Monday
Category: House, Garden and Dogs
News just released
South Australia to close borders in response to coronavirus pandemic
News has come from the State Government in Adelaide that South Australia will close its borders. This will take effect as from Tuesday giving the government time to set up new border control stations and for people already in South Australia to go home. I can’t say that I am all that surprised after 8 American Tourists , visiting the Barossa Valley were diagnosed with the virus. The way things are developing I don’t think a lockdown is very far away.
“Gam zeh ya’avor” This too shall pass.
Any crisis tends to bring out the best in some people. However, conversely, in some people it brings out the worse and worse is when you steal things from a medical facility. Like all hospitals our hospital has a bottle of hand sanitizer at the end of each bed. The nurse or doctor makes use of this when they move from patient to patient. Visitors may also make use of it. There are hand sanitizing stations at the end of each corridor and at the entrance/exit to the hospital. Why all this information? Well I am certain you know where I am going with this – people have been stealing the bottles, not just from the corridors but from the patient’s beds. One of our ladies in church has a small dog she takes to visit the elderly in the nursing homes. She kept a bottle of hand sanitize to uses in here visit to the different patients. She also lets people use it if they have been petting the dog, her bottle was stolen when she was distracted. In the news this morning there are reports of a busload of people travelling several hours to a country town outside of Melbourne and stripping the local supermarket. We are not in lockdown but if this continues we should be.
I have just been watching a National Broadcast by the Prime Minister in which he outlined some of the measures that the National Cabinet have taken overnight and he was quite adamant that schools should not close. The best medical advice available is that the closure of schools would cause more harm than good and apart from which the virus seems to act differently with young people than it does with adults. He also pointedly attacked the whole process of panic buying that is happening as stupid and completely unnecessary – we have sufficient stocks of food and we have the ability to manufacture most of what we need. The pointless panic buying of stocks of toilet paper needs to stop – it is unnecessary. I mean only last week there was a fight in a Woolworth Supermarket over rolls of toilet paper and security were forced to deal with it. It has reached the stage that people are stealing rolls of toilet paper and hand sanitizer from hospital toilets . I think, really, it’s sort of legal looting. What is the “National Cabinet”? The Premiers of the other states, the two Chief Ministers of the Territories and the Prime Minister meet twice a week to formulate a National Response for all Australia, not a piecemeal State by State response. We are all in this together and the States, Territories and the Federal Government need to work together as one. Great exercise in unity. I hope it lasts.
A few days ago the Catholic Church here in South Australia suspended their Easter Services and their Mass in response to the Virus. This morning the Presbyterian Church has suspended services for the moment. This also to include all meetings of boards of Committees. I guess the Congregational AGM, which was due this coming Sunday, will not now take place. The General Assembly Emergency Meeting will keep us up to date by daily emails as the situation develops. This afternoon will be spent sending out emails to those of our congregation who have them and telephoning those who do not. Also this morning was an email and letter from the CEO of the RFDS which has suspended all fundraising activities until at least 31st June. Annabell attended the Ordination Service of the new Pastor at the Lutheran Church last week and we were thinking that it was good that it was last week whilst there was still some sense of sanity about the place. Oh and by the way, she said the new Pastor is very young —- Only a boy – were her words :o)
I have also decided that this might be the last time I will have Dougal here. Yes he and Benji get on fairly well, but when I have to go away it means that Annabell has to look after both dogs for two or sometimes four days, depending on where I am going. She is really not able to do that anymore. As it happens I didn’t have to go away this period but that’s not the point. This time was only to be for a few days- this coming Monday it will be Five Weeks since he came. There is also the problem when we are out walking. A dog barks and Benji ignores and walks on. Dougal, on the other hand, goes ballistic and just about pulls my arm off. But, but, the other day I had had enough, got Benji, put him in the car and he and I drove off to the Wetlands and then the beach It was nice out walking just Benji and me.
Wednesday
Life is being cancelled
Monday 9th March was a public Holiday. Well, it was in South Australia – no where else, only South Australia. What was the occasion you may well ask and I shall tell you it was such a holiday that no one outside of Adelaide really cares too much about – it was the Adelaide Cup Horse Race. It’s a Group 2 Horse Race, not in the same League as the Melbourne Cup, which is a Group 1 Race. Still, it was a long weekend and whatever the reason, quite acceptable. Andrew and I decided on a Road Trip to Port Lincoln, about 280 klms from here. We did ask John, but he was working. The drive down was uneventful with surprisingly little traffic. Yes I did take the camera with me but there is not a lot to see and not much of any great interest since this is mainly farming country – from the arid lands to the arable lands. However it was interesting to note that the street we were driving on in Port Lincoln were under water not so long ago.- in the flooding rain that followed the bushfires.
On arrival we went directly to Bunnings where we had a wander and a coffee. From there we went to the Tech Store where Andrew bought a new Mouse and I bought a second 64GB Extreme SD for the Camera. Well, yes, we could have bought these things at home, but we didn’t. We had a delayed lunch at Del Giorno’s Restaurant, which Andrew recommended. I had a Vegetarian Pasta dish, which was very good and Andrew had a Gourmet Hamburger, which he said was great. I chose a large glass of +Lemonade+ and Andrew a Diet Coke. Sad, I know, but it’s 280 kilms drive to home. One of the highlights for me was to come across an “Inspector Morse” Red Jaguar, well looked after and in magnificent condition. Just after I took the photograph an
elderly man got into the car and drove off. The drive back was just as uneventful as the drive down. Yes there are little settlements, Tumby Bay, Arno Bay Franklin Harbour and Port Neill. All of these are on the coast and the main highway is about 3 – 5 klms inland and thus a straight run from the top of the Eyre Peninsula down to Port Lincoln. A great day out – John would have enjoyed it. Port Lincoln is a busy, bustling town but has a lot of problems with youth crime and youth vandalism. However, I did relearn an important lesson -if you think you would like to do something- do it. Don’t leave it until later because later might be too late. On our way to the restaurant we came across the statue to the great racehorse, Makybe Diva. I thought I would like a photograph of that but decided to leave it until after lunch. After lunch, however, two families were having a picnic on the grass around the statue – some people were sitting on the base and children were climbing over it. I never got my photograph. The name – Makybe Diva – comes from the first two letters of the names of the five female employees of the owner – Maureen, Kylie, Belinda, Diane, and Vanessa
I was supposed to be taking John to Adelaide next week. He was going to a concert in Melbourne but was unable to get flights at the times he needed to Adelaide and return, so he asked me to take him down. I would stay in Adelaide for a couple of days. pick him up at the airport and drive home. Yesterday I cancelled the hotel booking as word came through that the Melbourne concert is cancelled. John is not very happy. I will have to go down to Adelaide because I had arranged to do things on the Friday – like go to the RFDS Base to collect things for up here. I still need to do that so I will head down on my own.
Here in our country town the virus has arrived with one person being tested. The Laura Fair has been cancelled, the Peppercorn Markets have been cancelled but no word of the much larger Unearth Festival which is due here next week being cancelled. And we really should know because the RFDS Simulator has been booked to come up from Adelaide for this. To date (one week out) the Festival is going ahead as planned. Ah…. 16:43 Saturday14th. At 5pm this afternoon there will be a Council announcement that the Unearth Festival in Ada Ryan Gardens on Saturday 21st and the Colour Run on Sunday 22nd will both be cancelled. On Monday we will notify RFDS Central Operations that the Simulator will not be required. Perhaps later on in the year when things have settled down, but I don’t see that happening for a while yet. We are living in a very different reality. Annabell was not happy about me driving to Adelaide for no really good reason in the current climate, so to allay her fears I have decided that I really do not need to go to Adelaide at this time.
Wednesday
Toward the Final Curtain S
I have tried to join the Photography Club and although I have been on two outings with them, things seemed to have conspired against me and I have not – as yet – managed to
attend a meeting and make everything official. I enjoy photography although I will be the first to admit that I am not all that good at it – but I would like to be. The two outings I have been were at the Ada Ryan Gardens and Foreshore – looking at contrasts and shapes, and the Cyclist Time Trials for which I had to get a new SD Card- a 64GB Extreme Pro for action photographs. I was shown on the day how to adjust the camera settings for movement. I’m getting there.. Probably not be a John Marsh or a Samantha Grant, but getting better – slowly. Hopefully, provided nothing goes awry, I should be able to make the next meeting, pay the fee and be a member.
As I said the other day Autumn arrived with a 35c day but the weather has gone downhill since then and today it’s raining and quite cool. Not a day for going out and about although it did stay dry when I was out with the dogs this morning. I have been organising a Fundraising event for the RFDS on this coming Saturday (7th) I have one team whilst another team is at a Football Match at Bennett Oval . Generally I would be at the football but this was a last minute request from one of our Hardware Stores and we need to look after them. A big, main stream Football Match between two main stream football teams only comes once in a blue moon, but the hardware stores are here all the time.. We have a good reputation with them and I don’t believe
that we should risk that.
Have been back to hospital these last few days – not for Annabell. Thank you for your concerns, Annabell is well. No, one of our “older” congregation members had a serious fall. Generally when one mentions a fall in relation to age the next words refer to hips, or spine, but not this time. This time it seems she has broken her collar bone and her arm. We are waiting for a bed to be available at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and the RFDS will be called in to transport her to Adelaide. The only surgeon we have here is not able to do anything so she needs specialist care and surgery in Adelaide.
On 19th March I head off to Adelaide for two days and part of the visit will be to the RFDS Central
Operations HQ. I have to meet with some people and collect some things and bring them up here. Nothing special, really, I just happened to be going to Adelaide anyway, so I said I would drop over to the Airport and pick the things up. I will be taking my camera with me so it will give me ample time to play with it over the two days. Someone put a photograph of the lighthouse on line, , only they went out late at night and took a terrific photograph of the lighthouse in the dark with the top of the lighthouse lit up. I took some photographs of the dogs, which I thought came out quite well. The reason for the closed gate is that Benji pays no attention to the dogs on the other side of the fence, but Dougal does and that starts a barking match, When Dougal comes I close the gate and restrict movement from the different areas.
I took the dogs to the wetlands today with the intention of feeding the geese. Took a fair amount of birdseed with me but to no avail, the geese were gone. I looked at different areas but no sign of them, which was a bit sad. I hope they come back next season. If the Council are so concerned with tourists visiting the town, they should spend some money to upgrade the wetlands – particularly the toilets, which are not very nice. Anyway, here we are in Autumn (Fall) but although it is ( as Monica suggested )” Dark o’Clock ” even now our clocks do not go back until 5th April so we are in morning darkness for the next few months.
Wednesday
Toward the Final Curtain R
We have not had to visit doctor, clinic or the hospital for the last nine days, which is good. Annabell is still tired and somewhat lethargic, but generally brightens up as the day progresses. She is really not a morning person at the best of times. When it gets light in the morning, I go out to the garage armed with, mobile phone, house phone (cordless) and the bell. This way
the ringing of any one of the three wont waken her. Before I do that, however, I fill the kettle and set out her breakfast.
It is now thirteen days since Dougal came for a visit. I understand that there is still some serious concerns over Sam’s health. The RFDS were brought in and Sam was moved to the Royal Adelaide Hospital. The initial understanding is that a cut he ignored went septic and he had blood poisoning. However, what I heard recently is that a tumor was found in his heart – next to his pacemaker. The family were called to the RAH to discuss the situation and the fact that Sam is not strong enough to undergo surgery. So they are down there and I have Dougal – for how long is anyone’s guess. Not that Dougal is any problem. We look after him, but I can’t help feeling a bit sorry for him – he is here and not knowing where his people are. At the moment he is “sleeping” beside me, next to the desk.
I was looking for places to go for a day trip and someone suggested Warren Gorge about 170 klms. North-East from here. I was shown some photographs and I thought that would be a nice drive. So I checked it out only to discover that it is wholly within the boundary of the National Park, which does not allow dogs. The idea was – after Dougal goes home – to take Benji on a day trip. I would pack food, water, some extra treats, the gas burner, coffee and sweetener and generally have a picnic – me and the Benji. However, since I Warren Gorge is out for the moment, I will most likely take Benji and Dougla for a picnic to the Lighthouse – which is only 50 klms. away – and leave Warren Gorge for some other time. Today being the last day of summer, it was a really nice day to take a trip to the lighthouse. I have to say though, I was a bit disappointed that the water tap that was attached to the
wall of the facilities block, has been removed and I for
got to take a bottle of water with me, so I didn’t have a drink either. Anyway, we wandered around for a bit then started for home, although I did take a run along Cuttlefish Drive to check if Council had upgraded the facilities – like the wetlands- not a lot.
What we do have this weekend is the “Splash & Bounce” children’s playground. These are bouncy castles and splashing ponds for children -they are bigger than anything I have ever seen and they take up most of Civic Park. I thought the entry fee was a bit “pricey” in that it was $30 per child for a three hour visit. Adults are free since they are not allowed to go on to the bouncy castles or the wading pools. I also noticed that shade areas had been set up, which is good because there is no shade in Civic Park. The dogs were not with me when I went to Civic Park and I suppose, really, considering what is on offer and the range of equipment available, perhaps the cost is not as “pricey”as I suggested – not too sure
about that. However, despite my misgivings about price structure, I think this was a great success and from what I saw the children were having a great time. Well that’s that! Summer is “officially” over and today (Sunday 1st March) is the first day of Autumn (Fall) It’s been the most waste of time summer that I can remember. Half the time too hot to do anything and the other half trying to recover from the extreme heat. February has always been the hottest month of summer but not this year – this year February came early with the bushfires. It is a summer that will long be remembered but for all the wrong reasons.
Wednesday
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