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From the November 08 edition of Reader's Digest found on the lunch room table . . .

When he received a bound diary as a gift, my eight-year-old son was mystified. "Mum, what am I supposed to do with this? The pages are blank."

"You write down interesting stuff that happens to you," I said.

"So it's like a blog . . . on paper?"

Hot stuff

So we survived the big hot weekend and I'm sitting wearing a cardi this morning!

As you can see from the table below, Karen was right and following the rules of the temperature guage on the Springwood Weather site we couldn't go over 40C and we didn't - by much.

Still, that was hot enough. We weathered the heat by judicious use of our air-conditioning. Thank goodness we weren't still at Macquarie Road, it used to get very warm in that house and a long run of weather like this would have been really uncomfortable. I felt sorry for the new owners as I drove past on Sunday.

Robbie had a cricket game on Saturday. Luckily it was at Blackheath which is higher up the mountains and therefore a bit cooler. Ian took Jamie and Ishbel up with him to the outdoor pool up there so they splashed about keeping cool. (I was at the hairdressers - for hours!)

On Sunday morning I got up early and went off to RFS training. I got grunts of No when I asked the boys if they were coming. The turn out yesterday was HUGE. That and the heat meant we stayed inside the shed, divided into 3 more manageable groups and did training that way.

One of the topics was vehicle familiarisation. We went walkies round the truck and the Personnel Carrier, pointing out potential hazards, etc. We have a new PC, a Landrover Defender. I got to have a little drive of it. We haven't been too impressed with it really. It's carrying capacity is rubbish - our taller members can't sit upright in the back seats, some of our more curvaceous members have trouble finding space anywhere and with a full crew of 7 there is nowhere to stow bags and equipment except on the roof. We barely have room for the First Aid kit and the fire blankets for use in an over-run. Driving it was odd too - the hand brake is in a whacky spot and the indicators and wiper sticks are all back to front - I managed to remember they were the opposite way round while I was driving the PC then promptly put my windscreen wipers on in our car instead of the indicator! Visibility out the back was rubbish - even without a crew on board.

As a Total Fire Ban had been declared again both days of the weekend crews were sought to sit on stand-by. But we couldn't volunteer. We had tickets to see the Top Gear Live show at the Acer Arena at Homebush. It was a lot of fun, the kids loved it. They had some of the stuff from the TV shows - we voted for cars on the Cool Wall by holding up green or red cards and using the same cards to indicate Left and Right, did a lap of the circuit used on the show by celebrities. There was an Australia v England car soccer match - Australia won 5-4!

Karen and Dan went to Top Gear the evening before. We were supposed to babysit Xavier but Rana is over from the US so she did it instead. Ishbel was a bit put out and said, "Well, we get first dibs next time!"

We've woken up this morning to much cooler temperatures - hence the cardi - but the sad news that over 100 lives have been lost in the Victorian fires (see ABC News pages). Yesterday morning 20+ lives had been lost but the news reports were saying 40+ could be expected. When the alarm went off at 6am the news report said some 90 people had been killed. Not half an hour later 108 were being declared dead. This is the most people killed in bushfires ever. We still haven't heard anything about teams being sent down to help from the Blue Mountains but I have said I am available.

Just like at our house . . .

when we show them our walk-in wardrobe . . .

Two points of view video

Weather forecast

Here is a screendump of the weather just now (2:30pm) in Springwood. Note that the max on the temperature bulb is 40C - we're in trouble 'coz the forecast is for 44C on Sunday!

I'm going to download this to a CD and play it long and loud every weekday morning

. . . perhaps then I'll get out of the door without a sore throat and a hoarse voice!

Looking back on another week

From the middle of the week this time.

Last Wednesday was Joanne's funeral. It was held at the crematorium at Leura. There's a lovely little chapel building at the edge of a hill looking over bushland. It's quite beautiful. Ian and I went up with Robbie and Ishbel. Joanne's eldest sister, Margaret, gave a lovely speech followed by Joanne's friend from college, Linda. It was very hot in the chapel and a few people had to leave to get some air and three people passed out - including our own Ishbel. She was complaining of feeling a bit sick, I was trying to find a seat and then her eyes just rolled back in her head and she just flopped. A short rest on the lawn at the front of the chapel with all the other floppers and a glass of water and she was right again. After all the ceremonial stuff was finished we let go 47 purple balloons. The reception/wake was held at the golf club in Springwood.

On Friday the washing machine was finally fixed with a new pump being installed. However, after putting on the first load I found water all over the floor in the laundry - the man hadn't connected things up properly. Luckily Ian had been paying close attention to what he'd done otherwise and was able to correct the problem.

On Saturday Ishbel and I went down to Bowral with Cathy for the afternoon. Her boys had left their Nintendo DSs at friends during the holidays and we were meeting Chris to get them. After meeting Chris over lunch we pootled about the bookshops and antique shops then finished with 3 enormous ice creams before heading home.

Meanwhile Robbie and Ian went cricketing leaving Jamie to hold the fort at home. Robbie's team lost - the umpire came from the opposing team and the decisions were not without controversy apparently.

Robbie has signed up for both soccer and rugby this winter. I'm not at all sure how we're going to manage to get him to games and Jamie to his AFL games. Jamie doesn't start his comp until April but we have the draw already. He has games ALL over Sydney. Some with early starts. I've said to Ian they should just stay overnight near the venue for those ones.

Ian went for a long bike ride to Oberon on Sunday morning. On the first Sunday of the month he usually does that with a crowd of fellas while I go to RFS training leaving Ishbel at Ruby's house. We'd not got into our stride after the holidays though and hadn't arranged for Ishbel to go to Ruby's. It wasn't until mid-morning that Carolyn rang wondering where Ishbel was! Ruby came round to play in the afternoon and we'll get back into it next month.

The boys have started back at Venturers tonight. Tomorrow Robbie starts work at McDonalds in Blaxland. He's to be there at 4:30pm for orientation. Jamie starts his AFL training at 6pm and at 7:30 I plan to take Josie to dog school. Phew!

Oh and the forecast is for hot, hot, hot weather this weekend. Yeuch.

From a document at work

I just like it.

“If there is anything the nonconformist hates worse than a conformist it's another nonconformist who doesn't conform to the prevailing standard of nonconformity” Bill Vaughan

Creepy crawley

Take a look at this creepy crawley then check out the video.

Farewell George, we're going to miss you

Here are some pearls that will go down in history!

'I have opinions of my own --strong opinions -- but I don't always agree with them.' - - George W. Bush

'We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not occur.' - George W. Bush

'The vast majority of our imports come from outside the country.' - George W. Bush

'If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.' - George W. Bush

'One word sums up probably the responsibility of any Governor, and that one word is 'to be prepared'.' - George W. Bush

'I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good judgments in the future.' - George W. Bush

'The future will be better tomorrow.' - George W. Bush

'We're going to have the best educated American people in the world.' - George W. Bush

'I stand by all the misstatements that I've made.' - George W. Bush

'We have a firm commitment to NATO, we are a part of NATO. We have a firm commitment to Europe. We are a part of Europe ' - George W. Bush

'Public speaking is very easy.' - George W. Bush

'A low voter turnout is an indication of fewer people going to the polls.' - George W. Bush

'For NASA, space is still a high priority.' - George W. Bush

'Quite frankly, teachers are the only profession that teach our children.' - George W. Bush

'It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it.' - George W. Bush

More GWB quotes and here too

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Took this photo to show how the puppy has grown and to show you how well the dogs get along. As I type they are at my feet, under the computer desk sharing a bone. (It's a very old bone which Bella dug up somewhere in the garden. She seems to have a stash somewhere; perhaps someone was murdered!!!)