Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Slack

One word. Slack. I suppose not a lot has been happening since the last post. Well, not in our immediate world. There has been the Queensland floods, the Brisbane floods, Cyclone Yasi, Japan's earthquake & tsunami's....

Sonja got a job as a "Foster Care Case Worker" with TRACC Logan (Spiritus). She now supports Foster Carers and communicates/advocates for them with Child Safety. So, anyone interested in being a Foster Carer? ;o) Jokes aside, TRACC Logan is only agency in the Brisbane Region, and up to 20 children a day can be referred for placements. Sadly, Foster Carers are few-and-far-between. Many only want to take on babies, as they seem to think that they will have no 'behaviours' or no 'trauma'. Foster Carers are amazing people, they are not raising 'normal' children. These kids are in care for a reason, and have suffered varying degrees of trauma. Yes, they are only human, and will make mistakes, but what a job those Foster Carers do!


Noah has been a member of this household for a year now! He is really well behaved now - we never thought it would happen! He comes out the front with us, and as long as there are no distractions (dogs, cats, birds, invisible foes) we'll stay in the yard with us or come back if he is called. He loves walks and will leap into the air, nearly doing somersaults in excitement. He is also quite vocal when we arrive home. He will 'squawk' and bark and tell us all sorts of stories about his ad
ventures of protecting the yard for the day. He is still extremely independent and will claim he doesn't like to be fussed over, yet will lean into you if an ear rub is on offer. We find ourselves daily shaking our heads and laughing at his antics.

We managed to get our 4wd off the road for around 3 months around Christmas time. It had an unfortunate encounter with a cement barrier on the motorway. Recently, we decided to go exploring. After finding the National Park that we were going to had been closed, we headed up to Beerburrum State Forest near the Glasshouse Mountains. Everything was going great, until we encountered this.
The tree on the left was blocking the road, and when Clinton stepped in the water, he sank up to his knees. After several failed attempt of moving the tree, or breaking the branches off, Clinton decided he would just go for it. Needless to say, we ended up very much stuck, on an angle, with the car taking in water. After quite a while of madly collecting branches, sticks and anything else we could see it got dark. Only the back left wheel was spinning, and it was only digging itself in deeper. About then panic set in. 1. Who would we call?? 2. How on earth would they find us?? 3. AARGH! We called every person we could think of that lived, or had lived, on the Northside of Brisbane. Fortunately, we were able to contact someone (eventually!) who had a 4wd and was willing to come and tow us out. Clinton arranged to walk out to meet them, to (try) to guide them back to the car. Sonja stayed in the car, clinging on the the door (the angle was very awkward) staring out into the dark. Thankfully we had taken our new Navman, so Clinton was able to work out approximately where we were in relation to roads and was able to follow his 'exit track' back in with our rescuers! After a little while, the car was free! After many thanks, we set off home. While putting along the freeway, Sonja menti ons to Clinton that she can hear a hissing sounds. Clinton looks down at the temperature gauge and suddenly pulls over the side of the motorway. The car had overheated! After a call to RACQ, we were picked up by a tow-truck and driven home. The drama of the bogged car started around 5pm, and we finally arrived home at 10:30pm! What a day!