Hello everyone, here we are at another Thursday and this week we have the second part about shearing in the 1890’s.
It was a difficult job back then which could cause muscle soreness from bending and picking up the sheep.
A blade shearer might take up to four years to master the skill in the 1880’s something called the Wolseley machine started being used this machine made it easier for unskilled workers to take up shearing. They could learn adequate skills within weeks.
The work was undertaken in huge woolsheds which might be divided into as many as 90 boards which are sections where individual sheep were shorn.
During the “off” season shearers did other itinerant work such as fencing, clearing land, rabbiting, and mining. Occupations associated with shearing included that of shearer’s cook and that of tar-boy. A tar-boy was employed to cauterise any wound the sheep may receive.
The “white-collar” wool-classer would usually stay in the manager’s house and was paid anything from one pound to 25 shillings 100 fleeces for his skill.
Good morning all I thought I would share something about our Prime Ministers, first up what annoys me is that many can tell you who was America’s first president was but not who our first Prime minster was but moving on here is a little info about Aussie P M’s
Australia has had 31 Prime Ministers since 1901 with Edmund Barton being our first and Anthony Albanese our current Prime Minister, Julia Gillard was our only female Prime Minister.
Our federal elections are held every 3yrs, however, our Prime Minister can call an early election, there is no fixed term for Prime Ministers.
Our longest serving Prime Minister was Sir Robert Menzies who served for a total of 18yrs & 163 days. His first tenure was between 1939-1941 but his second tenure was from 1949-1966.
Our shortest serving Prime Minister was Frank Forde who only held office for 7 days in 1945. He became Prime Minister immediately after the death of John Curtin on 5 July 1945, his term ended when Ben Chifley was elected on the 12 July 1945. Frank Forde was our 15th Prime Minister.
There are three main or major political parties in Australia The Australian Labor Party, The Liberal Party and the Nationals, these are the parties that have held office at one time or another since 1910.
It is Tuesday all day long and half the night and Tuesday as we all know is creature day this week we have the North American Porcupine.
It has a coat of prickly quills over its body a nice pointy warning that it’s not going to be easy prey, the needle like spines lay flat until it feels threatened when they pop up on command.
It is considered the largest of its species at a length of 1 metre which is 3.3feet and has more than 30,000 barbed quills. All naturally have a sharp tip which is difficult to remove once in the skin of a predator or silly human. All quills lost are soon replaced with a new one.
They are great climbers and spend a lot of time in trees, they use their front teeth to devour wood, bark and stems and have even been known to chew on canoe paddles.
Well it is Monday and that means it is facts day with some how the hell do they know that facts from The Great Book of Knowledge that I am using for these posts. This is another book of Sam’s that they no longer want and was passed on to nana to use.
The very first plant-like organisms appeared in the Earth’s oceans around 3,500 million years ago. They used light from the Sun to make food from water and carbon dioxide, releasing oxygen into the air as a by-product. This process is called photosynthesis and was repeated over millions of years until there was enough oxygen in the atmosphere to support other forms of life.
Photosynthesis is it appears bloody important as the survival of pretty much everything depends on it, who knew, not me. This is because it plays an important role in maintaining oxygen levels but it keeps the plants we need for food healthy, didn’t know that either.
Now we all should know that all living things adapt to their environment including plants just look at those plants that survive in the desert like cacti they store large amounts of water in their broad stems and have widespread root systems that are able to collect water from a distance. Making them able to survive in those areas with very little rainfall.
At the other end of things we have plants like the arctic poppies which grow very well in cold climates, on mountains and in dry river beds. You can find them amongst stones which absorb heat from the Sun and provide shelter for their roots, I didn’t know that nor did I know that their flowers continually turn to face the Sun as it makes its way across the sky.
That will do for this week next week we will look at how there is water everywhere.
Slept well woke with the alarm in fact the alarm had been going for a bit before I realised what it was. Temp of 19 degrees this morning.
No issues doing the shopping which is good, I even manged to go back in and add Tim’s coffee.
Dawson came over to of a photo album that was mum & dads, he was here for about 45 minutes.
At midday it was 26 degrees at midday and by 2pm it was 28 degrees.
Tim took me down to the chemist.
Another good night, I am getting use to these good nights ope I haven’t jinxed myself by saying that.
At 5am it was 23 degrees according to my phone and at 5.30am it had dropped to 19 degrees. Is it any wonder that of a morning I can go from shorts to three quarter length pants then back to shorts when it warms up again.
I am feeling restless today and can’t be bothered trying to find something for lunch.
It 27 degrees and I am drenched in sweat. However, I didn’t ask for the air con just stuck it out.
Jess got called into work, stuff this 40hr week she often does more like 60hrs per week. At least she is earning good money.
Talk about jinxing oneself last night I tossed and turned for a good hour or more but when I did settle I slept well, waking only once to pee.
It was 19 degrees at 5am and 17 degrees at 5.30am, we are in for another bloody hot day.
When the shopping came I couldn’t help but notice that the paper bags it was packed in are half the size they use to be.
By 11am it was 27 degrees, when it hit 30 degrees I turned the air con on. Also after Tasha went off because it wasn’t on and I was drenched in sweat.
Had another pretty good night, banana and custard for breakie. It is 19 degrees here 5.30am down form the 21 degrees it was at 5am and by 8am it was back at 21 degrees.
The cleaners came, Tim had the security camera set up in his office and we caught one of the cleaners sitting in his office looking around then she moved the camera with the feather duster so we couldn’t see what she was doing. Tim sent an email to his case worker at Youi to complain and he is following it up, I do not want them back here.
KELLI’S BIRTHDAY SHE IS NOW 30
Another good night, only 17 degrees when I got up at 5am. I have spent 45 minutes getting the laptop to work it did an automatic update during the night and I had to shut down and reboot before anything would work, so frustrating. Another hot day with a temp of 33 degrees, yes I have the air con on and yes I am drenched in sweat.
Had a pretty good night took a little bit to fully settle last night but once I did I was right and slept through to 3.15 when I needed to pee, then back to bed and in a blink the alarm was going off.
Temp of only 17 degrees at 5am and not suppose to get much hotter by 5.45am it was 21 degrees. Didn’t get any hotter.
Tasha sent Blain down with a basket of her cleaning cloths to be dried in the dryer as it is raining.
Jess just rang to tell me she got called into work and will not be home till around 6.30pm.
It has been raining on and off all day.
When I got up this morning I opened the house up like I do every morning but by 5.45am I had to close the doors due to being cold. Temp was 19 degrees but felt colder.
Tasha asked me to wake her at 9am which I will do. I walked up to Tasha’s to wake her up due to it raining.
The internet stopped working at 6am I just have to wait for it to come good again.
Most of the day has been fine with a temp of 23 degrees.
Ok everyone I have spoken about the more major symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease but there is what can seem like a endless list of minor symptoms. Listed here are just a few and I will explain more over the next couple of weeks.
These include such things as tiredness which I suffer from with many days needing to close my eyes for a 20-30 minute nap, depression which I also suffer from and have done for years but there are times when things start to get to me and causes me to feel like crying. Another symptom is dribbling or drooling which I have a problem with some nights.
Thankfully I don’t have constipation or mental confusion, although my memory can be shit at times I write a lot of small notes for myself which may or may-not be connected to Parkinson’s.
It can be difficult to know whether something is or isn’t connected to the Parkinson’s.
Let’s look first tiredness, most people do not know what real tiredness is, it is however, common with Parkinson’s and it is difficult to understand and describe if you don’t have the disease.
Patients with Parkinson’s often feel that doing things take a great effort compared to a normal person many tasks exhaust the suffer and even having a rest doesn’t relieve the feeling of exhaustion, as you would expect it to.
The tiredness isn’t just a physical thing but also a mental thing we feel lethargic and have no real interest in doing stuff but doing simple exercises and if possible going for a walk will help in the long run. I don’t go for a walk but I do do some simple exercises during the day, to keep body flexible.
Damn it is Thursday already, this week we are looking at shearing in the 1890’s. Shearing underwent many tribulations and changes during this period, as well as the exhausting work and the strikes and in 1894 new machinery was introduced.
Shearers were an itinerant group of men depending on seasonal work, a popular song at the time sums up the life of a shearer.
The springtime it brings on the shearing
And it’s the you will see them in droves
To the west country stations all steering
A seeking a job of the coves
The shearing season varied between states, an expert shearer could earn money during most of shearing season by travelling and the different colonies, including Tassie and New Zealand. It was not unheard of for shearers to boast that they could shear all year round. This they could do as the shearing started in Queensland in January running to March, then in NSW, Victoria, South Australia between August to November. Also in Queensland the period from July to September was favoured because it was a time when the fleece was at its thickest and grass seeds didn’t affect the quality.
How much they made depended on how many sheep they sheared, the rate was so much per 100 sheep and included rations and the cook’s wages. In South Aus the effects of the strikes and the depression are reflected in the fluctuations of pay, In 18 90 it was on average eighteen shillings a sixpence by 1899 it had fallen to thirteen shillings.
Well hello Tuesday, how many have heard of the Solenodon I hadn’t till now. They are a venomous, nocturnal, burrowing insectivorous mammals belonging to the Solenodontidae family. That help any, nope didn’t help me know what they are either.
They have elongated snout which is flexible which means it can twist and turn its snout to probe tiny nooks and crannies for food. They are generally omnivores that prefer animal material and prey primarily on invertebrates but also scavenge on vertebrate remains. They will also eat insects, worms, small reptiles, roots,fruits and leaves.
Native to Cuba and Hispaniola the 30cm or around 12 inches they are one of the very few venomous mammals around. Similar to snakes it injects its poison through teeth that have special groves to carry the venom.
The female has two nipples for feeding her young at the rear of her stomach.
When threatened they grunt like a pig or make birds cries.
Jo-AnneRamplings 