NOVEMBER 2002
Saturday 30 November 2002
Spent day lolling around getting better.  At least, I HOPE I'm getting better because I heard the V word mentioned. 

Shamila rang from England - YaY!!  She will be back in Australia soon and that means we can visit her and catch up with Kai, the golden retriever who lives where she will be staying. 

Friday 29 November 2002
Now Mistress Hellen is off colour too.  Blames ME!!!  Huh! 

It's raining, it's raining - and really heavily - Yippee!!!! 
I don't normally snooze on Command and Observation Post 2, but unfortunately, today I did.  Was startled awake, forgot where I was and fell off.  Not just undignified, but downright inconvenient because I caught the edge of a pile of CDs we've been cataloging for 2RRR.  Familiar with the domino effect?  Spent some time stacking 300 or so CDs back into some order.  Fortunately they weren't in much of an order, just big batches for later sorting.

Thursday 28 November 2002
Woah!!!  Realise I haven't updated my playlists.  I've been lying around feeling sorry for myself.  Plans to see Ray Beadle again tonight have been cancelled.  Mistress H off to work leaving me with a cuddly blanket, lots of water and the instruction to look after myself.  (like I wouldn't???)  She says that they wouldn't understand her taking time off work to look after her dog.  I'm too sick to point out that she's MY human, I am NOT her dog.

Wednesday 27 November 2002  (back to top)
2RRR's AGM is on this evening.  I'm feeling very off colour - which Mistress Hellen suggests is due to my hectic social life of late. See <scrape> my nose is all hot and dry. 

Tuesday 26 November 2002
Still Too Hot!!!!! 
Decide to show up at the Songs Alive / Australian Songwriters Association Christmas Showcase at the Cat and Fiddle instead of resting before the show.
It's a great night - met lots of artists and enjoyed some wonderful music.  Was able to chat again with Gilli Moon!!!!

It also rained a bit!!!! Yippee!!!!

Monday 25 November 2002
Too hot!!!!! 
A fresh tribe of ants has invaded.  Bigger and more evil looking than the last ones.  They are EVERYWHERE, even crawling around the bedroom floor.  Mistress Hellen declares they can stay because they don't know any better - merely making a living, as long as they stay off the bed.

Sunday 24 November 2002
Visiting Neeve in her new home. 

Saturday 23 November 2002  (back to top)
Off to see Parker and Ray Beadle perform.  Ray then joined Parker on stage.  Miss Love from Love Bucket also added her wonderful voice to the festivities.  A wall of blues - fabulous.  I met and chatted with them all…. umm, except the drummer (met but didn’t chat)…but we all know about drummers, don’t we?

Ray has recently launched into being a full time musician rather than holding down a day job so I was able to quiz him a little about this.

Was pestered by a random member of the audience - an idiot called Rick who kept saying “my name’s Rick why don’t you want to shake my hand”. 

Why did I not want to play hand shakies with drunken Rick? 
Because on the two instances I indulged him, he crushed my paw and caused pain.  He couldn’t see the problem with that.  Was wondering what he’d think about me taking a quick nip out of his ankle.

Rickie babe later excelled himself in drunken behaviour by climbing up on stage and playing air guitar - and refusing to leave the stage.  Was dragged off stage by staff.  His fate after that can only be guessed at.

I don’t know what it is about drunken people in public places but I was later accosted by some buffoon about 3 feet taller than me who lurched up and started patting me on the head.  Not just a simple pat, but an ongoing pat pat pat pat pat…..now while that is OK in some circumstances…it was NOT then.  He didn’t even know that I am Streamer the BEAGLE. 

Friday 22 November 2002
Go to 2RRR this afternoon to see Gilli Moon again.  She’s appearing on Live Sessions.  I decline the invitation to join in on the session and busy myself with other things.  Stuart graciously hands over the recording of the show so I can play it on my next ‘Streamer Never Sleeps’. 

More chatting with Gilli and she signs my CDs and a poster.  *dance dance dance*  I’m fascinated by how performers decide where to appear, especially when from overseas and operating on limited time and resources.  I ask Gilli about this.  In regard to appearing at 2RRR, she says she supports community radio and that fans are won one at a time.  If only 10 people bothered to listen, then that is 10 people whose life she has touched.  Ooo! I’d never thought about it that way.

Thursday 21 November 2002  (back to top)
Off to the Ivanhoe at Manly to see Gilli Moon. 

She is sensational!!!  She hugged and patted me and declared that I had been a such mystery!!!!  (I've been emailing her) EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!  *dance dance dance* 

I’m entranced by her performance.

I’ve been putting off writing about this in my diary because I just can’t think how to put into words how great it was seeing Gilli perform and to meet her - she’s so friendly *dance dance dance* and has enthusiasm for life which I find comforting and inspiring. 

Gilli is the reason I decided to start doing a show about new releases and local talent.  A while back I emailed asking how Gilli was pronounced, with a soft G or a hard one.  She answered and also put me in touch with her publicist, who then started providing me with new releases.  (That’s Australian Music Biz that I acknowledge in my play lists)

I’ve just been pondering how different my life is - how would it be had I not felt that getting involved in community radio was part of my destiny.  I’ve met so many interesting people, hear and see so many interesting and entertaining things… all because one day we were flicking up and down the FM band and found a community radio station (not RRR).  Mistress Hellen and I decided we could do as well, if not better than the current announcer. 

Oh if you have no idea who Gilli Moon is - check out Gilli's Home Page or Warrior Girl Music and all the associated projects!

Later: Mistress Hellen off to bed.  I settle down to listen to Gilli’s CDs.  Put on the headphones so I won’t disturb the sleeping beauty.  This is great music….**singing: TREAT ME LIKE AN ANGEL…..A TEM-PER-A-ME…** …..Mistress Hellen appears. 

“Will you please be quieter?” she says.  “but I’m wearing headphones” - I protest.  “Yes, I can see that, but you are SINGING AT THE TOP OF YOUR VOICE” declares She Who Must Have Sleep… ”and while you might just have the most beautiful speaking voice in the canine world - your singing leaves a lot to be desired - especially at 2:30am”. 

Oh……Um, Oh…..I suggest that if this was a movie - she’d join in and we’d dance in beautifully choreographed gracefulness around the room. She rolls her eyes and goes back to bed.

Wednesay 20 November 2002 (back to top)
What an astonishing show I had this morning.  One freshly recorded interview with a band, two guests (the people who had done the interviewing) and FOUR ‘Sing along with Streamer’ songs. 

Paul, from Tuesday breakfast and his friend Ed (not the Ed from Tuesday breakfast - another one) came by after seeing You Am I and Dirtbombs at the Eastwood Hotel.  They had scored an interview with the Dirtbombs and had the recording of it in their hot hands.  I must say there were some very interesting moments in the interview - I only put a small portion to air - it will be edited and made clearer by Paul the Audio WonderMan.

We sang along, live to air, to Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious…from the Mary Poppins soundtrack, Jason Jackson’s ‘You look so good to me’, the Aeroplane Jelly jingle and finally finished the show with Fred Smith’s rousing ‘Nervous Jervis’.  What a NIGHT!!!!!  Much excited squeaking and dancing.

Later: The day has cooled to a refreshing temperature. 
I hear that Port Macquarie is in the grip of extreme water restrictions.  Mistress Hellen declares that anyone in any part of the country who isn’t already being extremely frugal with water is seriously lacking in moral fibre.  Hmm, she does have some strong opinions - but very right - in this instance, anyway.

Tuesday 19 November 2002 (back to top)
I was snoozing on the beanbags in the back room today…incidentally, what’s the collective noun for beanbags?  This was discussed today (after the event about which I am reporting) and the best we could come up with was a loaf of beanbags.  Runners up were pod of beanbags and brace of beanbags.  I’m sure someone out there could do better.
Anyway, I digress. 

I was snoozing and had just done the traditional stretch, yawn, wriggle routine when I felt something was wrong.  Opened my eyes fully and was confronted with a very close view of a beanbag ball. 

Oh Oh

On this previously mended bag, the gaff tape has come adrift from the material and there’s an army of beanbag beans vying for a chance of escape.

After engaging in some ‘eye-to-bean’ confrontational tactics “you WILL return to the interior of the bag, you WILL return to the interior of the bag’ (and failing), I decide the best thing is to extract myself from this situation and seek the safety of some other comfortable spot in the house. 

Escape is not as easy at it sounds.  I’ve fallen into what is normally known as ‘beanbag quicksand’. . . that trench that forms in a beanbag, trapping the unwary, the not-so-agile and small animals such as my good self.  Mostly it leads to undignified scenes with the trapped declaring they require assistance.  Unfortunately, there IS no-one around to render such assistance.

So, the intrepid Independent Beagle must free herself from this predicament.  I’m certainly not going to sit here until Mistress Hellen arrives home.  I’d have to sit as still as a statue.

It takes a while, and with each move, another puff of beans bursts into freedom, but I finally make it to the safety of solid ground.  On surveying the room, I decide that even a small amount of beanbag beans, like hair dye, blood and water leaking from a fish tank, can create the most hideous amounts of mess.  On second thoughts, I decide there isn’t a small amount of these beans, but a rather large one.

Hmmmm, Independent Beagles normally clean up things like this…….

I consider using the vacuum cleaner but reject that idea because I’m sure that no matter how careful I was, the backwash of air would merely make matters worse.  Besides, after my last run-in with it, I consider the vacuum cleaner to be demon possessed.  Mistress Hellen claims the same thing about the sewing machine, but that’s another story.

This is making me wish I had sheepdog genes somewhere in my makeup.  I’m trying to manually herd these beans into one spot and notice they exhibit very similar tendencies to sheep when one tries deal with them as a group. 

Eventually I retreat to the safety of Command and Observation Post 1, where I am alarmed to notice some beans have actually followed me and settled here.  I’m pondering how a bean could climb when Mistress Hellen arrives. 

She takes one look at the scene and falls over laughing.  I put on my best ‘puzzled and hurt’ look and she declares I have bean bag beans stuck all over me and the room looks like a set from ‘White Christmas’.

Turns out that she’d noticed the tape coming adrift the other day and had, in her normal manner, thought “I’ll fix that soon”. 

I remain on Command and Observation Post 1 and watch her gather the escapees, return them to their correct place and then fix the bag.  I suggest sewing up the tear but she gives me one of those ‘you mean use the sewing machine’ looks so I go back to silent observation.
She declares the room safe but I decide I’ll give the beans the rest of the day to calm down and get used to the idea they are no longer on the way to freedom. 

Sunday 17 November 2002 (back to top)
What a singularly uneventful weekend this has been.  Spent a lot of time on Command and Observation Post 1, watching the grass grow and pondering life.

I also worked on the character profiles for my book (see earlier diary entries).  Showed them to Mistress Hellen, who declared that describing someone as "perpetually looking like they've just been dipped in lemon juice" was perhaps setting myself up for some ugly legal problems later in my life.  We discuss truth versus truth. 

Later: On a whim, decided to revamp the web site - do you notice the new colours?  The new paws?  All done by ME!!!!

Also removed the Artist Contact page as it wasn't really necessary.  Oooo!  Lots of fun fiddling with my web-based empire.

Friday 15 November 2002
It's RAINING, it's RAINING, it's RAINING!!!!  <dance dance dance> 
I have a fresh rainwater drink.  Haven't done that in a long time. 

Wednesday 13 November 2002
Practised tap dancing today, without Mistress Hellen's presence.  As good as she is, I find it less dangerous without her.  I've learnt new steps, a bit complicated, but it's worth the effort.

Today offers more comfortable temperatures and the threat of rain.  Not so much a threat as a great promise.  Walking on the grass has become an unpleasant experience because it's dead and crunchy.  I do laps of the garden sticking to the patches of grass that have mysteriously not dried up completely.  Despite our efforts with using all the household grey water for watering, the garden is now in a sorry state....not a bit like the one across the road.

Monday 11 November 2002
It has come to my attention that 'Soul Food' - the eight hour standby tape I made with the talented Mary Ellen - has been missing for a while.  If this is the case, then we have a problem . . . someone appears to have a 'thing' about Mary Ellen's voice and consequently pilfers anything containing her voice.  I can draw this conclusion because none of my lone tapes have vanished, but BOTH of the tapes with Mary Ellen have gone.

Saturday 9 November 2002
Have been working with a graphics package making graphic thingies that sparkle and look good.   Thinking of revamping the site, despite it being only weeks old.

Friday 8 November 2002
Is a good day for lying on a towel in the bathroom. 

Later: Is 10:35pm and 29 degrees inside the house.  There ends the time call and weather report.

Thursday 7 November 2002
Great Excitement!  Went to see Merri-May Gill and Fred Smith tonight.  Both performers in fine form, as were the musicians playing along with Fred. 

Was able to have a good chat with Merri-May and asked if it was her real name - YEP! 

When we arrived home, discovered a different tribe of ants have invaded the kitchen.  The ants are still marching around near the PC too.  Frankly I think they are free-loading, since it still hasn't rained. 

A big hello to anyone reading this diary for the first time.

Wednesday 6 November 2002
6:00am: Decide to do a bit of extra exercise to make up for yesterday's gluttony.  DOGAEROBICS!!   Put on the telly and start to bop along with the aerobics show. 

Something is missing! ah...Music!  LOUD Music is required.  I can fix THAT!!!

I'm bending and leaping and having a good time **singing: AH FEEEEEEEL GOOD da da dada te dadah, knew that I wou......** when Mistress Hellen appears.  She's carrying my headphones, plugs them into the stereo and just before she puts them on my head she says (whispering) "would you please remember you are now attached to the stereo".....  She gives me the traditional 'Happy Morning' pat then trails off back to bed. 

Later: Ooooo...I don't feel so good now. I think I overdid the dogaerobics.

Later more: Ooooooooo, I KNOW I overdid the dogaerobics.

Tuesday 5 November 2002
Melbourne Cup Day - I put on my best collar and pootle on around to Barney's place.  His humans are having a Cup Lunch, a gathering of humans and dogs who know each other from romping in the local park.  Mistress Hellen is off to work so won't be there.

Yumm!  Lots of things to eat and lots of games.  More insane one sided conversations aimed at us doggies by the humans.  It's good catching up with lots of my doggie friends at the one time.  Even Mandy is there - she's a Yorkshire Terrier and always looks as if someone has just wrung her out after using her as a washcloth.

Later: Ooooo!! I ate too much.

Sunday 3 November 2002
Still hasn't rained and the ants are still here. 

Saturday 2 November 2002
I'm pondering the notion of writing a book, as suggested by Guest Elizabeth (whom I suspect is Mistress H's sister).  Mention to Mistress Hellen that I could write one exposing the political intrigue, powerplays and general shenanigans that go on at 2RRR.  She replies that it may not be a good idea, since I could possibly end up nailed to the door of 2RRR by my ears.  Or her severed head may end up placed in my bedding.

While I'm still puzzling her comments - she says "but it may work - you could call it "The DOGFATHER".  For some reason she is greatly amused by this comment.

We're being invaded by ants.  Sit and watch them for a while.  It's supposed to be a sign that it's going to rain.  While this is good, I do rather take umbrage at being marched across whilst using the computer.  Can't figure out what they are after on the desk - no sign of previous doggy snacks, spilt drinks or stuff like that.

Later: Finish a batch of 100 CDs and take them down to 2RRR.  Greatly amused by the cataloging process, so we collect the rest and come home.

Friday 1 November 2002
Visit 2RRR and socialise with some of the bods hanging around there.  Pick up all the uncataloged Music Library CDs and bring them home.  Mistress Hellen and myself will be spending time this weekend clearing the backlog (considerable backlog) of uncataloged CDs.  We've taken it on because the person who normally does it is snowed under with other 2RRR tasks. 

Decide to re-arrange this site - just for the fun of it.  Change is as good as a holiday, I've been told.

The Beagle Diary
A fascinating (perhaps) insight into Streamer's life with and without Mistress Hellen.  The diary is updated frequently.