Long time no blog...

Well, it has been a while since there have been any updates from this neck of the woods. We have been busily getting ready for the impending arrival of the baby. Ben is in Townsville to see his dad at the moment. He is due back on the 12th of October. Baby is due on the 11th. That should make things interesting.... I have some photos of the babies' room all finished and a couple of photos Karen thought would be funny of me in the cot. (Not sleeping of course, just painting it.)

Ben has completed his basic fire fighting course and assessment, so he is a qualified cadet now. He got 100% on his theory exam and did very well on the practical side of things too! He did better than we did. Now he is eagerly awaiting his certificate, badges and his own uniform as he has been wearing Karen's for the past 5 months!!

I have been doing my advanced fire fighting course work. This goes into more detail on the mechanics of fire and fire fighting such as weather prediction, fire behaviour, pumping and (boring) community education. It has been a really good course and the assessment is at the end of November. I will let you know how I go. Karen has warned me that next year is her year to get stuck into all of the courses she missed while she has been pregnant, so I will be spending a lot of weekends being a house husband.


Bub's cot and canopy.



Bub's change table and wardrobe.

Bub's room from the door.

Me in the cot.

Me in the cot.

Well, this has been a quick update. I will endeavour to be a bit more prompt in my posts now that the preparation for the baby is done, although I am sure he will keep us very busy when he arrives. I will post photos of him when he arrives....

Talk soon!

For the record

For the record, the stripy top has been worn all of 3 times! It is reserved purely for the viewing pleasure of the Colquhouns!

Love the new google earth thing with the houses, Daniel said we can view ours too, how cool is that?

What's up?

Well, it has been a busy week, or at least weekend. The week itself was the same as usual. Work for Karen and I and school for Ben. Ben went to football training on Thursday night and clashed heads with one of his another boy from his team. Here is the resulting injury. We thought it was quite cool, but Ben did not share our enthusiasm.

The weekend was an entirely different story. On Saturday I hired a floor sander to strip back the floor in the babies room and polish it. I had done about ten minutes work on the sander when my phone rang and it was Stuart, the captain of the brigade asking me to be on a crew to assist with storm damage. I raced off to the station at about the same time Karen and Ben were leaving to go to Ben's football game. Ben's team were up against the top of the ladder and were beaten by a mile, but he had fun.

We ended up only having to attend to two houses on our call outs. No damaged homes, but a couple of crushed fences. The second house we were at fed us toasted cheese sandwiches and tea and coffee before they would let us leave. Once that was done we went back to the shed, cleaned up the truck and left for the afternoon. (Only to return later in the evening..read below.)

When I got home, Karen and Ben were back from football. I resumed sanding and found that the floor boards came up very nicely. I put the first coat of varnish on and left it to dry. (12 hours!) Over the remainder of the weekend I put the second and third coats on. We are really happy with the way it all turned out. The first photo is the bare boards and the second photo is the finished product.

On Saturday night we had a social function at the fire brigade. We have been having a deck built at the back of the shed for social gatherings. This is now complete and we had a deck warming/card night. We got there at about 6:30pm and started on the nibbles. We did an "official" opening of the deck later on with champagne and a ribbon cutting. After that we got down to playing cards, eating pizza and partaking in some "beverages". It was not for money, just for fun. We played poker, Blackjack and a couple of other games. It was great fun and most of us may have had a few more drinks than we should have! Karen, Ben and I left at about 2am and the rest of the guys assure me they left at about 3.

Sunday was a bit slower. We slept in until 11am! (Guess that won't be happening for much longer!) I got ready and went to the fire brigade for a maintenance day. I Spent about 2 hours there doing some gardening and tidying before coming home again. We spent the rest of the day on the couch watching stuff recorded over the week.

Karen and I both took Monday off so that we could take Ben to Blacktown to compete in the regional athletics championships. He was selected to represent the region in javelin. We got there an hour before his 10:45am event only to find that it was actually at 11:30, so we watched for a while. Ben did his best but was up against some stiff competition. He was a bit disappointed in himself, but we are very proud of his achievements. He got a Sydney West Athletics jumper for his troubles. This is Ben in action...

Well, that is it in a nutshell. One last photo to leave you with. A progress photo of Karen's "alien growth"...

Ben's BF training...

Well, Ben started his BF training with the Rural Fire Service on the weekend. It started at 8:30 am on Saturday at a place called Bell which is at the western end of the Blue Mountains. When we got there it was -2 degrees and ice was falling off the trees and power lines. Very cold.

Saturday was quite a boring day for Ben as it was all theory, so he was in a classroom all day. I caught him nodding off at one stage, but I can't say much about that as I nodded off in our classroom sessions myself! He finished at 3:30pm and we trekked back home to get some rest for the night as we had to be back there again at 8:30 on Sunday.

If at all possible, it was colder there on Sunday. Threatening clouds came over throughout the morning while Ben was inside doing more theory. When his class came out to do the practical work it started to snow! It is funny to think that everyone was running around in the snow and the cold learning how to fight fires in the heat of summer! The first thing the recruits had to do was learn how to use fire extinguishers. Everyone managed that without any problems. Below is a video of the extinguisher work.

The class then learnt about hoses. The helpers (me and a few other guys) built a large fire, started it and threw a container of drip torch fuel on it to really get it blazing. The class then got to put it out with a hose and extinguisher. Fun for all! See the below video for the fire. Ben is to the right of the fire in the background.

Next the group learnt about drip torches. For those of you that don't know, a drip torch is a canister with a wand and a wick that drips a fuel mix, usually 25% unleaded and 75% diesel, on a burning wick. It is used to start fires for hazard reductions and back burning. (and BBQ's) The class was split into 3 groups and I took one of the groups and explained how a drip torch operates and tutored each of the people in my group on how to use it and got them all to have a go. Here is Ben having his turn...

The groups were then shown how to use hand tools and I taught the group I had, which included Ben, how to use a rake-hoe and a fern hook. I then got them to create a section of fire trail about ten metres long. Ben did quite well.

Once this was done, the day was over. We packed up all of the tables and chairs and hit the road again. Ben seems to have thoroughly enjoyed the experience and is looking forward to using his new found knowledge. He is back there again on August 10 for the last day of training and then his assessment is on September 21. I will let you all know how he goes on the last day of training. He will get to play with pumps and big hoses....

More sport for Ben...

A few weeks ago Ben competed in the school athletics carnival. He competed in a number of events, but it turns out he is quite good at javelin. He won the event and went on to represent Springwood High in the inter-school competition. He did well at that too, so now he is off to represent the region in the Sydney West Championships. Well done Bippo!! We will let you know how he goes.

New Painting..

Hello all. Here is another painting I have put the finishing touches on. Let me know what you think...

Ben's Rugby...

Well another game today. The game was due to start at 11:50am, but due to an injury from the previous game and the ambulance being on the pitch the game was shortened to two 15 minute halves. The team went out hard and scored two tries and one conversion in rapid succession. We though that they had the other team from Rooty Hill cornered but they fought back and ended up beating Ben's team by two tries. It was still a valiant effort because the other team was, yet again, filled with huge islanders. Ben did really well catching all the kicks that came his way and throwing himself into some big tackles against some huge contenders. We thought he did well and it turns out the coaches thought the same thing as he was awarded player of the week. For his troubles he gets to hang onto the trophy for a week (a lump of wood with a plaque on it) and a ten dollar voucher for the canteen. Well done Ben! His last game before the break for school holidays is a night game next Friday that he is looking forward to very much, although it is against one of the top teams. I will let you know how he goes.

Winter Magic Festival...

Well, we finally made it to the winter magic festival in Katoomba after living here for these past few years. It was on the 21st, the solstice. It always seemed that one or both of us were working. Well this time I wasn't working, Ben's rugby match got postponed and although Karen was working the morning, she was working in thick of the festival. Ben and I went up at about 11am and dropped in at the gallery where my paintings are on show and had a quick look around and then we went to Karen's work. We hung around there for half an hour or so and then all three of us went for wander down the main street. It was closed to traffic and there were thousands of people. Lots of street performers and stalls and as you would expect quite a number of strange folk.
When we made to the bottom of the street there was a street performance of Brazilian drumming. It was very good and at the first (loud) strike of the drum the baby started doing somersaults in Karen's belly!!! Either he really approved or was not happy about being woken up. The lady next to us who was pregnant said her baby was doing the same thing! As it turned out half of the performers were faculty from Ben's school. I will try to load a video I took, but the file is huge so it may take some time. After that we wandered back up the street and we saw one of my paintings in the street exhibition. The owner of the gallery had put a number of works in the public exhibition and some of mine were in it. Cool. After that we had had our fill and went home. Next year we want to make a day of it and see the official parade and the fireworks at the end, but what we saw was still fun.

Another week that was..........

Wow, another week gone already........

Ben had his first crew day last Sunday. They were up and out the door early and came back about 1pm - with a big grin on his face.

He'd had fun, they had gone out to do some pump work and ended up drafting out of a creek. They let him play with the different hoses etc too. The only thing missing was the usual bacon and egg sandwich for brekkie, they didn't do it that Sunday. When he got home he went to jump in the shower only to come out fairly quickly with a leech stuck to his thigh! Yuck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He was very brave, Daniel dowsed it in vinegar and it quickly fell off. A trophy for his first crew day!

There was no footy this weekend as it is our Queen's Birthday public holiday weekend.

Saturday, Daniel joined other members of the Brigade who were taking part in a documentary about psychics and how they are used to find missing people, help with crimes etc. The incident they were covering was about a little girl who went missing about four years ago, she had gone for a walk with her dog and a massive search and rescue was involved looking for her - in the end they found her along the railway line not far from her house, apparently the dog was taking her home - it was hungry!!

The brigade was involved in the search, on Saturday they went up to the helipad (no where near where the little girl went missing) and were doing "bush setting" interviews with various members from State Emergency that were involved in the incident, when we rocked up they were interviewing a guy from Police Search and Rescue and National Parks were waiting their turn.

It was all quite funny to watch, they set Stewart our captain up with a truck in the foreground next to him.

Then in the background they had the PC with the guys from the Brigade pretending to read maps and take it in turns to walk backwards and forwards to look like they were being active.
Next the camera man did some shots of the crew driving up in the truck and jumping out - after the first take they were asked to do it again but with feeling!!

For those Aussies out there, the show will be airing on Channel 7 some time in early July and is going to be called "The One".

Quiet week................

It's been quiet this week.

Ben had Thursday off due to another teacher's strike and with some of his school mates went to Penrith to see Iron Man - we figured that the teacher's strike wasn't his fault so they might as well take advantage of it. I am now having Thursdays off - but obviously the movies were more exciting than Mum being home! I caught up briefly with Heidi and Co in the afternoon for a cuppa.

Friday Ben was off sick - sore throat, complaining of aching chest and was running quite a high temperature - fortunately, Daniel was having that day off so he had someone home with him.

Daniel was suppose to be going to the "Easter Bunny" event for the RFS. It is a mystery course that different brigades undertake and they have different exercises to do. As there wasn't many from Faulco going, Daniel and Toby were going to be buddied up with Woodford but it turned out it was going to have to be an overnight thing so Daniel changed his mind. I guess that's why other brigade members didn't go either. It's called the "Easter Bunny" because it used to be held over Easter but now it's done at the end of May out of fire season.

Saturday there was no rugby due to other team forfeiting! Not that Ben would have been playing as he was still unwell. Apparently at least half of the other team play rep rugby for South West Sydney under 14s and had other commitments so Ben's team won by default - 28 - 0 (how do they work out a score if they never played??) !! Probably just as well as this appears to be one of the top teams and the only way to beat them would be for them not to turn up - very convenient!

Sunday I took the pups for a walk and we met a steam train along the way! I don' t think they (the pups) were too impressed - I thought it was quite cool though.

I only got the one photo, I have a new phone and couldn't reset quick enough to get another photo.

It came past quicker that I expected and was cheating - it has a diesel engine on the back pushing it along!

It goes from Central Station up to Katoomba and then back again later in the day. According to the web site it is due back again in July.

I can hear it now heading back down the mountains.

And that's it for this week!

Birthday Boys Weekend

Well another birthday has come and gone. Ben's birthday was Friday - he had the usual school to go to, it was also school photo day.

In the evening it was our Brigade's general meeting where Ben signed up as a new cadet in the Rural Fire Service - they can join officially at 12 yrs but our Brigade has a age ruling of 14yrs. He had to stand up in front of a room full of Brigade members and introduce himself and give a brief bio on himself. He did very well especially considering there were quite a few members there that night - we were passing our new Brigade constitution before the Annual General Meeting due next month, so attendance was higher than usual. Afterwards we took off for pizza (Ben's requested meal) and a DVD.

Saturday we had to travel to Baulkham Hills for Ben's rugby game - the team they played this week was Hills Black, they had played them before in a pre-season trial game and as per the trial game they were beaten again. Quite a rough team and some of their tactics quite questionable, they were also a much bigger team too - a lot of Ben's team (including Ben) tend to resemble stick insects rather than big rough rugby player! The final score was 39 - 14. Ben and another Ben on his team both got special mentions for their great defence so he came away with head held high! No injuries to report for this week either.

In the afternoon he had his mate Andrew over for a sleep over. He had also asked Sean and Bradley but both of them managed to get themselves grounded - must be a teenage thing! He seemed happy enough with just Andrew though, we had a barbeque tea, loaded up on DVD's and the pair of them were asleep before Dan came to bed - so much for them staying awake all night as planned.

Sunday morning they had arranged to go to the movies with Beth (Ben's girlfriend) and her friend. Beth's dad picked the boys up from here and took them to Penrith where they saw the Spiderwick Chronicles, then did a bit of shopping before Beth's dad dropped the boys off here again. Andrew and Ben then went off straight away with skateboards in hand and we never saw him again until about 5.30pm!

I think he enjoyed his weekend. He is already tucked up in bed exhausted. Poor Granny Di tried to have a conversation with him but could barely get a yes out of him - not sure if that comes from being tired or being 14yrs old!

That's all for now - love Karen

In the gallery...

Well, on Tuesday I took 14 of my paintings to the Bowerbird Gallery in Katoomba. We went up today to take a quick look at an international exhibition that opened this afternoon and the gallery owner has already put some of my paintings up on show!! It felt pretty weird to see them on a wall other than ours at home. I was also asked to do a short bio and send through some more photos of my paintings as well as a photo of me so that I can be added to the website. That is pretty cool because only a few of the artists on show in the gallery are featured on the website!!



Anyway, below is a photo of me in front of one of my paintings on show in the gallery....

My paintings...

Well there has been an intersting development. I spoke to the owner of one of the galleries in Katoomba last week and she asked if I could send through some photos of my work to her. I did so on Wednesday night. On Thursday morning I received an email and it turns out she likes my work and, I quote, "I have only just now logged in and they (the paintings) are super, I would like to see them now and I believe you would be added value to the gallery as your style of work is quite unique." I gave her a call on Thursday afternoon and she came to the house at about 5:30 that evening and liked what she saw.

So, on Tuesday I am taking as many paintings as possible to the gallery after work and she is going to put them up on display and for sale!!

Came as a big surprise to me, so fingers crossed all goes well.

I will let you know how it goes and will add some photos once the paintings are in the gallery....

Here is the link to the gallery if you are interested in taking a look: http://www.bowerbirdgallery.com.au/

Ok. Adios doritos.

Master Bubba (the peanut) Hale

Hi again,

We had our 18 week ultrasound today, no pictures available yet as they were having trouble with their printer but hopefully we can collect on Thursday.

So far all is well, Bubba appears happy and healthy and everything was where it should be.

We found out the sex - couldn't avoid it really - as it turns out Bubba is a bit of an exhibitionist (much like his father) and all was revealed to us quite clearly!!

So get knitting those BLUE booties!!!

Will update with picture soon - hopefully.

Ben's Parent/Teacher Night

I was just reading Heidi's blog about Robbie's parent/teacher night, it was also Ben's so Daniel and I trotted down with heavy feet dreading the outcome - or was it just that feeling of having to go to school? Ben was already there, he had gone up earlier to catch up with some friends - goodness knows why he was so keen to go back to school after being there all day but I have a feeling it was more about social contact with friends than school.

As it happens we have a "lovely boy" too (must be standard repertoire for Springwood High), he was a bit unsettled in the beginning but seems to be sorting himself out now. His science teacher and maths teacher spoke quite favourably about him and he has been doing surprising quite well in test etc - not that he had told us! Turns out he is in the top 10 in his class for maths - a big shock for us.

I think Ben was dreading his report from his English teacher as the first term report card was not very favourable but Mr Saltis (what a flake that guy is - reminded me of my chemistry teacher @ Tomlinscote) said that over the past few weeks Ben had made significant improvement and if he had to write that report now it would be totally different. Ben had actually come home from school that afternoon with a Bronze Award for showing significant improvement in English - that's his third Bronze Award now! When they reach 5 Bronze Awards I think they get some sort of formal acknowledgement from the school - I think.

Ben too has Ms Martin for history, she spoke very favourably about Ben and turns out she lives in our street! Not only that, I worked with her son Mark @ Penrith Imagining!! I ended up giving her a report on what a lovely boy Mark was to work with - quite funny!!

Ms Fodor, his technology teacher, guessed who I was before we even sat down! She said I couldn't be anyone else's mum bar Ben Sapwells - she thinks he looks just like me!

So we left with a huge sigh of relief - not what we expected at all. We made sure Ben knew we were happy with the outcome as I know he was dreading certain teachers reports.

Bens 3rd Rugby match...

Well the Blue Mountains Blue Tongues under 14's had their third match today. They did very well beating the opposition 40-29. They are now two wins from three games. Ben did his best and got in there quite hard early on, but seemed to slow down a lot towards the end and as it turns out he got a nasty knee to the ribs and is now feeling a bit bruised and battered and is nursing himself in bed with an ice pack. He got a couple of good runs in and went after as many tackles as he could.

One of the guys on his team is a great kicker and converted all but one of their tries!!! It looked like it was going to be a slaughter, but the opposition rallied in the second half and put up a spirited fight, but not enough in the end.

The team is very pumped now and they are riding high on their victory.(Until they come up against the giant Samoans again...)

Here are some photos of Ben and the team in action...

Heavy Hazardous Material Response Unit

Well, I just got back from the Woodford brigade (about ten minutes up the road) where one of the guys is also a member of the NSW Fire Brigades and he arranged to bring their new Heavy Hazardous Materials Response truck up for a viewing and training.

The guys approximate that the truck is worth close to a millions dollars, and having seen it, that is easy to believe. It has every bell and whistle you can imagine. It even has football stadium style lights that extend and can be moved to any number of settings all via remote control and when they are not in use, tuck in neatly behind the cab. It carries 38 cylinders for breathing apparatus, fridges, a microwave, computers, one of those whiteboards you can print out, its own weather station and more buttons and touch screens than you can point a stick at.

The photos below show some of the bells and whistles....

This is a photo showing the main work area. This contains half of the breathing apparatus cylinders, fridges, some pumps and water among other things.

This is a view into the truck from the back. All of the crates you see contain various equipment required for response such as boots.

These two photos are of a control panel just inside the door to the back of the truck. It gives a constant update on what is happening, including oil pressure, what doors are open and a general overview of what the truck is doing.


The tour wouldn't be complete without a view inside the cab. The screen at the top of the photo is a massive GPS unit and the buttons below control all of the lights and sirens. The truck is fully automatic with push button selections for drive and reverse and so on.

Well, that is about it on the big toy. Hope you enjoyed. I did!

Painting of Ben...

Hi all. A short (long) time ago Karen asked me to paint a picture of Ben. I selected a photo of him at the lake at Wentworth Falls feeding some ducks chips. For a long time the canvas has been green with a couple of charcoal outlines. Well now it is done and I have some photos of the progress as it came together.

This was the first step done well over 18 months ago. As I said, the first thing I did was paint a solid green background and put some basic charcoal lines in to mark where things were going to go.

The next thing was to start to add some more solid colours in blocks, especially the large shadow area from a tree and the water in the top right corner.

Next comes some more detailed colouring. The ducks and "Ben" start to take form. Still just solid colours and little detail but getting closer to the final product.

Finally the extra details are put in. Ben gets a face (not necessarily his), the ducks and the container in Ben's hand get chips, extra shadows are added, the grass gets texture and the water gets some silver highlights


This is my first attempt at doing a person. Not as good as I hoped, but practice makes perfect as they say.....

Village Fire Fighting Assessment

Well, I did it. I went to the Village Fire Fighting (VF) assessment today. I passed, but I am now quite tired. We were assessed on a response to a motor vehicle accident, a structural fire and ropes, ladders and fire extiguishers. It was quite a cold and rainy day, but that still didn't stop us working up a sweat in our gear!!! We had to do three runs of each excercise and, as the assessors said, if we didn't get it right within three runs we would fail. It was only a small group of us and most had put in a lot of practice, so there were no problems.

Well the next thing up is first aid in May and then I will look at when I can do Advanced Fire Fighting, which takes it all to the next level.

Talk again soon!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for all the fish.....

Hi all. Thanks for the comments. Quick update. Ben has been at his dad's for the week and he comes back tomorrow to have the second week of his holidays here. We went to the Katoomba Hospital last Sunday and booked in to have the baby. We also had an appointment with the obstetrician on Monday and he has given mum and baby a clean bill of health. (Phew!) Our next appointment is on the 15th of May, and the 18 week ultrasound is due in a couple of Weeks. Rest assured I Will post a pic.

I am off to my Village Fire Fighting assessment tomorrow. Village Fire Fighting involves anything from storm damage to vehicle fires and accidents to structural fires. Should be a good day. I was training with one of the other brigades last Saturday and I think we all feel well prepared.... I will post tomorrow to let you know how it went.

Bye for now.

Slide shows galore...and more to come.

Good evening. I have posted some slide shows for your perusal. More news and photos to come soon, so watch this space...

P.S: I lit the fire!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PS: I forgot to mention....I lit a lot of the fires you saw in the fire photos! Was it fun? What do you think? I think that anyone that knows me well will know the answer to that. That means you Dean, Chris, Mum and Shayne.....

Helloooooo? Is there anybody in there?

Well...it seems Karen, Ben and I are taking the plunge into the world of bloggland. This is just the beginning. Hold on tight. We will take you on and adventure involving fire (with flames), dogs, cats, fish, rugby, babies, paintings and whatever other weird and wonderful stuff pops into our heads or lives..... Let's kick things off with some photos. You will find below some interesting things, or at least interesting to us, so take a look and tell us what you think .....................

First the fire photos. The first photos are of the hazard reduction (a controlled burn done in cooler months to reduce high levels of bush fire fuel) that was conducted by the Fualconbridge Rural Fire Brigade (RFB). This was assisted by other RFBs including Valley Heights, Winmalee and the National parks and wildlife service. Some of the flames were well over 6 metres high!!!

The helicopter pictured drops incendiary devices in the areas that can not be reached on foot. They are like ping pong balls that, when activated, undergo a chemical reaction that causes them the burst into flame. They are simply dropped out of the helicopter and off they go!This is a photo taken at the Blue Mountains Championships of our Captain, Stewart, officially being handed the keys to our new category 1 (big) fire truck. Last fire photo, I bet you thought that would never end! This is a crew of us from Faulco RFB manning one of the checkpoints at the Six Foot Track Marathon. This is now one of the top ten marathons in Australia and attracts runners from far and wide.

Next, a couple of paintings I have done....

A photo of the boys, Bazal and Murphy the cats. Murphy is the white one. He is our wedding cat, we got him just after our wedding from the Katoomba RSPCA.

Next, a photo of the Mooflower in bloom. This thing is strange. It only flowers at night and is only supposed to flower once a year. Ours has flowered 5 times this year. The blooms have the most incredible scent.
If you look really, really closely you will be able to make out Ben in the centre of this photo. This was his first game of Rugby Union. They played against a team of large islanders that would make Mike Tyson look like a dwarf, so I can't blame him for staying way out there away from them all!!! In all fairness he was actually staying in his position on the wing...lucky for him.And lastly....this is our future bundle of joy at the 12 week ultrasound....No longer a jellybean, now a peanut. We had an appointment today with the doctor at Katoomba hospital and he is very happy with the way things are progressing. It is all very exciting for us.
Well....as Peter Cundall (Gardening Australia on ABC) says...that's your bloomin' lot. I will put some more stuff up as it happens and when it is not so close to my bedtime. Oh, and I am sure Karen will be putting in her bit, and Bippo (Ben for those of you that don't know).

Adios Doritos!