Sunday, May 27, 2012
Kiddie Update #1
Here's Miss 8 at her horse riding lesson yesterday ....
It's the first time she's ridden without a saddle and it's on a horse she's never ridden before! She did slide off twice - which was quite funny - but as you can see she's enjoying herself.
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Welcome
Just wanted to say a quick welcome to all those popping in from Stephen's place "Standing outside looking in".
I've not written much this week - tied up with work and sick kids - but I generally try to post a couple of times a week. So pull up a chair and have a look through the archives!
And for my readers who haven't visited Stephen's place - I recommend you do. He's a great guy with lots to say!
I've not written much this week - tied up with work and sick kids - but I generally try to post a couple of times a week. So pull up a chair and have a look through the archives!
And for my readers who haven't visited Stephen's place - I recommend you do. He's a great guy with lots to say!
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Bucket Lists for Kids
Blogsurfing found me at "50 Things to do before you're 12" and "Bucket list for kids: 50 things to do before they're 12".
Reading through the lists and the comments was interesting and left me with the distinct impression that kids should get outside more and be responsible.
Some of them do concern me - especially the 'go swimming without a parent around' type. I'm not sure I'ld be happy with the girls going swimming without adult supervision, even thought they're both strong swimmers.
I think the girls have done a lot of the things on the list - mainly because we, as a family, enjoy camping and Cubs & Scouts encourage a lot of the same activities. However, when I get some time, I'll sit down with the girls and go through the lists and comments and see if there are any others that they want to do.
Reading through the lists and the comments was interesting and left me with the distinct impression that kids should get outside more and be responsible.
Some of them do concern me - especially the 'go swimming without a parent around' type. I'm not sure I'ld be happy with the girls going swimming without adult supervision, even thought they're both strong swimmers.
I think the girls have done a lot of the things on the list - mainly because we, as a family, enjoy camping and Cubs & Scouts encourage a lot of the same activities. However, when I get some time, I'll sit down with the girls and go through the lists and comments and see if there are any others that they want to do.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Camping is great
It is ... really ... but not in winter! Somehow I've managed to sign up for 4 (yes FOUR) camps - all under canvas - between the beginning of June and the middle of August!?!
The first one is a three night camp with the Scout Troop; the second is a two night Scout Leader Training Camp; then there's a two night Scout Radio Operators Badge Camp (I wasn't planning on going on this, but Miss 10 couldn't register as they didn't have a female leader / parent going) and then finally we have a two night Cub Scout Camp!
There is also an overnight hike happening sometime within this period too - but I think I'm going to pass on that!
I'm hoping that this will be a very odd winter with unusually warm and dry weekends :)
Stay tuned for reports!
The first one is a three night camp with the Scout Troop; the second is a two night Scout Leader Training Camp; then there's a two night Scout Radio Operators Badge Camp (I wasn't planning on going on this, but Miss 10 couldn't register as they didn't have a female leader / parent going) and then finally we have a two night Cub Scout Camp!
There is also an overnight hike happening sometime within this period too - but I think I'm going to pass on that!
I'm hoping that this will be a very odd winter with unusually warm and dry weekends :)
Stay tuned for reports!
Saturday, May 12, 2012
I know this ... but
Just got back from the range. Sometimes it seems such a hassle to get there. There's always other stuff to do, and sometimes it feels too hard.
BUT I KNOW that when I make the effort and actually get up there that I'll enjoy myself ... and then I wonder why I've put it off for so long!
To keep your firearms licence (handgun) here you have to shoot in a competition every 8 weeks. My club runs weekly competitions on Saturday afternoon / Sunday morning (they used to also do it on Wednesday afternoons - which I really enjoyed). To meet the one-in-eight requirement I had to shoot today. Even up to 10 minutes before I left I really, really couldn't be bothered.
But Shooting Buddy was here (and he needed to shoot as well), so we headed to the range.
There weren't that many people, so we ended up squadding with three other people only - two were ex-trainees of ours, and the third was a recent graduate of the current trainer. It was a great squad to be in. Everyone was easy going (but safe), and they all jumped in and helped. We also acquired a 'visitor' who ended up hanging out with us for most of the shoot and helped out as well.
There were four stages. The first we shot was an 'el president'. The second was all steel - shot from a little room with a foot activated door. The door - metal - was a bit tricky as it swung hard open when you activated the foot pedal and then started to swing back closed - eek! The third and fourth stages were larger stages (16 targets per) and trickier. I didn't enjoy ROing the last stage as it you couldn't safely follow the shooter adequately. This was okay for ROing the more experienced shooters (but not ideal) and with a recent graduate it wasn't good. He however, did great and we had no issues.
At the end Shooting Buddy and I let the visitor have a go with our 9mms and then hooked him up with another member with an Open 38super gun. He loved that :) Nice to see the "new shooter smile".
So all-in-all a great day - just need to remember this for next time when I'm trying to talk myself into going!
[UPDATE]Just wanted to welcome all those coming via Tam's place. Nice to see you here![/UPDATE]
BUT I KNOW that when I make the effort and actually get up there that I'll enjoy myself ... and then I wonder why I've put it off for so long!
To keep your firearms licence (handgun) here you have to shoot in a competition every 8 weeks. My club runs weekly competitions on Saturday afternoon / Sunday morning (they used to also do it on Wednesday afternoons - which I really enjoyed). To meet the one-in-eight requirement I had to shoot today. Even up to 10 minutes before I left I really, really couldn't be bothered.
But Shooting Buddy was here (and he needed to shoot as well), so we headed to the range.
There weren't that many people, so we ended up squadding with three other people only - two were ex-trainees of ours, and the third was a recent graduate of the current trainer. It was a great squad to be in. Everyone was easy going (but safe), and they all jumped in and helped. We also acquired a 'visitor' who ended up hanging out with us for most of the shoot and helped out as well.
There were four stages. The first we shot was an 'el president'. The second was all steel - shot from a little room with a foot activated door. The door - metal - was a bit tricky as it swung hard open when you activated the foot pedal and then started to swing back closed - eek! The third and fourth stages were larger stages (16 targets per) and trickier. I didn't enjoy ROing the last stage as it you couldn't safely follow the shooter adequately. This was okay for ROing the more experienced shooters (but not ideal) and with a recent graduate it wasn't good. He however, did great and we had no issues.
At the end Shooting Buddy and I let the visitor have a go with our 9mms and then hooked him up with another member with an Open 38super gun. He loved that :) Nice to see the "new shooter smile".
So all-in-all a great day - just need to remember this for next time when I'm trying to talk myself into going!
[UPDATE]Just wanted to welcome all those coming via Tam's place. Nice to see you here![/UPDATE]
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Contacts lost ....
My phone died last Friday and with it all my contact details (yer, I know, I know).
So if you have my number (it hasn't changed) and would like me to have yours again, please message me with your name and number and I'll store it in the new phone.
(No it's not an iPhone - got one of those for work and that's enough!).
So if you have my number (it hasn't changed) and would like me to have yours again, please message me with your name and number and I'll store it in the new phone.
(No it's not an iPhone - got one of those for work and that's enough!).
Monday, May 7, 2012
Drunken penguin prank ruined my Aussie dream, says Welsh tourist
That's the title of the "news" article. Excuse me for not feeling the slightest bit of sympathy for Mr Rhys Jones.
Basically, while DRUNK, cretin Jones and his misfit mate Mules "... were part of a group that broke into the aquatic park, set off a fire extinguisher in the shark tank and swum with dolphins before grabbing Dirk"
Dirk, being a penguin.
The next day poor Mr Jones says "... I woke up that morning, grabbed my wallet, went to get changed, opened my cupboard and there was a bloody penguin in my cupboard -- in my walk-in wardrobe".
So what did the fine upstanding choir boy do next? Ring the Police? The Zoo? Animal protection of some sort? NO. I mean that might lead to having to take RESPONSIBILITY for your ACTIONS! ... No they " panicked and released Dirk in shark-infested waters."
Sure, yer, right, "let's get rid of it", "let's hide the evidence", "then no one will know" ... we can all imagine the conversation that preceded this bit of upstanding citizenship.
Thankfully, Dirk was found, unharmed (no thanks to these idiots) and returned to the zoo.
Jones and Mules well "They were fined AU$1000, no conviction was recorded and they were allowed to stay in Australia."
Gee great thanks. Now all the Welsh miscreants back home will be planning on how they can beat this one!
Oh and they're crying into their beer that their holiday was disrupted. Poor boys.
[Update]Now I was wondering how these poor unfortunates came to be charged, seeing as the "problem of the penguin in the wardrobe" was apparently solved. So I went googling. And, yep you guessed it. They posted it on Facebook! Article is here.[/UPDATE]
Basically, while DRUNK, cretin Jones and his misfit mate Mules "... were part of a group that broke into the aquatic park, set off a fire extinguisher in the shark tank and swum with dolphins before grabbing Dirk"
Dirk, being a penguin.
The next day poor Mr Jones says "... I woke up that morning, grabbed my wallet, went to get changed, opened my cupboard and there was a bloody penguin in my cupboard -- in my walk-in wardrobe".
So what did the fine upstanding choir boy do next? Ring the Police? The Zoo? Animal protection of some sort? NO. I mean that might lead to having to take RESPONSIBILITY for your ACTIONS! ... No they " panicked and released Dirk in shark-infested waters."
Sure, yer, right, "let's get rid of it", "let's hide the evidence", "then no one will know" ... we can all imagine the conversation that preceded this bit of upstanding citizenship.
Thankfully, Dirk was found, unharmed (no thanks to these idiots) and returned to the zoo.
Jones and Mules well "They were fined AU$1000, no conviction was recorded and they were allowed to stay in Australia."
Gee great thanks. Now all the Welsh miscreants back home will be planning on how they can beat this one!
Oh and they're crying into their beer that their holiday was disrupted. Poor boys.
[Update]Now I was wondering how these poor unfortunates came to be charged, seeing as the "problem of the penguin in the wardrobe" was apparently solved. So I went googling. And, yep you guessed it. They posted it on Facebook! Article is here.[/UPDATE]
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