Our youngest daughter, at 14, had obtained work at a fast-food outlet not far from our home. Thrilled that her entrepreneurial spirit had found a means of earning her own money, she worked hard, and everything was going well until the day she came home from work in tears.

As we stood in our driveway, trying to comfort and understand our distraught child, our eldest son, Jim a third-year apprentice boilermaker who was very protective of his siblings, arrived home to find out that a manager had been propositioning her along with all the other young girls at her workplace.

At closing time, as that manager walked across the parking lot, he noticed a big grey Valiant and leaning on it was what seemed like a giant of a man covered in grease and dirt. The giant grabbed him by the shirt front and, holding him off the ground forcefully, told him just what he thought of a scumbag who would proposition young girls, using his authority to intimidate them. He finished his tirade with the promise that if the manager said so much as a nasty word to the giant’s sister anytime in the future, then he, the giant, would be back to deal with him. With that he let the man go, returned to the Valiant and drove away.

When Julie arrived for her next shift, she was stunned to find that the manager had, overnight, become a gentleman treating all the girls with respect and diplomacy. None of them knew what had happened in the car park the previous night, and the manager had no idea which girl was the giant’s sister.

By Margaret Irwin

To finesse or not to finesse… that is the question. Finessing is a great technique by which you can make an extra trick if a high card is held in the right opponent’s hand. Some say never to try a finesse unless you must have that extra trick in order to make your contract. A statistician will tell you that a finesse will work 50% of the time (unless a clue in the bidding suggests otherwise). A bridge player, however, will invariably tell you that their finesses almost never work.

Last week’s smart players, who knew when to and when not to finesse were:

Tuesday, 30th March – Jenny Freeman and Jill Peterson.

Thursday, 1st April – Louise Payne and Peter Quin for north/south; Jennifer Calvert and Dawn Phipps for east/west.

If you want to learn about the art of finessing come along to the Parkes Bridge Club on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 1pm and Mondays at 6:30pm at the Lutheran Church Hall in Currajong Street. See our page https://www.parkes.bridge-club.org or call Greig Ball 0429621712 or Bev Laing 0418114826 for more information.

By Beth Thomas

I hear a plastic bag rattling in the dining room. Found a mouse trapped in a ziplock bag. Zipped it and gently applied pressure. No more mouse. After brekkie more party food put behind TV. All eaten within two hours – amazing! Refill with larger amount. Didn’t expect it to disappear so quickly. Second pile of party food is eaten in two nights.

The verandah has a few partially missing boards in it so I load party food into the spaces. Also, a rat bait container (I had to put a piece of wood on it as rats had moved it away from where it was supposed to be) and a knot hole in one of the boards have food put in them as well. I check these each day and replenish as needed. I’m very careful to make sure the animals can’t access the bait or dead mice. Those furry party go-ers sure love their food! I worry about the electrical wires being chewed through and a fire starting. Where, oh where, is the Pied Piper of Hamelin?

I’m really sleep deprived by now and desperate. So deprived, that one morning when the alarm goes off, I get the clock and try every way I can to turn the darn alarm off but it won’t stop. Then I see my phone, pick it up and that was the thing making all the noise.

Just as well there was no one else in the house. They would have been cursing me.

I try the car for two nights. First night, laying across the back seat. Car needs to be another half metre wider. The cat discovers me and walks over the car a couple of times. Later I hear it telling me it has a mouse for me but I lay there and pretend I don’t know it. So, a very uncomfortable night. Feel like half my brain has dissolved I’m so tired. Next night I sleep in the front of the car. Pretend I’m on an overseas flight. After little sleep, I give up at 4am, taking the doona with me and fall into my bed.

Surprise! There are no mice, absolutely no mice in my bedroom! I sleep for two hours before I need to get up. The mice have partied too long and too hard. The next day I sleep during the morning, that afternoon and sleep again that night.

Postscript. I pick up three dead mice from the verandah. The cat has brought me some furry gifts. I let the chooks out for the afternoon, head back to the verandah only to see, too late, a chook scoffing a mouse down in one go! She was still part of the count when I locked them up that night!

By Bush-Tales

 

The mice moved in during the second week of my farm stay. Found mouse droppings on my bedside table. Sounded like they were having a party in my bedroom. I don’t keep food in my bedroom so they were out of luck! I remove two pillows on my bed and you guessed it! Mouse droppings on the edge of the sheet and mattress. I hear mice in my bedroom each night, turn the light on, bang the side of the bedside table scaring the mice away for a short time. All is quiet for a few hours and they start again.

I leave the TV on in my room to create white noise so I can’t hear the mice running around and doing what mice do. This morn-ing a mouse in the bathtub. Left him there, scrabbling, trying to get out. Later he had an accident with a shoe. The next night a frog was in the shower! Later a mouse bit my finger while I was asleep in bed. It means one part of me is still soft and juicy. I suppose that’s better than being old and crusty! I can see the funny side of it. It’s the only thing which has kept me going through all this.

Put party food out for the mice last night. Each night the mice partied on. I could hear them running around in my room, some fights and arguing, running along the wall near my bed. I swear there were baby mice in the room as I could hear their squeaks. A few times I felt mice on my bed which was a bit too close! I had party food in my bed-room and two traps loaded with peanut butter. Eventually I put food and traps at the entrance to my bedroom. I trap four mice in my bedroom. By this stage I wasn’t getting much sleep.

A mouse scoots between the TV and fire-place each night. Little bugger. BBQ has mouse droppings on it. I pour boiling water on the plate so I can use it. After use I clean it and put alfoil over it. Took them three days and they start chewing the alfoil. Party Central behind the TV last night. Then they had an after party in my room. Must be teenagers. Started about 11pm and went off and on till 6am. Little buggers! Not much sleep. Tonight, they are given more party food behind the TV; they eat the lot. Put packets of Ratsak in a bedroom and in the kitchen fireplace.

(To be continued…)

By Bush-Tales

International Women’s Day was celebrated in Cooke Park on Monday with a program of events to bring the global celebration of the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women closer to home.

The free program of events included a range of social group activities led by local women. These included a pilates class, mums and kids storytime, morning tea provided by the CWA and a yoga class, while representatives of BreastScreen NSW and Rural Adversity Mental Health Program (ramph) had information available to participants. Women were also encouraged to leave a comment on a blackboard to share their own stories or quotes about the amazing women who have inspired them.

Central West Lachlan Landcare co-ordinator Marg Applebee organised an online forum with five women to discuss various questions under the theme of the day ‘Choose to Challenge’.

One of the panellists was Parkes pharmacist Vee Vian Higgins. She shared her experience of the challenges of returning to work after having three children and how she and her partner started sharing jobs in the home and garden on an equal basis.

The theme this year stands as a reminder that all of us have a choice to call out gender bias and inequality, and that there is still a need for International Women’s Day. According to the World Economic Forum, none of us will see gender parity in our lifetimes, and nor likely will many of our children. Gender parity will not be attained for almost a century. There is still urgent work to be done, and everyone can play a part.

 

 

 

 

We are living in special times under COVID, so why not make the 2020 Father’s Day a memorable one for the father figures in your life? Your special guy deserves to be celebrated in a big way, but also appropriate under current rules.

Here are some ideas to ensure you make the man in your life feel loved and appreciated.

• Start his day with a breakfast feast fit for a king including all his favourites.

• Do some family bonding and battle it out over board games, or see how well you can work together with a jigsaw puzzle that dad has picked out.

• Host a beer tasting session at home.

• Create a ‘drive-in movie’ at home by shining a projector against a blank wall, and pick one of dad’s favourite movies to watch.

• Find a comedy show on Netflix that’ll give him a good chuckle.

• Make him a special Father’s Day cake using his flavour preferences and decorations.

• Take a (virtual) trip to places on your bucket list, or holidays you’ve been planning.

• Setting up a tent in your backyard and get some ghost stories ready.

• If dad’s the type to hunker down in front of the TV and watch his team, track down their best games for an all-day marathon.

• If you are looking for a special gift for dad, try and find something from a local business, or get a take away to support other dads in our community.