Book Hunting

A new book recommended by Good Reads.
  Girl Hunter: Revolutionizing the Way We Eat, One Hunt at a Time
by Georgia Pellegrini 
I might buy this one for Dad...yeah...ahem..DAD would love it.

First came Cookie Monster

What scares me is a small piece of jerky weighing 30g was a 100g steak.  Nevertheless! If you want any of this then you had better get in quick because I can not resist its savoury leather chewiness.......mmm...nom nomnom, Mmmm!! Nom! Nom! Nom!

I should work for the BOM

Yesterday the fence jumper & her calf went to the butcher and I started to make jerky with the remaining meat. It started raining last night...and it's still raining.

With Macca on a Sunday Mornin'

 The Adaptive Curmudgeon on the other side of the Pacific has made a list of those little freedoms which have escaped the the country's cotton wool policies. This list reminded me of Sean's sister, Kath, who was interviewing Gin Gin people about their recreations for her PhD thesis. She asked a bloke why he lived here, and he replied something to the effect, "Because in the city I couldn't sit here, in my car, at a skate park and have a few beers. The police would hound me off but here they just leave me alone because I'm not causing any harm."

Moving to the country might be founded in sticky sentiment like that expressed by the listeners of Australia All Over but the reality is it offers freedoms not available to people in the cities. Many Gin Gin-ites are here to enjoy those little freedoms which mainstream Australia only looks fearfully at from the corners of half-closed eyes. This district abounds with nudists, brewers, guerrilla gardeners, housework sloths, pig hunters, eccentrics, owner-builders, agricultural & self sufficiency experimentalists, pet lovers, addicts, big families, impoverished people, homeschoolers, back yard mechanics and a million other types of people whose activities are not illegal but are definitely marginalised.

Goons

Sean:   ANOTHER blond kid!
            Just like you! They're everywhere!
            There must be something in the water!

Kirk:   Yep! Crocodiles!

Zombie Thwarted

The Kirk-zombie attempted a 2nd strike on my bedroom the other night, fortunately Sean redirected him in time. We have since started taking him to the loo before midnight to avoid any more creative uses of non-toilet spaces.

Mental Cloud Seeding

It's been very dry lately and we have to destock so the fence-jumping heifer & her calf are going into the butcher next week meaning it's time to empty the freezer. No one here wants the the monster fillet weighing around 8 to 10kg so once that slab has defrosted (this might take a few days) I'll carve, marinate, give it a light smoke and then dry it into jerky. Just thinking of doing this should turn the sky black with downpours to screw up the dehydration.

Ironically once the brindle bull went in due to drought, it rained a week later.

Gob Smacking

Around midnight Kirk hopped out of bed and made a beeline for the kitchen sink. "Needs a drink" I thought. But no, he opened the cupboard and the next thing I heard was a long, continual stream of piss. He then headed back to bed completely unaware of what he'd done.... I can't wait for that 21st birthday party.

As you do

I was reading the Icelandic Review, as you do, and became acquainted with Jonas Sigurdsson. He is definitely worth sharing. I have no idea what he is singing, but I don't particularly care.

I enjoy reading this journal because it is the environmental flipside to Australia with novel ideas and solutions. Remember the volcano that errupted? Iceland's answer to the tourism drop was, Inspired by Iceland, which invites tourists to join Icelanders in their favourite activity. Of course, I am a sucker for this because I love the Couchsurfing and Wwoofers networks which bring all manner of people to our door allowing me some measure of vicarious travel.   OMG! Trawling Inspired by Iceland there are so many things I would enjoy; hotpools, bedtime stories, walk with an Icelandic sheepdog, language lessons, bushtucker, turf houses, cooking, seals & farms...and swamp soccer.... How do I afford a ticket to Iceland?

She feeds me

I met Ale in Guayaquil. She was 14 with wild curly hair, passionate eyes and bee-sting lips.
At that time she had a radio show of her own, a wide interest in music and was on her way to study law. 22 years on after discovering there really is no justice she has turned to her 2nd passion - playwriting - and is slowly carving a niche for herself there.  What I really love is Alejandra feeds me music. A couple of times a week she sends me a variety of music clips which Skye & Kirk LOVE.

Today Ale sent me this;  Calle 13 - Latin America   (translation here: http://lyricstranslate.com/en/latinoamerica-add-english-title-here.html)

Next Project

I reckon we could make one of these - on the far side of the big dam. We'd have to remove the barbed wire fence though. Who's gunna drive the suzi? (Link thanks to Michelle)

Middle Age

Middle age is when women fail to care what others think about their natural functions. As I exited the IGA tonight with a dirty, grumpy baby on my shoulder and a pack of sanitary pads the teenage, male cashier said, "Have a good night!"  I waved the flowery pack of vaginal dressings at him and replied,
"Do you REALLY think I'm going to have a good night?"

Stories for posterity

Kirk started learning basic circuits today. One of the things we made was a pot plant water tester (continuity circuit) so he went around testing everything: a grapefruit, Skye's milk, the soil outside, the dog's tongue and then his own tongue. Mmm...interesting...that will be a story for the first girl he brings home.

New Words

My client wrote this:

We are well aware that the rates of cancer are monsiderably higher in rural areas due to poor GP coverage so cancers are caught at much later stages. 

And from a student, Volumptuous.

English is a great language.

The Happy Camper

Kirk is ensconced in his new tent - with his books and fairly lights. I wonder if he will last the night?

PS Thanks for the tent, Rob! It's had a lot of use and it's about to get a lot more :-)

Shelly V Miss Kate

This week I successfully persuaded the grade 9 girls class that protest poetry was worth their while so I feel the enormous efforts I made and risks I took were worthwhile. Shelly's sonnet, England in 1819, baffled them. Sinead's, Rebel Song entranced them, and then Miss Kate's, "To Thineself be True" which I had on an old CD from our old poetry club days, shocked them completely. Today, the third lesson, I lightened up and we just did a bit of onomatopoeia, attempting to write the sounds of an angry cat in a cardboard box...they liked that...

Screwing Around With Pipes

Today Cate recounted an article on TV about an old Italian water diviner living in Victoria. Apparently he sticks a section of PVC on his penis and walks around the property until it points him towards the underground water source.

THE IMAGES IN MY HEAD ARE FRIGGIN' BRILLIANT. It took me a fair while to stop laughing...

The ensuing conversation with Sean;

T: So HOW did he develop his technique?
S: Men will stick their dicks in anything.
T: So what caused him to be wandering around outside with his penis stuck in a pipe?
S: Well, you've already got it in there...why not take it for a walk?
I suppose that pretty well sums up the male-logic side of things.

READERS: Feedlines please!


Investor: Maybe there's a market for those things in Papua New Guinea?
SCA member: Hell of a codpiece dude!

Gold

From Michelle: 

Saw the funniest thing today. There was a young boy about 13 in the k-mart carpark sitting on his bike smoking! As I came down the escalator he flicked his cigarette butt onto the ground, blowing out smoke, thinking he looked 'cool'. Behind me was an older gentleman who got right up into his face and yelled "If you're old enough to smoke then you're old enough to use a bin. Now pick it up you little bastard!" Never seen a kid move so fast in all my life! Dropped his bike, rushed over, picked up his litter and put it in the ashtray of the bin! Hilarious!!! Really made my day :)

Gotta love grumpy, old men - only they could get away with this.

Freeeeedoooommm

I dumped Faecesbook! The first day was uncomfortable. On the second I was distractable. But today I have completely replaced my habit with a crocheted bikini.

Helping Aunty Chelle

I've got a luverly bunch of coconuts!

Sean found Skye pulling the cotton buds OFF her pretty creation and stuffing them down her shirt. Maybe she wants to look more like her mummy?

Angry Birds Exorcise Boy

You know, there are things kids do which will remain in our memories forever...one of these occurred at 1am this morning. I submitted the final grant at 6 minutes to midnight and around 1am headed for the sack. As I got into bed - tossing aside all the comics surrounding Kirk - he suddenly sat bolt upright and produced some hind-brain inspired babbling and proceeded to spew all over my bed...and books...and doonas.  An hour later the shower of shit began...and he continued to to shit and vomit for the next 6 hours.  No wonder Regan's parents thought she was posessed. HOWEVER I cured this case with the words, "I don't care anymore! You can play Angry Birds all day." And it all stopped.

The Bloggess Wins Again

Reading The Bloggess is one of my favourite procrastinations and today she made my day again,

“when your wrong, your wrong.”

 Just beautiful...

I ROCK!

...Like an autistic waiting in outpatients. It's that time of the month when I start hitting the spiky wall of deadlines and all the possible complications suddenly emerge. However - it's also the time when my clients FINALLY start playing ball!  On the good side of things, I baked an awsome fruit loaf last night....doubt there will be much left of it by tonight.

Cloudscopes and Spice-Cream

Just to assure you we are not all bloodthirsty killers  (OK...well I am but the kids are resisting my brainwashing techniques), this week Kirk "invented" a cloudscope. It's a tube with cotton balls on either end. It's for making clouds. You can also put paint on the end and stamp the clouds on paper. The other day he also claimed it showed the true shapes hidden in the clouds. How sweet.

Continuing with his creative urges, he inventend spice-cream. Mmm....yummm.

...and Zombies Eat Their Brains

Kirk failed the zombie test today. He refused to eat the brains I served up tonight. Pity. They were so fresh and creamy. Skye passed with flying colours.

4 Sheep Die on Local Farm....

Michelle had 4 sheep butchered today so I am tanning the hides as an experiment. I have flayed & salted one with some success and will see it through to the finish before I attempt the other three which are in the freezer. Yes, it is as difficult & tedious as it looks but it is not an unpleasant job and actually the fresh hide feels lovely and it only smells a bit "sheepy". Before I attempt the next one I will aquire suitable tools.

My First Night WITHOUT Kids

I have a huge grant full of stats to write so tonight I palmed the kids on Michelle (she OFFERED!)

Around 10:30pm I recieved this email;

"Your little piggies are full of sketti and sound asleep :)  Sharing a bed with Skye is like 3 rounds with Mike Tyson that or an enormous grasshopper under the covers!!! I have them in bed with me - using Kirk as a barrier so she doesn't fall out! hahaha!! Haruka is still at Marnie's so Richard has bailed out to her bed and the boys have all breathed a sigh of relief to know they don't have to share their beds with any 'little people'. So everyone should get a good night sleep - except me!!"

 

Later she wrote, "More like George Foreman AND his roasting grill!!!"

I wonder if she will offer to take them again?

Visiting

Tracks
Through the house
A thin line to walk

Rock'n'Roll

Have you ever seen over a ton of cattle literally trying to destroy a truck? Nothing made me happier than knowing they were on the inside and I was definitely on the outside.  2 bulls and a heifer went in today and my freezer will be providing one of them with a cool reception next week.

Here's MY Sign!

Today I deserve my own sign for inattention. Unpacking the shopping I discovered extra items and an inflated reciept....I COULD have afforded a coffee after all! Next time Skye goes shopping it will be with her hands tied to the trolley!

Here's your sign

You know all those jokes that go around about people who use their CD drive as a drink holder and their mouse on the screen...well I got a real one!  A friend complained to her husband that their old keyboard did not have the right connection for their new computer. It was a PS2 connector (a round one) and the PC needed a USB (a flat one). So her husband cut off the PS2 plug and rewired it with a USB plug. No, it didn't work. I didn't explain why...I just loaned her a compatible keyboard...Thinking: "Here's your sign"
(Sean is going to ask, "Which keyboard?"...YOURS! It's the ONLY ONE!)

Not his namesake

Kirk claims to dislike pumpkin which is a pity because it grows exceptionately well in our garden! So to persuade him he really does like it I am embarking upon as many recipes as I can manage full of pumpkinny goodness (vision ideal 50's housewife brightly displaying unbelieveably perfect pumpkin).

If he still doesn't like pumpkin by the time I run out of recipes (I certainly won't run out of pumpkins!) then perhaps he will have at least resigned himself to eating them without protest (eat or starve - it's his choice).

This working from home stuff...

...is working. Much to my surprise. Maybe I will drag my life back to being my own.

To fetch her poor dog a bone

When she got there,
the cupboard was bare,
and so the poor dog had none.

Sweets:  lemon butter
1/2 a can of beetroot, 1 serve of cornflakes
Powdered:  formula, farax, 1 yogurt mix, bread flour, Indian corn flour, and semolina.
Beverages: tea, milo.
Dried: fruit, azuki beans, mung beans, mushrooms, bull kelp, seaweed sheets, slipmouth fish & squid
Stock: fish & veg, mizo
Spices: still too many (figured out how to use powdered okra!)
Pickles: cucumber, ginger
Sauces: soy, BBQ, tomato, mirin, chili, Tabasco, wasabi, okonomi, kewpie mayonnaise, tom yum.
Baking: bicarb, gelatin, agar, vinegar, Parisian essence, peppermint essence, almond essence, food colourings, honey
Dairy: butter, milk
Meat: 1/2 rump & a little bacon

OK - this experiment has officially ended because it's too difficult to cook from this pantry and work at school.  I restocked today on a few basics and now will work depleting the spices.

"Win Me an iPad2"

...demanded Michelle. The Kleenex website is looking for people to blog about parenting and they will reward chosen bloggers with an electronic device which doesn't even have a decent keyboard. I suppose it builds client base loyalty or perhaps their Kleenex Mum's Club promoters have run out of ideas.

Wee weee weee!

Michelle gave me a box of avocadoes yesterday (approximately 20?) and I asked her why she was giving to me and she replied, "Well, you know you can only east so many avocadoes." I beg to differ. We've eaten 10 already and tomorrow I'll make guacamole - AGAIN!

Went to the cupboard

A little out of the ordinary... I blended popping corn into polenta. Made pupusas from the masa lista. Made dipping crackers from the flour & 3 dips (yogurt & beetroot, guacamole, adzuki bean dip). Roseallas were cheap ($1 per kg) so I cooked them with honey & accompanied them with custard (AKA budgie heads and pus)

Shopping this week: milk, bread, meat, fruit & veg.

Remaining in cupboard (I forgot a few ingredients last week):
Sweets:  lemon butter
1/2 a can of beetroot, 1/4 box of cornflakes
Powdered:  formula, farax, 1 yogurt mix, bread flour, Indian corn flour, and semolina.
Beverages: sugar, coffee, teas, milo.
Dried: fruit, nuts, azuki beans, mung beans, mushrooms, bull kelp, seaweed sheets, slipmouth fish & squid, corn
Stock: fish & veg, mizo
Spices: still too many (figured out how to use powdered okra!)
Pickles: cucumber, ginger
Sauces: soy, BBQ, tomato, mirin, chili, Tabasco, wasabi, okonomi, kewpie mayonnaise, tom yum.
Baking: bicarb, gelatin, agar, vinegar, Parisian essence, peppermint essence, almond essence, food colourings, honey
Dairy: cheese, butter, milk
Meat: bacon, rump, chicken, kidneys

Mmm...baby formula....I wonder....

New Bed?

There isn't a lot of space in the bedroom to play in but there's plenty of bed to play on. Skye now has a climbing frame and Kirk likes being closer to us at night.  "OI!!!!!" Sean has just kidnapped Skye. "MY BED WARMER!"

A Solution!

I was racking my brains to keep Skye off the top bunk. I thought of planking the bottom rungs so she can't climb them, but she would just squeeze through from the bed side and get up. I thought of removing the ladder completely but if Kirk is sick he won't have the ability to climb over the top and god knows where he would vomit. I thought of hobbling her ankles but Dept of Child Safety would have something to say about that. Then Michelle suggested I separate the bunks until she is older...why didn't I think if that?! DUR!

Banana Icecream

My friend from Simple Life DIY recommended it:
Ingredients: Bananas
Method: Blend & freeze as you would sorbet.
YUMMMM :-)

Old Mother Hubbard

Three weeks ago I started a pantry clean out. This is where I buy nothing but milk, fruit & veg until the cupboards are empty of food. Occasionally, depending on time, I buy bread.  Last week we spiked due to a BBQ but I still managed to keep the shopping to basics. This week the cupboard STILL contains:

Sweets: 1/4 c sprinkles, jelly crystals, lemon butter, and some very old jam
Cans: 1 each of beetroot & coconut milk
Cereals: 1/2 box each of cornflakes & wheatbix
Powdered: milk, formula, farax, yogurt mix, a little self raising flour & bread flour, tapioca, custard, Indian corn flour, and...something I can't identify...maybe some sort of wheat cereal?
Beverages: sugar, coffee, teas, milo.
Dried: fruit, nuts, azuki beans, mung beans, mushrooms, bull kelp, seaweed sheets, slipmouth fish & squid, corn
Stock: fish & veg, mizo
Spices: still too many
Pickles: cucumber, ginger
Sauces: soy, BBQ, tomato, mirin, chili, Tabasco, wasabi, okonomi
Baking: bicarb, gelatin, agar, royal icing, vinegar, Parisian essence, peppermint essence, almond essence, food colourings, honey, ready icing mix...
Dairy: cheese, butter, milk,
Meat: bacon, smoked venison, 1/2 kg BBQ steak

+ miscellaneous  fruit & veg

Still HEAPS of food, so I will really have to get creative this month.

I Scream

You Scream
We All Scream
At Sky's Scream

She is so delighted with herself - she can climb to the top bunk. But I'm not delighted because she hasn't the sense to hold on once she is up there.

Correspondence

A friend, who is loaning me a series of books, asked me that today, "Has it stopped raining in Qld yet?"

I replied, "We have had 2 sunny days in a row - let's see if we can have a 3rd tomorrow.  We have become so accustomed to the rain we almost regard it as normal and blink like blind Gollum when the sun shines. Just when we think we might see a week of clear weather to let things dry and stop the mold growing we are rapidly disappointed. I swear I have lichen growing on my undies.

So in a word: NO.

Looking forward to the books - need something that doesn't have to be renewed every week. I really regret giving the library by email address because I get two "friendly reminders" every week.

Well meaning but...

When people say to me, "Drive safe, take care, don't do anything I wouldn't do!"
I have an overwhelming desire to break the motorbike speed record wearing nothing but a leather g-string.  Mmm...probably best if you DON'T try to imagine that one.

Not so clever....

Today I exhausted my drama queen and then deprived of her midday sleep so that she would go to bed at a decent hour. By 6:30 she was begging for nigh-nigh and by 7:00 she was asleep. YAY! I might finish the grant at a decent hour. WRONG! She was up at 9pm and 10pm and 11pm through to 1am. More fool me.

GrantSpeak

Dealing with government departments is always interesting. They really are lovely, helpful people but their job sometimes prevents them from speaking freely so I am gradually building a collection of what they say and what they mean. Here are some recent examples...

"We're over subscribed and it would not like you to go to the trouble of preparing an application." Means, "We have already spent the money even though the submission deadline is weeks away."

"Um...yes, that is rather obscure. In the past we have usually posted a separate official grant application. That's a very valid enquiry  I'll ring you back."  Means, "@#$%^&! Can't Tenders post standard information?! Now EVERYONE will be ringing up for the forms!"  (note: they are currently amending the website)

"Could you please send your enquiry to the official email address so that you have an answer in writing." means "If I answer that and I get it wrong I'll be in trouble." (Grant guidelines are sometimes deliberately obscure in order to give the grant clerks the flexibility to squeeze through applications which deserve funding but don't quite fit the criteria.)

And my favourite, "I'm afraid I can't disclose that but when the minister announces it next month there won't be any nasty surprises"  means "You got the grant!"

I never met a carb I didn't like...

Very occasionally I find banana verde at the markets. Today was such a day. I am in heaven.
Chifles y patacones y balles de verde... QUE RICA! 

But wait, there's more

Skye is teething again...3 eye teeth no less. OMG she is evil. Palming her on Michelle and marking exams at school all Sunday looks better by the minute.

Sucked in again

Since when did, "I need a little help on Saturday" actually mean, "Can you be the soccer referee?"  Obviously I am ignorant of soccer lingo and as a result am now reffing the under 6s. But somehow I think they are getting the worse deal because my team sport prowess resembles an undernourished mushroom.

It's not a TRAIN!

WOOHOOO!!! Eri Belz, a genuinee Nihonjin, is to take the full time LOTE position for our district. I'm sure I will love her! Just 5 weeks countdown to sanity.

I see a light!

Let's hope it is not an oncoming train. Seems there is a newly qualified teacher who is a native Japanese speaker soon to be interviewed. PLEASE let her be worth employing!  Nevertheless, all is well in my classes. The kids are progressing very well, their pronunciation is good and they're enjoying the subject.

Meaningless...

The grade 8 students were given 3 basic literacy tests. 20%  were way below average as they did not bother to try because there is no direct reward in it for them. Is this a result of the NAPLAN preparation we assail them with every week?

Phone Pics from Michelle

You can't make me!
 

 Mummy! She said "No!"



Skye is my tanty queen. Can't wait for her to reach highschool.

My Bio???

The NGO I work for had its AGM last week and they asked for a bio - limited to approx. 30 words.

I was tempted to write, "Goooodies, goody goody Yum Yum! 'Cause that's what I do "Anything, Anytime, Anywhere".  But I chickened out because I don't actually know the committee. So I wrote this...

Tamara Kelly  B.A., B.Ed. (this means I can read) Educator for 20 years in language, communication, IT, science & environment. Interested in all forms of sustainability. Married with young children and the usual menagerie. Enjoys people - preferably with a nice red wine and a honey-soy sauce.


...I wonder if they used the last line?

Paraphrasing

To BED: perchance to SLEEP: aye, there's the rub;

TEACHER WANTED

Anybody want to teach Japanese to the WHOLE of rural Bundaberg and a part of North Burnett Shire?

Saddle Up

The wheel has turned and I'm back to teaching Japanese again. I wonder how long it will take for the highschool to find a teacher?

Wanna see my stud?

Late last year I met a big red boy, with a physique any male would kill for. I salivated over the sight in front of me and decided I was in love. In 2012 I'll be watching him perform at Beef Week and hopefully soon I'll be able to afford a juicy, Brangus stud! Honey! He can come up and eat my turf any time!

But let us digress...
10-ish years ago I was driving with Sonoko, a Japanese friend, and pointed towards a white cow in the distance and said, "That's a Brahman!" She looked confused and relied, "Not sheep?" I was floored and stated "A Brahman is a type of cow."  Sonoko responded, "But sheep are white."

I chuckled over this for years until I arrived here and the shoe was suddenly on the other foot. Locals would ask me what sort of cattle had come with the property and I answered, "Brown". If they pressed the point I would say, "With white faces." And they would tell me with delight I had Herefords.

Nevertheless, for the next 6 years they remained "Meh! Just cattle." Until last September, while visiting Kristine Dingle's farm, she introduced me to the Brangus breed. No kidding I was gobsmacked at how beautiful these cattle were and I made a complete idiot of myself blabbing, "Oh my god! They look DELICIOUS!" I am sure she was completely unimpressed but I don't care - I WANT Brangus cattle and the more I learn about them, the more interested I become.

Suddenly I realised I was back in Asia. To start with everyone looked the same but after a month or so I was able to readily distinguish everyone properly. Now, living in Gin Gin you could say I am becoming more familiar with the locals....

That's my boy...

Kirk pleads, "Can you read me a book?"
My reply, "Yes, IF you can find 3 words you already know for me first."
"ARRHH! The man who writes the book hides them!"

Smoked Duck Pate

Butcher 3 birds.
Rub birds with salt, sugar and olive oil.
Hot smoke them with double sawdust.
Place them in a huge pressure cooker submerged in water.
Chop and add a full clove of garlic, onion and a tablespoon of peppercorns.
Cook them for a few hours until the meat falls from the bones.
Cool and remove the bones.
Reboil and mash well or machine-blend gently.
Scoop out and press into loaf molds.
Chill overnight and serve.
Bon Appetite!

And now you have a palatable use for old chooks. Fair dinkum you would not know the difference.

Sand Artist

Worth a look.

Yesterday, I went shopping...

...and I bought....
2 tiny cucumbers for $4
a dozen eggs for $6
fresh corn for $1.50 per cob
a small sugarloaf cabbage for $4
potatoes at $5 a kilo
a lettuce for $4
OH MY FREAKING GOD! These are city prices! We pay less than 1/2 this price normally for local grown produce. Thankyou mother nature for reminding me why we left Gold Coast. I have decided instead to drink wine - it's cheaper.

Adapt or perish

Today I noticed residents of Goodnight Scrub emerging from their turnoff with all manner of watercraft strapped to their car roofs. They have been cut off for a month and as you will understand from the ABC interview, it really does not bother them greatly. I appreciated Ray's comment, "Some people work. We brought 2 gentlemen over early to go to work."  I wonder if they will ever really want the bridge improved? 

SHE WALKS!

Skye is able to walk...and climb and demand, "UP!" She refuses to sleep because it is all so exciting. So many things to climb, again and again and again.

Discworld

Sean & I cleaned out his office and unearthed this 15 year old game. Kirk desperately wanted to play Discworld so Sean got it going and we are now sitting here, astounded, for so many reasons. However it is a good game for Kirk because there are only a few operations allowed. A few years ago I bought the current incarnation of Kidpix and was disappointed because it had so many new features it was impossible for a small child to use their own creativity and learn the basic functions so we defaulted to using Paint.  Mmm...I have Sim City & Dune of the same vintage in my collection somewhere.