IS IT REALLY BROKEN?

This was what he fell off. Inside the house. This shot taken with Jim in October.

Might become an opening batsman with stance like this.

Now which is the broken arm????

Go Nan!

Logan Jack is the 2 year old. As you can see, he has a broken arm. Too much vacuuming I'd say. Diagnosed and cast put on FOUR DAYS AFTER THE EVENT! Although he fell off the bike, he was back riding it between falling off and having it put in a cast. Tough kid! Parents have been reported, it's OK. Apparently the cast cost more than the bike!!

4 month old is Owen.... real happy kid. Nan just loves those 2 kids.

There is no truth to the rumour that Logan has done more vacuuming than his mother. Just a rumour.

Fay and I off down south coast to sample sand, sun and a sloth-like life next week. Hopefully I'll be able to shove a few photos on while we're away. Cudmirrah here we come.

WARRUMBUNGLES

Early glimpse of Warrumbungles...... crooked mountain?


That's the "breadknife" sticking straight up on the left. Can you see the small tree on the top? A bit to the left. Right at the top.


Can you see that tree again? Just above the horizon. We have reached the mighty "breadknife".

Fay and I had 4 sleeps at the Warrumbungle National Park some 165 km north of Dubbo last week. Thanks Jan and Jim for taking us on a tag-a-long trip. (We both took our avans.)

We did some awesome walks including a 6 hour hike on day 1. It was pretty solid with some quite steep bits chucked in. There were times when some members of our group (there were only the four of us) chose to slide up or down on either all fours or even bottoms! Tricky stuff. Fortunately between Fay and I we had ONE GOOD KNEE. Unfortunately for Fay I was unwilling to share it. Jan's problem was that the length of her legs made it difficult to get up and down some of the roughly made steps.

Goanna, lizard, butterflies, wild goats, emus, roos, wallabies and one koala. Think that was the extent of the wildlife we came across during our stay.

They are doing work up there on some of the trails - putting in extra state-of-the-art steps which ceratinly make life easier. Material had to be dropped in by chopper for the work.

While there we went to the Crooked Mountain Concert (outdoor gig) with James Reyne, Felicity Urquhart, Adam Rennie and a band from Dubbo - Altitude. Turns out a few of the band attended Orana Heights Public School during my stint there. The drummer was only fourteen! Others ages between 15 and 19 I believe. Good kids even if I couldn't understand any of the words to their songs! I still remember the Stevenson kids from OHPS days.

The highlight for us was certainly the Breadknife Grand High Tops Walk (the six hour dude). We camped at Camp Blackman which had power, toilets, showers and water.

Ever been to the Warrumbungles? It was our first outing there. Won't be our last either.

If you check out photos 2 and 3 you might just be able to see a tree (small tree) at the very top of the tallest mountain. See it? Same tree in both photos. Then in photo #4 I've got a shot of it close up. Shows:

• how far we walked
• how good the zoom lens is on the Panasonic camera

We walked up to and along beside the "breadknife". Awesome. Looked like you could push it over; but I didn't try.

SHOULD should be banned!

We might consider deleting the word should from our vocabulary… or at least limiting it. Notice I didn’t say “You should stop using the word SHOULD.”
Let’s look at how using the word should introduces a couple of serious problems.
When we use SHOULD we insinuate an obligation - you MUST do it. It sounds like they don’t have a choice. It feels controlling and dominating.
It introduces CONTROL - we dominate someone (or attempt to dominate them) when we say they SHOULD do this or that.
It can be seen as a “shaming tool” or a command. See the drinking example later.
You should have thought about this beforehand. If you’re talking about the past, by saying “you should have…” it doesn’t give the other person many options.

Reading a book - skimming actually - called Complete Guide to Boundaries by Dr Henry Cloud & Dr John Townsend.

The authors have some suggestions:
Not so good: You should have called me and told me you were going to be late. Now you have ruined the whole night for me. Etc.
Better: It would have really helped me if you had called when…

Not so good: You should get up early, read the paper about new jobs and…
Better: Things would go better if you made some changes. You would have more success , I think, by getting an early start….
I believe it’s good to also express how you feel… I would really appreciate it if you had time to do the tallying before I arrived. I would feel a lot happier if the dining room table was kept clear when we’re having visitors (that’s what Fay says to me!)

Not so good: You shouldn’t be drinking so much. You should focus more on me and the family.
Better: I am concerned about your drinking. It is becoming a problem, and we miss you. When you drink the kids and I lose you, and we don’t want that.

Here’s a bit more I liked:
“Good relationships preserve someone’s dignity, choice, freedom and equality as a persobn. When someone is confronted well, in the context of a caring relationship , he feels as if he is being helped, not caught or controlled. Watch your use of SHOULD to make sure that it is being heard correctly, as helpful. If it is used or heard as punitive, condemning or controlling, you might (I’m not gonna say you should) want to find another word.”

Wow! I don’t normally carry on like that but I was reading the book… I mean skimming the book and thought… would like to share that with some folks. Hope somebody has been helped… just a smidgen!

By the way, the book has 264 pages and costs $9.95! A steal! Complete Guide to Boundaries by Dr Henry Cloud & Dr John Townsend. Did I say you should read it? No. Not exactly.
Gee that's cheap!