Its a Monday here in QLD. Its a grand day, did grand things, had grand-kid fun in the pool. Life is GRAND!

Milestone… Gloria Grace is proficient on the Segway. She’s 5.

Reminds of when Paul was young… I had always said “if you could start the outboard engine you could drive the boat”. Paul at age 10 or 11, had a 8hp he could use. Then one day he figured out how to start the 25hp. Things changed quickly.

My day has been domestically busy. Comfortably busy.

I have the 61-Tub I am working on and vlogging about. https://youtu.be/uDbr1p0906I

For a bit of the morning, and little bit of the afternoon I took the time to watch the DNC National Convention, LIVE, and on TV… But it wasn’t live. I felt let down. I wanted silly hats and tradition and rowdy people, civil unrest, armed constabulary… isn’t that a DNC National Convention?

I feel old.

The DNC National Convention is a ZOOM conference at best. I wanted emotion and noise and pageantry…

But I got Mr Rogers, Sesame Street, and the Muppets. I felt let down.

the good part was I got to watch and listen to the Coolest First Lady ever… And I had a thought…

I was talking to a friend and I asked him this question…

In our modern Owellian-World, is Michelle Obama’s straight hair “cultural appropriation”.

Just the other day, and I can’t recall precise circumstances, this same friend and I saw a scene that made us comment on “cultural appropriation”.

Google it and find:

People also ask

What counts as cultural appropriation?In the broadest sense cultural appropriation is the adoption or taking of specific elements (such as ideas, symbols, artifacts, images, art, rituals, icons, behavior, music, styles) of one culture by another culture.

So, as we watch Ms Michelle on the TV, I ask the question…

And I say to my friend, “lets see if freedom of speech flies this time”…

Of course I use FaceBook. I’m a modern day 21st century dinosaur.

And I thought twice about the post. It was indeed a well considered “experiment” of sorts…

I ask one question in my FB post: “isn’t the straight hair cultural approbation?”.

I state three opinions… I think MB is sexy, has a great smile and is very classy.

My question comes after my opinions.

Thats it. Nothing more from me.

How come it becomes Russian roulette?

I receive in reply this: “What the hell! She is honest and true. You do not vote so just stay out! You are an ass!”.

Three exclamation marks and one full stop. An aggressive question “what the hell” plus a powerful defence “she is honest and tru” followed by a territorial warning and a justification for such “you don’t vote so just stay out of it” plus the prerequisite personal attack “you are an ass”.

I sigh…

Ive been thinking of ditching the FB scene for quite a while. But I like the way it keeps me in touch with distant friends and family. It’s a great social tool. But why the Russian roulette?

Do any of you out there remember Paul Harvey? Syndicated radio talk show host from my youthful days working construction, on at noon to 1pm in Iowa. We’d all listen to him during our lunch hour.

If you remember PH you know what I’m going to say…

And Now The Rest Of The Story …

As I initiated the FB post, I told my friend… someone close to me will “melt down”. Will take severe umbrage and call me names. I don’t have that many FB friends so anyone who gets the first post will be someone “close”.

I didn’t expect what I got…

I grew up in a large, conservative yet very/ staunchly democratic household.

Catholic were were, counted 9 children we did.

3 sons and 6 daughters. Old fashioned but progressive.

My mother broke her familial taboos and was the first of her daughter-of-a-Greek-family to NOT go through an arranged marriage. She broke the taboo for the others to come. Her mother never forgave her.

Both my parents were born to be progressives. I have written much about my large and loving family. Check this out: https://nativeiowan.wordpress.com/2009/04/11/and-mother-farted/

An interesting observation I shall share… Most American believe everyone watches, envies and understand Americans. It is not so…

Most of the world shakes their heads, admires and is confused by “America”.

Americans can be terribly provincial/ ethnocentric. We know American’s suck at geography, and we know American’s are traditionally the least multilingual globe trotters.

My friend here has been commenting, questioning the going-ons in the USofA. The foolish rioting that is reported to be Peaceful Protesting. The idea that we will burn our beds to show how unhappy we are, then complain and blame others for not having a bed. That a Woman of Colour achieves the highest policing job in Seattle, to only resign because she had no support, was set up for failure. You can join a 1000-person peaceful protest but only 10 can attend a funeral. There are so many perplexing realties streaming out of the USA. And not everyone gets it. I sure as shit don’t!

The friend I speak of is an immigrant to Australia. Fiercely proud of the Australian citizenry, but unfailingly Nationalistic to the homeland and home language.

Now, an interesting fact about Australia… It is illegal to NOT vote. You shall be fined for failing to vote.

So we watch the USofA.

My life-long-to-date policy is to reserve my democratic vote, waiting for a worthy recipient of my democratic vote. I have not found one, to-date.

I don’t like the idea of voting against someone or something. I don’t care for the Two Party System in the US. I have studied and understand and support the Electoral Collage system for Presidential elections. It’s there for a reason.

I indeed have little doubt that the modern system in the USA is in a critical flux, a lot is going on and there is much at stake.

And… drum roll please… I might just vote this year. In fact… I just got on line and registered to vote. I’ll report on the progress as I travel…

The Rest of The Story… More Of The Story…

The “melt down” response I predicted was not the response I received. Of course I expected to have my rights of Free Speech revoked and my Intellect questioned and my Character impugned. And I got all of that more but, from, dare I say it… My favourite sister.

Connie, Holly, Judy, Molly, Angela – just joking.

Maybe it’s best to say, Jane is The Sister whom I am closest to.

I have 6 Sisters but due to life and time and space I am closer to some than others. My sister, Jane, has been a close friend, a confident, a partner in crime and a cool person for as long as I’ve known her.

We have done hallucinogens together. Gone on that cosmic search for Truth and Reason… in the back of a shag-carpeted Dodge Tradesman 300 van… Or was it a Ford Econoline?

She was a young hippy/ college gal with a little brother that hung around, and was supported by, housed by, fed by Sister Jane, more than once… you get the picture.

Jane is way cool. Her younger brother is way cool too…

We got older, remain friends, share friends and family and still enjoy each other. Jane and her Husband Mike are indeed high on the list of Longest-Serving-Fiends.

It’s nice when your family are your friends.

On the FB page there was a comment from my long-term-partner-in-crime, Willis Eschenbach. For the record WE’s comment was “another charming democrat heard from”.

THE El Dokotore’ and I been gigg’n, wankn n crankn, movn n groovn for more than a few decades. We’ve shared our unborn children, passionately discoursed most all topics known to man, worked together, for each other, with each other. In more than a couple countries. It’s been a long positive road. We too have done hallucinogens together.

When I posted the less than innocent question about Michelle Obama’s hair, I knew I’d get a bite. I expected too be yelled out, put in my place, told to sit in the corner.

As I watched the DNC National Convention today, listened to speakers tell me how divisive and negative and evil and terrible TheDonald is. Every speaker took a good fair kick at TheDonald. There was a large percentage of negativity and a smaller part of positivity, and perhaps an absence of integrity?

I heard very little “policy” specifics. TheBurn has APLAN but his plan is kinda rhetorical and even maybe fantasy. As a long term Democrat, I am embarrassed. Nothing of substance was offered, tabled in the time I paid attention.

TheDonald is the core of all n everything. It’s mostly antiTrump, there is not much in the way of solutions. It reinforces the intolerant attitudes pervading the planet.

So, as I end this, I consider that my FB Post was perhaps a bit mean, not nice. Cultural appropriation is a real thing but it’s mostly a small thing. I was more interested in seeing who would kick me hard for asking a basic question they did not like.

I’ll continue the thought of cultural appropriation in another post but for now all I can say is, DAMN!

I’m over 60 years of age and I am going to have a FIRST this year. DAMN!

I’m going to vote.

Thanks Jane!

Big smiles and much, much more later

Smiles

The sun is shining. The skies are a gorgeous blue. The clouds are carefree and fast moving. It’s 19c/65f out. The winds are travelling in from snow-country. The breeze is brisk.

I’m hiding in my shed, cooking motorcycle parts. Am to the point with the 62 project where I can start thinking about paint and polish and reassembly.

As the winds gust and blow, the shed rattles and bangs. The wind chimes sing and dance in the breezes. They are happy. The delicate chiming in the background, but persistent at times. Like childish laughter.

It is a weird, wonderful world we abide within. The speed with which we see, and accept changes, is astounding. For the duration of my life, and the life of my parents’, and perhaps my grandparents’, change has been the norm. So many facets there-in, within The Change. Before “the change” was what? Change at a slower pace?

More later

First post of the eight month. It’s overcast and chilly here in Qland. Rain has been predicted and its starting. Starting before I get far into my day. Starting before I get out of my nice warm granny-made blanket, get out of my pajamas, get moving into my day.

It’s coming down real good. The garden is loving it. It makes me want to stay where I am.

I want to begin this morning’s discussion with a quick, easy to verify fact… https://www.worldometers.info/abortions/https://www.worldometers.info/abortions/

Compare it with:

To recap my position on abortion: The fact that modern, legalised abortion has murdered over 25 million souls in the first 7 months of this year, and noting that a predicted over-40million legalised murders shall take place this calendar year, for the purpose, mainly, of convenience, is to me unconscionable. I understand the arguments, and quickly agree that there are circumstances where abortion is easily and readily acceptable. But I firmly believe that the majority of the abortions recorded are done for frivolous and selfish reasons. A syndrome of our “throw-away” society?

But I’m not here today to discuss the world wide waste of life. I’m aiming here to raise once again the fact that the planet has gone into lockdown over 716,516 deaths to the Kungflu. And I firmly believe the numbers of abortions are closer to factual than the numbers of deaths by Kungflu.

No doubt, the Kungflu is worthy of note and concern.

But the erosion of civil liberties, the pandemonium of spending, the radical actions and reactions taken, me-thinks, is misdirection at best and nefarious social engineering more than not.

Annually, we refuse a very large number of souls the right to life. The Right to Life. In my thinking this is huge. It spiritually damages us universally. It lessens our energetic foot print, it diminishes our humanity, it is worse than a sin.

And, as is common knowledge, the trends that lead the world tend to originate in the USofA… In the USA, where nearly half of pregnancies are unintended and four in 10 of these are terminated by abortion [1] , there are over 3,000 abortions per day. Twenty-two percent of all pregnancies in the USA (excluding miscarriages) end in abortion. [2]

So, in the US we see abortions still being an almost 2-to-1 bias in favour of legal abortions v Kungflu.

It’s now wet outside. Guess I wont go mow the lawn. I do have another bike to play with…

Ive owned this brick for seven years, have been working on it as a total rebuild project for at least 5years. It’s a deal gone-bad. My genius mechanic has tapped out. Walked away. I have rescue this gem. Ive managed to track down and collect about 75% of it. Hopefully in the next week or so I’ll manage to get its sum total collated and collected and in one pile. I’ll know where I can go from there.

My buddy DaveO brought his 56 Chevv by yesterday. He’s been rebuilding it for years. he can feel proud of the end result…

And the beat goes on.

More later

Friday here, last day of the 7th month.

Weather so grand I’ve spent the last two days on two wheels. Yesterday was on-the-road for about 7 hours. Did about 500ks/ 300miles. Today did about 200k/125miles. I’ll probably go for a good ride tomorrow just to make it 3days running.

Riding makes you stronger, smarter, more aware, happier… I very much enjoy riding.

Riding makes me a bit sore n tired but I like it. I am out of shape. Have not been riding much at all.

It’s like tattooing, or the dentist… When you get off the bike at the end of a long run, it feels so good, you smile. When the Ink-Master turns the needle off, you smile. When the dentist tells you its all over, you smile.

When you stop the joyful pain and stress that is riding, you smile with relief. You feel as though you’ve earned your first beer. It’s perhaps a sense of accomplishment? With a pinch of having cheated death, again?

Or is it just my catholic upbringing. The suffering/ reward attitude that is a big part of Catholicism. I always figured that’s why Catholics kneel to so much. Reenforces the suffering/ reward lesson. Like having to eat your peas in order to get the cherry pie.

I always hated peas!

The birds here are noisy. In such fine weather all creatures great and small are hapi.

It was kinda chilly this morn (and yesterday) when I hit the road. The sunny skies are nice. But they promise warmth they do not have… Riding through the valleys, in the deep shade, its quite chilly. I wore fingerless gloves and at one point it got very cold.

Bikes and Ink… I dig both. Both make be hapi. And if you dont get it, I can’t explain it.

So… as parts of the USA burn, as the world’s boarders stay closed, as powder blues skies shine and the whispering wind tells seductive tales…

Big smiles

More later

Wednesday morning on this side of the planet. The sun shines and the temps are brisk. It’s 9am and about 15c/ 60f. We live (most of the time) with the house open to the weather. Most of the rooms are very open to the outdoors, with large sliding doors and windows. It is rare for the house to be “closed-up”. We never turn the heat on. The chairs and sofas are covered with blankets and wraps. The beds have thick, heavy down comforters on them.

I actually get quite warm at night.

Gracie sleeps with three hot water bottles.

Our quiet suburban lifestyle is designed to take advantage of the climate here. We live indoors as much as we live outdoors. I’d just as soon cook outside as inside. I have a large fire pit where I cook regularly. Our property offers heaps of good firewood so we both clean up the trees and get to play around the fire, killing two nice birds with one strike of the match.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of sitting for two hours in the Dentist’s chair…

This getting old bullshit sure ain’t very fun, and the years of dental neglect of the past have surly caught up with me in my golden-years.

I must say though that the modern professional procedures are fantastic. I note that the ability and intelligence of the professionals is of high caliber. Not too long ago in recent history, I’d be pulling teeth, preparing for dentures. Now a’days its just two hours of mouth-wide-open, and you’re good as new.

So, as the 7th month wanes, evaporates, disappears… As the world remains in a historical and hysterical pandemic pandemonium… As the Liberal cities in the US0fA burn… I note a couple things of import…

I fear the political polarity, world wide, is becoming more, not less, extreme. I feel that each and every opposition party does little more than proclaim in a loud voice how bad the incumbents are managing affairs. Here in Aus we have a Liberal Federal Government. Labour controls half of the States.

The Federal Opposition is very noisy, pointing out the PM’s failings minute by minute, but I hear not suggestions for what would be a better path forward. If the spend too much keeping the ship of state afloat they are foolish. If they don’t spend enough they are heartless.

I watched parts of the AG, Bill Barr, in Congress today. I thought the behaviour of Congress was reprehensible. Talk about a kangaroo court. A witch trial. I say Damn. If this is where we are, if this is what passes for leadership, then HELL! We’re in a lot of trouble…

https://youtu.be/zrzMhU_4m-ghttps://youtu.be/zrzMhU_4m-g

More later

July 2020 wanes.

Guess that technically means 2020 wanes.

My day is relaxed. The weather, as usual, is pleasant. A GoldiLocks scenery where it aint too hot, aint too cold… just right.

Have a pot of lentil soup on the stove. Soup suits this weather. If it were colder it’d be much like Briton. If it were colder it’d be like New Zealand. If it were way, way, way colder it could, almost, kinda, maybe be like Iowa… But its the SunnyCoast, which is as good as it gets.

The NewZ is disheartening. World wide.

I have decided that discussing the statistics behind the KungFlu is meaningless, because the stats coming out are rubbish. Whats worse than rubbish? Worthless? Propaganda?

So rather than be disheartened, or morose, or even reflective… I’ll be fun… I’ll talk about fun stuff… https://youtu.be/uDbr1p0906I

Not sure how far this VideoLogging will reach. I’m doing it all very basically, which is obvious, and know a few hardware upgrades would do a lot. As well, my editing/ software skills are way-last-century.

So enjoy.

Smile often

More later

Queensland is a very good place to be. The climate, where I live on the SunnyCoast, is as near to perfect as you can find. 300 days of sunshine annually. Lowest temps on rare, cold days reach 0c or freezing in f. Hottest days may break 100sf or 40sc. Daily temps vary at least 10 decrees c. Often more. So days are usually warm. Nights are usually pleasant. Annual rain fall is almost 1.5meters.

It’s a nice place to be.

I drove across the State yesterday.

Took Mr M and Mr A back to boarding school. Drove the back roads through some cool terrain. The further west we go the drier it gets. Nearer the coast there is much more wet. But out west, things can be rather dry.

This morn, Saturday here, is bright and shining. The rains that have been around leave the ground glistening with crystal dew drops. The air is clear and clean. There was a low lying fog earlier on. Thats all burnt off now. Could actually get quite warm today.

The Kung Flu news here is that the State boarders are opening up. Of course, the State of Victoria has recently been re-locked down. But the other States and Territories are opening up.

I note each person entering Queensland must complete an entry form. I’m sure the boarder will be physically overwhelmed. I heard on the radio that waiting time to cross is about 3 hours.

My Socio-Political blurb for the day…

How many folks have actually followed the “Black Lives Matter” movement? How many folks have done a bit of home work and researched what this legitimate organisation offers, suggests, and stands for… I strongly suggest you do before you start shouting slogans… Or donating $$$!!!

Check out: https://blacklivesmatter.com/what-we-believe/https://blacklivesmatter.com/what-we-believe/

In their own words they state they wish to change the family system, restructure the communities we live in, and as near as I can tell, let things be run by women. ????

Now I’m not in terrible opposition to everything they say, Polcie brutality should end… but… BUT… their actions to date belie their rhetoric. I see this “mob” (not a legit movement) as a nihilistic arm of the long existing power-whores who have been battling for establishment control since way, way back… since before the 1800s, since before the War Between The States, since before the KKK and the segregation of the Southern States.

And the beat goez on…

More later

It’s the 4th here on this side of the planet. Saturday morning with clear blue skies and a chilled southerly wind. Winter here in the land of Aus is pretty damn mild, as far as winters go.

I’m not a “Holiday-making” kinda guy but I admit the 4th to be my old Skool favourite public holiday. The weather is normally great, the days are long and the evening into night parties always offered good ol summertime fun. And who doesn’t like fire works?

Of course, there shall be no special “Independence Day” celebrations for us. I dont have a circle of “Yank” friends. I’m sure some expatriated Americans will be having their own celebrations but nothing special is planned for me and mine. We’ll watch from afar as the USA does their thing.

Its not unusual for us to have a Solomon Islands Independence Day party on the 7th of July. We have a lot more Solomon friends around, and though this flu and hassles therein makes it non-conducive to hold a big party, it does get me thinking about next year.

The Kung-Flu here, downunder, is an interesting subject of study. With a recorded total of 8255 cases and 104 deaths, we are seeing a spike in cases but no new deaths. The spike appears to mainly be in the state of Victoria.

It’s been a while since we’ve had a death attributed to the kung-flu. With about 25million folks here, we end up with a .0003% infection rate and a .000004% death rate.

The States here have been quite strict with attempting to contain the spread of the virus. Bars and eateries and nightclubs have been closed nation wide. The decision in reopening is a State by state matter.

Though interstate travel has been shut down since March, the past few weeks has seen quite a bit reopening. The local bars and restaurants have reopened under certain restrictions. I know that gyms and beauty parlours reopened a while ago. I see that the regional tourism businesses and operators are advertising some very good bargains.

I have been talking about life and lock-down and business and productivity with a number of professionals I know… My real estate agent friends all tell me business is good. My car salesman buddies tell me the same thing. May, month on month, year to date shows better sales in 2020m than 2019. Go figger!

My house building friends, one a builder and another an electrician, tell me things are slow. If not for the “Job Keeper” scheme, which guarantees wages until end of July, they’d all be in dire straights.
New houses being started are down. Houses being completed on schedule are down. My guess here is that the builders and tradesmen were keen to take a few months off, paid by the Government to stay home. One buddy I spoke to on Tuesday said he needed a few more weeks of time-off to complete the 1960 R50 BMW motorcycle he is rebuilding.

One good buddy is a local policeman. He tells me of an increase in domestic disputes.

The good news is that everything should be opening up soon, going back to some form of normalcy. I think July 10 is the date for the interstate boarders opening up. Schools go back into full swing as of July 13.

An interesting observation: Last weekend we had some dear friends come visit us at the farm. Our little farm is a quiet place with 4 very friendly, big dogs, 34 pregnant cows, 13 weaner calves, and one big arsed bull, named Hank. The farm is fun and we have a couple dirt bikes, a fast quad, a big, slow work buggy. Our teenage grandsons were there and the three little visiting kids with their mom and dad all had a hoot. We raised hell during the day, built big fires and cooked good huge meals, stayed up late. Had a very good time.

These were our first “visitors” since lock-down. And we all caught each other’s bugs. I guess the isolation did work at keeping us uninfected by new bugs. I think we all carry a bug or two of our own domestic breeding. It’s been a week since the visitors left and we’re all slowly recuperating.

A minor mile-stone this morning… Our big arsed bull, Hank, had his first baby. Yep, Hank is officially a daddy.

We bought Hank right on a year ago. He’s a pedigree DroughMaster from a very good breeder. We’ve been waiting and waiting for his first baby. We know, can see that all of our 34 cows are pregnant but were being impatient. We counted down the 9 months from the day Hank joined our herd, and have been hanging out since May, second guessing Hank’s abilities. Feeling a bit uneasy as 9 then 10 and now 11 months pass, without a new Hank baby being born.

Happy to announce the calf drought is broken…

And the beat goes on.

Smiles

It’s a luvely, blustery, overcast morning here in QLD.

Temps are pleasant. We’ve been getting rain. The flora and fauna are very hapi. Bird life abounds, the garden is growing well. We’ve been working hard at making the property here in Palmwoods shine. Our lock-down therapy… The season has been perfect and we’ve cut and burnt and cleared and cleaned. The place looks great.

I have to say that Queensland is not a bad place to be.

Especially during the pandemic and pandemonium we’ve been living through.

Ive been watching these past weeks as we traveled through fear, lockdown, confinement, solitude and confusion. Ive watched from my comfortable arm chair. Yes I am a privileged old white dude who has probably never been privileged or white. but that’s another discussion…

I’m thinking of how the “WOGS”, the non-WASPs of past generational prejudices are now bone fide white men.

Ive read a lot. Ive listened to the thoughts of many others. I sift, search, glean and consume a lot of info. I recently described myself as an “info-junkie”…

But I try not to get into heated discussions with others. I have no positions or passion to sell. I have no ideal to defend. I belong to no club, party or movement. I am not trying to convert anyone to my way of thinking. I believe I am mature and experienced enough to develop my own way of thinking and can maintain my poise in balance at all times.

Yet I find that not many people are as poised, balanced or controlled.

I kinda find it sad that its difficult to discourse passionately, topically without creating an argument. A fight. A problem.

I think that the average mind, in this time of pulp-info and fake-newz, is unable to articulate or defend positions, ideas, ideals or opinions – without falling back on sound bytes and bumper sticker, slogan type chants and aggression.

The average person I meet has adopted the modern language to survive. This modern language is created by headlines, and memes, and a terrible propensity for group-think. I believe the average individual either does not wish to think for themselves, or they fear being rejected if they take an opposing point of view.

For example: There are marches and demonstrations and protests and criminal crowd behaviour around the world, in the name of lawful policing. We shout “police brutality” as beatings and shootings of folks in uniforms take place. We speak and rally others to an anti establishment cause, shouting for fairness and equality, then go burn or deface or destroy private property.

So, as I was saying, I do not engage in much meaningful discourse. I have learned to hold my words back, not table facts when I hear dumb shit like… “of course we know the world is heating up at an accelerated rate, and the sea levels are rising inches per year”… “renewable energy will replace fossil fuels in a few years”, “electric cars will soon be all we have”, “coal is bad’, “the riots and burning is a result of white supremacy”…

The same folks that went on line and encouraged us all to stay home, isolate and cooperate were the same ones dancing in front of the cameras as the city blocks were burning. That damn-dumb gubernatorial decision in Michigan to force folks to tow the line was proven farcical in the end. Like so much of the dictatorial BS we witnessed.

I have discussed this before, the fact that I have been shaken down, profiled, disrespected, threatened, because of the way I looked, because of the way people perceived me, ALL OF MY LIFE. I have experienced direct racism, projected at myself, my family. I have been targeted for being catholic, being male, being a long hair, being white, being an American. I have stood between my not-too-white family and aggressor(s) more than once. Hell, once I walked into a gay biker bar (by mistake, of course) and was served one beer and told… “see you came in, had a beer, walked out, and nothing bad happened”.

Ive hung out in some damn sleazy water front bars in the islands where I had to walk out the door backwards. I think of a badass biker bar where I was assaulted simply because I did not belong and was not welcome. All I wanted was a beer n a burger but by mistake I found the club house of the local Outlaws Motorcycle Gang.

It looked like an interesting place to me!

So, as Sunday glows. As I watch blood sports on the tube, as my my big, privileged dog lies in the sun, I think of the foolishness and waste I perceive. So saddddd….

Smiles

The general bizzyness of my mundane, ol-fart life style on display today… Slept late – until about 8, put the second coat of varnish on the table we started refinishing days ago, mowed my 3 acres of lawn, came inside, had a nice warm shower, and here I sit all wrapped up in my granny-blanket.

Weather has turned. Today is quite cool. Nights now going to be single digit c temps. Days, without the sun, are damn near cold. Very little sun filtering down, providing warmth. A chill wind stirs the flora. The bird life is active, noisy, hapi.

I was watching the Cable News and came across a couple instances where dear ol, “Witch from hell Pelosi”, says some of the dumbest stuff… Tries to act as though she is concerned for TheDonald. Uses her motherly/ grandmotherly best manners when she says “I pray for him”.

And for some reason that just rankles the hell outta me.

I cant fathom what’s in the Witch’s soul but I doubt greatly she prays for TheDonald, not like my Grandmother prayed for me… My grandmother would often say “I pray for you”. I never doubted her. She said it to shame me, to make me feel guilty. But also to show her love and concern.

I knew she prayed that I’d cut my hair, get a real job, stay home more, sleep more, eat better, drink less. She prayed for what she thought was my betterment. She wanted me to change, to become as she wished me to be. She indeed loved me and wanted the best for me, in her ways and beliefs. She prayed for me to not be me, to change, be someone or something different. In her mind she wanted me to be “better” than I was.

I cant for an instant believe that the Witch’s intent while praying for TheDonald is loving, kind and positive.

Sure, the Witch, like my Granny, is praying for change, but she publicly proclaims such to praise herself, to polish her halo. To sound good and kind and loving. To appear better than her political adversary.

Not for any positive, profound or purposeful good. Not because of love.

By the way, the damn table refinishing turned into a fucking mess… The first coat of resurfacing (after scrubbing and sanding and prepping) did not take. I used a two-pot mix that should harden kinda quickly, but it didn’t. It stayed tacky after almost 3 days.

Of course I argued with the table, mixed another mess of two-pot stuff and poured it on. And the table rejected it. I thought I could convince the first coat to cure by putting a layer, heavy with hardener, on top of it. Didn’t work. Not even a little bit.

So, after three coats of messy, smelly stripping compounds, a lot of scraping and even more scrubbing, then some sanding… after a number of days beyond what I expected this job to take, I laid the first new coat last eve.

It looked good this morn. I gave it all a soft sanding and laid another coat. Looks like I may have argued the table into submission…

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More later

It’s a glistening, golden, light filled eve. We’ve had a lot of showers today, the air is crisp and clean. The sun is setting below the tree stops to the the west. Bright shafts of diamond daggers slip through branches and blind my eyes. The Sun’s aurora diffuses with the clouds, stretches and enlarges to a large white hot blur in the sky.

The weather is grand. Bright sun light for a while then a heavy squall. Then a long, lingering drizzle. Then a blue-sky down-pour.

It’s all very, very pleasant.

It saddens me to see Barack Obama speak out in the current political venue. It cheapens him some how.

I’m kinda impressed that The Donald has started taking chloroquine. I personally do not get the hype and bullshit about the Chloroquine controversy. It nothing but partisan political rhetoric. If something works, if we know that a substance we’ve been using for decades has a chance of being positive, by all means sally forth. Make use of the tools at hand. failing to do so is either idiocy or diabolical.

Funny thing about chloroquine… Before I left the US to become a volunteer in the Solomons, I was sent three weekly doses to chloroquine to take before I flew. When I hit the Solomons in January 1981, I went completely troppo. Barefoot, bare chest, willing to sleep by the kitchen fires, fishing at night, tramping thought the jungles, the island life style suited me well. Within 6months I’d gotten to know ol Mr. Malaria. Within 12months the offices responsible for my health as a Peace Corps Volunteer, started testing different drugs on me. It appeared as though my weekly dose of chloroquine was not sufficient to keep me from achieving a state of chronic malaria… no sooner would I shake a bout, and I’d get a new one, or maybe the old one never left. A big part of it was my lifestyle I simply got bit by a lot of mosquitoes.

I lived with malaria for quite a while. The damn drugs they were giving me were terrible. My weekly prophylaxis changed several times. Besides chloroquine I do recall quinine, malloprine, lariam, and a malloprine + doxycycline. All had great ability to make one feel very ill. Another one, Primoquine, was the worse.

Eventually I decided the weekly prophylaxis was a waste of time. Rather than slowly poison my liver, I’d take a cleansing dose of meds when I got ill. Of course I took this step after living with malaria for maybe 3-4years. If I was going to make the malarial latitudes my home, I’d better figger something out. Living on poison ain’t a path I wanted to take.

Two drugs became my standby… My family never went anywhere without either chloroquine or, later on, arthemeter. Which ever was available at the time

When we sent our kids to boarding school we sent them with a supply of “in case” meds. I have chloroquine on hand these days.

But of course the idea that TheDonald is taking such becomes some strange form of news. I don’t get it.

The sun just dropped behind the trees. the air temps dropped, its getting chilly.

Smiles all a round…

A cool, overcast, lazy Sunday here in QLD. The house is subdued. A chill breeze makes the flora outside my house dance and sway. Palm trees, roses, flowering aloe vera, the trees in the back. I can hear the tree tops out back, that rustling, aggressive sound, muted by distance but powerful and real. The wind chimes add a joyful dance tune to the entire sensual experience.

I’m watching the UFC Fight Night on ESPN.

I very much dig blood-sports of any kind. And UFC is The BloodSport.

Funny how its become so main stream, this “cage fighting” that was once outlawed.

Have watched a few decent fights so far. An old hand, Alistair Overeem, is in the main card. He’s taking on a guy I don’t know much about but they are both big and strong and I look forward to a decent bout.

I’ve been trying to track down some form of accounting for the trillions spent thus far on what is called “stimulus”. I find a lot of words about this all but I cant find much by way of details where the funds have been disbursed.

The Bill Passed For Second Stimulus Check And Hazard Pay For Essential Workers

The House successfully passed a fourth stimulus relief package yesterday. The $3 trillion Heroes Act contains a second round of $1,200 stimulus checks, $200 billion in hazard pay for essential workers, six additional months of COVID-19 unemployment, funding for state, local and tribal governments and food and housing assistance among several other things. Overall, three different stimulus relief packages have so far gone on to become law and are currently being implemented throughout the nation.

Now I struggle with bringing this into perspective… Thus 200 billion dollars for paying essential workers a hazard stipend. six more months of unemployment benefits, and funding for state and local and tribe governments…

A quick question please… How many Americans are in the work force? What I can find is that 157 million Americans were in the labour force at the beginning of 2020. So If we gave each and every American that was employed in February 2020 One Million dollars we’d still have one hundred ninety nine billion eight hundred forty-three million left over.

So where is all this money going? I dig and get confused. I can find some info about disbursements but its a sick circle of confusion at best. This site actually states the US Government has made a profit so far… I need to dig more to understand it but… have a look:

https://projects.propublica.org/bailout/

Of course, States like CA and NY are looking for their miscreant fiscal management to be swept under the carpet, temporarily, by a huge gift from the federal tax payers. It’s bad enough that both States Politico-leaders have clung to power by paying the State-Unions huge amounts by way of pensions and slush funds. Both CA and NY have been taxing their own residents to death, spending the money on insane projects (I think of CA’s high speed train system that ain’t) and lurking in the wings on the federal bale out stage.

I think its a crime, a joke, a farce… all the money getting dished out here.

Where is the money going?

More later

Damn! It’s the middle of May. The 6th month of the year racing upon us. Damn!

Time sure do fly when you’re having fun.

Busy Saturday here. Plenty of household chores to attend to. 14 yrold, Mendozza, is a good work-mate. We sanded and refinished the kitchen table…

Cooked a mess of hot dogs. Cut up a “from the garden” pumpkin. One of the last…

I sit in the sunshine in my back-forty. I’m on a stool just outside “my shed”. Or, maybe, The Shed. Some of my faithful readers have been here, know how pleasant it can be here… The old-fart radio station plays the oldies and goodies. The yard is noisy with bird life. It’s our winter here. Very pleasant time of year, if it don’t get too dry. Last year was terrible dry.

The grandgirls are being noisy, but cute. There’s food happening on the verandah so the girls and Kuma all scramble and coexist in that luvely big-dawg- little-kid symbiosis.

Amid this Wuhan-Virus mania, amid this state of civil-rights-impeding, “shelter in place” , get fined for being gregarious mania: I note a number of very interesting things that go unmentioned in the wider world… Jeffery Epstein is forgotten, The Clinton in-the-white-house sex life is condoned by the media, A self proclaimed running mate of Uncle Joe Biden, is met by another would be/ wanna be… I suggest that Stacey Abraham’s feels as though the DNC has made her a promise. Time will tell.

Sleepy Uncle Joe is an interesting diversion/ discussion: I feel sad when I listen to him. Golly, we know well that candidates are puppets put in place by bigger players, bigger operators, The Puppeteers.

But damn, I think Joe is kinda sadly being nefariously manipulated. He should be sitting by a fire, shoulders covered by a blanket, a good dog at heal…. I can’t be convinced he still has his whole box of twinkies.

I think a few have been consumed or exchanged for favours, and a few were left out in the rain got soggy, and what he’s left with simply is not enough to ring too many bells. He’s still likeable, but this sex with fingers gig, and the Flynn debacle may well put a big nail in his likability. But I don’t think he is “up to IT”. His VP will be an important choice.

I ponder the cost of this mania. And wonder why its so fucking hard to get money to people… consider… The US has injected huge sums into various programmes. Sums totalling over 3trillion Dollars!!!!! And they are asking for more… DAMN! It’s such a con-deal… If they give every citizen 1 million in cash. No strings. Buy what ever you want. The economy would be well lubricated, and the cost would only be 325 million. Hell, give every one 2 million. Have a party… cost only 700mil!

Same here in Aus… billions, not trillions here… But with only 25 million folks here they could give each 4 mil and only spend 100 mil.

People will say “its not that easy”… Don’t know, but I’d say its easier than they make it appear.

More later

I was just doing some calendar work. It was 6weeks ago that the Teens got sent home from boarding school. 6weeks since we kinda all went a bit psycho, started wearing masks, locking down, isolating…

It’s been a rather interesting experiment.

I’m not going to journey into the discussion of pros n cons in the “lock-down”. Shall not discourse on the draconian if not stupid rules (some not all) that have been initiated. Will refrain from writing about the the psychosis and drama and hardship the economic suicide has caused.

I’m going to talk about 56 year old chrome…

I have been hankering to give the 66 TR6 (650cc Triumph Thunderbird) a good polish up… its one of my favourites bikes. Not a numbers matching machine, the frame and engine and tins and chrome are a collection of various parts that were brought together to recreate a very cool vroom-machine.

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Once complete, after cleaning the rust and stains and going and oil… after a good polish and tune up, we’ll be good for another 10 years.

And the beat goes on…

Smiles

Damn! Its May already.

Kinda snuck up on us as we all sit in isolation, I guess.

Sunday morning coming down here. I slept real late… Its winter here. The days are blue skied, warm with a crisp wind. Nights are double blanketed. I normally wake in the morn about 6, take a much needed pee, then wrap in my granny-blanket and listen to news as my house makes noise waking up.

This morn was extra noisy… supposedly, there are limitations, but supposedly the restrictions here in Qld are lifted as of today. Beaches and parks and public areas opening back up. Grace is hapi because she can go get her hair done. The family – Paul, Betsy, Angelo, Mendozza, G.G., and Nova- got ready, noisily, to go visit one of the local water falls.

So somewhere between 8 and 9 the house went quiet. I rolled tighter in my blanket and slept until 10:30. It felt great. When I woke and opened the bedroom curtains, I commented to Grace how long its been since the house was quiet.

Twice last night, between 11 and 12, I had to go ask the boys to turn their big TV down. They were playing on-line war games a bit too loud, I could feel the vibration of the bombs and booms through the bedroom wall.

Most mornings one of the little girls come screeching into our room. They have high, piercing cries. A combination of a squeal and a whistle. Its unpleasant to wake to.

Lets see… visuals are always good…

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And the beat goes on

More later

Indeed we are. Sitting quiet.

It’s nice, but quiet is relative in our house hold…

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More later

Saturday afternoon here.

It’s fall in Queensland. At the end of each and every summer, north or south hemisphere, there is always a bunch of tending, and cleaning and burning to be done.

In tropical Qld, we also get to plant our big garden of the year… Summer months here are way to pest-prone. And though Winter is the dry-season, we get some very good produce in the winter harvest.
So we’ve been doing the winter garden-dance.

Of course Grace and I are both old-hands at garden. It’s beside the point that we agree seldom on any topic, and we know gardening is more important than life, so its in line to note that it all has its contentious moments.

She loves to plant “rain forest style” where you remove the forest floor of all humid-type covering, mainly through burning, then dig the shit out of it all then plant in small holes dug into the clay-prone soil. The islanders call this mounds “hills”. Dig hundreds of hills and plant way more than you need to ensure success.

I have Grace agreeing this year with old-fart style veggie beds. More controlled, less work, and we’re not planing hundreds of each. Grace has a propensity to plant huge mono-crop gardens (casava, taro, banana, slippery cabbage) then let them run wild.

I am currently cleaning up some bananas and casava she planted a few years back. They were superfluous upon inception; so after they grow, and grow, I get to dig all up.

As we speak: Grace and son, Paul, and the4 grand kids are outback cutting the fringe of vegetation back. Ours is a 5 acre lot so we have a huge amount of cutting-back to do.

You isolation any different to being a grumpy ol hermit? I dont see much difference.

By nature we sit quiet. We have plenty of room for our activities for young and old. I always have something to do and if I can conscript a weak mind and a strong back into servitude, it works for me.
I believe the world is going to have some serious issues to tend with soon. Some huge changes a foot…

1) I blame the Democratic National Party for what will be the biggest, baddest mishap/ occurrence: Because the DNC has screwed the pooch we are going to end up with the Republican National Party being the last man standing in the political ring. This is very bad.

2) The Uber looney left of the DNC will become some registered democratic socialist part… DNSPUSA?

3) By default the splintering of the DNC will give us a dozen new affiliations… Middle of the road National Socialists, Christian Socialist Democrats, Nationalist Christian Democrats…

4) So, the RNC being the only real political party with an honest base of long term supporters… They will win. Win everything.

I have more to say on the matter but will end here, for now… Smiles

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It’s a Wednesday morn here in QLD. I’m starting slow. Enjoying the cool weather this morn, wrapped in a granny-blanket and listened to the daily Cornavirus update from the White House.

A couple things come to mind… I am very impressed how the Trump Administration stand in the firing line taking questions. They’ve been at it for well over an hour. They are not shy. They stand there and take question after question. Unprecedented in the way Trump is making this team available to the press. Even as the never-ever Trumpsters complains and cry and dissemble.

I hear the negative-left grumbling that “he’s not nice”. Just another reality TV show. They are wrong. Way working. It is unprecedented the access this Administration is offering.

I watch as the same “journalists” reword well worn verbal land mines, day after day. It becomes a bit annoying when these arrogant people grandstand in what I feel is a very civilised and professional public information venue. But I guess its part of their job to be small minded and uncivil.

My tribe is doing well. Boys and little girls have on-line schooling. Or, rather, the boys have school and Paul n Betsy has set up school for the little girls. 3yrold Nova is cute, puts on a uniform and sits as quiet as possible as the big guys are in class. Mind you, 3yrolds do not sit quiet well.

Grace and I are cleaning up the yard and getting the veggie garden ready for the southern, winter season.

Today I’ll use the chainsaw and get things ready for a big burn. It’s nice being on a property. It’s nice to have all the room. But it takes a fair amount of effort. A positive, old-fart merry-making effort.

I used to be both perplexed and angry when my parents took such perverse joy in their “gardening” exploits. As a kid, I considered it to be slave labour. I very much enjoyed the “fruits of our labours”, but I hated the work. I rebelled. Got in trouble. It was not fun at all.

These days its is all a pleasure.

Yesterday I prepared the-big-bed for planting. A few days ago Grace had thrown organic fertiliser on the ground and covered all with the remnants of the pumpkin crop. Left all the thick, green pumpkin vines on the bed to have the nutrients therein leached into the soil.

I pulled the vines off and dumped a bunch of well munched top soil onto the bed. I then dug it all with a good garden fork. Along with a bunch of trimming in the orchard, I worked only a few hours, less than 4 complete hours of effort. It rained while I was at this so enjoyed working in the rain. But I note my age. I sleep real well.

I do feel my age today.

One of the interesting recent happenings is the fact that good ol-fashioned chloroquine is a good prophylaxis and treatment for covid. This makes me happy. I am well acquainted with the use of chloroquine and other malarial treatments. After 40 years in the tropics I have pretty much used all the malarial drugs. I have no idea how many times Ive had malaria. Many, many. Every member of my family has had it, from very young, recurring through life. Considering Malaria remains a major cause of death world wide, I still keep a supply of malarial drugs on hand. It’s part of being a tropical sorta guy.

Unavailable in Brisbane or Des Moinse, chloroquine is an across the counter drug in many countries. For SBD$17.00/ $3.00 in real money, you can buy a 4 day treatment. And being intimate with malaria, as I am, I am confident this will both defend and heal in the current state of play. My plan is to hang on to the 6x4day treatments I have, and use if covid gets in the door. If it arrives, we’ll treat those ill and protect those well.

And then beat goes on.

Stay well.

Smile always

Sitting in the sunshine in the back yard of the Palmwoods ranch. We’ve been sitting quiet after picking the boys up from school last Wednesday. Aiming to isolate as much as possible while this virus-scare blows. I do a trip to the shops every few days, only buying what we need for a few days.

I note that there has been way too much selfish bullshit taking place. We don’t “need” much and to buy months worth of goods is just plain dumb. I was speaking to a guy who commented that the local white goods stores, the places that sell refrigerators and freezers and bread makers and such, are like the grocery stores… a lot of items simply out of stock. People panic buying and bulk freezing food has led to meat being in short supply. We live in dairy country so good milk and cheese is easy here. Grog shops and hair dressers are considered essential services and remain open.

So, de shit just got real in our household. Daughter-in-law, Betsy, called from work, she being isolated after coming in contact with a virus-ill patient. Paul went to get her. She’ll come home and stay in one of the bedrooms until such time as her supervisors at the hospital tell her she’s ok… either the patient proves to be negative or 14 days passes. Which ever comes first.

In our house we have Paul, Betsy, their 5yr old GG and 3yr old Nova. Plus Angelo, Mendoza, Grace and I. A cousin from the Solomons, going to Uni on the coast, has been staying while school is suspended. She’s going back to her home. Lessens the number of cloistered peoples to manage by one.

Through out the madness of hysteria and fear of illness, throughout the confusion and panic, the mistakes and mishaps and closures and all and everything that has transpired so quickly…

Through out all I have refrain from being vocal. I have refrained from being vocal about the dip-shit-pundits that criticise every effort to alleviate that which is unknown but very feared. I have been quiet about the many blunders of omission and commission… Fucking-dumb-ass Cuomo in New York didn’t know what he had on hand and gets caught being a loud mouth cry baby. Dumb-shit liberal judges release folks from incarceration, only forcing the local constabulary to deal with these guys the next day. Witch-from-hell-Pelosi wants to inflate the response funding by gigabytes to support loony-liberal programmes that ain’t got nuthn to do with the virus. As a huge challenge, as huge threat to all n everything, such as had not been seen in generations… As we are concerned with reaction times, the same-ol, same-ol political BS dominates the loony left.

No, I have not shot my dumb-ass mouth off about the stupidity of elected leaders world wide. Here in Aus, Morrison talked a good game, walked the walk, only to see States handle things differently, in their own way… leading to infected people getting into the public and exacerbating the situation by a factor of ten.

But, in support of the inept leaders we the people elect… no one could have been prepared for this.

Sure, we all know its been predicted and perhaps even expected. We knew that our modern life styles are ready to be influenced by an extreme external factor. But I don’t believe any authority or elected body could have been prepared for the size and extent of what we’re seeing.

My tribe here in Aus is in a pretty damn good situation… Big house, acres of yard, big pool, motorbikes and machines to have fun on, monster garden just in time for seasonal planting. We harvested pumpkins today. Fertilised and dug and cleaned. We’ll plant in about a week.

It’s going to be tough to have Betsy in isolation. Her girls are going to miss her. She’s going to miss her girls.

As I speak, the boys and the little girls are in the pool. Winter is coming on so I’ve turned the pool-heater up to 30c/ 85f. I keep the pool covered when not in use and its always nice to open it up and hop in with a smile, considering air temps between 18c/ 60f and 30c/ 85f daily.

I’m very pleased with my management of electricity-usage… Or rather, the management of my electrical-all… My 15kva PV system with adjacent 15kva powerwall provides 80% of our needs most days. It’s important to note that we use huge amounts of electricity: Big pool, big house, many people. Before the PV system was installed our bill was 1000.00AUD a month. Now a-days its less than 100.00AUD a month.

I use a system of timers and switches to manage on and off times of all major electrical components. If I were to run all the pumps at once I’d very much consume all and more than the PV can provide. So I give the first hours of the morning to the battery for recharge, then the heater is on for 3 hours, then the filter system then the floor system. By 3pm all is off and the battery gets another boost for the night. It’s now 330pm, very overcast day, and the system is producing 2.8kW with the house now consuming .7 and the battery getting a good charge.

And the beat goez on…

More later

Been a while since Ive gotten anything out here.

Guess Ive been Bizzy.

In an effort to do some catching up… I’ll discuss a topic we all LOVVVVE…

Motorcycles:

I recently was contacted my Warner Brothers, they wanted to hire this bike to use in their movie about Elvis. Filming as we speak on the Gold Coast, it’ll feature Tom Hanks as Elvis’ manager “The Colonel”.

I am planning to take this machine apart, clean and rejuvenate everything. Repaint, rechrome, rebuild. If I wasn’t cleaning it for the movies, I’d be disassembling for the coming rebuild.

But my buddy Genius-Jim gave my name to the movie folks and they got hold of me. Of course, having my bike “in the movies” is way fucking cool, so I agreed. Jim gave the machine a quick once over, got it running for the first time in years, and gave it to me to clean up.

Cleaning, rebuilding old machines is like a forensic adventure. As I work on this, I get to know it. I can see where its been and why it is what it is…

Originally, the 52 was sold with all painted parts one colour…

This bike tells me that at some stage in its life it was laid on its left side at reasonable speed… Left exhaust pipe still crushed. The frame is a bit un-true.

And it got a new paint job… A modern custom job… the hubs are bare metal. The chain guard chromed, the frame and fender posts painted black. The front end painted or rebuilt from a black bike… ??

My glutes and back are stiff and sore from getting up and down so much. You can see the polishing aides I use. Rags and pastes and a drill with mops and brushes. A lot of time down low. Doing yoga on the shed floor.

The bike, as it is now, It’s very much a custom job. Matching numbers, all the right parts there. But someone custom painted and chromed it up and added the seats, to suit their 60s tastes. Or so I am assuming…

The fringe on the seats tells me this was a mid-60s rebuild. It wasn’t until the mid 60s that the leather fringe thing was cool. In its day, it was a Queen of the road.

So there you have it… my past few days in a few Picts.

Smiles