Update - Books, Sheep, Packing, etc

Books finished:

WREDE, PATRICIA C.
-----------------------
Searching for Dragons - book 2 - The Enchanted Forest Chronicles

Books currently reading:

PRATCHETT, Terry
---------------------
Going Postal

LEWIS, C.S.
-------------
The Magician's Nephew

Not a whole lot else going on. Last I saw, the ewe was still alive (Wednesday morning), having spent the night in Dad's house yard, after hiding behind the chook pens while Dad was putting the other sheep away. Dad decided to let her stay the night there, as she was relatively safe with a german shepherd and a labrador for company and protection. But it was rather sweet watching her stamp her little foot at the labrador (and me!)

I'm currently back at my old house doing some bits and pieces that need doing before I go back down to Dad's in a few days time. Hopefully it will be dry enough soon to be able to start working the greyhounds again. Dad had hoped to have a couple of them racing by Christmas, but the constant rain has put that on hold now.

Anyway, stuff to do....

Things I have accomplished today :(

Sadly, the lamb died in the night, but the ewe is still with us (at the moment), although also still being transported from sheep yard to sheep yard via wheelbarrow.

We managed to worm only 4 of the sheep (one lamb, one ewe, two rams, I believe). But we discovered that at least one of the ewes is pregnant, which will mean an early lambing season for us around March/April.

I learnt I am not a very good sheepdog, having only two feet, not very sharp hearing, and the inability to NOT cry at the death of a small sweet lamb. I also cannot run very fast in gum boots (wellington boots).

But this blog today is supposed to be about things I have accomplished. So here goes:

1. I managed to pat two rams, a ewe, and a lamb.

2. The horse lets me regularly pat and handle his head and neck, but only lets Dad touch his neck (which annoys Dad somewhat as he can't understand why I am allowed but he's not).

3. I made fast and firm friends with another of Dad's greyhounds (who previously used to growl at me and shake visibly in my presence, at my presence), while letting the others come and sniff me and get used to me. Anyone who knows me, knows that I have been terrified of dogs all my life, but especially greyhounds, so volunteering to go into the puppy kennels is a big deal for me, and finding I am not frightened so much by them anymore is an even bigger accomplishment.

4. I had to step over the dead lamb to get something for Dad - not something I can normally do.

5. After the lamb episode, I went and consoled myself in the company of the dogs and the horse. Dad thinks I'm weird for doing so, but it helps....

Book Challenge (and sheep update)

Books finished:

WREDE, PATRICIA C.
-----------------------
Dragonsbane (aka Dealing with Dragons) - book 1 - The Enchanted Forest Chronicles


Books currently reading:

WREDE, PATRICIA C.
-----------------------
Searching for Dragons - book 2 - The Enchanted Forest Chronicles

PRATCHETT, Terry
---------------------
Going Postal

LEWIS, C.S.
-------------
The Magician's Nephew

Sheep news:

Dad says because of the excess rain we've been having recently, the ewes are coming on season, so today we are seperating the rams from the ewes, and the lambs from everyone else. We are also supposed to be worming the flock, as we had two down yesterday (one lamb, one ewe), that had to be carried home from the paddock, and given preferential treatment over the rest (they got wormed early, in other words). It was rather cool in a way, pushing a ewe on her back in a wheelbarrow across a field and into her pen, despite the reason she was in the wheelbarrow in the first place. It was also just a little bit funny when the lamb wee'd down the back of Dad's shirt as he carried her into one of the sheds to sleep the night in warmth and safety.

Here's hoping today goes well!

Book Challenge

Books finished:

PETERS, Ellis
---------------
The Hermit of Eyton Forest - a Mediaeval Whodunnit - the 14th chronicle of Brother Cadfael

(I would happily read more in this series - I quite enjoyed the book!)

Books begun (as of bedtime tonight, anyway):

PRATCHETT, Terry
---------------------
Going Postal

Stuff to do before bed though!

My Book Challenge - update

Of course, when I said I would read EVERY book in my collection, I wasn't talking about the textbooks, encyclopaedias, dictionaries, and travel books.....not necessarily, anyway. I was talking more along the lines of the novels - fiction mostly, but there is a handful of non-fiction and biographies in there too.

Also, given I have already read a great number of my books, if I choose to read them again, I will admit to having read them before, like with the C.S. Lewis books (Chronicles of Narnia). I have read each and every single one of those books in that series a good many times over the decades that I have been alive. Probably in the number of around 10 times each? Purely because they are such good books, I choose to read them again. Much as I will never say 'enough is enough' when it comes to re-reading Tolkein or Feist.

So there you go.

Now, because I have a very long train ride home to my soon-to-be-old house, and the Narnia books come with two or three books per hardback, I have chosen another book to use for the train ride (also because the Pratchetts I listed yesterday are actually at my old place and not at my new one yet so I cannot read them on the train ride home, if you get my drift).

So my book for the train ride/sleeping over at Mum's/needing a break from packing is:

PETERS, Ellis
---------------
The Hermit of Eyton Forest - a Mediaeval Whodunnit - the 14th chronicle of Brother Cadfael

I am reading this one because I think it is the ONLY Brother Cadfael book I own, plus it isn't terribly thick, which means it is light and slim enough to fit into my handbag.

I will let you know how I get on!

Bookishness should not be thought of as a crime....

I'm in the process of moving house at the moment. Partly it's because my health isn't so great these days, with longer and longer bouts of illness happening, and partly it's because I'm struggling to keep up with all the little things that need to be done on a house, like gardening, and keeping the gutters clean, getting things fixed when they break, etc.

So I'm moving down to Dad's place. He's got farm animals and everything! It's a totally different kind of lifestyle down there, and much MUCH better than where I am moving from in a lot of ways. I will miss the ability to walk out my front door and onto a train or bus, or up to the shops, but I won't miss the annoying teenagers whose idea of a fun Friday-Sunday night/s is to smash up everyone's mail box, break the fences, and scream foul language and abuse at each other, the dogs in the street, anyone else they come across, cars going down the road, etc.

But anyway.....I've decided, in order to keep certain members of my family happy, and so that I can explain why I have way too many books, I am going to attempt to read each and every single book I own over the next year. I also plan on trying to watch every single DVD I own (for much the same reasons).

So here goes. Since I started this move a month ago, I have read the following books from my library:

PRATCHETT, Terry
---------------------
Wintersmith
A Hat Full of Sky
I Shall Wear Midnight

I am currently in the middle of:

LEWIS, C.S.
-------------
The Magician's Nephew

The C.S. Lewis one is in a set of three books, that hold the whole Narnia series, the Magician's Newphew being book one of that series.

Also, I will be soon starting (I always have at least two books on the go at any one time):

PRATCHETT, Terry
---------------------
Going Postal
Making Money

Being as they have yet to be packed and I found them this morning when I was pulling apart my single bed for moving down to my Dad's place.

That's me for now.....Will update when I've read more books!

Happy Spring!

It's the first day of September here, which also makes it the first day of Spring. Unlike the rest of the world, our seasons are exactly three months in duration, starting on the first of the month and finishing on the last day of the month, three months later. For me, having grown up in this system, it all makes sense. For others (who haven't), it makes no sense at all, having arbitrary seasons, but I prefer it to having to take a guess at when the season will start!

So for all the Aussies out there - Happy Spring!

I woke up before dawn this morning (and if truth be told, dawn is only just happening as I write this, around 6am), and it just felt like spring.

I suddenly have this big urge to go and drink cuppas on my deck and watch the world wake up; go for long morning walks with the dog (an almost impossible occurence, given the way he plays up on the lead), and have all the windows and doors flung open, the curtains drawn back, and the music turned on!

IT --- IS --- SPRING --- !!!

It's been a long and cold Winter for us this year, so Spring is extra special, as it means that it will start to warm up soon, and we can start putting the jumpers and extra blankets away. Normally I love Winter - it's the time to be cozy, but this year it just seemed to never end (not made any better by three bouts of the flu either!), so Spring is a very welcome friend just now! I'm not so looking forward to Summer, though, unless it's not our usual hot sort :-)

Time for a Spring Clean, me thinks!

:-)

This is an automated message....

Due to cold weather, this office is shut for the duration....

(Also, I have the flu, so I'm not much up to thinking or typing...)

Free Education For All

I've been keeping myself busy lately, sorting out repairs to computers (mine included - grrr), but also in the pursuit of finding a free education.

I like the idea of a free education. It makes me believe that the world isn't all bad, and that there are still people out there with all-emcompassing compassionate little hearts who give a damn about the poor and weary who are too broke and too tired to cope with a paid education.

Granted, it might not get you a degree, or a high school education, but then again, it just might.

Despite living pretty much on the other side of the planet from everywhere else, I've been enjoying attending lectures at Yale University (in the good ole' US of A), going to public lectures in London, England, working on my maths skills with the help of the wonderful professors at Cambridge University, also in England, and working out how to study properly with the University of Southern Queensland (not all that far from where I live, actually).

Of course, I've not actually left the comfort of my own warm little house to do any of this. Yale University (among others in the States) offer lectures for free online. They are old cached versions from a couple of years ago, but they come with video, audio, lecture notes, and in some cases, even exams. Among other universities offering free lectures is Utah State, where I am currently doing a Classical Drama subject (based on Greek Drama), and I am finding it very enjoyable indeed.

The beauty of these freebie lectures is that there are no time constraints. You can do a lecture, and then not touch it for six months if you like, or you can make yourself stick to a basic timetable, and plough your way through a subject. Granted, you don't get any accreditation from most of the universities (although I seem to remember that a few of the American unis are willing to accredit you if given proof that you have passed a particular subject).

In my travels, I've also been looking at the copious amount of free educational sites for those of us who wish to give Home Schooling a go. While I don't have kids (yet!), I've always been an avid fan of this schooling option (preferring to Home School myself for a lot of my adult years, and being somewhat Home Schooled by my family as a child, while still attending regular school).

One of the options I have discovered to be quite enjoyable for Home Schooling is the large amount of free games to be found online. Today I was playing with two art-based games. One that I am 'playing' at the moment involves the usual 'hidden object' style game, but at the end of each level you get to see a painting, and find out a bit about the master who painted it.

Other games are based on well known novels - Around The World In 80 Days, for example. Still others teach you about mythology from various countries; historical moments of great significance feature in others, and then there are games that take you to various cities and teach you about those places.

It seems that there are free educational options out there for all age groups - from infants right up to 100+.

There are times when I truly love the internet!

Someone really needs to check before broadcasting.....

Beginning May 31st, we have "Cool As Clint" week, which is all about bombarding us with Clint Eastwood movies on Fox Classics, one of the channels offered on Foxtel, my pay TV provider here in Aus.

Unfortunately, though, nobody bothered to check to see if the screen shot above actually reads as "Cool As Clint" and not something far worse, before broadcasting!

Oh! For the days of proofreaders and their ilk!

Other things - there's been a series of somewhat bizarre advertisements being broadcast on the telly recently, all involving animals in some shape or other. For the most part, they've been for Bank West, one of the bigger State-run banks (in Western Australia). Each State in Aus seems to have their own bank - Bank of NSW, Bank of QLD, etc.

My favourite Bank West ads have been the flower in its pot, singing (badly), with animal onlookers, and the red squirrel ad, where he talks about squirrelling away all his nuts(!)

Given we don't actually have squirrels (let alone the British Red), it's an odd choice for selling banking to Australians, but it's terribly cute, and I like it.

But my all time favourite is the one I saw last night for Cadbury Chocolate.

If you go to this link, you can watch it in all its smoothy goodness:

http://www.aglassandahalffullproductions.com.au/index.php

(Make sure you have the sound on!).

That's me for today - got stuff to do. Toodles....

It's been a busy few weeks....

I finally finished my university subject at the end of February, and managed to pass all my assignments, although nowhere near as well as I would have hoped.

I'm struggling currently with what feels likely to be a bout of 'flu, or at least an early Autumn cold. I know I seem to be far more tired than I should be most days, but perhaps that has something to do with worrying about my silly dalmatian, who recently underwent surgery on his nether regions for stones in his bladder (poor boy).

He's okay now, however, but we are still awaiting the results of some tests on the stones to see what part of his diet caused them in the first place.

So on to other news. I joined a book club today. Or rather, the woman at my local library who sets up the book clubs up here rang me to say they had a vacancy for one of the book clubs that meets during the day. As it is only one day every three weeks, I felt that even with my limited energy, I could manage that! So this Friday, I go to my first meeting. Should be interesting, at the very least.

Apart from worrying about university and my dog, I've not really been doing much of late. We've been having floods again. Like most Queenslanders, I am thoroughly sick to death of the sight of rain now, and look forward to a cold and crisp Winter (preferably dry).

Anyway, stuff to do.

It's raining, it's pouring.....(you know the rest!)

Just a very brief blog entry (at 4.30am!) to say not a whole lot, but mostly because it's been all of about half a month since my last one, and I thought I should try and blog AT LEAST once a month!

Anyway, short version of my life:

1. I've been busy with this and that (work and/or study-related)

2. I've been stressy because of the rain (I should expect rain, given it's the stormy season here in Sunny Queensland where it seems to rain more than any other country on the planet, or at least, that's how it feels). It's been flooding down behind me again, and once again I've been cut off from all manner of civilisation, except what can be found online or on the telly.

3. My cats have survived almost an entire summer outside in their cat enclosure, despite one of the velcro twins having his bleeding nose thing going on again. Grrrr.

4. The mad dalmatian who I call my own, has been having "let's see who can bark the loudest at the stupidest of things, oh and in the middle of the night too" contests with the ring leader of the two Border Collies who lives next door. She eggs him on, and he says "I'll take your bet, and raise you..."

So there you go. Now I'm off to do more work and/or study...

Aftermath of Australia Day - past and present...

I was looking yesterday for a picture of the Aussie flag for my blog entry about Australia Day, and in my travels I came across an absolutely fantastic Brisbane blogger. His blog for yesterday was about the 1974 floods. Given I was only 5 months old at the time (so a month older than I am in my blog photo), I don't rightly remember the flood well :-)

Also my family was living in a little country town outside of Ipswich at the time, so we weren't actually in Brisbane. What I'm getting around to saying is that while I have grown up all my life with stories of the flood of '74, and I knew it was in January, I wasn't actually aware of the fact that it also coincided with Australia Day that year.

Anyway, the blog entry is here:

http://www.yourbrisbanepastandpresent.com/2010/01/australia-day-floods-1974.html

It is well worth a read for lots of reasons. It has some wonderful photos of Brisbane, both past and present, as well as a very good history lesson or three!

Having had a good (but quick! - I promise to go back for a more in-depth gander soon) look, I came across some other links from his sites, but one I will post here for Ceramix's benefit. Perhaps it will help him understand some of the things I come out with on occasions. I know the Aussie lingo is unique, and so I offer up a website with some absolute doozies from the Aussie culture:

http://www.wallabydown.com/slang.html

Anyway, it's going to get up to 34 or so today (that's Celsius, guys), so I'd best get on with things before it gets too hot.

Enjoy your day!

Happy Australia Day!

It's been a typical Australia Day for me - hot and sweltering! As opposed to last year, when I went down to Brisbane for the day (South Bank, to be exact), I chose to stay close to home this year. Given the Christmas/New Year period was less than celebratory due to illnesses, deaths, and anniversaries of previous deaths, I woke up today not really feeling much like celebrating our national day, to be honest.

So I went to the shops (I checked first to make sure they'd be open!), and had some wonderful chats with the various check-out chickies I had dealings with. Mostly about how as a nation, we seem only to physically portray our patriotic tendencies on this one day of the year. For the rest of the year, our flags, t-shirts, shorts, and other general paraphernalia that we have with Aussie flags, flora, fauna etc on them, are safely tucked away in the bottom drawer - "for safe keeping".

The same goes for our music, it seems. I, for one, love the local Aussie music scene. We have a wonderful eclectic style of music here in Australia. So why are our radio stations full of American and English music? What about Aussie pride?

Mind you, I'm getting myself all worked up here about the lack of Australian Pride and Patriotism, while listening to John Farnham, so I can't talk! You can't get much more Aussie than ol' John Farnham. Except maybe for Barnsie (Jimmy Barnes), Acca Dacca (AC/DC), INXS, and Skyhooks, just to name a few.

Kinda helps to have a large music library, I guess!

But for the most part, our radio stations (on TV (now that that's an option), radio, internet, mobiles, etc) seem to rarely play much Aussie music that I can find, unless it's Country.

Anyway, I'm waffling now, so I'll stop, and go back to my happy music listening, having cheered up a great deal since I got home :-)

Either way, I plan on spending tonight listening to more Aussie music - all on my lonesome :(

(But I do plan on enjoying it!)

R.I.P.

My neighbour died last night at 8:25pm. Her funeral is next week, and I plan on attending. The new neighbours in the ex-rent-a-house have offered to drive me there and back, which is very nice of them, and I will be forever grateful to them for going out of their way for me.

Not much else to say, really, and I don't rightly feel like talking much just now anyway, except to say that I am no longer all that keen on January as a month, as it seems to be a month when everyone dies. With the exception of two small people I know, both born in January, I can't say that there is much to celebrate anymore.

Roll on February!

:(

Lots of different things.....

Firstly, I must say - Happy New Year.

Now that that is over, let me just catch up on what's been happening since Halloween, which was my last post.

Firstly, a bit before Halloween, my sister got married. Yay!

Secondly, I did okay with my week on no power stint, although not as well as I would have liked. I will do better next time.

Thirdly, the rent-a-house next door has finally been sold and now I have nice new neighbours, with two lovely dogs who enjoy coming over to play with my silly dalmatian.

Fourthly, my other neighbours, who have been here since forever (it seems), well they aren't doing so well. One of them has cancer, and it doesn't look at all good. The person in question has recently been moved to a hospital near by and put in the palliative care unit, so I guess that isn't such great news for them. I still hope every day that it will go into remission, or the docs will find out that it was all one big mistake, and that my neighbour is fine.... Either way, I will be there for those left behind as best I can, but I share their pain. My neighbour is very dear to me, and I don't want to see them go either.

Apart from that, (and to change the subject completely)...

Why is Britain complaining that they don't have enough grit for their roads? Surely, after last year's massive snowfalls, and the fact that they ran out (or came very close to it) , they would make sure that this year they had ample supply? Or is it just me that thinks this makes good sense? If you run out one year, make sure you have enough for the next year! It's called stocking up, fellas!

Over Christmas I finally got myself something I've been wanting for ages. It's a doo-hickey that allows me to transfer all my cassettes to my computer. (It will also do records, cds, videos, etc) So I've been having a play with that, as one of my New Year's Resolutions is to de-clutter my life and my house.

And I have A LOT of cassettes from my teenage years.....

It's been an interesting journey though, finding out what I used to listen to, tranferring stuff that I've never been able to find on CD (or download) over to a more manageable (and storeable) format, plus also discovering some audio files of lectures, rehearsal tapes for concerts I was in, and some recordings of myself!

Anyway, stuff to do...