Category: Diary

I wish you could take photos of wind. I was just caught outside in the most amazing wind gust, it literally took my breath away – I couldn’t breath. It’s toppled heavy recycling bins and the empty garbage bins have all been blown in to a pile at the bottom of the street. I grabbed ours just as it took off and waited a second for the neighbour’s bin to glide to a halt at my feet, they’re both tucked away out of the wind now.

I was too late to move the recycling, I watched as two weeks worth of news papers blew to god only knows where, every other bin in the street is on its side, contents blown away.

Just lost power for a second too – everything flickered and my UPS kicked in.

Mother Nature sure ain’t a happy gal today.

It seems I’ve actually done the right thing by Bert and Kennedy.

Bert appeared in our room last night asking if he could sleep in our bed. He’s never done this before so it had us off guard right from the start but then it got really strange. When asked why he said “The toilet has voices and sometimes they scare me.”.

I can’t believe my big boy is 4 today. It only seems like yesterday since the mad dash to the hospital and his speedy entry in to the world. Happy Birthday Bert.

Helping yourself to breakfast can be a dangerous job at our place, you can never take too many precautions.

At last, the day has come – the kids now have a proper back yard, and what better way to celebrate than kicking around a footy in it?

I mowed the lawn for the first time on Thursday, it was saturated and has taken a couple of days to dry out completely so the kids have been anxiously keeping an eye on Dad, wondering if they’d finally be able to jump off the deck and start playing properly. Today was the day and they’re making full use of their brand new back yard, running, jumping, yelling and kicking the brand new footballs they scored at the South Melbourne Market this morning.

I’ve been waiting for this day for so long, and the fact that we worked pretty bloody hard to make it happen makes it all the sweeter.

There’s an old saying that a watched pot never boils. I’d like to change that to ‘a watched Australia Post van never delivers’. Three days of waiting finally came to end today when the van rolled up and the friendliest postie in the world handed me the box I had been waiting for.

My coffee grinder has arrived!

Yes, it’s only a domestic model but it matches my machine and my, um, what do you call the things you bang your spent grinds in to? So now I’ll have fresh coffee whenever I want it, no more getting the deli to grind for me and making the most of that first, fresh day. I’ve just had a couple of experimental grinds and so far, so good. No doubt this will keep me happy for a couple of years, then it will be time to upgrade. Hmmm, maybe I should start doing the research now…

PS

A quick word on pricing. After reading lots of reviews I settled on a Breville BarAroma Coffee and Spice Grinder. Their web site says it’s $199, fair enough. I went and had a look in Target where it was $169. Okay, better yet. Then Rae found one, brand new in it’s carton, on Ebay – $99 delivered. That’s a bargain in any language.

One of my strongest memories of winter afternoons when growing up is of mum listening to the footy on the radio. Now any one who knows mum will see her as a gentle cake making soul who wouldn’t say boo to a mouse. Obviously they never saw her listening to her Saints play. Her pained cries of “don’t handball it, kick it!!!!!!!” would have been heard 250 kilometres away where the game was being played. I also have no idea how the arm chair managed to survive the thumping it got as her boys lost another game.

Now, 30 odd years later I’m sitting here listening to my wife yelling “kick it Minson!!!!” as she thumps the arm of her chair.

It’s all a bit scary and disturbing if you think about it too deeply.

When Dale finished the garden we were left with a rather large pile of dirt that couldn’t fit in to the skips. As tempting as it was to leave it there and let nature take it’s course over the next decade or so we decided we had better do something about it before the kids were teenagers.

We had to move this pile.

In to this skip.

So we set to work.

After a while we took a break and the cavalry, in the shape of Rob, arrived. A cup of coffee and a couple of hours later we were done.

The pile had now gone.

And the skip was full.

Now we are done for a while,. The bin will go Monday morning, leaving us with a completed front yard. We still have to do the paths down the side of the house, but these can wait for muscles and bank balances to recover. 2 days shy of seven months here and we’re pretty proud of what we’ve managed to achieve with the help of family and friends.