dark, and to be honest I sense a lack of keenness in Benji to go wandering in the cold morning. Like me, he sticks close to the heater. Daytime temperature is around 13c / 14c, which, for us is cold. However, the winter sun sees us wandering abound the Wetlands and observing the progress – or lack thereof – of the new kiosk. I don’t wish to be negative about these things, but can you come back next year. The local council own and run the wetlands and the local council are building the kiosk. I mean, it might be very nice when it’s finally finished but at the moment it looks like two side by side shipping containers.

The Ferry today with the Tall Ship in the background

I recently read a post that, apart from the mention of a place I had never heard of, wandered around Glasgow to places I remember, yet don’t remember. The

places and things I remember have gone or have changed beyond recognition. One example of this was the Govan Ferry, which today, I think, is a smart boat that crosses the River Clyde in next to no time unlike the BIG Govan Ferry I remember, which was slow and ponderous. I worked for HM Customs and Excise. I was stationed at the White Horse Distillery in Port Dundas. Part of the Bonded Warehouses had been built by Prisoners of War – French POW who fought for the Emperor Napoleon. You felt that the place had been there forever and would never change – yet it is gone – flattened, the Distillery and the Bonded Warehouses – I have no idea when but it’s all gone. “Things fall apart” to be sure. On of the men in the church took his two daughters back to Scotland and when they came home he wrote a piece for the “New Voice” the church magazine which I edit. In it he talked of his holiday and the places he and his daughters visited. Before he left Jennifer, one of his daughters, asked if there was anything I would like from Scotland. I asked if she could bring me back a few postcards from Glasgow. Anybody asks me, that’s what I always suggest. I use them as monthly dividers for my Filofax. Anyway, they travelled across the British Isles and finally came back to Glasgow – Govan, where John was brought up. It was mostly about Govan he wrote and expressed his sadness that the places of his childhood were gone. He tried to find the houses he and his wife lived in when they were first married, but they too have gone. Certainly the official buildings are still there, but other places are destroyed and built over. Some of the places he talked about I knew, particularly the Cinemas – none of which remain. The Govan he remembers has gone forever.

I miss the Dear Green Place, and I really do believe it is true ‘You can take the man from Glasgow, but Glasgow from the man” I get irritated with people who bag Glasgow, particularly a Minister, who I will not name, who bagged the city just before the Commonwealth Games. Which, I understand , was an outstanding success for the games and the city.

But things do change – even here. As I said before, when we moved here this was the last house in the town. There was only bushland beyond us. The Mining Boom happened and what was empty land became a private housing estate and places I walked the dogs, were now gardens. I don’t see the Kangaroos as much. But the mining boom has been and gone and went, and so has the big pay packets. They can no longer afford the big boat, or the Jeep or even the five bedroom house – so the jeep’s gone, the boat’s gone and the house is up for sale. Sad but no one thought to put money away it was just earn and spend. And they borrowed – so what they get for the boat, vehicle and house will mostly go to pay debts. That is the sad aftermath of the mining boom for some.

Getting out and About

23/06/2018 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

There has to be a course somewhere entitled “How to offend people without really trying” I thought if there was such a course I would probably take it, but then I decided I’m probably good enough at doing that already without any courses. I seem to have managed to do just this three times in the last four years. Ok not a lot, but then Rome wasn’t built in a day, so just give me time. Seriously though, I have no idea what I have done, or even how I did it. I think I might, indeed, must have said something, perhaps using the wrong words or the wrong tone and offense has been taken where none was intended. Perhaps I didn’t write it well enough to ensure that is was said as humorous, I don’t know – perhaps there would be a better understanding if we crossed over the river and rested beneath the shade of the trees. I know- it’s only social media, just move on. Yes I get that, but it does not stop the irritatingly persistent voice in the back of your head that keeps wondering if or what you did wrong.

I decided that it was getting just too cold to continue to get up at 0540 and take Benji out walking. Go out dark, come back dark. I decided to change things a bit – just a bit. Instead of setting the alarm at 05:40 I set the alarm for 06:30. Not a lot in terms of time but different in that I go out dark and come back light. It is cold and winter so no flies around and safe enough to be out and around during the day. The cost of fuel continues to rise and although I have not been on any travels with the Man, the fuel price does not have a lot to do with it. I have just been so busy and Annabell has also been so busy these last few weeks. Even when she was unwell, she continued to do things. However, everything has now been done and we can go through a period of relaxing: I might even be able to get out with Benji. As I have said before there are no places within a decent driving distance that are “Pet Friendly” I would love to go up to the mountains in the Flinders Ranges, but the Flinders Ranges are part of the National Park and no dogs are allowed in the National Park. Well, yes, you could take a chance and keep him in the car. but the the fine for having a dog in a National Park is $2,378 at least in Victoria – couldn’t find South Australia but I suspect it’s a lot more.

The Brunch went well and we raised a fair amount of funds which we have divided into three. This will all go to help the homeless in the district and provide meals. Although, having said that the ladies are all getting on a bit and they have been suggesting that they might not be able to keep doing what they do for all that much longer. Preparing and producing enough food to feed people for three hours is not an easy task – although fair to say, we all help. I may not be make cakes but I can make sandwiches and the men can- and do – help in other ways.

My niece visited us the other day. I had not seen her in a while so it was nice to catch up with her. She has moved back here so we should see her a bit more often.

Traveling, Rain and a Mini-rant

12/06/2018 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Despite the fact that it’s been chucking it down all day I spent much of the afternoon, driving through the rain delivering mail for Annabell. She was the navigator and sorted the letters into

post codes so we didn’t keep wandering back and forth across town. The church ladies are holding their Annual Brunch next week and she wanted the letters out now. It is a sad reflection on Australia Post that we could not be certain that the mail would be delivered in time. The person who was going to attend to all this when Annabell was ill, didn’t – so hence the drive through the rain. Anyway, got them all delivered except the Letter for the Lutherans. They use a post box and the church does not have a letter box at the property. We did drive to the property but is was closed despite saying that the church office hours were 10am – 4pm Monday to Friday and it was only just after 2:45. That was the last drop which gave me time to get to the Vet and make arrangements for the Benji ( who was in the car) to have a Parvovirus injection. As it happened, the Vet was fairly quiet so I got Benji out of the car and the Vet gave him a check-up and the injection. Goodness he was a trooper and never flinched – lol – and the dog was pretty good too….

Considering what the weather was like the last two days, today is a beautiful day. Not all that warm, but nice and bright, limited cloud cover and blue sky – a really nice day. Of course things are still wet and damp and it will probably take most of this sun for them to dry out. I think someone is playing tricks on me. I told you how last week I did not set the alarm but I got up at the alarm time anyway – well last night I did set the alarm and was very surprised when I woke up and looked up at the skylight and saw daylight. I got up and found that the time was 7:35 – either I slept through the alarm or it did not go off. Either way I feel quite refreshed today.

Annabell is much better now and in the process of organising things for the Ladies Brunch at the church on Saturday. This is an annual event and generally well attended. We used to do this

kind of thing for a national charity but many people were unhappy with the money raised going out of town and the fact that after payments, wages, administration costs etc., only a small proportion of the funds raised actually goes to the charity. A decision was made to stop doing this and to start

raising funds to donate to local organisations that we felt needed help – The Breast Cancer Support Group / Men’s Prostate Cancer Support / Catholic Ladies Group (they supply meals to the needy and the homeless) Isabell Smith ( a local lady who cooks and supplies meals also to the needy and homeless ( she pays for all this on her own)). Hair to Help Wig Library, also a local Anglican Charity. It’s not that we are being parochial, we just came to the conclusion that with all the glitz and glamour and national and international TV and movie stars of the big national charities competing for your Dollar, the small, local charities and organisations are ignored and left to struggle. We don’t talk in millions of dollars raised but we do what we can to keep our local people and organisations operational – because that’s what small towns like ours should do. Ok, I’ll be quiet and not rant any more.

The Computer Guru ( My Son) is coming over in a day or two to show me how to print off inserts for my A6 diary. Normally I have bought them from the USA but the little shop in Virginia who did them, is not doing them anymore and other shops – large or small, now charge a fortune in postal costs to send to Australia. I tried this downloading years ago and was told to do this, this, this and this – easy.. So I did this, and this and this and what was that other thing again??? The sheer frustration, not to mention the amount of wasted paper and printer ink, and I gave up and bought refills instead, I hope John (son) will help me sort it all out.

Parks, Birthdays and Shows

08/06/2018 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

I am happy to say that Annabell is very much improved and has started going back to the coffee evenings. Have no idea why they call them coffee evenings – most of the ladies drink tea. Oh well. I took Benji down to the Wetlands to see the progress on the new Kiosk. It’s coming on well and should be opened soon. The electricity had been cut off to the area whilst work is being done on the kiosk. There doesn’t seem to be much happening on the outside so I suppose it is all happening inside – well I hope that’s the case. But really, some form of kiosk here is well overdue and this one is close to one of the three barbecue areas which should increase the traffic on warm days. I have come down here on public holidays and being family friendly the whole area is well patronised, so the kiosk should do well. My concern is that some “couldn’t care less” dog people are not cleaning up after their dogs and it is becoming noticeable. There are dog bag dispensers situated all over the park, plus there are notices but neither seem to help. I don’t know what the answer is. So, a small minority, not doing the right thing, give us all a bad reputation. When we came here at first there was, on the outskirts of town, a Fauna and Reptile park and an animal sanctuary. Again this was well used and I took a number of visitors down there. There was a Snow Tiger that was no longer able to perform at a circus. The circus people were going to have it put down so the owners of our park bought it and brought it to the Fauna Park where it lived in peace and quiet for its last years. However due to financial problems the Park was closed down about 14 years ago.

Recently a local business family have expressed interest in opening the park again and work has already started on cleaning it up and getting it back in shape. A lot of people and businesses have donated time and equipment to help get it up and running again. Most of us remember it from when we took our own children there. It is believed that the park will be open in time for the September school holidays.

Wilson Park is a family friendly park not very far from Andrew’s house. This is where they held Connor’s birthday party. However, it has drawbacks in that there are no Barbecue facilities there so in order to have a Barbecue Andrew and friends loaded a Barbecue onto a trailer, moved it down to Wilson Park and then manhandled it

off. Just off the designated playground, Council in its infinite wisdom have decided to construct a second skate park. It’s about 30 feet away from where we had the children on Sunday, so that should be “interesting”.

Going back to the Wetlands again – when I was down there with Benji the other day, I took this photograph of a Magpie drinking from the dog trough. Not spectacular, but I thought it was interesting enough to share as something you don’t see very often,

Denver held a Pet Expo and I said that we never held anything like that here and that’s true. However, I did discover that in April of this year there was a two day Animal Expo in Adelaide, billed as the biggest in South Australia, which is really not all that difficult because I don’t think many country towns can afford to run such a specalised event. It is also unlikely that many traders would attend such an event in a country town because of the costs involved – and really not a great return on outlay. Sad but true. However, and this is the thing, until I read the Denver information and started looking at this area, I had never heard of the two day event in Adelaide – which indicated how widespread the advertising for the event was. On a final note – it has been raining off and on – heavy and light – for the last 24 hours. I guess that means that the drought in this area has been broken and that the Emus population that invaded the town, can now go back home.

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