10 minutes, a small fortune

I hope a test aint a waste
and the speed ticket was not fun either

I had to take A DAY OFF WORK TO do a special eye and brain test in the Big Smoke, and took some speed-sailing gear in case I was out early. I thought it was test three, the BAER, on the handout as the specialist seemed interested me in lying down for a few hours while technicians attached wires to me. Or a VEP or/and BAER.

No. Not that one, or the other one either. It was a VEP test. Not even a ten minute test. At their lab. In the city, well, nearly inner suburban.

Five minutes to hook two electrodes with thick glue to my scalp, stare at the monitor steadily with one eye, then stand up and read a poster a few yards away, [right eye - poor - two bottom lines hazy].

And That Was That. Out by 10:20am.

But that's not the only story.

That morning I arose earlier than usual, took off by 6:30am to get there by 9:30am. Yeah,  to drive through the frantic city bound traffic at the PEAK HOUR.

First, a petrol stop, [yeah, lack of planning there!] then off.

Bypass the land-slipped town and did not watch the hundreds of speed limit signs on the curvy country road... I was not watching the signs...

Pinged twice as a bluey followed me over the limit.  No idea he was there- how long was he there for, at least a minute or two at least, but long enough, and dang it if a lady driver had'nt flashed headlights at me a few minutes earlier...

The LAST time I went this way, a few months ago, I would have been fine.
Since the landslip, the road I wanted to use has been tagged and re-signed, with a big reduction...

I then noticed him, and he put the flashing lights on. Pulled over and got the licence ready. Bugger. "Why were you over the limit?" I was pregnant? Enjoying a country road? Did not realise that the limits were changed? As he went back to process my licence and registration, I was red from embarrassment and fury.

He came back and was almost laughing I think. He was so polite.
"Well, you were over twice and guess what else? The car registration was due last weekend..."

Silence.

"That could be a 655 bucks fine, but if you keep off the tollways and try to use your smartphone to pay as soon as possible, you will be okay..."

See? Nice, polite and so good.Maybe just a warning?

"But I will have to give you this one [a pink slip] though, so you only have this to pay- the speed fine"
"Uh. Um, well thanks", sort of... RRHGFRGH and %^#@ )(!*

As there was a child minder at home I called him to get the bill off the refrigerator and could he afford pay it for me ASAP? No explanation for why I remembered it...
"Yes, no worries."
"Thanks, see you as soon as I get back!" I said, fingering the spare cash I could have left at home for it.

So I cool off and REALLY WATCH the GPS- [speed limit data not updated of course- too cheap for that!] and get into the city traffic about an hour later.

The ABC radio traffic update warned me off the freeway- I knew that spot of trouble well, so took off on a different route.

Still late, not believing the GPS as I was looking for the wrong road just minutes away from My Destination... Lost me a few minutes as it insisted I was headed the wrong way in its muffled mode [woman, Irish, nice, but still a know all GPS thingo].
She was right as in Muttley like.
I turned the car around.

Got to reception after parking the wagon on the 2nd parking level [out of 5- so lucky], explained I was finally here late due to traffic problems, and told by a beautiful young woman, "Don't worry, it's okay..." Ahhh. Alright then!

Sat down to read for the indubitably long wait, read half a page of my Asimov mag and "Mr Marvin?"
Bugger- "Hi".

Off to the test, as above, a short test. Out by 10:20am and minus another hundred bucks for the test.

Oh well.
$9 for 37 minutes parking...

Oh well.

Took off. Time for Me Time after all.
Some speed-sailing at Sandy Point, if I could get there WITHOUT speeding!

GPS informs me, 1pm ETA, good.
On the way, avoiding traffic, through an industrial estate, mainly small to medium garage like shops, I spied a HOBBY shop! Squealing of tires NOT- "Just a quick look" and spent 5 minutes there, yum, and spied a model my uncle might want.

Got back on the road with all my money safe. Stopped for a Cornish Pastie, with sauce, that was not there in the end- did not squeeze the bloody bottle HARD enough, and arrived at Sandy Point. 1pm.

The tide was IN. Lack of planning. Severely!
Stuff it, I needed a bathroom quickly, and plowed through the small pools between me and relief...

Set up a sail, spoke to another sailor- "Not great".
Oh well.

From the files, but example- tide---  IN

Buggered around with the sail and mast rghrgh and got on the water, and planed fast enough down the course.
Up the course, there was only enough to slog back to shore...
Unpack and take off by 2:45pm.
Get back to town home, pay Son#2's dental bill, lucky for him and me they could see him at such short notice (Thanks) then off and reclaim the medical bill, go home and the gels get dropped off, with a pizza, and they kindly let me have two pieces...

What a bloody day!
Four hundred bucks for a 10 minute test. A ticket. A very short sail. And Is the optic nerve on its way out?
I better "fail" it... Or pass. Whatever.

pinot bursts

Keeping track of the Pinot Noir bud bursts
Amazed by the energy

Only a week ago or so, nada in the year old cutings. Just hope. Two pots are okay so far.

The older vines- Voila!

lightspeed and galaxies

Time travel
again a new experience


Looking at NASA space pictures, like the ones from the Hubble can be humiliating.


My desktop display has a few at this time, and one has a few billion galaxies dotted around in it.
Not a few, billyans!


When you think about it,  Andromeda Galaxy, the closest galaxy to The Milky Way, is only two million light years away, and it is calculated by some people both are to collide at some time down the track well after we are history. Lightyear- how far does a photon travels in one year Marvin? About ten Trillion kilometers... Oh.
The one measurement New York bankers might prick the ears up at... gotta be a percentage in that somehow !


I hated thinking of/about infinity when I was very young. Like also thinking that [a] God has you, and you, and you as well as me on his mind 24/7 and is all around us and knows what is going  to happen etc etc - both ideas are plain creepy and scary. Then and now.


Recent reports are of some starlight that is {another} calculated to be as old as the universe! That calculation is supposed to be close to 12 or 14 billion years old. What's a few billyan tween friends?


But really, it's colossal.


Driving a car to the moon, [yeah, try it Bill Gates] is a bit of a trip too. The average Earth-Moon distance is about 385,000 km, so allowing for drink and bathroom stops every two or three hours, a sleepover some where, it would take the Griswold Family about [tap tap click tap lose page, get it back] about forever. Even, say, at 60mph without a stop could take more than a few months...


Back to the galaxy thing, and time travel. Swiveling your eyes over the picture the galaxies don't look far apart, but it has to be several millions of lightyears between them.


Even looking around the night sky, there is all those photons coming at ya from a long long time ago. And if there are Others on Another Planet around the Milky Way a bit, and they can see the same thing as we do, that is a LOT of photons being spread around since time started.


Maybe that is what dark matter really is, all those freaking photons....

Springing it

Dunno what this tree is
A poplar?

Middle of August and the big tree out front is dropping flower cases all over the lawn. The the first year we were here, I got really peed off at the cases- sticky on the inside and stuck to everyone's feet or shoes, and would let go on the carpet..

Wait until the flower jumps out. In the meantime, there are clicks and pings on the roof while the tree unloads, day and night.

The propagation ia coming along just fine, a few buds are swelling on the cutting and the first year cuttings.
the garden is going off too. You may see how slack I am as it starting to look like I am a hoarder- I AM NOT, but you never know... October is also around the corner and there is gunna be a bunch of Hard Rubbish on my strip!

My last one just walking by

It was her mother!
Well, not really.
But the other day, after parent teacher interviews with her big brother's teachers, I had to grab this pic of gel#1b.

My ninja!

To some this will embody her mum.

I have to confess, I was so intent on seeing that I was seen to give a shit about her brother, that I was pretty late picking up gel#1a from school band practice and there were tears again as she got in the car (2 weeks in a row- what's wrong with me?) to go to our brass band lesson.

And that made me sad. Running out of time.

Tarn would have killed me for pruning this so hard!

Reminds me of time of year- not just the garden.

I had no great words for the paper for Tarn's obit, nor will ever, just daggy run ons like this. Every week there are little paragraphs in the local paper- 'in memorium'. After the fact, an anniversary.

I keep promising me to put one in, missed the tenth, and will not put one in this year, cannot out the words together so succinctly, and the ones I see in the paper make me grind my teeth with jealousy. The next few weeks will be difficult enough, and I am sure there will be people tiptoeing around me, some that won't, and some that won't give a shit- 'dragging it out aren't you?'.
Stupidos. Bstds.

maybe here, I will say,
I miss her
She was bossy
She was good to me
She made me do it
She let me do it
I had to insist on some things, or let time work it out, but she'd come round as if it were her idea
I miss her
We were good together. I think.
My best friend, but some how I don't think I was hers. She had some good BFFs.
I was bad and grumpy, and was never put in my place. Later, so much late, after seeing that video, I am ashamed of being so selfish, and so will not pursue anyone else any more, old dog syndrome I think. Grumpy old man.

See, can't put that in a paper.

Not the cherry tree from her sister(MIA)- a blood plum in blossom

Refabricated Tales

Inordinate amount of truthfulness
...or not? And a two door too

Looks like I can continue my view of family history without any interruptions from participants of the peanut gallery, without recriminations from angry protestants, and those with more/less catholic tastes so to speak!

I think. Well, so far.

I mean, no comments or rabid phone calls or angry messages from any relatives must mean that what I know is my own, something no one knows about, or they are saying- "He's Dreaming" or "Whatever".

Onwards Macbeth... hole digging continued...

I have not been able to find Monaro pictures of my dad's dad's car. Which was of a bronze metallic colour with black double go-fast stripes from front bumper to back.Coo's Monaro - 1st generation.


I have one or two pictures of  my mum's dad's old Monaro  [2nd generation two door].
He bought it after selling the purple XU1 Torana he had for a little while, after his second wife Tweet died in the early 70's. Was it type a or b? I am not too sure of the story, but I think, being a horse trainer, he should have been able to control the horsepower under the bonnet! Buutt... Maybe it was too small and too fast compared to the Humber he used to have [I cannot remember which type!]. Or, he wanted a bigger two door fast car? Maybe bigger is safer, cos they were both pretty fast for the times, getting up towards 150mph for production cars. Well. Again, I say that as it runs in my mind as the Ozzie Super cars of the Seventies were produced by the local GM, Chrysler [Charger]and Ford (GTHO Phase III  XA XB) factories as alternatives to imported 'Slower Cars' from the same manufacturers. The Ford two door Xa and XB were my favourite until I saw the Datsun 260Z... By legislation I remember, they were limited to less than 150mph... And look up as well as Leyland's P76. Dad's bro had one of those- the boot was Sooooo big, a 44 gallon [Ozzie gallon!] could be put in it!


'The Yella Terra'
After Poppy Des passed on they gave me his yella track suit, the one thing that would sorta go with a bogan bright coloured..... fast car..... My uncle got the yella Monara' in the end, my mum and aunt really would not look as cool as he does with it.





In any case, Unca Dez has a beautiful old car. It is not allowed out of the hidey hole unless it is a dustless very sunny day!

As my cousin Tania is into GM HSV vehicles, I don't think I will be inheriting this fine machine, she will.

Bugger.

Another one

Shared Birthday

Spent a night chaperoning at my eldest son's birthday last month.  A joint 19th celebration with his good friend "Anna" and a crowd of old BF and "blow-ins" from the last year and the new year's new friends.

Not bad as far as not being "allowed" to be "too happy", watching all these new adults gadding about in costumes and Not {Costumes- ie, in  plain old this is wot Oi Am so jus FO ya bstds!"}- [guess who's progeny was in the latter camp...]

Managed to extract almost nil information as to his friends real plans- who the hell wants to talk to some one's dad anyway.

Slow sips of the home-made par excellence Shiraz anyway....

The Charge-De-Affaire- "J"- shared a cigarette or two with me (ah, ta ver mooch J) near the backyard fire and [I hope] complimented on the HM wine. There was , among other, a not quite stilted short conversation on the lines of 'Yep. To be young again' as we watched the slightly inebriated  happy souls go about the evening.

Bud swelling 2011

Shiraz Buds swelling
Cuttings starting too


Is the season for bud swelling or burst changing?

 In SE Oz, IMBY, the backyard potted and planted shiraz[syrah] vines are buds are swelling, a week or so after the Pinot Noir potted vines.Here are some of the Pinot buds after a week on.

The Shiraz

The 2010 cuttings of Pinot buds are starting to swell, well 3 out of 7 are.

Last years Shiraz cuttings may not at all! The snails may have got to them while dormant- better find a better place to lave the 2011 cutting!

Speaking of, the 2011 Pinot and Shiraz cuttings buds are swelling too.

Pinot Noir-

 Shiraz-

greenday

So sad again tonight


Another green stucked frac


Another birthday party out of town outing for Gel#1b for her BF at a rollerskating rink.


There was a warning, tongue in cheek on the invite obviously, "no accident trips to ER" !!


But... Guess what. First one to fall and Schnick... Just not a lot of pain. Then. But...


Another greenstick fractured right wing chickidee!


Gel#1b was very brave until hometime! 


Tears and moans, and after 45 minutes... painkiller? 


Nah- car trip...


Tell Son#2 to get dinner for himself and sister, chicken and mashed spud, carrots, whatever, I  will be back. Later.


Book into emergency about 6:15pm with Gel#1b. 


Watch the rest of the news.


See the nurse- tears on my shoulder.


Looked at briefly- oh, only one of six with fractures this evening...


Waiting waiting waiting


Some neurofen shoved in, 'doctor not far away'.


Xray- see a bump above the wrist- positively bent, but not obviously broken. Thank you very much.


So. Only 3 hours in ER, and for just a half a cast...


Home to find, Son#2 had made them some mash and some carrot for dinner...


Slow cooked chicken breast been sitting in front of him....


What? You only said mash!


ARGHHARHGH ()%(*(*()_*%#$++   !!!!





BTW he wants a new mattress-  one now on laybuy- & he wants some jeans- ordering from the states for birfdee




Save me from tomorrow

Weird family roots- Steiglitz

Cross Pollination?
Our family roots are entwined. So romantic...

Our family roots are definitely mostly in  Victoria, Austalia, since the turn of the twentieth century.

My dear wife was born in Swan Hill, Victoria.
Me, south of Melbourne, 338 km from there.

My Mum, born Caulfield, Melbourne.
Her mum Mary, Albert Park, Melb.
Her dad Des, Sydney, NSW
Mary's father Edward, Carlton, Melb; her mum Cath, South Melb. Cath's parents both Melbourne born.

Judd Clan without18 grankids- 2004

Edward's parents- Thomas  McHutchison b1856 and his wife Catherine Stapleton, b1854, were both born in Steiglitz , between Geelong and Ballarat, Victoria.
Right in the middle of the Great Victorian Gold Rush of the mid-Eighteenth century. Roots from there, Paisly Scotland and Isle of Man. And a convict down another branch at the time too.

My dear old dad, born small town 25 km northwest of Swan Hill, 1937.
His dad Adrian, Leongatha, Vic, 1913, (BTW, around when my house and it's piano were built).
His mum Glad, Fitzroy, Melb.
Adrian's dad- Cape Otway as far as Adrian's records show and Christmas Hills for his mother,
Glad's folks Heidleberg for her mum; her dad, no idea at this time.
Hmmm. Cape Otway is only about 100 km from Steiglitz. Branches back further include County Cork- Ireland, Ormiston and Mid Lotthian ,Scotland, and as far back as 1673- Inverness, where Andrew Young  and Janet Roy lived aboots, and their son John Young was born.

My mums maternal Uncle Albert- lived, worked and raised four kids in Murrumbeena, Melbourne.

My mother-in-law Bev, born 1938, Sea Lake, 57 km from my dad's birthplace and 66 km from Swan Hill.
Her mum 'Elsie', born Steiglitz 1908, between Geelong and Ballarat. I was told she Moved north because of the wet and cold in Geelong, where she worked, caused her distress and ill health.
Her husband Frank, born Bendigo, 1910. Tarn and I met there at College, 1980. And we moved back there years later for a little while. Son#2 was born there too

My father-in-law, born 1933, Balranald, NSW, also lived in Marrumbeena, Melbourne, at his dad's mothers house,  as a child before WW2. I think.
His parents, Victorian born or NSW. No data. Better fix that! His dad was a POW, died on one of the ill fated railways.
And my gel#1 is named after her grandfathers greatgrandmother! But where gel#2's name comes from?

The weird cross over points are entwined in both of our family roots. Tarnia's and mine. 

 Steiglitz, Swan Hill, Bendigo and Murrumbeena  

last minute thought

If the newly gifted vines do not bud
What if?

If there was one thing one did not think of, it would have been a non budding situation with the new vines.

The recently purchased self watering pots may have to go into storage for another year!
Bugger.
May have Marvined me self yet again.

Same goes with last years crop of cuttings. The propagation effort was about twenty percent or less successful, but after transplanting, can not see any bus erupting, unlike the mature potted Pinot.

Fingers crossed.

FLW, not TLAs

Weird Words
Four letter everyday words
I may have written up word play thingos before, like four letter words that end in ASH for example.
There are quite a few! And then there are there five letter words ending in ash. But never mind.

TLA- three letter acronyms amuse me no end too.
BHA- Bottom Hole Assembly [nothing to do with derrieres mind!]
RLD- Red Letter Day

But then there are the everyday four letter words to do with us.

Arse, coff, pooh, pi*s, d**k, an*s, **n*, fart, larf, tits, kiss, lick, cute, ugly, eyes, ears, feet, f**k, fool....

the washing day dragged out

Do you remember to take out the washing to the drying line?

And. When was the last time you were asked- 
"Dad? Where's my washed jeans?"

This weeks' washing was ready in the laundry basket. Nearly all of it was ready to GO!
As I lifted the lid to load up the 7kg capable washing machine, there was a flurry!

"Daddy! Wait, hang on, I forgot last night!"

The plan is to wake up as early as possible on a Saturday, head down to the combined space saving but ergonomically-not designed bathroom-laundry industrial complex, and do a weeks' washing. In one morning.

However. If one is awoken later in the day, and it's raining all weegen, one is are buggered.
It is all dragged out until the next day. Or the dryer rule is invoked, breaking the ubiquitous and /or customery "Quick, it's raining, gotta get the clothes back of the drying line again!"

OR

If one is awoken mid morning, reaches the aforementioned room, lifts the lid to load....

WTF?! Last weekends  load of washing!!!!!!!!!!
[a BLACK load, jeans etc- From The Goths of the clan]

Semi dry, and a bit whiffy. Has to be semi washed and fully rinsed all over again.
Reason left behind?
Wet weegen?
Not really, working on the painting job may have distracted one...
No real excuse, it was just forgotten I suppose.

MARVINED!!

And then one finds out that-

THERE IS NOT ENOUGH washing detergent for four loads of washing!!!

Doubly MARVINED.

AND THEN ONE FINDS OUT-

Not enough pegs to hang all this self inflicted work out to dry!

Can it get worse?
Yes.
Thanks heaps.
Well that's settled.
----------------------------------------------------

A late afternoon exchange prior to this:
"Where's my shorts for school?"
No respect, just a demand.
Put away? In the basket still? I don't know... I cannot sort all the worlds problems out!
But now we all know why there was no shorts or work duds- drying in the washing machine...
----------------------------------------------------
And
Why do the three of them wear SHORTS in WINTER?
The three of them!
Winter uniform for schools is long black pants- not jeans, not chinos, not dress slacks, not tracksuit pants, not swimming stuff, not thongsflipflops, just sensible warm clothes and shoes and socks etc!

Vines on the run penned up.

Chardonnay vines.
Temporary nursery 
This is a modified earlier post

Had to make some place to keep some reclaimed chardonnay vines from my friend back in June 2011. They are about four or five years old, and nearly fruiting. Two pallets cut in half and some long fruit tree cuttings- Voila! 

The photos show the temporary place until some more pots can be found. Seriously- ten to twenty dollars a pot, another 20 of them will set me over budget! 


While the vines from Harry were bare rooted in the recent frosts, I thought I better cover them with the left over soil from the shiraz potting, so I will need some more when I get more pots. 

There were fourteen. As of 12 August. These have been re-pruned to try the Cane and Spur method. Hopefully, the transplant and re-pruning will be a success.

The summer placement. This is not important, can put the pots anywhere! But at the moment, the thought is to set them along the front fence, where I cut down the awful hedge growth. I think having fourteen will make a nice hedge.

The rest of the Vineyard:

Got some more pots- self watering type, now have 12, need another 20 and more soil. Again...

Bud Burst- officially! The Pinot Noir were the first as of this week- in mid August! Even a lonesome leaf- had no heart to prune it! Left it as a cane...

The 14 transplanted Shiraz plants pruned again, no sign of bud burst yet. The rest of the Shiraz, planted and potted, also pruned again.Pruned the rest of the vines again, almost to a spur or two and a 'cane' if possible. The more reading I am doing educates me so much. Looks like an over-cropping was occurring, and with the plants bound in a pot, maybe it will be a good idea to reduce the foliage and canopy.

re-pruned re-cycled shiraz in the little pots

Finally got around to make cuttings and place them in some nursery pots. Bought two bags potting mix, and mixed in 2 shovels of ground calcium carbonate- limestone- and fertilizer into it. 

Coffee and Oats

New Recipe for Coffee and Oats

Drink and breakfast

Here is a new way to prepare brekky and a cuppa.
Or for the rest of the world- breakfast and a beverage.

I love coffee, and time poor means instant coffee, and really, only freeze dried instant coffee, and in my Particular Case- Moccona Classic or Indulgence.

Rolled oars to make hot porridge can be prepared differently, that is, cold turkey time...

Plain raw rolled oats, milk, sugar AND a LITTLE SPRINKLE of instant or ground coffee on top;
Alternatively, make the porridge properly... with a sprinkle of coffee on top;
Or put a few grains on your favourite cereal instead!
Like on 'Oat Flakes'. 

Cuppa coffee- add a few grains of rolled oars! LESS than a quarter teaspoon! Much Less!
Gives the coffee a really nice taste.

I have not tried it with tea yet- but I imagine it just would not work out as good.

Moonshine season

There was ten dozen or more
lying in the cellar...
now there's only four
with empties on the floor...

Twas was payment in kind towards the end of the working relationship when the vineyard and winery was closed down the other year. My boss and friend Bob was not hacking the losing proposition anymore, and bailed out for good financial reasons.

Bugger for me. But he was a good guy. Offered the barrel bottom 03' pinot noir, made by the previous owner of the 'facility'.

My opinion, was, well, okay. It could be going thru the stil, but so what?
It was dry, but you could ignore the taste and burn as it slid down the gullet.
Was a good pizza wine I suppose. With a ciggie.

Late last century, the first vintner there had one vintage of the Pinot Noir rated a 90[?] by a New Yorker.
Which year? 1980 something. Who. Parker? This may be edited later.

As summer is coming up, and the cuttings not yet done, the rum barrel needed filling.

And recycling time.

Out with the 15 liters of garage wine that did not work,
the two bottles of bloody awful sav blanc,
and a dozen of the 'orrible '03 pinot.

And all into the stilling unit.

Two liters rough stuff- water it down 100%, bit of Copper Sulpate and Sodium Chloride, a weeks rest, plan to then filter it a few times or six and Stil it agin! Probably coax a three liter 40% final product.

Can't wait, add the Aussie Rum flavouring and Wham Bam Man, it's a crowd pleaser!

Stenciling- as in drafting

Up to about 1991


When I was working in the oil-patch...

All useful data gathered by logging geologists when a petroleum exploration well was drilled were ultimately drawn up as squiggly lines on translucent (plastisised[?]) draughting paper, either A3 or A4 size according to columns. At well TD, or when the reaching Total Depth, the sheets were edited, and joined together for the client, there on to be used in a blueline copier to produce a Log of up to 5 to 20 meters, depending on the scale used. We never actually produced 1:1 scale apart from actual core logs... Imagine FAXING that bugger. And the cost if by Marisat back in the 80's!!

This was before desktop personal computers were the usual useless decoration in the logging shacks.

The Log.

I was a mudlogger, an engineering geologist, abnormal formation pressure detection detective. Also a plumber, carpenter, electrician, computer programmer, installation specialist, in the end a surveying specialist in logging or measuring while drilling and almost a directional driller too BUT...

The Log... Back then...
Drawn by hand, with stenciling pens, and using stencils, templates, drafting boards, set squares, rulers...

Geological descriptions were typed in the righthand column- cos faster than stenciling...

But drilling parameters, dates, events, formation tops were all stenciled in.

I am posting this, LATE, because yesterday was the eighth of August again...

Imagine.

I was offshore Bass Strait, on a platform, looking for oil or gas, maybe just oil.

Rig 19 was old, noisy and annoying. The logging shack was mounted on the drill floor BEHIND the draw-works. A long way away from the shakers too.

And the rotten bastard on the opposite shift left me to stencil in the date on the "log"

It was 1988, August. And the eighth day of August.

To stencil "8", there was two circles in the template to create "8". 


So one had to be Careful to make it straight. And it was the fine 0.25mm pen size as well.

But really. Marvined...

8/8/88

Twice?

Argh. Not happy Jan/Marv!

greeting card for the century

Cheap day.

Do you like this one?

Send off a blank greeting card joined on a string to a pencil, with eraser on its end. Recipient makes out what they want to read, from you, and everybody feels good. And wealthier.

Or this one? Probably a little less subtle. More personal?

Recipient's name printed/penned inside, signed by you, with empty boxes or lines to fill in events.

A few bland diagrams of for example- a tree, a bunny, candle on a cupcake.

Together or on post-it-notes to swap around, suitable for the event required. On the inside or the front.

With the attachment as above.

The other thing is to cut costs further by sending instructions by email, rather than using snail mail, to the intended recipient of the greeting card to make it as instructed above.

Either way its a win-win situation.

No massive profits to the bloody greeting card dupers or to the post, there is money in your pocket for the ISP bill and less useless processed native timber floating around, or on the road or in the sky.
Let's keep the processed timber for the bathroom?

So the point of the card is you have named the recipient, and it's signed with Yours Faithfully, Sincerely, best regards, thanks in advance, truly yours, BFF, etcetera etcetera. With a few little pictures on the front or inside, you have the year covered.
All your recipient has to do at the right time of the year is just rub out the last event/year and fill in the blank.

An ultimate recycling project.

They will always thank or think of you for being a planet saving thoughtful/less tight-ass whenever they dig it up.

Painting painting painting

Painting with Rollers

Some one on one not really.

How does instructing teeners interior decorating sound?
Terrible?
Yep.

Results- great!

The journey... Needed to bring the ladder back for a few accidents on the ceiling borders. A few THICK spots. practically nil drips on the carpet. Skill set- new! For kids, they did a great job. And the overalls!