I stepped inside to check the radar and yep, the rain's coming...

Not much, but enough to make me think it must be time for a cuppa, ha ha.

A good half hour of my life passed while I unfolded the folding ladder...

There's nothing to it, really, if you have half a can of WD-40 and a large screwdriver to "ease" the lock sliding mechanisms...

They're prone to being a bit stiff, but once locked in the "open" position they're safer than houses used to be... ha ha..

I reckon these things were designed by an overprotective mother, ha ha.

The ladder's open, and the clouds are slowly rolling in so that's my day's work done... ha ha.

Well, not quite... I'm going to prop it up against the side of the house so the cockatoos have something to play on... I know, I'm too good to them... ha ha.

 

🙂

Some years ago Dad inherited half a dozen bullocks, of the bullock train variety...

There's not a great amount of demand in these parts for timber jinker hauling teams, so Dad set about getting them apprenticeships, the idea being that it would help them to find employment in the future...

A few years passed, as they do, and all of them completed their apprenticeships...

Let me see now... One found work as an electrician, three found work as carpenters, one is a plumber and the other is a tile setter...

Dad likes to refer to them as his stock in trade...

 

Ha ha...

 

🙂

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🙂

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🙂

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It rained a couple of days back, in the afternoon and one of the old man birds didn't come in, in the evening...

Fair enough, it hadn't been exactly ideal weather, ha ha.

He turned up the next day, which was yesterday, two hours early... making up for lost time, ha ha.

The other old man bird didn't turn up, yesterday, which I though was a bit strange because it'd been an otherwise quite reasonable day...

But not to worry, he knows what he's doing... ha ha.

He turned up about half past eight, this morning.... only about ten hours ahead of his usual schedule, ha ha.

He found a good branch and fell asleep... "I'm comfortable, here... I like it here... You're nice to me... Are you going to get me some food, now? No? Well, you're nice to me Most of the time... and the added bonus is that the way this branch sits, there's no way you can get a good, clear photo of me having a sleep... ha ha ha ha ha!", ha ha.

 

Being the 23rd, and a quiet day, I dropped by a local church and said Hello / Merry Christmas / Happy Birthday to the residents of the Nativity scene, there, ha ha...

I perched myself on the end of a pew and chatted to them, animatedly, for a while...

Unlike the Three Kings, I brought... quick search of pockets... A rechargeable battery that still might be good, some flaky tobacco and a crushed feather... ha ha.

How about I just drop some change in the poor box? That's probably the best idea... ha ha.

What matters, to me, is that I caught up with them, I got to see them.

They're a bit like family - I see them, briefly, once a year, but gee it's good.

 

Thank you, church up the road... What is, for you, probably just a small part of a larger celebration, is to me something very precious - my other family, who, like my family, love me, sometimes, I think, in spite of who I am.... ha ha.

 

 

Merry Christmas...

 

🙂

 

 

Do I need to ask, Stawks...?

 

Did you remember to get Christmas wafers...?

 

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It wouldn't be a proper Christmas without them, ha ha...

 

🙂

Yes Ecar, I have plenty of wafers, thank you.

 

But I am wondering how you knew about them.

 

Don't think I've ever mentioned them, have I?

 

Are you Polish?

 

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