I was going to create a YouTube video to thank my subscribers for their wonderful and generous support over 2021 but I thought that this year I would write a short article on Christmas Eve instead. I’ll be 53 early next year and I often (during a quiet pondering moment) think about how I’m now
Nina (my wife) and I were lying in bed the other night and she said, “I wish we could go back to the 80’s life was so much easier and innocent then.” And I nodded replying, “that’s so true…” I knew exactly what Nina meant because when we were kids in the era of big
According to Coles Supermarket here in Australia, a 2kg packet of plain flour is the SAME as a 1kg packet of self-raising flour – yes, I’m kidding you not… Let me explain, but really, it’s Coles Supermarket that should be doing the explaining instead of me conveying my frustration on my self-sufficiency Blog Website. Speaking
This poem was salvaged from a scrap piece of lined A4 paper handwritten half in pen and then finished in pencil – I can’t recall but my biro must have run out. I do remember writing this rather crude piece in 1990 on a rain-soaked day in the Shoalwater Bay Military Training Area near Rockhampton
I probably shouldn’t be writing this post without giving myself a little time to calm down but sometimes my best work is done when I’m angry so I’ll take the risk. This morning I had another negative experience regarding our electricity meter getting read (yes this is an ongoing saga and I’ve written about this
I wrote this poem in the early ’90s on exercise with the Army in outback central Australia whilst I was sitting waiting in my Landrover 110. The Australian outback is a harsh environment and that, to me, is a large part of the appeal. How animals and vegetation survive in such a climate is incredible,
In a spectacular admission of failed energy policy over the past 6 years, the Federal Coalition Government in Australia announced today a one-off cash payment in the upcoming budget to help people pay their skyrocketing electricity bills. This "energy assistance payment" of $75 for singles and $125 for couples will go to pensioners, veterans, and
There has been a whole lot of hot wind today and also over the past few weeks about the climate change strike by school students supposedly happening tomorrow across Australia. I say "supposedly," because my kids don't know anything about any so-called climate change strike at all. Nothing. Nada. Sweet FA (Fanny Adams). Why is that…?
In the past 4 decades, writing poetry has always been a way for me to explore my creative side but it was also something I did to help me express my feelings (mainly to myself) – especially during my younger years. My poems ranged from short rhymes to long stories with many stanzas and although
3 days ago, on 18th February at 6 pm, I got a text message from Origin Energy our electricity provider/retailer notifying me that our meter would be read two days either side of 20th February. Simple mathematics shows that this message was at least 12 hours late, to begin with… Anyway, the reason energy companies
According to Bill Shorten, the current opposition leader here in Australia, people like me are "millionaires" because we own an investment property. Happy days! If only it were true… The soon to be Prime Minister, if the polls stay on track into next year's general election (and they probably will) made the "millionaire" statement in
I thought I would write this article as a concerned parent to alert others who may be considering buying their children a gaming console for Christmas this year. Our children have been playing console games ever since our eldest could handle a controller back in about 2008 and over the years I have been a close
It's unsurprising to me to see the rising swell of Australian's jumping on board the BAN LIVE SHEEP EXPORTS ship despite their conflicted goodwill towards our farmers. I'm one of those people who feel sorry for the farmer and their family whose livelihood is wrapped up in the live sheep export business but then, on
When it comes to childcare versus stay-at-home I pick stay-at-home anytime for children, parents, and lifestyle overall. Today, as at the writing of this article, yet again parents around Australia are losing money and being unfairly disrupted due to their local childcare/daycare centre staff going on strike. Whilst I have no gripe with individual
Like many Australians, I was shocked to hear the news about the Australian Cricket Team being caught redhanded tampering with the red ball. One can excuse a sledging incident that got a little out of hand or a rash outburst done in frustration in the moment of battle on the cricket ground; however, to unnecessarily
Supermarket shopping isn't something I enjoy doing, in fact, I find any form of shopping a laborious and frustrating process – most men probably do… The only reason I shop is to research, find, and then purchase the product/s I want/need, after which, I prefer to make a quick exit away from the dodders or
If you are ever wondering past a school in Queensland and you hear someone yelling out of their car window, "use the school crossing – don't be lazy!" That's probably me… I'm sick to death of seeing high school students playing chicken with my 4×4 because one day instead of me it will be a
So I go and pick up our boys from school today and my youngest (11 year old) gets in the car and says in a cheerful voice, "hey Dad, I nearly got run over by a car!" That's not something you like to hear as a parent when you're hovering in a school pick-up zone
A proposed Clean Energy Target (CET) could be the answer to Australia's energy woes with a better deal for consumers and business than the current Renewable Energy Target (RET) or Labor's proposed Emissions Intensity Scheme (EIS – "Carbon Tax"). Dr Alan Finkel is Australia's top scientist and even though some have called him
As Labor and Liberal Parties shadow-box between themselves like the worst fake WWE show imagined, Australia's energy woes are growing on steroids with prices for electricity doubling in just the past decade. Australians now pay 4 times more than households in the USA for electricity. The rising cost of energy has reached a point where
Self Sufficient Me is a blog about self-sustainment by growing our own produce (plant/animal), and self-fulfilment by looking after our health (physical/mental) through exercise and slowing life down a little.
