House, Garden and Dogs – Page 77

Nearly back to “Normal” (??)

11/04/2015 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

PeekaBoo - I see you. — PeekaBoo – I see you.

I have removed myself from several on-line groups that I belonged to. I really had not a lot in common with them to begin with – indeed the only thing we really had in common was our collective use of ringed planners i.e. Filofax. I was also finding that the vast majority of the members were female and at times the posts tended to stray very much away from planners to babies, illness, relationships, anti-men rants and I sort of lost interest. It was like being an Android user in an iPhone community. I found myself thinking more and more of Charles de Gaulle – “The more people I meet , the more I love my dogs,”

So that’s the end of that. I am sorry because I have been a member for some time and it was interesting and enjoyable for a while – before it became more of a social gathering. I am still with one and I hope that will remain on task. We’ll see. This afternoon I am taking Chienne to see the Vet. She has been drinking a lot of water and peeing everywhere. She has even wet her bed in her sleep. We think she is diabetic but that’s really for the Vet. to determine. Chi. will be 14 this year but apart from the waterworks, she is seems healthy enough, still runs around

like a mad thing, is out walking with me most nights, so no problems about activity, eats well – so I really don’t foresee much in the way of problems with her in the immediate future. I miss the Man and I think Chi. does too.

I have been back working out in the garden – mainly cleaning up the neglect that has taken place over the last few months. We also had a little bit of rain – not a lot – which was enough to send the weeds into overdrive. I pour on weed killer – they laugh at me and grow even faster and more prolific. But then again, I hit them with weed killer – Chienne pees on them :o) Helpful…

Although we have only had a miniscule amount of rain – we have had wind – lots of wind. Indeed many people have commented on the number of really windy days this year. What this has done is lay down dust everywhere – everything outside is covered in fine dust. Having constructions going on, ( new houses) the land is cleared and the bare earth throws up considerable dust in the wind. A couple of times I have turned back from walking Chienne that direction. Now that I am (almost) back to full activity again I can start to do a cleaning up, although, short of a flame thrower, I don’t know what to do about these persistent weeds.

The visit to the Vet yesterday was not as good as I hoped it would be. The blood sugar level was around 4.3, which sort of rules out diabetes, but it also brings other things into play that I don’t want to think about – liver and kidney problems I really should stop making any kind of prediction. I said the same about me on my first visit to the cardiologist and look how that turned out. Now about Chienne. However, Mustapha has taken blood samples and sent them off to the lab so we should know sometime next week. Her and me both – she waits on Lab results, I wait on Cardiologist final results, post cardioversion. I am feeling good and spending the day out in the garden. In about an hour or so I have to go and collect John and we take a trailer load of rubbish to the dump. This evening, now that Andrew is back from Roxby, we are all getting together for a family dinner at Andrew’s place.

Next Stop – All change! Move right along please!!

07/04/201507/04/2015 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

I guess it will take me some time to get used to the fact that The Man is no longer here. I still wake up in the early hours of the morning expecting to hear him, but I have no doubt that will slowly fade in time. He was such a big part of my life, more so this past year and I miss him. I keep thinking about little things – sometimes I smile, sometimes I don’t. I am fine and taking things fairly easy I will continue on the heart medication for a few weeks after the Cardioversion and then slowly come off this and be pretty much back to normal. I expect to be down in Adelaide during this month but I will not be traveling nearly as much as I have done this last year or so. I think the chaos of the last 18 months is over and things will settle down. After the Easter Function I intend to cut back on a lot of things with the RFDS on the theory that I wish to assist, I do not intend to be a reluctant passenger on one of the aircraft making use of the services.

In mid-April I have to be in Adelaide for the West Terrace Trust meeting and then relax until the end of May. I will most probably drive down and stay overnight in my regular hotel. It is comfortable and I have ample room for my laptop and in the morning it is quiet enough

to allow me to get away and on the road home fairly early before there is much traffic through the city.

Sometimes parents just have to accept second place. No. 1 son came over early this evening. They have a big project on and he has been working all sorts of odd hour, so we have not seen much of him. Anyway, he came in, said hello to his mum, said hello to me then asked the question that indicated his “real” reason for the visit – “Where’s the Man”? I told him and he went outside. He stayed for a little while then came back inside. John Jnr was very fond of the Man and he misses him. Andrew is still up North and wont be back until sometime on Sunday. He was supposed to be back yesterday but he has had to stay on to supervise the commission of a new plant and he wont finish that until Saturday – all being well he should be home Sunday afternoon. I think his partner and the girls will be glad to see him. However, from what I can gather this will be his pattern until late June – a few days home then back up to Roxby Downs again.

20130723_114229 — Guard Duty is hard work.

Since my medical and health concerns – which seem to be sorted out – I have given a lot of thought to where I go from here, and what I do with this site. I have enjoyed all of this up to a point but it has concerned me that of all the people who purport to be followers only one commented on line on the The Man and one in a private email ( Thank you) – so two, out of how many? I also found that there are others – blogs by the page load from them – but not even so much as a “like” for me, which was somewhat disconcerting. I don’t intend to be a “stat” making up one of a nice set of numbers. The the departure of The Man has been a sort of catalyst: that and my “involvement” with local and Adelaide hospitals and the curtailing of much of my traveling, will mean that things change – they have to.

How do you think things should change? I would be interested in your comments.

Hospital and The Man

31/03/201531/03/2015 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Today- Wednesday – I spent most of my day in Hospital – blood tests / sugar tests and finally the Cardioversion. The cardioversion is to hit the heart with an electrical pulse with paddles similar to those used in the event of a heart stoppage. However, the idea with these is that I get put sleep for ten minutes whilst they hit me with the electrical shock and, hopefully, shock the heart back into a normal rhythm; am pleased to say that whilst I don’t remember a thing, the duty Sister did tell me that the cardioversion worked and the heart is back to normal. I guess this is my cue to behave for a while.

I have to say though, I think the idea of being asleep for ten minutes was not quite true. At the start of the procedure there was the Cardiologist, a Doctor, an Anesthetist, an assortment of nurses and three students and I was flat on the bed. There was a “Crash Cart” and other equipment and I had the paddles attached to me and an oxygen mask. When I woke up, everyone was gone, no indication that they had ever been there, the “crash cart” was gone, the paddles had been removed, the oxygen mask had been removed and I was propped up – all done in ten minutes!! – must be magic at work here :o) Just before 5:45 my son arrived and I was allowed to get dressed and go home. I spent most of the evening propped up in bed reading. I think I removed the big pillow and put the light out around 11pm – early for me!!

Thursday: Still a bit tired but I am told that it may take a day or so for the drugs to be clear out of my system and I will start to feel the benefit of the procedure. I wont be

taking Chienne out walking for a couple of days. My chest still hurts from where the electric Paddles were attached, but that will dissipate in a day or so.

The Man has not been so good and although I still sit down a feed him twice a day and give him his medication, he is not a happy dog. I wish I could just take him in my arms and cuddle and comfort him, but I can’t. Not that I do not want to but he wont let us. Due to blindness and dementia he has no idea what is happening. He feels that he is being restricted in some sort of corner so he screams until he is put down and released.

Sunday and a quiet few days. I am slowly withdrawing from things that I believe take up unnecessary time. Taking up the bulk of my time is Presbytery and the General Assembly and there is nothing I can do about that. West Terrace Trust is only three times a year so that’s ok, but the organization that takes up much of the remainder of my time is the RFDS and I am thinking that I need to do something there. Also a number of organisations that I follow on line are time consuming so I think a some of them will have to go.

Monday: The Man passed away quietly this afternoon. I think he just lay down on his bed and went to sleep. I wrapped him in a blanked and took him to the vet who confirmed that he had gone quietly and without trauma. I brought him back home and he was wrapped in what used to be his favourite blanket before the illness took him away from us. I laid him to rest at the side of the garden that I spend most of my time pottering around. It’s been less than a day and I miss him already and I think I will have to keep a close eye on Chienne since she was a bit upset. I telephoned the boys and both were quite upset – John more so. It was a great sadness to all of us that the illness took the Man away from us to the point that he knew nothing and no one. I hand fed him and that’s about as close as I got to holding him. I just hope he somehow knew how loved he was and how he will be missed.

Traveling and Hospitals

21/03/2015 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

On Wednesday morning I pick up son John and head off to Adelaide. After my meeting on Wednesday, we’ll head over to the Fringe Festival, then back to the hotel for rest. For twenty-four hours before the tests at St. Andrew’s I am not allowed anything containing caffeine – which is a bit of a low blow in my view. However, at least we can have coffee on Friday morning before we set off back home. John will be with me at St. Andrew’s although I have warned him to bring books and his iPad. He is needed there as a next of kin in case of any problems that might arise – although this is fairly rare.

On the way down to Adelaide I took a number of photographs of the the Lochiel Hotel – or rather, what’s left of it after the fire. Lochiel is a small township in the mid north of the State. It has been the watering hole for generations of people from the bullock drivers carting wool to the southern ports to generations of travelers from horse drawn coaches to the modern coaches. However, the development of Port Wakefield some 33 klms away really was the end of the pub expect for the locals and the occasional traveler. The old Hotel was 150 years old and it had only recently celebrated its 150th birthday.

The first round of tests at the hospital lasted from 9:15 – 11:45 which included drugs to introduce heart stress and monitor the results – antidote – rest then a scan that was supposed to take 10 minutes (that’s what they told me) and took a great deal longer – and lying on my back with my arms above my head was not fun after a while but I couldn’t move so I just had to put up with the discomfort. After that I was set free until 2:45 and then undergo another injection and a further scan and finally at 4:15 I was finished. Results – I have no idea, and wont know until the reports are sent to my Cardiologist.

At the moment John and I are back in the hotel and in a little while we will be heading into town. A few things from the supermarket then off to the Fringe Festival – we have

been doing a lot of walking, leaving the car at the hotel and walking everywhere. – Good exercise. The Fringe was good but I was a bit taken aback with the prices. I mean a glass of wine and a bottle of Beer for John cost $16;50 – which is about $18US We did go for a ride on the Ferris Wheel, which reasonable at $8. We had a Turkish meal at the Fringe and it was about 10pm when we got back to the Hotel. John suggested we have something to eat that we don’t generally get at home, so we settled on Turkish a kind of

flat bread and filling cooked on a sort of barbecue plate. It was quite nice, which is more than I can say for the drinks at another bar – which I have already mentioned. Al in all it was a good night and I’m glad we took the time to go.

The drive home on Friday was quiet and uneventful and after I dropped John off at his house I came home and took herself shopping. Things are quiet and will remain so until the 25th when I go for the Cardioversion where they charge me with a couple of jolts of electricity, which they hope will force the heart back into a normal pattern. The final test wont be until April after there’s been some time for things to settle down.

At the end May I head off to Naracoourt – some 795 klms from here – about 1000 miles round trip. John has indicated that if he can get the time off he would like to come with me – which is very good. Neither of us have been over in that part of the State. I realise it’s some months away yet but it is a small area and I have already booked accommodation and if John does come with me – easy enough to adjust.

The Man is still with us. My condition ???

05/03/2015 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

It’s been about ten days since the Man had that serious episode and two vet visits, a slight increase in medication and he is still with us – I am most thankful to say. Yet I have to confess that at times it is like being of a merry-go-round ( Carousel) with alternative highs and lows. I have been told that it is only a matter of time and not too much of that. He seems to want to stay where he is for the moment, hence his continual fighting back to where he wants to be. He is blind – but you know this – he is very unsteady, he spends most of the day sleeping. I hand feed him in the morning and I hand feed him again at night. He likes the safety of his playpen. The continual Highs and Lows can be exhausting and quite tiring He will leave us when he is ready to go and not before – soon, but not today.

I go and see the Cardiologist next week and get the results of all this battery of tests that I have been put through. However, I also have to say that I have been twice to Adelaide

and will go back down again four days after the Cardiologist visit but at least that will be the last visit until the end of May and after that the next visit is not until mid August. I have cut down my traveling quite dramatically. Assuming an “all clear” from the Cardiologist, I have started work in the garden. I cleaned up the driveway and the carport and I really do think it needs to be redone. The concrete is still very good but the driveway painting job is starting to show its age. Oh yes, it’s a special paint that will last for decades and I have tried to clean it with a high pressure hose but it’s too old and too faded now, so I think it needs to be redone – different pattern and different colour. In the photograph with Izzy the pattern looks ok but it gets dirty very quickly so I really would like to have it changed. However, it’s not high on the agenda for the time being.

I go see the Cardiologist this afternoon. I feel in excellent health so I do not foresee any problems – all merely a precaution. We took the Man to the Vet again and a slight increase in his medication – half tablet in the morning half at night. He still gets trapped in corners and he still bumps into things. Actually we were thinking it would be great if we could get a miniature crash helmet for his head :o) He’s still with us and he still sleeps a lot but he seems to be fine although we had to create a new service – MRS to replace DRS when DRS is not available. DRS = Daddy Rescue Service / MRS should be self-explanatory – although this service does have limitations.

I am looking forward to going down to Adelaide and staying overnight. I have a meeting in the afternoon and could be home very late at night, but I have never been to the Fringe Festival and the Garden of Unearthly Delights so I am going to take the opportunity of going there before it closes for another year.

You know, things is serious when you come to the frightening conclusion that your sick, demented, blind, arthritic dog is in better condition than you are! The reports from the cardiologist was not all that crash hot – in fact it was pretty awful. My heart is only operating at 52% – which is not good. We managed to get at appointment at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Hospital, Heart Clinic in Adelaide for next Thursday, so, after the meeting, the Fringe on Wednesday ( I am determined to go there) and rest at the hotel, I spend all day Thursday at St. Andrew’s. Back to the hotel and then come home on Friday. In April, or perhaps earlier, the hospital will move me into HDU ( ICU) and perform Cardioinversion- which means banging my heart with electricity to shock it back into a correct Rhythm. That may solve the immediate problem but not, as far as I am aware, the long term problem – but what would I know??

Road Trip good – Man not so good!!

18/02/2015 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

It’s almost three weeks since I actually wrote anything. I’ve read a lot and looked at new things, some associated with Filofax, but I haven’t really written anything or even taken any notes. I did spend three days in Adelaide and bought a new camera. I also did a full day training session – which was so exciting I generated an incredible desire to slash my wrists. Still a day and a half of a quiet wander about the place was almost worth it – almost! Late night shopping before returning to my hotel. The walk was a bit tiring but it was good to be wandering again – the Roar of the Greasepaint / The Smell of the Crowd – or something like that.

The view from the roadway - Outside Port Wakefield. — The view from the roadway – Outside Port Wakefield.

I love it when people go on road trips and post exciting photographs or rivers and valleys and mountains and great sweeping highways. My

world is generally flat. Miles and miles of flatness and when you get to the end of that – more flatness. It’s only when you start getting up North that you have the foothills of the Flinders Ranges, which are not really mountains as we know mountains – just very big hills. Most of the road to Adelaide is much the same, not a lot to see. I enjoy the drive because it is generally quiet and peaceful with not much traffic and not a lot of distractions. Boring, really. However, at the end of May I will be going over to the South East of the State. This should be interesting since I have never been there before. Five hours driving to Adelaide and another four hours to get to Penola. I will, of course, take the camera with me and take some photographs of places I have never been before. Have no idea where I am going to stay for the four days but I’ll work that out fairly soon. It will be interesting because, as I say, I have never been to that part of the State.

The Man is now totally blind and has just about lost control of his back legs. He can no longer walk and has difficulty in standing. We also believe that the medication is no longer working since he cries a lot. I was up with him until after 2am this morning and I didn’t think he would last the night. He was falling and banging into walls. I tried to keep him in a well padded dog basket ( cage) but he didn’t like that and screamed to be let out and started falling down again. I came up with the idea of turning part of my room into a sort of play-pen – covered in blankets with pillows against the wall to stop him from hurting himself. I brought in three heavy plastic boxes from the garage and using the side of the wardrobe as one side put the remaining three boxes into place – two down from the wardrobe and one across the bottom. Open and with enough room to move about and well padded with blankets to keep him from hurting himself banging his head off the side of the boxes and the wall. He cried until I believe exhaustion took

control and he has been sleeping since about 2:30am. I’ve had a couple of hours sleep and herself is still sleeping. This morning we will call the Vet and make an appointment for later today. But I think we are running out of time, which saddens me considerably.

Day Trip, Arid Lands and Family

31/01/2015 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

The Man is still with us. He is slowing down a lot, but he is eating well enough and comes out for walks a couple of times a week – which is good for him. He is still medicated

and still attending the vet on a regular basis to ensure that he is still comfortable and experiencing no unnecessary pain or discomfort. Yes, he still gets trapped by these sneaky corners and he still has to be rescued but other that this, he is well as can be expected. Not that this matters really, he’s still my dog and he still needs looking after – even at 3am :o) We leave lights on for him but as I keep saying, corners can be very sneaky and can trap the unwary. Chienne is still playing “Mother”and washes his face and ears. I just wish he wouldn’t scream quite so much. The trouble is that it’s a piercing scream that cuts right through everything. Sort of what I imagine would be like a Banshee in a bad mood.

It’s been a quiet week and the weather has been mild to cool. Generally at this time of the year we are trying to cope with 40c+ but this year has been very cool thus far. It did hit the 40 mark a couple of times in December. When that major fire broke out in Simpson Flats people were a bit concerned at such a destructive fire so early in the Fire Season and although it took a while to bring it under control and get it out, the weather since then has been quite cool. Sometimes when I take Chienne out in the evening I put on a light jacket because it is so cool. Although I have to admit that our cool is nothing in comparison with Snow Storm Juno that’s been dumping so much snow on many states. I only know one person in New York (Manhattan) and I hope she and her Mom and the dogs are safe and well. Don’t know about Arizona – never hear anything in the news about Arizona but I think they are pretty much like us – stinking hot – cool to cold – floods and fires – and not necessarily in that order. Although with recent temperatures bordering on 3000c – it probably doesn’t matter any more :o)

I undertook a number of tests last week but it will take 14 days for the analysis and report to come back from
Adelaide. I will be in Adelaide this coming weekend – 5th, 6th, 7th- but on a unrelated matter.

Interesting day. Herself needed to do some banking but there is no branch here so we had to travel to another town to do her banking.

There is an agency but this time we needed the bank rather than an agent. After the bank we did some shopping and I then took her out to the Arid Lands Botanic Gardens where we had afternoon tea. It’s a long walk from the carpark to the Center so that was not so good for her, but the coffee and the scones were good. She had Coffee and Scones with locally made Quandong Jam and Cream. I just had a boring old pot of Earl Gray tea, Scones and Butter. I even bought two new plants – another Desert Pea and another Desert Rose. A really nice day out and I think – up to a point – she enjoyed the trip.

Andrew is away in Roxby Downs, John is working so no family this weekend. Goodness that’s a worry – whatever will we talk about???

Sunset, Meerkats and a Memorial Arch

24/01/2015 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

I began writing this some years ago and in essence I wrote it for myself. Actually, that’s not really true – I started off in My Space and I was writing it as a letter for one person. My Space changed and I no longer wrote there. I came on here but it was never the same. I never really expected to have any “followers” – I felt that that’s something interesting people have. Of course I am thankful for any comment, advice or concern, and for the lovely people I have met but I’m not exactly setting the world on fire now, am I? But as I said, I started this mainly for myself. These last 12 months have been something of a revelation, that this is not really going anywhere, discovering personal limits, discovering I am not invincible as well as doing everything possible to wreck my health by living out of a suitcase for

The WWI Memorial Arch - Great Ocean Road — The WWI Memorial Arch – Great Ocean Road

much of the last eighteen months. In looking back over the last 12 months I have to ask myself what, if anything, I have achieved. The answer is, regretfully, nothing. I only retain the West Terrace Committee and that mainly because it’s working with a wonderful group of people. A refreshing change, which is always welcome.

This next weekend – the weekend after Australia Day – I will be in Adelaide for three days. I have organized this to make it as stress free as possible. I drive down on the Thursday, perhaps a bit of shopping – a visit to Bunnings – Office Works – relaxed day; quite night at the hotel, good sleep. Friday, all day session – finish about 5:20, perhaps a bit of late night shopping and a meal in town, quite night at the hotel, good sleep. Saturday, breakfast, check out, drive home – simples!! (cue in cute Meerkat here) – On the way back I’ll try and get time to stop into the Arid Lands Gardens and if I leave early enough I might get there in time for lunch — they make very nice scones!!

Bells Beach where the Australian Surf Championships are held

When I visited Alan out at Drysdale we toured the Bellarine Peninsula. I am particularly pleased with this because it was among the last things he did before he before he became confined to a hospital room on oxygen. I only mentioned to Herself the other day that I did wonder if Alan might have still been alive if he had remained in Drysdale surrounded by his friends. Difficult to say. I was also thinking that I would like to take a trip back to Drysdale and have a quiet trip around the place and tour the Bellarine Peninsula with herself, but I don’t know if

The Big Koala: a refreshing break on a long journey

she would be well enough for such a long journey. If we did go, it would have to be in small, easy stages to give her a break. But the added concern is that this is Australia and not all than many places are Dog Welcome. I know there is one in Drysdale so we would probably stay there. However, that’s all speculation and quite unlikely. It’s impossible to get her to Adelaide let alone Geelong.

Dogs, Gardens, R & R

22/01/2015 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

With all this Biblical stuff going on, fire, floods, pestilence, snow, the garden has been very much neglected. Ok, ok, I lied about the snow!!! The adverse weather conditions, being surrounded by trees that drop branches and leaves at the slightest cough, and my being inconveniently ill, the garden has the appearance of a building site ( actually bomb site would be a better description) I would love to get out there and get on with things and I will – with some things – but I am discovering that there are limits to what I can and cannot do at the moment. I made that mistake in Adelaide last week. I am sort of trapped between a rock and a hard place – I want to get out there and get on with things, but I know that I am limited in what I can do until such times as we discover just what exactly is happening. Will know more after Tuesday when I undertake some tests.

In the 60’s, people took drugs to make the world weird.

Now the world is weird, and people take antidepressants to make it normal.

Chienne is much the same and the Man is still with us. He’s slowing down and I still have to rescue him, but he’s fine. I hand feed him in the morning and I have started to hand feed -sort of – in the evening. What I do is bring him and his dinner over to my chair. I sit on the floor with legs out. I put him over my left thigh – back legs one side front legs the other – with the food bowl on my right thigh and he eats away quite happily without falling or in any pain. I know it might sound a bit awkward but he’s comfortable enough and eats away until his food’s finished, and, more importantly, without any stress. Yes, I was born for this – to be a food trolley to a Maltese Dog. :o) Oh, and why the left thigh? He does not like the right thigh – different aspect perhaps. However, something odd has cropped up in recent months. I thought at first it was a “one off” when I watched it, but I see it happen a lot these days and Herself says Chienne has been doing this for a while. She is grooming The Man. He just sits there and she licks his face and his ears. I am puzzled – I thought only cats did this.

I did some work out in the garden today. Nothing too much, just some sweeping up leaves and using the leaf blower/vacuum. I did throw some rubbish into the trailer but nothing heavy. I was also thinking that if the weather remains fine, I might just break out the hammock and stand. We’ll see how things go. I should be heading off to Adelaide next Friday morning but I will have to wait and see. It’s only been two months since the last meeting and I guess it’s a bit much to expect the minutes of that meeting to be available this early. – The meeting, it would appear, has been put off until the 14th Feb. so, in essence I have been two and a half months at home without really doing anything much other than catching up with some reading; a little bit of work outside and going for walks with Chienne and sometimes with The Man. When he is with us we don’t go very

far and even the little distance we do do, takes ages since he is slow and tends to wander. It makes for an interesting walk. If Chienne wasn’t so freaked out about going in the car, I would take them to the beach. I could take him on his own but if I strap him into the seat he screams and cries all the way. He wants to come and sit on my lap and whilst I used to do this, it is now illegal to have an animal on your lap when driving and it carries with it a hefty fine and demerit points. In fact to have an animal in the car not strapped in is illegal.

Paws for a moment!

15/01/2015 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Weather bureau warns SA could experience heaviest rainfall in 30 years

The above is the headlines that appeared the other day. There was minor flooding on the first day which caused a bit of traffic chaos and forced what was to be an outdoor funeral – indoors. I did not get to the first funeral because of medical appointments but I was able to go to the second, although given the volume of rain that was belting down, there was some doubt about it but the organizers managed to get it moved to an indoor venue. It was – a celebration of her life rather than a traditional funeral.

Well it didn’t- or rather it has not as yet – reached the 30 year record although there is serious flooding with roads and small townships cut off. Here it has just been raining. No major rain like the other day – just a continual steady rain with some minor road flooding. If you are in the flooded zone – well it is all bad – but if you are not there is a positive side to things. Lake Eyre in South Australia, is

the largest inland lake in Australia and the 18th largest in the world. However, it is 17 meters below sea level and generally a salt lake. Right now the flood waters are pouring into it and it is rapidly filling up. Reports are that birds and other wildlife are flocking to the area and the “Lake Eyre Yacht Club” lives for times like this. What I cannot understand is that Pelicans are flocking to the area in their hundreds – But – how do they know?? Is there some kind of Bird Communication System that says “hey, Lake Eyre in South Australia is flooded – pass it on” !! But it is amazing that such a transformation can take place in only a few days. How about the fires – was there

anything positive came out of them?? Actually, yes. A lot of the wildlife, particularly the Koalas, had been injured by the fire. The burns were mainly on paws. The RSPCA and other organizations went into the area and began to rescue the animals. With the Koala the RSPCA found that after the initial treatment and the application of burn cream, the best thing they had for helping the Koalas were mittens, but they soon ran out of them. The asked if people could get some cotton ( old sheets , etc) and sew some mittens and donate them. The hoped they would get enough to help the animals that were being brought in. What they got was, not the hundred or so pairs they expected from South Australians, but over 16,000 pairs of cotton mittens flooding in from Australia, Canada, the United States, New Zealand, Europe, Japan, Ireland the United Kingdom, Russia, Kazakhstan, Iran India and South Africa. Amazing – just amazing!

Andrew and Trish took me down to Adelaide and dropped me off in town. Coffee and scones then off

Still flocking in from hundreds of miles away. (not my photograph)

on a shopping expedition — well that was Plan A. Halfway between the Coffee Shop and my first shop was not good and by the time I reached Koorong I was just about all in. Fortunately the big bookshop also had a coffee shop so that’s where I stayed until I felt good enough to make my way back to Rundle Mall. My main reason for going to Adelaide in the first place was to look for a Dalek for Andrew’s Birthday Gift. I did get that and a few other things and decided that I didn’t think I could make it through to 6:30 and the evening coach so I took a taxi to the terminal and caught the afternoon coach home. Too soon to be a Happy Wanderer? Perhaps, but at least when I go down in February, I will have the car and if I feel “tired” I can always go to the hotel and relax for a while.

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