Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Dream of Harley

Wednesday, March 25, 2009 3
I am feeling a bit under the weather at the moment.
Seems I have received the bug that micky had and I am feeling pretty grotty!

This pic just about sums it up!!

So what is one s'posed to do while being laid up -


Dream of course.



See - this it the Dream Harley that one day I am going to own. I have already made a down payment in a special account. So far I own the front right indicator light! Or is it the left indicator??? Anyhow - - Wohoooooo
Such a beauty!! She's all gonna be mine - eventually.
Yahhhh
Might even let my bro-in-law drive this Harley - if he ever makes it to NZ.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Tuesday, March 24, 2009 0
LOL
wonder if my sister remember this one??

Peter Gurney or Peter Alexander or Peter Kraus ?

Every day - same routine Mamabear, who can be seen here ready for work, checking to make sure that her father (Peter) who lives next door to us, is ok, then off to earn mega bucks so we can eat bread and water.
Yes we are a modern family with the woman of the house, being the full-time breadwinner, while I have stayed at home from the day my eldest son has been born. Hmmm that was 19 years so back - wow times fun when you having flies! (Kermit)
Lately I have been working part time and enjoyed the ability to put some nice jam on the bread and water that mamabear brings home.

I have recently re-discovered a very dangerous place - amazon!!! Yes highly dangerous!! I found two Peter's lurking in there, who have always appealed to me.
Both Peter Alexander and Peter Kraus have enjoyed great music careers from the early 50's onwards and their Music is just divine. So thanks to the internet and urm - my jam - I have purchased a few of their records - which has condemned me to keep on working for a few years yet. - So much for early retirement!
You could say we are now living with three Peter's!!
Anyhow one has already arrived and I made both boys sit and listen to it.
hehehe - they called it torture, and I just replied that every time they miss doing their chores round the house, it will be a compulsory educational listening of 30 minutes of either Peter Alexander or Peter Kraus. So far (early days yet) they have not missed any jobs.

Incidentally we do have a picture of jonny in his lederhosen when he was a 2 year old kid! Another souvenir or gift from his relatives in Austria!
Ain't he looking cute????

He's seriously contemplating a trip over once he's completed his studies. Wonder where he will go to??
He's got distant cousins in Ol' Blighty and of course in Austria. One thing is for sure he will not like the music from my time and possibly not even from current time.

Kinda ironic - when u look at these two totally enjoying Connie Francis!!



Who is Connie I hear you ask - shame on you
Enjoy

Monday, March 16, 2009

Larry the sacrificial lamb part two

Monday, March 16, 2009 0
My family dropped my small lens - irreparable - so just as well that one of my scout leaders had his camera there. His son was on strictest instructions to keep shooting no matter what - and that only lasted so long - so after a while I grabbed his digi camera and continued to shoot the pictures.

To cut a long story short - the sacrificial lamb (Larry) who's real name was Burt (the pet lamb)
has been gutted and was almost ready to be toast. Before we could do that we had to get ready the fire pit! Obviously the scouts where not to sure of them selves and can here be seen working out the shortcoming's. Yep you where right need more timber right there!!!


When all was ready we lit the fire. Of course a open fire in the wild has to be watched, the perfect excuse by scouts, after a hard day working, to just sit round and take a breather. Funny how the age old tradition of men sitting round the fire and yakking away is still alive and kicking. Only thing missing was a cool blonde (Speights I think) or if you're after refined taste a glass of red medicinal grape juice!!
And while one crew was working hard sitting guard, the others ended up rubbing in fresh cut herbs from the garden. I bet you "Burt" never smelled so nice in his life - current or previous.

There was rosemary/sage/coriander/mint and others that escape me for now. Rumor has it that a certain Colonel Sanders was interested in obtaining our 11 secret herbs and spices for further study. Can't imagine that a lamb burger would sell well in America - but hey each to their own!


Yah - we are finally cooking. timber has burnt down to a white embers, and each scout had to do 10 min on the crank handle. Mind you at times it was more like see how fast we can spin this thing round. We had to remind the scouts that just cause he is doing 100 rpm's that does not mean he cooks faster.
We lit the fire at 7 pm - mainly because the bulk of research said it would take at minimum 4 hours to cook and while a midnight feast was not out of the question - I did not want to stretch it out any further past that time.

Of course the embers only last so long and for Larry - our sacrificial lamb to be perfectly cooked we had to constantly feed the fire. Believe me that is an art form in itself. We started by having a extra area either side of the beast where we could burn the timber down to to white ashes and then shuffle that round and keep feeding it that way. Eventually we needed to stoke the fire right under Larry and keep the fire going in that manner. Flame grilled meat has a new meaning now!!

Ok - the boys where really very good - I only heard it once - "is he cooked yet?" and that was after only 30 minutes of cooking. Most kids these days are fed on microwave meals where everything zips round in 20 seconds flat - and even then the thought of having to w a i t 20 seconds . . . . . Anyhow after about 2.7 hours the front of Larry was done and we used a battery and inverter to power our way through the meat. Oddly enough the prepared veggies who cooked just as nice in a dutch oven did not get eaten at all. The kids where to busy stuffing them selves with prime meat!! Yiiiiiah - Lamb never ever tasted so good! Yumm.

After we had the most srumptuous meal we sent the kids into their bivouac where they could do anything they wanted - sleep was only one option! Naturally they did not, and continued to tell tall stories all night long.

Next morning the 2 leaders staying out over night at camp got a hot cup of tea in bed!! Yumm - room service in a bivouac - we will have to go back there!!!! This was followed by eggs on toast!!

We will not do this activity again for another 2 or 3 years - but believe me - we have a waiting list of scouts. There is also no shortage of parents wanting to help out. Sorry Venturers - you will have to organise your own Larry - the sacrificial lamb event. I cannot be bribed (although a years supply of chocolate might do the trick! hehehe). IO now have the task of dealing to the pelt, and the head has been boiling away for the last 48 hours!! We mount both on a timber board and hang it in our Scout hall as a permanent reminder of this crazy group of people who have enjoyed the experience!

Next event to organise is our annual westcoast trip in June - a long weekend away and some 10 lucky scouts will experience part of NZ Reefton history/ goldpanning/and perhaps blacksmithing! We'll see . . .

Meanwhile - have fun

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Larry the sacrificial Lamb

Sunday, March 15, 2009 0
Seems some of our scouts are mad keen on the great outdoors and cooking, so every three years or so we invite some special senior scouts to come and cook a roast lamb. Previously this involved cooking a de-boned and heavily flavored leg of lamb in an earth oven (with as little as possible veggies), and then after wards bivving over for the night with no compulsion or expectation to get any sleep. The time of the -urm - meal was always late at night - and could be best described as a midnight snack/feast! This year we pushed the envelope one step further and started with a real life beast.

You think he knew what was coming??? The scout who donated the lamb said - "sorry we're late - we spent 15 min chasing him across the paddock."




The scouts kinda knew in what order to do the business. First of all use long forgotten techniques of figure 8 lashings and erect a tripod. Then dig a grave - oops offal pit large enough for the- u know - innards. Rumor has it they wanted me to test it for size and while laying in . . . . .
Cheeky scouts!


The lamb had been rendered unconscious with a quick bullet and had to be dragged across to the freshly dug earth. Naturally that meant that the young lads worked hard to drag 18 kilo of prime rawhide beef - oops I am getting carried away - back to the narrative - urm - to the dressing spot.
Here as you can see, the beast has made it to his special place. On all previous occasions we had invited our former Cub leader who is a butcher by trade to show the youth how to do the business. Sadly said butcher never made it to the dinner table - a oversight which we will have to rectify.

Well - this does not really need much description. Obviously our friendly butcher is coaxing Larry out of his dressing gown.














Lol - I could tell you it has been ages since he had a bath or even a dip in any sort of water - and as you can see these scouts agreed with this statement. Or was it the un-usually strong odor from other - urm - body parts???






It is good to see that getting your hands dirty on a scout activity is at times still a happening thing. However it has to be said even for a sheep - regular dental floss is a must, and Scouts if you don't - you will end up having just as dirty front clappers as Larry. Gosh where did I leave my toothpaste?

Next on the list of things to do, was to ensure that we had plenty of timber to keep feeding the fire. Thanks to Sir G.H. we had plenty of wood to choose from and it just needed adjusting in size. A task that this lad can seen to be doing with gusto and swing!!
Seem to remember the odd stoppage from a cellphone txt interrupting the natural swing.


The other job was to set up the bivvie's. Here you can see mine - purpose build 5 star luxury accommodation. *I Grins*
Of course myself and the other scout leader were accused of - urm - well cant print that - but we figured this comes under the "a scout is resourceful" part of the Scout law.
A bit draughty though and we sure woke to a very heavy dew. Most things were soaking!!


That left the preparation for the fire pit - and eventually the actual roasting. Under great direction we managed to get deep enough in the former riverbed of the Waimakiriri river and set up a contraption for the roast! -









More pictures later - meanwhile - back in the real world - I have to manage a emergency!! Have fun

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

a beary good shot

Tuesday, March 10, 2009 0
OK - as you can see this was taken a very long time ago, and yes I cut a rather dashing figure - back then. Sadly - or thankfully it only lasted the compulsory 9 months of service, after which we were free - kind of. It did teach us some beary good life skills, being a good shot among them.

Still as I said, it was a long time ago.

Great thing is - we took a scout troop on a rifle range today and of course the boys decided to be - urm - competitive.
So we put up their scores on the notice board as they came in.
I shot second to last and I am afraid to say - the old skills never really forgotten, came back to the fore and yes - I did have the best score. Scouts honour.
I shot a credible 98 out of a 100. I am still a great beary good shot and mean with a rifle. However the scouts did well, some getting in to the high 80's and one or two broke 90. The funniest thing was that two mum's shot against their boys and won!! The guys where so gutted not having beaten their own parents!!

Anyhow this old soldier is going to bed now - have fun!

Sunday, March 8, 2009

TeddyBears Skateboard for fishtank

Sunday, March 8, 2009 0
I bought last year a 180 liter fishtank and after our trip to Austria and the 7 day scout camp I attended, I managed to get it filled with plants and some fish. I got some albino sucker thingies and some Gouriami as well as some Neon Tetras and a couple of sharks who will eventually grow to 15 cm!! lol Good old Jaws!!
Anyhow it being 180 Liter tank I had the massive job of how to change water. I am supposed to replace a third every two weeks. As you can imagine thats lugging a lot of weight round - eg take out 60 liters and fill up with same amount. Thats 120 kg!! The older tank had 50 liters so that was not so bad has I had a 20 liter water container. After giving it some thought I decided to make myself a skateboard for the fishtank. I went and bought some Castor rollers and cut up a board. Some 16 screws later I had a perfect movable vehicle that could shift a plastic container full with 50 liters. One large hose and funnel later (that you hang on the shower head) I had it full again with nice clean water and hey presto - :D!!! Didn't take to long to change the water after all and it was easier on my crook back!

Sad thing is - my teddybears have now commandeered the Skateboard intended for the fishtank and are cruising round in the lounge!! Teenagers!!!! Ah well as long as they don't break it!! Hehehe you can see Tommy here getting into the spirit of things and getting dressed up for the occasion!!

Thursday, March 5, 2009

hehehe this is about me - the ageing bear

Thursday, March 5, 2009 1
All my German readers will understand . . . . . . . .

From the bear with love to his only sister

I found this on the net - just for you lil' sis
enjoy!!!!!

Miss you - come online

 
◄Design by Pocket