Sunday, January 28, 2018

Sunday, 28 Jan 2018

Monday, 22 Jan -  It is declutter day for Margaret at one of the sister's homes.  Mike ran some errands and then got back in time to help defrost a freezer and fix the outside water hose.  Mike took in one of the whipper snippers (weed eater or trimmer for the yanks) to the lawn repair shop to see if it was repairable. Then later that evening we played taxi and took one of the sisters to the little Coles supermarket to buy some groceries.

Tuesday, 23 Jan -We prepared to go out on errands, etc. this morning.  Before we left, we found that the power was out - the energy company was doing some work on the transformer that feeds our neighborhood.  We finished our breakfast, read our scriptures and then manually opened the garage door so we could get the car out.  Then off to our errands.  Sister Haley went to a doctor's appointment with one of the sisters.  Elder Haley ran some donations to the local Vinnies Op shop and picked up the whipper snipper that was declared non-salvageable by the repair shop.  Then home for lunch and then back to pick up Margaret from the doctor's office.  We then went to the branch meeting house for a meeting with the area CES person on seminary.  The branch's new seminary teacher was there and all 3 of us were instructed on the seminary program for 2018.   After a few hours of training, we all left and went home.  The Haleys went back to shuffling fabric to get the "right" sequence of the fabric for the table runner.  Mike is going blind looking at changes.  Margaret is baking Australian Kent pumpkin  (squash to the yanks) so that she can make a pumpkin pie to share with Steve Cole and his wife this coming Saturday.  Steve is a local minister at the Hub/Baptist Church here in Grafton.  Steve has been to the US&A and really likes pumpkin pie, so we are taking one to him as a friend offering.

Wednesday, 24 Jan - This morning Mike had is weekly Skype call with his mum.  Margaret played taxi about the same time.  Then if was prepare for the elder's dinner time as we had to go shopping for some of the food for the feed tonight.   DTM will be conducted by the Zone leaders, so we will have DTM at 6pm and then have dinner afterwards.

Thursday, 25 Jan - We played taxi driver today and visited with one of our neighbors.  The husband is going in for cancer surgery next week. It will be pretty major stuff so we want to keep in touch with his wife. Mike attended branch presidency meeting in the evening. Pretty much a ho hum day with things to do, but no real excitement (thank goodness as we do get plenty of drama some days). We did meet with the new seminary teacher and discussed the upcoming start of seminary.

Friday, 26 Jan - AUSSIE, AUSSIE, AUSSIE OI OI OI   Today is Australia Day.  No fireworks up here in the sticks, so we had a quiet day. Mike did go out with his new fruit picker and pole and pick some more mangoes off of the neighborhood trees that are along the side of the road and are on public land.  No picnics or bbq.  Just did things around the house and tried to lay low.  In the evening, we did have to escort one of the sisters home as the power had been out in her neighborhood and there was a suspected murder or altercation (it was hard for us to get the true story) near here home.  So she did not want to go back home without some back-up - which ended up as us.  We followed her home and checked out the property and house for any intruders - we found none, thankfully.  Margaret made a pumpkin pie that we are to share tomorrow.

Saturday, 27 Jan - We talked with one of our daughters and grandson on Viber.  It was nice to see them and talk with them.  We played taxi again today for one of the sisters. In the early evening we visited one of the baptist ministers, his wife and family and had pumpkin pie.  We had a good time and got to know them a bit and hopefully they got to know us too.  We think we have new friends in the Christian community and that is good.  I have some questions that I would like his opinion on, so we hope to meet again over the next few weeks.

Sunday, 28 Jan - A busy day at Church. Elder Haley conducted Sacrament meeting, taught the YM/YW Sunday school lesson and conducted the discussion in Priesthood during  the 3rd hour.  Sister Haley led the discussion in Relief Society (RS) during 3rd hour and made some visits and a meeting with the RS president after the 3 hour Church block of meetings.  Then we had the drama of the day and made a few stops at members houses to help with the dramas of the day.  Then home for dinner and relax a bit.




We think we have the combination of fabrics for the table runner

We came home to a new squatter on our front yard.

Preparing the pumpkin for the pumpkin pie

Makings for TWO pumpkin pies.  We only made one pie, so there is potential for another one in the future!!!!

Some observors during Mike's morning walk down to the Clarence River

A little bit of fog in the lower parts of the pastures

The fog coming up through one of the lower areas along the walk to the Clarence River

Boat wreck at the fishing boat ramp on the Clarence.  The boat gets covered during high tide

The Mighty Clarence River.  This is the end of the walk, so now we turn around and walk back home

Spider Webs along the road and in the sunrise

Getting checked out on the way home

Look at those ears.  And they say - look at that silly human

Yep, looks like we still like the fabric lay out.

Mangoes from the local mango tree.  The fruit picker and rod have paid for themselves as a good, big mango sells for $2 to $3.

There is a storm a brewin' above our home.

Sunset over the Clarence and storm clouds

Panorama of the storm clouds in the west and the sun setting.


Tuesday, January 23, 2018

Sunday, 21 January 2018

Monday, 15 Jan -  Margaret worked with the declutter sister today and I was over for awhile working on some blinds.  We then visited the new seminary teacher and made some arrangements to work with her before seminary starts. The rest of the day was spent in errands and visiting one of our neighbors.  Mike also spent time trying to get the phone number of one of the ministers in town as Mike had a question to ask him.

Tuesday, 16 Jan - Just lots of small things to do today - make arrangements to get some repair quotes for the elders' flat in Coffs Harbour (an hour away), arrange a seminary training meeting next Tuesday, find out more about the branch yard maintenance which seems to be all hosed up at the moment.  Then run some errands for some of the sisters.

Wednesday, 17 Jan - We took one of the sisters to Coffs Harbour this morning for a medical exam.  Then drove back to Grafton, so we could prepare for DTM and feed FOUR missionaries before we held DTM - The Coffs elders were in Grafton for the day on trade-offs. We are always amazed at the lessons that these young men prepare and present to us each week.   Our lesson was on love the people.  Elder Haley also called the secretary of the Grafton Ministers Association to get some clarification on one of the items in their charter, as we are trying to join the GMA.  The branch president wants to get the branch more involved in community things and build up friendships.

Thursday, 18 Jan - Mike made his weekly call to his mum today, rather than on Wednesday since we were in Coffs for the morning.  The police called and told Margaret that they found her purse and a few of the items in it.  NO phone.  They salvaged some of the items, but disposed of the rest as they were in way too bad a shape and the police did not want to subject Margaret to their condition.  Margaret went to the police station and picked up what was salvageable - her health insurance card and her driver's license.  Branch Presidency meeting was held at 630pm and Elder Haley attended that meeting as one of the counselors - It was good to have all 3 members of the Presidency back in town after the holidays.

Friday, 19 Jan - We took the car into to Toyota for its 30,000 km service.  While the car was being worked on we walked to the South Grafton Fabric store and chose the materials for a table runner for Sister Cox.  Sister Cox has made table runners for all the senior missionaries that have left the mission, but she does not have one for herself - so Sister Haley volunteered to make one for her.  It is the map of Australia on one side and a mix of aboriginal designs, animals & flowers of Australia.  A picture will be posted on the blog once it is finished.  We drove to Coffs Harbour in the afternoon.  Mike took his father's watch to a watchmaker for cleaning and repairs.  We also did a flat inspection of the Coffs elders' flat.  Then we had dinner at a chicken cafe before driving back home to Grafton.

Saturday, 20 Jan - We worked on lessons for Sunday in the morning.  In the afternoon we drove to Maclean and visited with Joan Hibberd. She is in a nursing home.  Mike was able to administer the Sacrament to her also.  On the way home we decided to take the Great Marlow Road out of South Gate just to see a different route.  It runs through the country and along the Clarence River.  Despite our meandering, we did get back in time to run some errands for one of the sisters in the branch.

Sunday, 21 Jan -  One of the District Presidency and his wife came to speak in Sacrament meeting today.  Elder Haley taught youth Sunday School and Sister Haley taught Young Women during the third hour.  We had young men & women from Tweed Heads visit us today, so our attendance was at 60.  We had the chapel completely filled and used an overflow space as well.  After the 3 hours we held a luncheon and invited the Tweed Heads members to join us - AND THEY DID.  At least there were not many leftovers to worry about.

Some of the calves in one of the many fields near our home in Junction Hill

How now Brown Cow.  Mom cow was a bit tired and did not think she had to get up just because some dumb human was taking her picture.

Margaret working on an apple/sultana puff pastry for the Wednesday night dinner with the elders.

The fabrics for the Sister Cox table runner. Now the challenge is figuring which fabric goes where in the runner - heaps of fun!!!!!!

The map of Australia that will be the other side of the table runner AND we (the term is used loosely by Mike) will use the Australia map fabric in a lap robe that Margaret is planning.

The 1971 or 1972 Omega Seamaster watch that was taken to Coffs Harbour for repair and refurbishment.

mangoes in a tree near our home.  It is on public property so Mike bought a fruit picker to get some.

Dairy cattle being mooooved to the dairy barn on Great Marlow Road

The back end of the line of dairy cattle

An Australian country house on Great Marlow Road

This is Great Marlow Road.  Not sure what is so great about it as it is just one lane wide.  The country and scenes were great.

Another typical Australian country house

Just in case you did not believe we were on the Great Marlow Road

And of course another picture of our favorite speckled Brahman calf.  Love the colour and the floppy ears.  There is a new all brown calf just to the right of our fav, so he now has some competition.





Sunday, January 14, 2018

Sunday, 14 January 2018

Monday, 8 Jan -  Margaret helped declutter the sister's house.  Mike ran a weedeater (called a Whipper Snipper here) for 2 hours cleaning up the edges of the sister's yard.  Then Mike went home and did the same for our own yard and cut/trimmed some of the bushes.  We then went visiting 2 of the sisters and Mike was able to spend some time with one of the husbands - listening to his discourse on politics.  Then home for dinner and finish up the blog for last week. The blog takes about 2-3 hours to write and post - much of that due to the slow internet speed we have here.  Time to go to bed as Mike wants to start walking again in the morning after a 3 week vacation.

Tuesday, 9 Jan - We had a house inspection today by our realtor. We also went out into the country to visit one of the sister members.  She does a lot of fishing and camping, so we were able to get some ideas from her on where to go to see platypus.  Back into town to visit another sister who has recently gotten out of the hospital.

Wednesday, 10 Jan - Mike had his usual Skype call to his mum.  Then off to the Branch meetinghouse to put up the last of the curtains in the activity room - glad that is done. Organised the "shed" where tools and equipment are kept.  We visited another family in the branch and then scooted home to fix dinner for the missionaries.  After dinner we held the weekly DTM (district training meeting).

Thursday, 11 Jan -  It is overcast and cloudy today.  Mike did get in his walk to the river and back - it is about time he stops sleeping in.  We went out to Halfway Creek to visit one of the members living out there - a 45 minute drive. We had a good time with him and his two dogs.  The dogs (Honey & Midnight) like to play catch so we are always throwing their ball out into the yard for them to catch and bring back. We talked a lot about family history today.  The road department is redoing the side road to the house, so we had a bit of an adventure getting to the member.  On the way there, they had to move a track based shovel or excavator (our grandson Toby would call it a digger) out of the way and find a place for us to get from the highway across the work area to the side road.  After meeting with our member, we drove back on the frontage road to the highway, only to find that more of the frontage road had been dug out and there was NO way to get from here to there in our car.  Not to worry, the blokes working on the road were super friendly.  The digger operator had a pile of crushed up bitumen (asphalt for the Yanks) and he piled it up and smoothed it out, and then ran his digger up and down on it to compact it.  Then he gave us the thumbs up and off we went with a hearty "THANK YOU" to the road crew.  These guys were really super nice.  We are now home and have fed our bellies.

Friday, 12 Jan - Margaret went Visiting Teaching this morning with the RS (Relief Society) President while Mike went to the Branch meeting house and helped clean it up. The Oldfields from the farm came in for the afternoon and we spent some time with them.  Mike had a Branch Presidency meeting later that evening.

Saturday, 13 Jan -   President Monson's funeral was held this morning (Friday afternoon USA time) and we watched it on LDS.org.  Mowed the grass.  Ran errands and a nap. We had one of the Branch couples over for dinner.  We had a good time and stayed up way too late.

Sunday, 14 Jan - We have started the "Teaching in the Saviour's Way" or "Come Follow Me" teaching in the 3rd hour. It will take some time to get used to all that is desired, but the branch Priesthood and Relief Society are making good progress in adapting to the new council approach to teaching.  We had the Elders over for dinner in the evening.



The "eye" on Monday.  back to almost normal.  Mike's cheek and eye have been healing faster than expected.

Fabric with the map of Australia.  Margaret will use this to make a quilted table runner for one of the senior missionary sisters who will be leaving in a few months.  So Margaret needs to spend less time with Mike and more time on the sewing machine -bummer

From the highway through the torn up frontage road to the bitumin frontage road.

On the way home - oops, well not going anywhere yet. There is a dump truck in the way, plus a torn up road that the car could not traverse.

The digger to the rescue.  on its way to smooth out and tamp the dark pile of bitumen and dirt in the middle left section of the photo.

The digger operator was good.  He probably could pick up an egg with the shovel.  Here he is spreading and smoothing out the bitumen.

More smoothing and some compacting

Smash that stuff down and make it hard packed for the Yanks.

Just a few finishing touches to make the ramp nice and smooth for the car.  These guys were super nice and friendly.

New fabric with the map of Australia

Some aboriginal prints

More aboriginal prints

and one more

Sister Haley the master table runner/quilt maker at work using the Australia map fabric and figuring out which other fabrics to use.

Love the floppy ears of the brown calf - part Brahma

Here are the floppy ears again.

Sunset in Grafton with Margaret's silhouette 

one of our neighbors laying down on the job.

Monday, January 8, 2018

Sunday, 7 January 2018

Monday, 1 Jan - We spent the morning recovering from staying up so late.  Mike mowed the grass before the neighbors brought in a hay baler.  Mike went over to one of the neighbors and asked them to help him grind off some pins on a shovel head since Mike broke the handle and had to replace it.  It is a bummer to not have our tools here, but it gives us a chance to mingle with the neighbors.  They told us that they like having us here and appreciate our friendliness.  Staying inside for the rest of the day until it gets a bit cooler (from high 80s to mid 70s) and then off to the meeting house to demantle Zarahemla.  Well, we did get Zarahemla demantled and then Mike started working on taking down the entrance to Bethlehem.  He had a small board that he wanted to bust in half with the 2kg hammer, but the thought came to him that if he hit the board with the hammer that a piece of the board would fly up and hit him in the face.  So what did he do - he hit the board with the hammer AND SURE ENOUGH A PART OF THE BOARD FLEW UP AND HIT HIM ON THE RIGHT CHEEK JUST BELOW HIS EYE.  This dummy is lucky to have a right eye that is still functioning 100%.  Angels were looking out for him while he did a very dumb thing.  With blood dripping down his face he went to Margaret and asked if he was bleeding (duh).  Margaret took him home and they washed the wound and applied antibiotic and a band aid. There was a reasonably sized gash in the right cheek, but we did not go to the doctors.  See picture of the dummy below.  Next time he should listen to the Spirit when he speaks. HAPPY NEW YEAR.

Tuesday, 2 Jan -  More care on the cheek and Mike's eye is turning red and the surrounding area is black, blue & red.  Mike called a trades person in Coffs Harbour to request a quote on some repairs to the Coffs elder's flat.  There will be no response until next week when people start to come alive again.

Wednesday, 3 Jan - Received a call from our friends Bob & Susan Errington who are serving a mission in Brisbane, Queensland Australia - just up the road from us, by 4 hours. Visited some of the members in one of the nursing homes in South Grafton.  Bought a long pole for the fruit picker that Mike got on eBay - now he can pick mangoes from the public land trees.  District Training tonight with the elders.  This will most likely be the last DTM with Elder Mitchell.  He has been a good District Leader.  We heard that President Monson died on 2 Jan 2018 USA time.  He was a good man, but I am sure he is happier now than he was a few days ago.

Thursday, 4 Jan - Ran errands.  Played taxi for one of the sisters. Worked around the house.  Margaret met with the RS president and they planned out the year 2018 for RS.  Mike added the list to the branch activity list and we should now be ready to publish to the members.  Mike had to take inventory of the vacuums at the branch meeting house and report back to the area facilities office.  We will have to return one of the vacuums as we have more than we are allotted.

Friday, 5 Jan - HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MARGARET.  Thanks for putting up with me all these years.  I am so glad that you married me and thought that I would make a good husband for you.  I love you very much.  Thanks for going on a mission with me, or letting me go on a mission with you. Cleaned the chapel in the morning and took the rest of the day off to celebrate our anniversary. We drove out into the Jackadgery area west of Grafton.  It is about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.  We turned off the Gwydir Highway onto the Cagain track that runs along the Mann river.  We crossed the Mann river a few times during the drive.  It was pretty country and a fun drive - rock road all the way. When we got back to the Gwydir Highway we realized that we were kind of near (30 minutes) the farm that President Dave Norman works at, so we turned around and drove back 30 minutes on the Coombadjha road.  We found the farm and spent a few hours there talking with the Oldfields (inlaws of the manager of the farm and 1st counselor in the Branch Presidency - Clive Best).  We had dinner with the Oldfields and then headed back home so we could be on the paved highway before dark.

Saturday, 6 Jan - We visited with some of the members today.  Did some errands and did some work around the house.

Sunday, 7 Jan - Attended Church.  It was Fast Sunday and the testimonies were good.  We are now back to making tithing deposits on Sunday.  Since we are the only organisation that uses the night deposit box we now have to call the bank each Monday (I forgot to do this, so will call on Tuesday) and let them know to check the night deposit box.  We did try to visit a few of the members later in the afternoon/evening. On our way home, we took the long way and checked out some of our favorite fields where the Roos eat dinner.



What a dope.  Listen to the Spirit and do what it tells you to do or not do.  Lesson learned the hard way.  Mike with his right cheek wound. Taken Monday, the day the accident happened - more like a self inflicted wound, truth be known.
On Friday, it is getting better

Monday, the swelling is down and much of the coloring is going away.




A mailbox on Back Lane near our home.  Aussies have/use the most intriguing things for mail boxes.  This one is an old dryer

The country out near Hanging Rock

Cattle run loose out here

The road and the country near Hanging Rock

Our first crossing of the Mann River

The water was running faster than we thought

Oh, to have a tube and ride in this.

Slow down for the pedestrians

Cute little bull calf

not so cute Brahma mixed cow

The road to somewhere and we are on it.

Here we are at Hanging Rock, but we never really saw a hanging rock

Beautiful, green county

Crossing more of the Mann River.  The water is kind of close to the top of the bridge

A close up of the water and bridge.  A good thing we did not have any rain to raise the level of the river

Margaret and the Mann river

The other side of the island and more river

The Mann river

Just in case you did not know we were at the Mann River

the sign on the Coombadjha road showing the way to Hanging Rock.  If we had turned right instead of left we would have driven to the "farm".   But we turned left and drove to the Gwydir Highway.

Who owns this road, any way????

Ugly horns, but pretty hide

Driving the Coombadjha road

coming up to Gundah Creek, where ever that is

Back at the Gwydir highway.  This is where we found out that we were close to the "farm"

The sign pointing us back to where we had just come

one of many cattle grids on the road.

Yep, there were cattle ahead, just as the prior photo/sign said

The farm house

Haleys and Oldfields at the farm

Coombadjha Creek

The sign saying we are at Coombadjha creek

The farm from a distance

It must be dinner time.  Hey, stay in line and stop cutting in

For once the cattle knew who was boss and ran out of the way.

Jackadgery.  the area on the Gwydir highway that is near the turnoffs for Hanging Rock and Coombadjha Creek

Roos in a field near our home, as we drove home after visiting some members

More roos

And more

And a close up.