A lasting Image

Dog owners are entertaining. Some are always bitching about their dog (haha) or at the other extreme we saw a woman today wiping the dogs' arse. Now I applaud the dog owner who carries the dogs shit in a bag with them for the next five km's but wiping its arse has got to be going to far. And the studious removal of the sticky stuff from the overly long hair around the area .. anyway you get the picture.

Plover United

Sounds like a soccer team but its not, although Tim Cahill is flying like a bird with his backward somersault bicycle kick goal.  Back to birds who have their feet on the ground. I can report that the Plovers have moved on and mating season is over now the March flies are about to descend. Oh Well we can always go in the water.

Beware of the Hoods

 

Cloud Invasion

Did ya hear the one about ...

the Priest and the squatter?

A priest was walking through a caravan park late on new Year's Eve. (As he does)
He spotted a woman who went down on her knees.  "Are you looking for absolution?"  the priest asked. "No, more like ablution, and I'm about to wash away my sins!"


Its actually all true just ask Nana.

Tinkle Tinkle

100 up and every Post a winner

Yes ROBOT has now turned 100. 100 posts that is.  I am plumbing the depths with this post.  This summer has been a tad wet and the occasional down pours have been backing water up to the top of our carport. Good thing the enclosed piping starts here rather than back to the eave gutters as water would be flowing down our walls due to a blockage out near the street.  I released some pressure by uncapping an access point in the front yard and that sent a spout above my head.  Such fun. The Jetblaster and the Camera hose arrived the next day for a $500 fee.  But they did clear the blockage.

Plumbers with video

Control Tower

Some jobs are just like computer games. Managed to get my way into the Airport Control tower yesterday. The new tower that is not the old pokey one.  With a third runway in production  they will need the extra space in 10 years time.  For some reason I thought the tower would be a hotbed of activity however its nice to know there is a calm atmosphere of methodical action. The separate  'EnRoute' area is a much bigger operation where controlled space from here extends half way around the world.  I have done my share of flights in the last few years and this now fills in a big piece.

The Two Towers



Old Controllers - Class of 82

Stone the Crows

It has come to my attention that birds have been aiding in the proliferation of fruit trees. Who would have thought. A year ago I gathered enough pips to fill a shopping bag and now the pips are back. There are apricots, plums and peaches.  I have not seen which birds are the culprits but seeing that the problem is stone fruit then naturally suspicion would fall on the Crows. Fruit is also being dropped from a great height so that the splatter effect makes for easier access to the flesh.  Why our yard is a target I'm not sure. It's a good thing birds don't like watermelon. Observe the photographic evidence.

Leaves still attached



Fruit Bomb

Another barrow load removed

Gondwana Tax

The Gondwana United Faction (GUF) have been stirring the cavemen again.  They've passed a motion (no shit) to start a tax collection to shore up the cracks that are appearing in the ground.  All the flint coins that have been collected are being thrown into the chasms opening up between the new continents.  The GUFers are urging the throwing of more money into the maw.  This will result in climate change if we don't fill the trench, they say! Our cold chunk will move north and we will be sitting on the beach in 10 million yar!  Can't be all bad I say. The GUFers are duffers.

Don't mess with the plover lady

A lot of work goes into guarding the plovers. 99% of dogs are off the leash when they are supposed to be on it.  When the plover lady strikes, most dog owners just turn around. If they knew she was at her post during the hottest part of the day as well as backing up again at 6:00 am, day in day out then they might stay in the dog house.  The plover lady is 77 and going strong. Be good if we were still patrolling the beach in another 20 yar.


On Alert

 

to the dog house

Charge Your Glasses

Organising a birthday bash is no easy thing and when you are 80 and there are two parties to organise then it gets even bigger.  Especially if you are determined to find a date that gets absolutely all family members available no matter which part of the country you are in.  There is also much to like about a sit down affair with three courses, when you have a manageable group of around 40.  Makes a good change from the standing around finger food type of do.  Well done to the Matriarch who is now well practiced to do it all again in 10 years time. 
PS Charging your Glass is an odd phrase.  Seems that 100's of yar ago a charge was a load that you would carry. eg put a charge in your gun is to fill it up. 

Eighty

 

Charging Glasses

Gun Alley

If you go back far enough we are probably all related to a convict somewhere in the tree. I just finished checking out this book about a hanged man who should not have been executed. The murdered girl was Alma Tirtschke whose mother was Nell Alger. We have to go back three generations to encounter the same Alger's in our tree.  The science of police work wasn't very good in 1922. Most likely the real killer was a relo who went free. Perhaps it is a good thing that Nauru House has now wiped out the whole grisly site.  My other connection, is with the author, who I went to school with in the secondary years at St Joes. I also notice another classmate named in the credits.  Kevin has done a good job on clearing the Ross family name. I won't be reading some of his other titles like "The Particulars of Executions:1894-1967"  even though I do recall the last one in 1967. not sure why Joe Ragnanese is removed from the Acknowledgements list in the 2nd edition.

New Years achieved

Well ROBOT has delivered the New Year's resolution all complete inside the first week.  Hard to believe.  The comic strip below is my first edition. I kept it to two panels for simplicity.  I drew a hard copy pencil version then scanned them and framed them together using Paint.  There is probably purpose built comic strip software out there for sketching and overlapping and versioning etc.   You might confuse the dog for a pig.  I have seen plenty of unharnessed dogs bothering bikini girls and plovers but no pigs.  I have filed the originals in case they are worth millions in years to come.  Anyway edition one is titled "Revenge of the Giant Plover". I should put my makers mark on it for the next edition.



Revenge of the Plover

The line work seems to be a bit thin. Perhaps I need a bigger lead in my pencil.

The Heat is on

We do have some small air conditioners here.  In previous years the power has given up but so far so good.  There are some fires around to the north but we are not seeing the smoke and ash clouds as before. Tragedy has struck on the beach though. Always small kids or foreigners who don't understand the conditions.  Our lot were at the beach on both days that these drownings occurred and it doesn't make for good viewing.  The rescue chopper landed near us as well and it makes me think if it was in the wrong place as it took off quick smart. 
My tip for beach survival on the really hot days is to crack a coldie whilst sitting in the rock pools.

Rock pool with boozer gallery behind

The dishevelled

9:00am on New Years Day is an easier time to add a post than about 7 or 8 hours ago.  Nothing too uncontrolled around here.  Some years back it was a bit nasty with the odd stabbing but that has all been cleared up in recent years.  We did have to get the guards to have a word with a large group that kept expanding and surrounding our elderly neighbours van.  She started to get quite scared and worked up especially when her roof was being clobbered by footballs.  She was ok after an hour or so of chit chat in the lounge.  Our lot disappeared into the sand dunes after dark and have only just returned in the last hour!  That was a big night.  Oh the dishevelment!


Before the Sun sets

 

                                    

                                       Eggs recovery food