School website

Ishbel's school has a new website. Guess who's on the front page with her pals Ellen and Renee.

Take a look here. She's in amongst the Olympathon photos in the Gallery too.

Another weekend in paradise

Can I remember as far back as yesterday? Hmmmm. The usual shopping and chores.

Friday was the Total Fire Ban Day. Yes it got very warm, about 4pm it was 34C in Springwood but no fires broke out. Not sure if I'm disappointed about that or not!

Robbie had a cricket match yesterday afternoon. It was raining (and cold again) so I thought it'd be called off but it wasn't. He wasn't very happy when he got back. They'd lost again but only by about 5 runs. Ah well.

Ishbel was invited to play at Elki's for the afternoon. Once she got there we got a call asking if she could stay the night so I went over with her night gear later on. We then took advantage of not having a short person and took the boys to the pictures where we saw Burn After Reading which we enjoyed very much. Afterwards we went to find something to eat. We could only find a Hog's Breath Cafe open and we didn't enjoy it very much at all.

As you know, I tiptoed out of the house at the crack of nothing leaving the three boys snoring and went to RFS training. By the time I got back Ishbel was home and we got ready for visitors.

We were visited by Joanne and her friend, Janet, Adam (Janet's 8 year old son) and Chris (Joanne's 15 yr old). Janet comes up every Sunday to do Joanne's grocery shopping and we'd been talking for ages about her paying our new house a visit.

The chlorophyll babies are doing really well, especially the ones in the crates. The others in the flower bed are having to be protected from the snails, slugs and Bella - she has suddenly developed a penchant for digging. Not happy Bella!

Christmas in Valley Heights

We had an unexpected snowfall on the Valley Heights fire trail this morning. I'm hoping I'll be able to post a picture or two later.

Our RFS training session this morning was on pumps and pumping. We draw water from a creek using a pump into the tanker then pretend to fight a fire. I was pump operator today. It's a tricky business, keeping the water pressure at the right rate, making sure you are sucking water and not blowing it at the right time and vice versa and keeping an eye on the rest of the team to see if the water is being delivered at the right rate. It's an exercise we do from time to time, each time I pick up a snick more.

This morning for the first time in all the time I've been in the RFS we used fire fighting foam. It's used for covering burning oils in car crashes and the like. And it looks just like snow, both on the ground and, if you point the hose at the sky and let it fall, in the air. Two of the fellas took photos on their phones so I hope they don't forget to upload them.

The boys are wishing they hadn't stayed in bed after all.

MORE babies!

Don't panic - it's babies of the green, chlorophyll kind.

We spent Saturday buying veggies, herbs and plants for the garden. Catherine had given me a lithianthus plant earlier in the week. She knows I love them. They have lovely little blooms that are almost rose like. To them we added basil, oregano, thyme and sage, tomatoes, strawberries, zucchini, eggplant, silverbeet and a variety of lettuces and rocket. We now tend them carefully, watering them nightly (except last night because it'd rained all day) and chasing off the snails (the snails are kept away by the sugar cane mulch when it's dry but don't seem to mind it when it's wet).

In the evening we had Karen, Dan and Xavier over for dinner. Ben was away partying in Hazelbrook. We also had Sharon, Janet, Steven and Georgia over and they all goo-ed and gaa-ed over our little boy who slept peacefully through the whole evening except briefly to ask for a nappy change and feed.

On Sunday afternoon Robbie had a cricket match but they lost. Ishbel had a birthday party at the pool and had a great time. Jamie was supposed to go with Dad and Rob to cricket but mananged to persuade Dad to bring him home and my dream of a few hours in the house all by myself in perfect peace and quiet was ruined.

The weather has been all over the place. It was wet before the weekend, very warm on Saturday and it's been wet again since. Our rec AFL was called off last night because it'd rained all day. As I sit here typing with a fleece on, it's hard to believe that the forecast is for 36C tomorrow, a Total Fire Ban has been called for the 24 hrs from midnight and we'll be on standby all day tomorrow. No wonder the kids have colds!

Fraser George Colquhoun

Faser George Colquhoun, born 9.09pm on 9/10/08, grandson of Ian, son to Jono and Narelle. Weighed in at 8lb 7oz and 52cm after 6 hours of labour. Fraser arrived home in Kingaroy on Monday 13/10/08 with Mum and Dad and Grandma Sarah. On Wednesday I flew to tag team with Sarah who went back to work in Brisbane(reluctantly). Fraser went straight onto a management programme of feeding, pooing and sleeping. He has been sleeping 4 hours regularly since. He hasn't yet got the bit where he eats and poos in 30 minutes but Mum and Dad are working on it. The ultimate complimate, I got to have Fraser to myself on Friday morning while Jona and Narelle attended to messages. I had to leave them to cope alone this morning 19/10/08 to fly home, confident they will do better than manage.
I rang on Tuesday, the anxious Grandad, of course they are doing well, Fraser is sleeping 5 hours night and morning, Mum and Dad are healthy and happy at having tamed, for now, the beast.

The Great Escape

Have a look at this clever pup

~ even puts old Derek in the shade!

Japanese banking crisis

Following the problems in the financial sector in the US, uncertainty has now hit Japan. In the last 7 days Origami Bank has folded, Sumo Bank has gone belly up and Bonsai Bank announced plans to cut some of its branches. Yesterday, it was announced that Karaoke Bank is up for sale and will likely go for a song, while today shares in Kamikaze Bank were suspended after they nose-dived. While Samurai Bank is soldiering on following sharp cutbacks, Ninja Bank is reported to have taken a hit, but they remain in the black. Furthermore, 500 staff at Karate Bank got the chop and analysts report that there is something fishy going on at Sushi Bank where it is feared that staff may get a raw deal. Oh yes, and the Karma sutra bank is f****d.

(Thought I'd get a laugh in now whhile we can)

Sign language

These Sign Language pages from the Daily Telegraph had me laughing out loud.

There is more than just one sign each week; see there are more to scroll through at the top right hand side of the page. To go to a previous week click on Related articles under the scrolly thing or on the Last week's sign language link under the main picture.

Not the weekend round up

Ian is away up in Queensland to help Jono and Nelly with young Fraser. Sounds like they are all having fun.
Meanwhile, Ishbel and I got our baby fix by spending some time cuddling with Xavier. He likes sucking and got a little ratty when he couldn't get his finger in his mouth. At other times he was sleeping and lovely to cuddle.
Ishbel and I were at the bus stop a bit early this morning (she takes the bus from outside the front of the library). Jamie had announced at 10 to 8 this morning that he needed $10 for a calculator for his maths exam today. I had not 10c, never mind $10 so we had to duck up to the shopping centre and raid an ATM. So Ishbel and I were at the bus stop a bit early this morning. We decided to go and get a hot chocolate. Ishbel also conned me into getting her a chocolate freckle too.
Getting to the end of the chocolate freckle, she announced that it had been too chocolatey. She doesn't really like chocolate. What is a girl who doesn't really like chocolate doing having hot chocolate and a chocolate freckle?? Anyway, I didn't even get a little nibble.
The children have all gone back to school this Monday after two weeks holidays. Jamie and Rob went straight into exams - on Monday morning! Didn't have a chance to catch their breaths. Rob finished his last exam this afternoon and was angling for a day off - no way Jose and Jamie will finish tomorrow. There'd not been much evidence of study so the results will be interesting. They have the proper School Certificate exams in two or three weeks (equiv. to the O Grades we did).

Here's Karen's new boy

Xavier Christian Hale

Born : 12 October 2008

Time : 21:52 hrs

Weight : 3.845 kg (8 lb 7 oz)

Length : 54 cm (21.25 in)

Head Circumference : 36.5 cm (14.3 in)

Pictures in the slideshow at the right or via the Flickr site (link above).