Month: July 2016

The Dark, the Ghost and the Rosebush

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Friday:  The workmen came this morning to fill in the trench. That’s all they were contracted to do – they have no idea when the concrete work will be done. Still, at least I can get the car back into the driveway – I think – I haven’t tried it yet. —– I have just been told that the concreting will be done tomorrow, so it will probably be Sunday before  I can use the driveway again. I am quite pleased that it is completed now because for the month of August Annabell will be hosting the Ladies Coffee – Tuesday evening and again on the Wednesday morning.

Ready for the Concrete
Ready for the Concrete

The other news is that I do not have to go to Adelaide to have the Laptop fixed. It has been done. I telephoned the Apple Shop to make an appointment with the Tec, and instead I ended up with one of the Senior Tecs and together we sorted the problem out over the phone. It took a while and  I will expect to see a jump in the telephone bill because of it, but whatever it is it will be nowhere as much as  going to Adelaide either by coach or driving. So the Laptop is now  running El. Capitan the newest AppleMac OS. I am quite pleased about that.

Took BJ out for our walk this morning and by morning I mean 5:50am, and just as we passed a fence we were suddenly confronted by an apparition in white, scared BJ who started barking like crazy ( unusual) and set my heart off racing at a rate of knots. It was only for a few moments before it vanished behind the very large caravan in the driveway. No it was not a ghost, what is was, was the lady of the house out laying towels over her rose bushes to protect them from the cold. Admirable to be sure, but at 5:50 am – still dark, dressed in white ( white dressing gown carrying white cloths) reflected in the street light on the opposite side of the road – scared me half to death!   Not quite what you expect at that time on a cold winter.  morning. I told a lady in the church today and her comment was “that’s good, John, as long as it was not dressed in black carrying a scythe and an hour glass, you’ve nothing to worry about”.

All completed - just needs to cure
All completed – just needs to cure

The concrete is laid, the area blocked off and all the workmen gone. Looks good and the men have  done a really good job. I can walk on it as from tomorrow but not drive on it until at least Tuesday.  Busy week ahead – Wednesday I go to the Specialist and hope that he will organise  the surgery for my collapsing right knee-cap in the not too distant future. Then I have a day off and of Friday I go see my Cardiologist. I only see him once every four months and there is a good chance that the visits may well be finalised since everything has been great for the last year.

In mid August I head off to Adelaide and will be away for two days. I am no sooner back than I set off again, but this time just for a day, at least that’s the plan. The  second visit may also be for two days and that should be me (Officially)  until November unless I decide to go down for the weekend and take the trailer with me to Bunnings. Having said that I probably will need the trailer for ten square meters of  Synthetic Turf for my plan. I have already started on that and as the weeks progress I will add more to it until I have things the way I want them.

Trench, Gas and a T-Rex

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Last night my son suggested that after I have done the backup (which I have) I should do the factory reset and reinstall myself. Not keen on that idea. I was reading on line – always a dangerous thing to do – of people who did just that, made a stuff-up of it and locked themselves out- then had to send the machine to Apple for repair and that was not cheap. I sometimes think that we go on line to find information and end up scaring ourselves half to death  :o)  We are fortunate in that there if a fairly large Apple Shop in Rundle Mall in Adelaide, so it’s an easy thing to hop on the coach, do what has to be done and coach back home. Well yes it does mean 10 hours on a coach ( 5 x 2) but at least you know that it has been attended by Apple Techs. Or, if I am feeling generous with myself, drive down,  get the machine attended to, book into the Sage,  spend a quiet night in Adelaide and drive home the following day. Not going to happen mainly because I am going to be in Adelaide several times in August so  I’ve waited this long I can wait a few more weeks – I think…..

Nice Trench
Nice Trench
Isn't this exciting??
Isn’t this exciting??

With regard to the weather, Adelaide is taking a bit of a battering and another storm front is moving in. We get some of the  left over rain, which is always welcome. But looking at the path of the storm front, it has gone through below us, which is about  normal for these things.  You may remember – or you may not know – but in November of last year an electrical fault was discovered underneath my driveway, which had to be part dug up. The fault was fixed but then they discovered a gas line fault and that could not be fixed. There was not a part available in Australia. They put in a temporary patch and filled it all back in, promising to come back soon as they had the part and repair the fault and re-concrete that part of my driveway. As I said, that was last November. The workman arrived today and not only did they open the trench, they extended it. They kindly came yesterday and suggested I park my car out on the roadway. Anyway there were trucks and vans and a back-hoe and men with shovels and they dug up the area. Then some other men arrived and they inspected the hole and the pipe and  dug two more holes, then extended my trench on either side and I had to go out and move the car so that they could do this. Anyway, that’s it for today and they will be back again tomorrow to carry on working.  Looking at the trench I thought it would look just right with a couple of WW1 Soldiers sitting in it. I know, I have a very warped sense of humour!!

Benji's T-Rex.
Benji’s T-Rex.

Took Annabell shopping and as we entered the supermarket she met a friend and chatted. I wandered off. When I came back, she looked and shook her head. Well, what can I tell you – it’s a nice Dinosaur and I know BJ will just lurve it.  (He does!) Then she wanted to know if he has enough toys already and I thought, you can never have too many toys. Feel free to disagree.

The work on the trench continues and the gas to the house has been disconnected for the moment. I can make myself as much tea and coffee as I wish, but I can’t cook anything since we have a gas cooker. By the time Annabell comes home ( I go and collect her) from her ladies Coffee Morning, it might even be back on again, although after talking to the gas fitter, it might be off for most of the day – do the repairs, test it, then turn the gas back on. Anyway, if I get peckish there is always the Microwave.

Wednesday evening:   The new gas pipe has been installed and the repairs completed – howeffer…. the trench  – nice though it is – will not be filled in until sometime tomorrow. Then we will have another wait until they finally get around to doing the concrete – in the fullness of time… Although, having said that, they could actually surprise me.

Adelaide and a Dinosaur

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs
Adelaide Arcade
Adelaide Arcade with the fountain in front.

Just after 1:30 pm Andrew picked me up and we headed off to Adelaide. We drove directly to Port Wakefield before we stopped for coffee and something to eat. From there we drove to Adelaide – Andrew to his hotel, me to mine. Fortunately both were in South Terrace – The Chifley and the Sage – Andrew in the Chifley. Why not in the same hotel, or even sharing a room? Well this was not a planned trip – Andrew was going down for a meeting so I  bummed a lift from him and I just booked to stay where I normally do in Adelaide, whereas Andrew’s room was booked by his  company. In the morning I made my way into town – had  scones (and butter) and coffee at the Coffee Club in David Jones. Refreshed I  went up the road to the Apple Shop to find out what was wrong with my laptop. Here I need to bore you further with an explanation. My Apple MacBook Pro is working fine – it’s great – no problems– however  (there’s always a “however”isn’t there?)   although it is working very well, it will not upgrade. I am running an operating  system that is at least three upgrades behind what I should be running and I am starting to find that some things I download will not operate because the OS is out of date. Why wont it update? Well, that’s what I was seeking an answer to. I didn’t get one – well I got one of sorts. After  going through it the tech admitted he had seem nothing like it. Everything is there but it will not upgrade and we don’t know why. They believe that the best solution is to  wipe it clean and start with a fresh install then upgrade that to the current OS.  That I could not do because I do not have a recent backup, so  we are back home again and I will do a backup before I go back down.

Andrew finished his meeting and I met up with him again. We went off to Bunnings and we both did some shopping there and I checked out some of the things I would like for the garden – which I need a trailer for. Leaving Bunnings we headed for home again stopping at Port Wakefield for fuel and food. We arrived home at about 9:40 – a long and tiring day.  I may do the backup this weekend and perhaps take a run down during the week and have the clean and install the new operating system. All I have to do then is put the backup back into the computer. Actually I might get

Sleeping with a Dinosaur
Sleeping with a Dinosaur

the Tech to do that for me – probably cost, but worth it. In Adelaide we came across   “The Pet Barn” a big pet accessories shop.  Well, yes, I did buy some new toys for BJ, one of which was a Dinosaur. Since I gave him the Dinosaur he has hardly let it go and he takes it up on my bed with him. I managed to  get it on its own for a bit and took a photograph. His duck was a bit grubby so I gave it a wash. Came out quite well and the squeaker still works.

Although I’ve been in Adelaide the weather up here has been calm and warm – today is a mild 24c and whilst the warmer weather is welcome, it wont last and we’ll be back to cold and wind again soon. However, I did take advantage of the warmer weather to get some work done and this morning I  hope to hook up the trailer and get down for a load of Granite Chips and make a start on the back.

The WaWa continues to go for Benji and the spray bottle is no longer having any effect; Yesterday was not a good day. The WaWa never shut up the entire day. Spent much of the day outside or driving – always with Benji with me – even if I was going to the hardware store, I took him with me. Keeping him with me and  stopping the WaWa from nipping at his back legs has become a constant battle and although I do not wish away time, October can’t come soon enough. Sooah  insists she will be back then – I hope so, I really hope so. I have to have something in place before November when I head off back to Mount Gambier and be away for  four and a half days and I wouldn’t be at ease worrying about him.

The line in the sand is here!

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Finally, we have a government. As expected the government has claimed victory in the election with the opposition conceding defeat. It has been a very tight election with a rise in the major voting stats for the  minor/independent parties. I think part of the message is simply that the people in general are fed up with the constant sniping and point scoring that goes on in Parliament between the two major parties. I sometimes think they forget that they are there to run the country not waste time scoring points off each other. If they don’t learn this lesson then we are going to get a lot of close elections and hung parliament with the independents demanding greater and greater concessions. What we really do not need at this stage is “Meet the New Boss – same as the Old Boss!”

The race is on for a new Mayor to replace Jim Pollock who died recently.  People are looking to elect a retired member of the State Parliament as Mayor, which I am totally against. All the years she was there she was led around by the Adelaide Boys Club. She was made Speaker then stood aside so one of the Adelaide Boys Club could have the job instead.  I honestly believe she would be a disaster since she would simply do and speak as North Terrace told her to . I do not believe she would  be an independent Mayor and more than anything we need an independent Mayor not a party hack.

Just over a week now and the army will be gone. It has been interesting having them here and it has been fun doing the catering for them. Yes, they do have their own catering but they  wanted a number of “Not for Profit” groups to do catering so that they could inject funds into the local community and whatever supplies they did need, they purchased locally.

Adelaide is being battered by wild weather with more predicted tonight. This front is passing below us but I expect we will get a bit of the rain and some wind. — This is what happened. We did get some rain and some wind but nothing to really write home about. Adelaide took another battering with snow on the Adelaide Hills as far down as Handorf.

Andrew is heading down to Adelaide on Sunday afternoon for a meeting early Monday morning. I’ll get home from church, get changed and he will pick me up just after noon. He can go off to his meeting on Monday and I’ll get into the Apple Shop in Rundle Mall and either see about getting something done with my laptop or if it has reached the end of its life and cannot be upgraded,  think about a emplacement. My current laptop is at least two upgrades behind and I don’t know why it wont upgrade.  If it is a  replacement I’ll probably look at the MacBook Pro again.

Today I left the room. I could not watch the news. I know what has happened but I could not watch nor listen to it. I cried and found everything overwhelming as the tears ran down my face. I wept for the horror, I wept for the loss, I wept for France. The tears of sorrow gave way to feelings of anger together with my feelings for Angela Merkel – so better to leave it here rather than say something I may regret.

Cuttlefish and Cold Water

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs
One of the Three Dives for the day.
One of the Three Dives for the day.

As I mentioned in another post,  the Royal Flying Doctors Service (Support) were catering for a three day diving course about 3 million miles out of town, in the middle of nowhere, right next to the sea and very little shelter. Man it was cold. Well, ok, a slight exaggeration on the millage, but it was a long way out of town. The dive was organised by the  “Experiencing Marine Sanctuaries  (EMS) Group” to view the  Giant Cuttlefish  in their

Giant Cuttlefish
Giant Cuttlefish

natural environment and to give people the opportunity to interact with them. The water in this part of the gulf is very clear and most people used a boogie board to allow them to get face down in the water  and a snorkel  for air. The more adventurous had weights and got down among the creatures – there were hundreds of them. They are a strange creature – weird looking with the ability to change colour at will to attract females.    The EMS Group kept trying to persuade  us to leave the catering Gazebo, don a wet suit and get into the freezing cold water. Oh did I ever mention that I do not have masochistic tendencies, plus the fact that it was quite cold enough where we were thank you. I actually would have  gone with them but not without any preparation – like very warm clothes to change into  and a cup of our own hot soup afterwards. They are going to run the course again next year so I may well take the opportunity to go out with them then. Also this is the first time we have been involved with this and we didn’t know what would be required. Next year we will be better organised. Like with the Operators- Advertising was not all that great and on the first day people bought their own food because they didn’t know we would be there. Apart from hot food we also provided, hot tea, coffee, chocolate and hot soup. There were three dives each day – 10am / 12 noon / 3pm. It was cold and colder when the wind

It was a very cold day at nowhere.
It was a very cold day at nowhere.

was coming off the water. The Cuttlefish mate in the cold water during winter.

The election goes on and will continue for some time yet. We still have no outcome although it is looking more likely that the government will survive – just – and that it may well have a workable majority although the wheeling and dealing with the independents continues.

I did say that the rain had passed and it has – sort of. It’s still wet but the rain has been reduced to a drizzle with the odd overnight shower, which means that garden work is mostly out for the moment. The army are still here and we have a group catering for them at their camp in Jubilee Park.  I don’t have  anything to do until Saturday week.

The WaWa continues to attack Benji and Benji will not defend himself. Annabell and I have decided that  if Sooah does not return to Australia, then we cannot keep the WaWa. It would not be fair on BJ. The WaWa is a friendly, playful little thing and is all over me when I come home after being out for a few hours. I can play with her and I can “fight”with her, but she hates BJ with a passion. I also have a fear that BJ will snap and retaliate and really cause some serious injury – and that bothers me more than a little because a snap and injury could well change the whole nature of Benji and I really don’t want that to happen. And to make matters worse, Sooah has not been in contact with us so we really don’t know what is happening.

Since writing this Sooah has been in contact with us and we now know what is happening. Her husband is still working on brushing up his English and should be good enough to get through

Benji & The WaWa
Benji & The WaWa

the English Test and all being well she hopes to be back in Australia by October of this year – or very shortly afterwards.  That’s fine and gives us something to work towards. I have also been to see the Vet and sometimes next week  we will get the WaWa up there and perhaps see if we can get a muzzle small enough as a temporary measure and protect Benji. Meanwhile we have a  water spray bottle to use, also as a temporary measure. We have tried that already and she definitely does not like that.