What did he think would happen?

The Rolling Stones were here on 4 July at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I could have gone to see them but I would have had to pay $300 for standing room. I am absolutely not going to pay that sort of money to see people - who are older than I am - sing songs that I bought on CD 30 years ago.

They follow closely on the heels of other world class acts such as the Wiggles - although the Wiggles had a smaller venue. 

Everyone comes here sooner or later. AC/DC was here a few years ago. Taylor Swift (Shriek!) will be here soon. Of course we have country singers in droves. One of my favorite singers - Sara Evans - was at the National Rifle Association annual conference last year. 

We have lots of country radio stations here and that is basically all I listen to these days when I am in the car because we have no Indie radio stations and everyone plays mainstream dross. I am moving towards buying my Silverado with bull horns and a gun rack. 

At home I have satellite radio and can listen to anything I like. 

I was astonished at the number of reports of injuries caused by fireworks so my curious mind had a look at the statistics. Turns out that in 2013 there were 11,400 injuries and 8 deaths caused by fireworks. There were many house fires and related incidents. The 11,400 is of course the number of people who ended up in hospital emergency centers. Who knows how many damaged themselves not quite severely enough to seek medical help.

I guess in most of these incidents the idjit factor seemed to be involved.

I watched some videos of people playing with fireworks and it is really quite astonishing what they - mainly young men - will do - for reasons which remain unfathomable.

Many are obsessed with attaching things to their bottoms and testicles. These all seem to have much the same outcome and all would result in trips to hospital:

Doctor: Leaping Lizards how did this happen?

He with the scorched balls: Well I attached a rocket to my nuts and when it went off it incinerated them. 

Doctor: I see………..…and what did you think was going to happen?

But in the context of gun deaths here - fireworks are not worth worrying about - after all who needs ten fingers - or two testicles?

A new entry for the Darwin Awards

Georgia sleeps with her friend the wheelbarrow

Georgia graduated from dog school on Friday and she was given a special bandana to mark the occasion. We have a long way to go but she will sometimes obey commands – especially if there is a treat involved.

We have something called the Gentle Leader which is a sort of harness thing that goes over her neck and nose and this is to stop her from pulling us along the street. It works amazingly well and she is very happy to wear it because she knows that when it appears she is going for a walk.

Georgia and the cats survived 4 July very well and the many loud bangs did not bother them at all. In fact we started to think that Georgia was deaf – but she isn’t.

Only two people were killed by fireworks in Indianapolis – which is about the average number killed by gunfire each weekend. In recognition of 4 July there were no homicides over the weekend -leaving the police free to deal with fireworks problems.

In the idjit department a fool in Maine strapped a ‘mortar’ firework to his head and set it off – removing most of his head and becoming immediately eligible for a Darwin award.

In the Australian idjit award Barnaby Joyce – the Minister for Agriculture – says that if Australia adopts same sex marriage then the Asians will think that we are decadent.

This is the same Barnaby Joyce who is a creationist and has been called an idjit to his face by no less a person than Richard Dawkins. 

I wonder what the Asians think of a government that is so worried about the beatings, murders, suicides, self-mutilation and rapes of refugees it keeps in detention offshore that it has passed legislation - to jail for two years - any worker in those centers – including the doctors and nurses – who talks about the ghastly mayhem that takes in those places.

This is where we have come to in Australian in 2015.

It makes me ashamed.

I will have the hose ready

For the first two days I had to carry Georgia into dog school and she fought me all the way. She is on her fourth day now and I can lead her into the dog school - once I get her out of the car. But she is fine once she gets inside and there is much excitement and tail wagging when she sees the teachers and the other dogs.

She is exhausted when she gets home - from all the playing and instruction - and just crashes most of the time. Sissi has taken to coming downstairs and sitting and looking at her lying in her bed. 

This is progress.

She does not appear to be intellectually gifted but if she puts her mind to it she can sit, lie down and stay. At the moment we are training her to walk without pulling our arms out of their sockets.

In the meantime Antonio has been scraping for three days. Apparently (surprise!) when he got into the job he found a lot more problems and rot in some of the timber up high. He is certainly right as I have seen the stuff that he has been pulling out. This is 30 feet off the ground so there is no chance of seeing it from below.

Today he has moved on from scraping and has started painting which will take another day. Then he will move inside and there will be more scraping and banging. This is actually hard to hear as he listens to a Spanish speaking radio station and he has it very loud. I guess he has to if he is perched 30 feet in the sky. 

I have tested the weed muncher and it is a ball tearer. It goes like the clappers and feeds its own line. I am so pleased I may do the vacant lot across the road. 

It is 4 July on Saturday and I have out our flag out. We will be having a barbecue and dodging the missiles as they cascade down from the sky. I will have the hose ready in case the house catches on fire.