The Native Iowan

Friday January 8, 1pm. Rains are here for a few days. Temps are cool to chilly.

Great summer weather.

I have told a number of Dawg Tales. Ive been lucky to have had some GREAT DAWGs.

But then, I am a DawgPerson. I speak fluent Dawg.

My good buddy, Kuma, didn’t wake up this morning.

What can I say about a great, great pain-in-the-arse, strong headed, often incontinent 50kg canine?

He seldom listened. Hated rules. Got old way too soon. For about half his life he suffered from nasty big-dog arthritis. In the end he hobbled around like an old man, I think of my old Compadre DonV, walks like a puppet, takes small steps and does all slowly. Mechanically.

In his prima Kuma was a dancer. He loved to run and jump and play rough. One day in maybe 2015, I was playing rough with Kuma, he’d run and jump and try to rough me up and knock me over, and I’d try to knock him off balance. Wrestle him down. We’re in the back yard, both scratched n dirty and sweating, when a neighbour walks up. She asks, “Who is winning?”.

Not all people are DawgFolks. Just like not all people are into motorcycles, or fishing, or knitting… But I believe most all my faithful readers appreciate the bond between man and canine. It’s a primordial bond. Forged by fire’s-side, and tested by eons of trials, tribulations and adventures. The bond between canine and man is a huge part of what has made both so dominant in our modern world.

An old Greek Uncle, when asked about his religious beliefs was known to say… “I hope reincarnation is true so I can come back as a dog in America”.

Smiles all around

Friday, 1 January, 649pm. It has been a busy day thus far…

Woke to a loud plastic whistle being blow by an exuberant 4yr old. Some well meaning adult bought the kids whistles to herald the NY in… I have successfully confiscated and disposed of all whistles today, thank you. Tomorrow will start better!

We have a couple large Solomon families here. We will carry on late. Some will stay over and tomorrow morning with show the effects of a two-day-island-binge. It’l be a slow kick-start tomorrow morn. The kids will be cranky. The dads short fused and the moms thin lipped.

Life is gud

We started yesterday afternoon. Very few restraints. Kids of all ages, perfect weather, a big pool, a back yard with dirt bikes and a quad. The Segway is a big attraction. Fun for one and all. No one got injured.

Add to this heady elixir loads of grog, good food and impromptu island dance and sting band. Very heady stuff…

I comment quietly that even our SDA friends are enjoying a drink or two. A nice wine or a sweet alcho-pop the teens drink.

Noise abounds; a boom box blaring islands beats, a loud TV supposedly entertaining the kids, motherly dictates, fatherly swearing, loads of laughter, quite a few tears, and singing of all sorts.

The melodious sing-sing quality of a world filled with tok-pijin…

The rousing rounds of wokabuti lo Solomoni and god bless the Solomon Islands from shore to shore… all very nice, fun.

The young teen gals did some great dancing. Which led the mothers and grandmothers to recall youth and join in.

Shall I comment, not without some talent.

It was all very positive.

There was enough food to leave the table open… plenty for later, a friendly game of cards is starting, HA! It’ll end in bloodshed!

And the beat goez on…

See you in 2021…

Smiles

1118am, been up since 5. My work all done. Think I’ll take a nap.

Smiles

Thursday 24 December, 20:20. 1pm:

I sit and wait an hour until my next cooking task. I shall start a running commentary as I carry on….

In the kitchen I have 4cups of yeasty flour rising. It’ll be a long process before it becomes fresh baked pastry Cmas morn.

In the oven, 4-5kgs/ 10lbs of beast on the slow roast.

In an hour I’ll check the processes. I expect the beast to cook for a long-assed time. Soon we’ll get the potatoes n punkin, carrots n garlic ready to add. I’ll start the tedious process of draining and clarifying the drippings and juices. In 6hours we’ll have a good roast supper ready.

The flour will rise soon enough, but I’ll just knock it down, then let it rise again. Eventually I’ll roll it all out and lay it on baking paper, pile it all up then pop it in the freezer. Early morn we’ll let is thaw and rise then do the cutting and filling and baking. My Mom used to do that. I remember her and Granny freezing trays of rolls and bread and pastry. Pull one out, let it thaw and rise, you got fresh baked bread.

4cups of flour is gong to make a pile of goodies.

I am going to gloat a moment, perhaps even crow… Where I come from “bragging” was at times called “crowing”.

18year old Angelopolous has been struggling to find motivation to find a job. He has successfully completed his 12thyear of formal education. Has applied for further education, and has been hanging around. Supposedly looking for work but unable to do the work required to find work… So I sent him down the road to the local burger joint. A place that sells 1000kgs/ 2200lbs of hamburgered meat a week. Or, perhaps they did before the Kung Flu. They’re busy now but not as busy as they have been.

Check out… https://www.ricksgarage.com.au. .

I know the owners well. Told them I’d send Mr A down for a test run as a kitchen-hand. He Strats full time Sunday.

And I was right, correct, factual… when I told Angelo to walk down and just tell the boss you’ll do anything, anytime. I was right.

CRRRROOOOOWWWWADOOodledooo…

455pm: Been busy.

The beast is slow cooking. Another couple hours or until the punkin n spuds are cooked.

950pm: Supper complete. All was very good. Plenty of leftovers to process. Leftovers are good.

So my day is about done. Its been a very good day. Tomorrow will be fun. I’ll wake 5am or so to do the breakfast baking.

And all is well with the Universe.

Smiles all around.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night…

It is Cmas eve, morning here. The weather has broke. Gone is the 100f/ 35c temps with high humidity and a blistering sun. Over cast and gentle is this morning. The fauna is out and appreciative. The heat these past few days has been intense.

An old compadre from Michigan, The Dancing Bear, sent some discussion materials this morn. Namely an editorial from the local rag in Storm lake, Iowa. DB and I do not agree much per anything (except motorcycles – he likes and has owned Urals too) and so, for some 30 years we communicate and discuss the world from divergent points of view.

I copy my discussion with Db here in… Merry Cmas to all…

Cmas eve day here. I have two little granddaughters living with me, so the magic of Cmas is alive. Or should I say the selfishness of Cmas is alive?

Being the middle child in a large family, there was never a whole lot of “booty” for me during Cmas. I was the youngest child for a very short time and Cmas, thought fun and cool, was never “loot” oriented in my mind.

Of course the modern commercial world makes it all about “stuff”.
My teenaged grandsons are worse. Fuck me gently, they want, want, want so much.

But our Cmas tree (a potted fig) is up and I’ve been slowly stacking presents under it.

I like to buy educational type gifts. This year it is wooden puzzles… a pendulum clock, a solar calendar, a scale locomotive, a perpetual motion machine that moves a small ball bearing up and around and about.

I bought Gracie a new machete.

It’s a really nice, ol Skool type machete. She will like it.

I can completely agree with a few (a few) things the esteemed editor of the Storm Lake Rag has to say… mainly people are stupid. And Iowa has no monopoly…

It’s been quite some time since the recent vote counting and now that the system has proven itself to “work”, now that the President Elect is in the wings, waiting to be inaugurated, the rhetoric is that of doom and gloom. Lock down and control. Dire prophesy of “more to come”, “piles of bodies”, unparalleled death and destruction…

And this comes from the folks that had the answers a few short weeks ago.

I say it again, fuck me gently, how stupid is the consumer?

Here in Aus we just got locked down again. Just as we were planning a long Cmas to NYrs outdoor party, preparing for an “Islander in Exile” party, a cluster of Kung flu in and around Sydney locks the borders down, seals the season into a jar, prohibits families from getting together. Keep folks isolated.

In QLD we are pretty good. The restrictions were not terrible in their own right. Not like places like Melbourne or South Australia where households were locked-in, not allowed to venture out but for necessities. One designated from each household allowed to go buy necessities. In some places for over 100 days or more.

Though schools and offices, and bars and eateries, and transport and entertainment forbidden… Grog shops have remained open and busy everywhere.

I joke with my local grog shop employees that they are Front Line Essential Service Workers.

And the beat goes on.

More later

big smiles

More rain and humid, overcast, potential storm kinda weather. A pleasant 26c/80f. On and off showers, sunshine, steamy kinda weather. The pool is brisk. I was cooking and being busy and when sweat gets too much, a hop in the pool, it changes everything.

I have recently been “working on” my memory. Working at refining my memories, seeing things clearly, aiming to remember as much a stay be possible.

I claim to have a memory from hell. I claim to remember a lot. Given a chance, given time, I claim I can find most memories. Of course I have not been subjectively tested, but what the hell? I’ll still boast a damn decent memory.

I have vivid memories of the womb.

Distinct memories of being very small, before I possessed language.

Memories of the womb are mostly auditory. No scent or sight involved. My very young memories are caleidoscopic. A mix of visual, olfactory, auditory. And more. The sense of smell is strong in my memories.

I’ve recently been reviewing my memory data base. Exercising. I choose an important milestone, let’s try Kennedy being shot, November 22 1963. I go there and check my memories out.

I know where I was living. In fact, I can still find it on google earth, sort of. I know the area but the topography has changed a lot. The house and the barn and the out buildings of the farm where we lived, south of Knoxville, Iowa, are gone. The land has been turned to cropping of corn and soy beans. Fence rows have been ripped up and changed. The slews and ponds filled in and levelled. But the roads appear to be pretty much the same.

I see the place clearly.

The house is a small grey/white two story. A fair distance from the road. Barn, a number of out buildings, mound style root cellar, big bell by the clothes line, where sister Holly lost her front teeth.

Front door facing the road was never used. Backdoor opening onto the sizable porch was the way in and out. Porch to kitchen. Kitchen was the majority of the house. The biggest room. I see a lot of familiar items as I walk in. The kitchen always smelled of warmth and coffee.

Turn right and the downstair bedroom is off the kitchen, where the folks and the youngest kids slept. It had once been my bedroom.

A hard right and a hallway with a big built-in linen closet, straight-on to the bathroom. Left into the sitting/ TV room. The front door has a chair in front of it. TV next to the chair.

Bedroom and sitting room windows faced north, Kitchen windows face south.

A door to the right, off the western end of the kitchen, opens to a tight staircase. Leads up to two small, unheated bedrooms.

Straight up and into the boys bedroom. Up and right and into the bigger, girls bedroom.

I don’t have a memory of the day Kennedy was shot. But…

November 25, 1963. I am in the sitting room with others of the family. The public/ State funeral taking place. It was a Monday. I see my family around. I cant really understand why everyone is around. I understand the death of JFK. I watched and admired his son. Little Jon Jon was cool to all kids my age. I was 6. He looked very cool walking all groomed and nice.

I think we were all home from school/ work for the occasion. I cant explain why others were around on a Monday. That Monday. Unless it was the Thanksgiving holidays?

I note the emotional distress on my father. He greatly admired JFK. I feel my mother being more of a comforting entity rather than being distraught. It was a big deal.

Another exercise I do is to remember Christmases and New Year eves. NY’s eve is usually party. Makes it easier for me to recall. Fourth of Julys’ are easy to bring up too. The fire works.

I like parties.

The further I go back the less words there are.

Where do the words begin? For a guy that remembers so much I really need to search for this…

It’ll take some time but I’ll find it. Most of it is in that little farm house. I’ll spend some more time there.

One more exercise I’ll share is I go through my school years. Go to you very first day of school. Explore that year. Explore it all. Then the next, and the next.

Some folks count sheep to sleep. I review my data base of memories.

I understand that some folks don’t like to go back, to honestly review their memories. I know that much of life is spent forgetting things. Hurtful, dark, sad things. Trying to forget is not productive. Endeavoring to remember, remember all, is very worth while.

More later

Smiles

Been ruminating lately on the changes that are afoot, and what the future, the next decade or so, may hold. The past decade has moved past us quickly. The past 20 years have been a phlash. Who recalls where they were January 1 2000? Who recalls what they were thinking about January 2021? 

Of course, life is what happens while we make other plans…

Over the last 20 years a lot has changed. But, this past 12 months has been huge. Am I wrong to say that the past 12months has promoted more change to our global society, more than the previous decade, or two? 

Let’s ponder the HUGE changes we have witnessed in the calendar year of 2020:

Travel of any kind has been irrevocably changed. 

No matter it be by road, by air, by sea… HUGE changes. No matter it be interstate, intertown, intercommunity, the idea of Domestic travel never to be the same. Hourly flights to major towns and cities might now be daily, if you are lucky. Trains, buses, taxis… all has changed, irrevocably. 

Totally forget international! travel, as we knew it… multiple flights a day between international destinations, packed immigration departure and arrival halls are empty, parking towers remain hollow, the associated service sector is bankrupt.

As a professional expatriate with three professed homes, in three separate countries… I feel a bit lost.  With big families in the Solomons and the US, I ponder a future of no-travel, remaining only and completely in The Land of Aus.

Good news and bad news… 

Aus is a great place “to be”. 

We are more than comfortable here, well entertained and exceedingly hapi.  I am an old fart and not all that fussed about staying in one place. Not galivanting around the planet is kinda ok. I like watching grass grow, Aus is a big place with a lot to see by road. And I own a bitch’n yacht. Aus is the perfect land for a bitch’n yacht. 

Bad news is sad news… The yacht is in the Solomons. Could be months and months before a window for moving it opens. 

Its hard to think-around the fact that travel to the Solomons, to visit, see family, interact with the first and foremost place my tribe call “HOME”… well, that’s kind hard. Quite hard. 

Same with the US… it’s a difficult pill to swallow, not traveling at all is hard but being isolated from family and familiarity, a hard pill to swallow.

But I am an old fart and I’m ok taking pills. 

Where would you rather be?

The grass is always greener!

I am an avid student of Science Fiction. There is little sci-fi I have not read, or been exposed to. 

Much sci-fi is based on a world in flux, a society in collapse, posing great “what-ifs”. 

Apocalyptic scenarios are popular in sci-fi.  Heroes and Villains abound, classical themes and romances, good vs evil, Homer and Shakespeare dressed as Robert Heinlein? 

Sci-Fi is real?

We’re living it today?

And I remain, find myself once again… A Stranger In A Strange Land…

And that’s OK with me. 

Smiles

It is a glorious morning here in QLD. Very cool out, 26c/ 79f. The sky is overcast. The scent of rain in the air. Fauna outside my door is noisy. The weather is conducive to being active.

The wildlife indoors, G.G., and Nova are all chirping and squawking like baby birds wanting a good feed. The teenaged hounds are still in their darkened room, sound asleep.

The school holidays have officially started so we have all school aged kids home for the next two months. I have decided to keep the stress down by demanding little from them all. Keep the house clean and stay on our projects outside (and at the farm) and we’ll all get along.

Two months can be a damned long time!

Funny bit of luck yesterday: One friend in the US and one here in Aus ended up on tangential discussion in regards the Chinese push in the pacific region. It’s a strange, neo-colonialistic situation where the Chinese have used cheque-book diplomacy to buy much of the pacific, and, strangely enough, a lot of Australia too.

Here is my discussion with my esteemed compadres…

… Your query per Australia and the Chinese Pacific…

I do not believe the Aussie’s will or can stop the trend you mention. A quick online search and you’ll see how much China owns here in Aus. Ports, airports, heaps of agriculture, etc, etc. Chinese students make up a huge portion of the offshore $ generated by the education sector. China buys massive amounts of Aussie raw-resources. To the point where Aus really does not manufacture or value-add much at all anymore.

Little or no refining of petroleum products, almost zero steel manufacturing, Aus has gone totally loony with “Carbon-Reduction” so they sell their high grade coal and iron ore to china and India and re-import the steel. The labour unions here are very strong and wages are way too high to be doing dirty work here, anymore.

So they sell their resources and buy-back finished product, and pay the general population not to work real hard, if at all.

The joke here among us emigrants is that to get work done, to find a decent service provider or tradesman, you need to find someone other than an Aussie. Plenty of South Africans and English and Irish and Germans and Kiwis who are keen to work. Not so many Aussies.

This is a decent discussion on Chinese ownership of assets in Australia: https://www.advanceaustralia.org.au/how_much_of_australia_china_owns

In my long term thinking, the Aussie’s sold the farm a long time ago. They may be “just waking up” to it all.

Recently there has been a lot of talk about a) the imbalance of trade between China and AUS, and b) the undo pressures China places on Aus.

It’s common for China to flex its muscles over even little matters. trade wars over beef and wine happening as we speak.

It’s common for leaders of business and politics to be sanctioned by China (mostly in obtaining visas) for speaking out against China. In past years said leaders would recant and beg forgiveness in order to receive the lollipop called a visa.

More recently the tide is turning.

The bit of news you refer to mainly deals with the State of Victoria. The Labour Leader, Dan Andrews, has been selling the farm at a furious pace. His draconian handling of the Kung Flu has made him very unpopular. There have been way too many bungled events, which there has been no accounting for. He is in bed if not being whored by the Chinese. I have not read up on the agreement he has with China but I am certain it ain’t in the long term favour of Aus, Victoria.

But then Gringos think in decades and the Orientals think in centuries.

Here’s a recent bit of waffle on the topic…. https://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/politics/daniel-andrews-defends-controversial-belt-and-road-deal-with-china/news-story/9937d52d237124bae97193d1ceb5c908

I personally do not think it takes much understanding to see, clearly see, what China’s patient plan is.

And with modern worlds like Aus and NZ the plan can work… Aus has only 25mil population. (NZ only 6 mil) Resource rich, but labour deficient. Not enough dirty hands to do the dirty work. So sell what you have… ???? Live off the proceeds as long as they last?

China has offered short term prosperity in exchange for short term benefits. But as (and we are close) the tooling, and smelting, and refining capacity here is dismantled, there comes a time where Aus prices itself out of the manufacturing game all together. Becoming a land where everything is imported and the only workers are involved either with service providing, extraction, transport or general construction.

Manufacturing of almost all flavours are basically gone already.

An interesting side topic…
Aus ordered a new submarine fleet quite some time ago… but the ban on being Nuke-powered was stupid, meant they had to retrofit a standard off the shelf nuke sub… and they had already dismantled- sold off – their capacity to build such, so had to go off shore. This has been on-going for at least 4 years and has no date for completion noting they have not started building anything yet.https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2020/05/national-disgrace-submarine-debacle-blows-out-to-90-billion

Very sad, but an example of the cost of things once you sell your capacity to manufacture.

Smiles

I am a bit shocked to realise its been a month since I have posted anything. Life has been busy, frenetic…

It’s hot out. Queensland, in her furnace mode… 36c/ 98f, a blazing hot sun, a constant breeze that dries and desiccates. Within the past week the property has gone from nice green to burnt brown.

Ive seen hotter, been in hotter weather, even worked in hotter weather. But this is not friendly at all.

It is indeed “inside where it’s cool” weather. The aircon is working well. As long as all family members refrain from tickling the controls, the system we have here is very good. It is a modern central-air system, with individual setting for each room. The flaw in the system is that the main “unit” is at the far end of a long house. If we were to open up all the vents and set all the fans, on the far side of the house, to high, there would be nothing coming out at the near-side of the system. So I set the temp at 23c/ 74f, set the fans at high, and set the rate of flow to each room accordingly… the far-side rooms get 30% flow and the big room at the end of the house gets 100%. And it works well. Enough cool for everyone, every room.

Until someone decides they want to reset it all.

Which is often.

There was, of course, a time before air conditioning when folks just lived with the heat, the humidity, the discomfort.

Not sure if we’re getting weaker, or smarter. Does getting smarter, making life easier, make us weaker?

Probably.

But digging the Panama Canal by hand made sense, then. Would it make sense now?

It’s about midday. A nice long list of UFC fights are on. 4 more hours of blood sports. Suits me!

The world at large is rather uninteresting right now. Nothing much really going on that is “different”, important, or even of comment… ???

The various elections have come and gone. Status quo has been re-established. The bovine minded herd that is the general populace appear to be docile, cooperative.

There is a lot of noise being made about various factions on the USofA who either support, threaten or rumour-monger violence. The Po-Boys, Do-Boys, Dumb-Boys, Anti-fascist-fascists, Fascist anti-fascists, Bury-Loving-Mothers, Burn-Loot-Murder, and many other organisations that promote, disseminate and create confusion all appear to be sitting in the warmth of their parent’s basements. Perhaps waiting for spring, and more paid mayhem and violence in the name of… What?

20:20 has been an amazing world. One where the status quo has been upset. In more ways than one.

Here in Australia, the boarders are opening up. The lock downs are supposedly ending.

Will there be more? Being a cynic I say “yes”, there will be more. When and if it suits the “managers”.

And the beat goes on.

Smiles

More later

I had discussed being ill with Malaria, getting way behind work and my lack of time to pat too much attention to the US scene.

My dear old compadre, DB, sent me a big of a victory lap email this morn. he fucking hates Trump.

My reply to DB:

DB,

Interesting times indeed. 

You and I differ in many ways, but when it comes to Trump/USPolotics, I have no dog in the fight. My centrist nature serves me very well, and has been an asset over the past 4years. 

Grace and were talking about it recently. She fucking hates TheDonald. Thinks him mean and nasty and unfriendly. She’s probably right. 
She was thinking about a one term presidency, we discuss,  and I tell her of Jimmy Carter. 

Probably he nicest man to reside in the Oval Office since Truman. 
Jimmy was everything a president could be… gentle, strong, well spoken, polite. Just an all around church going nice guy.

But his policies sucked. By 1980 the US was in the worse state it’d been in since the 40s/50s.

So he got voted out. 

Trump is the opposite. A fucking arse hole by nature. He prises in himself the qualities most mothers breed out of their sons…. Meanness, vindictiveness, nastiness…

But his policies brought us unheard of progress in many fields. Peace Treaties in the Middle East where Arabs and Persians alike support and now protect Isreal. He brought a common sense to the boarder/ immigration issues which had been festering and corrupting the land for years. He reversed the trend of trading US productivity for cheap goods. In 4years the US has seen an economic resurrection no one could have predicted. But because he was an arsehole…

He got voted out.

Thats my take on it.

By the by… in the last month or so, after almost 10years of “playing the game”, Grace and I were granted Permenant Residency here in Aus. In 12 more months we qualify (its time in residence based ) for citizenship. 
So, hoenstly, in all reality, I have no dog in the US political fight. Of course I am interested and pay close attention, but I don’t own anything in the USA. May well never return under the current state of affairs. Have never voted there. So, consider my views that of an Australian looking in from the outside. 

Here in Aus voting is mandatory. So within a  year or so I too shall be going to the polling both, as a 65 yr old virgin.

I kinda look forward to it.

Big smiles. I wish all well in the USofA. I hope your looney left friends don’t loose the plot. I believe the rush to “undo” so much so fast may well cause the children in charge to “drop the china” so to speak.

As well… considering it boiled down to ballot counting in Philly… the most prone place to have ballot fraud ever in the US, I doubt its as clean and dried as supposed. The blue (or red) waves that were predicted did not happen. DNC lost seats in the House. Did not pick much up in the Senate. So it could well be a long slow eventless 4year term.

Time will tell.

Big smiles.

More later

Going through a bout of malaria. It’s a long, not uncommon tale, if you have lived in the tropics. Our entire family all had solid run-ins with malaria before their first birthday. Not common in the Western World but remains the second highest killer world wide.

But not to fear! We have always kept doses of “the treatment” on hand. Have to. Without it we’d be in a lot grief. Noting though that no one here has had a bout for quite some time. Long enough for me to kinda forget what it was… I was sick but not terribly sick, Thought it a low level flu bug, but had tale-tale aches and pains in my bones, which I’d forgotten about. Been so long.

I feel much better now. Knowing the illness will come back as the medicine wears low. You knock the virus back, it fights back, you push more. The drugs are not pleasant to take. Some are much worse than the illness.

We used to talk about the “malaria diet”.

Standard Malarial treatment (there are several possible drugs) entails 3 or 4 days of meds. The prescription I have here is 4xtabs for 3 days. Got my first half dose in last eve. Another half this morn. So, after just a days worth of treatment I’m feeling much better.

And I feel the fog rolling in… time to go…

Wednesday eve on this side of the planet. Election mania is real. Election hysteria is a possibility. But, as the guy falling down a 20 story building was heard to say as he passed the 10th floor… “…sofar so good…”.

I have been feeling quite ill the last couple days. There are external stresses to contribute, no doubt… life, family, buizzyness and business. Of course the. US elections attract a lot of attention and it do raise the angst. But this is not normal.

Last night was a rough one… I ache all over. Can’t lie comfortably. Toss n turn n moan n groan. Up from the bed and to a recliner, then back, then back. Then on the floor. Two rough nights in a row makes old farts unhappy.

I had a meeting to go to this morn but I felt terrible. meeting not until noon, so I’m showered n laid on other couch listening to the Election Results. I plan to text the guy I’m going to meet that I feel terrible, but I actually doze. A bit. Makes me feel better. I decide to go to my meeting.

It’s not far. I drive and as I’m tooling along it dawns on me… I am having a mild bout of Malaria. It’s the only answer.

I 3feel better having deduced the situation. It’s been ages and ages since I’ve had a bout of The Big M, so forgot the tale-tale is the aching bones, especially in the back.

I got home a few hours ago . Where ever I go, what ever I or my family do, we have learned to keep Malarial drugs on hand. It’s is a must if your’s is as “tropical” as my tribe is.

So if did a half dose plus some vitamin C and a Panadol. I sat/ lay quiet for a while. Even got a foot massage from Gracie.

Just had a deep hot bath, and must admit to feeling much better. I look forward to some sleep tonight.

So, screw the election. Thanks god for on-hand malarial-meds.

More later

.

Saturday here in QLD. Proper summer weather out… 30c/90f. Windy day. Sun is hot and the humidity is 46%. Summer has come to QLD.

Call is for more rain this afternoon, but I dont really see it. Good chance for a squall to blow through. It’s hot enough for a decent storm cell to bring hail down. But I dont think the humidity is high enough, and the wind disturbs the air sufficiently to keep it from getting unruly.

The wind chime is twinkling. The trees around us are being very vocal.

You ever listen to trees/ really listen?

The Palms are like a snare drum with brushes. subtle, very noticeable but subtle.

The tall and royal Gums are noisy buggers. Classic Aussies. They compete for attention. The tall 100plus footer can catch more of the breeze and has the loudest voice. The three or four smaller, 75foot Gums are a chorus. It’s hard to identify one from the other, but together, you can hear tham over The Big Gum.

The weedy camphor laurels and broad leafs, and flowering berry bushes live down low, in comparison to the Gums. Some up to 50foot high, but dwarfs in comparison to the height and noise of the Gums.

The resident Plovers are quiet. No bird life appears to be active. Maybe there is a blow-a-coming. If on the water, I’d be able to see the horizon. Here in a small valley in a larger valley, I can hear and smell the wind but cannot see the horizon.

Knowing if a storm is going to fall on you is very important. As a SeaFarer, I learned much about the weather, and sometimes saw and understood the signs and signals and omens, and got it right. Made the right judgement about travel on the ocean. Some times I got it way, way wrong.

When I say “Seafarer”, I by no means imply “Sailor”. I am a put-put SeaFarer. I prefer a good sized “stinkpot” to a decent “sailer” any day. The only thing better than a well serviced and dependable engine on your boat is… TWO well serviced and dependable engines on your boat.

I hear the rumble of thunder. The wind just died down and the temps and humidity is going up. The front of the storm cell is gathering strength. The sky is still blue but the cloud cover is thickening. The storm is being blown in over the ridges to the west. Dry, hot air from the inland region is spilling over the range and falling onto the cooler, more humid air along the coast… Temps falling now. The bird life just came back and is making a bit of a ruckus as the weather blows down upon us.

The first big rumbles from the clouds overhead. A quickening of wind, the trees are all very noisy and the wind chimes act as an alarm. It’s going to blow.

One of the neat things about being in a little valley within a larger valley is that weather often blows right over us. Heaps of rain and wind and hail and brimstone, but not here. A few years back as one of the cyclones raged, the boys and I sat in the heated pool and enjoyed the power of the weather.

If I owned a boat right now I’d be a bit nervous. But my bikes and cars are under cover. A bit of rain will be good.

First drops falling. Gotta move…

The smell of a weather event is always special. The smell of rain. The smell of ionised air.

I’m in the shed. Stayed out as long as I could. The sky is crackling and the rains begins in earnest. The shed makes loud vibratory sounds. Many pieces of flashing and moulding moved by the wind to create a momentary melody. Like the rain on the tin roof… I always think of rain as “dancing” on my roof.

We’re on the fringes of this storm cell. Wind just changed directions. Big rain drops. Could become hail… But I hear it moving away. We just caught the fringes of the Storm.

Do I smell a storm brewing in the USofA? Do I smell a storm brewing in the USofA?

I definitely perceive a deep sense of angst and discontentment in the USofA. I sense confusion and fear. And I see a high level of manipulation. Agendas are transparent as facts are ignored and rhetorical emotion wins debates. Crushes any dissenting voice.

I could wax poetically about the history of political science. Noting that all political ideals are science experiments. Democracy in its many shapes and sizes is indeed a Political Science lab experiment. As is Socialism, and Hereditary Empires.

A bit of hail just fell…

That was cool. Gone that fast. Which is good. I do though think somewhere near by took a hammering.

Always good when there is a big storm cell in the vicinity and it misses your location.

Good luck next week in the USofA…

Smilez

In one week we will be, The USofA will be, shaking like a dawg shitting razor blades.

Or such is my prediction.

I know I don’t use a “soft” analogy, but the idea of the contractions and convulsions and confusion that will taking place in one week… A dawg shitting razor blades may well be appropriate.

I heard this saying from a rather irreverent Aussie friend many, many years ago. We were discussing a bout of malaria, said friend, had gone through. His description of the shakes that rack you, the fever fed chills, that terrible, bone aching, jaw clenching shivering that one finds in malarial delirium’s… “Shaking Like A Dawg Shitting RAZOR BLADES” was apt then, and applies well now.

It’s Wednesday morning here. We’ve had some very good rains over the past few days. The earth is hapi, the air is clean, flora and fauna are bursting into a promising summer.

I listen to the hype and hysteria taking place in the USofA… I feel the pointy-end of disapproval of people I hold dear, as they loose their mind over the general bullshit of it all. The hysterical response(s) are sad, undignified, and programmed. All part of the old-divide-and-rule tactics. Create a Boogie-Man big enough to keep the masses occupied so the Elites can do as they wish. Squash all dissenting verbiage.

One thing I can say “thank you” to the Trump- Administration for… the clear exposure of the crass, blatant, uncaring double standards of the Elite v The Masses. Yet the electorate is blind, too blind to see, see through the smoke and mirrors.

For fuck’s-sake folks… you really think A Politician can go Socialist, offer free everything, remove our conventional sources of energy without sound substitutes… and not tax you to death? Not confiscate all and everything you call your-own, redistribute it publicly, keeping the very best for themselves.?? You really think that socialism as a system that can actually work for you? After over 100years of testing, with zero success, you believe, still, that Socialism has a chance in hell of being a replacement that you would vote-in, because its a better system than the one we have????

The checks and balances as developed by the Original Framers have stood many tests. the SCOTUS, the Electoral College, The Presidency itself… I have implicit faith in the system, in the Constitution… but not the Electorate.

The Electorate has gotten lazy. They have forgotten how to think for themselves. Even with all the information the world possesses in the palm of their hand, they consume pulp and expel ignorance in a collective sense. The Orwellian echo chamber of mutually held falsehoods creates a hollow man.

Side line… My serial immigration habits have once again been successful. Grace and I recently received our Permanent Residence here in Aus. In 12 months we will be eligible to claim citizenship. It took almost a decade, cost huge money, and is insanely valuable. As the world changes, as the old standards are upset, as boarders fall and refugees and carpet baggers alike clamour for safe haven… I’m very pleased, very proud to be able to claim that I am now permanently an Aussie.

And the beat goez on…

big smilez all around

Bro,
OK, been busy…. bizzy… life cranks while I wanks… I’m sitting at the table at the back of the house. 4pm my time, a variety of bird activity going on around me. We have nesting plovers right by the pool, Butcher Pieds trying to rear babies on the window sill at the front of the house. It is all a sign of encroachment, but also a sign that we get along well with the birds… they are comfortable living in close proximity to us… We’re generous with our space and encourage the bird life… and the foxes, and snakes, and lizards. not so much spiders. They’re sneaky fucks.
I’m writing this out back of the house. It is a pleasant time of day. The air is cool, the surroundings green and the end day routines of life are in full swing.
I am going to a) send This it to you, because I am writing it to you and responding to some of our recent SMS discussions, but b) blog it. It’ll be a blog-worthy discussion…
Two White Ibis peck the lawn around the plover nest. I think they’re looking for a chance to rush the nest and steal an egg. All birds lie, are crafty. The other day I found a dry, half egg shell, about the size of a big marble. Did not know what bird it came from but something had that egg, et what was inside and left detritus behind.
Wrestling and the meaning of life… your quote… “ … And wrestlers learn to grind early on or they quit.”… Indeed, An important point in life. Maybe an allegory of note herein, somewhere… Pussies quit… Your quote… “Too many pussies in the world.”… thus, ergo, if you don’t quit you are by nature a wrestler. And I really like that concept. I’m glad I’m a Rassler.
Spoke to a good friend recently who told me of a bout with depression that required a call to LIFE-LINE”. Which is great that life-line is there, but rather telling about our world and the stresses on us. My friend I speak of is tough. Tough as… But at times all of us stop being tough and TAP-OUT. Or ask for help. Anyone reading this, if you ever need to talk, give me a call.
Speaking of UFC… your words… “ The way Gaethje dismantled Ferguson showed this kid is legit. Everything else is side show.”… You got it! Spot on. It can be pay-to-see blood-sport or it is can be Blood-Sport. Big difference. If it ain’t legit, it is indeed a sideshow.
I have written before of UFC becoming a SideShow. I specifically reference the UFC 200 where Leznar, all juiced up, got to win against Mark Hunt. That was a SIDEshow.
Cognitive dissonance… Is real. Is a problem. Similar but different to Confusing Cacophony. I see it as signal interference. A bent antenna can cause static interference.
If the Magnetic-Mary on your dash board causes your radio to buzz… it gotta go…
Remember the song, “Plastic Jesus”…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-JxnK4GKhA
… “..Magnetic Mary gotta go, she’s fucking up my radio… riding on the dashboard of my car…”…
I dont care if it rains or freezes… because I live in the tropics… If it snowed here we’d be in grief. Things are not built for it. If a heavy snow fall, the roofs would collapse.
OK, Onto voting….
My ol Compadre, Ken TW Holmes, has the coolest Political bumper sticker I have ever seen…. I VOTE LIBRARIAN… Ken is a professional librarian. So ultra way cool to be Ken TW.
We live in the time of information megaoverlaod. Hunter S. wrote about “A Generation of Swine”…
https://www.booktopia.com.au/generation-of-swine-hunter-s-thompson/book/9780743250443.html
Walter Concrete and his buds are long gone. Grace and I just discussing it this afternoon… it’s ENTERTAINMENT, it’s RATINGS… Not really about News…
That why I call it The NeWz.
Or The BlueZ….
SMiles all around

I very recently learned that my very dear friend, Peter Kavanga, passed away.

I am not sure where or when but I see through second hand FB posts that the planet has lost a very good, wise, important human being.

I met Peter in the late 90s. Gracie had “found” him through a friend. Peter was a traditional healer with a very impressive reputation.

At that time I was suffering from severe sciatica. I was in a bad way, had been dragging a leg, and moaning when moving for a while. At times it was debilitating. I’d been to doctors, seen numerous massage therapists… was dragging my leg behind me and living with a load of pain.

When I went to meet Peter for the first time it was a very professional consultation. I told him about my problems, he asked a lot of questions. He asked for and received notes from past medical visits. When all done he accepted me into his care, sated that he could help me, and said to me, “…be prepared to bury yourself in pain…”.

Twice a day for 5 days running. 2to3hours each session. He’d use his fingers, which I do believe could crack walnuts, to loosen all my joins and ligaments and muscles. He did bruise me more than once. He went very deep. Terribly deep.

And all the while, I’d be moaning and groaning and at times screaming, he’d be chuckling or chatting.

The first 5days went well and I honestly got my leg back. It did not happen overnight, and the pain was real, but I got my body back.

That was in late 1999 and into early 2000. And I never ceased to allow Peter to keep me healthy. At one stage I employed him as my Major Domo, and went home daily for afternoon beating, ah, massage sessions.

My entire family relied on him to keep us healthy and hapi. He could fix injuries, assist with chronic issues, set bones, and make you scream… or was it a howl… we called it “Peter’s Wolf Pack Skool of massage”… Aaauuuwoooooooohhhh…..

I last saw him a few years back, in 2016. After a neardeath motorcycle mishap I ended up with a severely damaged shoulder joint. It was then I underwent one week of daily therapy / beatings from both Peter and Ruatau Perez. That was mainly for my buggered shoulder. But of course all problems manifest throughout the body so the daily sessions, both morning asd afternoon, were intense. And did some good… But even the best cannot fix that which cannot be repaired.

I had my shoulder replaced last year. Have not been back to the Solomons since February 2019. Had not seen Peter for way too long.

A few weeks back I asked my Daughter to see if he was around. To give him some money, pass on my very best regards.

Not To Be…

Sadly Not To Be.

It was an absolute honour to have walked in this man’s Shadow.

Hugg those near

Smilez all around

Or is it Emigration?

What is difference between immigration and emigration?

Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country).

Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanently move to a country).

I am a serial Emigrant… I confess… I left the country of my youthful residence and settled in the Solomon Islands. The important word here is “permanently”. I left Iowa in January of 1981. Never returned, permanently. I received my Solomon Island Citizenship in 2007.

I never really planned or prepared for retirement/ old-age, but it did come and I found myself “retiring to Australia”. I have been a legal resident here for 4years. Grace had been a legal resident (as caregiver to two grandsons in school) since 2010. In 2016 I received a limited Residence in Aus as a retired old fart. I was and have been allowed to live, come and go, invest, and enjoy that which Aus has to offer. I could not though ever become a dependant of the Common Wealth. I had to pay my own way.

We were required to pay some very hefty fees, buy expensive insurance, and place a huge bond. All just for the privilege to live here in Australia. The retirement visa required renewal every 4years. You had to pass the acceptance tests every 4years. And pay the fees…

Immigration is, understandably, a very long, drawn out, frustrating and exceedingly costly process. Checks and controls are important, when the “Residence” is valuable. A Citizen has every right in his/ her home land. A Resident will have some rights but controls and prerequisites stay in place. Your residency can be revoked. Not so your Citizenship.

Why do folks pick up and Emigrate? Leave that which is known, not knowing when or if you shall return. Language, food, currency, legal systems, support systems shall be different, shall be challenging.

Sometimes for Adventure. Sometimes for Love. Sometimes for socio-political reasons. Often because of drought, famine, pestilence, war, et al.

Sometimes by mistake, misfortune and sometimes, damned good luck…

The winter of 1979/1980, I was going no where. In and out of school, choosing to do courses that had nothing to do with my declared Major. Playing the long forgotten game of “dropping in”. Attending lessons you were not enrolled in because you’d heard the lecturer was good or the subject matter interesting. Deciding to go on long hitch-hike trips… skipping exams… A lot of time wasting.

Then… equivalent to “living in your parents basement”, but mine was ‘living in granny’s trailer-home”. Working seasonal jobs, not willing to do another “winter on unemployment benefits”. Hanging out with the same people I’d been hanging out with for too long…

I managed to “Get-Out” by becoming a Peace Corps Volunteer. I applied and they took me. Gave me a job in Solomon Islands.

Pure, unadulterated, damned good luck.

I’d rather be lucky than good looking…

I chose to be an Emigrant. Not that it was panned, maybe preordained, but I never planned much when I was young… but, I never returned, permanently, to the US, or Iowa. I sold my Triumph for 500bucks. It was all conscience. I chose to build my future in The Solomons. I Emigrated…

Peace Corps… suppose to be a 2year gig. In and out, then back to my ‘71 oil-in-frame Triumph. That wuz deplan…

“Life is what happens when you’re making other plans”

And now, here in Aus, I have emigrated yet again.

Grace and I were granted Permanent Resident status on Thursday. It’s been a long, costly exercise with never, ever a guaranteed outcome. You can spend heaps of time and $$$ only to be refused. It’s the way it is.

But we jumped through every required hoop, like good poodles, paid the fees and ancillary costs, AND are now hapi Permeant Residents in the fine and hapi Land of Aus,

And the beat goez on… Angelo’s 18th Bday this eve… DJ Sasquatch set up and cranking…

Smilez

It’s musta been/ musta be the ol Skool catholic upraising. The ol Skool, three-generations-under-one-roof, sorta thing… I’m over 60 and still raising teen-angers. In fact, I still have toddlers under feet. Well, not really, in the common sense of “toddler” as a descriptive… My “toddlers” are more like feral cats. or, perhaps I’m giving feral cats a bad name here… maybe more like articulate wild rodents?

I had a 5yrold attempt to ride my Segway 4×4 death machine off a 2’high retaining wall. She’s very good at controlling the Segway, normally… but today she came undone. The Segway is a big, heavy machine. And it can scoot well. It is dangerous. Can be dangerous.

Its difficult to get little kids on the machines safely… they can go fast but they cant figger out the stopping side of things very easily. The term “whiskey throttle” comes to mind.

Had a group of two-wheeled novices around yesterday, and we roared and scooted and vroomed and growled all afternoon. It was great fun.

Had one great case of whiskey throttle when Miller took off too hot for his first ever two wheeled vroom run. He did not come undone, but was a classic damn-near-dead run that left us all laughing.

I very much enjoy the “visitors”. Enjoy the hell outta getting moms and kids and dads and aunties on the bikes and on the Segway and out in the back40 tempting the gods of injury and death…

Well, not really injury and death.

I had 3yr+10 month old, Nova, on the Segway with me, scooting across the yard as a couple other machines wizzed and whined along… Nova is hollering “faster, go faster” …

I had to laugh when I was trying to teach Jemma Ferris, 15yrsold, to control the clutch on the 150cc Honda. She’s a good learner but struggling to “ride” the bike… she couldn’t maintain balance enough to get a good run going. So I asked her, “can you ride a bicycle?”, and she answers, “not real well.”… which means to me, “NO”. Means I’m taking a kid who does not ride a standard bicycle, putting her on a 25hp dirt bike, and expecting a hapi ending…

Makes sense to me!

Some pictures of the past few weeks of fun and trials and tribulations… kids go back to Skool in the morn…

So, as Monday here grows warm. As the teens all sleep their all-night movie festival off. The skies are blue, the air is clean, a light breeze shakes the orchids outside the door… The newz… the blewz…. Monday morn so Sunday afternoon/ eve US-time… Only a few weeks before the next test of the system that is the USofA…

I’m getting a bit tired of the stupid double standards we see in the world-wide media… It’s ok, fine, acceptable, even commendable… to wish the POTUS a miserable and pain filled death due to Kung Flu… But you cant say a single word about Mohammad liking camels. Witch-from-hell Pelosi and Chuckles Schumer can play politics with the citizens of the state’s well being, eat boutique ice cream and act like impotent people, as Cali burns. The Republicans are to blame for no getting the recent “bailout-bill” voted on, because they don’t agree with about 1trillion in good ol fashioned pork-barrel-politics.

Quite franking I think that California/ the west coast as a whole, is preparing to take-on third-world status. No power, no water, no law and order… but heaps of good ganja… sound familiar?

I also enjoy/ am perturbed by (speaking of double standards) the spin and negativity the loony liberal left are taking more and more often… I speak of the tendency for the LLLeft accuse everyone and all on their shit-list of doing the heinous and despicable things they do/ have done… TRUMP WILL REFUSE TO ADMIT DEFEAT… Sounds like the Dems in 2016 to me… TRUMP AND FAMILY ARE ONLY THERE TO LINE THEIR POCKETS… duh!… “YOU’RE A LIAR, MAN”… duh, again…

Make no doubt about it… all politicians are cut from the same cloth.

It is policies/ POLICIES… that are important. Sadly though, it is the personality’s, PERSONALITY’S that become the sugar for the flies.

Side thoughts without hard facts… Two things Ive been looking at in a soft kinda way… 1) Deaths overall 2020 to 2019 – and 2) New registrations of voters by party 2020…

And the beat goes on…

More later

It’s “the day after”. The day after The Debate Debacle.

The Debate Debacle that showed all very clearly that the political scene is ALL about personalities and NOT policies.

Joe either acted like he never knew, or he simply forgot what is published in the DNC Policy Papers. No green new deal, and Antifa is an idea… not true on either account.

TheDonald acts like he’s not used to sharing the stage… No catchy slogans, or micro-messages of meaning.

I do believe he should have let Biden talk himself in circles… Hunter Biden was dishonourably discharged from the USNavy for failing a drug test. Hunter has had a long history of drug abuse. His daddy got him a commission in the USN late in life and he failed to last 1 year… FACT. This alone was enough lever for Trump to pommel Biden, but he let it slip past.

Of course the fact that Biden lasted the duration of the debacle means he won.

So forget about policy! Listen to the lies and the BS. Then choose the personality you like best.

A sad way to run a Democracy, but that’s the way it is in my mind.

And the beat goez on

More later

It’s 1012am, 30th of the ninth. It’s the day the world stands still.

The day TheDonald and SleepyJoe debate.

DEBATE

I need to get prepared to discuss the event of the night, the event of my morning here, as it transpires. As it all goes down, all 90 minutes, all hour and a half. I suspect it’ll be quite a show. Quite an instructional interlude in this season of silliness, in this, the 2020 Political Cycle.

I have been sitting and listening to people on both sides of the political divide… listening to people spew their emotion and ignorance, listen to people speak of fears and concern, listening to people be fucking brain dead as they ignore blatant the truths and adopt a posture of complete passivity as their town, streets, states and nation is set alight.

Of course, I am beaten up, abused and demeaned and diminished for be centrist position. For pointing out the obvious from a non-biased position. Thats what a centrist is… its a position from the middle. A position from the place of no hidden agenda. It’s is the position I have held for most of my adult life.

But it ain’t good enough for some. No! I guess its a “bird of a feather” type of deal. If you don’t tweet the same tune you ain’t invited into the nest. Dissent is unwelcome. Questions are outlawed. A line between the two main factions is well established. It shows the intolerance and emotion involved.

Folks may wonder when and where and how I gained any knowledge of national politics, or economic management or bipartisan cooperation and interaction… 10years ago I was Chair of the Solomons Chamber of Commerce. I led the Chamber into a new role as a fully fledged member of the tripartite system of modern government. I established the Chamber as a solid member of the Governing position in the nation, at that time. It was something I had to fight and advocate for. It was not easy nor was it welcomed by all.

Any government or nation has three main partners at play in the decisions being made: 1) The Government acts as a regulator, a service provider and an internationally recognised arbiter for all citizens. 2) The Trade Unions represent the workers, arbitrate and bargain on a collective basis and work to ensure a fair and nonpartisan commercial system. 3) The Employers are a trade union unto themselves, and if left unchecked they can unbalance all. Thus a strong union of employers, like the Solomon Island Chamber of Commerce and Industries, makes the three-pegged stool balanced and useful.

The tripartite system I describe works well if managed well. If the Gov is too heavy handed, or the Unions too militant, or the Employers too full fo themselves, things are not copacetic.

I managed for quite some years to maintain and honest centrist position within the Solomons. Calling foul where I thought required, writing weekly blurbs for the Solomon Star, sitting on committees in the SIG, fighting for less corruption in the SIG, noting only too well many businesses prefer a corrupt system to a system that is faithful to the established processes. I did not do it all to make friends. I did it because I knew it was needed and was willing to expose myself to the fallout that could, and did come.

Of course, corruption is real and very powerful. Government officials are well positioned to line their pockets, as are business houses how dodge taxes or tariffs. And of course, Union Officials are very well positioned to put their personal needs and wants above that of those they represent.

The USofA (like most nations) has fostered a system of Corrupt Elitism within their political system for a long, long time. Two sets of rules do exist. Recent events, noting the University Admissions Scandal, the Obama/Clinton/Comey/Russian Scandal, and many elitist driven “paytoplay” scenarios including but not limited to the Clinton and Biden Family biz of selling influence for cash.

Side thought: Obama was a Law Professor in 2005, made 85,000pa. He entered politics, and is worth 40million today. Go on, tell me politics ain’t corrupt.

The Clintons as a team are worth 140million. They’ve been at it longer than The Obamas’.

I am rambling… Ranting perhaps? As I sit, watching the TV as the debate kicks off… Like a good fight, the walk-ins, the announcements are important.

More later