Sudokuaholics Anonymous 7

And one over

I still see lights on so I do hope some of my friends are here. I would hate to be talking to myself.

Julie - sorry!
Rat-runners are people who, in order to drive from point A to point B will use a side road or suburban street to get there quicker and avoid traffic lights, traffic jams or just to save 100 metres in distance. They are a nuisance but I'd rather put up with them than being trapped!
Hoons are louts who like to drive their hotted-up cars at full speed and try out all their dangerous driving tricks on suburban streets. Both can be minimised with traffic calming.

June, can I come over??? Everything sounds wonderful.

Cyn, we have drivers like that over here also. My kids refer to hoons as idiots.

Suzy - thanks for the info about insurance. I wondered after Susan said they can't get flood insurance in her town.
Hi Tami - how's Dylan?

June.......

Tami - oh yes, they are idiots and are probably everywhere but we just all use different terms for them!

Sure Tami, the rhubarb is for us and one jar of jam but the rest I will take to our trading table at bowls tomorrow. We have a table once every two months. I will make a couple of cakes later today.

Hi All, flying through to let you all know I'm still here, sorry I haven't poseted for a while, been very busy. Hope this finds yoy all well.

Cyn, Dylan is feeling a lot better. His fever broke yesterday night. It went to 104 in the morning and then came down. He has been at 99 most of the day, which is minor. He is going to stay home tomorrow and rest. My mom is coming over to watch him. She wanted grandkids and said she would do anything she had to if I would provide them. I kept up my end of the bargain, now she has to keep up hers. Lucky for me she is retired and really doesn't mind. Dylan of course is thrilled to have grandma all to himself.

June, I hope you get something good at the trading table tomorrow.

Suzy, NSW baseball lost 5-4 on Saturday night and 3-2 in the last innings last night to Perth Heat. It was best out of three games (We did win on Friday night)
My sister entered one of the showgirl competitions one (about 45 years ago). It is definitely not a beauty contest.

What IS a showgirl competition?

Bummer June! Shame we lost. I really enjoyed watching the game we went to. Ebob is happy because she is going to play with the seniors over winter, and I said she could do the Illawarra Women's thing in third term too. It also looks like she might be able to get an exemption to play with the Juniors again next summer.

See my comment on page 358 Heidi....

I agree that it's not a beauty contest, though most of the entrants are attractive. I guess other girls don't think they could win. Ally's singing teacher won last year. I was up at the showground picking up the girls' entries last year (didn't get anything in this year because of the unexpected trip to hospital) and overheard 2 women discussing Ally's teacher's win - the fact she was indigenous. I waited to hear why they thought that was relevant.. nothing forthcoming, so I blurted out her qualification - community service etc etc... they looked embarassed.

Suzy, all parts of the world have people who are narrow-minded. I am glad you pointed out her qualifications. They deserved to be embarassed.

Speak of the devil! Em just called me (the singing teacher) about some Math help I am going to give her this year. I asked how she thought Ally had gone on Saturday and she said she was really pleased with her. Yay! The picture on my page of Ally singing on Saturday has Em in the back row - the one on the far left wearing a sash.

Suzy, that is a great picture of Ally. I give her a lot of credit for getting up there and singing with that cast on. Give her a big cyberhug from her aunt Tami.

Suzy - I agree with Tami - great picture of Ally and the lovely singing teacher!

Cyn, Suzy sent me a video clip of Ally singing and she has a very sweet voice. I am sure she is only going to get better as she grows up.

Good night everyone. I am going to get in bed and watch the Grammy's. Paul McCartney is going to perform and I love the Beatles.

Great picture Suzy. Ally sure is a special one.

Tami. Enjoy Sir Paul.

Thanks Suzy for passing on my text. We've hosed out, but can't do any more until we can get to a shop for disinfectant and other cleaning stuff. I want to thank my mother for buying my son a very realistic looking baby crocodile when she went to Cape York years ago, and my 15 yo son for puttting it in the water under our house. It was the first thing I spotted when I went downstairs this morning. I nearly added to the floodwater in a sudden rush! lol Many of you heard a real crocodile was spotted in our floodwaters in the next street earlier in the week. With that I'm off again. I have only about 70 pages to catch up on later! (Still smiling.....)

Susan, your son has an interesting sense of humour!! Good luck getting everything done.

Yum June...think I might have to come for a visit!!
Tricia...I noted the beer and thought what typical ozzie priorities...horse in one hand and beer in the other...I was surprised that he only grabbed one....

Susan - glad to hear that you're still smiling.

Just read Jaz's comment on easy - things still grim in Victoria with fires still burning and over 400 people listed as missing! Surely not - oh, I hope they are just having trouble contacting their families/friends.

Susan.... Tell your son that he has a fan. That's my kind of humor.

ha ha...LOL...LOVE it Susan...that is the sort of thing my son would do!!

37 years ago I went in our local Miss Show Girl...I was doing rather well until Al Grasby [one of the judges] asked me the population of our home town...I stammered and went completely blank...duh!!! I still have the hat...I laugh at the memories every time I look at it...Al grasped my hand and complemented 'my look' and said I would have won if it was based on the looks alone...Dare I enter the word 'smarmy' here...or maybe he meant it!! My dad certainly thought so but he was VERY biased!! I was a vision in gold and white...little Miss Sunshine!!! He he...what a hoot....wish I had a photo.

So nice to tune into the cheerful chatter here. Like Gail, I can't resist having the radio on for the latest news. There is a big plume of smoke over Wilson's Promontory and Tidal River is being evacuated. I've volunteered help counseling but at the moment there are other more urgent needs.

Most people have the ability to flee the fires. Most animals don't.

Dino, watching the updates on the news I would say counselling is an immediate and urgent need for many. I was a basket case yesterday and I wasn't there. It took a huge effort of will to take a step back and breathe again. If it's like that for a person just watching, I can't imagine how the people waiting in the evacuation areas for news of friends and family, or worse those who have already heard the worst news, are coping. I see film of them holding onto each other. I hope it is helping them.

dino, how nice to see you posting! Are you and Merlin going to be all right? Since you have volunteered counseling services, I'm assuming you are in a safe location. When the fires are controlled and people begin to try getting on with their lives, there may be an extreme need for counseling. Please stay safe.

Suzy, thanks for posting the great picture of Ally and her Showgirl teacher! I'm so proud of Ally getting up there and singing while wearing her cast! I'm assuming her confidence is building with all of the appearances.

I'm watching Julia Gillard [deputy PM] speaking on the ABC...very sobering stuff.

Me too Bean

It is amazing to see the opposition in accordance with the government and the motions passed. There are a lot of wet eyes there today. Why does it take something like this to unite our members of parliament to actually unite in their efforts for our country.

Heidi the fire fighters went through cutting the wires on the fences which gave some animals a chance but it hurts terribly to think of the suffering. Nothing can outrun fireballs traveling at 120 kph [74 mph]...