Spider wears steelcap boots

SHUDDER, shock, horror. It's enough to turn a reasonably strong adult into a quivering nutcase. But finding a spider in your boot is better than feeling it!

This post, recording my disgusting discovery this morning and showing the benefit of stuffing one's dirty socks into boots, is just a diversion between my excursions into the marvellous community of classified advertising.

Maybe a browse through the pest exterminators is on the agenda. Watch this space.

Resumes spread word as 'secret' service assists jobseekers

RIGHT: The REPS HQ (image from www.reps.com.au/)

THAT fabulous four-letter word, 'free', is a fantastic eye magnet in the Classifieds, whether it comes in big block capitals or lurks modestly in the small print.
True to tradition, it has recently featured in an unexpected place with some restrained use of bold type asking, "Need a resume?" and then proclaiming, "Free Service!"
The notice closed with the words "Redland's best kept secret", but the Redlands Employer Placement Service is no secret to the many thousands of job seekers and businesses it has helped through the decades.
Free assistance with resumes is just one facet of Cleveland-based REPS, which has a long history as a jewel in the Redland community crown, having been incorporated as a non-profit organisation since 1994, after starting as a federal government program.

EXECUTIVE officer John Conley says the support of federal and state governments and the Redland Council has allowed REPS to keep up its work specialising in employment and training assistance for the mature aged, parents and carers returning to work, the unemployed and a sector that statistics often overlook, the underemployed.
By the way, the 'mature age' range, according to the REPS guidelines, starts at 40 nowadays, so the sociologists who invented the idea that "60 is the new 40" should question their logic. I don't expect to see the Sunrise team debating whether "40 is the new 20".

BACK to the subject: John says the importance of the resume continues to increase with the job market always becoming more competitive.
He says a keen focus is necessary from the instant the job seeker spots an opportunity. Many clients who engage REPS for resume support realise they can benefit from other aspects of its programs, which suit those who have: been out of the workforce and want to update their skills; recently lost their job; and have retired but want a "downsized" work role.
Clients also include people needing to top up their 'super' payments, former managers or supervisors who find they are 'overqualified' and others who have limited qualifications but heaps of experience.

JOHN says REPS, with a staff of five part-timers, has an annual government funding contract for 195 places but "we hate to turn anyone away – we try to help everyone as best we can".
In the style of a community service that does has not want to rely solely on government and council support, REPS also raises funds. For the past 14 years it has run the Thursday night bingo sessions at the Redlands RSL Club.

Thanks for joining me in the marvellous community of classified advertising. This column has appeared in The Redland Times.

Mates share their lifelong interests in boats and our Bay

Image: Boating on Moreton Bay, courtesy BayJournal.


BAYSIDE business has long served the throng of captivated individuals who go down to the sea in boats.
Terms like "stunning beauty" and "aquatic playground" flow from the contemporary copywriters' keyboards when Moreton Bay demands a reference.
But the Bay has existed a lot longer than pen and ink, computers and internet, and has caused the evolution of a special community that is devoted to its charms.
Such a community requires highly skilled support from a marine industry that stays up to date on technology. Brian Routledge has given decades of service to that community, building the boats and maintaining all the components.
He grew up in Moorooka, destined to have a future with boats. Brian says his dad Ron had deep involvement with the marine industries and in the 1960s and '70s worked on V8-powered jetboats.

THE son did an apprenticeship as an outboard motor technician at Milton Marine.
In the early 1980s, Brian carved a place in nation's powerboat racing history, driving his lightweight composite, tunnel-hull boats to three national championships.
He has a special memory of setting up Capalaba Boat Centre about 30 years ago: "My first client was an official of the Redlands RSL Fishing Club and since then I have had the pleasure of working on the boats of many club members."
While maintaining the Capalaba presence, which includes Bayside Jetskis, Brian started an eastward shift about six years ago, and opened Mojo Boats at Redland City Marina, Thornlands.
Mojo is promoted as an "outboard, jet ski and stern-drive specialist". Brian says he is delighted to work with a longtime mate, Dallas Schofield, who also has more than 30 years' experience in the marine trades.
"Dallas has kept up to date on the cutting-edge technology and has a special interest in E-Tec, Yamaha and Honda products," Brian says.

THE pair has long shared their knowledge and expertise, with Dallas also having a Capalaba base at Leisure Marine.
Brian says he has been building "one or two" plate aluminium boats a year, a tradition that Mojo Boats continues.
"Solid, soft riding and stable" are the criteria for Mojo Boats, which meets clients' needs for designs up to eight metres but has a special focus on those under five metres.
The firm's Boats & Marine classified notice lists brand interests including Suzuki, Mercury, Mercruiser, Tohatsu, Evinrude, Johnson, Seadoo and Kawasaki and states "Pick up and delivery service available".

Thanks for joining me to meet the people in the marvellous community of classified advertising. This column has appeared in The Redland Times.

Good reasons to dust off and 'declutter'

This column has appeared in The Redland Times.

Small business can 'press right buttons'

Image: Hand-painted metal button, courtesy http://www.vintagebuttonlady.com/

ADULTS delight in torturing little kids with the question, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"
Firefighter, police officer, doctor, nurse, computer scientist, astronaut ... just about every occupation has roots in formative and unpolluted minds.
Maybe someone should do a study asking five-year-olds that age-old question, then follow up a few decades later to find out whether they have achieved their ambition.
That might tell us whether society meets the hopes and dreams of those who have unquestioning trust in its future.

THE memories of how each of us answered that profound question fade over the years, so a fair-dinkum study would document a hazy corridor of everyday life.
Long ago and far away (well, not too long ago and in the English rural district of West Sussex), Mandy Killick had a consuming childhood interest.
The daughter of farm workers always knew she would not follow mum and dad into the fields to tend the cattle and pigs.
When Mandy visited her grandmother, the family lost her for the day as she emptied "nan's button tin" on the loungeroom floor and sorted them.

MANDY always wanted to grow up to be an antique-button collector, and she now has the supreme satisfaction of going one step further.
For the past seven years, she has been building a business, supplying antique buttons to an adoring market of collectors and crafty types such as quilters, sewers and jewellery makers.
She is known to the world through the internet after setting up www.vintagebuttonlady.com
Mandy and her husband David, with their three children, migrated to Australia in 2000, seeking a warmer climate. In the UK, Mandy had a 'day job' in airline reservations and checking to finance her button-collecting obsession.
The family first settled in Perth but in 2003 moved to Cleveland because of David's work as a tiler.

ALTHOUGH her core business is still in buttons, Mandy has diversified into high-end recycling, that is, buying and selling small collectables, such as glass and china, along with clothes, shoes and vintage jewellery. She also makes jewellery, including designs with buttons, of course.
The package makes a formidable presence at some of the Brisbane district markets as well as a business that can supply craft needs, 'at the press of a button'.
Mandy uses 'wanted' notices in our local Classifieds to replenish her stock.
Now, we can rest easy knowing that the "costume jewellery, vintage clothing, shoes, bags, old linen, postcards, small glasses and china" are helping to make a little girl's dream come true.

This column has appeared in The Redland Times.

Tenterfield terriers draw worldwide interest

AN amazing breed of canines has featured on this site from time to time. The Tenterfield terrier, an Australian-bred variation of the miniature fox terrier, has generated site traffic from throughout the world.
There's obviously an interested audience for any postings about the terriers, so today I introduce two Tenterfield-cross puppies - Joey, above, and Millie - and share stories of joy and tragedy.
The pair, bred on Russell Island, Queensland, Australia, have the same bloodlines through the foxy mother and Maltese father; the foxy genes are obviously stronger.
Millie came to my family in December 2010. She died from tick paralysis in October 2011. We are still grief stricken.
At six weeks old she fitted comfortably in the palm of my hand. It was quite hilarious to hear such a tiny creature growl if anyone's hand infringed on her personal space when she didn't feel like any attention.

MILLIE was a robust puppy and soon picked up a few tricks. She would stand on her back legs at the command "walking dog" and when I lit a small campfire in the backyard she would help collect the fuel from the nearby bush, dragging sticks to the fireside.
During her short life she would play with the curlews that live on the vacant blocks around our house. She would challenge the birds for being on her turf, running up to them.
The birds, towering over the tiny dog, would raise their wings and hiss. Millie then would dance around them for a few minutes before moving on to another interest.
After Millie died, I dug a grave in the backyard. As I lowered her body into the hole, a curlew suddenly came into my field of vision, its head was only about half a metre from mine.
The bird looked into the hole at the dog's body, then looked at me, then again looked downward into grave, then slowly sauntered away.
It was like a solemn show of respect for the passing of a great mate, who had never appeared to "get serious" and show any wish to harm the birds.

WHILE all this was happening, Millie's mum was about to give birth to another litter. One day in December I awoke from a late afternoon snooze, exhausted from my early shift in newspaper production, to see my wife and daughter come home with another palm-sized puppy.
Joey has had to suffer comparisons with his elder sister. Unlike her, he was a very timid little creature, retreating if he received any attention at all.
He didn't like being handled or patted and would move out of reach at the mere gesture of such.
However, over the weeks Joey has become a lot more confident. In fact, he's getting to the stage of overconfidence but thankfully is starting to tolerate the lead.
Initially, he would scream at any attempt to attach the lead clip and sit or lie down and refuse to budge.
Getting his confidence and trust has been difficult because of his hyper-timidity but now we may have hope for some serious training.
Well, that's about it for now. I will keep up the Tenterfield terrier postings to help satisfy the worldwide appetite.

For the other Tenterfield and "mini foxy" stories on the site simply paste the keywords into the search box above. If you prefer the spelling "mini foxie", that's okay - they'll forgive you!

Builder rests after deadline on SE Queensland post-flood rebuild

Image: One year ago Redland City's Rotarians were quick to rally the community for the "monster flood fightback".



QUEENSLANDERS nervously watch the clouds and the forecasts this summer. No one would want a repeat of the terrible tragedies that hit the State with the January 2011 floods.
It has been a year of rebuilding for many thousands of families. Builder Ellyott Allan, managing an insurance contract on home restoration in Ipswich, Goodna, Grantham and Toowoomba, says he is delighted to have completed work that allowed about 100 families back into their homes for Christmas.
Ellyott says the post-flood pressures were heavy during the restoration.
"In a project like this, you are dealing with a lot of emotions," he says. "People have been badly traumatised and we have had to reassure them that their lives can get back together again."

AUSTRALIA has been home for New Zealand-born Ellyott, 58, for the past 40-odd years.
He first came here when at age 17 he surfed the NSW North Coast breaks, after growing up in the North Island resort town of Mt Maunganui.
Ellyott has specialised in such large-scale restorations since a storm devastated big areas of Sydney in 1991.
He says he has now been involved in the restoration after about 10 minor and major disasters, including the 1999 Sydney hailstorm that left $3 billion damage in just 20 minutes.
The gratitude of the Queensland homeowners has been a treasured reward for Ellyott and his team.
Ellyott had to 'soldier on' during the year, despite suffering two personal tragedies. In June, his mother Betty Hill died, and two weeks later his wife of seven years, Julie, died from cancer.
Although he has been based mainly in Sydney, Redland City became his second home during 2011.

EARLY in December, he suffered another loss. After dining at a Cleveland restaurant, he drove off, leaving his motorised skateboard on a footpath.
Ellyott says he has used the expensive skateboard because a slip at Brisbane Airport about two years damaged his knee.
"Luckily I can still surf but I am unable to walk any long distances and have relied on the skateboard to get around," he says.
"I realised within minutes that I had left it behind but by the time I returned, it was gone."
Ellyott advertised a reward for the return of the 1.2-metre skateboard. He has been taking a short break before launching a new venture for insurance contracts.
He says the new firm, i Projects Australia, will be based on the Gold Coast and is set for a January 15 launch.

Thanks for joining me to meet the people in the marvellous community of classified advertising; this column has appeared in The Redland Times.

Don't let pool tragedy leave you with life of blame

Image courtesy of fellow bloggers producing the Best Nanny Newsletter in the US. A visit there will show that pool safety is a concern in other countries, too.

THE summer sizzle – or call it a "stew" because of the recent rain – has brought a timely warning from the Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS).
The message is to take extra care in and around pools over the Christmas and summer holiday period.
We have heard it all before, so many times in fact, that some owners may simply shrug and not give another thought to the importance of the message.
But such an attitude of indifference has been a factor in an horrific statistic that can make any Queenslander cringe.

THE State Government says 41 children aged under five years drowned in Queensland pools between January 2004 and June 2010.
Every case would have its peculiarities, and the last thing any parent who has lost a child in this way would deserve is to suffer forever in self blame.
However, something has been going seriously wrong and the State Government has finally acted with the introduction of new pool fencing laws.
It has given pool owners until 2015 to comply with a new pool safety standard, but earlier compliance is required if the property is sold or leased.
Pool owners have just passed the first deadline of the safety package; the Government required registration of swimming pool details by November 4, and has threatened fines up to $2000 for an unregistered pool.

LICENSED pool fencing inspector Noel Whittington, who advertises in our Trade Services section, has been busy.
Noel, a former Sydney pool builder who has specialised in fencing for about 30 years, believes the tightening of the law is overdue.
"Some owners whinge about 'another government thing' but I can only say, 'Come on, the fact is kids are drowning – this law is aimed at saving lives'," Noel says.
"The other tragedy is that many children whose lives are saved carry lifelong
disabilities from the experience."
Noel, admitting he is not a youngster, says he pushed himself to attend a series of seminars and get accreditation as an inspector.
He says maintenance-conscious owners benefit because regular attention minimises costs, which is important with inspections now required every two years.

NOEL came to live in Queensland in 1981 and now splits his time between his Gold Coast home and that of his sister, Gloria O'Brien, at Redland Bay, so he says he is well placed to service Redland City.
The QAS emphasises that fencing is not the complete solution to stop drownings and vigilance is important: Drowning is "a silent killer" – someone can drown in seconds, without making a sound.
The service urges pool owners to remove objects from around the pool fence to reduce the risk of children climbing to access the pool area or gate.

Thanks for joining me to meet the people in the marvellous community of classified
advertising; this column has appeared in The Redland Times.