My Memories - Undated

My Memories - Electrical History

My Memories - School Years

My Memories - Neighbours

I was born October 4th 1949

1950 - 1959

• 1952 - My first memory - My mother told me I was two and a half years old. Holding onto the side of mum's laundry trolley as she pegged the clothes on what was then a clothes line - a wire stretched between two posts held up at the correct height by a forked stick.
• 1952 - I was 2 years old. Pushing a tiny handkerchief through the rollers of the washing machine "wringer" and watching as first my fingers, then my forearm squeezed through the rollers. Then screaming to mum for help as it ground on my elbow and tripped the wringer mechanism. Then holding my arm in a bucket of water and "blue" - a knob of a hard blue substance tied in a gauze material, used for making clothes brighter - I gather to help the swelling subside.
• 1954 - March - I was 4 years old. Being at a place with a giant arch with flowers all over it - then running with the crowd - then standing with adult legs all around me looking through a picket sort of fence at black painted legs dancing past me. I was doing like everyone around me, waving a small flag. A black car, with a lady wearing a white "hat" and white gloves, drove past and everyone clapped.
  It turns out I was at Toowoomba with my parents. The Queen was there as part of her coronation. The arch was part of the decorations in Queens Park I am told and the picket fence was at the Old Showgrounds. The black legs were part of an Aboriginal Troupe in the group ahead of the Queen as she drove around the track at the Showground.
• 1955 - I was 5 years old. Walking up the steps as I started Primary School - my teacher was Miss Meehan. Walking around under what seemed to me to be a huge tree. Miss Meehan told us it was a Plane Tree. I can remember as the year went on, large leaves fell from it as we played under it.
• 1957 - I was 7 years old. Mum loses baby (Leanne) on New Years Day.
• 1957 - I was 7 years old.
Running over a bolt while mowing the lawn with the electric mower, a mower that ran by electric motor and an extension lead attached to it. The mower frame was made of what I assume was cast aluminium. When I hit the bolt it shattered the blade housing of the mower. I wasn't supposed to be using it of course but thought I would impress dad by mowing the lawn for him. I was terrified waiting till he came home as I knew that I'd be either hit around the legs with a leather belt or the rubber covered appliance leads that were kept behind the bathroom door or sent to bed without tea, or both, or something worse that I couldn't imagine. I knew mum was terrified at what dad would say and do too.
• 1958 -  I was 8 years old. Watching through the open window of our local radio station - called 4SB at the time - as the "announcer", Graham Brennan did his stint. I also watched as Clem Fechner did the same. I found both announcers very friendly as they chatted to me through the window.

  Later in life, while tuning through the AM band looking for distant stations, I heard Graham Brennan on 4ZR Roma and Clem Fechner on 4BU Bundaberg. Clem Fechner eventually returned to Kingaroy and I recently heard him on a local FM station. I have never heard of Graham Brennan since. 4SB used to take a relay from 4BC in those days and Bert "Bird Brain" Robertson was all the rage. The manager of the station was George Parker.

  Also of that era was "Radio Sunday School" with Uncle Bert - Bert Richards.

  A huge event of the time on 4SB on Mother's Day was "The Spastic Appeal" where listeners rang in with their donations. The entire day was spent reading out the names, addresses and amounts donated. This was done by local "celebrities" in between amateur entertainment. A couple of names that come to mind that featured prominently are Tom Thorpe and Kurt Hubbers. Both have now passed on sadly.

  4SB is now known by the more "trendy" name of 1071 (Ten Seventy One), referring to the frequency it transmits on, 1.071 Megahertz and is not truly "local" any more as it's run out of a central point in a city nowhere near Kingaroy.

• 1959 - July - A freezing cold night - 99I was 9 years old - An Aboriginal came into our house and into my sister's room and was striking matches over her.
  Dad was still drunk and half asleep but mum heard noises and pushed him from their bedroom into the kitchen next to Karen's room.
  Her bedroom door was normally open but dad found it closed. He woke/sobered up quickly and flung it open. It opened back against the wall and even though Karen was petrified, she managed to point to dad that someone was behind the door.
  Dad went into the room, pulled the door back, saw a full blood aboriginal behind it and started swearing at him. I woke to hear the yelling and swearing.
  The aboriginal raced out the back door, tripped down the stairs and went off into the darkness.
  Mum comforted Karen while dad had to go out into the complete darkness - in those days the street lights were automatically switched off at midnight - to wake a neighbour who had a phone.
  Phones were a luxury in those days and Chris and Rae Jones - 3 houses down the street -  were the closest neighbours dad could think of who had one.
  He rang the police and spent the rest of the night driving around with the police in their Dodge Ute searching for the aboriginal.
  Mum and the 3 of us kids huddled together in mum and dad's bed with the light on, talking about what had happened while we waited for dad to come home.
  That particular night we had been to the "pictures" while dad went to a Boxing Tournament. It was standard to come out of the "pictures" at the Olympia Theatre and see aboriginals fighting each other in front of The Club Hall, later called the Princess Theatre.
  It was also standard for dad to be drunk when we came out.
  We had no car and had to walk home. It was after midnight when we started walking the 3 blocks to home.
  Apparently the aboriginal followed us home and waited until the lights in the house were turned off, then went in through the back door.
  
  The aboriginal was found and locked up but not before trying to get into other houses in our neighbourhood.
  One woman called the police after hearing a noise at her window. Going to see what it was, she put her hand out into the dark to pull the window closed and her hand touched his curly black hair on his head. He then fell backwards into her garden leaving footprints.
  Around lunchtime he was brought to our back steps for Karen to identify him.
  He was later charged and sent to a mission in North Queensland but as kids, the event left us terrified of aboriginals.
  In those days it was "normal" to leave your doors unlocked. The doors were ALWAYS locked after that night.

1960 - 1969

• 1960 - I was 10 years old. Playing dad's 78rpm records with his "radiogram" which had sharp, steel "needles" that produced the sound. Dad worked as a "linesman" at the "Regional Electricity Board" and therefore knew a little about wiring. He ran what is known as "Figure 8 flex" - an insulated pair of copper wires - between the "radiogram" in the lounge and a 12" speaker in the kitchen. He put a switch beside the "radiogram" to turn the kitchen speaker off when it wasn't needed. That wiring and the switch he installed was responsible for my interest in Electricity and Radio Communications, which also led to my interest in computers.

1. A closed, usually circular line that goes around an object or area.
2. Electronics. A closed path followed or capable of being followed by an electric current.

• 1961 - I was 11 years old. Eisentreger & Yappa - In the 50's and 60's, instead of Supermarkets, there were Grocers, Fruiterers, Bakers etc. In Kingaroy we had a grocer shop called Eisentreger & Yappa owned by a (surprisingly!) Mr Eisentreger and a Mr Yappa. In my mind's eye I can still see their faces. I was with mum as she shopped one day and saw a Stamp Album made by ETA Peanut Paste. I'm not sure how I ended up getting it, it may have been free to advertise ETA Peanut Paste but at 12 years old I thought it was fantastic. Below are a couple of scans of it. I keep it and another that dad had since he was a kid in case one day they are worth something.

• 1961 - I was 11 years old. Watching the Television Masts being built on the Bunya Mountains from the schoolroom while doing Sub Junior, now called Grade 9.
• 1962 - July - I was 12 years old. Black and White Television started on DDQ-10 (Commercial Station) .
• 1963 - December -  Black and White Television started on ABDQ-3 ( ABC Station).
• 1963 - I was 13 years old. I bought my First Radio from Sama's Radio Service in Haly Street across from Jock's, a shop owned by a Scot named Jock Irvine.
  It cost 30/- ( 30 shillings or £1/10/- which was 1 Pound 10 shillings or $3.00 in today's currency for those not old enough to know the currency and symbols of the time ) .
  It was a valve radio but had no cabinet, just the chassis and a 12" speaker with an impedance matching transformer mounted on it
  
  To get the money to buy it, I collected soft drink bottles and cashed them in at what we knew as Hall's Shop opposite the Kingaroy Swimming Pool. It still stands but I gather is now part of a set of flats.
  It and a shop owned by Woodward's called "Woody Woodpeckers", opposite the William Street entrance to the Kingaroy State Primary School were popular places then. That small building still stands too but is sealed up. I had many freshly made "hot chips" from that shop. I remember having to give the teacher the money and the chips came in a brown paper packet.
  Sawtell's Soft Drinks were the local soft drink makers then, located in Queen Street, Kingaroy. A deposit of 6d ( 5cents) was paid by the purchaser in the cost of each bottle of soft drink.
  As the habit of a lot of the population those days was to just drop bottles where they finished them, a lot were to be found lying around.
  The Kingaroy Showgrounds was a popular place to collect them, especially after "Gnat Car" races which was part of the Kingaroy Speedway. As kids we loved going to the races and followed popular drivers with names I recall as Roly Gablonski, Tom Ott and Peter Van Uden.  Peter worked for Bob and Flo Cumis, who ran a bus company across the street from my grandparents. Peter was a bus driver and I gather, serviced the buses as well.
  We lived on the corner of Toomey and Youngman Streets which is very close to The Kingaroy Showgrounds, so we played a lot around there.
  So, to collect the bottles we would carry "sugar bags" and fill them, then carry them home and wash them. After they were dry, we carried them to Hall's Shop to "cash them in". Eventually I saved the 30 shillings (60 bottles) to buy the radio. Mum and Dad had no money for things like that and we bought many of our "toys" with money acquired that way.
  I loved that radio!  As I was going to school, I was only able to listen during daylight hours during the week but spent many hours in the early morning hours of weekends turning the dial slowly and listening to each station until I heard the station identification. My intention was to hear the station most distant from my location.
  As the majority of stations were not part of "networks" as they are today, I was able to log many different call signs from every State and Territory except Western Australia and Northern Territory. I also heard a few stations located in New Zealand.
• 1963 - I was 13 years old. Kerosene Camping cooker blew up in my face while doing Chemistry experiments in the shed at home.
  I received 3rd degree burns on the left side of my face and head. The jet was burning "orange" instead of "blueish" and I was looking at it trying to understand why, when the "jet" in the pressurized unit split and blew out causing a stream of kerosene under pressure to spray onto my face. Instinctively I turned my face away and luckily only my ear, neck and the back of my head caught fire. I raced out of the shed using my hands to put out the fire in my hair and in doing so burnt my hands as well and peeled "cooked" skin on my neck off. At some stage in those few seconds I tore my shirt off to put out the fire and later found it with no buttons. Apparently in my panic I ripped it open and the buttons tore off.
  For weeks I had huge areas of burnt skin that as a kid I loved peeling off. It didn't stop me doing "experiments" though but obviously without the camping "primus" as we called it, though I gather that was just the brand name.
• 1963 - I had just turned 14 years old. While listening to my valve radio in the early morning of Saturday 23^rd November 1963 I heard a "newsflash" that President Kennedy had been assassinated. I told dad when he woke but he didn't believe me.
  President John F Kennedy died 1400 Texas Time - 1900 GMT Friday 22/11/1963 which was 5am Australian time, Saturday 23/11/1963 as I was tuning through the dial in Australia. 22nd November - This day in history
• 1964 - I turned 15 years old in October just before doing my Junior (Grade 10) exams.
• 1964 - November - Started an apprenticeship as an Electrical Fitter and Mechanic at Kingaroy Electrical Sales & Service. My wage was £6/2/6 or $12.25.
• 1965 - My First Black & White TV -  a Pye Pedigree - I bought it from my workplace - Kingaroy Electrical Sales and Service -  for $30. It had been used as a hire TV and had sound but no picture.
  
  Those days, television was very new and very few people owned a set. Many a night if you were "uptown", you would see people standing in front of "Electrical Shops" that had a television set running inside on display.
  Kingaroy Electrical Sales and Service was one of the firms that hired televisions. The television was delivered with a metal box in line with the lead and plug. To activate the television you had to insert a 2 shilling piece. For 2 shillings (20 cents) you would get to see one hour of television. Of course what would usually happen was, the timer turned the set off just as a critical part of a show was on and bodies scurried around looking for another 2 shilling piece (20 cents) to quickly insert in the box. By the time the set "warmed up" being a valve operated appliance, the show was over!
  
  I took it over the street from my workplace to Sama's Radio Service.
  Frank Sama lived behind his shop. He repaired radios but said he would have a go at fixing a television.
  I watched as he diagnosed and fixed it. I had been harassing him for a few years on weekends about radio stuff and he enjoyed showing me how radios worked.
  He enjoyed the challenge of repairing a "new fangled thing" as he put it, a Black and White Television set, and succeeded to both his and my delight.
  I now know the fault to have been various "dry solder joints" around the EHT transformer.
• 1967 - Driver's Licence - Early 1967.
• 1968 - Luya Julius - Pop Colquhoun retired from Luya Julius Pty Ltd after working with them since 1935.
  Pop picked up freight from the Yarraman railway station and then delivered it around to shops in Kingaroy.
  In that era the railway ran from Brisbane to Yarraman. As there was no railway line to Kingaroy, trucks were used to do the final leg to Kingaroy.
  Rules weren't as strict then and various times during school holidays I travelled with pop to and from Yarraman. I can remember sitting watching the freight being loaded out of the railway wagons and into the Luya Julius truck that pop drove.
  And drive he did. The truck had what he told me was a "crash gearbox" with a "split diff".
  The road from Yarraman to Nanango wound its way through hills like a snake in those days. No cuttings to make a straight road like now. As he steered the truck through the winding hills, he smoothly changed through the gears and pulled on a button on the gearstick to change the "diff" ratio as he thought necessary.
  I knew he'd start the process when I saw a sign saying Rocky Creek. From then, until we ever so slowly reached the downhill run into Nanango, the truck engine roared, the gearbox whined and pop listened intently to the "revs". On some hot days the noise lulled me to sleep and I woke as we started cruising downhill towards Nanango on what we called "the Yarraman straight". 

1970 - 1979

• 1970 - Started going out with Joy Koehler in April.
• 1970 - Joy Koehler and myself bought a 1 acre block of land in Moore Street, Kingaroy
• 1972 - September - Left Kingaroy Electrical  
• 1972 - September - Started working for ODG - (O'Donnell Griffin) in Brisbane - 1972 till early 1974. Did installation work at The Sunday Sun, Turrawan Private Hospital, The Home and Building Centre in the Valley, The Prudential Building at North Quay (now demolished), The Atcherley Hotel in the Valley, Consolidated Rutile, the Cairncross Dry Dock and a building at Gatton College.
• 1972 - December - Married Joy Koehler at Kumbia and lived in Toowong in Brisbane.
• 1973 - Advanced Trade Course at Yeerongpilly Technical College - 1973 - AEL-101 - Introductory Electronics - Gained a Credit
• 1973 - September - Went to The Willows with Pat Koehler - Joy's father
• 1974 - January - Floods in Brisbane - caught in Kingaroy on Australia Day long weekend till the following Thursday
• 1974 - Moved back to Kingaroy in early 1974 and started work at Radunz's Electrical
• 1974/1975 - Grew Vegetables at Koehler's farm after work and at weekends.
• 1975 - Colour Television started March 1^st
• 1975 - Colour TV - Hired the first  Colour TV that Ray Lacey, one of the Television Technicians of the time, had bought. I ended up buying it. It was a Hitachi. I donated it to the Hervey Bay Amateur Radio Club and as of 1998 it was installed at the clubhouse and still working.
• 1975 - November - Pop Colquhoun died - my grandfather on dad's side.
• 1976 - Pat Koehler died - Joy's father.
• 1977 - May - Started building what was to be our home at Rokeby Park Road, River Heads, Hervey Bay -  travelled to Hervey Bay from Kingaroy each Friday night, returning Sunday nights, to continue building our home - so that we could move to Hervey Bay and start an Electrical Contracting business.
• 1978 - Panic Attacks began - Eventually, after trying to work out what was wrong and doctors not knowing, I walked into Queensland Book Depot (QBD) in Brisbane and asked if they had any books about "nerves" and immediately the young girl behind the counter took me to a book called "Self Help for Your Nerves - Dr Claire Weekes" -  As soon as I read the first few pages I knew it was exactly the book I needed and started the painful trek back to what I now class as "normal" feelings. A must read for anyone who has had a lot stressful events in their life.

Here is part of a review of the book by Amazon.com - Amazon.co.uk: Books: Self Help for Your Nerves: Learn to Relax and Enjoy Life Again by Overcoming Stress and Fear

1980 - 1989

• 1980 - Sold Hervey Bay house
• 1980 - Bought house at 69 Kingaroy Street, Kingaroy. Now a motel site.
• 1982 - Joy left - Christmas / New Year week.
• 1985 - December - Left Radunz's Electrical and moved to Dalby
• 1985 - December 23^{rd -} Married Marnie Rixon
• 1986 - Sold house at 69 Kingaroy Street, Kingaroy.
• 1986 - February - Started work with Stewarts Electrical  
• 1986 - August - Started work with Gows Refrigeration Service
• 1987 - December - Moved to Hervey Bay as my stepdaughter, Danielle, had Asthma from living in the atmosphere in Dalby. We found she had no symptoms when we holidayed at Hervey Bay, so decided to move there. We bought a caravan in Hervey Bay that needed a small amount of repairs and towed it back to Dalby. During the latter part of 1987 I repaired it. After Marnie got her transfer to Maryborough West - she is a school teacher - we moved it to The Australiana Caravan Park and lived there. Marnie sold her home in Dalby.
  Each Friday after work I travelled in the work vehicle my employer loaned me, to Kingaroy. I stayed overnight at my parents home, then caught Polleys Bus Service to Gympie. I then connected by whatever bus service to Hervey Bay. On Sunday afternoon I did the reverse. I did this until February 1988.
• 1988 - February - started part time work at GW Electrical which ended up as full time work.
• 1988 - Bought a 2 storey house on the Esplanade at Urangan, Hervey Bay, overlooking the entrance to the Marina. Renovated it and put an inground pool in. Marnie's parents lived underneath in a "granny flat" we setup.

1990 - 1999

• 1990 - Sold our home at Urangan and bought a new home at Rocky Court, Scarness as Marnie's parents decided they wanted independence in their own home.
• 1991 - Last Panic Attack
• 1991 - Shingles - A line of Shingles came up on my back. Luckily I recognized what they were and was given medication in time to stop the worst effects of the pain, though it still felt as if I'd been kicked by a bull in my spine.
• 1992 - Feb 2^{nd -} Dad died
• 1992 - March - Put off at GW Electrical - Both employees which included myself were put off as the owners had a relationship problem.
• 1992 - March - Started my own business, Colrix Electrical
• 1996 - September - Nanny Colquhoun died - my grandmother on Dad's side.
• 1998 - November - Closed my business - Colrix Electrical
• 1998 - November - Left Marnie
• 1998 - November - Moved to Townsville to live with Julie Moller -  disastrous move emotionally and financially, although I really enjoyed the time during the relationship.
• 1999 - February - Started work at L&J Archer Electrical
• 1999 - May - We bought a Mazda Bravo 4WD to do a trip on the Gibb River Road with Julie's brother, Peter and his partner, Sue.
• 1999 - July/August - Travelled with Julie to Broome and back to Townsville via Charters Towers, Hughenden, Richmond, Julia Creek, Mt Isa, Camooweal, Barkly Homestead Roadhouse, The Three Ways Roadhouse, Tennant Creek, Elliott, Daly Waters, Mataranka, Katherine, Timber Creek, Victoria National Park, Keep River National Park, Kununurra, Zebedee Thermal Springs, El Questro, Pentecost River, Gibb River, north to Drysdale River Station, Theda Station, Kalumburu and Honeymoon Bay. We then returned to the Gibb River Road intersection and headed west to Barnett Gorge, Windjana Gorge, Derby, Broome and Cable Beach. From Broome we headed east via Fitzroy Crossing and turned onto the Duncan Highway at Halls Creek and headed to Kalkarinji, then turned onto the Buchanan Highway at Top Spring and came out onto the Stuart Highway just south of Daly Waters. From there we backtracked to Townsville.
• 1999 - October - Split up with Julie Moller
• 1999 - October - Moved into a flat on my own and lived there till May 2000.

2000 - 2009

• 2000 - February - Bought my Hyundai Excel.
• 2000 - May - Moved into a flat with my nephew Scott.
• 2000 - Met Judy Daft on the net in early 2000. Amazingly she was from my area. Lived north of Nanango and east of Kingaroy.
• 2000 - Met Judy Daft in person in Rockhampton mid year.
• 2001 - June - Finished at L&J Archer Electrical and moved back to Kingaroy
• 2001 - August - Contacted Judy Daft 
• 2001 - September - Doctors found significant spinal deterioration - similar to what dad suffered from - no longer able to continue working
• 2001 - November - Placed on a Disability Support Pension
• 2002 - July/August - Travelled with Judy, Ray and Coral to Darwin and back via Dalby, Chinchilla, Miles, Roma, Mitchell, Morven, Charleville, Augathella, Tambo, Blackall, Barcaldine, Longreach, Winton, Kynuna, McKinlay, Cloncurry, Mt Isa, Camooweal, Barkly Homestead Roadhouse, The Three Ways Roadhouse, Tennant Creek, Elliott, Daly Waters, Mataranka, Katherine, Pine Creek, Adelaide River, Darwin, Palmerston, Litchfield National Park, then back to Katherine and out to Lake Argyle and Kununurra through Timber Creek and the Victoria River National Park. We travelled home over the same path but turned east at Barcaldine and passed through Barcaldine, Jericho, Alpha and Bogantungan to Rubyvale. We then turned south at Emerald and went through Springsure, Rolleston, Bauhinia Downs, Moura, Banana, Biloela, Thangool, Monto, Mulgildie, Eidsvold, Mundubbera, Gayndah, Ban Ban Springs, Boubyjan, Tansey, Goomeri and back to Nanango and Kingaroy. 
• 2003 - September - Bought a 5 acre block of land with Iron Bark trees and a dam with the financial help of my first wife, Joy.
  Joy is still a great friend.
  I'm now working towards eventually living on that block of land - meanwhile, loving just being there and making it how I want it, within my physical and financial means, with my lovely Judy's help.
• 2004 - January - Judy's mum arrived in Australia from England.
• 2004 - August - Judy's mum applied for a Visa to live in Australia.
• 2004 - December - Bought a Caravan - Also removed the rust and repainted the Daihatsu Van that we will be using to tow it.
• 2004 - December - Worked, paid, part time until March 2005 repairing computers at Marc Daft's (Judy's son) shop - CBR Computers. Worked unpaid part time on and off until he closed his shop to move to Hervey Bay in November 2005.
• 2005 - March - Land value tripled since I bought it in September 2003.
• 2005 - August - For 6 weeks - Travelled with Judy and mum, staying in my caravan, around Queensland via Mundubbera, Eidsvold, Cracow, Theodore, Banana, Rolleston, Springsure, Emerald, Bogantungan, Alpha, Jericho, Barcaldine, Aramac, Lake Dunn, Muttaburra, Winton, Kynuna, McKinlay, Cloncurry, Burke & Wills, Gregory River, Lawn Hill Gorge, Normanton, Karumba, Croydon, Georgetown, Mt Garnet, Archer River, Ravenshoe, Kairi, Atherton, Mareeba, Mt Carbine, Lakeland, Cooktown, Mossman, Daintree, Port Douglas, Cairns, Innisfail, Mourilyan Harbour, Mission Beach, Tully, Cardwell, Ingham, Balgal Beach, Townsville, Ayr, Bowen, Dingo Beach, Airlie Beach, Proserpine, Seaforth, Mackay, Sarina, Armstrong Beach, Rockhampton, Yeppoon, Gladstone, Tannum Sands, Gin Gin, Biggenden, Ban Ban Springs, Goomeri and back to Kingaroy.
• 2005 - December - Judy's mum, Ruth, moved into her newly built house.
• 2006 - February - Judy's brother, Nigel arrived on a 2 week holiday from New Mexico, USA. All 3 siblings, Ros, Judy and Nigel, spent the night enjoying reminiscing with their mother, Ruth. The following morning Judy awoke to find her mum dazed and confused in the toilet. Ruth had a stroke during the night.
• 2006 - February - After Judy's mum, Ruth, had a stroke, after discussion with the others before Nigel returned home, Judy decided to move into Ruth's home to give her care 24/7 as required by the medical experts.
• 2006 - March - Land value quadrupled since I bought it in September 2003.
• 2006 - April - After acrimony and confusion, Judy moved back to her home after her sister took over the care of Ruth.
• 2006 - November - Judy had trouble breathing while walking short distances. After a series of unsatisfactory medical opinions, to say the least, she was diagnosed as having had a silent heart attack. Damage was done to her left ventricle and she was told to go on with life as best she could.
• 2007 - February - During Judy's diagnosis in November, I suggested she may have Sleep Apnoea (which she did have). This was noted and she received a notice to attend a hospital in Brisbane in February. While attending that appointment, one of the staff noted her erratic pulse and she was immediately put into the emergency department. She was eventually given an Angiogram which showed she had 4 blockages in her heart and 20% blood flow. The doctor arranged for her to have bypass surgery as soon as possible, which was the following week.
• 2007 - March - Judy had her triple bypass operation.
• 2007 - April - Judy was told she would be much better off living near a hospital, so she put her house on the real estate market. Seeing Judy wouldn't be living at Runneymede any longer, where I bought my block with the very hopeful intention of building some sort of home, I put my land on the real estate market too.
• 2007 - April through to June - Judy went through misery recovering from her bypass operation. Mum and I looked after her as best we could. She had her own room which she eventually used but spent a lot of her time in a recliner in the lounge. The pain of lying down was far too much for her for a long period of time, so she slept sitting up in the recliner. Many nights I heard her sobbing in pain. I felt helpless but tried to console her.
• 2007 - June - Judy's mum, Ruth, suffered a series of strokes. She was hospitalised for a few weeks before passing away.
• 2007 - June - Judy's mum, Ruth, funeral.
• 2007 - June - My land was sold. With the proceeds I paid off my caravan and various debts. It was worth selling - even though I hated doing it as I loved that block - as I received 6 times what I paid for it in 2003.
• 2007 - July - I was diagnosed with Sleep Apnoea too.
• 2007 - July 29th - Judy's home was sold. It was a 14 day contract, so all of her possessions had to be stored and the home cleaned in that time!
• 2007 - August - Visited a Chiropractor for my back and neck pain. As I was a new patient, my blood pressure etc was checked. My blood pressure was found to be 230/115 even though I was on medication. Began a frustrating period of trying different tablets to lower my blood pressure.
• 2007 - September / October - Judy and I spent 2 weeks in Moore Park, near Bundaberg (hopefully to lower my blood pressure and give Judy a rest).
• 2007 - October - Marc, Judy's son, moved back to Brisbane.
• 2007 - November - Judy bought a block of land in Kingaroy to build a new home on.
• 2007 - December - Judy's stepdaughter Jo, arrived from England on a 2 week holiday.
• 2008 - January - Blood pressure now sitting around 155/95. Still not really stable but a lot better.
• 2008 - January - Judy's stepdaughter Jo, left for England.
• 2008 - April - Judy's mum's house sold.
• 2008 - April - Judy's old mate Muffy - her black and white Cardigan Corgi - became really sick and had to be euthanized. He was around 22 years old.
• 2008 - May - Judy's new home started. Site cut out ready for the slab.
• 2008 - August - Judy's new home completed.
• 2009 - February 20th - Marc, Judy's son engaged to Dorothy.
• 2009 - February 24th - Keith Ferguson, mum's brother, passed away after his battle with cancer.
• 2009 - April 10th - Good Friday - Woke to find lights on at 3.10 am - After 10 minutes they were still on and no noise. Got out of bed and found Mum had breathing problems - wheezing - had to get the ambulance - taken to hospital. No real reason found. Doctor seemed to think it was caused by her position in bed and caused her anxiety, which escalated her symptoms.
• 2009 - November 18th - Set off with Judy on a caravan trip through New South Wales, Victoria and part of South Australia.

2010 - Present

• 2010 - January 7th - Returned from our caravan trip through New South Wales, Victoria and part of South Australia.
• 2010 - April - Judy's son Marc married Dorothy Vezerova
• 2010 - July 14th - We had spent one night of a 4 night break at Hervey Bay and received a message that our wonderful, loyal and loving doggy friend, Goofy, was found dead when our friend went to feed him and our other lovely doggy, Tigger. We won't ever know why he died but assumed it was a third attack of Pancreatitis. Goofy was nearly 7 years old. RIP Goof.
• 2011 - April - Sold the Daihatsu Delta Van
• 2011 - April - Sold the Caravan
• 2011 - May - Bought 1999 Mazda Bravo SDX - Dual Cab with Canopy
• 2011 - May - Bought a new Trickey Trailers 2 Dog Float
• 2011 - June 28th - Tuesday - 5.30am - Drove to Echuca - Stayed overnight at Gilgandra Motel - Stayed 3 nights at Echuca Holiday Park - Had a tour on a Paddle Steamer - Picked up the Dog Float - Stayed overnight at Gilgandra Motel.
  Arrived home July 3rd - Sunday - 10pm
• 2011
• 2012 - December 5th - Left Kingaroy heading to Cairns to look after my 2nd cousin Glenys Barkle's home for 3 weeks while she visited Disneyland and various other locations.
• 2013
• 2014