Rambo's End?

We are returned unto Frogknot.We were unhindered as we had expected by Cunningham's Gap. I always glance up the mountainside as we head up just in case I spot another large rock tumbling down on us and I can warn Will to speed up or brake!Just past Warwick we passed the scene of a dreadful accident. A truck with two trailers had come off the road and was lying down an embankment completely burnt out. We later heard that the driver was killed. It had happened at 3.40am. From the marks on the road it looked like he had gone across onto the oncoming lane scraped along the barrier and headed back over and down the opposite embankment. The truck had apparently exploded and by the time the fire crew got there it was so badly burned that they could not tell which company the truck belonged to and had some difficulty finding out about the driver.We arrived at Frogknot at about 1.30 after getting provisions from Stanthorpe. There was the distinctive, sickly smell of death and decay at the front door but when we got inside could not really smell it any more. We opened up all the windows to air the place but it was pretty much as we left it and I spotted only a few rat droppings near the door.The vegetables in the garden looked pretty sad and wilted. Something likes eating the corn but there were a few weird shaped courgettes and one sickly looking squash. The dam was much lower and everything was very dry. It has been about 2 weeks since we were last here. It has been pretty hot in our absence but there was 6mm in the rain gauge so there had been some rain.It was  very hot but not as uncomfortable as it gets in Brisbane. We sat and read our books. I lay by the open window to catch the breeze coming in.Will went for a wander and came back asking if I wanted to see a snake."A dead one?" I asked hopefully. He shook his head.It was a red bellied black snake and was curled round a clump of reeds down by the dam. It looked very healthy and had probably gorged itself on frogs. It watched us and looked a bit wary but did not move away.[gallery ids="1453,1454,1455,1456,1458,1457"]They are venomous...yikes!... but Will said they are not aggressive...good!I found some different tracks in the mud. Some were definitely from a hoofed animal and the others were from a large bird.

We left the snake alone and headed back in. I looked a little later and it had gone....but where?We heard thunder and it appeared to be getting closer. We looked forward to getting some rain but it never materialised. We watched the clouds pass us by.We had a phone call from Dave next door and he invited us over for a drink. We went over and spent a lovely hour or so chatting on their verandah. He said he had seen a red bellied black snake about at his place too but we were unsure if it could be the same one. We told him about the tracks in the mud. He reckoned the hoofed prints would be deer and said there were a lot about. I wondered if the bird prints might be a heron. He said he had seen them by his dam.Back home I discovered the sickly death smell was coming from 'The Pit of Despair.'I entered bravely armed with one of our solar lamps. Looking up there were so many spiders webs that a few months ago would have sent me scampering out but I was on a mission. Following my nose I found what could only be a rats nest on a wire shelf amongst a pile of Will's old undies. I gingerly pulled it out but could see nothing.I went out again having found nothing but was not satisfied and later decided to go back in  and pull out the wire shelving and look behind. I did and there behind it was the dead rat. My work was done. Will came with a plastic bag and while I shone the light he reached in and picked it up with the bag. It did not look as if it had been dead that long. It's fur was brown and white and looked very clean and neat. Will said it was a bush rat...was it Rambo?We wondered how it had died. Earlier I had found what looked like a bit of dried blood on the sink draining board that I could not imagine I would have left there from our previous visit. Having seen the snake earlier I wondered if it had been bitten by the snake and crawled off to die in 'The Pit of Despair.'We shall never know.Will carried it off and threw it in the bush.Goodbye Rambo?

The Dirty Sitter!

Last night was the hottest night so far, very sticky. It was still 27 degrees at midnight. Surprisingly I did get to sleep fairly quickly and slept without much trouble on top of the sheets. It normally cools off in the the dark hours before dawn but not last night and it was already 29 degrees and rising when I got up at 8.30 am. I chose to get up at 8.30 this morning whereas yesterday there was no point lying there quietly due to the noise from the garage as Dulcie put her washing on.Yesterday I watered all the plants in the fernery and under the pergola before breakfast. Today I put some washing on and then I went straight out and watered the plants under the front verandah. Dulcie came out above to supervise."How are my violets, Nick?"They were brown, limp and dessicated under the steps."Not good...put perhaps this water may revive them." I said...it was about as likely as England winning the next one day match against Australia.The forecast was for temperatures up to 36 degrees. Dulcie shut the house up like Fort Knox and switched on the air-con.We played three games of cards after breakfast....Euchre, euchre, euchre....She won the first 2 I won the last. The three of us have been playing every night after tea. I couldn't even begin to explain the game here but each player has 5 cards and the idea is to win at least 3 hands by choosing your best suit as trumps. The player who deals turns over a card in the middle which they can take up as trumps if they have others of the same suit in their hand. The other players can order the dealer to take up the middle card if they feel that their hand is a winner with that particular suit. I am getting a reputation as a 'dirty sitter' ie one who should really order the dealer to take up the middle card but passes on it and then wins all the hands when the dealer takes it up.A few times now Dulcie has given me one of her terrifying glares across the table and called me a 'dirty sitter', (to be clear that is correct...without an 'h') and not the usual 'sit head!' ( the one with the 'h'). Will is loving stirring it and agreeing with her...shaking his head, tutting and saying "You dirty sitter!" as I try to protest my innocence and say that I really did not feel I had the cards to order up.Who would have thought cards could be so nerve wracking?..I get quite nervous each time I play.No cricket today but while I lay in the cool atmosphere on the sofa buried in Westeros and the battle for the Iron Throne, Dulcie was watching the tennis, the Australian open. It was hard to concentrate on the book with the sound of a ladies match in the background. One sounded like she was being poked with a sharp stick alternating with the other girl's semi sneeze. Dulcie is not impressed by these 'noisy bitches' as she affectionately calls them.The air-con is indeed most welcome. It did get up to more than 34 degrees outside but we were quite comfortable inside. Dulcie is still getting used to working it. I was there yesterday when she came to switch it off. When you press the 'off' button on the remote there is about a 10 second delay before the air slats slowly close and it shuts down."It won't turn off," she said, pressing the button 'off/on' button."Yes," I said "just wait"....the slats started to close but she pressed the button again and it switched back on and they opened again."See," she said."Right, press it again," I said, she did. We watched...the slats started to close but she pressed the button again and it switched back on and they opened again."Good God!""No," I said, "press it again" resisting the urge to snatch it off her. She pressed it..."Now wait," I said. The slats finally closed and it switched off."Oh, it's done it now," she said as if I had not been there to help at all.Sigh.

3 Months A Slave and other film spoofs.

“In Post- Gillard Australia, Nicholas Allen, a pommie man from freezing Up Over, is abandoned and left as a slave. Asked to hang out washing, water plants and make biscuits at the hands of his partner’s mother, as well as being offered many kindnesses, Nicholas struggles not only to stay cool, but to gain his citizenship. In the third month of his unforgettable odyssey, the long awaited email from his Polish case officer and a forced trip to Fiji will forever alter his life....”"Dr. Nicholas Allen is a brilliant parkin engineer on his first Australian mission, with veteran Australian Will Rodgers. But on a seemingly routine Brisbane day, disaster strikes. A visa  is granted, leaving Allen and Rodgers completely adrift - tethered to nothing but each other and spiraling out of finances. The Polish case-worker tells them they have to leave the country...and there are no other options. As fear turns to panic, every trip by air eats away at what little money is left. But the only way home may be to go further out into the terrifying expanse of the Pacific.""Based on the 2013 blog by ex-pat Nicholas Possum,’ Whoops! There goes my Possum!’, POSSUM focuses on the efforts of Possum Galore, blog of a man forced out of employment - something the Wigton community seemed quite shocked at - and flown half way round the world to Australia. In following Australian doctrine, he was forced to sign a visa that wouldn't allow for any sort of employment for six months. After cleaning some windows in Stanthorpe and, for the most part, moving on with his life, Possum asks Rodgers, a Chelmer Kindergarten teacher to fly with him to Fiji to seek his long lost partner visa."

The lizard in the boot!

It is Sunday and where is Will?...at work of course. They are having an afternoon tea drop in and he is sitting under a tree playing his harp while they munch on their veggie burgers. He is not getting paid for it. It is all goodwill just like the hours he spends on their website. It is typical of Will and typical of lots of teachers and teaching assistants I know. So next time you have the misfortune to be in the company of someone bemoaning the education system or ranting about the length and amount of school holidays poke them in the eye, will you? Just say "you know nothing you idiot!"Meanwhile I am pottering about at Celtis St....and going down the back steps, spot a lizard scuttling about at the bottom. It disappears under the steps into the foliage and the shade.I go in and sit in the man cave and fiddle on my laptop. My bare feet resting on astro turf rug. It is not long before I feel ants between my toes and look down to see them scurrying about in the fake grass. I have had enough and find Dulcie's insect spray in the garage...as well as cockroaches,it also deals with ants and I spray under the door where they are getting in  and all around the fake grass rug and go back to my laptop.I hear Dulcie moving about upstairs...she was watching the cricket...I go back upstairs to see if she needs help with tea but she has already peeled the potatoes and there is nothing else for me to do.I head back down the back steps and under the house. Peering at the rug, I don't see any ants but get a shock when the lizard runs out from under the coffee table and slips, skids and slithers across the red painted floor. I give chase and it gets trapped in the corner. I am trying to chase it out but it hunkers down behind some pictures that are waiting to be put up. I move the pictures and it runs along the wall and under the bed. I peer under the bed and see it heading for the other side and leap over the bed trying to head it off before it gets trapped in the opposite corner.I fail. It is trapped again by the great bald headed ogre and cowers in the corner.It makes a dash for a pair of Will's shorts, that he has left lying on the floor rather than walk the few feet to the laundry basket where they would be much tidier, and scuttles up on of the leg holes. I pick the shorts up and gently shake them and it drops out into one of Will's boots. I contemplate leaving it there for when he next puts his boots on...it would be amusing...but decide against it.I grab the boot and squeeze the opening closed and carry it out to the fernery. I tip the boot upside down and gently shake. I see the lizard's tail hanging down but it is still holding on inside for dear life. I shake a bit harder and it drops out and scuttles off with out a hiss of thanks.The great bald headed ogre goes back to the cave and his laptop...he does have some compassion.

Caramelicious!

We went up to Bribie Island today with Ros, leaving Dulcie behind to watch cricket under her new air conditioner.

We went to the beach at Woorim. It was the busiest beach I have been on here so far.

We had a wonderful dip in the sea. It was so lovely and warm but I did feel a few little stings every now and again. I thought it might be tiny jellyfish but Will said it was 'sea lice'. I don't know whether to believe him or not but I would not be surprised if it is true. Sea lice...yet another delightful addition to the Australian experience.

Ros is not a great fan of crowds but she said she didn't mind being amongst the flock that surrounded us in the water. She gave me a great tip...always bathe with a group of people further out than you...the shark barrier, she calls it...the ones the shark will attack first leaving you time to leisurely wander back to the beach.

We had an ice cream after our dip. It was 'Caramelicious'...a double cone, that the young lad who served us, loaded with at least 4 scoops...I think he was over generous but we didn't complain.

  

In the shop where we bought the ice cream I noticed this sign...

I am hoping it was a joke...I was happy just learning the 'shark barrier' tip...these might make the leisurely walk back to the beach a little more hazardous!