ADDRESSING THE ISSUE

 Richard has been putting up images of guys in skirts on his last two posts:

Maybe this is a response to Robert's transgender and cross-dressing posts.

He should use this store video camera shot of him shopping at the Wainuiomata Countdown:

SATURDAY MORNING

 It's a lovely day today - cool at 15 degrees but bluE-skied with sun.

I went for a gentle stroll around the bay. This is the flat bit with no hill or bush tracks. I'll be doing some digging and paving stone laying today so thought I'd take it easy on the walk.

I stopped at the Settler's church at the end of our road and peeked in the window.

I couldn't see any sign of god but she might have been out fishing.

After all she's pulling a double shift tomorrow as you can see by the sign:

SOME PRETTY GOOD NEWS

 Thanks to the other blog writers in this community we (the Curmudgeons Inc.ⓒ) have created two new Curmudgeons.

The Lazy Curmudgeon: THE LAZY CURMUDGEON was sponsored by Richard of Richard's Bass Bag. Thanks to that guy - one of my favourites. The cheque is in the mail (or, was it I promise not to come in your mouth or I'll still love you in the morning?).

The Inconstant Curmudgeon: THE INCONSTANT CURMUDGEON was sponsored by Robert of ROB (don't ask) and we'll have to wait and see if thanks is necessary.

Stay tuned folks because, who knows, there could be some great posts to come under these banners.

SCAMMERS, LIARS AND OUTRIGHT BASTARDS!

 No, I'm not talking about the other blog members - I'll save that for another post.

I'm referring to the fact that yesterday two different people turned up at my house with cars and trailers to collect furniture that they had 'bought' on Facebook Marketplace. One woman had driven, towing a horse float, from miles away.

I told the first person that she must have been duped unless she had got the address wrong but when another turned up later it was obvious that this is a shyster who is fleecing them for money and providing a bogus address. The second one said that she thought it was a really good deal! I wish that I'd got more details from her but I had dinner cooking on the stove so didn't have time.

I posted the following on Facebook's Neighbourly after dinner:

WARNING SCAM ARTIST 'SELLING' COUCHES
Twice today I've had innocent and duped people turning up to my house to collect couches that they thought they had bought via Marketplace on Facebook. The B*st*** who 'sold' them the non-existent furniture, for some reason used my street address.
Beware!
I think the price asked (and got in one case) was $350 - "A bargain" one woman said. As the bank fraud people say - "If it sounds too good to be true - it isn't".
I've looked up Marketplace on Facebook to put an alert on but there are so many variants I don't know which one is the right one. Hopefully the duped people can do this and get the P***k stopped.

It's so annoying that prick bastards abuse useful sites like Neighbourly and Marketplace. I would never buy from these myself and certainly would never process a payment before seeing or picking up the goods. They don't have the guarantees that Trade Me have. 

ANAZAC DAY 2024

It's a national day of remembrance naturally, but with me it's always a personal day where I remember my dad and uncles, aunts, grand parents, great uncles and great aunts who served in the two world wars.

Dad served in Greece, Crete, North Africa and Italy from 1939 to 1945 in The Divisional Cavalry operating out of light tanks, bren-carriers and Staghounds.

I used to accompany Dad to Dawn Parades in Wellington - just me as my siblings were too lazy to get out of bed that early.

Keeping an eye out for snipers

This afternoon I'll go to the local club for the 2PM service. It's OK, not as evocative and haunting as the Dawn Parades I remember but there will be a piper and a bugler (not some guy playing a nose trumpet like you saw on Robert's blog).

I'll have a coffee laced with rum and maybe an ANZAC biscuit or two,

Yep, I'll remember them - or some of them.

NEW POST - THE HAPPY CURMUDGEON

 

GOING...GOING ...

NEW POST - THE DARKER CURMUDGEON

 The Darker Curmudgeon has a new post.

It has disturbing content so - proceed with care.

STRANGER THAN FICTION

FANCIES

 The previous post on blogging stats was very successful and I'm really pleased.

The success is not in the number of comments received though as so far there have only been four. No, I measure success in the joy I brought to one old blogger who was chuffed to be congratulated on his blogging frequency and to  have been awarded a bronze medal.

You're welcome old blogging guy, enjoy!

If you can bring a little bit of joy to an elderly person from time to time then there's a place in heaven for you if such a place existed.

I kind of borrowed and paraphrased that from Robert's 'ROB' blog:

I wonder if he'll put a good word in for me to the Vatican at the next round of saint selection? I'd fancy that.

*****************

Moving on but talking about fancy - here's a photo taken in Whangarei Heads yesterday (not by me) of a poseur (not me):

We have lots of interesting birdlife here and it's always a treat to see them.

Here's another poseur, this one from the 1970s:

I didn't dress like this myself, preferring the denim and cowboy shirt look but I do remember that Richard sported red velvet trousers and a vinyl jacket at uni. Maybe he still has duds like these that he wants to tell us about?

IT'S STATS TIME OF YEAR

The big news in the blog community is that Robert has changed the theme and layout of his blog!

Not only that but the observant reader will notice that the name he uses has been shortened by about fifteen descriptors to read just 'ROB'. This is a significant improvement.

In the new layout Rob, sorry, Robert has included an archive list. This is right up there with advancements like Princess phones in the 1960s, Ford having other car colour choices in the 1940s and The Gear Meat Company moving out of Petone in the 1980s. This archive list is very telling and shows that Robert has increased the frequency of posting exponentially over the last 23 months. Anyone brave enough to access his blog will also notice that his posts are longer and more detailed and are accompanied by pictures that sometimes have relevance to the content.

The archive shows a total of 488 posts since June 2022 an average of 21 posts a month!

As a comparison The Curmudgeon's blog archive shows 993 posts during the same period - an average of 43 posts per month.

Richard's Bass Bag archive is hard to read due to, I suspect, the deliberate use of unreadable colours in the numbers to obfuscate the results - kind of like how a Mafioso accountant might cook the books.

I think that the average is about 12 posts a month but we'll be generous and say it's 15 making the total over 23 months 345 posts. This is still a notable achievement for one of advanced years who still has difficulties in mastering the reading, writing and posting functions on his phone and computer so a round of applause for him is appropriate:

Well done that man!

NEW POST - THE MUSIC CURMUDGEON

 

DIAMOND IN THE SMOOTH

BLOG ROUNDUP

 It's a nice day today after a couple of days of rain so I'll head out soon for a walk.

Before that I thought I'd give you a quick overview of what's happening on the blogs.

Richard hasn't blogged for a couple of days which isn't a bad thing but it does decrease the community's output stats. He's away at a wedding in the Wairarapa which provides him with the opportunity to use his really worn-out joke about Gilson brandy that Robbie Gosney did to death at Murray Roberts back in the mid 1970s.

This one obviously not bottled in the 'Wairarapa'.

Richard no doubt would have got into a fight with the bridegroom who's a Neil Diamond fan.

Still, it will have made his violin performance and the wedding memorable.

Robert has  changed his blog format to 'ROB' and  seems to be a selection of his best blog posts that have received the most comments - sort of like a greatest hits album.

No doubt this album takes pride of place in his LP selection alongside The Ministers Quartet.

My previous post received no comments but then I wasn't expecting any, not with Richard being away and Robert being in a snit. This afternoon I might write something serious that's worthy of comment.

A SATURDAY UPDATE - FUNNY!

 I don't know what the weather is like where you (readers) are but up here it's raining. It's been raining all night. I know this because I was awake most of the night.

I went to bed about 11PM and might have dozed for a while but by 1AM (no, not a reference to Colin McCahon - you can find him on the Cultured Curmudgeon or the Religious Curmudgeon blog) I was fully awake. This wasn't a good thing as I had chills and slight fever alternating between being too hot or too cold and putting on or removing the duvet cover and extra blanket I put on the bed.

Yesterday I had a double vaccination - Flu and Covid and I must be suffering from some side effects. Doctor Google tells me that this is not unusual, particularly with the Flu shot and the symptoms I'm experiencing are within normal parameters. I'm dining with my GP sister tonight so will check it out with her.

I read and surfed the internet throughout the night which led me to Robert's blog. He posted, quite early sometime after 3AM, a christian nonsense post about all or nearly all of the disciples abandoning Jesus because of one of his latest teachings.
I'm not sure because Robert deleted the post a couple of hours later (I'll explain later) but I think his post was all about John's Gospel 6:60-69 which must be this weekends propaganda message.

Gospel, John 6:60-69

60 After hearing it, many of his followers said, 'This is intolerable language. How could anyone accept it?'

61 Jesus was aware that his followers were complaining about it and said, 'Does this disturb you?

62 What if you should see the Son of man ascend to where he was before?

63 'It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh has nothing to offer. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.

64 'But there are some of you who do not believe.' For Jesus knew from the outset who did not believe and who was to betray him.

65 He went on, 'This is why I told you that no one could come to me except by the gift of the Father.'

66 After this, many of his disciples went away and accompanied him no more.

67 Then Jesus said to the Twelve, 'What about you, do you want to go away too?'

68 Simon Peter answered, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the message of eternal life,

69 and we believe; we have come to know that you are the Holy One of God.'Gospel, John 6:60-69

I'm not sure what that was all about but it seems that old Jesus got ahead of himself in thinking that his convoluted logic and fairy tales would go well with his followers (disciples). That of course wouldn't happen until many centuries later when the Catholic Church became a bit more proficient in brainwashing and was more readily able to dupe the 'faithful'. At the time most, except for a hard core of nutters (apostles) most of the Jewish followers had a bit more common sense and used it along with their feet.

I posted a comment in reply, a little in keeping with what I said just then and, blow me down, Robert then deleted the post including my comment.

As I said, I wasn't sleeping so strolled through Richard's blog (it didn't get me to sleep strange enough) and checked my recent few posts where I knew that Robert had posted comments. He had removed them! 

Funny I thought. Robert said in an earlier comment:

 "I never delete comments but sometimes delete entire posts".

 

"Funny you should say that".

SEEING AS RICHARD USES OLD JOKES ...

 ...

I BEG TO DISAGREE

"The blogs have been a bit boring lately. Let's face it, cleaning a shed is just not that interesting."

Said Richard* on his latest post.

Well I disagree and found this for him on YouTube:

* The guy who thinks that a post title 'Boar Ring' followed by a picture of a ring in the image of a boar is a clever pun.

NEW POST - THE FOOD CURMUDGEON

 

CHILLI

TAKING A LEAF OUT OF ROBERT'S BOOK ....

 ... well, not lingering in teenage girl's bedrooms obviously (although I notice that he's taken down that particular post), but I have been doing a lot of cleaning and rubbish removal over the last couple of days.

I took another trailer load of rubbish to the tip yesterday which has been a (trailer) load off my mind. This has freed up a lot of space in the shed which will please The Old Girl who takes too much interest in MY shed. Maybe I've done the wrong thing and she'll now appropriate some of the space.

I also cleaned out the bathroom cupboards and the laundry ones which are now much tidier than before. I should have taken 'before' photos to show you...

.. although the third shelf down in the top photo is untouched. "Don't mess around with my stuff Matey!" she said when I was talking on FaceTime to her this morning and told her of my plans.

I'm happy with the result though. In the laundry cupboard I've got some tools and practical household essentials 'on hand' so as not to have to go down to the basement where the bulk of the tools are stored. I tend to get this into a mess though so this time made an effort and got rid of non-essentials.

The more observant reader will notice that no glove puppets were involved in the making of this post not like that deranged fellow down south.

I must admit however to owning one puppet - a 'puppet on a spring' (you can imagine the song referenced) but it keeps to itself in a corner of the snooker room.

A FOOL FOR CHRIST'S SAKE

 

I've always hated hand puppets. From the early days of TV we've been subjected to low-brow humour and unskilled manipulations of silly glove puppets like Sooty (and Sweep). Lamb Chop, Mr Punch, Basil Brush and a host of other childish anthropomorphisms.

There's something deeply disturbing about an adult with his or her hand up a stupid character that 'voices' his or her observations, peeves, objectionable opinions and wants and desires. I can do without that thank you.

Recently Richard (of RBB) has created an alter ego he refers to as a pet and is busy playing with himself - or Ruby the pet and has made some video recordings. These are right up there (or down there) with those I mentioned which probably suggests that they would be successful with people of diminished comedic critical abilities - aka the general public.  He's already got one follower who fits that criteria:

Do you want to see what the silly old bugger's up to?  See: RUBY

TALKING OF METAPHYSICS ...

 

Also, on a metaphysical level, the science museum and the philosophy museum are exactly the same anyway, when you think about it.

PARADISE LOST

 It's a gorgeous day here (see pics).

There's no time for lying around all morning in a motel bed or surmising futilely about metaphysical monkeys - no, I've been active.

I've just been for a long walk and I had planned on loading up the trailer to take the rubbish to the tip but it's too darn (sic) hot. I might do it later or tomorrow.

Yeah, you knew I'd do that.

Yesterday was a lovely morning as well in our little slice of paradise but ....

.... not for everyone.

I heard the fire station's alarm go off in the morning and the fire engine headed out followed by a couple of police cars, an ambulance and the rescue helicopter. It was obviously something big and I assumed another incident at Ocean Beach where surfers get into trouble.

It was at Urquarts Bay which is a few bays along from ours where my sister has a holiday house. Apparently someone was killed in the water after having been run over by a boat or cut by a boat's propeller.

You can go out and enjoy the day and your surroundings but just never know what's next.

THE FLIP SIDE

 You will recall a promise that I made recently. See: HERE about cleaning up all my LP records and post on the progress.

Well, I'm sorry to say that this is not going to happen now.

I cleared out the shed today and stacked a lot of rubbish to take to the tip during the coming week. I also moved all of the bags and suitcases that were taking up space in the shed, to the attic. This left a lot of spare room on the shelving in there so, after a sweep I moved all the records that were cluttering up the snooker room, onto the shelves.

Basically. after a bit of trial and error I decided that the outcome wasn't worth the effort or, as The Old Girl would put it - "you're just too lazy matey."

She's probably right although I did do the trial. I chose Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side of the Moon'. While it did clean up and play OK I wasn't entirely happy with it so played the same album in CD form which was much, much better making me think 'why am I bothering'.

I apologise for not now writing a daily post on this for a couple of years for you to read. I hope that you can find something else to do.