Wednesday
Category: House, Garden and Dogs
Toward the Final Curtain Q
I have been away since Friday attending a meeting of the Presbytery. It was announced to the meeting that a former Moderator, who last attended a meeting ( hale and hearty I might add) in August of 2019. had died. There was no indication of what was to come when he attended in August of last year. In the November meeting we were informed that he was ill and then the news that it was an aggressive brain cancer. He stabilized over Christmas and New Year but at the beginning of this month (February) he was rushed into hospital as the cancer had become more aggressive. Sadly, it was terminal and he died on 13th February. We expect his funeral to be sometime this week, so I may be heading off to Adelaide again. Ok well that’s Plan A but I have the feeling that I may have to activate Plan B, which is to submit an apology and stay here instead.
When I got home on Saturday evening I said my “hello” to Benji and then got Annabell in the car and up to the Emergency Dept at the Hospital. She had been unwell all day and was in some discomfort. She has an UTI and was in a bit of pain. She was seen to fairly quickly and after some tests and samples, she was given medication to last her until today. I have made the appointment with the doctor so we’ll see what happens, but this is happening much too often and we really have to get to the cause of the problem. Why did I have to
take her to hospital??? Because she put up with the discomfort all day and never called anyone, not even one of the boys. They could have had her up at the hospital during the day . But she said, she didn’t want to cause a concern so she suffered until I got home. She worries me!! At the moment she is sleeping. She got up and showered early in case we were able to get a very early appointment. However as it is an afternoon appointment, she has gone for a rest and a bit of a sleep. We have spent the last week either at the doctor, the clinic for blood tests or the hospital for particular medication. We have the weekend off and we start again first thing on Monday morning. Since I wrote all that a week ago, we have spent most of the week travelling back and forth to doctors, blood tests and hospital. It seems her potassium levels were off the chart and that really concerned the doctor so we have spent the week working on getting that back down to normal. I was unaware of the
dangers of high potassium – I’m not anymore!! Tomorrow is, as I said, Monday again and we start a new week and see what that brings
Prior to leaving for Adelaide I listened to the weather forecast which was for rain, thunderstorms and possibly hail for Adelaide, so I put a raincoat on the back seat. The drive down to Port Wakefield was great – traffic was light and the weather was good. The weather in Adelaide was excellent, about 33c and no sign of any rain. When you go to a foreign country there are always somethings you miss from the “Old Country” For us Scottish people it is the very simple things in life – Scotch Pies, Potato Scones, Ayrshire Bacon, and Lorne Sausages, Irn Bru and Lees Macaroon Bars Well, there is a butcher that does make these but he is miles away from the centre of Adelaide. However, having contacted him I was told that he supplies Continental Foods in Salisbury Shopping Centre and the same company in Ingle Farm Shopping Centre both of which are within easy reach. From where I was, Salisbury was closer – and yes, I got everything I wanted and packed it into a Cooler with Ice Blocks. Continental Foods, so I was also able to get Lees Macaroon Bars – mind you, just about had to take out a bank loan for them.
I did not get to the funeral. It had been organised for Saturday – a private family funeral and a Memorial Service in the afternoon. Apart from the fact that I needed to get home for the service on Sunday. I had arrangements this week and next week with the RFDS, I also wanted to be here just in case we had to go to the hospital again. Sad I was not able to attend, but these things do happen.
Maniac Monday
Wednesday
Towards the Final Curtain P
Friday 31st. January. The temperature yesterday (30th) peaked at 46c and didn’t drop below 28c the whole night. The ground being still hot, I waited until after the sun had gone down and things calmed down a bit before I ventured out with Benji, after I checked the road. It was muggy (very humid) but bearable for the first five or six minutes of the walk, then the wind suddenly sprang up. At first we kept on walking but the wind became stronger and started lifting the dust up. This dust was hitting my face and Benji looked uncomfortable, so I made the decision to get home. When we did get home the first thing Annabell asked me was “where did that come from?” Shortly after, the wind just vanished and the rain started. Now, the forecaster said that we would have heavy rain with the possibility of flooding. We could hear the rain on the carport and I went outside to have a look and came back in and told Annabell that the ground wasn’t even wet. What it did do was increase the humidity and made for a more uncomfortable night. I have not had a lot of sleep. It did rain a bit off and on during the night. This morning Benji and I went out but being tired I sort of put it off and finally made the decision to go out at 06:30. It was still sticky but not too bad and there was some (not a lot) of water in the guttering and the spoon drain. I looked at the weather on the BoM page and it says a 9% chance of rain, 77% Humidity, Temp. 36c. Tomorrow is the first day of February. This has always been the month we were most concerned with because it was always the hottest month of summer. Be interesting to see how it plays out this year. This section was written early this afternoon and it has been fairly quiet
Well the thunderstorms have made their way up the Peninsula and it has been really chucking it down for the last few hours – almost non-stop since about 8:30pm and it is now almost 11pm and it’s still going. This is flooding rain and I expect some flooding around the town but not too much since the storm water drains should take away most of it. Of course, that’s what they said at Port Lincoln and that flooded badly. However, we are not as low-lying as Port Lincoln. I had a look out of the back window and the back garden is flooded – almost a pond . The noise is incredible when added to the thunder and the little bit of lightening (not a lot) If it stops by the morning I really want to go have a look at the pit at the far end of the area and see how much water is in that. Given the ferocity of the storm I should imagine it will be pretty full. The Pit is about 16 feet deep. It is
almost midnight and it’s still raining – not with the same ferocity as it was earlier but still raining. There has been serious
flooding in Port Lincoln and the Lower Eyre Peninsula but it was too late before we got it hit to be able to determine, what, if any, damage there has been here.
Saturday 1st February. The rain continued fairly heavy until after midnight. It then eased off a bit but it rained the whole night. It is now 05:45 and although I turned off the alarm I still woke up and it was still raining and starting to get heavier again. It’s still not light enough to see outside – and in case you ask – no we are not going out for our walk this morning. With the flood water drains in operation this rain should do wonders to the sort out the lack of water in the Wetlands. However, it has now been raining for about 11 hours and still no indication that it’s about to stop any time soon. Yes, it did stop but it was almost 1pm before it did and even after that there was a bit of a smattering of light rain for a bit. However, Benji and I did drive to the outskirts of town and photograph the second of the new “Welcome” posts.
There has been some minor flooding and the road to Iron Baron has been cut off by floodwater and closed by the police and State Emergency Service. Other than that nothing much else reported other than a few minor leaks in the food court at the shopping center. It is certainly strange, Australia- On Fire today – Flooding tomorrow. Annabell has been sick again and we visited the Emergency Dept. at the Hospital. In the morning I will make an emergency appointment with her doctor. Really, something has to be done about these continued UT infections and the on-going damage to her liver and kidney functions. We have to get to the bottom of this – and soon.
Wednesday
Addendum
If you were reading my recent post you would read that the KI Council, the State Government and the RSPCA put out a call for 120 volunteers to help find the injured wildlife and organise rescue – and to take food where they could out to other animals. 120 Volunteers were asked for – what they got were 35,000 applications!!! Some from as far away as Russia. Wow, just wow!!!
Towards the Final Curtain O
Growing up in Scotland there were – and probably still are – a number of popular brands of paints. One of the most popular was Dulux. This, as far as we children were concerned, was a British Company using a very recognisable Old English Sheepdog as its company mascot. As children we stopped thinking of the dog as an Old English Sheepdog and it became – and I expect in the UK at any rate, still is – known as the Dulux Dog. I liked
Dulux, not really as much for the dog but more for the fact that this was the paint my dad used. That’s all there was to it, the Corporate Identity, the fact that the company traded in India, Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand, Canada – and other countries, was unknown to us and as children – what did we care anyway. For us it was just Paint. It has been almost 40 years since we left Scotland so we brought with us the memories of all these early days. I have no idea what has changed or how much has changed. For example, I can say this – I worked for a Government Department and the place where I was stationed, the Distillery and all the Bonded Warehouses, have been demolished; everything has been flattened. I mean some of these warehouses were built by Prisoners of War — From Napoleon’s Army ! So if I annoyed anyone by saying “It’s a British thing” then I apologise but that’s what I knew and understood and when I wrote it I was thinking of my childhood, nothing else.
The Australia Day celebration ( at least here) ended up being cold and very windy. In the afternoon it was a nice breeze, not too cold at all, but as the sun went down, the wind
increased and the South Wind off the Spencer Gulf was strong and cold. So much so that the Bouncy Castles were taken down and two of the major kite units broke their moorings and came down. The RFDS Site was fully exposed to the wind and the ladies were just about frozen, so they closed fairly early as did a number of other sites. The fireworks still went ahead. In previous years we have been at Ada Ryan Gardens for Australia Day but this time the City Council was making a great play about Australia Day returning to the Foreshore. I don’t think it was the success they had been counting on. The coolness of the day would have been fine, but the wind put a bit of as dampener on things. Personally I would liked to have had Benji with me – it was cool enough to have him, but the thought of fireworks close up was the decider to leave him at home – to look after mummy!
Next weekend is the first meeting of the year so I will be heading off to Adelaide for a few days. Mount Gambier wont happen until the May meeting. I have plants in pots and they are dying. Those that are not dying are severely wilted. They may come back but based on past results it is unlikely. Yes I pick heat tolerant plants but 46c is pushing it just a tad. At 06;40 this morning they were all watered and those that could be moved were moved into the shade, but the extreme heat was just too much and even the shaded ones suffered. Even now in the early evening it is still too humid to take Benji out for a walk. The present temperature at 7:45 pm is 32c and not expected to fall below 28 overnight with heavy rainstorms and possibly flooding
forecast for tomorrow and Saturday- what joy! From the sublime to the ridiculous.
Wednesday
Benji, Birds and still Fires
Sometimes, you just can’t take a trick. Yesterday we’re burning, today we’re flooded. It was said that heavy rain could cause flooding in the fire areas due to the soil being compromised and that seems to be what’s been
happening. This morning (Monday) when I took Benji out for his walk, the temperature was 9c and I was cold. If I hadn’t been so lazy I would have gone back for a heavier jacket. During the night it bucketed down but by morning it was so dry that there was almost no trace of the heavy rain in the wee small hours. I took a slight detour and went to the water pit and was surprised by how little water there was in there. I thought there would have been more given that the downpour lasted for the best part of an hour. Some areas in NSW had over 300 mm of rain in a day—- Two years worth of rain in a single day! Canberra was hit by hailstones that damaged cars and property. Wednesday 22nd. It rained here this morning. I had just come back from our walk ( 06:35) when I heard the noise on the carport. Went outside and it had gone – that was it – almost a whole 45 seconds! Didn’t even wet the ground.
When I first started feeding the Geese at the Wetlands, they were altogether. Now they seem to have broken up into little groups. I fed the Geese at the usual place but there were only four of them. I walked on and came across another group – four really big birds and two smaller ones. I started to feed them but I noticed that the bigger birds were deliberately keeping the two smaller birds away. I threw some seed to where the smaller birds were and two of the larger birds moved over to where the seeds were and, using their much larger beaks, chased the smaller birds away. So, bullies, even in the bird world :o)
Benji, as some may know, is my dog, or at least we thought he was until very recently. Generally he is around me, but not lately. These last four or five weeks he has been going into Annabell’s room and lays down on the floor beside her bed. During the day he goes into her room and lays down behind her chair. With all this attention Annabell was getting worried — “does he know something we don”? Am I on my way out and this is a long farewell?” I can tell you right now he is not here with me.. I have a different theory about this new Annabell attention. When I have to go out and it’s too hot to take him with me I tell him he “has to stay and look after mummy” Even if I am just going to the shops for Annabell, or heading off to Mount Gambier, I still tell him “to stay and look after mummy.” There are a few other instances where the word “mummy”is used so my theory is simply this – ” Dogs understand more than we give them credit for, thus Benji is going into her room to be near her and doing what he has been asked to do – “Looking after Mummy!” Ok, perhaps it is crazy but I would like to hear a better solution.
The Kangaroo Island Fire has largely been brought under control, but we now have a new problem. The fire has destroyed the food sources of the wildlife so the State government and the KI Council together with the RSPCA are asking for 120 volunteers – all expenses, travel to KI, food and accommodation paid for – to assist in the rescue of starving and injured animals. The volunteers will assist in the distribution of food and fresh water where required and the rescue of any injured animals – particularly Koala Bears. It wont be an easy job but it is one that needs to be done.
Beside the news that more firefighters from the United States have come to assist our worn out firefighters here, there is the tragic news that one of the large fire bombers has crashed killing all crew. We don’t know what happened and we wont know until after an investigation. However, the bodies of the three crew members have been recovered.
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