tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11764904159925368982024-03-14T03:27:36.793+11:00Tok Tok placeI created this blog to talk about my home region. I've used many images, including archival images but mostly I've used my own images.JohnDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00608216150220329902noreply@blogger.comBlogger774125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176490415992536898.post-36495085813903973292012-12-04T16:38:00.000+11:002012-12-04T16:38:09.343+11:00End of days .....Hi All! Finally feeling well enough to put up a post even if it is not a pleasant one.
I am definitely unwell - Sarcoidosis effecting both lungs has resulted in complete respiratory collapse, congestive cardiac failure, pneumonia and advanced asthma. Just had 3 weeks in Calvary Hospital, Canberra, and now back home on "Home Oxygen" 24/7. Specialist says to sort out my affairs and make an appt. JohnDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00608216150220329902noreply@blogger.com27tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176490415992536898.post-19131980940228905132012-11-15T17:27:00.002+11:002012-11-15T17:27:58.958+11:00Been ill and in hospitalMy apologies - I've spent the previous week in Calvary Hospital (Canberra ACT) with pneumonia (among other things) and will be out of action for another week or so while I recover at home.
Hope to put up a few posts over the coming days!
JD
JohnDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00608216150220329902noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176490415992536898.post-71958983782507340712012-11-08T13:36:00.000+11:002012-11-08T14:21:25.802+11:00Georgia GirlHow embarrassing some people can be!!!It must be quite a shock for Julia Gillard to find that President Barack Obama's re-election somehow transformed her into Australia's male, Christian president who "actually supports what he says". Confused? So was Kristen Neel, a teenager from Georgia, who gained Twitter infamy in Australia in a matter of hours on Wednesday evening.
Kristeen, we have aJohnDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00608216150220329902noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176490415992536898.post-54180779992026572552012-11-07T11:08:00.000+11:002012-11-07T11:08:11.460+11:00Conservationist dies of thirst in Outback
Ethabuka Station is a property covering 200,000 hectares in south-west Qld. (ABC News: Mick Fanning)
Bedourie, Qld map
One man is dead and another is recovering in hospital after their four-wheel-drive broke down near the Simpson Desert in south-western Queensland. Police say two men left Ethabuka Station on Monday morning in a four-wheel-drive and got bogged about 16 kilometres JohnDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00608216150220329902noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176490415992536898.post-46948860900861041972012-11-06T09:36:00.000+11:002012-11-06T09:36:00.010+11:00Today's Melbourne Cup
Melbourne Cup field 2012
Here is the field for the 152nd running of the Melbourne Cup.
Click on the horse's name for their profile.
The Melbourne Cup is Australia's major Thoroughbred horse race. Marketed as "the race that stops a nation", it is a 3,200 metre race for three-year-olds and over. It is the richest "two-mile" handicap in the world, and one of JohnDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00608216150220329902noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176490415992536898.post-28728953885460217742012-11-06T07:14:00.003+11:002012-11-06T07:16:03.998+11:00Eating Tiger Pies in Sydney
I could have put up this post under the title - "Not quite Nigella Lawson", but it would lose something in the translation, I reckon!
Let me say straight off - Tiger pies are messy!
There are old milk crates scattered around and
a few stools to perch on to eat, but most punters stand to eat, leaning elbows
on the counters in the shade of the awning that goes all around the pie cart.
In JohnDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00608216150220329902noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176490415992536898.post-45124824791199977882012-11-01T06:47:00.000+11:002012-11-01T06:47:08.546+11:00Off and awayWhile we can we are off away again for about a week (going up "The Camp" - I find appreciate the peace and quiet of the rustic setting).I have relented and agreed to have satellite TV installed up there so I can watch the live sport on FTA TV and this will be done in the next couple of days. I have also bought a whole swag of new novels off Amazon - still wading through Gettysburg, have finished JohnDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00608216150220329902noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176490415992536898.post-18891570691312950042012-10-31T09:55:00.001+11:002012-10-31T09:55:07.950+11:00Sandy - spirit of defiance ....or plain bloody-mindedness?
JohnDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00608216150220329902noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176490415992536898.post-24677538868741414862012-10-30T07:39:00.003+11:002012-10-30T07:39:55.228+11:00Back to the wild
Eight Southern Brush Tailed Rock Wallabies bred at Tidbinbilla will be released in to the wild in Victoria.
Staff at the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve in Canberra's south are celebrating a milestone in their program to preserve the endangered southern brush tailed rock wallaby. They are preparing to release eight of the wallabies into the wild to boost the population. All have been JohnDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00608216150220329902noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176490415992536898.post-66375870591020915042012-10-29T14:24:00.000+11:002012-10-29T14:25:26.967+11:00Spectacular water main burst
Water from the burst main shoots high into the air, showering homes in
Glen Waverley, Melbourne. Photo: Nine News
Melbourne Water spokesman Nicolas McGay said a faulty valve in the pipeline, which ran from Silvan Dam into the Waverley area, was believed to be responsible for the spout. He said the damaged section of the pipe had been shut down while Melbourne Water staff JohnDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00608216150220329902noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176490415992536898.post-30693091231412836232012-10-28T17:32:00.000+11:002012-10-28T20:19:11.299+11:00Remembering Tracy and Maj.Gen. Stretton
"The Major General who led the recovery effort after Cyclone Tracey has died.
Retired Major General Alan Stretton flew to Darwin in 1974 to head the relief effort after the city was destroyed. Under his leadership, 36,000 people were evacuated and essential services were restored.
Major General Stretton passed away on Friday night at age 90.
Historian Peter Forrest says Major JohnDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00608216150220329902noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176490415992536898.post-7677934746727218902012-10-28T10:41:00.000+11:002012-10-28T15:15:22.078+11:00Was it as good as we thought it was ....
A not-so-maudlin trip down memory lane ….
I’m in my 70’s now. I
am retired tho’ Rhonda still works – curse of the new world economics, I s’pose
– Kat is all grown up and has two sons of her own.
Today, Sunday, I was
awake early – sleeping late is not my ‘thing’ these days as I prefer an
afternoon nap of an hour or so.
While the house was still quiet I got
to thinking on days gone bye. I JohnDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00608216150220329902noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176490415992536898.post-34822263925590242562012-10-27T12:39:00.001+11:002012-10-27T14:54:14.951+11:00"Frankenstorm Sandy"
Destruction from Hurricane Sandy on a street in Santiago de Cuba Photo: Desmond Boylan, Reuters
"Giant Storm
(Superstorm) Sandy is expected to be so large it will cover the eastern third of the United States, said Louis Uccellini, director of the National Centres for Environmental Protection in College Park, Maryland. The storm's reach may extend into southern Ontario, Quebec and JohnDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00608216150220329902noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176490415992536898.post-206785826424489932012-10-27T10:36:00.004+11:002012-10-27T10:37:33.640+11:00Judge-alone - v- Jury trialsOr, "Why I don't like jury trials!"
They are expensive.
They are time consuming for court resources
Their 'failure rate' is significant
They rely on unskilled, amateurs jurists
"An unusual pattern has swept Canberra's criminal justice system, sending shoulders slumping at both ends of the bar table and throughout the public gallery.
A string of ACT Supreme Court juries in unrelated trials JohnDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00608216150220329902noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176490415992536898.post-12474362921410791622012-10-26T10:41:00.002+11:002012-10-26T10:41:39.523+11:00And here is the news: My bum's got nothing to do with the story.
Tracey Spicer at Channel 10.
DEAR Mr Misogynist,I'd like to thank you for everything you've taught me over the past 25 years. Why, I had no idea I was so fat, ugly and stupid. I thought being a size 12 was perfectly acceptable. But when you yelled across the newsroom, ''I want two inches off your hair and two inches off your arse'', suddenly, a light went on.Of course! The size ofJohnDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00608216150220329902noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176490415992536898.post-15951217160708627912012-10-25T10:23:00.001+11:002012-10-25T10:23:26.955+11:00Weather has forecasters in a spin ....
The weather bureau is predicting a big change in Australia's forecast this summer, with an El Nino no longer expected. Average rainfall is predicted in the coming months in the absence of El Nino - Australia's major weather pattern in the 21st century which brings drought-like conditions.
After decades of weathering poor rainfalls, farmers are welcoming the change around
Dr Andrew JohnDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00608216150220329902noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176490415992536898.post-4734748374796541552012-10-24T09:15:00.000+11:002012-10-24T09:15:03.792+11:00I just love innovative thinkers ...
A mining worker takes a different approach to personal hygiene, making use of an excavator's bucket to take a bath at a mining settlement near Rockhampton, central Queensland.
Submitted to the ABC by: Terresa Bayes
JohnDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00608216150220329902noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176490415992536898.post-25646996760869829092012-10-23T10:23:00.001+11:002012-10-23T10:43:24.344+11:00Odd Restaurant and Eatery namesIn his book Pu Pu Hot Pot, Ben Brusey (who begins his bio by stating he has a secondary-school certificate in food technology) claims, with tongue placed in kebab-filled cheek, that creativity in a restaurant's name is far more important than that on its plates.There are heaps of clever, inventive, odd and even weird restaurant names.
London's Phat Phuc Noodle Bar
Here are a few I am JohnDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00608216150220329902noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176490415992536898.post-39486167279069751232012-10-23T07:19:00.000+11:002012-10-23T07:26:27.765+11:00Marlin payback .....I've never been a fan of deep sea game fishing - perhaps because my socialistic tendencies causes me to view it as one of the "Domains of the rich and well off" (like I view ocean yacht racing) as well as being a 'cruel and unusual activity', so it was with some joy that I recount the joy of the marlin that gave back as much as it got and then managed to escape.
"In a battle of wills JohnDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00608216150220329902noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176490415992536898.post-12507238514940090522012-10-22T12:48:00.004+11:002012-10-22T12:48:52.799+11:00Budgies in the Outback
Courtesy of the Australian Broadcasting Commission On-line News:
Thousands of budgerigars have been seen around Central Australian waterways.
(File image) (Audience submitted: ABC News)
A zoologist in Central Australia says he has never seen so many budgerigars congregating around waterholes. Anthony Molyneux from the Alice Springs Desert Park says the explosion of JohnDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00608216150220329902noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176490415992536898.post-23323374346551711342012-10-21T09:33:00.001+11:002012-10-21T09:36:30.492+11:00World finances begin to darken once more
We’ve been away for
few days (up “The Camp”) and since we got back I’ve been catching up in the
world political and financial news.
Europe is in a grim
state with Greece, Italy and Spain particularly facing severe financial worries
and beset by strikes and protests, Now, today, I read that the UK’s Prime
Minister – David Cameron, in case you’ve forgotten who it is – is facing
turmoil at homeJohnDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00608216150220329902noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176490415992536898.post-41492299362812234202012-10-17T08:02:00.000+11:002012-10-17T08:03:08.298+11:00Lord's in the outbackThis post will tickle the fancy of all cricket loving readers.
Cawkers Well now has a cricket club (ABC: Catherine Heuzenroeder)
"Elaborate plans are coming to fruition for bush cricket to be played at an outback cattle station.
The support of volunteers to make the unusual event possible has knocked the organisers for six.
More than 200 cricket-loving Rotarians from across JohnDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00608216150220329902noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176490415992536898.post-12375518048632932082012-10-16T22:09:00.003+11:002012-10-17T07:37:01.711+11:00When I worked "The wards" ....
The other weekend
while in Sydney for Rhonda’s conference we had supper with a group of fellow
nurses attending the conference – that is, they talked shop and I sat back and
listened.
The topic got around
to nursing those with dementia in a closed ward environment, which led to the
risks that the nurses felt exposed to, which progressed to “assaults” upon
their persons. This eventually JohnDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00608216150220329902noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176490415992536898.post-41027706057912882472012-10-16T17:41:00.002+11:002012-10-16T17:41:36.565+11:00Busy morningHad to be at the Medical Centre by 8.30 am for fasting bloods to be taken and to have an ECG as part of the preparation for my yearly GP's Medical Management Plan - I have an appointment with the Nurse and the GP next Wednesday and they like the pathology done up front. The girls at the Laverty Pathology Clinic were really on the ball - I was first in and sat in the chair and they had the blood JohnDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00608216150220329902noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176490415992536898.post-44785018499717773792012-10-15T08:18:00.002+11:002012-10-15T08:18:27.427+11:00Things are "Just Ducky" over in Canberra!
A duckling demonstrates how to use the special ramp at the
Australian Academy of Science. Photo: Supplied
As the days get warmer, people are not the only ones seeking the sunshine: wildlife is also making a reappearance in Canberra.
Ducklings are finding their way out of the nest, crossing roads and entering ponds and pools.
Almost a dozen ducklings and their parents have already JohnDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00608216150220329902noreply@blogger.com3