Too Much Garden! Too Little Computer Action!

Alrighty! So in my last post I wrote about hacking away in the garden! I do have a tendency to get a little over enthusiastic about things and tend to go at a bull at a gate - which actually means I slam into a brick wall lol.

I had one of these brick wall days just last week :) We organised for a green waste council collection and I was going to chop a whole lot of stuff out of the garden. I went to the hardware and bought a new chainsaw to get through the lower thicker bits that the long chopper thingie can't get through and I was ready for action!!!

The end result? Well the chainsaw is still in it's box lol We filled our regular green waste bin and piled a bunch of green waste on the kerb for collection and it doesn't look like I've made a dint! I honestly thought that we would get much more in the bin and on the kerb..... My estimates were waaaaay off! lol So I will hack away some more for our next green waste bin collection. I would take a photo of my handy work..... But honestly, it really doesn't look any different from the photo in the previous post lol

In between hacking the garden away my laptop decided it wanted to play silly buggers. I can't blame it - as it's getting on a bit in terms of age and use and I've kind of been waiting for this day to come. Anyway, before my Aunt passed away she told me she wanted me to have her laptop. I told her I didn't need another computer, but she insisted that I take it. I hadn't switched her computer on before, as her belongings are still packed away. So I went and dug out her computer with the intention of just transferring all my stuff over to hers. Now my Aunt only used her first computer when she retired and didn't have a lot of experience. Yeah....... It took me about two days to clear all the 'junk' downloads off the system lol Even after I did that I realised that her laptop was about the same age as mine but it was actually slower than my clapped out machine.

So after some internet shopping and comparing prices - off to the shops I went. I bought a new laptop. Yeah that sounds like fun! I guess it is if you're starting from scratch lol But I have been transferring programs, photos and files for days now and the fun-ness has worn off lol

Anyway, I'm off! I have more stuff to move from one computer to another! Catch you next time!

Post Christmas

Happy New Year Everyone! I'd love to say this is my first post for the year, however it isn't lol. I actually started writing this post a couple of days ago and just didn't get around to finishing it. So here is the last post of 2014!

If you're reading this, you survived Christmas! Congratulations! lol Some of us probably ate and drank too much. I know I ate way too much lol So now what? NYE is just around the corner - I'm not making any resolutions.... I always break them or get bored with them. I do have plans - they're not resolutions as I have had certain plans for a while, I just need to keep aiming for them.

One plan which does need a GREAT deal of attention is sorting the yard out, both front and back. We have a very small backyard with a pool and the previous owners for some reason (duh!) planted a whole lot of trees, bushes and shrubs around the pool and yard that are not pool friendly. The pool is constantly full of leaves and sticks which makes maintaining it sooooo time consuming and time is something I am rather short on these days! Aren't we all! 

When we first moved into this house, I said to my wife that all of the current plants would have to come out for a couple of reasons:- 1) They were overgrown and out of control. 2) None are pool friendly. 3) They would need to be constantly cut back and there is limited space for ladders etc, and finally. 4) They just look bloody horrible!!!! There's no theme, they'd just whacked any old thing thoughtlessly in the ground in the hope that it would grow and GROW they did..... Out of control!  

So what am I going to do about it? Enter this whopper of a cutter that I received for Christmas! As the ground isn't level and the plants are growing behind a small retaining wall, I had no plans of using a ladder to cut back the tall and out of control plants (jungle), so this will do the job nicely in cutting them down to a manageable height. It is going to be a big job and it is going to take awhile, especially since it has gotten so out of control as I haven't had time since I bought the store.

As you can see, there isn't much space between the retaining wall and the pool fence, if I fell off the ladder (Which I am very good at lol) I'd probably impale myself on the pool fence.

I can't wait to see the end result. I have already planned to plant red and green clumping bamboo in the place of the horrid jungle that is currently in place. The bamboo will give us privacy from the neighbours directly at the rear of our property and we wont have leaves and sticks constantly in the pool. It's a shame the bamboo isn't sound-proof as that neighbour in particular drives us crazy with her constant yelling! 

Psychic Medium Reading

I guess we've all had one of 'those dodgy tarot/psychic readings' in our life, I know I've had my fair share! Anyway, my wife gave me a gift voucher for my birthday to see a psychic. The psychic has been trained by Lisa Williams - so I knew she was the real deal as Lisa doesn't just churn out 1000's of 'psychics'. I was very much looking forward to booking my appointment and seeing this psychic!

Lisa Williams

So before I start, I know there are a lot of skeptics out there... When my wife bought the voucher, the psychic knew the voucher was for my birthday, she didn't know the date of my birthday, she only knew my first name, she did not have my email address and my wife paid via paypal which is still in her maiden name. So if the psychic tried to look me up, she wouldn't have found a thing about me if she used my first name and my wife's maiden name.

Okay, so I arrive for my appointment. The Psychic lives on a rural block and she has a very long driveway - Yes, the driveway has something to do with my reading lol. The psychic came out and met me outside in her beautiful environment. We go inside and she asks if I would like a psychic reading or a mediumship reading? My voucher was for 1 hour so I asked if I could have half/half.

She started with the psychic reading. The other thing I should quickly add, is that I recently bought an older Ford F150 for carrying around stock for my business. My everyday car has advertising on the rear windscreen, so I deliberately drove the truck to the appointment as I had not as yet had any signage put on it. I didn't want.... "Ohhh you own your own business etc".

So the reading began - no cards, hand holding or asking me questions about what I did etc, she just closed her eyes and said that she was going to contact her guides. The first thing she said was that she could see that I had been cleaning up and throwing away a lot of items. (The 2 weeks before I saw her I did have a big clean up at home! We had booked 2 council rubbish collections.) 

She described that I was in a high up position in my field of work - that I was on the top rung of the ladder. She said that a lot of people were surprised when I entered this field as it's not something anyone saw me doing and that I had a clerical position. (I have never owned, run a business or worked in retail. Although my business is retail, I don't 'work' in the shop. I run the website and take care of stock etc.) She also went into detail about how much things had improved in all aspects since I started there.

She went on to say that prior to me working where I currently was, she could see that I had been working on some kind of enterprise at home to generate an income, but it stopped abruptly. (Before I bought the retail store, I was working on starting my own ceramics business from home. I stopped abruptly because my Aunt got ill.) She told me so many more things which I cannot remember right now. But she blew me away!

After the psychic reading, she said that she was glad that I wanted a mediumship reading.... She said because it was such a hot day, she went to her office to open the windows and when she walked out she saw a woman standing in her driveway looking towards the road. She couldn't get the woman's attention and the woman kept looking at her watch and then back down the driveway. The psychic said that she didn't know who the woman was waiting for or belonged to because she couldn't connect with her. She said that she could feel a very strong maternal connection, but that she wasn't anyone's mother - that she was probably an Aunt. (I started crying. I knew before she went any further, it was my Aunt as she was always early and obsessed with time!) 

The psychic described her appearance to me perfectly and asked if I knew who she was? I told her she was my Aunt. The psychic said that she was no longer here but she would try and make contact with her. After a few minutes she started telling me some of the most amazing things! One of them being that my Aunt puts her hands on my shoulders when I'm stressed (She used to do this to me when she was alive) and that she speaks to me, but believes that I have only heard her once! (In the post below I mentioned that I heard her one night say 'Hi Love'.) 

The psychic told me that my Aunt was very proud of the way in which I carried out her funeral - however one person in the will did not get what they were supposed to get. This made me feel ill! I told the psychic that everyone received what was in my Aunt's will. The psychic kept talking to my Aunt and my Aunt told her a bed didn't go where it was supposed to go.... I had forgotten all about the bed! A friend of my Aunts was supposed to have her bed (It was a wiz bang electric bed lol), but the woman's sons wouldn't come and collect it, so it went elsewhere. The psychic explained this to my Aunt and all was good lol 

The psychic told me that my Aunt was now riding her old bike that I had found in the roof and she described a jungle that she like to spend time in that had little pathways everywhere. (When I was a child I found a old bike in the roof of my Grandparents stable, I asked my Dad to get it down for me and my Aunt was there at the time.... She said 'That's my old bike!'. The jungle that the psychic described with the pathways is exactly what my Aunt had in her backyard. She had a section that had little paths running all over the place!)

The psychic then said my Aunt was saying that I had lost my spark since she left me and that I needed to get back to what I was doing and get that ute! The psychic did look a little confused at this point lol because why would I need a ute when I drove up in a truck?!?! lol (In the post below I said that I sometimes feel like she's left me - not dead, deceased or passed away - but left me, the exact words the psychic used. My Aunt knew I was starting my own business before she became ill, and she said to my wife and I that I should buy a ute to carry around stock in case I attend markets with my ceramic items). The psychic also said that my aunt will always be with me, she will never leave me and that when it's my time she will be there waiting for me.

Again, so many more things were said...... After the reading I explained that I had been cleaning up so that I could start my ceramics again and needed to make room in the garage - which was my work from home enterprise that she could see in the psychic reading. I told her this was what I was doing before my Aunt became ill and that's why I stopped abruptly. That I was going to sell some of my ceramic items in the store and some online, and that I had also just bought the truck for events/markets. 

The psychic talked to me about mediumship and that she felt that with some practice I would be able to speak with my Aunt without the use of a medium since I had already heard my Aunt once. She also told me that she could feel that I had seen/sensed spirits/ghosts before. She blew me away. She told me so many things that very few people know about and none of it was 'wishy washy one size fits all' stuff. 

After I came home and told my wife about it, I went online and started reading more about the psychic and discovered that she now teaches. I have since enrolled in one of her courses that starts next year! lol Like running a business and trying to get a 2nd one off the ground doesn't take up enough of my time lol!

Happy Birthday Pappy

Who is Pappy? Pappy was my Aunt, my Godmother and my Friend. She passed away at home while I held her hand couple of years ago. I know it sounds like a huge cliche - but I think of her everyday. I still grieve her passing and often wonder if there is something wrong with me as I seem stuck. 

In my life I have lost my Great Grandmother, both sets of Grandparents, another Aunt and my Father. I grieved and I was able to move forward. However with my Aunt, I am stuck in some kind of limbo land of grief - some days it can be unbearable.

Pappy and her little pooch Sally.

Pappy wasn't the name she was born with, it was a name I gave her when I was young and just learning to speak. I was unable to pronounce her name and at some point I began referring to her as 'Pappy' and it stuck. She was the kind of person that I could talk to about anything without fear of judgement and she also had a fantastic sense of humour.

On the odd occasion I swear I have felt her presence.... One night just after I got into bed I was thinking about something or another (not related to my Aunt) and as clear as day I heard 'Hi love'. It was her voice and she sounded as though she were standing right beside the bed. The other thing was that she used to always call me 'love'.

It was interesting, just the other day I read an article about Maggie Smith, it was an interview about Downton Abbey, Fame and Loss. She spoke about losing her husband and what she said hit the nail on the head:- 

“They say it goes away, but it doesn’t. It just gets different,” she said.
“It’s awful, but what do you do? After the busyness you are more alone, much more. A day that is absolutely crowded keeps your mind away from why you are alone, but when it stops there is deafening silence.” 

I know she was talking about her husband, but I can relate to what she said so well. It doesn't go away and yes once the busyness is over your mind falls back into its natural thought process. For me I can't visit, ring or email my Aunt - Call it selfish but sometimes I feel like she left me. I know I shouldn't think this, because it wasn't her choice, but I do feel like that sometimes. 

A fairy I gave her for her garden. It now sits in my dinning room.

She gave me some of her belongings before she passed and I still to this day cannot bring myself to go through her things. Maybe that's why I'm stuck? Maybe it isn't. But for now I know I still don't feel ready to go through the items she gave me.

EDIT:- It was Pappy's birthday yesterday when I wrote this post. I wasn't going to publish it as I wrote it more for my own benefit. Then last night I did some Goggling on the duration of the 'natural' grieving process and I found this article:-

One of the most common questions I’m asked, both as a therapist and as someone who writes about grief, is how long it lasts. How long will I grieve? Does it ever end?

My answer is always the same: It’s different for everyone. But I can tell you that grief almost always lasts longer than the people around you expect it to.

Sometimes people are surprised when I tell them that grief can last years. Others are relieved to hear this, because they already know it to be true.

So maybe I'm not stuck after all.

Doomsday Preppers - TV Show

One night when my wife was at work I was flicking through TV stations trying to find something half decent to watch, I found something called Doomsday Preppers. I had never heard of this show before, so I decided to watch it while I played mindless games on my tablet. (As I do lol)

Whoa! Okay, I have since watched a number of episodes of this show. I have to say I am completely intrigued by the way these people live their lives! The more I watch this show, the more I question if they're insane or if those who don't 'prep' are insane! lol 

The guy pictured above,  dug a secret bunker by hand in his garage. He never opened the garage door to dispose of the dirt - it was carried out of the house by hand.

This show got me thinking about the differences between Australia and America again. So on one hand the American preppers fall into a couple of categories:- Some live on farms and have barns and even bunkers underground as well as basements. Those who live in the suburbs have basements, some even have underground hideaways in the country. They have dug out bunkers or used shipping containers (pictured above) as fortresses! Many of them have massive amounts of ammo and guns etc.

One thing most of them said in relation to food storage was that they kept their food in the basement to avoid humidity....... Which leads me to the Australian side of this prepping idea. The majority of Australians don't live on farms and those who live in the suburbs don't have basements. Don't ask me why, but Australian houses do not have basements.... I should Google this and find out why lol 

So for example if I was a prepper, I would be in serious trouble regarding where I would store my food, as I live in an area where humidity can reach 100%! I live in a regular suburban house, on a small block of land with no basement. Sure we have spare bedrooms and I could load those up, however those rooms get the afternoon sun and turn into saunas by the end of the day..... So there goes all of my food and I would have wasted a lot of money stockpiling. 

The other difference is weaponry, a lot of the Americans had vast amounts of guns, ammo and other homemade devices to protect their supplies. They spend a lot of time mastering the art of arming themselves, firing practice etc. The gun regulations in Australia are very, very strict. There are so many laws surrounding the ownership and use of a gun/s in this country, it would be virtually impossible to own as many weapons as our American counterparts. So again, if I were a prepper, how would I protect my supplies? With a baseball bat?

So why do they prep? Some believe that the American economy is on the brink of collapse leaving the USD worthless and plunging society into a depression, some are in wait of a worldwide health pandemic and some believe that war will come. One woman has also had the same vivid reoccurring dream for over 20 years that something catastrophic will happen in her lifetime. Some do it purely based on the fact that the cost of living is getting so high, and if they buy extras with their regular grocery trips they can have a constant stockpile of supplies while they can afford it. Others believe that it will be a natural disaster such as a solar flare which will fry and wipe out the power grid - which will also prevent vehicles such as trucks delivering much needed supplies. 

Just out of interest, I Googled solar flares to discover that the last solar flare (The Carrington Event or Carrington Super Flare) was the 3rd September 1859 and the next predicted one is for somewhere between 2012 and 2022. The last flare occurred when the Telegraph system was in its infancy and it did completely wipe it out, so imagine the damage a solar flare could do in this high wired society that we now live in. No phones, no tv, no radio, no lights, no working vehicles.... Anything containing wires is now dead. 

The show stated that 45% of Americans are preppers in some form or another and 51% believed that something 'big' was going to happen. The show also stated that the CDC has advised people to have at least 3 days worth of food supplies in their homes at all times and never let the fuel in your car drop below halfway.

So I leave this question with you:- Are preppers insane? Or are those who don't prep insane? If you're an American reading this post, have you seen the show Doomsday Preppers and what's your take on it? Until then, I'm off to make a cup of tea and hope nothing happens in the meantime so I can finish it :) Catch you next time!