In the news today

In the news this morning is a story about a ride at Movieworld breaking down and people needing to be rescued, not good but no one was hurt which is the most important thing.

Of course Donald Trump was in the news yet again, after his first speech since winning the election and anyone hearing him people were saying he sounded like the idiot he is others were shocked that he didn't say and sound more like a president should, what the hell if the man came out and said and acted like a president should people would be saying what happened to Trump who is the imposter so shut up he is who he is the American people voted him in. What type of president he will be is something we will see in time if he really sucks and does a horrible job he may be a one term president as I said only time will tell.

Ok it seems Kim Kardashian's chauffeur is off the hook guess what I don't care..........................

ANZAC day celebrations in the Blue Mountains may need to be cancelled due to lack of money for anti-terror security measures. NSW police are meeting with the RSL and council to try to work it out, it would be terrible if ANZAC day was spoilt this is the type of thing that makes many of us thing the terrorists are winning when we have to cancel events.

Another toddler has died from drowning which is terrible, he drowned in a knee deep fish pond in his front yard just another reminded that drownings can happen anywhere in only a little amount of water.

I wouldn't want to be one of the pass angers flying to Bali with Tigerair since the airline cannot fly into Indonesia, Virgin are bringing people stranded in Bali home to Australian and Tigerair say they are working to sort out the problem with Indonesia.

Also Jack Russell-cross had a close encounter with a snake, after it became stuck on her collar.

His owner had no idea how the snake became entangled in the dogs collar on the weekend.

It was stuck, it would not budge, so a trip to the vet was in order and the snake was eventually removed but not before Stella (the dog)was bitten but after a night in doggy hospital she made a full recovery.

Oh yeah scientist have discovered why women gain weight and unable to lose it, now this is shocking news, we.............eat too much of the wrong foods and we don't exercise enough, would would have thought that too much food high in sugar and fat would lead to weight gain and sitting on ones bum most of the day would lead to a big bum, but scientists have discovered it to be true........now you know.

Also on Sunrise this morning that more people are outsourcing tasks like buying school supplies and treating nits in their child's hair why because they are too busy to do things for their child, damn that sounds like I am a meanie which I am not, I understand that some parents are super busy working and some like a daughter of mine just reckon they don't know what to buy and such so I end up doing it for her.

Ok that is enough dribble for today but before I go one last thing mum is well enough to return home much to her happiness but she is going to have to make some changes she needs to use her walker more often as in all the bloody time mum and my brother and sister want her to get a Webster pack for her and dads medications but she doesn't want to do that so instead she is thinking of doing what I do and make them up once a week herself.

That's me done and dusted, not that I dust, I should but rarely do

Photo's of Leo's 9th

Reading Emails, My Mum & Jessica's Air Conditioner

Do you read your emails?

At times I wonder about Tim and if he ever reads his emails, last night he noticed a charge on his visa card and got into a tiss over it, he didn't know what it was and didn't authorised it and rang the Newcastle Permanent Building Society to complain, they cancelled the card and will issue a new card and all that is going to cause problems with money transfers and such.

Now here is the thing, this morning when I got up I remembered him saying something about it last night but I was in bed asleep or more asleep then awake and didn't really register with me what he was going on about. This morning it did so I went and checked his emails and yeah there was an email from the company that took the money it was for our contents insurance. So I told him that this morning and he said they shouldn't just take the money they should have contacted me, I said they did contact you they emailed you to tell you that they would be taking the premium on such and such a date, he has been going on how it was wrong and they should have rang him, I said businesses doing ring you about such things they email and if you don't want them to take a premium you have to ring them and talk to them. He is going on about wanting his money back but the more I have talked to him the more I think it is slowly sinking in, well I hope it is.

All this would have been avoided if he only read his emails.

In other news my mum is in hospital yesterday she wasn't feeling well and was in bed till around midday as she wasn't feeling good, she had fallen out of bed at 2am and was in pain but when my sister went to check on her she was confused and not with it so she rang the ambos who took her to hospital.

My sister Sandra and brother Dave stayed with her at the hospital for a long time, she had ct scans done as they thought she may have had a mini stroke, thankfully she didn't the ct scan of the brain showed no bleed or anything nasty. While at the hospital she was unable to have anything to drink and what they ended up saying was that they thought she was a bit dry as in dehydrated and gave her a drip and after a while she started to improve.

They also gave her a ct scan of her hip as they thought she had possibly broken her hip but that was clear but did show a lot of arthritis in her hip the orthopedic surgeon was shocked at how much arthritis there was.

We don't know how long she will be in hospital for we are taking it one day at a time, I spoke to her this morning and she sounded ok but she was in a lot of pain. Mum said yesterday when Dave and Sandy woke her she was wondering why it was midday she kept thinking I went to bed at night why is it midday. Also when the doctors and hospital staff asked her what year it was she couldn't remember and couldn't count back from 20, she would get to 11 and go forward again but as I said when I spoke to her earlier she was sounding more with it.

This morning Tim and Michael have gone to install Jessica's new air conditioning unit it is a large window unit and I told Tim I wanted it installed today as tomorrow it is suppose to be in the 40's and it is not doing any good sitting in her boot. 

Leo is now 9

Good morning all, as you may have noticed I wasn't around much yesterday I read a few blogs in the morning but since I had a sleep in and didn't get up till 6.30am I didn't have time to do much before it was time for us to leave. Leave you say, well yesterday was Little Leo's birthday he turned 9, yes my Little Leo is now 9 and to celebrate we as in me & papa along with Jessica & Leo went to Hunter Valley Gardens here is the link: http://www.huntervalleygardens.com.au/

We arrived around 9.20am and left at 1.20pm so was a nice day out, more photos will be added here on Wednesday but of course here are some taken yesterday.

We had a small family party for him here yesterday afternoon with BBQ chicken and hot chips for tea followed by ice cream cake. The only one who wasn't here was Blain as he was with his father at his father's mothers place and didn't get dropped off in time.

You will notice in the photos I was using a walking stick and have to say it made a big difference, I managed to get around pretty ok but after lunch which was a bacon & egg roll with a side of chips I started to feel a bit unwell it was really hot by then temp around 37°c. Jessica, Leo and I went for a ride on the little train that took us around the gardens that was nice and Leo saw some things he wanted to show papa so after the ride Tim and Leo went off to see other stuff Jessica and I sat in the shade and waited for them.

All in all it was a good day and Leo said he had an awesome time and it showed. 

My Saturday

Good afternoon world, how is everyone, I am ok it has been a somewhat warm to hot day I have not been able to think of what to bore you all with today and since I have not been able to come up with anything I am just going to do a check list of things I have done today.

Get out of bed at 5.30am        checked

Blogs read                      checked

Leo returned to his mum         checked

Massage had                     checked

Laundry done & on the line  checked

Dishwasher run & unpacked   checked

Floors vacuumed                 checked

Bread bought                    checked

Garbage bins emptied            checked

Recycled bins emptied           checked
Medication sortedfor the week   checked
Birthday presents wrapped       checked

Washing off the line            checked

Pick Blain up                   still to do

So as you can see my day has been so so, and I will be glad when the day is over and I can go to bed, I might add that last night at 3am I woke up to go to the toilet and found Leo in bed with us, not sure what time he got into my bed he hasn't done that in a long time.

I asked him about it this morning he said he had a bad dream something about the neighbours fighting and gunshots being fired, so he came into my bed for a hug and that is why he was in bed with me and papa. 

Five things Friday

Here is this weeks five things Friday

Boy's in trouble
Not being able to use electronics
No playing out the front
No  treats
Hiding chocolate

History of Australia and Aboriginal People

Good morning all here I am this somewhat wet morning thinking about what to write about and after some thought decided I would tell you a little bit about the history of this country and the Aboriginal people who have lived here since way back when.

Europeans arrived in and yes I know some would say invaded this country way back in 1788, back then the locals known as Aboriginals lived here for some say thousands of years, wandering around this great country and living off the land.

“… they were so ignorant they thought there was only one race on the earth and that was the white race. So when Captain Cook first came, when Lieutenant James Cook first set foot on Wangal land over at Kundul which is now called Kurnell, he said oh lets put a flag up somewhere, because these people are illiterate, they’ve got no fences. They didn’t understand that we didn’t need fences … that we stayed here for six to eight weeks, then moved somewhere else where there was plenty of tucker and bush medicine and we kept moving and then come back in twelve months’ time when the food was all refreshed …”1
the late Aunty Beryl Timbery Beller

I will not pretend to understand how the Aboriginal people feel about other Australians because I don't know, what I do know is that the way they were treated was disgusting we can't undo what was done we can only do better in the future.

What I do know that it must have been scary having all these strangers arrive in their country, strangers who brought with them new unknown diseases that the locals had no idea how to treat. These diseases would have caused so much suffering and death for the locals.

It is estimated that over 750,000 Aboriginal people inhabited the island in 1788. It should be noted that the colonists were led to believe that the island was “terra nullius” (no ones land) which is what James Cook declared the country to be in 1771 during his voyage around the coast of the country.

We found the natives tolerably numerous as we advanced up the river, and even at the harbour’s mouth we had reason to conclude the country more populous than Mr Cook thought it. For on the Supply’s arrival in the [Botany] bay on the 18th of the month they assembled on the beach of the south shore to the number of not less than forty persons, shouting and making many uncouth signs and gestures. This appearance whetted curiosity to its utmost, but as prudence forbade a few people to venture wantonly among so great a number, and a party of only six men was observed on the north shore, the governor immediately proceeded to land on that side in order to take possession of this new territory and bring about an intercourse between its new and old masters.
Watkin Tench, January 1788

It is now believed that the Island continent was in fact owned by over 400 different nations at the time of Cook's claim that the island was no ones land. In fact Captain Philip was astounded with Cook's theory saying “Sailing up into Sydney cove we could see natives on the shore shaking spears and yelling” so how could Cook say the land was no ones.

For thousands of years prior to the arrival of Europeans, northern Sydney was occupied by different Aboriginal clans, living mostly on the foreshores of the harbour were they fished and hunted in the area and harvested food from the bush. They were self-sufficient and mostly harmonious, they traded with other tribes. They would move throughout their country in accordance with the seasons, they would spend around 5 hours per day working to ensure their survival.

Because they had such large amounts of what we call leisure time they developed a rich and complex life with customs and laws the heart of which was the connection to the land.

The arrival of Lt James Cook in 1770 was the beginning of the end for this ancient way of life, his voyage of exploration had sailed under instructions to take possession of the Southern Continent if it was uninhabited, or with the consent of the natives if it was not uninhabited, either way it was to be taken. So really whether those who inhabited the land gave their consent or not didn't matter.

Upon his arrival Lt Cook declared the land which he called New South Wales to be the property of Britain's King George 111, and ignored the inconvenient fact that the land was already well populated. Of course his failure to even attempt to gain the consent of the Aboriginal people began the legal fiction that the country was waste and unoccupied.

Of course Cook was soon followed by the arrival of the First Fleet in January 1788, under the command of Captain Arthur Philip who mission was to establish a penal colony and take control of Terra Australia for settlement. More about that in a later post.