kayaking

Finally we got to try out our new kayaks. Last week it rained and was very windy and the place we had selected to go has limited the usage of the lake.

Non powered vessels from Sunday to Wednesday and motorised Thursday Friday and Saturday.It doe mean that people need to be aware and plan but at least there is no speed boat zooming past when one is enjoying the peace and quiet.

It was a very warm day, we took Lucy and I had a sudden though, wondering if dogs were allowed. I didnt see a sign as we drove in so all good.

Opps later on we did see a sign with dogs and cats with a cross through them so Lucy will have to stay home next time.We put her on a long lead and one of us was with her the whole time. Actually the area where we were, we had to ourselves.  I drive past this lake each time I go to work but had not ventured in before.

The "boats" ready to launch.

They are quite easy to paddle, I didn't spend a long time out as it was the first time in about four years. Sunscreen and long sleeves were the flavour of the day, I also wore long light pants but didnt realise that my ankles were exposed to the sun, didn't get sunburnt but need to think of that for next time.

Warren didn't set out to be colour co-ordinated but he couldn't have matched better if he had tried!

The Enchanted Wood

Aidan and I visited this tree a few days ago and although I took a photo, with my phone,  with him in front of it, it didn't turn out the best so I took Warren back to it last week and used my camera.

It is certainly a massive tree as I was standing on the road side to get as much as possible of it in the screen.

There is a fence around iy with an entrance on the other side so that people can actually go and walk around it. I would say that the base would be several metres around.

I meet some new people a couple of days later and I was talking about seeing this particular tree and apparently the people who lived in the area fought long and hard to keep the tree. Many of them had been cut down to make way for housing and luckily this one was saved. It is a fig tree and would be at least a hundred years old, it is not too far from home.

To Jack the Bed

I was making our bed the other day and Warren said to me when I walked out, "I thought you said you were going to make the bed."

I told him that I had made it. He looked in and then told me that I was the fastest at "jacking a bed" that he had ever seen.

"What are you talking about?" Apparently when he went to school, just pulling up a bed and straightening the pillows was the quick way and the masters used to call it "jacking the bed." They were supposed to strip the bed and make it again from scratch every morning. What a waste of time and energy. Although for 15 to 18 year old boys it probably a good exercise to use up some of their energy.

I told Warren that with fitted sheets and doonas, no way was I going to spend that much time so I will continue to "Jack the bed".

He did go on to say that the bed looked neater when I did it to when he did it. I said that I had had more practise and maybe he needs to practise some more.

Twelve hour day

That was yesterday, boy was I tired when I got home as we had done about eight kilometres of walking as well.

It was a geo day and we set out to do ten different ones.

So first was a Multi (more than one point) then we did a Traditional as it was close by, then a Puzzle one that we had worked on a few days ago. Then we went to a large park and did a Chirp chirp, an earth cache, a letter box and a tree climb.

Lunch at the park and then on to a CITO (cache in Trash out) where we spent  about an hour pulling weeds and looking for koalas and tawny frog mouth owls (one of each was found as well as a bush turkey). Meet some other like minded people. There was another letter box in the bush that we did. The first two letter boxes that I had found where actual letter boxes so the two on Saturday were disappointing as one was on the ground, the other was a small tube hanging in a tree.

We did a WhereIgo in Old Petrie village, followed and found all the spots and answered the questions but had to wait for a wedding to finish as our final destination was almost at the same spot. Up to Mt Cootha for a very old visual cache, boy was it getting bus up there because of the fireworks happening after dark, we got there just before they closed the road. Our last cache was a web cam in the city, we had to locate it and then using techo by phones get caught on the camera.

Our last port of call for the day was at a park to meet a fellow cacher from USA who was going to be there for thirty minutes. We were a little early so had dinner at a Thai noodle place, excellent meal and so quick. Got to chat with others and check out some swag and trackables, I picked up one that wants to end up in Wagga Wagga. Finally home at 9 pm, what a day but it was good to have that under our belts.

The Beauty of DVDs

We have a massive amount of DVDs that we had bought over the years, mainly while we were in China. This afternoon after a long day for me yesterday and Warren had a morning of riding through the pine forests, we just wanted to vege out in front of the TV and watch a good movie.

Ahh, but which one, I trolled through three large packs before finding something that A we hadn't seen and B would probably suit both of us, C if we went to sleep it wouldn't matter.

We selected a Steve Martin movie and settled down to watch. It was pretty boring and stupid.

The best thing about a DVD is even though we bought it, we dont have to watch it. We took a vote, stopped it and now its in the bin, the second for the week although the first one that hit the bin, we did at least watch the whole movie.

Best Friends

We paid Best Friends a visit yesterday with Lucy in tow. She loves travelling the car although last week when we picked up the kayaks she started to get a bit uncomfortable, pacing as much as she could on the back seat, it was a fair way to drive and the longest she has been in the car. She slept all the way home.

We have been using her lead clipped into the seat belt for awhile but thought we had better go back to using her harness for travelling.

Warren went to put it on her and it wouldn't fit! Luckily it does have adjustable straps.

Lucy scratches a lot in the mornings, she wears a flea collar, has regular baths and her bedding washed too, we don't know why she scratches, hence the trip to Best Friends.

They took us to the vet next door and we saw one of the nurses there, who checked her over and suggested some conditioner for her for dry skin.

Lucy loved going into the store and of course everyone made a fuss of her, she likes it when people speak to her. Seems funny being able to take a dog into a store.

Lucy and I checked out the toys but nothing really appealed and so we just got the stuff and some dried pig trotters.

Tired out after greeting all those new people, she had to take a nap!

This is her harness for the car. 

Two Days

and five minutes was all it took. We often sit out the back with a coffee but as we dont wear watches anymore, we never know the time which is fine unless we need to be somewhere.

Sunday we were having a coffee and the talk about having a clock out there came up again as I was going to the movies and I needed to know the time.

Right  I thought, after the movies I would go and buy a clock for outside!

Bought said clock a whole fifteen dollars wow why havent we done it before?

Left clock outside so it didnt get forgotten. Tuesday morning, coffee time again and the discussion was where would we put the clock. Warren thought that he would have to move the candle holder as otherwise it would be too low.  tried it and it was okay so he got out the drill (for the bricks) and it went up straight away.

After years of talking about it finally it didnt take that long to get it up.

oops Ididnt turn the photo before adding it.

New Lawn

Since the drought a few years ago when people were not allowed to water their lawns, some of our lawn has been dying off. Still no one watered their lawns now as the water rates are high. We didnt notice it that much until Lucy came to live with us.

Wet paws brings the dirt onto the patio and it is certainly noticeable then!

We have talked about getting some lawn pieces, I wanted to get some one in to do it for us but Warren was a bit like "We can do it ourselves" I said that I knew we could do it but the question was when? It was an open question.

He came home earlier from tennis on Friday and I went to close the garage door (Lucy does like to head out and across the road when possible) when Warren said that he was going to put the trailer on and head out to get lawn pieces.

I ended up going to and we got ten which filled the boot of the car, I rolled while he carried and stacked.

They have been placed around the patio and it is nice to walk on, the rain yesterday should help to bed them down. Warren took dirt from a garden bed to grade them into the existing lawn.

Now we just need to get a another couple of loads to get lawn growing back where Maggie caravan sat for a couple of years.

Davis Cup

Yay tennis is on. I didnt realise it was being played in Sydney and we had missed the first two games on Friday which had put us (Australia) in front.

As the doubles was on and I thought it would take about an hour, I settled down to watch with my knitting and two and a half hours later it was done, with Oz finally winning the third rubber.

This afternoon was to be the two dead rubbers as it is already won but it is rained in Sydney as well as here so we saw a repeat of some of Fridays games.

I am hoping we will get to see some thing of today's scheduled games but I will do some work while I wait.

I did get my beanie finished though, so no guilt. Besides it is the weekend a time of rest right?

New Doggie door

We had a doggie door in our screen left over from when we/our house sitter minded a friends dog. it was put in about eight years ago.

Lucy soon learnt to use it but as she has grown, she has been having to stoop to get down and out of it.

Time for the next size.

It looked massive in the packaging but not overly big and it has been in for a couple of days, Lucy has stopped stooping to go thru it.

Warren came home after buying our life jackets to go with our kayaks and the new door and said that it must have been gold plated. It did cost more than our two life jackets!

He had to get out the angle grinder to cut the screen door but was all done in about half an hour.

Our new purchases

We have hummed and harred over these for awhile and then finally decided to do it. Buying them on line did quite a bit of money and as we bought two, we also got a better price. We did have to go and pick them up though.

This one is mine, had the choice of purple red or blue.

Warren's is blue.

We first did kayaking up the coast a few years ago and have returned three or four times but at $80 a time we thought we might as well buy our own.

Not sure where and when we are going out in them for the first time but they are here and fix in to the trailer together.

They did come with paddles but no life jackets so Warren went to BCF where he had received a $15 voucher and bought one each.

There is a spot in the middle which is "Water Proof" for keys wallets etc.

Bit cold just yet

Beanies

Now that my knitted rug is finished I have been able to get on with knitting beanies. These will be donated to a homeless shelter.

These are some that I have done this week.

Thy are knitted in double wool hence the colours, I just need to sew them up using the loose threads. somehow I have lost my large wool needle so I needed to replace it and Spotlight had a sale so as the beanies using take a third of a ball they are quite cheap. The wool was a good price $1.61 a ball.

Most days I can make one per day depending on what is going on. Going to work slows my output of course.

I like the black one but t hard on the eyes to knit at night so I have gone for more manly colours in darker wool in my new lot of wool just not black. The homeless shelter seems to need more for men.

Out in the bush

This was me yesterday. I had grabbed a cache in the morning and it had a path tag which I didnt know what to do with it. When in doubt, I just ring the Wealth of Information (in geo, this would be Sheridan, shes quicker than Google). She told me what to do with it and as they weren't too away, they came to visit and see it.

Then of course we had to go and get some other caches.

This one was out in a wooded area and the hint was a "bison" which in my experience to date is a small tube about the size of one's thumb. Oh My Goodness, in that bushy area it was going to be hard to find. We stood on the side of the road thinking about where to look when I looked up and saw it. It was black about six inches long and round like a drink coaster hanging from a branch.

This is our screen after yesterdays foray. Sheridan got nine and ours numbered nine as well which was Thursdays and yesterdays combined. Once a cache has been logged the dots change into smiley faces. I think we have done about thirty since we have been home but not all have been in our own back yard so to speak.  As many of them were small, we only got to use our stamp twice.

An Unsettling Day

Friday was a yuk day! I started off doing the housework in fifteen minute bursts and as the morning went on I thought I had better take Lucy for a walk as she was nosing around and i knew that was what she wanted.

We set off and was only down the road about 60 or 70 metres and it started to rain and quite heavy so we came back home. I made a cup of coffee and then started to feel quite tired. It was darkish and dreary outside with the rain coming down. A dreak day as a Scottish guy I met once told me was the description of a day like that. They have them often in Scotland but here it is rare to have a "dreak" day.

It was still only mid morning but I thought buggar it, I am going back to bed. I read for awhile and then slept for about a half an hour. Not sure if Lucy woke me with a wet nose or I just woke up. It was still yukky outside.

I know that wind unsettles kids at school and I guess at home as well and that was what I felt like, I knew that I should have been doing stuff, sewing, grocery shopping but after the housework, we watched some catch up TV, even had a glass of wine, very unusual for an afternoon. I did get some knitting done.

Thank goodness we don't get too many of those days. It rained again yesterday but it wasn't as dreary just wet.

Fifteen minutes

Its the end of the week and the house looks as though it needs a through tidying and cleaning. I guess I haven't done too much during the week. These days the though of cleaning non stop doesn't thrill me at all so I am going to adopt the fifteen minute rule.

I have done two lots already this morning and I am now on a break. I set the timer on the oven for fifteen minutes then I spent that time on a particular task or in one area. The two that I have done this morning have been our bedroom and now the bed is made, room tidied and any clothes picked up and put away. The second one was folding and putting away yesterday washing.

Warren empties the dishwasher while he gets breakfast but there always seems to be some things to put away so that will be the next fifteen minutes.

I have some sewing that i want to do but that will have to wait until the house is organised but that shouldn't be too long.

It is amazing what can be achieved in the fifteen minutes and because there is a time limit, it does seem to be such a drag. Probably only a way of tricking the brain that one is not doing too much but it works for me.

Picnic in the Park

I have been looking at different places that we can go with Lucy. BL (before Lucy) we would often go out for coffee or lunch but we feel that she is not ready to be left yet for any length of time so we go for a picnic where she can go and then we take her for a walk in a different area. A win/win for all. (there just may be another reason as well! which was very successful today)

Today we headed out the road from home, it was only seven kilometres as the crow flies but driving was about eleven or twelve kilometres. After five kilometres we were in new territory, never been there before.
The road had narrowed and was windy through some hills, quite pleasant driving and I was amazed at the number of houses dotted around.

We went across a ford and I would guess that the road would get flooded if there was a lot of rain, just along from the ford was the park that was our destination. oh my goodness, what a great little park. There was a grassy spot to pull off the road and park, several sets of tables and stools, the one we chose and it was closest to the car had a shelter over it. the weather was threatened to rain so we were grateful for the shelter although in the end we didnt need it.

Bins were dotted around and there was even a toilet block! While we were having our lunch a worker came by and emptied the bins and cleaned the toilets! Big trees and lots of birds, a nice quiet park.

Lucy was tethered to a long rope and took full advantage of it, smelling out many and varied smells, too busy to eat her dried pork trotter.

To top off our short trip out, we found what we went for and the others on the way home, three from three was a good day for us and Lucy have finally learnt how to jump into the back of the car. Her harness get clipped into the back car seat belt, she can walk along the back seat a little way but she tends to snooze while we are driving.

Ongoing project one

This project has slowed down or stopped if I am to be truthful but ere have been good reasons. Namely one dog! Lucy does take up a bit of time but after she jumped the fence and we had to do something about increasing the height. I say we, my part is the ohhing after while Warren does the grunt work.

Anyway the fence had to be fixed, The front of the house fence had extra slats put on and there wasn't enough to do the side fence so we were lucky enough to pick up some free pallets from Bunnings. This did require Warren to cut them in half to get them home and then he needed to cut them to size before putting them up.

It served its purpose but looked as though it was two lots which it was so he has been on the lookout for another pallet and once one was available he replaced the slates as well as the gate and re did it so that the addition is all the same. All this takes time so nothing has been done on Project one, the TV room for the grandkids or anyone else.

As we had had a steel filing cabinet up there, Warren did do some culling and shredding of paperwork one day while I was at work. last weekend I bought the new TV and DVD. we had planned to buy one unit,TV with DVD but the salesman when he asked why I wanted that, suggested that we get a TV plus a stand alone DVD player, that way if the DVD stuffs up, it would be much cheaper to replace that rather the TV/DVD. That did make sense and even buying the two units was a little cheaper way to go.

We did the Electrician in last week, Warren rang to arrange a time and some one was able to come in two days, wow that is almost unheard of. We needed to get the fan and light fixed in that room. The fan combo light had been fitted only two years ago but this one had stopped working. We thought we may need to buy a new unit but apparently it was the switch that was faulty and the guy was able to wire in, a different system. Would think that it would be cheaper than buying a new fan but we were quite surprised with the bill. He also replaced the oven switch. The account came to $315 for about an hours work but its done thank goodness.

Now we can use the room whenever not just during the day.

So many parcels

It felt like Christmas day when I got home this evening. Four (4) parcels had arrived, two for me and two smaller ones for Warren but he informed me that they were really for me, he had ordered them and therefore they had been sent to him.

Wow, its rare that I get even one parcel. I opened the smallest first, these were the two that Warren had ordered from the Geo shop. The smallest held a trackable which means I can put this badge out and as it is attached to our name, we can follow it and see where it goes via the computer.

The second parcel was a date and name stamp to use when we find a geo, rather than trying to write on the log sheet.

I havent set the correct date yet.

The next two parcels were quite big, one is called a B box. Warren ordered a magazine to be sent to him each month and I said that I didnt really want one so he decided to order this for me.Its a box full of new products to try. There are a couple of chocolate bars, different teas, some beauty and skincare products.

The second big box is one that I had ordered o come each month, this is the second one that I have received. The theme for this month is getting ready for Spring and has sewing notions, three pieces of fabric and four patterns plus buttons.

Its a pity I have wok tomrrow so I will have to wait until Wednesday to play with my new goodies.

Layla's Walk

I had been checking on this and it was in a park not too far from us and there were three search sites. Layla is a dog and this is one of her favourite walks.

KFC have been advertising a $3 lunch box and that sounded like a good idea to grab two of these, go to the park, eat lunch and then go for a walk.

Drive in aisle took forever or at least about fifteen minutes and when we go to order, oh, they didnt have that and there was no menu displayed either, That was up alongside of the payment window. Cashier suggested popcorn chicken and we agreed as we were not up with what else was on offer. They were $4.50 each. The $3 box offers a piece of chicken, chips and a drink.

This was the container of chicken, hum it was some chips and a small amount of tiny crumbed chicken, the drink did not come with it but is there to show the size.

Found the park, lots of ducks which Lucy liked, I dont think she had seen ducks before.

Found one site and then wandered off to the next one but that bettered us and the final one was near a house that had a resident big dog so we decided to leave that one for another day, couldnt put Lucy through getting closer to a big barking dog.

Needed petrol n the way home and we topped up with a coke and ice cream as lunch didnt really hit the spot. Lucy was right, her picnic was a chicken neck and she got a pig's trotter to chew once we got home.

 

Hooked Up

While watching Ellen yesterday during lunch, Rianna explained to everyone there were different types of "hooking up".

Well, my hooking up had nothing to do with her version of a hook up.

I went to the Drs the other to renew my script and he sent me to the treatment room for my  check. I freak out enough about having it done without being bundled off elsewhere and hurried through it. Anyway my Blood Pressure was of course was up which I knew it would be and the Dr suggested that I have a 24 hour monitor on due to my severe "white coat syndrome".

Me being the type of person I am (head in the sand) I sat on the referral for a week before doing anything about i,t then when I rang I had to wait a week. Anyway yesterday was the first available time and I took that.

So much for being easier! My appointment was 10am, and once the paperwork was done, the woman took my BP on both arms. It was lower than two weeks ago. Then she fitted me with the monitor and told me that it would go off every half hour. It was as painful as usual but I was able to time it and then knew that it was only going to last about 40 seconds from whoa to go, seems an eternity in the drs chair. There was a night setting and from 10 pm until 6 am it only did it every hour.

The main hassle which makes me uptight, is that it is painful and I hate having it done.

Anyway,  I could see that once at home it was at a more normal setting even though it still hurt. I drove myself to the exit appointment and now have several bruises on my upper arm where the cuff was.

I doubted that I would be able to sleep with a large cuff on my arm and a big boxy thing sitting on my chest, bigger than a camera or a phone, but surprising I did sleep quite well.

Warren tells me that it doesnt hurt him (when he has his checked) and so i have come to the conclusion that having bigger arms (FAT) may cause it to hurt. I have six to twelve months to get my arms smaller to test out my theory. .I must look out my rm weights!