old man emu

Talking about decking timber, I was told that it was wrong to lay the boards with the grooved side up, which a lot of people do in the belief that is prevents slips. However, the reason I was told to put the grooves down was that they were there to allow airflow to keep the wood dry where it was in contact with the joists. With a bit of regular light maintenance, a deck should not get slippery. That's caused by allowing dust to accumulate, which encourages microorganisms to flourish.

I hate Burt Bacharach and Hal David and Richard Carpenter and Karen Carpenter. They are responsible for that the earworm song, Close to You, to start in my head as soon as I step away from my hovel, and the bloody flies start zeroing-in on me. Why do flies suddenly appear, Everytime I'm not near? Those damned flies, They long to be Close to me.

So he Lindt her the gear?

I think a basic reason for fast growth is simply water. You don't realise how wet parts of the USA are compared to Australia. I suppose the closest equivalent would be western Tasmania, which cops so much rain. But with fast growth in a moist environment the vessels within each year's growth ring there is a lot of empty space when the wood is harvested and dried. That means that after it has been made into something, it will still take in water, or dry out with the seasons with the varying heat and humidity. That then leaves the woodworker with the need to allow for shrinking and swelling in the finished product. If not allowed for, timber in the product with split.

As I stepped out of my car in the supermarket carpark, I spied a twenty cent coin on the ground. The old rhyme came to mind. But it was a twenty cent coin. That's inflation for you.

Bertie Beetle must be a Victorian thing. I don't think I've seen them in NSW, and only know of them through the bloke, Russell, who was on Hey Hey. I think the NSW equivalent is the Freddo Frog.

I don't know if Israelis kidnapped any civilians, most likely not, but the civilian death and casualty numbers, as well as cutting off food, power and medical supplies strikes me as what is known as "unreasonable force". In our law, one can use force to stop an attack or to subdue an attacker. However, if the force used is beyond what is reasonable in the situation, then the person using that force is in the wrong. What the Israelis are doing is using unreasonable force. Now, I think that the way they sabotaged the pagers was a quite fair thing to do, as the goal was to strike at members of the organisation. I don't know if the reported casualties were simply organisation members who were wounded but not killed, or if they included innocent bystanders. However, blowing up whole buildings, which may and probably were used in part as operations centres, resulting in "collateral damage" is unreasonable.

I wonder if what has been done to improve pastures in Australia has had a beneficial effect on native birds. I was looking at the seed-eating birds in the paddock beside my place. The clover which grew there this winter has gone to seed. Clover is a legume, like peas and beans, so is pretty nutritious. Then there is the grain that either falls to the ground during harvest, or blows from the back of trucks transporting it around the place. There's plenty of self-sown canola along the roadside. The nutritional value of these introduced seeds would be much higher than the native grasses that these birds evolved upon. Then I saw the insect eaters. Insects eat seeds, so would their populations in the paddock have increased? Of course there is also those accursed mice which eat seeds and which are meat and drink to the raptor birds. So I wonder if, with higher quality food and more of it, these native birds are stronger and healthier and more numerous than their ancestral populations were.

Years ago, in relation to some other organised use of force to achieve a political gain, it was said that if you are the one using the force, it's patriotism, but if you were receiving the force, it was terrorism. And again, history is written by the victorious.

I wonder if the leadership of the two Arab "H" mobs were not the young firebrands of the 1960s, and have remained in power in their organisations in much the same way as many undemocratic leaders of organisations have. If that is so, these blokes are getting on in years. One wonders if they introduced any sort of succession planning since we all gotta die sometime and if those leaders did, who would take over the running of the organisation, which has a large body of younger persons to carry out the plans of the leaders. Will killing those old blokes cut the head off the Hydra and destroy it, as Hercules did to complete his second labour?

It's funny - odd - but I have lost interest in chocolate as used in confectionery. I still like my evening desert of a chocolate muffin, ice cream and chocolate sauce, but as for buying a block of chocolate or chocolate coated biscuits - not interested, In fact I was looking at the chocolates on special in the supermarket today and there wa not the slightest spark of interest. It's not that I've gone all health nutty. They say that the desire for chocolate is related to one's emotions. Stress can drive the desire for it. Well, since the stress of my wife's illness has, unfortunately, passed and I moved to where I am, I think my emotional status has calmed markedly. I don't need whatever the "feel good" chemical is in chocolate anymore. So, even looking at blocks of chocolate reduced in price doesn't move me anymore.

Remember when you were a kid and your birthday was coming up? You made sure your parents knew what you had your heart set on Then there was the emotional tenseness of waiting for your birthday to arrive. When it did, and you were given your gift, you could tell by the size of the package that it must contained the very thing that you wished for. Tearing open the package your heart skipped a beat as what you would have sold your soul for emerged from the gayley coloured paper. Its was much the same for me today as I carefully pulled off the masking tape I had applied to the walls for the boot room to make the delineation between the colour of the walls and the faux cornice I painted. The edge of of the tape had sealed securely so that there was no seepage of white paint onto the colour of the walls. I had a nice, crisp line that needed no touching up. I'm one very happy Vegemite.

Not named. It's a nice solid bit of gear. I've just spent some time filing the casting seam excess from the spine of the handle. I am going to polish it to ee if I can get a chromed-like finish. To bad my nickel plating stuff is packed away, or I would plate it.

Isn't it against international law for aircraft to enter another country's airspace without approval? Makes it worse when the aircraft involved are fully armed military aircraft. And sure, you can look at the boot on the other foot, but the Israelis possess weapons to take down drones and rockets. Lebanon and the Palestinians don't. And they don't have similar military aircraft. In the absence of advanced fighter aircraft, the Lebanese air force currently relies on a helicopter force, a squadron of Embraer EMB 314 Super Tucano, and three Cessna AC 208s for the reconnaissance and ground attack roles.

I know it is the World we live in now, but I am heartily sick of turning on the news and all I hear is that Israel is blowing up Arab cities; Russian and Ukraine are doing the same to each other, and some woman has died in a domestic violence incident. A mob of people got drowned in flooding in some country. The Mayor of New York City has been caught with his hand in the till. Trump claims to be the protector of women. The death and destruction news is so depressing that this morning hearing that the Swans were thrashed by 60 points was almost a boost to the spirit, despite the fact that I would have preferred the result to be the other way around.

Will you take a look at where they were made and tell us?

I reckon it would be a great idea. We could get Ian to move Jerry's, Litespeed's, the jet boat one, and mine to it so we don't have to go searching other topics to find the one we want. Also, we would not need to restrict it to building renovations. I bought this old adjustable wrench from the Men's Shed have started to restore it. That would be a way to show the techniques involved.

I heard that the bloke who was instrumental in creating the game grew up on the land. The local Aborigines played a kick and chase game using a "ball" made from animal pelts. The thing was that the Aborigines' game had no scoring system. They just enjoyed the activity. The bloke adopted the kick and chase pat and added a scoring system to make such an activity acceptable to the European culture wich requires a victor.

Christ! Misread that the first time.

I was going to start a thread - Do you remember this TV show?, but I think I've started too many, so I'll post here. Do you remember this show, made in 1957/58 but probably not shown in Australia until the early 60s.

In Australia, the initial construction of railways had to be funded by governments - at the time, colonial governments with the approval of Westminster. Despite the money from gold, the economies of the colonies were not big enough to entice private investors to build and own railways as happened in the USA. So the colonial governments built the railways and retained ownership of them. Then, in the usual way that governments handle valuable assets, they let the railways deteriorate, resulting in the closure of many routes. Where the routes could not be closed - for example metropolitan lines - the government simply had to subsidise their operation and cut operating costs as much as possible. That's why I see the daily State Rail bus running along the highway between towns where once there were functioning stations. Each day there is a road coach service from Dubbo to Lightning Ridge or to Broken Hill, and they run with plenty of empty seats. It's even rare to see a train of grain cars loading at railside silos that once were hives of activity during harvest time.

The spangled drongo displays uninhibited and sometimes comical behaviour as it swoops and perches in search of insects, small birds, and occasionally, small skinks. It is easily tamed by throwing small pieces of raw meat into the air, when it will accurately swoop and catch them midair. It sometimes makes astonishingly loud, complex, and entertaining calls that may sound like a "sneeze". The spangled drongo is an amazing mimic, taking most of its vocabulary from the sounds heard in the vicinity and weaving them into a song.

Hang the expense! Give the cat another goldfish. It's a SKI boat, a means of spending the kids' inheritance.

Fake!!!!! Compare the noses and the ears. Also the one on the two-piece has a female pelvis. No amount of hormonal treatment can change a male pelvis into a female one. As well, there is a differences in their ages.

Some car, that Simca!