#2234 Monday 30th October

The Landrover has spent the past week on the ramp.... I've been cleaning the underbody so that it is very clean when I finally am able to have it inspected for licensing.  Part of this is to find (and fix) oil leaks.  Today I've found that the power steering box has a bad leak..... so I now have to strip the steering so that the leak can be stopped.

I was having a little break in the shed..... the chooks were sitting close by.  I noticed that if I shut my eyes for a little spell, the chooks shut their eyes too!

These days I "run out of puff" by early afternoon and so I work in the morning and rest in the afternoon.  Kaylia likes that arrangement as she has a rest with me.

#2233 Sunday 29th October

Happy birthday Dad.  I have my father to thank for my mechanical skills...... he had me working on the suspension of an Austin A40 when I was 10...... and by my teens I had 2 old cars that were my learning ground - pulling them to bits to see how they worked.  By 17 I was stripping a Vespa 150 scooter..... it was seized and it had to be completely stripped and reassembled. (I rode that scooter on regular 200km trips in the next few years!)..... and that led to my passion for a 1942 Harley Davidson which was stripped to pieces in mum's loungeroom! 

The current landrover project is thanks to Dad.  I wish he was was still around to share it with. 

#2232 Tuesday 24th October

Tuesday begin with a speech therapy session where she is being trained to form sounds clearly and to speak in sentences.  It's always hard for us to reinforce these lessons.... we find it so easy to just know what she is saying and so allow her to avoid the effort of good speech.

The changes I made to the ramp have worked well.

Here is the Landrover sitting on the ramp.  This let's me work on the underneath of the vehicle.....  its much better than having to lie on the floor.  I'm working on fixing oil leaks.  I also need to replace the rubber engine mounts.  This will be quite an easy task with the vehicle on the ramp. 

#2231 Saturday 21st October

 Kaylia and I have just returned from her Saturday morning trip to the op shops.  Today she wanted to go to Cannington ..... there are 4 op shops all together there .... she loves it and she came home with 22 DVDs!  Some DVDs are highly prized by her ...... the Dora the Explorer series ..... and she can't resist buying more than her allotted 5 per shop.   (I give her the debit card so she gets practice at handling the transaction herself.)

#2230 Thursday 19th October

Phew..... I'm worn out.  I've been modifying the steel vehicle ramp and after 2 hours of cutting and moving heavy steel beams, I've had enough.  I'm learning to give myself permission to relax a bit.....  have a rest instead of over-tiring myself.

I think I've got the ramp in the right place.....  now I have to weld it back together so that it can stand the weight of the vehicle on top of the ramp. 

(The purpose of today's work is to change the angle of the vehicle approach...... previously the approach was too sharp and I couldn't really drive onto the ramp. ..... and all this is to make the work underneath the vehicle easier.)

#2229. extra post

During my afternoon rest time I'm listening to the ABC podcast......

This is a man's exploration of his own family history.  In the context of the rejection of the proposed constitutional recognition of the First Nation in this continent.......  this podcast is chilling and appalling.  The systematic genocide enacted in the land..... and the blatant manner in which "authority" fostered and encouraged such genocide...... 

.... shame on our nation. 

It is clear from such a well documented account, that Australia is a shining example of the absolute worst behavior...... worst on a world wide scale.   Not just of the people in the colonial surroundings..... but also the overseeing authorities in England. 

Surely no person..... indigenous and non-indigenous alike.... can fail to hang our head in shame.   The genocide in many cases was carried out by one indigenous group upon another.  Instigated by the colonists..... but the "tool" used to commit the genocide included indigenous peoples from different regions.  

But is there value in pursuing "shame"?  .... better to recognise the factors which gave rise to this history so that a repetition can never occur.

Firstly .... that the rule of law failed.  On a local stage, self-admitted criminals suffered no consequences of their actions.  On a national stage, the over-arching rule of law was ignored by local governors and by Britain's authorities.

Second ..... recognition that the genocide and injustice in Australia (as in North America) was largely driven by the greed for land. ii

And much of the injustice was enabled by the fact that the indigenous people HAD NO VOICE.  ...... and Australia has now again rejected a voice. 

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ii  The experiment in democracy that is playing out in the USA began because the desire of the early settlers for land conflicted with a desire by Great Britain to quarantine the land west of the Appalachians for the indigenous Americans.  This sparked the American Revolution. In Canada, their history more closely matched the Australian history.

#2229 Tuesday 17th October

Kaylia is excited about mummy's birthday tomorrow.  She has decided on the present she wants to give Naomi. It will be a good day.

Tomorrow is also a trial day for Kaylia at a new workplace.  She has been to see it and tomorrow she goes with a support person to see if it will be good for a longer period. 

In yesterday's news there was an article about a person who is locked in long term solitary confinement..... due to their disability they can't be charged or tried for a violent incident. So the government imprisons them without trial or treatment. 

Having lived through the early days of Kaylia's autism, I can easily understand how this situation has developed for this person......  and I'm so thankful for the years of therapy that Kaylia has received.  I estimate that she has had around 20 to 30 thousand hours of therapy since therapy began at age 3. Even at this late stage of this guy's life, the same therapy could make a huge difference for him.  

 But it won't happen....  and he is likely to spend his whole life locked in solitary confinement.