the Stone the Crows Festival

Gday there, sorry for the delay but I had a little accident lol …however that is for the following post so you will have to wait to find out 😉

Now for my five days at the Stone the Crows Festival tales 🙂 I cannot praise the people who organised it highly enough nor the quality of the entertainment though one was not my personal cup of tea, he was of the highest quality in his particular genre. He is a yodeller and a long term country singer, known both in Australia and overseas. He has been added to the Roll of Honour in Tamworth just this year so you can see how honoured we were to have him perform for us 🙂

The honours for the collating of the talent goes mainly to a man by the name of Jim Haynes… well known in his own right and a very funny guy! I loved his comedy so much I bought one of his CD’s … one of my favourite skits of his, a poem actually lol, called Rindercella… and if you have never heard it, you don’t know what you are missing. If ever any particular piece of brilliance shows his unique talent, this one does. It is of course his rendition of Cinderella .. all back to front and as funny as.. still makes me grin when I think of him standing up there telling it and I laugh out loud when I remember the hilarity it engendered among my fellow stone the crowers hehehe. The day I travelled, I think I told you palready, was wet as :s.. however the following day the sun came out to smile down on our festival and never really left lol. I met a lot of people, acquaintances mainly, but two couples ended up being truly people that I wish to keep in contact with .. one from Cobram I met on the second last day and one from the Moss Vale area near Wollongong.. what lovely down to earth people they all are. Wonderful sense of humour and honest as folks ought to be!

Each morning I headed down for the early comedy show where those stone the crowers who were competing in the various talent quest categories did their thing; most were bloody entertaining I can tell you and so my days were always begun with a grin. It wasn’t easy with Alex though. I do not like leaving him alone much, especially when we are a new place. I think he is doing so very well but he is after all a baby yet and needs to know where his ‘mummy’ is. I and the motorhome are his only security while we travel so I try really hard to ensure he is not left to worry lol….
As usual, bar one particular person and later her cronies, everyone fell in love with my boy. His beautiful glossy pitch black fur, his laughing face and his gentle brown eyes are a killer combination and few can resist his charms despite his puppy antics lol.

We were both tired the first night. I bought myself a ‘real coffee’ and settled us in, electing not to go mingle but to chill in my motorhome, testing out the ‘neighbourhood’ so to speak.

The next day I put out the awning, set out my table and chairs and got out the generator to power up my laptop. Hmmm I am really not good at this whole generator thing lol and so enlisted my neighbour on the left of me to help. You know, I had pulled that bloody cord over and over till my hands was sore without result.. out he came and on the first pull got it going! LOL ahh well so this will not be my forte 😀 He was a nice bloke and he gave me tips on things to do with the generator, introducing himself and his lady while he was at it. She was a quiet little thing and so the oconversations were few and far between, mostly between him and myself re the generator.

I noticed that most people there were already a part of a group and so, it would seem, Alex and I would be a bit of an oddity that way. Well, no matter. I smiled at all I passed and said hi, knowing that if I was meant to meet others that I vibed with, it would happen of its own accord. Then too I have my Alex and as I said in the beginning of this post, he has the ability to melt ice just by being in the general vicinity.

OThere was one jarring incident on the first morning. I walked my boy out of the gates and along the side of the road; the majority of the people and dogs we met were lovely. Alex is very friendly to other dogs, rarely does he react and then I figure it has to be for a good reason. Well there was this one woman with a cross bred border collie; much shorter than collies usually are and very aggressive by all accounts. I did not know this and so, I offered to bring Alex closer so they could make each other’s acquaintance, reassuring her he is friendly. She panicked and said no because her dog was not yfriendly. Fair enough I thought and headed in the opposite direction so she would not feel anxious.

Later on, I found a place where I could throw the ball for Alex, though only if the other campers in that area did not mind. Having secured their permission I let him off and threw the ball over and over till he was happily tired lol. Now I did not realise I was pissing her off for a couple of days lol, I did notice she copied what I was doing with Alex, playing with her dog in the same fashion down the bottom and watching us. Hmmm I didn’t like her, had no reason to feel that way either at the time. Still something about her made me feel wary.

I met up with her at different activities over the next couple of days, always smiling at her without any answering one from her. Ahh well, I sighed to myself, don’t take it py. Some peope are just like that and besides, I had felt her dislike the very first time I met her. It was not helping that Alex was getting so much attention either. I do believe in hindsight the woman was quite jealous though I cannot understand such pettiness.

yI continued to take Alex for his walks, dropping into the morning entertainment on the way back. I always carried bags with me to pick up his number two’s though on a couple of occasions he did more than his usual and I had to ask for a plastic shopping bag from a nearby motorhomer lol… one bloke actually complemented me on my responsible and thoughtful handling of dog ownership, lamenting that not all dog owners were so thoughtful, often leaving their dog’s do dos behind. As I explained to him, I know what it is like to step in dog do and so won’t put anyone else through it lol.

By the second day I had been befriended by my neighbours on the other side. April introduced herself, this time the quietness of the generator had brought her over, and without going into detail about them or their lives, we found ourselves swapping emails etc. I know we will keep in touch. I really liked them both, feeling a kinship with them.

On the third day I had my run in with that woman and a couple of her cronies. I had been throwing the ball for Alex and I did not realise she had her dog up so close to where we were. Anyway, her dog broke off its leash as Alex played with the ball. I immediately called Alex back and put him on the leash, walking up to her and asking if her dog wanted to join in the play. Well! What a bloody mistake that was. It would appear that her male friend figured my Alex should not be off seeing as how he might just kill the sheep in the neighbouring paddock! I was gob smacked lol… I pointed out that we had been there for three days without him showing the slightest inclination to do anything with the sheep let alone kill them! Ha!!! not to be outmanoeuvred, she now joined in. Did I realise I had a wolf on the end of my lead?

Bwahahahahahaha…well maybe his ancestors were lol but my poor Alex, whose only obsession was a tennis ball sure was no danger to anyone .. without cause lol… I patiently pointed this out and the guy assured me he was not trying to pick on me or Alex, but you know as he is part Kelpie he just MIGHT chase the sheep and kill them. LOL fine fine. I was a bit pissed, said I felt really ganged up on and that Alex was no more a worry than the other dogs. I did not bother to say anything about her dog though many other dog owners had complained about her dog rushing at theirs just because they were walking past it. Nope, I turned on my heel and headed back to my motorhome to cool off.

I was not going to let her spoil my time though I admit I was angry and hurt by the actions of those two. My lovely neighbour April suggested I find out if I could exercise him anywhere else which I did. To my annoyance, I found that this other woman knew there was somewhere I could take Alex but had not bothered to tell me. I went back, grabbed the ball and took Alex to the paddock assigned for such things. Now despite these two, both Alex and I were warmly welcomed by so many. I was amazed how many people came up to praise my beautiful boy while we were there. There was also a lady who had lost her dog no more than a month before and Alex’s gentle nature reminded her of her lost companion. She often would sit with us so she could pet him. Other times she dropped by the motorhome when I was off doing something just to give him a pat. I think that is beautiful.

I know how it feels to lose a beloved animal companion and so to be able to help soothe another’s pain filled me with joy.
The rest of my time there was good. I will go again next year if I can. I loved it though by the fifth day I was ready to get back on the road and resume my adventures 🙂 this is only a small part of the fun I had but for now it will have to suffice. To April and Mike; Judy and Gary… ty so much for offering your hand in friendship. I am happy to have found new friends in you …