Month: December 2006

Road trip pictures

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The Masked Podcaster, modelling WIP

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The beautiful Hunter Valley

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This is what open cut mining looks like. If you’ve ever had a wine from the Hunter Valley, or used electricity in Sydney, then you ought to know what goes on here. I thought I had a clue, but this is was a bit of a rude shock.

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On the road to nowhere

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The coal travels to the power station on a conveyor belt, and we should be comforted that the clouds of grey stuff are just clouds. Nothing to see here folks.

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Around here David got some bad news on the phone. We’re too far from Sydney to go back, so onwards we go….

This was the second “event” of our trip. First, we saw a totalled motorbike, with a dust covered helmet beside it. Not a happy sight. We pulled over to look for the rider, and found him, gushing blood, by the side of the road. We took him to the nearest road house. Steve – I hope you got home OK.

(When I was a kid, our neighbour lost one of her teenaged daughters to a motorbike accident. A car knocked Cheryl off the road, and she died of her injuries by the side of the road. Nobody stopped.)

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We saw a sign with a picture of a cow and a sheep. The cows came first. There were a lot of them, and they were on both sides of the road, and on the road. Not a lot of grass to eat on the road, but cows are not allowed to join mensa.

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Then the sheep. Note the sheep dog mid leap into ute.

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Dog in ute.

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Sheep bums.

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Still life with cow.

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We made it!

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A rustic wool baler.

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The masked podcaster finds his mark.

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A wire sheep

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The big bad ass ball winder

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Machine number one. No idea what it is called, or what it does. See further posts for excuses.

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The drum carder.

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A lot of roving.

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Two drum carders.

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Unspun being turned into singles.

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Plying.

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The dye bath.

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Yarny goodness.

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Waiting for the dye bath.

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Unspun. I bought some of this, and am killing braincells thinking of what can be done with it.

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Raw Merino fleece. See the little crimps?

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After carding.

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Hmmmm…. Unspun.

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Of course we had to shop a little…

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Here is some of the yarn we didn’t buy.

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The shop.

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As we left, I spotted a calf in the neighbour’s yard.

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Back off, human.

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I’m eating.

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OK?

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And then there were sheep.

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Sheep with black faces.

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And a hunger for whatever we have in our pockets…

A great day was had by all, and we are already planning the next road trip!

I didn’t get home until nearly 11pm, so I had rather a slow start to tuesday.

An event made for knitters ?

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Kate tells me that this year it’s Turandot. Kerry tells me that the title character is a bloodthirsty princess, and that there is one particularly haunting aria. I have only been to the real opera once (Tosca), but I try to go every year to the pleb opera. Usually I try to get there a few hours early with a picnic, a bottle of wine and a few friends, so that we can soak up the ambience before the main event.

This strikes me as a great opportunity for a knit. Anyone up for it ?

PS. The Opera in the Park is on Saturday, January 27th. Concert usually starts at 8pm, I’ll probably try to get there around 4pm to grab a spot. I’ve added the event to the <a href=”webcal://ical.mac.com/rhubarbandcustard/Stitch%20’n%20Bitch.ics“>Sydney S’nB calendar</a>.

And here is a link to the Opera Australia calendar. You’ll have to navigate to January 2007 to find Turandot because there is no direct link (that I can find).

And because I hate being a whinging blogger

Today something really wonderful happened.

With all the crap going on lately, I had completely forgotten that before the storm, there was a brief period of calm, and dare I say it, prosperity.

Mark and I decided after seeing The Scissor Sisters at the Live 8 concert (on the telly of course), that if they ever came back to Australia, we’d have to go see them. As soon as tickets were announced, I set my alarm, and had the tickets booked by 9.05am on the morning they went on sale. It’s an extravagance we can’t really afford right now, and if it had happened a few weeks later, we would have had to be sensible. As it is, the money is already spent, and we have a small incentive to return from Vietnam – the concert is on in early Feb.

I DO Feel Like Dancing !

Check out their myspace page for a taste of 2006 disco.

Fiiiiinaly!

I finally got Mr Medical Supplies on the phone. It was a terrible line, and he kept cutting me off and never let me finish a sentence, but I have emailed a resume and I have a commitment that we will meet face to face “late next week”.

Today at the salt mine we put in place a new system of controlling repair jobs, and I spent most of the day putting little whiteboard panels on little plastic bins that clip to the wall. Joy. I complained that it was like being in a sheltered workshop, but the joke went flat. All the staff are under 30, most under 24. Still feeling like my efforts are worthwhile, and if I can whip the place into shape by Christmas I will be very pleased with myself.

And I listened to the latest Lime & Violet podcast. Violet has a lump in her breast, which is terrible news. What is even worse news, is that because of the way her health insurance works, she won’t be having it looked at until the second week of January. In cancer terms, that could be a lifetime. Basically, she has to pay a $1000 excess per year if she needs to make a claim. Not per “incident” but per calendar year. So if she has an examination now, she has to pay $1000 now, and another $1000 in January if her treatment carries over to next year.

She needs to raise money to pay for her treatment, so if you want some sock yarn, now is a good time. But now is also a good time for all of us to check our breasts, understand our health insurance, and make a change if you find out that you can’t get treatment when you need it because of the fine print on your policy. And if you do buy yarn, buy a lot, so that Violet can pay the extra $1000, and get her treatment NOW.

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And here is another cute bunny picture, because they make me happy.

A visitor

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Mark was busy in the garden today. He borrowed Ted’s new whipper snipper and cleared a lot of the back garden, and some of the front garden. He uncovered the grape vine, which we thought was dead. I moved some mulch around its base, and found this little guy. He’s a Blue Tongued Lizard, and a lovely healthy specimen, which is a great joy to us. Having “a bluey” in the garden is a good sign of a healthy environment.

Speaking of which, I am relishing the challenge of my current job. It’s a retail/service company, but one that I know I can help. They started about a year ago, and had such rapid growth that they haven’t had time to work out good procedures and processes. It’s my job to go through the place with a fine tooth comb and make things work. I’m a consultant, and they are prepared to print me a business card with the title “Queen of the Goddamn Motherfucking Universe”.

Gotta love someone who believes in you.