Pig Power 2

This is Cocoa, Chocko’s campaign manager and political adviser (and sister). She is really the brains behind the party (Guinea Pig Party), she co-ordinates the party’s activities and writes policy even though she is on lower celery (she prefers carrots). It would not be surprising if eventually Cocoa gives Chocko a run for his money if she ever decides to seek office as an independent.

Chocko and Cocoa will be hitting the campaign trail with party helpers to rally support for the GPP. A number of squeaking events have been organised around the district and Chocko is looking forward to meeting the voting public.

Pig power

This is Chocko on his soap box. He is running for federal politics. His logo is Pig Power and his platform is more carrots, more celery, more dandelions, a bit less spinach and no baths. He knows it’s a grubby business but he likes to get his paws dirty and there will be no GP (guinea pig) tax.

Addit: Sadly Chocko is no more. We had a very bad storm that frightened him to death. Both the pigs were in the laundry but he was in the open cage and Cocoa was in the hutch. Cocoa was fine but it was too much for Chocko with all the noise and the lightening. I was in Sydney at the time and was very upset. My son put him in the fridge until I could bury him so he spent a few days wrapped up in the crisper with his favourite vegetables. He is buried out the front near the gardenias.

Networking and old times

Sea cave NSW from the inside looking out – taken on a field trip with the geology club.

I went to a geology discussion group last night with my geology friends and met up with my old boss who I hadn’t seen for a long time. He asked what I was doing and I said casual teaching so if you have any work to throw my way. I had a very good government compliance job in Mineral Resources, but I was bored stupid and not terribly well either when I left. He said when you left I wandered around in a daze for two hours wondering what I had done. I reassured him that it was not him – he was a good boss and had endeavoured to make the job more interesting although with a backlog and short staffing that was very difficult. I said I left for personal reasons with my dad dying and my senior and very good friend diagnosed with a brain tumour on his retirement. I thought there’s more to life and did some travelling and volunteer work plus study – all the things I had wanted to do for a long time. Currently the work at the department has cut back along with staff due to the recession and slump in the resources industry.

I look at last night as a positive as normally my old boss doesn’t go to the talks but it was something that he was interested in – the Marianas trench south of Japan and work being done on a drilling ship to determine the age of the plates and geological history of the area. I’m interested in palaeomagnetism being used as a dating tool – when the earth’s magnetic field flips between the north and south magnetic fields. This occurs randomly but is recorded in rocks at mid-ocean ridges (spreading ridges where basalts come up through the ocean floor from magma below).

There were many people there from my geology groups and also people that I used to work with plus a few new faces. They are always happy to see me and it’s good to hang around the old traps – you never know when things will change, sooner rather than later hopefully.

Diana

Where did they go?

I was out walking the poopers and discovered that a neighbour from across the road had moved. I sometimes would chat to her if she was out the front. We’d talk about the petunias along the front path or chat about the dogs. I should have realised something was going on. I had walked past and noticed one time that instead of soil along the front path there was wood chip. I hadn’t seen this before as normally there is soil or planted petunias. I always looked forward to the petunias going in, they were so bright and cheerful. The wood chip just made me feel sad. I don’t know what her name was although I gave her a bag of lemons once. I feel that she and those petunias did a lot for our street. There was her big chair on the front verandah and on the other side was her husband’s chair. I don’t ever remember seeing him sitting in his chair. There was also a buddha statue on one side and a gargoyle statue on the other. The gargoyle did give me the creeps. Now when we walk past all there is is a for lease sign for unit 1, wood chip and a mark on the concrete where the buddha sat and a mark where the gargoyle sat.

Had I have realised I would have said goodbye. Then I wondered where they went. Maybe to a retirement village. Maybe they moved closer to family. Oh well, maybe one of my other neighbours knows. It’s true – you don’t know what you’ve lost until its gone. I wish her well. I will miss her. I miss the petunias. I even miss the gargoyle.

Diana.

PS I spoke to other neighbours and they said that family came and packed the couple up in their cars along with all their belongings and they were gone. Where to we don’t know.

Mush puppies

This is a pic of my dogs Spot and Buddy – Jack Russell x Mini Foxie – they’re brothers and lovely little dogs. Bud is the brown and white one. My friend thought they might be on the Iditarod team – I said yes, in training for 2015. We love going for walkies every afternoon. It’s my daily exercise and they love any opportunity to bark at the chocolate labs on the corner.

Diana.

PPS The chocolate labs have moved. The dogs had all become friends 💕 and now we miss them.

PS I made some adjustments and didn’t realise how blurry the pic is but you can see the poopers. I was trying to hold them and the phone at the same time.