Tag: Dawn Service

An Interesting week.

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs
One of my beds.

Monday 22nd. April.  It rained for  quite a few hours from Saturday evening into  late Sunday afternoon. The rain has really not made all that much difference and we really need a lot more. I think, overall we received about 5-7 mil. – not a great amount. Certainly didn’t make much difference to the Wetlands. We had a bit of a “play date” this afternoon where we got to spend some time with Max, the Pug. Was both good and not so good. Started off well enough,  bit of sniffing and the like but all three walked well enough together – except Max is older and we had to stop a lot more and only went halfway round.  All of that was great the dogs were fine and  Jenifer ( his mum) was pleased. Only one dark spot was when  Benji jumped up on my lap and Max wanted to get up and Benji snapped at him. Other than that they were fine. Still no word about what’s happening with Dougal or if/when Sam is coming home. Today is 26 days since Dougal arrived.  I feel sorry for Benji and I don’t think I am being fair to him.   He was about four years  old when  I adopted him from the shelter and I am led to understand that  they were not  great four years. But now he is adopted, he has a home, a warm comfortable bed and food and a daddy who loves him. Then………… comes the WaWa and fifteen months later, she goes home and Benji has his  home back again. Then comes Yogi and after Yogi, Dougal. He has hardly had more than a few months of  having  his house and his toys and his daddy to himself. Now we have Max so he did get a bit miffed when Max wanted him to get off my lap so he could sit there. Benji is not an aggressive dog and perhaps today was his way of trying to tell me something. Over the next  little while, even as Dougal is here, I think I am going to give Benji a little extra attention.  As I said, Dougal has now been here, this time, for 26 days and he could be here for a while yet;  these two get on well enough but  I  think perhaps Benji is not getting as much attention as he should.

Friday 26th April.  I have been off line for the last week. My computer was hacked and  rather than  stuff about I  took it into the Computer tech and asked them to clean it. I also contacted the bank who asked me to destroy both  cards and  new cards with new numbers would be issued in due course.

Dougal – now gone back home.

It has been a difficult and concerning week but my computers were returned late this afternoon.  According to the Tech. there  was a few things on there that should not have been there but he didn’t elaborate and said that he has destroyed them  – he ran  several spyware and malware programs and was quite satisfied that the units were clean and could be returned to me.  The downside is that I have lost about seven or eight days worth of work, but the upside is that it could have been worse, much worse Yes it cost but I thought the cost was ‘reasonable”considering the work that he had done. Before we  parted  we talked about grandchildren ( he has three) and  showed each other photographs. What can I say – it’s a country town,,,  On  Thursday I attended the Anzac Day Dawn Service at the  Memorial Gates, and, since I can be lazy, I went to Maccas for breakfast rather than go home, cook something and perhaps disturb Annabell.  Later on that afternoon, Dougal went home, so Benji has his house all to himself again. However, I think Dougal will be back again for a little while since Ina is still in Adelaide.

Mount Gambier Part 1

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

I was reading up about the wawa recently in the  and the page on the History of the breed began with the words  “If you have ever had a Chihuahua then you know that they are not hard to love at

Almost like brothers
Almost like brothers

all ” and I couldn’t help thinking to myself – Not this one – this is the sister of the wawa from Hell who currently resides in Arizona and who had another go at me last night. Fortunately I got my fingers away in time.  I tell you, it’s going to be a long four/five months. On the other hand, Yogi goes home tomorrow and I will be sad to see him go – he has really been no bother at all to look after and as I said before after a few territorial adjustments Yogi and Benji have got on very well these last two and a bit weeks.

Talking to Andrew last night and some things have been sorted out at Arrium.  Andrew is back in there again to continue on with the original contract,( which has been restored)  but the  Administrator is really going to have to do something about the management culture at Arrium which uses all sorts of tactics to avoid paying bills for as long as possible. This, in part, accounts for the fact that suppliers are owed so much money and some of these supplies are vital to the continued operation of the plant. If the administrator does not sort this culture out then it leaves the door open for this whole drama to repeat at some future date. I also think some members of the management have to realize that SA stands for South Australia, not South Africa.    Today is ANZAC Day and  for the first time in many years I did not attend the Dawn Service. Yes, I set the alarm; yes I did get up and dressed, but two faces looked at me expectantly and were quite excited because this was the time I usually take them out. My logic was that the  Dawn Service will be crowded, no one will miss me and I really should not be going to MacDonalds for Breakfast afterwards, and I delivered the ANZAC Service at Church on Sunday;   so yes,  I put on my jacket, put on the leashes and the three of us went out together and I thought, “that’s as it should be!”

Tomorrow will be my last morning walk with Yogi and when I come home I will have to gather all his gear – bedding etc., and have everything ready when he gets collected. It has been interesting with the two dogs walking and tonight it will be just me and Benji again.

Urgent email arrived late last night to inform all members of the Commission that there is no accommodation  within 50K of Mount Gambier. This is due to the ANNUAL Jazz Festival which takes place on that weekend. I put the word annual in capitals to emphasise it since the Mount Gambier people who arrange all this should have known that the Jazz festival was on that weekend and

The Lady Nelson - Mount Gambier
The Lady Nelson – Mount Gambier

either changed the venue or  altered the date of the meeting. There is nothing in Penola and I am not going to Naracoorte (109K). I have tried a number of places and I still have two to answer this morning – Dartmoor and Nelson. both across the border in Victoria. Heck at this rate I could have just about driven to Melbourne and back. Nothing available at Nelson but I  seem to have managed to get accommodation at Dartmoor Vic., which is about 55k from Mount Gambier. That’s not too bad. I can still visit the  Sailing Ship The Lady Nelson and the Umpherston Sink-hole Gardens on the way through to Dartmoor although I am so glad it’s Dartmoor Victoria and not Dartmoor England. However, if I get there and I meet anyone called Baskerville I’m out of there !! As far as I can see for a small rural settlement it has a lot of interesting things to offer and I hope my camera is kept busy

 

Remembrance, RFDS and watering the garden.

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

In just over a week, we will hold ANZAC Day – for those of you in Europe – that is our Remembrance Day (although we still recognize that particular day) and for my American Friends I think the nearest thing is Veterans Day. However, it is the day that we remember the Australian and New Zealand men and women who fell in battle to preserve the freedoms that we take for granted today.  I have often argued that this is not a glorification of war, far from it. ANZAC Day is a time of Remembrance and Thanksgiving – remembering those who did not come home, AIFwho paid the ultimate sacrifice for us and a time of thanksgiving for all the men and women who did come home and whom we honour that day.   Generally, after the dawn service,  all the  former service people and their families head off to the Returned Serviceman’s League (RSL) for breakfast. I have never gone because I am not ex-service and and I don’t deserve to be there with them.   Those of us in that situation generally head off to Maccas and have breakfast there. Last year herself was unwell, so I just got a take-away for two and came home.  When I was in Adelaide I walked through West Terrace Cemetery and the  Military Section. Whenever I walk through a Military Cemetery I am always reminded of the words of Eric Bogle – the Scottish/Australian songwriter and singer and his words from ” The Green Fields of France”

 

But here in this graveyard it’s still No Man’s Land

The countless white crosses in mute witness stand

To man’s blind indifference to his fellow man

And a whole generation that were butchered and damned

Tomorrow is Good Friday and our service will take place at 10am. I will be leading this service.  Saturday I have a RFDS function. This was fun to organize since I have two functions running at the same time. The majority of people will be at the foreshore at the big function and I have a team at the smaller function. I will be doing the smaller

Sturt's Desert Rose
Sturt’s Desert Rose

function until lunch and then heading over to the Foreshore to assist if required.

The back garden is still a disaster area but the front is doing  well.  The Sturts Desert Rose is producing flowers, the Sturt’s Desert Pea is growing away good style and the three small conifers I planted some months ago are still with us. They have not really grown much, but at least they are still alive – which is something.  I would like to redo the plot with new topsoil so I might give that some thought and see if it will improve things. But I think the important thing is to make it dog proof. I think part of the trouble in this area of the back is that the dogs are doing their thing to help by personally watering the plants.  The experiment with the propagation sand was a bit of a fizzier. I have bought new  fencing which I will put around the area I want to plant in. It should be high enough to keep the dogs out and let me have the fun of watering things on my own – without any help. When we finished the function at the Hardware Shop, I made my way to the Foreshore to assist at the other function and was there until after 4pm. So, from 08:30 – 4:00 it was a  long and tiring day. I was quite happy to get my feet up for a bit.

Sunday evening and we have the Clan for Dinner, which is something of a tradition. Well I think it’s a tradition with everyone that has children – they grow up – leave home then came back each week for  Mum’s Sunday Dinner. I like this because it’s what we used to go with our parents when we were children – every Sunday we would take turns visiting the relatives and finally, after a while, they all met at our house – about every five weeks or so – and yes, we have been round to the boys places  for dinner. I like that.

 

 

Adelaide ANZAC and welcome back.

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Despite leaving Adelaide at the unconscionable  hour of 6:10am, the drive back home was pleasant. Rain had been forecast, but as generally happens, such  predictions are based on hope rather than reality,  and  the journey was without rain.  I love the element of uncertainty of weather forecasts – on Monday evening  they tell you that it will rain on Tuesday and on Tuesday evening, they tell you why it didn’t. Part of the reason I saw the fire trucks coming was that I was standing at the window – as I said- watching the rain because we don’t see it all that often in the Arid ands of the North of the State.  We don’t get anything near the rain that Adelaide and the “bottom” area of the state gets Anyway it was a nice drive  and it was nice to be home again, although herself didn’t really expect me until mid afternoon.   The dogs were pleased to see me and I sat down with them for a while. I was only home for one day and I was off to Adelaide again, this time with my son . He own property in Adelaide and was going down for meetings with his agent. . The one day I was home was not really a “free day” I was back up at 5am and off to Memorial Oval for the Dawn Service of Remembrance at 5:45.  Thursday 25th April is set aside as ANZAC Remembrance Day. I generally go to the Dawn Service then meet up with some people and go for breakfast at McDonald’s – mainly because it’s the only place that’s open at 6:40am.  Most businesses stay closed for the day but the supermarkets generally open at 12 noon as do other businesses who wish to do so.

Friday and we set out for Adelaide again. Twice in a week is very tiring and I am due  back there again next weekend. However, I’ve had enough for the moment so I think I might put in an apology for next week. I need the break considering that I will be spending the last week of May in Adelaide.

I have examined all my settings and as far as I can tell they are still in operations and I know that I have not made any alterations. I do know that, according to site stats, I have had no visitors since 6th April – which is a little bit of a concern. I still get  notifications from the sites I follow but not nearly as many as I used to. I don’t generally delete things but rather archive them so I still have posts from mid 2012 in the system——–WooHoo    welcome back…