MOUNT MONSTER CONSERVATION PARK

After a somewhat  delayed departure from home this morning Royce and I reached the Mount Monster Conservation Park (about 20 minutes south of Keith) at about 4pm.  We had a pretty good run on the road today, stopping shortly before Tailem Bend to make some lunch then stopping at Tailem Bend for a milk shake (Royce) and coffee (me). 
This is a beautiful spot - lots of bush around us and plenty of magpies warbling outside.  It was quite warm when we arrived so Royce set up the generator and we got the air conditioner running (what a hard life????).  We cooked a couple of steaks for tea then decided to go for a walk.  It was only going to be a short walk but we ended up doing a 1 hour circuit to get back to the caravan and boy are my hips feeling it!  Still, it was a lovely walk and we had a look at the old gold mine, saw lots of magpies, galahs, finches and a couple of coloured parrots.  There are quite a lot of bees around the place (a property nearby has a large quantity of beehives) but they aren't bothering us much once we shooed out the two that came into the caravan when we first got here.  We did see a fairly large beehive in one of the trees when we went for a walk as well. We also saw a very large hare but it hopped away before I could get a photo.  It was about the size of a smallish dog. The flies haven't been too bad (so far) and hopefully that situation will continue.

Some of the bush area near us

five of the magpies

Miss B Haven

The old gold mine (part of it at least)

Some of the bushland along the track we were walking on

KENNY ROGERS

We went to the Kenny Rogers concert at the Adelaide Festival Theatre tonight (Royce's Christmas present) and what a great night it was.  Royce is a real Kenny Rogers fan and whilst I like some of his music I wouldn't have gone out of my way to go to his concert.  Having said that, I am glad we did go.  I enjoyed it much more than I had expected.  We went out for tea at Fasta Pasta first then headed into the city.  We had to do a bit of a circle loop to get a park but after that all went well.
The first act was a young South Australian woman and for the life of me I cannot now remember her name but she had an amazing voice and I will have to try to remember her name so we can see if she has a CD out.  We think her name was Amber Lee Pointon or Polton or something like that - anyone heard of her?  I will try to find out her name and see how we go. 
When Kenny Rogers first walked onto the stage I thought "OMG he is old and looks like he is pissed".  Appearances can be deceptive.  Whilst the guy is in his 60s and is not a high energy act, he can still entertain.  He sang many of his old songs - including one from the 1960s when he fronted First Edition.  I am not sure of the name of that song but it was something about checking the condition of his condition!  It was certainly very 60s when mind altering substances were all the rage, but it was still a pretty good song and I bet if it was re released now it would sell well!!!!!  Lots of the old favourites and some newer ones as well.  He also engaged the audience really well during the whole show.
We had a really good time and for us old codgers it wasn't even a real late night - home by 11pm.
It was also surprising how many 'young' people were in the audience.  The place was packed with very few empty seats and whilst the majority were our age or older there was a good showing of under 30s.
It is now 11.20pm and time for all good (older) people to hit the sack.   Talk again soon.

Casterton

Royce and I headed over to Casterton on Tuesday last week (11th).  We didn't take the caravan but stayed with my sister Sharon and her partner Richard.  We had only intended to stay a couple of days but that extended out a bit.  We had a leisurely drive to Casterton, stopping on the way to pick up a turtle (tortoise?) that was sitting in the middle of a single lane, narrow country road just south of Langcoop.  We couldn't leave Tommy there otherwise he was sure to get run over, so we emptied out a crate, put him in it and let him go by the billabong at Casterton.  We saw two emus crossing the road and a lot of Rosellas.  It was a pleasant days drive.  We spent time walking, talking, eating and I got a lot of craft work done!  On Friday Royce and Richard headed into Mount Gambier in the morning, picked up a hire truck and drove to Adelaide where they loaded a whole lot of book shelves and stock for Richard's new shop in Casterton - Bikes Books and Bits.  they slept in Adelaide Friday night and drove back to Casterton on Saturday and we all got stuck into unloading the truck which they took back to Mount Gambier on Sunday.  They both worked pretty hard to do all that driving, but particularly loading up the truck!  We got a couple of days of wet weather with one day being particularly bad.  Casterton was on flood watch and the river did rise a few metres but luckily it did not suffer the same fate as many other Victorian towns.  Our hearts go out to all the people affected by the Queensland and Victorian floods!
I didn't sleep very well at Casterton.  There were a few different reasons but one of them was that Royce and I discovered on Sunday night that we were using each other's pillows!  After we swapped over we both slept reasonably well Sunday night - what a pair of wallies!  The corellas at Casterton are a noisy mob as well and whilst they quieten down eventually there are still quite a few that seem to like chatting on through the night.
We left Casterton Monday morning and again had a leisurely drive back to Adelaide arriving late afternoon.  On Tuesday we re-arranged our room (boy was that a big job - had to empty out all the book shelves, wardrobes, drawers, cupboards then shuffle everything around a few times before we got all the furniture where we wanted it), did some cleaning and some washing and today has been a bit of quiet day.  My nephew Jayden and his girlfriend Alkisty popped in this afternoon to see Rory, Emma and Marshall and while Alkisty was nursing Marshall I managed to get a photo of one of his smiles.  He is smiling more often now and it was good to capture one on the camera.  He had his weigh in and 6 week check up today and is now 9lb!  He is getting quite chubby and growing out of quite a few of his clothes.  He is very aware and alert and loves to sit on your lap and have a chat!


The billabong near Sharon & Richard's house




Richard's dog Bonney splashing in one of the many puddles during one of our walks




A small flock of corellas taking off ahead of us.  There were a squillion of them !!




Two horses and one of the ponies currently agisted in Sharon & Richard's bottom paddock




Marshall wearing his Ford jumpsuit given to him by Sharon and Richard




Managed to catch him smiling at Alkisty!



A QUICK UPDATE

Royce and I have been very busy and I have no idea how we ever managed to find time to go to work!  A new baby in the house certainly manages to create chaos, and all the things that we didn't get done before are now coming back to haunt us so we have had to pull our fingers out and try to catch up on a lot of outstanding jobs.  We almost have our heads above water now and are looking forward to experiencing some of that laid back, relaxing retirement lifestyle we keep hearing so much about! 
Our first Christmas with Marshall was lovely.  Rory, Emma, Marshall, Royce, Kane and I exchanged gifts on Christmas Eve as we anticipated Christmas morning may be a bit hectic.  Kane had an absolute ball opening his own presents and then ripping all the other wrapping paper to pieces as well.  Marshall had no idea what all the fuss was about, and the rest of us enjoyed the moment.
Christmas Day was a bit of rushing around.  Royce travelled the State to pick up his godfather and his mum and bring them to our place.  Rory and Emma looked after Marshall and I tried to get all the food ready.  I had set the table the previous day and done as much as possible ahead of time but even so everyone was here and ready for lunch and I was running a bit behind time.  Didn't really matter that much - we all had a lovely lunch and exchanged gifts, chatted and then Royce did the reverse run taking his mum and godfather home while I cleaned up.   We headed out to my brother's for Christmas tea with my family.  It was a nice night but I am wondering if we shouldn't think about changing the "Foster" get together to a picnic on Boxing Day.  May have to canvas the others and see what people think.
Royce and I babysat on New Years Eve (the dog and the baby) while Rory and Emma got to let their hair down for the night. 
Marshall has been a bit unwell recently - some sort of tummy bug and was borderline running a temperature so he was pretty unsettled for a while but he seems to have come good and is now feeding like a real greedy guts!  He is growing pretty quickly and now has chubby cheeks and a slight double chin.  We discovered dimples in his knees recently.   He has started focussing on people now and makes really good eye contact.
Emma's two sisters from Sydney were here for a few days and they loved being able to catch up.  Marshall's aunties spoiled him rotten - buying him some really terrific clothes, rugs, bibs etc. 
Only a short posting but it is getting late and this will have to do for the time being.
I have included some photos and I apologise to my Facebook friends because some of them you will have seen on Facebook, but I needed to include them here for those people who aren't on Facebook

Kane in the aftermath of his 'opening presents' Christmas Eve

Emma, Great Grandma (Royce's Mum), Marshall Christmas Day 2010

Rory, Marshall, Uncle David (Royce's godfather), Royce - Christmas Day 2010

Marshall and Emma - Christmas Day 2010

Marshall enjoying a bath in the kitchen sink - 22/12/10

Royce with Marshall 23/12/10

Marshall 24/12/10

Sleeping like a baby = 30/12/10

In one of his new outfits from his aunties - 7/1/11

Cheeky (cat) and Kane relaxing togther

MARY POPPINS?

We were very lucky to be paid a visit by Mary Poppins today! 
The story starts where the last blog left off and we were all very excited to have Marshall come home on Tuesday 14/12/10.  Not surprisingly Marshall was pretty unsettled Tuesday night and Wednesday and by Wednesday evening Rory and Emma were pretty exhausted so Nanny and Poppy came to the rescue.  Rory and Emma had an early evening snooze and we gave Marshall his 9pm bottle.  We tried sitting him up a bit more for that bottle and he scoffed it and promptly fell asleep in my arms.  This was the first decent sleep he had indulged in since coming home, and since Rory and Emma were also snoozing I decided not to disturb anyone and just nursed him until he started stirring about about 12.15am.  Royce put some wooden blocks under the head of the cradle to give it a bit of a slope and we kept our fingers crossed. 
Rory and Emma fed Marshall at about 12.30am (again more in a sitting than lying position), following which Marshall promptly fell asleep.  He was put in the cradle and slept until 5.30am.  Rory and Emma felt so much better and were a lot less stressed on Thursday.   The nurse called in on Thursday and was very happy with Marshall's progress - he has put on 70grams.
Marshall did pretty well last night until about 3.15am this morning when he woke Emma and Rory and gave them the gift of a very big poo-ey nappy!  By the time they changed him, cleaned him up, fed him and settled him down again they were pretty tired and by the time they got back to sleep it was only a very short time until Marshall's next feed.
This brings me to Mary Poppins. 
The HomeCare nurse arrived today to assist.  She got here at 9.30am, took a lunch break for an hour and stayed until 3pm.  During that time she tended to Marshall, cleaned his room, sorted all his clothes, did a load of washing, cleaned the kids lounge-room, peeled potatoes for tea and pretty much kept herself busy doing whatever needed doing while the kids slept and went to the doctors.  Rory and Emma decided she must be Mary Poppins and want to know if they can keep her!
Marshall is a bit unsettled again tonight so not sure how much rest the kids will have, but perhaps he will tire himself out and sleep really well when it counts!
Poor Royce is pretty unwell today with a nasty throat infection.  Took him to the doctors today and he has antibiotics and a throat gargle so I am hopiing for a quick improvement.
Stay tuned and as when time permits I will keep you updated.   I hope to get a few photos done before too much longer and will post them as soon as I can.
I had lunch with my former workmates at Transport Planning on Thursday and it was terrific to catch up with them.  I didn't get the chance to speak with all of them but I hope if any of them are reading this they will pass on to the others my best wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

OUR BEAUTIFUL GRANDSON

I have attempted to let everyone know - where possible - about the birth of our beautiful grandson Marshall Peter Lind-Kuhn on 9/12/10.  I did send out text messages, emails and posted information on Facebook but decided I should put something on my Blog in case I have missed someone.
Marshall was born at 2.32pm on 9/12/10 weight 5lb12oz and measuring 47cm.  The birth went well and apart from Marshall's temperature being low everything was good.  Emma did a great job and Rory supported her well.  They are both recovering and getting used to being parents!!!!
Marshall had to go to the special care nursery to get his body temperature up and to monitor him to ensure he puts on weight and didn't have problems with jaundice.  Emma was discharged from hospital on Saturday and she and Rory have been doing the trek to and from the hospital several times each day to feed and look after Marshall.   They were told they can bring him home tomorrow so they are very excited and a little bit nervous.  I am sure they will be fine - they are already doing a terrific job and we are very proud of them.

ONE DOOR CLOSES!

It feels very strange - I will officially cease my employment with the Department for Transport tomorrow (26/11/10).  I started with DTEI as a contractor in November 1997 and it has been a very interesting 13 years.  There were frustrations and disappointments but over-riding all of that was a great sense of pride in my achievements over the years.  I was privileged to manage a terrific team for several years and was honoured to have worked with some wonderful people over the last 13 years - both within and outside DTEI.  I am not apprehensive about finishing my employment but I am sad that my contact with some truly fabulous people is likely to diminish and gradually fade to nothing.  I hope I am wrong but it is often what happens. A very big thank you to all the people who have supported and encouraged me throughout the last 13 years.  My learnings over that period have been great and I hope I have, in some way, passed those learnings on to others.
As this door closes I look forward to seeing what is behind the other door (or doors) which are opening.  My first grandchild is due in two weeks and Royce and I are still planning a big (3-6 month) journey early next year (provided all the planets align appropriately).
In the meantime I hope everyone is safe and well and remains so throughout the festive season.