G"Day,
Here are a couple more of the photos I took around town. They were taken from Bennett's Lookout on Rocky Hill which is just above my house. I took photos from the same spot and have them in a previous post of a dust storm over the town on February 21st this year. If you go there you can compare how the scene has changed with a bit of rain and greenery about. It looks much nicer with a bit of green doesn't it.
In the second picture you can see how the trees that were affected by the big bush fire we had last new years day are recovering.
In the distance you can see a dark green tree in the middle of the picture, that is in my street, it is huge Morton bay fig. It is heritage listed and very old, I don't know when it was planted but I don't think they are supposed to grow in this area. They are very rare around here. I don't know of any others anyway. My house is towards the hill from the tree, you can see my roof in line with it along the road. The look out is probably 3 or 400 yards above my house. Junee lies in a hollow surrounded by hills.
The small gum trees you can see in the first picture were planted about 10 years ago by a group of work for the dole kids, they have not grown much because of the drought and the area has been burnt a few times. One time years ago my eldest son and a few of his mates from school were camping up on the hill and playing with deodorant cans, spraying and lighting the contents. The hill caught fire and the houses along the Gundagai road had to be evacuated. Michael was lucky he had already come home before the fire started. When we came home he was sitting on the roof watching the action. Not long after we got home panicked parents come to our house looking for their kids. One had run to our house and the rest had scattered. His mates as punishment, had to join the local fire brigade and go to fire training with them. When they got back to school every one used to sing to them, "The Hill, The Hill, The Hill is on fire" to the tune of a pop[ song that was around at the time "The roof is on fire". It wasn't funny at the time, but when you look back........

Pete & I went in to Wagga this afternoon. Pete had a few bills to pay for can assist and some other business. While he was there I went comparing treadmills. I have wanted one for a while now. I went to one shop and they weren't real interested in serving me. I then went across the road to another sports store and they had a sale and the salesman was friendly and helpful so I put a machine on Lay by. I reckon if I pay $200 off it each pay it won't be long before I am using it. I have used one at the local gym and liked it. I reckon I can do without the feet, ankle and knee twisting that seems to happen if I go walking much around town. I do enjoy walking around town but a treadmill is easier on the joins and I enjoyed challenging myself at the gym to different speeds and inclines that the machines can be set on. You also don't have to stand and exercise in front of other people and a mirror at home like you do at the gym and it will cost me less. The only thing I was concerned about was the amount of floor space a treadmill would take up, but the salesman showed me how easy it was to fold up and store. I can store it in my pottery shed and made a dust cover out of a tarpaulin for it.
While we were in Wagga we kept bumping into people we knew and getting caught up talking, We sat with some people we know at a deli and had lunch together, it was nice. We also got caught up in the sports store with someone else, its nice to talk to people but it slows you down. Pete started to get impatient.
Mum isn't well, she caught a cold. There was a little girl near us in a shop a few days ago who was coughing all over the place I guess that is where she got it from. Because of her age, when she gets a cold it hits her hard and what would take anyone else a couple of days to get over takes her 2 weeks or more.