June 2014 – Edgar's Page

Travelling, cars and planes

22/06/2014 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

First off – an apology to CDL for ever doubting her! I was asked this holiday weekend to help a friend in his back yard. They have just bought this house and the area along the back of the fence has gone wild – feral even. The previous owners planted Bougainvillea, never cut it, never trimmed it but allowed it to take over. As if that was not bad enough they had also planted a creeper called here in Australia ‘ Mile a Minute” and a vine that’s called ” Clematis Virginiana” masses and masses of that stuff. Cutting the Bougainvillea was a nightmare but it fell quick enough – after it had poked its way through my gloves a couple of times. The biggest problem, however, is that vine – it’s everywhere, over sheds and over the garage roof. We took two full trailer loads to the dump and were still only at the start of it. The vine is quite nice but again it had been left, never cut never trimmed, never looked after and as a result it is invasive. We also discovered that the back fence was badly damaged and will have to be replaced. The weight of all the years of plant neglect have really taken a toll.

I head off to Adelaide tomorrow, stay overnight in Adelaide then head off to Mount Barker for a conference. I will be staying at the Grand Chifley in South Terrace. and depending on what time the conference finishes I may have to stop somewhere overnight and travel home on Sunday morning. I have to be very honest and say I had fully intended to have a “cold” this conference and put in an apology but the place is in crisis and there will decisions made that could seriously alter the entire structure of how things run. There may well be – and probably will be – things touted that we in the north will have difficulty living with and I will oppose them, but once upon a time there was a balance between liberals and conservatives but that balance is gone and I am, in essence, the last of the liberals and I am always outvoted. TeeHee – there’s 14 of them and 1 of me. Why do I even bother going? Good question, but the rules are very clear that every site must elect a representative and that representative must attend the bi-monthly conference. The consequences for not attending for at least three meetings without a valid reason, can have consequences for the representative and the area represented. I am very selective on when I am ‘unable’ to attend and this weekend would have been one of those. Why?? Well, Herself and the ladies are having a big fundraising function for the Hospital Cancer Unit this weekend – Saturday to be precise. There will be coffee, tea, cakes, scones, biscuits, cookies, scones, all sorts of goodies- and did I mention scones. Anyway, I had intended to be here but now, because of the crisis that developed I need to be there, if only to ensure that the rules are adhered to and insist that my objections be noted in the minutes to show people here that I did not sit quietly and allow us to get railroaded. Travelled down yesterday and it poured all the way down. Went for coffee with friends then made my way to South Terrace and my hotel. I had a good comfortable night and sorry to say to CDL it rained for a good part of the night – and cold with it.

This morning I set off to Mount Barker a again the rain poured down and on the Freeway that was not too comfortable. Still made it with time to spare as I write this on my tablet I am having coffee and cake ( don’t tell herself – about the cake) in place called Gawler Street Cafe and very nice it is too. Still chucking it down and the cafe is nice and warm. Will have to drag myself away in a little while and it will be cold — and the

weather is not all that much better.

I just had a look at the lunch menu and it looks good. May well come back here for lunch. Actually I did come back for lunch. Had a nice lunch here and they have a wood fired oven. If I had had more time I would have ordered a pizza. The meeting finished at just before 3pm and I wasted no time in getting back on the road. I wanted to be on the motorway (freeway) and heading home as soon as I could.

Ok that was last week. This week I have just once again come back from a cold, wet and miserable Adelaide. My son has gone off to Scotland and Europe for six weeks and I took him down to Adelaide Airport. By and large the two days were not too bad but the first half on my journey home was up South Road, to the Motorway and then to the Port Wakefield Road, in the dark and rain. Had breakfast at Port Wakefield, by which time it was light, so I and drove home – and didn’t even stop at the Tin Man. John called at 11am to say that he had arrived in Dubai then a quick call to say that he had arrived in Glasgow. He’s looking forward to his adventure and I’m looking forward to having him back safe and well. He’s meeting up with some Engineering people in Munich, so that should keep him happy. Three more weeks and I’m in Adelaide again. Oh Joy!!

The Butcher, the Baker and the Dog Ramp Maker

09/06/201409/06/2014 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Golleee… First time at a new groomer and what does he do – well, he pees on her!! Goodness me, I didn’t know where to look. I was so embarrassed. Still, she took it in good part, put him in the play-pen and mopped the floor, then washed her hands and arms. He was crying a little when I left him but that was an hour ago and she hasn’t called so everything must be ok. I go and collect him at 11am. He is sleeping a lot at the moment and last night he slept with me. Heck he must be unwell because generally he is an independent little character and wont sleep on the bed with me, preferring instead to be in his own bed. Just been up to collect him and he is looking good. I asked the girls and they said that he had been good and he wandered around with the other dogs until his legs started giving away so they put him back in the play-pen. Overall, however – apart from the accident this morning- he was very good and they would love to have him back again. So I am quite happy and a bit more relaxed now. For the first time in forever, he came to bed with me. We slept until 4am when a noise woke me up and I discovered he was missing. Put the light on and had a look but couldn’t find him. He had, I discovered, fallen out of the back of the bed at the wall side and got stuck under the bed. Once I got him out, we went back to bed and he slept in my arm with his head on my shoulder. Pretty cool, yes!!

Well!!! That didn’t last long! Took him through to the room again last night and did he set up a ruckus. He lay there for all of two minutes before barking and demanding to be returned to his own bed – so that’s what I did. Oh well, at least it was one night. Chienne, on the other hand, decided to take advantage of the situation and curled up at the bottom of the bed. I was going to move her, then decided not to, so that’s where she slept all night.

Old Army Bell Tent - not ours but similar to this. — Old Army Bell Tent – not ours but similar to this.

In a post I read recently the question was asked “Why do you Blog?” In my case I started a number of years ago in the old MySpace. There were no followers and in essence it was really written for one person. That changed in two ways, the person moved away and we lost contact and MySpace changed to a complete music site and I left. I did have an account here but I never used it, then one day I thought I would give it a whirl and here we are, three years later and we haven’t really changed all that much. Having said that, I also have to say that I have met some lovely people, who have made me laugh, who have made me cry, who have made me think, who have offered advice and who have made me feel that this is all worthwhile. In another recent post there was talk about camping as a young girl and it made me think when we used to go on family camping holidays in the Highlands of Scotland; the big ex-army Bell Tent that dad got from the Army Surplus store, for mum and the girls and the divided tent for me, dad and generally my cousin . My uncle Stirling and his family sometimes came up with us and stayed for a few days. I nearly drowned one time and my cousin swam out to save me. She was always my favourite cousin after that. We didn’t use gas, everything was cooked on an open fire – my dad, me, David, my cousin and my Uncle Stirling all went out on wood collecting trips. There was a forest close by so we went there but my dad made us aware of the rules – we only collect fallen or dead wood – never touch anything that’s green. When we had collected all we needed

for a couple of days we selected two large branches and made a stretcher , tied it all together and David and I had the great pleasure of carrying everything back to the campsite. And the fishing – the fishing was just out of this world. We didn’t own a boat but fishing by the side of the loch was good and the rainbow trout were plentiful. We were seven miles from Lochearnhead and nine miles from St. Fillians, and the butcher, the grocer and the baker vans all stopped each day, and each day we went to the farm and bought the milk from the farmer AND it was unpasteurized AND I am still alive. We also bought out eggs from the farm.

Been kind of busy. As you know the Man has arthritis and Herself and I decided that it must be a bit painful for him to jump up and down the steps when he wants to go out – so – I built him a ramp. It wouldn’t win any prizes but is strong enough for the two dogs to use and to ensure that he does not slip on the hardboard, I have covered the structure in the remains of an old carpet that I cut down to size. He is using it so I think he likes it.

The Vet, The Man and Medication

04/06/2014 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

This is the "Younger" Man — This is the “Younger” Man

Well, back from Adelaide, glad to be back home , although I have to go back next week.. I got up this morning to find that Outlook Express strikes again and the mail I was reading over the last two days had simply vanished. It’s not in the trash box, it’s not in the junk box = it’s just gone. I don’t about this happening to anyone else, so I have to believe that it’s something I’m doing – or not doing. What that is, I have not a clue. I know there are a lot of faults with Windows 8 and perhaps this is just another one. So, please, I am not ignoring your posts, I am just having problems with my mail server again. It’s been a couple of months since this happened so perhaps I was getting complacent. But I think the problem with vanishing emails has gotten worse since the change from an AppleMac back to a PC. Having said that I think it is possible that the missing emails could be in the AppleMac so I might set that up and see. It is very frustrating. It was suggested that I move to Google+ and although I have an account there moving over could cause more problems than it would solve.

The Man is not getting any better and apart from problems with arthritis, we now know that he is loosing his sight. I have been hand feeding him and he bumps into things more and more. I have an appointment with the Vet tomorrow so I will see what he has to say, but I don’t think it will be all that encouraging. There is only so much we can do. I really am not ready to let him go if there is any way I can make him less scared and more comfortable. He squeals a lot – not barking – but we can’t figure out why. I noticed changes in him when I did come back home. A week is a long time in a dog’s life – but you know that.

Had the Man at the Vet yesterday afternoon. Struth it was a trying time. He was very distressed and cried (loudly) all the way into town in the car. He cried and screamed in the vet and once I checked in and let them know I was here, I went back outside to walk up and down with him and tried to calm him down. He was in pain and he was afraid. Mustafa (the Vet) is very good and we did manage to calm him down. Yes, he is loosing coordination of his back legs which slip away from him and cause him to fall a lot – yes there is arthritis and yes he is starting to lose his sight. He is on 10 mil of Carprofen, which should help. I did ask about Adequan, which he had not heard of, but he has asked his staff to look for it and he will get back to me. I also talked to him about the wheels and he gave a qualified approval provided that the measurements are correct and it does not put any additional stress on the dog. I told him that the wheels I am about to order – once I have all his measurements – will be made to his specifications and shipped over from the United States. Mustafa seemed a bit more relaxed about that.

The other dogs that I take walking at times.

At the moment he is curled up asleep in my office – with me – in front of the fire. He likes his comfort. I was worried about the fact that he was not eating too well and I was going to mention that until to Mustafa. Herself suggested that perhaps he does not like cooked chicken (horror!!!) Hey it was chicken breasts from the butcher that I cooked and chopped up for him. Anyway, I put the chicken into Chienne’s bowl and she scoffed the lot. I sorted out some other stuff for him, chopped it up finely and he scoffed that, and there was me thinking I was doing the right thing by buying expensive chicken breasts and he turns up his wee nose at it. The photograph is of Izzy and Spike -Izzy is the light coloured one – and these are the dogs I take out walking a couple of times – when I can.

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