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Hello hello

A very warm welcome to the new week and what a week (last week) was. Nothing really special happened, very routine for yours truly, hopefully things will spice up this week. Better get on with the news…..

Turning over a new leaf

A small but select group made the annual bus trip to the Bulldogs, Dockers game at that stadium named after and Arab owned airline. A former Marnoo shopkeeper told me that the Marnoo lads had done something completely left field, different, not the norm. What you ask? They didn’t have a beer on the way down, now that is a turn up for the blog because in the past some “new ballers” haven’t even made it to the footy. Good to see some responsibility being shown, however I’m tipping they still got their fill!!!!!

Larry off with cash to burn

Marnoo’s most eccentric human being Gary “Larry” Cameron is about to jump on the big bird and start flapping. He is heading overseas to “somewhere in Asia” and he is leaving with money to burn. You see he and Marnoo’s fastest ever bowler (John “Fruity” Nisbet for those that are rightly scratching their heads) won a Trifecta of mammoth proportions on Sunday night after the footy. I was told not to repeat the payout but I can confirm it was substantial for a $5 trifecta. The Mayor will be shitty…

Big Pig

Whilst on journey to “somewhere in Asia”, Larry will be stopping off in Brisbane to see former native and Wallaloo Golfing Champion Brian “Big Pig” Graversgaard. Last time I heard he was driving trucks for some multi national around Ipswich (he probably own the company now). Should be a wild couple of day as both these lads can “play”

Farmers on the net

I had dinner with another former Marnooian Dwain “Daryl” Duxson and he is excited about his new website. He was telling me he has around 25,000 Ag businesses in the directory and he has put up most of the Marnoo businesses he could think of. This includes all the districts farmers, he said to go to the search box and type in your last name (eg Hines, Healy) or business name (eg Wallaloo Park, Harbergers etc and it will come up in a category (if not just add it). You can then claim it and edit it….go to www.thefarmtrader.com.au & join up now…

My mate Acka

Without doubt it’s been a big week for the Dogs and I don’t really feel sorry for Acka because I’m guessing he wouldn’t want that. I think he has set himself up beautifully to become one of the most “read” journalists in the country. I am probably sticking up for a fellow journalist here but I really think that Acka will go well, that is of course if he doesn’t alienate everyone within football….Oh yes and the Bulldogs have moved on as well, they had an easy win at “Pie Guts Stadium”

But alas, don’t’ back them to win the premiership….

I think the Bullies have only won one premiership and this years is already out the door, it’s impossible for them to win it now. Why you ask? Well former Marnoo Premiership coach “Jumpin” John Drum backed them to win it two weeks ago. Enough said.

Another big night at the Royal

Thursday nights at the Royal have been a real hit and if you haven’t been then you are missing out. I’m told they are coming from far and wide with Craig “Craigy” Chessman coming from the East and Stuart “Chappy” Chapman coming from way down South. There is talk of a big Sunday event coming soon. Can someone please email through some dates….

Hoot finds Facebook

I have been tacking former native Andrew “Hoot” Gibson on Facebook lately, he has just discovered the social medium and he is all over it at the moment befriending everyone. Good to hear things are going well Hoot….

Adios

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Welcome again

It’s great to be back for another week and I hope you’re all enjoying the “more traditional winter”. Even though it’s not wet yet in the Marnoo district this winter has got that feel about it, like I remember back in the 70’s and 80’s when it was wet and cold and the mighty Anderson and Wallaloo creeks ran a banker. I am confident that we are going to get a wet spring this year, here’s hoping…..

Marnoo’s Masterchefs

The “Royal” was once again the venue for the Thursday night gathering and this time it was Stewart “Smacka” MacPherson, his sister Anne and Stuart “Chappy” Chapman’s turn to cook. The food had a Southern feel about it as the three hale from down Glenorchy way. But there cooking was not only for the masses that attended, it first had to impress the judges. Enter Nigel “Matt” Slee and Ben “George” Duxson, I never really thought about it in the past but these guys actually have a very high resemblance to the two mentioned judges. Winebar with his jowly chin, his thick black mane and his appetite for good food means that he makes a great Matt Preston. Ben with his bald head, his short solid appearance and his culinary skills is a dead ringer for George. Anyway they did there stuff and provided plenty of laughs as Wino, Alias Matt started sniffing the food. Not sure of the food quality but the entertainment value was worth the entry fee.

Video evidence

There is actually video evidence of the Master judges but the quality of film is not that good. Expat Hayden “Howard” McLennan was there and did the filming on his phone but it wasn’t that clear. Anyway have a look on Howards page on Facebook

Here’s one for you Boof!!

Speaking of Glenorchy, did you know that the aboriginal meaning for Glenorchy is “bareness around scrapes”.

Happy Birthday

I’m told that Wallaloo Park chief employee “Big Dave” received and interesting birthday present from his employer, a shearing sling. Must be a bit of crutching to do out at Carteville in the next couple of months……..

Golfing champ still winning

Former Wallaloo golfing champ Kylie McDougall is winning all the trophies up Hay way. I’m told that a couple of old biddies that have dominated the sport up that way are non to please about this “upstart” coming in and taking their crown. One such rival got a bit frustrated and was seen swearing and throwing her sticks, this went on for a while until Kylie had had enough, “you’re not that f*%@~^g good anyway”. You have gotta love women’s golf!!!

The Farm Trader

My Yarrawonga Dwain “Daryl” Duxson has asked that I pass on the details about his newly released website called www.thefarmtrader.com.au . He tells me he has spent 2 year putting it all together and released it last week. He say’s that it’s an Agricultural website that does many things but he says that a service called “Product Tender” might appeal to the farmers. For example if a farmer wants to buy say 50 ton of MAP super, he or she can list that on the platform and then suppliers quote on that requirement. Once the time period it up the farmer picks the winning quote. The allows the farmer to get the best deal possible. Here is a snapshot on how it works, make sure you join up……

http://www.thefarmtrader.com.au/product_tenders

Heads is the call

As I mentioned last week my Yarra mate Glen “Wally” Brear will be tossing the coin at the Essendon, Kangaroos game next week. If you’re watching you wont miss him….

That’s all

Another week

Another week just flies on by and I’m told the countryside looks a treat even though it’s only been hand to mouth in the rain stakes. But all we have to do is limp through to about the middle of August and after that Hughie can send down as much as he likes. The smarties are suggesting a La Nina event so a wet spring is on the cards!!!

Fairweather golfers

I’m told that the weather was shithouse on Saturday for the Men’s Day event for the annual Wallaloo Tournament. So much so that only about 30 turned up Once golfers got wind (literally) of the forecast for Saturday they pulled out in droves. For those that did play, well done. Back in the wet winters of the 70’s and 80’s they played in wet and windy conditions many time. Are we turning into a group of fairweather golfers????

Tournament success

Although the numbers are about 1/3^rd of what they used to attract way back in the halcyon days but with that aside I’m told that this years tournament was a success. However in this day and age where changes happen and nobody blinks and eye, what about changing the tournament to September when the weather and course are at their best. I mean I know that there are specific dates that neighbouring clubs lay claim too, but surely there is a date there somewhere….More food for thought……

Knight’s head

Parrott’s and Tigers won this weekend and it was great to see Carlton come back to earth with a thud. But I would love to see a straw poll from all the Essendon supporters around Marnoo (and there are plenty of them) as to what they think of Matthew Knights. From what I am hearing he is quite unpopular with the Essendon supporters so much so that I saw a post on Facebook recently with an Essendon supporter saying to a Richmond supporter “you can have Knights back and we will do the deal for nothing”. The Richmond support responded with “no thanks”.

Pie looking to far ahead

I read on Facebook a post from former native Tim “Pie Guts” Nisbet saying that “in Newcastle for work and having a couple of coldies but might stop as I have a 6am flight home in morning”. Now Pie, you were bought up in Marnoo, so this is how it should have read, “finished work in Newcastle and had quite a few frothies and looking to have several more, I’ll worry about my 6am flight in the morning”……

Another winner

Believe it or not, former Callawadda Primary School Dux, Sandy “The Know All” McGregor has done it again with one of his star jumpers Some Are Bent who won a $100K race on Sunday to take his earning past $1 million. I think that was The Know Alls 11^th winner since early May. Unbelievable stuff……

However….

Not every bit of luck goes The Know All’s way as his star steed Black and Bent broke down the other day and will be sidelined for 12 months, however he is one of seven nominees for the racehorse of the year.

Adios

Welcome to another week
Another week just flies on by as we gear up for the second half of the year. For all the local farmers this half of the year is very important and it will be interesting to answer a few of the following questions. Will grain prices lift? Will this be the best ever Marnoo Rams Sales season? Will we get lots of rain in the spring as forecasted? Will Jack’s favourite, Julia win the election? As you can see it’s interesting time ahead.

Coldest day on record
Fair dinkum I have never seen a day like it. I had spent the weekend in Melbourne and returned to Yarrawonga mid afternoon on Sunday. I went the Shepparton way and as we got closer to Yarra the fog got thicker and thicker and even though I had the heater on you could feel the cold. The fog just didn’t lift all day and I can’t really remember that happening before and for this part of the world to experience a top of only 6 degrees would have to be a record. And they talk about global warming Jack………

Stoke the fire
What do you do when it’s the coldest day on record? You start a fire of course and I kid you not every 5th property I went past on the way home from Melbourne had a fire going. It just so happened that I got a phone call when I arrived back in Yarra to head out to Marcus “H” Hargreaves’s farm for a stick burn (we call them twiggies in Marnoo). So there they were in the middle of the foggy paddock with a lovely fire revved up….Just add beer, nothing better don’t you reckon Jack!!!!

Yellow and Black
Well I haven’t’ gloated about the Tiges for some time as frankly there was nothing to gloat about. For 20 years we have been in “five year” building blocks and currently we are in another one. But this one has the feel of a little more substance to it, unlike the ones Danny and Terry tried to sell us. We can only hope Jack…

Coin Tosser
My Yarrawonga mate and current Parrots president Glen “Wally” Brear has revealed that he is to toss the coin at the Bombers, Kangaroos game in a couple of weeks time. It will be a big moment for the current Yarrawonga citizen of the year and avid Bombers fan. My only concern is that the big fella (with a couple of gummy knees) makes it off the ground in time so they can start the game. What do you think about that Jack???

Know All kicking on
Last Friday I and a couple of other Wimmera celebrities namely, John “Stick” Richards, Damian “The Major” Drum and Dwain “Daryl” Duxson did a tour of former Callawadda resident Sandy “The Know All” McGregor’s spacious warehouse where his highly successful business Quality Logistic Services (QLS) is based. When I mean spacious, I mean spacious, so much so that we needed a golf cart to get around. He also has equivalent sized warehouses in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth. This lad has come along way since the Callawadda Primary days ay Jack……

Larry off for a couple of weeks
Marnoo’s most eccentric individual Gary “Larry” Cameron is off for a couple of weeks to Asia. We all hope he has a great trip and we can only imagine what he might get up to over there. I only have two things to say Larry, make sure you have a good time and make sure you come back, this little publication might have to go into recess if you don’t. I’m sure you agree Jack…….

As Kevin Hienze (of Sow What fame) would say “Cheerio”