Wednesday
Category: House, Garden and Dogs
Settled down for a while!
Everything appears to have settled down with Annabell for the time being. We only had one visit to the emergency Dept. this week, so that’s good. The UTI we can cope with (sort of) it’s the 
unknown that is causing the concern, However, all being well, she will go into hospital on Tuesday 20th for “exploratory” surgery to determine what the problem is. If we can find that out then perhaps we can quickly fix it. So between doctors, hospital visits and late night visits to the emergency dept, it’s been an interesting month thus far. Then there was the Vet with Benji ( front paw problem) and to add insult to injury – so to speak – WordPress decided that my log-in to WordPress.com had expired and I can’t reply to anything – so I am not sure what is happening at the moment. I am reminded of an old Greek proverb “whom the gods condemn to die they first make mad” However, this part of things seems to be ok but trying to reply to anyone is not. I did a reply to Monica (Tails….) and three times it was deleted because it said my log-in to WordPress,com had expired. I have checked and double checked and everything is clear and active to mid 2021, so I don’t understand what the problem is. I need to get in touch with WordPress. Either that or what my “Greek Friend” is telling me – that it is time to go. At the moment, however, I have managed to return to Classic Editor although I don’t know what will happen when I close down and go out. What will happen when I reopen WordPress when I get back.?
We went out walking last night- lovely evening after a 32C day. We went out on the stroller and he was quite happy taking in the slightly different view of things. I mean, all he had to do was sit there and take in all the sights and sounds, whilst muggins at the back did all the work. o:) Had to take Annabell to see doctor – not for a medical reason – well, sort of. She was summoned for Jury Duty for the month of November and to be quite honest she is simply not able to do this, so we had to see the doctor and ask him to write a letter explaining this to the Sheriff Officer and having her exempt from jury service. This was something completely out of left field – something we never expected. Anyway, the letter should sort that out – we hope.
Benji is starting to show his age and is getting slower when we walk. Actually, we have not done much walking, more the use of the stroller. I took him out a little while ago and we managed about two hundred yards before he just stopped, so we came home. I will take him out later, when the sun has gone and the flies along with it.. At the moment I have got the post back to Classic Editor but I don’t know if I can do it again if and when I close down. When we went out earlier, I just didn’t close down at all. Apart from other things, working with the computer and WordPress today has been an exercise in frustration.
It still is ( an exercise in frustration) and it has gone back to blocks and I have no idea what I’m doing. If this is going to continue and I am unable to go back to Classic Editor, I think I will have to consider what I do next. PS This stuff underneath, I have no idea where this came from nor how I get rid of it. Everything is a shamozzle!!
DownPours, high wind and Hospital
Wednesday 7th October 6:03am. It has now been raining here since 9:30 pm Tuesday. The rain continues to be quite heavy and the storm drains are no longer
clearing away the volume of water that is now flooding the roads.. My garden is under about three inches of water. Yes, I know, it is not what you would call “major flooding” but this is only what I can see from the front and back windows. I just hope it is not too much worse in the lower areas of the town. I think it is safe to say for this region the drought is well and truly broken. At about 08:20 the rain stopped. The storm drains have managed to catch up and the roads are now clear of water – well in this area anyway. Yes that was short lived and it started raining again and continued until late
in the afternoon, by which time the outback and the Flinders were flooded and weekenders trapped for a while. All good stuff – rain to snow to rain to flooding to dust storms – and that’s just the Flinders! We were not too bad,- some minor flooding with heavy rain that was “interesting” to drive through. Although the rain stopped mid afternoon, we did continue to have some very light showers for a little while longer. For that reason I didn’t go out with Benji last night because the mood Mother Nature seems to be in at the moment, a Cyclone could well be on the cards.
I have said in the past that my house was the last house in the town – there was nothing beyond me. Then came the mining boom and all the new houses and the extension of the storm drain. The storm drain was to connect to the main drain but it never was and since there seemed to be only light showers for this area and not enough to be too concerned about, the pit was dug to accommodate the water until such times as the road was extended to the main highway and the storm drain connected to the main system. The little amount of water there would be in it, would drain away into the surrounding soil. It never happened and with the change of climate there has been more rain in this area and the 20ft, pit is frequently filled. This time, however, it is
not only filled, it is overflowing.
This morning, however, we did go out. We completed about three quarters of the outward section before the limp and the paw up. I merely lifted him and placed him in the stroller and we
continued the walk and like the other day he looked all around like king of the castle.. I would say, off-hand, that the stroller had been a great success – but only for one of us at the moment. It has been a long time since I pushed a stroller (Pram) and I forgot how tiring it is on your arms.
Took Annabell to the hospital this afternoon. She had several tests. Also an ECG to determine that she is able to have the operation on the 20th. We left the house at 12:30, arrived at the hospital and she was taken fairly quickly – about 15 minutes after we booked in. I was not allowed (because of the restrictions) to go in and had to wait outside in a much reduced waiting room . Hospital Kiosk was closed and I was in that waiting room until after 3pm. Anyway, everything is fine and all is ready for the surgery on the 20th. She doesn’t seem to be concerned – which is good. I’m probably concerned enough for both of us.
*copyright unknown*
Monday 12th Last night I had to take Annabell up to the hospital Emergency as she was in pain. Turns out she has another UTI. It was after midnight before we got back home and at the moment she is still sleeping. I told her to turn off her alarm and she can give me the list and I will go and do the shopping. Some people think I worry to much and perhaps they are right, but after last night I think my concerns are justified. But then again, isn’t that part of the job description? o:)
Wednesday
It’s all Confused!
I have been away from this blog for a few days and I come back to find that everything has changed and I am not certain that I really like it: that I actually understand it or that I can
use it. I have no idea how I managed to get this far. I will keep on writing and see where it leads. I don’t know where my photographs are or how I can get photographs on to the page. I was particularly comfortable with the way the page was and if I knew how to I would try and return it to what it was before. Somehow it went on to Block Editor and I don’t know why this happened, but I seem to have got it back to Classic Editor, which I am much more comfortable with.
The funeral on Wednesday was was very sad. Of course, all funerals are but this one was particularly so. It was held at the Funeral Home mainly because they have a large hall, and our church would not have been large enough – under the current restrictions – to accommodate enough people. There were a number of people from the hospital in Adelaide who traveled up. As I said, I was attending and had not intended to be part of the service. In the event I was asked to take part in the service. I was also asked to undertake the Committal at the graveside. William was a young man in a high pressure occupation – he was a psychiatric nurse and Team Leader at the Psychiatric Unit at a major hospital in Adelaide. At the Cemetery, Annabell remained in the car . The walk would have been too much for her.
I went out to the Photography Club in the evening but my heart wasn’t really in it so I came home fairly early. I want to really improve my photography and I thought joining the Photography Club was the way to achieve this, but I am not sure. I think what I really need is a hands on photography course, and that’s not possible here – in Adelaide yes, but I can’t remember the last time we ran Community Courses here. Yes I have tried “On-Line ” courses, I have about three currently in the computer, but they just don’t work for me. There have been times ( yesterday, in fact) when I have gone out with the camera, taken photographs, came home and deleted every one. I was just unhappy and didn’t like them. With all the stuffing around the camera was a mess so I took the step of going into the settings and returning the camera to Factory Settings, wipe out all the other setting except the basic settings the camera came out of the box with. Start again from scratch without contradictory advice from assorted sources.
Oddly enough last Wednesday morning was the last fine day we had. It has been heavy rain throughout the state for the last four days. It has also been cold and windy. It is supposed to start warming up by the end of the
week, but it feels more like an extended winter rather than Spring. I have had Benji out and about and he is developing into a little con-man. Of late we are out walking and after a while he will start limping then stop and lift his right paw up as if he was in pain. When I bent down to feel all over his paw I could find nothing wrong, Even when I gently extended his paw he didn’t complain. He put the paw on the ground but when I started to move off, the paw went up in the air. Yes, I lifted him and put him on my shoulder and carried him for part of the way home. This has happened several times and much of the time I have carried him – except for today. Off we went at 6am this morning, and about three quarters of the way into the walk, the paw went in the air. I examined the paw,
found nothing amiss and told him that we would go back home—-well I had hardly said the word home, than he turned around, the paw went down and he took off, no sign of any pain or discomfort or paw problem. I had a chat with Annabell and we have come to the conclusion that this is his way of telling me that he’s had enough and he wants to go home. He is getting older so really we should expect that he doesn’t want to be quite as active as he was. Anyway, I have a “Pet Stroller”which I bought for Misty, a Maltese we had many years ago, who went blind. When we go out tomorrow I will take it with me and if he does the paw thing, I will lift him, strap him in the stroller and we can finish the walk together – like companions should.
Annabell is as well as expected. I will have her at the hospital on Wednesday and again on Friday. We may find out sometime after Friday what the problem is, but if not then it may be day surgery on the 22nd October.
Hospital, Adelaide and Flinders Snow.
Saturday and everything has started off quietly. Let’s hope it stays that way. From today on I have “cleared the decks” of all unnecessary activities and will stay at home for the week. Between Annabell and Benji I will have much to keep me occupied. Annabell has blood tests first thing on Monday morning and then an Ultra Sound on Thursday morning. Benji seems to have damaged his paw so I have medication for him in the form of a spray. However, in order to make sure he doesn’t try to get rid of the medication I will put a medical collar on him for a couple of days. That should cheer him up no end! This weekend is the practical weekend of the photography club – dinner on Friday ( missed) meeting this morning, followed by the AGM, then a workshop. Sunday and a photo shoot day out at Wild Dog Hill and although there wont be another AGM for a year, there will be other practical days as the days get lighter, longer and warmer. I cancelled everything
The blood tests are clear but there is something showing up on the ultra-scan and the doctor does know what it is so he is going to organise Annabell to go and see a specialist as soon as it can be arranged, even if it means I have to take her to Adelaide to get it done. Other than that she seems fairly well. I will be a lot happier in my mind when we get to see the specialist and those results. I agree they could be bad but at least we will know and we work with that. To ensure that this week was a good week, I was dropped at the last selection and neither of my two photographs will make it
to the Calendar for 2021. Annabell said that it was good even to be just considered and be in the selection process.
The weather has started to warm up and the last couple of days have seen our temperature to hit 30C, which is fairly nice but would be nicer if it were not for the continual wind. We have not been too bad but Adelaide has had trees ( guess what species?) crashing down on houses and cars. No one has been injured but there has been some damage. James was cleared from the Hospital in Adelaide a day earlier than expected. He flew home last night and picked up Yogi today. The news broadcast has reported widespread flooding in areas where there has hardly been any rain for a few years, so a lot of people are happy. One little farm boy had never seen rain before. Also
today here is Badge Day for the RFDS and tomorrow and Sunday are both fundraising days with four activities planned in four different places. Annabell is still not the best, so all-in-all it has been an interesting day to match an interesting weekend. On Wednesday I went down to Adelaide. There were things I needed to do that had I had put off. Annabell was ok so I left on the early morning coach and came home that same evening on the last coach. There is still social distancing applied so there are only 20 people allowed on the
coach at any one time. This means that all double seats are actually single seats with the front two rows blocked off. Leaving Adelaide we had 12 people – after Port Pirie we had 5 people and after Port Augusta we had 1 – me.. Adelaide was cold and not very pleasant and the camera shop I wanted was closed because of the Covid-19 Virus.
Benji went gaga when I got home. I ended up sitting on the floor with him jumping all over me. I couldn’t be sure but I think he was glad I was home. Thursday I took Annabell to see the visiting Specialist. I had to get her a wheelchair because with the Covid restrictions, sections of the hospital have been closed off and considering the distance of the detours, it would have been too much for her to walk – so I got the fun of pushing her uphill on a wheelchair :o) Anyway, I have to take her back again on the 9th Oct. and if all is well and the results of the biopsy are known then there may be an operation on the 22nd. Hopefully after the biopsy we might know what the problem is.
On a final note, Spring hath Sprung bringing with it, rain, high winds, cold and more cold and more rain and to make sure that we don’t miss out on anything Mother Nature
decided in her wisdom that the Flinders Ranges would look much nicer covered in snow, so that’s what happened. We missed out ( as usual) but there was also a dusting of snow on the hills overlooking Port Pirie. For us it was a very cold few days.
We have a funeral on Wednesday. Not a member of the congregation but the young son of a member of the congregation and it is at the funeral parlor not at the church.I was going, of course, but now I have been asked to take part in the service. Of course, I said yes – don’t know what I am doing but I still said yes. I had planned a quiet week before the hospital appointments with Annabell. Not much chance of that now.. Oh well, things happen !!
(not my photograph)
Spring has Sprung..
Spring be here! With the warmer weather and there being no restrictions, the wetlands has become a busy wee place. There are a number of reasons for this, the weather is nice, it’s quiet and peaceful and the kiosk is very popular. The food is good, well cooked, tasty and reasonable priced. Benji likes his Ice-Cream so when it’s been warm and we have completed our walk I have taken him to the kiosk, bought a dog portion in a cup for him and a cone for me. I get Rum and Raisin, he gets Vanilla. We have not been around to the ducks and geese for a little while. Benji has been having a bit of a problem with his paw so I thought it best to keep him off the gravel path. The serious gravel at the back of the Wetlands going down to where the geese are, I generally carry him over. Irrespective of the weather, the Wetlands has become the ïn” place at the moment and although the walking areas are fairly quiet, the kiosk is always active – and the Ice-Cream is nice.
Yesterday was a lovely day, hardly a breeze and 24c – really nice and yes, the Wetlands was packed. There was not a parking space to be had. I drove through drove to the foreshore and
we spent the afternoon there. There was more seagrass than there was sand but what sand there was Benji enjoyed. We left just before schools ended for the day and were able to miss the traffic through town. Today – another nice day – the Wetlands was busy but there were spaces in the carpark so I parked there and took Benji for a walk, doing our figure of eight (8) We start off at the bridge and go around until we reach the other side of the bridge, – we cross the bridge and walk in the same direction, returning to the bridge and completing a circuit of the area. I took a few photographs and we went home. At home I removed the disk from the camera to load
the photographs onto the computer and had lunch. After lunch the boy and I took off to Hummock Hill and the Foreshore. I tried to take a photograph and could not – I had forgotten to get the disc out of the computer. I drove up to the Electrical Retailers and bought a new disc – I needed a spare anyway. From there we drove back to the foreshore and Hummock Hill and spent the afternoon there. It was a lovely afternoon and the place was quite busy with a good number of people around.
This week was the AGM of the local Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) and I was asked to resume the role of Secretary- which I did. Annabell wasn’t terribly happy, but although I have had concerns I feel that the organisation and its goal is bigger than petty differences. Anyway, due to Covid the group has not been operational for four months so it was a fair break. Time to get back to work. Having said that, we have had three funerals in the last four weeks (the latest this afternoon). We hadn’t even started this funeral today when we were told that another of our friends had died. Sad, yes, but we wont be involved with that.
It’s only Wednesday and already I want the weekend to hurry up and get here. It’s been a very strange week – funerals aside – and up to a point Benji has not been given as much
attention as I would like. Sunday, sometime after the boys had left, I ended up taking Annabell to the hospital; Monday the RFDS AGM: Tuesday, Ladies Coffee evening: tonight just
too tired to do much and Annabell wasn’t feeling the best. The funeral today took a lot out of her. The Church Newslletter/|Magazine is due out next week. Well, that’s not going to happen! I would like it to but I am less than halfway through it. I do want our magazine to end up like the State Magazine to which very few contribute – which is very sad.
I had Annabell at hospital at 1am this morning and I have to take her back at 8:15 this morning when the two doctors are on duty. She is not a well lady and I am concerned about her. Acording to the nurse this morning she may require a whole bank of tests to determine the problem, so we will just have to look after her and support her. I need to be at church, but other than that I will cancel all my activities for this weekend – Annabell is more important.
Wednesday
I think the Force is asleep..
Wandering again.
After the trip to Point Douglas and the Lighthouse, the weather took a turn for the worse and winds of 120kph, with driving rain were predicted. The rain wasn’t too bad but the wind had a few of us worried. I was worried
about the eucalyptus at the far end of the back yard, however, they survived. I suppose, really, they stayed where they were and I survived not having fallen trees and a mess to attend to. I will never make a ‘real Aussie”mainly because I hate Australian Eucalyptus trees. They are great where they should be – in the Australian Bush – they should not ever be in an urban environment – where they are. And they are there deliberately because the council of then ( and members of the council today) insist that we do not import exotic trees and that the native trees for the state be used. Exotic, by the way, are not some trees from some far flung region of the planet, but merely trees that grow in a State other than South Australia — New South Wales, for example. I hate them because they are messy and shed leaves , twigs and bark everywhere. The leaves are toxic and nothing will grow near them. In a fire they are the most dangerous tree in that they are full of oil and where other trees burn, eucalyptus trees burn, heat up and then the oil explodes sending embers and sparks across containment lines, thus spreading the fire. And lastly, they are dangerous in that they are subject to stress and when under stress they can – without warning – drop large tree branches. In Adelaide several people have been killed because of branches falling on their cars and here, two little children were killed playing when a large branch fell on them. And I think I have said much of this before and it’s only the really high winds these last days that have brought it all back to mind.
This morning,however, being a fairly calm morning, I got ready to take Benji out for our 7am walk, He didn’t want to go. I did not force him but I confess that I badgered him a bit and in the
end we went walking. About one third distance into the walk and he started limping and a few moments later he was lifting his front right paw. Yes, I did think there was something there as he warned me off when I tried to move the paw pads to see it there was anything. He limped with this paw in the air so I told him we were going home and I lifted him and carried him part of the way. Only part of the way because he is no lightweight. Anyway, we got back on to the concrete and I put him down. Facing the way home, the tail went up in the air and he set off with a jaunty stride – no sign of a paw problem. He walked quite the thing. We got to the corner and the house was across the road, but I turned the corner and kept walking, and so did he. By the time we got back to the house we had walked more than one and a halt times the distance we normally walk. Yes, you are free to chastise me as much as you like, but I felt quite good about that!
Today being the 22nd August, which means that there are only nine days until Spring. I suspect that in the fullness of time I will complain about the excessive heat but at the moment I am over this cold and would like some warmth, I would like to get out and about with the camera. We have a “Foreshore” which is a different thing from an actual “Beach” I would also like to camp overnight at Point Lowly area so that I can photograph the sunset and then photograph the sunrise the following morning. And yes, I would have Benji with me. Don’t know how he will go sleeping in a tent, so it should be interesting.
There was a post from the local council suggesting that not many people had responded to the requests for photographs for the Council Calendar. I thought “why not?” so I put in five entries. They probably wont get used but at least I entered. However, I did get a reply asking to submit a photograph of the Lighthouse without the time and date stamp on the photograph – which I did – so you never know. The Shingle Ridge is a ridge of shingles that run for several kilometres. No one seems to know how or why or even when, it was formed, The ridge is about six or seven feet high and about ten or more feet wide.
Edgar's Page 