Just watched kidcalhoon1 in her swimming carnival. She did 50m butterfly, kept going the whole way, stayed with the stroke, and came dead last by about half a lap. 3 people in the race. Her reaction, I came third! With a big smile.... Right on kid
8th night without power, in the Yarra Ranges. Really not good. The Outage Tracker seems to say that maybe tomorrow night late the power will be restored. Not holding my breath.
Found out yesterday morning that was going to be my last working day. Cue frantic tying up of loose ends and organising a handover. And that was it. Handed over my laptop. Now on gardening leave for 4 weeks. Emails and Teams already cut off. I’m not upset at this situation, just in shock that it was all so sudden.
Thinking of doing a short trip somewhere during this time. Otherwise there will be a lot of catching up on sleep, time for cooking, relaxing and preparing for what’s next.
Finally watching the Four Corners piece on Woolworths and Coles, and nice to hear the farmer talking about how much of a hold both stores have on the farming community. I come from a farming (beef and bananas) family myself and I've seen first hand the damage they do by being the only option for farmers to sell their produce.
Also howling at the CEOs, they really don't give a single fuck, and they aren't even hiding it.
My old mans doing the whole "hobby farm" retirement things. I say retirement but he'll still be trying to install shit as they lower him into the ground. Anyway. So went to a lot of stock yards and stuff to buy his like 2 cows and 3 sheep or whatever. Said farmers were selling livestock below cost and in some cases animals who couldn't be sold were killed rather than continue to basically starve them, cause the cost of feed was soring.
As much as Woolies and Coles are to blame (and lets be VERY clear: They are!) Why were the media not calling this shit out?! Is it not the responsibility for journalists to investigate this shit?
If "Cattle killed because cant be sold for next to nothing whilst Coles beef prices skyrocket" was the headline of the age, questions would be asked without the need for a royal bloody commission or whatever.
This is exactly the scenario described by John Steinbeck in Grapes of Wrath.
Why were the media not calling this shit out?
The accepted reason for modern poverty/need is the housing crisis. That is all the media talks about because that is what press releases are about.
The real stories are plummeting real wages, the giving away of our wealth to mining companies, the cost of education, the loss of employment rights, the destruction of the public service .
**The loss of good news reporting ( I miss you Ranald McDonald ) **
A lot of the problem with the media is that reader's don't seem to care. I have seen news articles about this issue, but if people aren't interested in reading them the media outlets are not going to put a lot of effort into continuing to follow the issue - and with online media outlets the norm they get very clear feedback about the issues that actually interest people.
People don't seem to care much about issues which don't directly effect them and unless a story is novel and entertaining they don't want to keep following it. If people in general put even a fraction of the time and energy into social justice issues as they do into things like following true crime stories, reality tv or Taylor Swift concerts the world would be a very different place.
Why the media are not calling this out - the main commercial media tv, web, newspapers have colesworth as a major advertiser. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you. ABC is the only one that has the freedom to report on it, and unfortunately a lot of people don’t watch/read ABC so remain blissfully unaware.
I think it's more to do with the consumer is everyone, the farmer purchasing feed is not.
You're right in that it should be a huge discussion point, but at the end of the day everyone has to go shopping for groceries, so that's the story we're going to focus on.
omg, now I'm feeling a lot better I can see how much housework there is to do. 😱 ( garden is mostly half dead too 🥺, some pruning, watering and feeding and most should bounce back )
Got pipped at the post again for a house - we were told all the way that it was a matter of the highest price and in the end the seller went with the other offer because they could offer 30 days settlement and 'she wanted to give it to the first home buyer'. Never mind the fact I am, too - the house was Mum's.
Ah well, it would have taken at least $10k just to get it habitable, and that's before putting in things like a split system unit and blinds. And there's another property - a unit this time - just about to come up in a better location and ready to move in or nearly so. But still.
I have something similar when I sleep in. I have a super realistic dream where I can't tell I'm dreaming, realise something's off, and wake up. Then I decide to sleep again to calm myself down and it starts again.
I swear it can get a couple of layers deep in a dream sometimes as well.
Was just reading the other site. Did you know Australia used to have a Aircraft Carrier? Not only did we have one, it was extremely effective with 2 allied vessel kills to its name. Thats right. Allied vessels. HMAS Melbourne over the years took out both Aussie HMAS Voyager and the American USS Frank E. Evans.
People died and that part honestly isnt funny.
But if I had a dollar for every time the Melbourne sunk an allied vessel I'd have 2 dollars, which isn't a lot but its strange it happened twice!
Released from hospital, referrals to specialists, on and on it goes. Back to hanging in there and trying to cope with pain while I wait. I’m feeling like hell and very wobbly.
Still trying to get a quick stick vacuum in while Moobeans isn’t here to get stressed or breathe floating dust.
I also broke out the scented carpet stain remover to clean away the last of the stubborn vom spots so hopefully the smell *of the cleaner is gone by the time she’s back.
Fell off the wagon today and have made myself a cup of coffee. Maybe I need to try tapering off a bit more slowly, a second day of headache and fatigue was just too much.
I'm on my 2nd week off cutting down to one a day. Still do the morning one, but skipping my post-lunch brew. Been sleeping better, but do feel a significant dip at around 2 pm.
Last time I cut caffeine out I did it by mixing in increasing amounts of decaf to my coffee, I probably should have done that again this time. I was down to a single cup of coffee (plunger coffee) but it seems the last step was a bit too big. Not sure if I want to get some decaf or just cut down to a half cup for a bit - drinking half a cup of coffee seems a bit lame, so I probably should just get the decaf. It's really easy to minimise the effect caffeine actually has on you until you try to cut it out and the withdrawal symptoms hit.
When you say fish burger what do you mean? You could just use a frozen fish filet and then you'd have a filet-o-fish minus the bacon. I do this all the time. A fish burger patty would work too but I still wouldn't add the bacon only because it will take away the delicate fish taste.
I was going to cook some crumbed fish fillets in the oven, normally I'd add the smokey cheese , some lettuce or greens and lots of tartare sauce in a bun or bread.
But I'm also craving bacon this time which brought me to this idea.
For just me? 23Zero swag and Oztrail Gazebo with a couple of removable walls. Been pretty good so far, but I just added a swag stretcher to a cart for next time. Tidal river ground is hard as a rock.
When I bring the family? Oztrail Fastframe lumos 6p. I love it, but it really isn't good in strong wind. When the family is old enough I'll either step up to a Campervan, or a proper canvas tent.
How about you? Half the reason I go camping is to check out other peoples setups.
The battery life on this ThinkPhone is spectacular. Also, I've been using gesture navigation instead of the 3 buttons for the first time and it's kinda awesome. Took a little bit to get used to but now I can't see me going back.
I want to give it a try, meeting people for the first time in real life is so much better. But the thought of it is very scary. I've found a provider that looks good, just need to sign up and do it.
Just had a ridiculously loud Harley zoom past. I thought there were noise limits on cars and bikes, but I suspect they are never really enforced. This thing was louder than truck air brakes, was verging on painful as it went by. The riders of these bikes must surely be deaf after regular exposures.
Looks like Melton will get hammered, again too. Might rain here in Thornbury - I did water the garden but refrained from washing the windows just in case.