California Here I Come

Back in the 1800s the Tates Watch Company of Massachusetts wanted to produce other products and, since they already made the cases for pocket watches, decided to market compasses for the pioneers traveling west.

It turned out that although their watches were of finest quality, their compasses were so dreadfully bad and horrendously useless that people often ended up in Canada or Mexico rather than California.

This, of course, is the origin of the old proverb . . .

“He who has a Tates is lost!”

Organ Donor

Burgled from a rather thoughtful Randall.

Are you an organ donor? There is a new poll in the sidebar where you can answer.

Photo Hunt; Military

 

 

With Remembrance Day just four days away this is an appropriate Photo Hunt.

I decided to go with just one image from my archives.

The Western Australian State War Memorial.

Wilarri

A couple of weeks ago we went out onto and around our salt lake. While there are many fresh water springs which have served the locals well for the past umpteen thousand years, there are just a few of these special springs.

Medicine waterholes. Where salt water flows from underground. And provides a bath for patients with skin problems and parasites. Oh, and a cooling respite from the daily heat.

This one is called “Wilarri” which means “Moon Water”. There are a number of these holes just here and most of them are round, like the moon.

The person depicted is neither a local nor umpteen thousands of years old. Although he does look like his father.

BBC Quiz of the Week

Cloud increasing is the story of the past week.

After a clear day on Tuesday which heated up to 47.9C, we have had a couple of cooler, cloudy days.

Then today it is sunny with blue, hot sky to the East and nasty black thundery clouds to the North and West. Those clouds are coming this way.

Last week we gained a new crowned head, The delightfully tatty Marty and, for the very first time, we almost didn’t have a dunce. Our resident Nurse was the only entrant to score below 4/7 which is the pass mark.

It seems to be an easy quiz this week as I scored a 5/7

How will you go in this week’s BBC Quiz of the Week?

.

Previous Dunces

30th Oct, 3/7, nursemyra
23rd Oct, 0/7, Karen
16th Oct, 1/7, Cybe R. Wizard
9th Oct, 2/7, Rob, nursemyra, healingmagichands
2nd Oct, 1/7, azahar, healingmagichands
25th Sept, 1/7, Daddy Papersurfer
18th Sept, 2/7, Rob
11th Sept, 3/7, azahar, Puddock, Rob,
4th Sept, 1/7, azahar
28th Aug, 0/7, Herr G EaGle
21st Aug, 2/7, Bunk Strutts, Daddy Papersurfer
14th Aug, 2/7, azahar Puddock, sandy, daisymae81, anniegirl1138,
7th Aug, 2/7, silverstar98121, Bunk Strutts, Mrs Eagle, Cybe R. Wizard, Puddock
31st July, 1/7,silverstar98121
24th Jul, 2/7, sandy,
17th Jul, 2/7, azahar
10th Jul, 1/7, gitwizard, Mrs Eagle

Crown Winners (7/7)

17th Octember Buff
26th Octember, healing magic hands
5th Dec. Buff
9th Jan 2009, azahar
6th Feb 2009, archie
20th Feb 2009, healing magic hands
27th Feb, 2009, Buff
20th Mar, 2009, healing magic hands
3rd Apr, 2009, sledpress
17th Apr, 2009, anniegirl1138, Buff, Archie
15th May, Buff
5th June, Buff
4th July, healing magic hands
29th Aug Buff
5th Sept Buff
12th Sept Daddy P
11th Sept, nursemyra
18th Sept, Buff
25th Sept, Gitwizard
30th Oct 2009, Marty

Sky Watch Friday

Wednesday evening I spotted this interesting sky.

As I took the photographs I thought, “I wonder if this means a change in the weather.”

That question has been answered this Thursday night. We have electrical storms all around. Including a report of lots of rain 50Km to the East and this included hail hitting a car which was heading for us. Not too unusual excepting the air temperature at ground level was still above 40C!

The wind is rising outside and the growling of thunder can be heard in the distance.

Juke Box 1961

Be cool, like, man, click on the juke box.

What Street Sign Are You?

Well well well.

Completely wrong!

You Are CURVES AHEAD

When you’re confronted with a problem, you take it on immediately – but with your eyes wide open. You deal with stress well. You take things as they come, and you don’t panic.   In fact, you often enjoy challenging situations. Difficulty makes you feel alive. You are alert and observant. You notice every twist and turn in the road.

What Street Sign Are You?

Six of Clubs

Recession Buster

I have been visiting Julian Beever’s website a few times lately.

Here is one of his pavement sketches which caught my eye.

 

He even has shadows under the vault lid. How good is that!

Pride and Prejudice

Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need.
Kahlil Gibran (1883 – 1931)

Opinions founded on prejudice are always sustained with the greatest of violence.
Francis Jeffrey (1773 – 1850)

Brown Falcon

Out and about last Sunday morning I spotted this Brown Falcon.

He spotted me and eyed me with great disdain and some suspicion.

 

Then he saw something of more importance. Probably a mid-morning snack.

He certainly left in a hurry.

A Sad Tale

There was this bloke called Bob Hill and his wife Sarah, returning home after a weekend away without the kids. They’d been to a nice place up in the Blue Mountains and were carefully going down the switch-back road towards the next town when suddenly a kangaroo jumped out at them from the bush.

“Shit”, said Bob, and slammed on the brakes before he hit the ‘roo. But it had been raining all day, and the road was wet. So he skidded for quite a distance and unfortunately went over the edge of the road and down the side of the mountain.

They went further down the side of the mountain, crashing into and off small trees and stones until they came to a big old gum tree right in the way. The car slammed into the tree and crumpled the front right up to the passenger doors. When the noise and confusion stopped, Bob looked over at his wife Sarah and saw that she was slumped forward in the seat-belt with blood oozing from her forehead … she appeared to be unconscious. He felt battered but realised he wasn’t as badly hurt as Sarah and decided to try and get out of the car. After managing to get the driver’s side door open he stumbled around the car and tried to get Sarah’s door open but it was stuck fast. Swearing, he wiped his hands over his face to get rid of the rain, which was still falling quite heavily, and tried again. This time he managed to crack the door open and he got his hands around the frame of the door and heaved as strongly as he could. He heard Sarah moan, and this gave him added strength to get the door opened enough to put his arms gently around his beloved wife and lift her as gently as he could out of the car, laying her on the ground beside the car.

“Oh, no”, he said to himself, “She’s quite badly hurt. What am I going to do?” He scrambled in his pockets and found a handkerchief with which he tried to stem the blood from Sarah’s forehead but it didn’t work very well. Then he discovered that his mobile (cell) phone wasn’t in the pocket he usually kept it in and knew that in the down-hill helter-skelter he had lost it … now what could he do? He knew that if he didn’t get help he would lose Sarah and that was not something he wanted to think about.

So he carefully picked her up and with her held in his arms he stumbled back up to the road and continued down towards where he knew the town was. It was going to be a hard slog but he had to do it for her sake. He kept walking with the rain still falling and Sarah still mumbling quietly as he held her tightly against his chest. Suddenly he saw a light … it was a house! “Thank God”, he said “I can phone for an ambulance from there”.

So he went towards the house and knocked on the door. No-one answered so he knocked again, harder this time. The door creaked open and there was this funny little man standing there with an inquiring look on his face. “Yes?”, he said. Bob frantically asked if he could use the phone to call for an ambulance for his wife and himself, as they’d been hurt in a car accident and he really couldn’t go any further. Exhaustion nearly felled him when the funny little man said “Oh, I’m sorry. We don’t have a phone! But please, come in and I’ll take you to my master. He’s a doctor and may be able to help”.

Bob thankfully gathered Sarah against his chest and followed the funny little man as he went to the back of the house, where another man … tall and silver-haired … was sitting reading in front of a fire. He jumped to his feet when Bob appeared and looked shocked. “What … what on earth has happened?” he said, and Bob explained as he put Sarah down on the couch and sat wearily beside her, holding his wet and cold hands to the fire.

“Oh, dear”, said the tall man. “I’m not really a medical doctor, I’m a scientist. But I’ll see what I can do. Bring your wife over to my laboratory and I’ll try what I can to help you both”. So with the help of the funny little man they got Sarah onto a table in the laboratory and the tall man cleaned the cut on her forehead as best he could and covered her with a warm blanket. Then he asked Bob to lay on the table as well so he could see what was wrong with him. Bob did so and finally gave in to the cold and exhaustion which had been held at bay till he was sure that Sarah would be OK. However, the treatments were not much help and during the night both Bob and Sarah slipped quietly away. The tall man and the funny little man looked at each other with dismay and walked quietly back to the library where the tall man sat down at the piano and started to play a soft, melancholy tune. Igor, for that was the funny little man’s name, went back down to the laboratory and looked with sadness at the two bodies lying close together on the table. His eyes widened as, suddenly, he saw Bob’s fingers twitch.

And then he saw Sarah open her eyes!! “I don’t believe it!”, he said to himself. “They were dead. I know they were!” But to his amazement both of them, Bob /and/ Sarah, were moving! And in time to the music which was wafting quietly into the room from the library. “I don’t believe it!” he repeated … and ran from the room towards the library.

“Master, master” he cried as he ran. “Master, they’re alive! Master, the Hills are alive to the sounds of music!!!”

 

Thanks, Buff

O Sole Mio

World famous tenor, Plácido De Fincheo singing one of Naples most famous songs.

Unfortunately I was unable to record the sound of his voice but if you click on the image it biggifies

Tuesday Tune

This week it is again Mike Oldfield.

This time in concert and I dare you to listen without some foot tapping.