Here in the Redlands Shire of Queensland, we probably have the best living conditions in the world!
Take a look at the major issues of the shire! Wow! Drugs are the major threat – a modern day Nirvana affliction.
Traffic is a problem because we have too many cars! There is horror when the two coincide:
- Driving along a main road recently we nearly got taken out by a spaced out punk in a hot rod spinning out doing a wheelie at an intersection. He lost control doing a 360⁰ spin which missed our car on the other side of the road by inches!
And you think living in Syria is dangerous, or Paris, Brussels, London or New York..!
But our rural roots come through in the swing to the right that is evident in the attitudes below.
But look at the support for euthanasia and medical marijuana! And the sugar tax!
So we rich people want to get skinnier, die when we choose and do so happily!
We see China as a big threat but are happy to take their money for our exports, sell them our property and encourage their tourists.
What are the questions not asked?
Do you support increased Police powers including:
- invasion of privacy of communications
- shoot to kill if there is a threat to life
- preventative arrest and detention of terror suspects…?
We are not back to the death penalty yet, but it may come back to that…!
Another touchy political subject is student loan debts … perhaps no more loans unless a 75% pass rate is achieved? And don’t leave the country until you have paid what you owe?
Lucky I am not standing for election! In a social welfare funded state, clawing back what has been granted in the past is a political nightmare.
Therein lies the root of the failure of liberalism – if you swing too far and mak
e too many allowances, the return swing becomes very lumpy – ask the US Democrats!
Not only do we need to count our blessings, we also need to ensure we don’t give them away!!
Bauhinia, the purple herald is in flower.
had an accident here before
re…
The braaivleis, known as barbeque in many parts of the world, is a cultural practice which involves the cooking of piles of meat. The cooking often takes place after a few drinks and is not really that important; the meat just has to look cooked. It often does in the evening twilight, after a few beers…
for a treat. I combined it with some bread crumbs of the nutty, seedy bread she prefers. To make the mixture more special and because she doesn’t like raw onion, I used sliced pickled onion, which I thought was quite innovative. To add some colour, I added a couple of sliced pepperdews, small red capsicums in a sweet syrup. I mixed in an egg for binding, salt and pepper seasoning and some finely chopped parsley from the garden. Simple!
w vegetables and fruit in their garden and keep chickens.
e it’s perfect for harvest. Sadly, it’s too late – it is already over-ripe and will have a rotten, fermented fruit taste and smell and likely a number of lively fat grubs.
Would you like some tree tomatoes! Called tamarillos here, they are bountiful on my tree and I can’t eat them all. Flying foxes and possums find their smooth waxy skin too difficult, so I have to dispose of the whole crop. Lots of giveaways, to protect me from gout, caused by too much tomato. (Definitely not beer!). What will I do when the second tree comes into fruit? – I may have to go commercial!
My deafness began 35 odd years ago when I parted my hair with a rifle bullet. Not deliberately of course, but carelessly, following the dictates of my empty belly and breakfast waiting on the table.
In about 2002, my children and wife’s complaints sent me to an audiologist and a set of hearing aids, which I used desultorily. They rusted up and were useless by 2010.
sounds are piercingly sharp, while others remain indistinct. One of my children and two of my daughters’ partners mumble, another lisps, my wife and the other two children are soft spoken.
Two metres away from me a pink and grey galah has swooped onto the hanging basket which serves as a seed feed for our avian visitors. The first visitor of the day there is usually the beautiful 
Indian blue ring-necked parakeet, obviously an exotic escapee, who stridently whistles at us to replenish the dish with sunflower seeds.
coloured rainbow lorikeets who perch in the nearby cabbage tree like Christmas decorations shrieking and murmuring. They are tough characters: I saw one back down a magpie on our lawn, hop-charging it until it moved on. They have just chased off the galah which is a much bigger bird too!
Earlier I had swerved around a snake which fortunately also took rapid avoiding action – a yellow faced whip snake, I think.
. I didn’t take much notice. I rounded the bend, and saw a puff adder writhing about in the dust right in front of me.
