What an amazing speed at which I am blogging....and getting faster !!! It took two years from first entry to second one,and now only just over a year since me last entry. Breathtaking speed.....LOL.

What's happened in the past year?

eBay Store.....I've now opened a store on eBay....just go to Google (where else?!) and type in eccentric_collectibles.....and that will bring up a link. Don't forget the _ and it's -ibles.

Not trying to sell you anything,but just something I do more often than I might make a blog entry,and you might like to drop in out of curiosity.

Mowing my 5-acre block..... What a chore ! Actually,as long as I have a ride-on mower working well(lawn tractor to some of you), I really enjoy it and find it quite relaxing. Sort of a break from other things I've been doing which require using my brain(which I also like).....but the mowing just requires sufficient concentration to drive and steer away from obstacles etc., and watch out for deadly snakes.

Every time the block gets overgrown for some reason,I am then mowing very high grass,often up to my shoulders while I am sitting on the mower,and yes, snakes are a real danger.....since several of the world's deadliest types of snakes are in my grass,under logs,fallen-over sheets of roofing metal,and indeed anywhere else they can get shelter.

If you're not Australian,go to Google and type in Eastern Brown snake,Australia......and have a look at my "housemates".

I've actually found one twice in the house. Creepy. All I can do then is leave the door open in the darkness of the early night,as they will eventually leave.

Mainly I see deadly snakes here,brown snake,red bellied black,etc......and to a lesser extent the harmless but huge diamond-back python ,carpet snake etc.

The diamond-back has an outline diamond pattern on the back, and the carpet snake really has what people would generally consider a carpet pattern......now of course if you're of a certain age and your home carpet/rug has a picture of George Clooney on it, then no, our snakes don't have that type of carpet pattern. And no,no Stars wars pictures either. Just old style traditional carpet pattern. Since the snakes were around first,one wonders if that's where the carpet pattern itself came from.

BACK TO MOWING: For years I've had two Cox brand ride-on mowers,made here in Queensland state in Australia. These are popular here because,unlike most mowers which choke up when the grass gets just a little bit high or thick, the Cox mower (and also the Greenfield which is made here too) will generally just chew through whatever they come across.

Naturally you have to do that type of heavy mowing carefully,and often have to nibble away at the edges of metre-high weeds, the Cox/Greenfield does clear it.

With most other mowers,especially ones with twin-cutting dec ks, just don't bother.

Anyway, my larger Cox mower just suddenly wouldn't start about 18 months ago. I stopped for lunch,had a lesisrely lunch followed by an even slower mug of hot black tea(the Asian way,no milk,no sugar,nothing except teabag and hot water).

Then I got back on the mower.....wouldn't start....and hasn't start since, until repaired last week.

Meanwhile I had the slightly smaller and older one....and have been using just that until it's 1978 original cutting deck finally managed to break part of the spindle that controls the spinning of the deck.

So while I searched to find a replacement deck,I finally put the larger model in for a way to get it started again. Turned out to be a faulty foot switch. On the later Cox mowers, as well as using the key to start it,you also have to put your heel on the foot switch quite firmly. It's probably a way to make sure little kids don'y start it when the adults are not looking.

Got a suitable secondhand deck and installed it and then I had my smaller5 Cox mower running again,better than before.

Then a friend,who lives in a normal house and can't use a ride-on, found that one of his work-mates was going to buy a new m ower,.....my friend did a swap of some collectibles for that mower,only 8 years old and very well maintained.....and then immediately traded it off to me the same way.

So now(at that time) I had at least this one mower,which though in perfect condition,is a twin-deck American mower made just for lawns,so I can only use if where the grass is not high,but everything else,and it is very modern and comfortable.

Then I obtained the replacement deck for that smaller Cox machine,and when it was ready, I now had two mowers.

Meanwhile,when I had no mower,I'd placed a free ad in a local ad magazine, had c alls but nothing useful to me.....and then a guy phoned and he had a small,only 8hp, Rover mower....a local brand again.....but of the type I'm less comfortable with because the engine is behind the driver and the driver's feet are a bit close to the snakes. But this one has the driver sitting higher than many of this type,so that's good. And it starts with a pull-start rope ,which means when I don't have a working battery.....okay,worth looking.... maybe.

What really interested me was that he had a Greenfield slasher also.....one of those large walk-behind machines that will cut down stuff that even the Cox and Greenfield mowers won't do.and they can also be poked in other overgrown trees etc. where someone on a mower can't drive in.

They are of course self-propelled,so you put the thing in gear and then walk behind it and steer etc.,and of course quickly take it out of gear when necessary.

I went and bought the slasher, and had a quick look at the smaller mower but not really what I wanted.

But now I had two working mowers and one slasher. Getting better.

Next day,when going to get the slasher,I'd had a think about the pull-start Rover,and since it was c heap, I bought both machines.

Now had three ride-on mowers and a slasher.

Then the large Cox mower was returned and running well with a new foot-switch and a few other improvements, and now I have four ride-on mowers and a slasher.

Some people collect stamps.

So the mowing has proceeded......I've had a go at using all these machines. The two Cox mowers are my favorites for mowing because they'll mow anything.

The American mower is a nice ride and good for just having a leisurely run over the areas that don't need heavy clearing.....good for maintaining the mowed areas. And it is my latest-model machine,only 8 years old. Practically fresh from the showroom floor....LOL.

Especially when you consider the smaller Cox mower is a 1978 model.

The small Rover with just the 8hp engine does very well (surprisingly,for its size) and handles some of the rough stuff too. So it was a bargain at the price.

Got a huge lot of clearing done yesterday with the help of that friend who found the American mower for me. He likes to get out here and have fun burning piles of rubbish and things like that....one of those people who likes everything really neat. Not enough work for him in the family house which just has a normal suburban yard. Only problem is that when he decides he wants to come and help clear up, it means I have to work much harder than I would if here alone. Oh well.

Genealogy: I haven't been doing as much work as previously on the genealogy,though still interested. It is partially because it's gotten much harder to find information I don't already have. It's n ice though that some contacts do keep sending me anything they find that might suit me. And I still do look myself whenever I have some free time,the proverbial coffee-break etc. Not that I drink coffee, just strong black tea......but the idea is the same.

I've now gotten the Point Verde Greenes file up to about 228 pages,and the Judge Families of Newfoundland to about 88 pages. Smaller results on Pike,Corbin,Bradshaw,etc.

Always happy to heard from anyone with Newfoundland links to these surnames.

Signing off for now.