Large Family - Small Footprint

There has been much talk recently about the environmental impact of large families and it is pretty much all a load of rubbish.
Large families are much more efficient than a 4 person family and even more efficient than many of the broken family and family like structures around us.  Let us look at the numbers.
Housing:  Our house looks big when compared to a typical 3 bedroom house as we have 4 bedrooms plus a study and large dining room and lounge room.  Attached is a 2 room "granny" flat where Lana's parents live.  So our property houses 11 people (soon to be 12).  We use the same rubbish bins as everyone around us with 1 or 2 people per house.  The living space per person actually works out about 1/3rd of the 1 or 2 person households.  Yet we feel as if we have ample space.
Power Consumption: We spend around $950 per quarter on Electricity.  That is around $86 per person.  The typical power bill for the 2 person families around here is around $250 to $350 a quarter.  The average per person rate is $150.
Water: We are on tank water.  This means all our water is derived from rainfall running off the roof into our water tanks.
Food and Groceries: Our monthly supermarket bill is around $1,300 per month. (USD $1,100) That is for 9 people, or $122 per person.  This is very efficient as we don't cut back on quality, we just get better value with buying in bulk and re-using leftovers and being more efficient in meal preparation.
Fuel and Cars: We have a family van that seats 12 people.  The fuel economy is about 10km per litre (around 23.5 mpg) similar to a mid range sedan.  We travel as a family in one car rather than two full sedans.  Typically 9 people would be from 3 to 4 families so would need 3 to 4 cars.  The cost of a new car vs a new van is about 1 to 1.5 sedans = 1 van.  So we save around 2 more cars on the road.
Appliances and Equipment:  Once more, the one appliance (TV, DVD player, Cooking utensil) is used by 9 people, not just one or two.

Overall, our ecological footprint is lower than the same number of people in smaller families.  Next time you see a large family piling out of a van in a seemingly never ending stream, think about how they are helping the planet by their efficiency.  Then thank them for saving the planet - one baby at a time.

Martin Ringtone

I have just created a ringtone for my iPhone of Martin's laugh.  How did we do it?
Lana held the iPhone running Voice Recorder whilst I had fun tickling Martin.
Then I uploaded the recorded file to iTunes, saved it as a MP3, edited it in Audacity and exported it out as a MP3 file.  Then we converted the file to AAC format in iTunes.
We dragged the file to the desktop and renamed the extension from .m4a to .m4r which made it into a ringtone.  Then we had to delete the AAC file in iTunes or the ringtone wouldn't upload.

Anyway, for your ringing pleasure, here is the MP3 version and the Ringtone version.

Can You Get Martin Out?

Clare came into the study and asked us, "Can you get Martin out?"
We turned around, perplexed, and saw Martin inside Clare's skirt.
"So, how did he get there?  Were you just standing idly there and then he just appeared?"
"Ummm," Clare replied, with a trace of a grin.
"Get onto the back deck so I can take a picture, then go and play!"
There you go.  "Problem" solved!

Remember the Alamo!

Every year we try to attend Cancon, a games convention held in Canberra.  This is the same convention at which I met Lana 23 years ago!
The tradition has developed in the family whereby I take the boys out to the convention and Lana and the girls have a tea party at home. (Past posts about this day are here, here and here.)
This year there was a magnificent game of "The Alamo". Peter was able to take on the figure of Daniel Boone, so was privileged enough to wear the 'coon hat.

The fellows that ran this demo game built and painted all the scenery and models.  As you can see from the photos, the fort has been recreated marvellously.
The rules were very simple.  The Texans can shoot up to 24 inches and need a 4,5,or 6 to kill a Mexican.  The Mexicans can shoot up to 12 inches and need a 6 to kill a Texan.  A cannon can shoot using 6 dice.  Hand to hand combat is the highest die roll wins.  For the first 90 minutes all Mexican casualties come back as reinforcements.  The game lasts for 2 hours and the Texans have to have at least one man surviving.
The bottom photo shows the hordes of Mexicans that have broken into the fort preparing to assault the last Texans holding out in the ruined Church.  The Mexicans won this game on the last turn.
Meanwhile, Eric was able to join in a Renaissance wargame between the Italians and French, and James enjoyed watching the competition of Lord of the Rings wargaming.
Lana and the girls had a lovely tea party at home, with everyone getting dressed up specially, all the fine cutlery and plates laid out and fancy food for all to share.  According to Rose, one of the highlights was that Martin "even had a glass cup and plate and he didn't even break them!"

Feeling a Little Horse

Yesterday we were able to give Martin a great treat.  One of the ladies with whom Lana and her mum attend Quilting classes has a farm with miniature horses.  Horses that are Martin's size!
We don't know where Martin's fascination with horses come from - perhaps it is genetic.  But we can't work out what triggered off his love considering we have nothing to do with horses in our little village.
When he awoke yesterday morning Martin came into our room with a fresh nappy, wet ones, clothes and whatever else he needed ready to go.  This was at around 8:30 and we weren't going to leave until around Midday.
The miniature horses are pretty amazing.  Just like real horses only little.  The horses are very inquisitive and quickly came in from the edges of the fields to check us out.  There were lots of foals and horse families, all coming up close and personal.  You can see from these photos how we were right amongst them all, close enough to pat and examine.  There were about 20 horses in our paddock, enough for all to share.
The horses which were for shows were in other paddocks and our hosts were very happy to show us all their awards.
Notice how only Eric (and me out of the photo) were wearing a hat.  When we left home at midday, the traditional local mid-summer cooling mists were rolling in to the village.  By the time we were 5 minutes from home, there was no more mist, just a glorious clear Summer's day.
The generous winds fooled us into thinking it wasn't as warm as it was, so Lana and Ariel both came home a little redder than they would have liked.

Sorting good and bad

I thought it was time to give you some idea of what we have been doing over the last 11 months.
We are in charge of the local Post Office.  It is a very small office, with full post office services, but all procedures are manual.  Some of the daily paperwork is in triplicate with multiple duplicate subsidiary forms with plenty of totals and subtotals all over the forms.  These are a result of lots of historical use and so we just inherit what we have been given.
The majority of Post Offices in Australia are fully computerised but we are just too small.  There are plenty of other manual post offices around Australia but they are typically in various little country towns and villages.
We also do not have mail delivery to people's homes. All mail comes to the post office and we sort and place it in each person's folder.  You can see the folder system behind Ariel.
Locals then pop in during the day and collect their mail.  Ariel has been doing the mail for some years now and knows many of the relationships of the locals well.
"Oh, you're Jane Doe.  Your mail is with your friend John Citizen and his son Fred Bloggs."
We also get challenging delivery targets such as one address to "Daddy, So and So Street, [Our Village]".
There were lots of potential "Daddy"s in So and So Street, so we had to have the letter on display and the whole village was able to help pin point the correct Daddy.
One of the first things we did upon taking over the ship was create a new Post Office bench which gave us more room to handle all the letters and parcels, and add more shelving and drawers to organise all the stamps, forms, stickers, packing, boxes, tape and so on.
The key to improving the system was organisation and a willingness to delve into the manual to work out what the procedures should be.  Now that is very dry reading!

Visiting Dead People

We have been attending a great little station church that is in one corner of our large country parish on Sunday afternoons. It is in a lovely area and right behind the typical white board church is the cemetery.

On one of our first visits, Rose asked us, "Can we visit the dead people?"

So we regularly visit - and pray for - the "dead people". The tomb stones the children are peeking around in this photo are from around 1880 or so.

Another little brother

Whilst we have be on a blogging hiatus, we have neglected to mention some important news. We should see another Bruggie baby arrive in about 7 to 9 week's time.

Martin points at Lana's stomach and mentions the baby is in there. Soon he will have a little brother to play with. And so will all the rest of the family.

(In this photo Ariel is enjoying herself chasing after Martin - round and round the treasure table)

Everything is on track and progressing well. Lana is getting tired and not enjoying the heat at all. Summer pregnancies are not at all fun, considering the growing in-built water heater and general heat, water and weight joys.

Hopefully, this baby won't require the same excitement that Martin raised!

Where is Stress Testing

Lana and I were in the hospital recently getting some tests done (more details in the next post) when we noticed this directions board.

Those looking for "Stress Testing" would not be helped.

(Stress Testing was actually in the other direction.)

I have Come To Trim Your Lawn

Even though the shop has taken quite a bit of our time, the boys still take care of a number of the villager's lawns.

Typically Eric uses the ride-on mower doing the bulk of the lawn while James uses the weed trimmer to clear around the edges.

Here is James showing his fine work outfit.

• Hat for sun protection.
• Boots for feet protection.
• Sunglasses for eye protection (and general cool factor)
• Strap to make managing the trimmer easier.

All in all, not a bad image. Oh, the serious expression is just for effect.

Beware the Caped Avenger!

Martin has a great black cape, fine camouflage gumboots and an old ski pole to use as a horse. What else would one need to go on an adventure?

Carpet Snakes and Good Neighbours

Last week Eric and I were up in country Northern New South Wales helping friends of ours set up the systems for a new business.

On the way home one afternoon our friend was driving along the country road and suddenly slammed on the brakes.

"Ooh! A snake!" she said.

I quickly grabbed the camera as she backed the car to a more safe distance. The snake was a large carpet snake lazily resting right across the road - all 10 feet or so. I took some lovely photos and we looked out for other cars so no-one would mistakenly run the snake over.

A local fellow was coming out of a nearby driveway and asked what we had found.

"A snake. Any idea how to get it out of the way? We tried throwing a few sticks at it, but the snake didn't care much."

He didn't say much but came out of his vehicle and strolled over, examining the snake. He then went to one end and grabbed his tail, with appropriate small leaps worthy of the late Steve Irwin, pulling the snake across the road.

But the snake had other ideas. He wanted to be back on the OTHER side of the road. So we wisely left the snake to go back across the road to where he wanted to be.

Ah. Steve Irwin would be so proud!

Grammar Lesson Miss understood

Rose visited Grandma and explained her recent doings, "Clare, Martin and me went outside ..."

Grandma tried to do her bit for better grammar in the world and interrupted, "Clare Martin and I"

Rose paused and continued, "Clare, Martin and me ..."

"Clare, Martin and I," tried Grandma once more.

Rose looked at Grandma seriously, "You weren't there, Grandma. It was Clare, Martin and Me!"

Ah well. Perhaps she is too young yet for that lesson.

(Here are Rose, Clare and Martin enjoying some costumes. Martin's overalls are from camouflage material we brought back from the US. We knew we wouldn't be able to get that kind of material here.)

Driving Miss Lana

Last week I had a cancelled appointment which meant I had a free day.  This fit in perfectly with Lana so we could visit nearby shops similar to ours.  Nearby for us means within 50km/30 miles.  It also meant a good chance to test drive the new VW Bug.

A local VW enthusiast heard we had a 1968 bug and volunteered to have a look at the engine. He came out and spent about 90 minutes fixing this, fiddling with that, and twisting the thingummy (aren't I technical) and the car was running so much better.

A convertible Bug is really a Summer car.  The day we drove was wet and cold, but this just added to the experience. I  tried to take some nice photos from inside the car, but even with the camera's image stabilisation, the minimalist suspension meant shaky pictures.  But I'm sure you can get the idea.  A car that has fluffy purple hearts has got to be "cool". Every time we went over more than usual bumpy roads and we bounced around, Lana just laughed.

Learning new skills

One of our locals owns a number of horses and was looking for someone to help care for them during the week.  He came in on a recent weekend asking to put an advertisement on the notice board to ask for help.  I quickly asked him how old he wanted this person to be and suggested Eric.  15 was quite OK, especially once he saw that Eric was quite a tall, physically capable lad and obviously responsible.

Lana went there with Eric on the first visit to meet the owner and have a second ear to know the tasks required.  So Eric now has a new job feeding the horses, ensuring they have enough water and occasionally meeting a vet or delivery vehicle. 

As part of the deal, the owner will also teach Eric lots of skills about horses and horsemanship.

The horses are very impressive animals, bred for racing and they are all getting used to this new lad who feeds them every day.  I popped out there earlier this week with Eric to see what he had to do and took a number of photos, including the one above. 

Eric is enjoying his new job, as well as his work with us at the shop, lawn maintenance and his homeschooling.

I told you NOT to play in the rain

It's raining again - which is always a joyous event in a place dependent on rainwater for all our water needs.

It is also joyous for little boys who love puddles and dirt and mud.  Martin just came into my home office grunting in his communicative way and showing his hands covered in wet dirt.

Eric looked at him and said, "I told you NOT to play in the rain."

Lana and I both looked at Eric and started laughing. "As if THAT would work!"

So Eric cheerfully cleaned up Martin's little face and hands and Martin rushed in to us showing his lovely clean hands before rushing back outside.

I'm sure he'll return shortly, equally amazed that his hands somehow became dirty once again.

Like a kid in a lolly shop

There is a saying to describe a situation where someone is in a very desirous position: "Like a kid in a lolly shop."

We provide a traditional service of bulk lollies served individually.  Customers can select a bag of lollies by choosing exactly which lolly and how many they want.  It is great seeing the children squat down and look at all the containers arrayed under the counter behind the glass, deciding which ones would be just right.

"I'll have 2 Cobbers, 3 Bananas, 4 Milk Bottles, and ... how much is that so far?" 

"70 cents," I reply, looking at the change in the child's hand, "You have 30 cents left."

"Hmm, OK, I'll have 3 Teeth."

For those in more of a hurry we have pre packaged bags of lollies valued at $1 and $2. 

In this photo Peter is responsible for filling the lolly bags.  He works at the shop for a few hours on the weekend.  His duties involve serving at tables, cleaning up and providing general assistance as required.  

"If I drop one, can I have it?" asked Peter.  We use tongs to select the lollies to ensure adequate health and safety and occasionally a lolly slip through.  "So long as you don't drop too many," we advise, knowing that this can provide the wrong set of incentives.

I think I'll have coffee

Yesterday was my day of shopping for the shop.  This meant Eric and I leaving home at 5:30am and travelling 2 hours to the wholesaler in Sydney.  We have been listening to a number of audiobooks together which makes the time rather enjoyable.

After the wholesaler we stop in at the Serendipity ice cream warehouse and purchase very yummy gourmet ice cream for the shop.  This time they packaged all the ice creams in a foam box with dry ice so they would survive the drive back home.  This worked very well and there was quite a bit of dry ice when we unpacked the ice creams back at the shop.

Then I had the difficult task of keeping Eric and Ariel focussed on unpacking the groceries when all they wanted to do was play with the dry ice.  This photo is of Ariel offering a new drink.  I think customers will prefer coffee.

It has been an interesting time building up the grocery section.  I had some basics with which to begin and then whenever a customer asked if I had a certain product, my answer would be, "No, but I'll be getting it next week." And I did get it in next week.  This has certainly built up customer loyalty, and helped to build up a comprehensive selection tailored for the village.

Rain is fun, puddles are funner

Today I was able to get a part day off so I could spend some time with my parents who were visiting. They visit twice a year even though they live about 800 km (500 miles) away. The first day is always very tiring for them as the children rush to get in all their "Look at this Grandma" and "Grandpa, see this". By day 2 everyone is able to have a more enjoyable, relaxing visit with the older children playing games with Grandpa and Grandma being shown whatever is vital that she must see. 

My Mum is actually known as "Just Grandma". When Ariel was about 3 years old we were calling Lana's Mum Grandma A and mine Grandma B. Ariel was saying "Grandma B this" and "Grandma B that". My Mum helpfully suggested, "No, just Grandma is fine". So it has been Just Grandma ever since. Even the birthday cards are signed "Just Grandma and Grandpa"
Today it was raining which is great. Not flooding like it is up North, just good soaking rains that fill the water tanks and get deep into the soil. When it rained a bit harder, Martin pointed and grunted so I went outside with him. He was happy to just look, but I rolled up his sleeve and showed him how to "catch" the rain drops coming off the edges of the awning. That was fun. Then he noticed the puddle and that was even "funner" [as the little ones like to say].
There are time when being home doing "not much" are some of the best times.

Where have we been?

It has been 3 months since we last updated Bruggietales and many have wondered where we have gone. We have not gone anywhere and in fact are pretty much rooted to home base as we run our little Village Store.
While I get to apply all my business experience and advice to a real business - putting my money where my mouth is - the children are also getting a practical real life training in business, customer relations, systems and a myriad other essential life skills.
We live in a small village in country Australia and the shop we have just purchased is the only shop in town. The nearest shops are smaller ones about 15 minutes away in either direction, or larger ones 35 to 45 minutes away. So our shop is basically an "everything" shop. We are a licensed Post Office and newsagent, we have DVD movie rentals, lollies, chips, ice cream, stationery, greeting cards, groceries, milk and so on. Our coffee is top quality with all our staff Barista trained. Hot food and cafe service is also provided.
The whole family is involved in different aspects, with me directing operations, Ariel managing during the week, Eric assisting with Mail and stock, James sorting mail and making home deliveries, Peter helping wait tables in the Cafe on weekends and Lana makes muffins and biscuits (cookies) as well as going to the bank and some local suppliers. The younger three will get involved when they get older.
Here you can see Lana in the new car for the shop. Rather than drive to the local suppliers and bank in the 12 seater family bus which is a bit large for the task at hand, this little bug does the job much better. With magnets on the doors advertising the shop and the great lilac purple paintwork and fancy conversion Lana gets plenty of attention which suits our marketing plan very well. And Lana is able to drive the car she has always wanted to drive since she was 16!
I'll try to post more.