Vote!

We got our absentee ballots in the mail yesterday!!! Woo hoo!!! Now to fill them in and get them sent back to the US! Just a reminder to everyone to vote though I imagine most of you readers are already decided on who your choice is ---it is important to exercise that right to vote. In Australia it is MANDATORY to vote---not a choice. One place I read that if you don't vote you get fined $20. But the source goes on to say that "once you get ticked off the list you are free to vote, to not vote, to throw away, deface or eat your ballot." (Americans' Survival Guide to Australia, Rusty Geller, pg. 172) So I guess it is mandatory to show up at the poll!!! Anyway, to recognize the time of year it is in the US please notice the new poll on the blog to the right and make your tick!!!

A little Australian humor for the day!

Signs and notices can simply indicate the bare facts about their purpose; or
sometimes the originator can enliven it with a bit of humour. Some examples:

Sign over a Gynaecologist's Office: --- "Dr. Jones, at your cervix."

In a Chiropodists' clinic --- "Time wounds all heels."

On a Septic Tank lorry: ---- Yesterday's Meals on Wheels

On a Plumber's van: --- "We repair what your husband fixed."

On another Plumber's van: --- "Don't sleep with a drip. Call your plumber."

On an Electrician's van: --- "Let us remove your shorts."

On a Maternity Room door: --- "Push. Push. Push."

At an Optometrist's : --- "If you don't see what you're looking for you've
come to the right place."

On a Taxidermist's window: --- "We really know our stuff."

In a Vets waiting room: --- "Be back in 5 minutes. Sit! Stay!"

Radiator repair workshop: --- "Best place in town to take a leak."

The Color of Money

In light of all of the financial woes today I thought it only appropriate that I blog about Australian currency today! Today the exchange rate is a low low 74 cents which means if I transfer $100 Australian dollars to the US it will only be around $74. Not good for us when we have US bills and a mortgage to pay but hopefully it will come back up a bit.

The Australian money is colorful and it makes sense! The bills come in different sizes and colors as do the coins. The bills vary in size and increase slightly in size as the denomination increases. they come in denominations of $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100. They are made of polypropylene polymer plastic which translates to waterproof and un-tearable!!! Go through the washer??? No worries!

The coins are 5 cent, 20 cent, 20 cent, 50 cent, 1 dollar and 2 dollar. The dollar coins are gold in color and the others are silver. the 50 cent piece is interestingly enough 12 sided! They also go according to size with the smaller gold coin being the $2 coin and the larger one being the $1. The smallest of the silver coins is the 5 cent coin.

There are no pennies here so cash transactions that come to less than 5 cents are rounded up or down to the closest 5 cents. If you pay by credit card or check they use the exact cents.

There is a 10 % sales tax called GST for Goods and Services Tax that is included in everything that you buy. So if I bought a singlet (tshirt in the store) and it was $20 I would pay that---$20. No fooling around with trying to figure out the tax on it which is kind of nice in my book! There is no GST on food from grocery stores and on some medical expenses I believe.

So there is your money lesson for the day! The thing that took me the most time to get used to was that if I use money out of our bank account and use what I consider a debit card it is really a savings card and you have to hit savings on the screen. And you have a limit on how much you can spend in a day also which makes no sense to me since the money is there!!! I think you can raise the limit and I am sure that there are other ways to get to your money but I have not asked the right questions yet and so far we have been fine with what we needed to do but it is just a little different than what we are used to doing in the US where if you have the money in your checking account you can use your debit card until it is gone--no limits!

Ta ta for now!

Sunday Stammerings

It bothers me that the date is always messed up on my posts----it is set up on US time and to change the blog it messes everything up so I have just left it as it is but it bothers me.....silly, I know! But it is quite honestly Sunday afternoon here even though the heading probably will say Saturday night or Sunday morning in the wee hours.

We headed out to our little church today---our attendance increased to 19 this week and there were actually 4 men so if we could get everyone there on the same Sunday it would probably double the congregation. I took my shoebox--the deadline is this Saturday and they were happy to get it and take it to the collection point. It is just kind of neat to be able to continue something that I have done for years! Today was World Wide Communion Sunday I think but since there was no pastor there today (they rotate lay speakers on the Sundays the part time pastor is at the other charge) I noticed that communion at this church was next Sunday. Olive was the speaker today and she was very good. We sang only one song that we knew (Amazing Grace--but they left off the last and my favorite verse) but we muddled through. And we found out what benches NOT to sit on. Whew---most uncomfortable seats I have been in for awhile! Poor Chris was moving around and I knew that he had to be very uncomfy if I was!!! So next time we will go for the more comfy ones

I tried to wash off the veranda but it actually ended up to be work! There is a low spot so all the water pools there and you have to sweep it off, it keeps going to the low spot, etc. And the stuff I was using to clean it didn't seem to be all that great or maybe it was just me. And the hose kept coming apart at the sprayer so I got a couple of showers! I may get this figured out ! Funny how something that I thought would be so simple turned out a lot more work than anticipated! Isn't that the way it is?

Chris is doing his reports now and has a busy week ahead of him. Early meeting at one of the northern mills at 7:30 am and then a dinner meeting back in Townsville in the evening so he have a long day. We are getting our new outside furniture and dining room table and chairs on Tuesday along with the AC guy coming to put in 2 AC units in the bedroom so I need to get stuff done tomorrow so Tuesday I am not in the way! So much for our exciting news for today!

Our Beach Friends

Our beach buddies for our walk today---Sparky and Kelly.

Sunny Saturday!

Thought I would toss a picture up on here of one of the beautiful bushes/ plants in our back yard today. We really have quite a few beautiful lush plants and trees growing around in our yard and they are kind of taking over things right now since it is spring I guess they are getting all revved up! And our landlord has an irrigation system that he has going so that is part of it I am sure!

So we had an adventure already this morning! I had gotten a package that needed a signature when we were in the Burdekin and so I had to go pick it up at the post office. I called yesterday as the card they left said the hours were only during the week from 2-5 and that was not going to work to get in there. After a couple calls they finally put me through to this guy who said someone would be there in the morning so we headed out looking for it. We missed it the first time but I finally spotted the red Post sign and here it is a combination mini mart/post office/take away/gas station/bait and tackle store. No wonder I missed it. Of course there was no one in the post office part so I went in the store and asked the young guy about it and he said he would go find the guy. New guy came out, opened the door and found my package and I signed for it so all was good. Also found out that it is a pretty laid back post----he said to just ring them if we had another package there and we could pick it up early in the morning or late at night as long as we made arrangements ahead of time. I had him write his phone number down on the tide chart (so now I know when all the tides are too!) and we were on our way!

The other nice thing was that they had vendors in the parking lot with fruits and veg and I got a gob of stuff for only $15 and I am sure it is much better than what I get in the stores so I was happy to find that they do that on Saturday mornings. I would rather buy from the farmers anyway.

So instead of running around like ninnies today we are going to stay home, grill some chicken and enjoy the weather. The nice thing about going to the other house in the middle of the week is that I can do the grocery shopping then and not tie up the weekend other than maybe getting some of the cold stuff. And Chris likes not having to go grocery shopping!!! He didn't complain but I know that it is not his favorite thing to stand around while I decide what to get!!!

Hope all is well in the US. I did watch the v-p debates yesterday and really got more confused about things. Waiting for our absentee ballots to arrive from South Dakota so hopefully those will come in time. Sounds like the financial picture is trying to get sorted out but it won't for a long time I imagine. We just keep praying!

Back to the Beach

We are back at the beach after 2 days. I picked Chris up at the Pioneer mill and we came home but stopped in Townsville to try to find the last remaining pieces of furniture that we needed. The stores are open till 8 on Thursdays (woo hoo) so instead of wasting a Saturday driving in we thought we would try this approach and we were successful! We found a little round glass table and chairs for our eating area and an outside table and chair set that was marked down so we did well and the good thing----they will be delivered Tuesday!!! Yay!!! None of this long waiting!!! All we really have left to buy now is a mower and maybe eventually another bed but for now we will just keep the one the owner left for when Aaron and Thom come. For as much as we will use it we don't want to put the money out for one that will never get used.

Last night we went to one of the restaurants in Ayr for dinner and had a really good meal. I had pan fried barrimundi which was yummy and Chris had surf and turf which he said was yummy too. The thing we saw that I had to comment on was a gentleman who came in who was probably in his late 50's and nicely dressed except...........he had on a pair of capris!!! Now I don't know what you men out there might call pants like that but to me they were capris and did not look like something any man should wear. Am I missing an upcoming fashion trend or what??? Do enlighten me if you know about men wearing capris!!!!

The satellite tv saga continues-----they called me today and were sending out a technician today despite the fact that I told the guy yesterday that I would not be home today!!! I told him Fri, Mon or Tues would be fine---not Thursday!!! So of course she hemmed and hawed around and said that they would have to do another booking in order to get me bumped up on the schedule which makes no sense because I already had a booking and was here and they did not show!!! But regardless she insisted that this was what had to be done and that they would move me up on the list but the earliest she could book me was Nov. 18th.....now bear in mind that we scheduled this back on August 9th. So I do not think we are meant to have this. After talking to Chris tonight on the way home I am going to make another call back tomorrow and see if I can talk to a supervisor and see if I can get this resolved. If not we may be telling them to forget it. this is crazy!!! Why is this so hard??? I don't understand. We can't get cable out here or else we would have done that. And the 5 channels of TV are driving me nuts since that is basically our entertainment at the moment (other than the beach and outside!!). Oh well. It is teaching me something but I am not sure what! In the big scheme of things this is very minor but still irritating!

Chris is now watching Australian Supermodels so if that tells you anything about our selection.........