Tuesday

Well that was fun! I've now done my first sweep and it was much easier once Paul handed me photocopies of the sweep page from the paper. It was good to see the colour of the jockey silks and to have spaces to write people names. (Darn, I meant to take a photo of the sheets up ... carefully placed over one shelf of the bookcase - but not the one that bit my thumb last week when I was checking how heavy it would be to move.)

The girls at the races

We hadn't realised until yesterday that there is no television at work - and the company internet policy is such that we cannot "live stream" and we are certainly prevented from reaching gambling sites .... yes, I know, I know, how are we expected to do Melbourne Cup without access to ... the Melbourne Cup! But the iPad did come to the rescue and I was able to tune into Yahoo 7 TV and live-stream the race. Of course, I'm hoping the big benefit from running the sweeps - besides getting a first and second in one, and a first in the other - no, no, really, it was a "clean" sweep rather than a "clean sweep" - is that I will remember the horses - so if a question comes up in Trivia about the 2013 Melbourne Cup, I'll be able to answer it correctly!

Meanwhile, back at Latimers, when I rang Sooz after the race to see if she noticed which horse came last, she was surprised to hear that the race had already been run ... she had just turned on the television in what she thought was in good time to be able to watch it. I was able to tell her the results and she was pleased to hear that she had successfully picked second, third and fourth. (When M came home she said we'll have to let Sooz do all the race tips from now ... it's not bad, and follows on from Sooz's similar success last year!)

M and Mouse had their Melboure Cup Day Lunch at The Big House. M posted a photograph of Mouse in her race gear to FaceBook much earlier in the day and while she did show us a photograph of she and Mouse later, my spy on the ground (Kath) had already sent through a photo of "the girls at the races" (as she captioned it).

Sooz cooked a wonderful pasta dish for dinner tonight - and while she was preparing that, I was testing some new software so I could transfer An's preso through to DVD. (The software I have previously used, as included standard with Windows Vista - and previous versions - had been left out of Windows 8). It did a good job and has the additional bonus of being a conversion program as well. All I can say is thank goodness for the internet - and user forums.

The grape vine seems to be doing well since I trimmed it back on the weekend. I am hopeful that it will produce some grapes this year - and that I didn't leave the pruning too late. What it desperately needs now (and the rest of the valley for that matter) is some rain!

The girls spoke with Can the other day and apparently the recently-returned Choo Choo Ma Ma is with foal. The gestational period for horses is about 10 months so there is a way to go yet - but it will be good to have a new little one in the valley.

Maggie was the one dragging the chain with coming in last night - just for a change. Tinka bounded in (possibly thinking there were nighty night cookies to be had) but not little Maggie. She finally appeared behind M (how? and from where?) while she was calling her from out the front. Good trick Maggie!

Tinka has taken to sleeping on Sooz's TV chair - even to the point of getting on there while Sooz is still there, snuggling in - and then using her four feet to push Sooz so she can gain a bit more room. She did come in to have a look round the bedroom last night - but, again, Maggie had already found her spot on the bed and made it clear that it was to be a "one cat room". I'm not sure when Maggie left, but a few times during the night I stretched my legls out and felt cat.

Well, it may be weeks away yet but the Christmas season is definitely upon us - as evidenced by the decorations on the big tree on the Alexandra Drive roundabout (near the service station) and the house with the Chevy Chase Christmas vacation lights that were turned on over the weekend!