Hold the feet

So I am over American politics and shall write no more about the whole sordid business.  But I must say - giggle - that it is to going to be great fun to watch over the next few years. 

We have been watching ‘Crown’ about the Royal Family and it has made me realize that I know almost nothing about them. Whatever I know has been gleaned from newspapers over the last 60 years or so. And I never really paid much attention. They were just always there and made no difference to my life at all.

I do remember when I was small and lived in Deniliquin NSW in Australia that I caught a train to Shepparton Victoria to see the Queen. I stood in a large crowd of small people and waved a small flag as she went past in her big black car. And my goodness she is still there. If people ever think they have a bad job they should look at what the Queen has to do. And she never retires. Think about that. She pays into social security for her whole life and then dies. And collects nothing. 

There has been in Australian for some time a movement for us to divest ourselves of the monarchy and become a republic and elect a president. I suppose it will happen one day but I don't think it matters. I think we should just sit there and watch with horror what is happening in America. 

More importantly - my new leaf mulcher is a ball tearer. Last year I had a hand held leaf mulcher and used it for hours and hours and nearly crippled myself. So I bought one that just stands there and that you throw leaves into and it works a treat. I tried it out last week and have been overwhelmed with the ease of use. Of course it is  not very efficient and only mulches selected leaves - but small enough to enable us to throw them on there garden. 

Each year - on the day it decides is best - our gigantic mulberry tree decides to drop its leaves. So it starts mid morning and in four hours it divests itself of every leaf. So it started today and we said ‘today is leaf day ‘ but at noon it stopped completely. Not a leaf has fallen since. I just don't understand the world anymore. 

And I have a new poo bucket. Much improved on the old one which - post Indiana - was too small. And disappeared. Could someone have stolen a plastic bucket with holes in the bottom - which was used to collect dog poo? I am sure they would her been sorely disappointed. 

Indiana does poos in the most amazing places and I am not usually able to use the garden spade because to the intricacies of the location. I have commandeered a pair of kitchen tongs and use these to extricate her droppings mainly from ‘ground zero’. This is an area of the garden - thick with ground cover - which appears to have gained her favor - although she does spread this around a bit. I have to remove a great deal of foliage in poo collection but I am sure nature will cope. 

So on Wednesday we are going to Washington for Thanksgiving to be with Cate’s brother and his wife and their son who is married to a lovely Mongolian woman. So thanksgiving there is a blast with 5 Australians and about 10,000 Mongolians. She has many relatives. 

I am usually in charge of the oxen spit but may not be allowed to do it this year because last year I overcooked the oxen. This is not hard to do if you start cooking and drinking at 6.00 AM and get lackadaisical about the heat beads. 

I reckon this year it might be the coleslaw. It wont stop me from drinking.

We are going to Mongolia next year and apparently have at least 1 million relatives there by marriage. 

I have seen Indiana Jones movies and am not eating any yak’s eyeballs or cobra’s hearts. (That may have been Anthony Bourdain but nevertheless I want only good wholesome food like barbecued goat. Hold the feet.)