TOBY

Dear Family and Friends.

We have had a hard week as Toby had to be put down last Friday. The vet had diagnosed Toby with a slipped disc in his back. He was in extreme pain and there was nothing they could do for him but dose him up with pain killers. No one knows just when it actually happened. He was well enough on the Wednesday as he had a bath up in the dog wash which he loves. so whether it happened when he jumped in or out of the car or whether it happened when he was in the dog wash when he had to turn around we'll never know but he was unable to toilet himself and he wouldn't eat so there was really no other option. We feel for Craig and Michelle and the girls as they are just as upset as we are. They gave him a great home for this last twelve months of his life and they loved him just as much as we did. We have lots of good memories and we have put some of our photos of him in the blog.

That's our sad news and now onto our holiday activities.

Robin and Pauline's daughter, Sharon, their granddaughter Analeese (phonetic spelling) and grandson Cody visited this week for a few days. As usual we had our meals outside on the Veranda and enjoyed the awakening of the night time animals. On the veranda their is an insect zapper which attracts whatever mossies and insects are around. And it does it's job really well. Each evening their would be a couple of green tree frogs sitting under it eating whatever fell to the ground. They are quite big, about the size of the palm of your hand and Pauline picked one up. Conversation lead onto the fact that it is possible to put a frog to sleep, something I didn't know you could do. Sharon moistened her hands placed the frog in one hand and covered the frog with her other hand. She then twisted her hand back and forth for a few times. Then she opened her hand and the frog lay in her hand apparently asleep. I lent over to look at it and it suddenly came to life and jumped across the table toward me. Yes your right, I got such a fright that I jumped and squealed. Evidently the longer you twist it in your hand the deeper the sleep.

Robin and Pauline have gone now and we are on our own at their place. They headed off to Townsville to begin with and then on to Nambour where they await the birth of another grandchild. We have had such a lovely time with them, they have made us feel so welcome. We may not see them again on this trip as we may have left here by the by time they come home.

Weather reports indicate that QLD have had heavy rains with roads cut off and flooding over a large area of the state. Up until last night here at Ravenshoe we have had very little rain compared to elsewhere. We have had many thunderstorms but no rain, though on our journey's in and out of Atherton we often run into heavy patches of rain. When it has rained it is the heavy tropical rain which passes over fairly quickly and then is gone for the rest of the day. Last night it began to rain about 9pm and has been raining ever since. It is not the torrential rain of the tropics but this seems to be set in for the day. We expect there to be a lot of rain whilst we are here as it comes with the territory and the season. Pauline was saying that last year they had 45 days straight with rain. Hope they don't repeat it this year.

The other day we took a drive out to see Tully Falls. It was a lovely drive except most of it was on dirt road but it was worth it. It was too steep of a slope for us to get to the main falls but we were able to go part of the way to an area where their were small falls where the water gushed over the rocks. it was lovely and serene as we were the only people around.

That's about it for now

Love to all and we hope you have a safe and happy Christmas as we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Saviour.

with lots of love

Ken and Lyn