Author: edgar62

Semi-retired in South Australia. Interests are Music (Andre Rieu, Anna Netrebko) Reading (SciFi / Crime) and History Movies: The Day After Tomorrow, Casablanca, The Man Who Would be King Community: Secretary Support group, Royal Flying Doctor Service.

Wetlands, Stroller and Walking.

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs
The Flinders Lodge

Well everything is booked for next Monday  and we set out for Adelaide, booking into the  Lodge sometime Monday afternoon. Tuesday morning I take her to the Flinders Clinic and she will go for day surgery. I don’t collect her again until around 1:30. After I  hand her over to the medical staff – who have my  mobile phone number – I  take off to Marion Shopping Centre.   After the surgery  and the Vet Bills for Benji I was going to put the New Laptop on hold, but we discussed this and  decided that I really do need a new laptop. At the last Church Conference in Norwood, it was embarrassing the way my old laptop kept falling out and had to be reset, so I need a new one. I hope to get it on Tuesday at Marion..

This last week or so has been pretty hectic with Annabell being ill and setting up a bed for her, so I can keep an edye on her              . Her recovering – well sort of – and then Benji and his operation and me sleeping on a blowup mattress on the floor beside him rather

He’s getting better.

than take him into the bedroom with me. The reason  being is that I was afraid the he would try to jump on the bed to be beside me and cause injury to himself. Or if I put him on the bed beside me he might jump off during the night and also injure himself, so  what I did do was the better option. Crazy I know, but Benji is my  dog and I look after him. Anyway, it was only for a few days.

At the moment because of the  attack, followed by the operation followed by the number of dogs we now have around here, we have been driving to the Wetlands and walking

Peek-a-Boo.

around there. He is in the stroller, of course, and he has made lots of new friends. Sometimes it’s “Good morning Benji” then as an after thought, “Good Morning John” However, I have found that even two laps of the wenlands is only slightly more steps than the walk of the district that we used to do before  his “injury”. But it’s a good walk and we both enjoy it and the people we meet are really nice = even the joggers  who give a “morning”as they go whizzing past in the dark – and yes, most  (Me too) use a head light.  This afternoon, I put the lead (leash) on him and took him outside and had him walking for a few minutes – about six minutes in all and I am pleased to say that he did well.. He did lift his leg a couple of time but mostly he walked using all four paws, which was great. – and yes, it is the leg he lifts when he “Lifts his Leg”!  Hopefully, once we come back from Adelaide and he gets the stiches out, a few more days and we can retire the stroller for a while.. What I will do is one and a half turns in the stroller and the remaining half turn with him walking,  and see how that goes.

At the Wetlands today I saw a man who had a dog with him, but  the dog had a blue light attacked to his collar so that it tells people in the dark that there is a dog comming towards them. I thought this was a great idea. First time I have ever seen him or the dog and I didn’t get an opportunity to talk to him. There is a  “Pets Domain Shop”here so I may have a look in there in the morning, but they tend to be over-priced in many things. But that is common here. I could get the laptop I want here rather than in Adelaide, but there is a difference of over $100 in the price, so I can wait until Tuesday. The reason for the difference in prices is  “Transport

The French Connection..

During the week I  drove out to the Lighthouse and in our wander round I discovered a new  information board which tells of the exploration of the Upper Spencer Gulf,  Matthew Flinders was not the only explorer to venture up here. The French  charted the area of the Gulf up to and including what is now Whyalla, whilst Matthew Flinders explored and charted the other side. There is an information Board for Flinders but I thought the French Connection would be more interesting.  The ship was built in New South Walesd and sold to the French Government

What the French ship may have looked like.

 

Still Sinking, but not as quickly!

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

We seem to have cleared things for the moment. I was in contact with WordPress and they were telling me that it was a common problem recently, but that it is not of their making.. There has been some malfunction in many browsers and the cache is not being cleared. WordPress suggested that I clear the browser history and see if that worked.  It seems to have at the moment but we still have a few problems. However, I am  happy to know that I am not alone in this particular problem. I don’t know though, I sometimes think WordPress have forgotten the old adage “If it’s not broke – don’t fix it”.

I will take Annabell out for some shopping tomorrow and then take her for coffee. It’s the first time she will have been out of the

Westlands yesterday morning (24th)

house in over a week, so we will see how things go. She is very much better than she was so perhaps the outing will do her the world of good.  I would like to go to the photography group on Wednesday but we will see how she is then.. All going well tomorrow should be fine. I’ll take the dog out and then get her breakfast ready when I come back.

Well, so much for morning plans the night before. It has been heavy rain most on the night and still raining now. I’ll do many things for my dog, but going walking in the rain is not one of them. I know, I’m a meanie.  However, if it does clear up – as it generally does – I will take him out to the Wetlands later in the day. Actually, I got him into the car at 06:30 when the rain eased off. By the time we got to the Wetlands the rain had stopped and although I sat there in the car for a good half hour, no one showed up, so we just drove back home again. Still Benji doesn’t mind as long as he was out in the car, that’s all that matters. The reason for not going  out is simply a concern that if anything should happen, there is no one around to help or call for help if needed. Mind you, calling for help is a bit of a joke  ATM. Last night (according to the news)  a lady called emergency as her son had an accident. She was told that she should take the boy to hospital herself, or call for a taxi since there was no ambulance available.  . No one wants to talk about it but our medical and emergency system is in trouble across all of South Australia and we had to bring an ambulance from  50 miles away (Port Augusta) to respond to emergencies here.   Take our problems here and multiply them by 20 and you just about have the current situation in Adelaide. There were 17 ambulances ‘ramped’ at the Flinders Medical Center and a similar number at the Royal Adelaide – emergency patients stuck in an ambulance at the hospital because the A & E  was over capacity and was unable to cope. This was repeated in all the main city hospitals over the last two nights.

I really don’t want to abandon WordPress and I would prefer to stay, but this is driving me crazy—- let me re-phrase that — more crazy than I already am. There are alternatives to WordPress, but none of them come anywhere near the market leader. I already looked for alternatives but was not really impressed with what was on offer. I thought that it was probably better to “stay with the devil you know”.  The song from the Muppets Movie  comes to mind –

“You can’t live with em, you can’t live without em,  there’s something irrisistabullish about em, we grin and bear it cause the nights are long, I hope that something better comes along.”

We had a telephone call from Adelaide  and we now have a date for the day surgery at Flinders Clinic. I take her to Adelaide on Monday 7th June and then to the Clinic for day

Well, not quite paranoid – but close…

surgery at 8am on Tuesday 8th June. All being well, we should be travelling home on Wednesday 9th June.  I have the feeling that I did mention this but the way things are, I can’t go back and check. I keep saving this every few lines just in case I lose it all again.  Goodness – talk about paranoid.

Benji is as well as can be expected. We missed our walk today and since I have had to take Annabell out this afternoon, I wont have time. That should please him no end. He can complain – but what about me?  It’s not doing my fitbit any good this no walks.  Once he has had this operation, I shall really miss  being wakened by a bark at 2am because he wants up on the bed beside me, and since he can’t jump, I have to lift him up. Honestly – the things we do  for  “family”

The Sands of Time are sinking.

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Over the last few days WordPress has crashed on me and I am unable to access anything. I am sitting here writing this without any confidence that I will be able to publish it. Annabell has been ill all week and I have been Chief Cook and Dishes Washer. I still take Benji out at 6am in the morning and we are generally back from the Wetlands about 6:45 and I try to leave and return as quietly as possible. I have set up a bed for her in the lounge so I can keep an eye on har and there is the close proximity to the kitchen.

I do not know what has happened to WordPress but I feel that my time with them is coming to an end. I think this is unfortunate and quite sad. I have gone down the route of shutting down, unpluging, leaving and then starting up again in the hope that things would reset, but sadly that failed to produce any results. None of the buttons are workingand I do not know where to go next other than the scrap heap. Everything was working fine only a few days ago although my last post was on Wednesday last and I have been attending to Annabell since then. It wont even let me add media. This is the second time I have written this post. I kind of lost the first one. I saw the vet on Friday and we have arranged fro Benji to go for Day Surgery on Thursday 26th. A few days after that in the stroller and we should start to see him walking again = — probably give him a good few days to recover.

Annabell is recovering and in a day or so she should be able to get out for a bit. She wanted to go out shopping today and I said no and that I would do the shopping – which I did. I know, I’m a bully…

Wetlands, Stroller and Adelaide.

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs
Benji likes his new Pet Stroller

The wounds from the attack have cleared up and the fur is growing back, so there is no on-going concerns there. However there is a concern in that we know what is causing the limping on the right back leg. It appears when he jumped off Annabell’s chair to run to meet me when I came home,  caused more than a  sprain when he landed badly. Examinations  at the Vet. show that he has torn the ligament.

Presently he is in no  serious pain but I have to go to Adelaide this weekend so I will get him booked in for day surgery as soon as I get back. I cannot do it before I go since Annabell would not be able to look after him, as would be required. And here was me thinking that a few days in the stroller and he would be as right as rain. Oh, I have ordered a new stroller/ walker since this one is doing him good and killing me  :o)  This one is way too low for me. Pushing  it for any distance is really painful on the arms. I thought at first  that it was mainly because it was many years since I pushed a pram, but it’s more than that – the lowness of the  unit itself. So, the new stroller should arrive on Friday and that is 105cm at the rear – the pushing end. I think that will be a lot more comfortable;  well for me. Benji just  goes to sleep in the mornings. The new stroller is larger giving him more room to spread out and it is easier to set up and collapse

Morning has broken at the Wetlands.

We do not go walking around the area at the moment. There are too many dogs. We still go out at 6am, but I drive to the wetlands and we do our walking there. There are quite a few people there at that time even although it is still dark – mainly female walkers and joggers. They are all very friendly and Benji has a bit of a fan club.. I was asked to go with the Wellness Group on a Friday morning, but they have several people with dogs, and dogs are what I am trying to avoid at the moment.

I was given an old camera – a Canon Power Shot S1 IS.   I was asked to take it to a shop in Adelaide that deals with Camera equipment and the best offer I got for it was $25. It is a very old Digital Camera – good in its day and has been well looked after but it was suggested the best I could do is donate it to  an op-shop and let them get a few  dollars for it. I didn’t and I still have it. I was  instructed to get the $25 and donate it to the RFDS, so that’s what I will do. There is also an old tripod that goes with it, but that’s not all that great, so not really worth anything – I wouldn’t use it.

Peek-a-Boo.

The drive to Adelaide was uneventful, although there are road works everywhere – and I mean everywhere, the  Port Augusta Road for about  30 klms. The main North Road. the Port Wakefield Road – three places including Port Wakefield itself. The  road works are so extensive, with single lane traffic and in one place, a convoy system. I was at meetings all day Saturday and did not arrive home until after 6pm. Annabell was a bit concerned because she knows I do not like being on the Port Augusta Road  at dark because of the problems of Kangaroos.  Not a good idea to hit one at 110 KPH.

The Old Canon Camera – still in great condition after 12 years.

The funeral I spoke about in a previous post is this coming Wednesday. I’ll travel down Wednesday morning and come back home Thursday Morning. Benji wont be too pleased that I am going  away again, but  there we are and unfortunately it means delaying the operation on his back leg for another week. Yes, today this is a fairly simple day surgery but he needs to be looked after until he is recovered and Annabell – unfortunately –  can’t do that.