Sudokuaholics Anonymous 7

Suzy - doesn't sound too close to us. In built up areas there are, luckily, a lot of resouces for dealing with emergencies - where we live we have police station, fire station and ambulance depot within 2 minutes of us - the sirens used to drive us crazy at first, but now we hardly hear them.

Oh my, a TOPP! I think I'm going to cry ...
On that note, I'd better trot up the street and find more food for my "guests" Talk to you all later!

Our rural fire station is on our cross street - but about 4km from us. The trucks usually head into town or toward the highway so they don't come past here much at all!

Well I'm off for the evening. I think I will help Ally type her assignment as her one handed approach is taking her a very long time. Against family policy, but family policy didn't take broken arms into account!!

Have to post to get the comments back...surely I can't be the first to post!

I think you must mean the fire in Ivanhoe today Suzy. There is quite a green belt that goes through a lot of those suburbs following the Yarra River. Maybe it was in there.

Hi all you great, caring friends. Not had dinner yet so might be around later.

Help Save Wildlife Injured in the Victorian Bushfires...Yep..I'm still on about the wildlife..

The Australian Wildlife Health Centre (AWHC) at Healesville Sanctuary anticipates that the recent bushfires will have devastated local native wildlife populations.

The AWHC is dedicated to the care of injured and orphaned wildlife. Every year more than 2000 native animals in need of specialist veterinary care arrive on the Sanctuary's doorstep, brought in by members of public, wildlife and land managers, researchers and wildlife shelters.

In total, the Sanctuary's veterinary team performs close to 5,000 procedures annually, from simple check-ups to major surgery.

As a result of the recent bushfires we anticipate there will be a dramatic increase in native wildlife being brought in to the AWHC. Already we have seen a badly burnt echidna, and a number of animals with burnt feet - AWHC staff are confident that they will make a full recovery and be able to be re-released into the wild.

http://www.zoo.org.au/ZVF/Save_Injured_Wildlife

Suzy posted this link earlier today.
This quote is from that link...keep it up everybody...
"The sanctuary has had strong support from around the world, with people from countries including Germany, Japan, the US and the UK donating money via a link on the Zoos Victoria website."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/02/12/2489690.htm

Bean, how did your brother get on with his house? has he been back yet? I have just skimmed through some of the posts and thought I may have missed something you said.

June I was just about to ask the same question. Fingers crossed that his property survived

Hi Brenda, how are things over your way? My English friends were thrilled with all the snow. They have moved from Marlow to Henley.
Nice cook evening here. I am very tired so will be making for bed very soon.

Weather at the moment is cold but sunny. Had to scrape the frost off the car again. We still have patches of ice, can't call it snow any more as it is frozen solid, which are refusing to melt. It is nice to have snow, but people these days aren't used to it and we are just not geared up to deal with getting around in the snow so we lose work and schools close. A lot of the school closures are on Health and Safety grounds in case one of the kids fall and hurt themselves on the snow. The 'Blame' culture is ridiculous. To me an accident is just that and unless someone did something deliberately then I wouldn't think of trying to claim compensation which is what is happening more and more here.

sorry I got on my soap box there. It is my pet peeve that people try to claim compensation after something happens. It is costing the country a fortune and pushing up the cost of insurance.

I was pleased to see your comment June about being tired of trying to think of different things to cook.
I am at that state now too. I would love for someone to say to me " I fancy ****** tonight for dinner" if I ask what they would like I normally get the reply "Anything will be good" GRRRRRRRRRRR
it doesn't help me decide

Well I seem to be ranting on to myself so I will go and do some ffuts.

Brenda, I totally agree with you. Insurance and sueing people has certainly got out of hand.
Also people who lose things and are not insured complain the most and think they are entitled to more than the people who have PAID top dollars to be insured.
I do feel sorry for people in North Queensland who, because they live near a river, cannot get flood insurance.

Me three Brenda! We have become such a litigious society that no-one will take responsibility for themselves anymore. I was only just saying to a friend this week that when my daughter fell of the playground equipment in the town we used to live in, it never even crossed my mind to sue anybody. These days, the ground has to be cotton wool soft just in case. The friend we were talking with said when he worked on a local council, they seriously discussed closing down all playgrounds, because the public liability insurance was crippling council. In our day, there was none of this soft stuff, our playgrounds were usually on concrete or bitumen. You took your knocks and scrapes!

Would you like me to start posting my fortnightly menus again?

I was very proud today to learn that many local people who got flood relief money donated it to the bushfire relief fund.
I've been googling generators carbon monoxide, and the only warnings are not to use them in enclosed places or near open windows. I also read you can buy a battery powered alarm that detects cm.

I am proud of people all over the world. The generosity has been amazing.
Last figure I saw was $66 million had been raised so far.

Good morning all! I hope everyone is well and has stayed safe, along with all of your family and friends. Bean, I hope your brother's house made it. Does anyone know how Rosemary is?

Rosemary posted on my page a day or so ago. They are ok, the fires up that way have been contained, but they were in the next town and region, rather than in Wangaratta directly.

http://mapvisage.appspot.com/fires/FireMap.html

This is a link to a google map that shows where all the current fires are and their rating.
You can scroll on the map to enlarge it.

Again, cut/paste will work better for this as it does not seem to come up on a direct web search.

Gail - last I saw it was nearly $75 million! Fantastic.
Night all!

Thanks Gail!

Doh! Just refreshed the page before I posted! A true sign of tiredness, me thinks.

Goodnight fellow SA7ers.

Just a quick question, shall we change to SA8 at 400 pages again?

Sounds good Gail! Good night!

Good Mean Sudokuland. Sun is rising bright and warm this morning, a lovely day could be in the offering for us today. Current temp is 47 F (7C) with expected 67F (19C) by mid day. Lovely spring weather! and NO HIGH WINDS, whew, glad those are gone.

All 3 kitties have checked in this morning. Al's outside/dome kitty Phantom came begging breakfast from me, he is such a patient sweetie. Waitis somewhere under the house, when he hears me in the kitchen he appears at the back door and sits till I bring his breakfast. Our kitties are not spoiled, nope, not one bit.

Gail, I had lost my link to the map, closed down the computer without saving it. Thank you for putting it up again.

I just saw a headline but I went off in another direction. Headline was about how those burned out should resume paying the mortgage on homes that are no longer there. Here, mortgage lenders require insurance to protect the loan in case of loss. Is mortgage insurance not mandatory there? I must go back and find that story.

I think I shall start feeding the machine, a good day for hanging out laundry, then perhaps a few minutes in the sewing room. First a fast folding away of fabrics I pulled out, then make another gift bag like the one I am giving away. Al said he especially liked that one and looked disappointed it was leaving hehehe.

If anyone is having problems with the site, I can go ahead and create SA8 at any time. We did the record 400 pages already, I do not see any need to repeat if friends are having problems with this edition. My connection is working OK and usually does, so I cannot tell when we need to move because of troubles.

SA7 has lasted almost 3 months.

Not having any problems here either

all.

No problems any more. MizT. Haven't seen the White Page of Doom in a while.

I don't have any problems here either. Still trying to catch up on everything and really tired from my trip to Boston yesterday. I'm glad I got to see Bryana play in a game because at lunch she said she will probably do the play next year. Must get ready for PT.

Just had 2 more calves born!!!

Saratoga to Boston is a bit of a drive, Stella.

Heidi, how many calves do you expect this year? what is the total now? I like keeping up with them.

I suppose Heidi is waiting till we turn the page, so if I must, here goes.