Birthday Christmas Grandie Pub Meet

It was a big rendezvous of all Julie's grandies and our grandies were there as well. Good thing there were indoor and outdoor playgrounds at the Victoria Pub in Yarraville. The service and food was better than last time so I am giving it a tick this time around. I had the pie and peas with the red wine sauce, very tasty and not too big.  Laura timed her flight perfectly and arrived just in time to order lunch. We finished off with Julie's cake and Elyce did her photo management thing, by getting everyone to line up for a shot. When we got to Willie we fell asleep on the couch. 

Red Browed Face

 I am losing a lot of sleep over this and am having to wash my pillow case every day but it is supposed to end well.  We went to the beach for a bit of a distraction but I don't think it worked. Last night seemed hot but we can't complain about getting a balmy night at last. One of our bargain paddle kayaks got a try out and it seems that if you are under 50kgs you can still float these ones even though rated at 35kgs. Don't try paddling with a thunderstorm bearing down.

Another Shot in the Arm

 There was one more present I was still to get after my 70th birthday. This one comes from the government in the form of a pneumonia shot. I went to the Doc's just to check up on how my face is going. Apparently it is being gnawed at quite nicely by the face eating cream. I really don't like that cream. I tried to ease the number of coatings from twice a day to once a day but no way was that happening. He wants it as red raw as possible.  The shot is generally handled well by the body he says. I think it is searching for every nook just to make it ache for a day. The only answer to this is to go over to the beach this afternoon. That is the happy place but keeping a wide brimmed hat on.  

Red Browed Finch

 There has been a return to the garden beds lately and a whole new one has sprung up in the corner. There is also a new candidate for the smallest bird I have seen here.  Maybe the recent garden action has attracted them but for two days now I have seen a pair of red browed finches drinking at the pop up fountain out front.  I have some pics thru a salty window as they seem very flighty.  There is also a type of blight appearing on the leaves and apricots. It maybe nothing but they are as green as grass and seem a long way off ripe. The possums are really living it up here. Playing chasy games across our roof, peeing on outside rafters and spending the whole night eating lemon rind in our tree. Those possums.

The Lights are Back

 For two days after our tree went up there was a search for the flashing lights that get placed on the balcony for all to see.  These are a bit of a pain to get in position but once in place they work well. There were two separate sections each powered by a solar panel.  We could not find them anywhere.  They may have been tossed out after going faulty as these decos are prone to do, however they mat yet turn up.  Debbie bought a replacement set being one very long 75 metre run of flashing LEDs. Trying to get this large bundle over and under and thru and passed and back again was an effort but it is all working now.  A Christmas drink was needed after that.

100,000km service

 I have been wary about how long it takes to service the car now that we have a few Kms on the clock. Last year, whilst I waited, I rode every bike trail in Geelong, over several hours and was under prepared for such riding, giving my self a knee problem as a result.  Not this time.  They said it would be 8 hours for the service.  So we had a change of plan and rode the 25km back home.  This was along the rail trail and took a few busier roads to get to it. They will send an Uber when it is ready.  It also meant that the rendezvous with the Disseldorps had to be shifted from Geelong to Drysdale but we used the rest stop to good order and got all the gossip that was going.

a christmas forest

There were many riders and walkers

Holiday Beach Sieve

 It is not really a sieve, like on the Gold Coast where sand is vaccumed, filtered and laid back down again. Here we have monster diggers and bulldozers that scrape and push then hide and glide over any grass balls that maybe left protruding. We will take it though, as on the surface it looks good for at least the next few days. They spent eight hours all up and have now disappeared towards the Dell, so maybe that one is next for the treatment.  I walked along just now and there are grass balls just below but overall it is a good job and the road down has been repaired with dirt and screenings.  The groyne wall has been used to hide a grass mountain but that seems to be the current method in the last few years.

The Drop

 If you combine any two words in the dictionary they most likely will have already been used as a book or film title. There are at least two unrelated films on netflix called the Drop.  This book is one of the Harry Bosch detective yarns. I have watched all the TV seasons of this show but cannot remember if this one made it as an episode. It is big enough to warrant a film, as there are two cases here both involving bodies and politics or 'High Jingo' as Michael Connelly puts it. I always seem to finish reading a book just after I visit the Willie Book room. I did get two more titles though, so call it Christmas reading. I am putting in a comment on the Melbourne Library plans to repurpose the domed reading room into some form of paid entertainment venue.  Librarians should just stick to books, it should stay domed not doomed. Mr Tulk will be turning in his grave. In fact they should put someone back on duty in the observation tower to make sure nothing changes in there.

1940

2025

Back to Back Engine

 Got the bikes out despite a sore elbow.  I guess I was testing it, however I gave it a nasty tweak earlier so that might make the test meaningless. Nevertheless it was still good exercise for those who have missed out during the last year of medicine. Along the way we encountered expensive tea bags, rheindeer dogs, and Pushme Pullme train engines. I took a long look at the clouds which had dark patches and after the last wet ride, I was making sure there was no moisture. We took an hour to go a leisurely 15km. Will make it longer next time.

Pushme Pullme

a lot of messages here

OverNight Estelle

 There was plenty of Grandie action while the parents were out caroling at the local rock band show.  Estelle was visiting her cousins and sleeping over for the first time while her parents were away. How exciting and there was also pizza just to make it Cowabunga time. The grandies are getting more and more into music games like the musical chair dance. There was also backyard tennis, scooters, trampolining, tea parties, tree climbing and the obstacle course. Whew!  We kept this going until dark as we had to see the Christmas lights set up in the front yard. Yes they all fell asleep totally spent. Hooray.

Elf -Tastrophe

If you start a thing then there is bound to be consequences. Elves are now appearing on shelves everywhere after a book and toy business took off. There must also have been complaints about traumatised kids whose Elves had lost their powers after accidentily being touched. So now we have more books with more rules making it even more complicated for kids to have a Christmas.  As it turned out for today, Asher, Kaia and Estelle had two elves watching their every move. So we get back inside and one of the elves is on the floor.  Pandemonium has completely taken over as to what happened and how to recover. There was a lot of screaming about the recovery procedure.  First I was given tongs to pick up the elf but getting him back to the same position is almost impossible using tongs. There was more toppling over and jumping back out of the way in case there was a touching, when the Elf cartwheeled back down again. After a prolonged conference, three little girls with good intent, said the elf should be moved to a better sitting position.  So after 20 minutes of angst, he was now safe on the sideboard.  But then it started again as one elf was high up and the other low down, so I then delicately moved the higher one to match the same location.  OK now we all need a good lie down.

Oh No

Major Coniption

 My laptop was stuck this morning and it took a forced power down to restart it, which did not work so well as a windows repair procedure took over and it hasn't been the same since. I can update this blog but the biggest issue is getting my twin screens recognised. Windows simply says they are not there. Everything else attached to my expansion box is ok, except the monitors. I went across for a swim but am not submerging my face just at the moment.  It was calm for a change and the sea grass beds are stripped with mostly sand available now. This will change by the end of Summer however for now it is sandy straits.  Now that I have had my constitutional, I have downloaded the latest Intel Graphics driver and installed it, which has worked a treat. The Dell web page is very good, which was just as well, as the support period for this PC has expired last year.

It is interesting how this sign goes up two weeks back and then I start seeing echidnas

Echidna Rescue

I was coming back from a beach session. This was a bit earlier due to winds that were coming later however getting the wind behind you may help to throw further.  The hole in the path is getting bigger and there does not seem to be much action so far in getting it fixed.  Generally echidnas do not like to get caught out in the open. The last time I saw this happen, a huge hole was dug to hide in. This one was stuck under a wire fence and two strands of it were entwined in bristles.  I first tried getting the spikes clear from under the wire which worked ok when he burrowed a bit deeper.  I can tell you that echidna spikes remind me of knitting needles, same width, same feel but these are sharp at the end. The wires were still pressing down on him so then I started tugging hard on those to lift them. My elbow gave a little yelp but it was ok and I was not leaving this critter stuck. Eventually there was a gap below the wire so we will go back later to make sure he escaped thru.

Late Orchid Hunt

 I was reading the local mag about such a good orchid hunt that was held last month around Anglesea and I know I had been waiting for an appropriate window to do one for ourselves but it just wasn't happening. How hard is it to co-ordinate three people. We did get out and about today, back to the Inverleigh nature reserve where we have had success before. This time not so much. There were many wild colourful flowers, swathes of orange, yellow and purple but is there an orchid in amongst them. We do not think so, as we were too late this time. There was a father and son team walking behind us who said they had seen plenty of high growing clumps of orchids three weeks ago.  The son was an avid birder who had come for the elusive kingfisher and knock me down with a a kingfisher feather when he found one and pointed it out to us in the tree right there, with a bug in its mouth. There were in fact a breeding pair that had come south for the Summer. 

It was still a good walk, more like a wander in reasonably clear bush land for maybe 3km in total with a lot of the time looking down. There are prickly trees about. We finished off with lunch at the Inverleigh pub and there will be no need for a large meal tonight.  I did find some 3D christmas toenail orchids.

Putting Session No 6

 Weather conditions are conspiring to limit my putting practice. Not to forget ailment conditions like a sore left elbow and the currently required face eating cream which are both painful distractions. In any case I tried a session this morning and I believe there is a slight improvement out to 9m. Hooray. Also I am keen to wear the paint of this put ball becuase it would be a telltale sign that I have talked the talk but not walked the walk or maybe fronted the foot but not putted the put.  Also I have spied a strawberry guarding marigold that has popped out of our patch. They are meant to deter the aphids. 

Indoor Summer day

 The BOM issued a warning about the coldest Dec 1 since 1996 with snow down to 1000 metres. I ventured out yesterday and I am not making the same mistake today. These squalls are ripping thru but we are supposed to be warming up mid week. So it is indoor time today for reading, contemplation and watching the suffering out on the bay where I can see the shell fish man trying to haul great strings of mussel and oyster into his boat. That is cold wet work. I got a trivia book off the shelves that was given to me in 1979. Now this type of resource is where you went before the internet. I have a quote here from a random page talking about the colour Green. This was the colour of Mr Spock's blood. Also listed was the Green Lantern's superhero motto.

                            In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight

                        Let those who worshp evil's might, beware my power - Green Lantern's light.