Category: House, Garden and Dogs

Lost dogs, Adelaide and Plan C

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs
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This lovely old Lady turned up in my driveway. I looked after her for several hours until the RSPCA came to collect her.

Part of the problem for the South Australia Dog Rescue in this region is that most of the dogs are either throw away dogs – dogs that just get dumped either outside the vet or tied up outside the local supermarket, or dogs that have been fairly reasonably looked after but were bought as puppies for Christmas Presents and ” well we didn’t realise he /she  would grow so big and we really can’t afford him/her”.  Another reason is backyard breeders, and people who just refuse to have the cat or dog desexed – which leads to dumping. But whatever the reason we just cannot cope with the amount of dogs that  end up in the pound or the RSPCA. Sometimes we manage to get a dog rehomed in Adelaide and ask if anyone  going to Adelaide would be willing to take the dog down with them.  I try to help out when I can – when I go down to Adelaide I  take a dog with me if one is waiting transport. More often than not we don’t have a dog rehomed but we will get him/her transported to Adelaide to the  larger population area and hope that they can find a new home. Unfortunately, our pound is a kill pound.

Should try and put that in context – if you look at South Australia on Google Maps ( or even an old Atlas) you will see an area called “Gulf St Vincent”. If you draw a line from the head of the gulf – to the right and the State border, then the area below that line you have drawn comprises 85% of the total population of this state. The 15% of us are scattered across the remainder. In this state, 85% of the population occupy only 15% of the total landmass. More than other states, South Australia is metro centric. If it does’t happen in Adelaide, it’s not worth bothering about. Similarly, if it happens in Adelaide, it’s must be good for all of South Australia.  TeeHee, if the Defense Force took over five feet of land in Adelaide there would be the devil to pay – protests by the dozen. They take over 500 square miles up here and no one bats an eyelid – except the people whose land had been taken over by a  Compulsory  Purchase Order.

Plan A has gone by the wayside, Plan B is about to follow it, and we are now on to Plan C. An emergency meeting has been called at North Adelaide  for Wednesday afternoon – since everyone is already there.  So much for coming home on Wednesday – unless they change things again. It’s very possible since there is still a whole week to go.

Cutesy Dogs and Autumn Rain.

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

It’s amazing how quickly things can change.  The yearly State Conference will finish early , or it hopes to,  (Plan A)  (I have now been sent the business papers) so I should be heading home on Wednesday. The District bi-monthly Conference has been postponed until 15th June and  the visit to the RAH  has been rescheduled until 14th August. So, barring any surprises,  after 15th June, I should not have to go back to Adelaide until August – that has to be a bonus.

The terrorist has never really been a cutesy dog although  Maltese have been associated with “cutesy” people. One of the grooms we took him to years ago had this thing about bows on dogs and she kept puting a small bow or a bandana on him at the end of his bath, clip and groom.  She was such a nice lady that I really didn’t want to tell her not to do this and the bow lasted about three minutes after he was in the car. I did get him home once and managed to get a photograph of him on my computer chair with the pretty blue bow in his hair – well the hair on his head  :o)  I keep it to remind me that  I had a “cutesy” dog for all of two minutes.

The thought occurs to me that I sometimes use words and phrases that I am familiar with but other people might not be. One of these is referring to my wife as ‘ Herself”. In old Scots and Irish, a woman of importance – the head of a household or the head of a family – was referred to as “Herself”. The same was also true for males – “Himself”.   In parts of country Ireland (or so I believe)  but still today in the Scottish  Highlands,  the terminology continues in common use – wives referring to husbands, husbands referring to wives.

You will, I know, be delighted to learn that our “Indian Summer” has broken and it has been raining for the best part of twelve hours. It has not been the ” bounce off the roadway” rain but a steady and constant rain. This could well be all we will get for some time and it is very welcome up here. In Adelaide and the South East of the State it is forecast to be raining for most of this week. At least we got a little bit – enough to give the ground a good soak.

Associates, Hospitals and Shopping Centres

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs
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I was in a hurry so I took the coach!

I forgot and I downloaded mail on another computer which means that I cannot access it  here. I know,”what’s this got to do with anything?” well, one of the things I downloaded was a post called “Tribute to Twitch” , one of the saddest posts about a dog I have read in a long time. She looked such a lovely Lady, with big sad eyes, who would have been loved and cared for if her “new Mum” and friends had gotten her out of Afghanistan in time. Sadly this didn’t happen and I think the sad thing is not knowing when she died, where she died or even how she died. My very first dog, when we came to Australia, was  a “Bitsa” but she was the most adorable dog we ever had. She was “Scruffy” and  did she live up to her name. We would bath her, clip her and she would look neat and tidy – for all of seven seconds until she shook herself and the hair just went everywhere again.  She was actually part Australian Silky Terrier ;  she was loved by everyone and she had such a calm , placid nature . Even now when I picture her in my head, I still miss her – after  nearly twenty years, I still miss her.

It has been confirmed that at the end of the month I will simply stay in Adelaide and not come home one day only to have to go back down the next day and back home the day after – 1318 kilometres. Now it seems this is presenting problems in that we have just had word that Herself is required to be at the Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH) for x-rays and tests at the Trauma Clinic – 4 years review- on the 28th May – right in the middle of the Assembly.  However, we telephoned them right away and managed to get the x-rays and tests  re-scheduled to first week in August. Whenever we go it will require an overnight stay because she has to have one x-ray in the morning and based on the results of that, the blood tests in the afternoon. About a week before we are due to go down I’ll organise to have a wheelchair.  No, she does not need a wheelchair generally, but spending a day wandering around the rabbit warren that is the Royal Adelaide Hospital, is just too much for her. When we have gone down there I have in the past taken a wheelchair because trying to get one at the RAH is next to impossible. When we do go, one of the boys will come over and stay the night and look after the dogs. The good thing about having the wheelchair is that she has no excuse about going into the Shopping Mall   :o)  A sort of “Captive Audience” in a manner of speaking..

RFDS and a quiet week

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

DSC01444I planted them, fed them and the rain watered them – I have neither looked at them nor gave them any attention since. Well, they are still alive, so I suppose that’s something. I’ll wait and see what happens. They are arid lands plants so they should be able to survive although I have my doubts about this soil of mine. I am beginning to think that the previous owners made the soil sterile because there were no plants or grass or anything green when we bought the place – just horrible dirty black  redgum chips everywhere and lots of concrete. The area that I have  “rescued” was one of the areas that had the redgum chips and no plants

I did send in an apology for this weekend.  think I have done enough travelling for the moment and I will be in Adelaide for the last week of this month. A week away from home and I would like to have one of my dogs with me but I’m sure Herself will look after them. It would be nice company but I don’t think the hotel would be all that impressed. Well, ok – it’s not the other side of the planet,  only 280 miles away, but still and all – I’m your actual ” Homie”  and although I do not mind the  occasional trips to the city, five days is pushing it a bit  :o)

Today (Thursday) I am at the Airport for a Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) Open Day.  One of the medical aircraft will be flying in and  guests will be shown around the aircraft, talk to medical personnel,   and have  lunch. Our  support group here have raised $125,000 over the last four years, which is enough to equip an aircraft with the necessary medical equipment. I think we have done well for such a small group of people. It is the 85th Anniversary of the Service and there will be a presentation with invited guests including the Mayor and members of the council.  Other than this, a quiet week, for which I am thankful.DSC01422

The dogs are well  and the little man has been incredibly energetic these last few days. We have been out for walks and I have not had to carry him once. Although I think the morning is the best time of day for him. Alan is back in hospital again and from what I hear, not too good.

As it happens I will most likely be seven days away. The scheduled by-monthly conference takes place on Saturday 1st. June, so it seems to me to be somewhat pointless to drive 280 miles home on Thursday to drive 280 miles back again on the Friday, then drive 280 miles home on the Saturday afternoon – 840 miles driving for no really good reason – not to mention the fuel costs.

Adelaide ANZAC and welcome back.

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Despite leaving Adelaide at the unconscionable  hour of 6:10am, the drive back home was pleasant. Rain had been forecast, but as generally happens, such  predictions are based on hope rather than reality,  and  the journey was without rain.  I love the element of uncertainty of weather forecasts – on Monday evening  they tell you that it will rain on Tuesday and on Tuesday evening, they tell you why it didn’t. Part of the reason I saw the fire trucks coming was that I was standing at the window – as I said- watching the rain because we don’t see it all that often in the Arid ands of the North of the State.  We don’t get anything near the rain that Adelaide and the “bottom” area of the state gets Anyway it was a nice drive  and it was nice to be home again, although herself didn’t really expect me until mid afternoon.   The dogs were pleased to see me and I sat down with them for a while. I was only home for one day and I was off to Adelaide again, this time with my son . He own property in Adelaide and was going down for meetings with his agent. . The one day I was home was not really a “free day” I was back up at 5am and off to Memorial Oval for the Dawn Service of Remembrance at 5:45.  Thursday 25th April is set aside as ANZAC Remembrance Day. I generally go to the Dawn Service then meet up with some people and go for breakfast at McDonald’s – mainly because it’s the only place that’s open at 6:40am.  Most businesses stay closed for the day but the supermarkets generally open at 12 noon as do other businesses who wish to do so.

Friday and we set out for Adelaide again. Twice in a week is very tiring and I am due  back there again next weekend. However, I’ve had enough for the moment so I think I might put in an apology for next week. I need the break considering that I will be spending the last week of May in Adelaide.

I have examined all my settings and as far as I can tell they are still in operations and I know that I have not made any alterations. I do know that, according to site stats, I have had no visitors since 6th April – which is a little bit of a concern. I still get  notifications from the sites I follow but not nearly as many as I used to. I don’t generally delete things but rather archive them so I still have posts from mid 2012 in the system——–WooHoo    welcome back…

Firetrucks and Conferences

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

20130422_185132The Monday drive to Adelaide was very good. It was a nice clear day and I didn’t meet any rain until I was already in Adelaide. I met up with a friend and had coffee and cake.  Had a very interesting afternoon.  I did deliver the paperwork I was asked to at North Adelaide and posted the other things off at the Central Post Office. In the evening I had some excitement as two big fire trucks, with sirens blaring and lights flashing came around the corner and, much to my concern, parked at the front of the hotel – right underneath my room window. The reason I saw them coming was simply because I was standing at the window watching the rain come hammering down.  Anyway, they were there for about 40 minutes and it turned out to be a board fault that triggered the alarm.  I know the photograph is not all that great but it really is one of the fire trucks underneath my window at the hotel.    Sleep ??   Slept like the proverbial log.

Tuesday and the conference was good as conferences go – more ‘touchy-feely’ than controversial,  wandered round the issues without really getting to grips with them.  All broke up warm and fuzzy without anything being really settled and the communication issue still not resolved.

By the time the conference finished up it was too late to start driving back home. I really didn’t feel like a five hour drive in the dark, so I stayed  until the following morning. I was on my way by 06:10 and yes it was dark but the road out of Adelaide is a four lane divided highway for 100 kilometres and by the time I reached the end the sun was coming up and I did the rest of the journey in daylight arriving home at 10:45. Hitting a Kangaroo always ends up badly for a private vehicle as well as the kangaroo. They are big and solid and while running into one kills the animal, it also destroys the whole front of your car – it’s a write-off.  This has never happened to me but it did happen to several friends. Most of the time you are  all right – just the odd occasion when they decide to move around in the general direction of the roadway.

Goundhogs and garden plants.

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Yesterday (Wednesday) I made the long promised trip to the Arid Lands Botanic Gardens. Had a nice lunch and then  went into the  plant nursery. I bought a range of plants and although they didn’t have quite what I wanted, they were able to do as I hoped hey would – suggest a suitable alternative. But in some ways it feels like Groundhog Day in that I have been down this path before where I get all excited and plant things, water, feed a fertilise them only to have them die anyway. The little man got through the fence I put up and I can’t see where he did this. And this is another thing, if he digs up the plants again (he’s cost me hundreds of dollars) I will  just give up. I would rather just put down weedmatting and pine bark rather than get angry with my dogs and risk starting to be resentful. I am too fond of my dogs for that ever to happen. Perhaps I really should stop trying to pretend I’m a gardener when everything I plant dies on me. I’m sure things go into self destruct sequence as soon as I hand over my money.

Gallipoli  Rosemary (from ANZAC Cove in Turkey)  2 of these

Dianella revoluta – Large   2 of these

Eremophila Hygrophana – 2 of these (lilac flowers)

Eremophila Glabra – 4 of these (different colours)

Correa Glabra  – 2 of these

Goodenia ovala – 2 of these

Frankenia serpyllifolia – 1 of these

I stared the first of the concreting. I did one area and will slowly move down. Although, I have to say that it would be a lot easier if I had a cement mixer ‘ ’cause mixing cement by shovel is fun.  I should be able to do another part this afternoon. I have to take  Herself for her fortnightly shopping this afternoon. The reason for this is that i usually take her on a Monday, but I will be in Adelaide this Monday and not back until Wednesday, so she decided that today is the day!

Water, plants and Organics

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs
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Kind daddy started clearing a new sun area for us

What actually happened with the GPS ws that it was doing the right thing and directing me towards the Southern Expressway , the fastest way out of the Southern Suburbs. However, what it didn’t know was that that particular section of the Expressway was being upgraded and where the GPS was taking me was a construction site. Adding to the confusion was the fact that I had never been there before, had no knowledge of the area and was totally dependant on the GPS for directions. It was all very confusing but I survived, although I have to say that sometimes the GPS can be a real trial.

I hope to be able to get out to the Arid Lands Gardens sometime this week. At the weekend, I will be heading off to Adelaide again –  for a Conference.  I’ll be away for three days this time. That should be me until the last week in May when I will be away for a week – well almost. The conference will finish late Wednesday and I’ll stay over until Thursday.   I have not been out in the garden since I came back from Adelaide, I have just had so much that was set aside for three weeks that I now have to catch up on and things that I borrowed  and hired to be returned. However, I hope to get out later this morning. The area I am working on is not a big area but if it is  fixed out and some nice plants will take and grow, it could look nice. Even the local garden centre admits that the soil in this area is very thin and not all that good and I rather suspect that  there has been strong weed killer and possibly poison used by the previous owners. When we first bought this place and moved in I started to clear that particular area and planted roses – not one of them survived.  Sixteen rose bushes, bought from different places and all died – despite feeding, watering, mulch and rose food – not a one survived, and of the six additional roses I planted out front, only three are hanging on for dear life. So given that track record, I will do this area and plant the things I get from the Arid Lands Garden and see if they survive. If not, well I hear the  new season concrete is very nice this year  :o)

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Nasty little things

When I finally  moved the dogs I  covered the whole area with two bags of organic soil improver, dug that in and then used a wetting agent and watered the whole area. I think I have given it a fair chance, so, now all I need is some plants and a bit of cooperation from the dogs. Mind you, I tried to avoid anything that even had a whiff of Blood and Bone to keep the dogs from digging. We will see how things go.These nasty spiky things are growing outside. I have no idea what they are but I don’t like them and I think they could injure the dogs.

Motorways and a GPS

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Was at the doctor yesterday and the Warfarin is playing up and  the  doctor required that I take him for blood tests. I think it’s all that iced tea that he’s drinking. We get the results in the morning.  On  Thursday I head off back to Adelaide and should be on my way home Thursday afternoon. If I get the opportunity I would like to stop off at Bunnings and look for some additional fencing as well as a few other odds and ends. I may stay overnight ( actually I probably will) and spend some time in town before starting off for home. I have done it in the past and  I am not so keen these days to drive almost 900 klms  in a day. I have seen the day when we drove to Adelaide, went shopping and drove back in the evening, but  these days, a trip to Adelaide is an overnight stay.

I have been doing some work outside and an almost finished with the area clearing. It has been neglected for a long time, including by me. It’s not a big area but if I can regenerate it and use native plants to do it, it should be a nice  area. With Alan being here and being at a doctor or hospital every other day  – Monday, Tuesday and today –  I really don’t feel like doing anything after sitting in a doctor’s surgery or a hospital waiting room. His INR has shot up to 5.2 (should be between 1.8 – 3.0)  He will have to see his own doctor as soon as he is back in Adelaide. His carers are aware of this – I telephoned them this afternoon.

Friday:

On the way back home I stopped off at the Arid Lands Botanic Gardens. Not a great success. The place was busy and there was only one lady to look after the shop and the plants and the shop seemed to have taken precedence. I know next to nothing about native plants – actually I know next to nothing about plants period and my sole reason for buying things is that they look nice.  Sorry but there you are. Anyway, I really needed help between the book on local native plants I had bought (“Plant me instead”) and what was available and/or close to what I wanted. So, I thought it best to try another day and  came on home. Excellent weather on both days, although my GPS wanted to take me places I didn’t want to go – like onto a Motorway that is not completed yet – or onto a freeway that changes traffic direction depending on the time of day. I finally found a road that looked like it knew where it was going and took that. Fortunate in that it brought me to the Main South Road, which is where I did want to be. It’s a worry  :o)

They even had a Bear in the Air :o)

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

The Feds and the military just want a little  piece of land – this little piece   and that little piece,  and that little piece and that little piece – you get the picture.  I am not in any way anti-military – we should always support our troops – I just don’t see why  a  medium size  (31,000 regular) military force such as ours, requires  an area of land that is bigger than Scotland, Ireland , Wales  or Virginia, to play their soldier games in. Actually, it’s bigger than two or more of these countries put together.

Spy CamA few posts ago I said that the drive to Adelaide to pick up Alan was without  any drama, well, as it turns out that was not strictly true. In the preparations of the house and the car and myself to get down there I had forgotten one tiny little thing – just a tiny thing – the car Registration!! A letter arrived yesterday from the South Australia Police to inform me that I am to be fined for driving an unregistered car. I was picked up by the spy in the sky. Years of driving with a perfect record. It was due on the 21st March;  we left am on the 22nd and I was picked up by the spy in the sky on 2.43pm 0n the 23rd.  Well at least I don’t get demerit points.  Still,  it just proves the saying ” No good deed goes unpunished!”   :o

A week to ten days has turned into three weeks and I should be taking him back to Adelaide this weekend. He has no medication and no scripts to cover anything beyond this coming Friday and that really does not impress me much because it being the end of the school term, the roads out of Adelaide when I am returning on the Saturday, will 20130405_192159be packed.  However, all that aside I think it has been good for him to have been here these last few weeks. It has been a change for him and we have got him out and about, athough he does spend much of his time sitting watching daytime TV  ( which drives herself potty  :o) ) I haven’t been able to get much done outside – and the weather has been good for working outside.  If I do go to Adelaide this weekend then I will try and get away early Saturday morning and miss the traffic and perhaps go into the Arid Lands Gardens on the way home