Thanksgiving
Wednesday
Model Trains and Kangaroos
The Model Railway Exhibition was brilliant. Oh yes, it was a very busy weekend for the RFDS but there were compensations and one of those was that retired Senator Buckland who is President of the Club said that the RFDS people would be allowed into the exhibition free of charge. The setups were fabulous and I was really amazed at the amount of work that had gone into them. What really floored me was that some of the exhibits were large in their own right but amazing that they were really only part of a larger set up. There were model railway set-ups from as far away as Western Australia but also sets from Adelaide and various places in Victoria.
The weather was changeable over the last couple of weeks and we did have some rain during the Model Railway two days. Not long after that we were looking after Dougal for a few days as his people went down to the Royal Adelaide for tests. However, she is still not the best so she will have to go back down on the 20th of this month and we will have Dougal back with us again.
Not long after Dougal went home I left for Mount Gambier. Stayed overnight in Adelaide and drove to Mount Gambier on the Friday. Set off for Adelaide right after the meeting on the Saturday and stayed overnight before hitting the road again at 05:30 since I really wanted to be home at 11am – well not so much home but to be in the church for part of the 11am (Armistice Day) Service – which I was. The weather has warmed up and over the last few days we
have been in the mid 30c. I took Benji out for a walk at 6am before it started to heat up and the ground was still cold. I was surprised to see Kangaroos around since I assumed the rain for much of the week just gone, would have been enough to keep them happy. They only really come near the town when there is little to drink and not much feed out in the bush. Not the best of photographs but they were a bit back off the road and trying to hold a dog, hold the smartphone steady and take a picture, wasn’t all that easy. Tomorrow it is supposed to be overcast with the possibility of rain and a bit of a storm – at least that’s what the state forecast was. The local news was not quite so certain in regard to the weather, so it might rain, but then, it might not. —- It did..
In a few days the Officer Cadets of the Military College , Duntroon, Canberra will be here for three weeks to conduct exercises. There will be command posts set up around the town and the army is calling for volunteers to take part in the population evacuation exercises. I didn’t do that last time but I think I might have a shot at it this time. At the moment the Cadets are doing some training at Cultana before they come over here for the next three weeks. As it turns out I wont be since the registration is this coming Saturday and I had a call from the Mitre 10 hardware wanting me to organise a RFDS Fundraiser for this Saturday. I have been on the phone much of the afternoon getting a team together
The Ambulance Ramping crisis continues with 18 Ambulances at the Royal Adelaide waiting to be attended to. Whilst they are there, they are not available for any emergency. The photograph was taken by
an ambulance para-medic. But there you are – the most expensive hospital on the planet and it doesn’t work and it can’t cope. If a real medical crisis, where many people are affected, ever hit Adelaide and South Australia, we would be well and truly stuffed.
Benji and I have been out and about. I took him back out to the lighthouse and then to the wetlands. Sometime over this weekend I really must get the model railway photographs sorted out. I take hundreds of photographs but am not the best of photographers.
Wednesday
Wednesday
Wednesday
Beds, flowers and Kangaroos.
There have been a few days over the last two weeks when it has not been cold, wet and windy – always windy! Yesterday was no exception with 70kph winds causing concern with dust storms and damage to powerlines and trees in Adelaide. I had concern for two trees but they survived – again. They cause me concern every time the wind blows stronger than usual but they have always survived – for which I am most thankful. The few days I did get out and about we were able to get down to the wetlands and sample the coffee at the new Kiosk. I actually went back down to the wetlands recently but the kiosk was crowded but then it was a nice day with only a limited amount of wind i.e. it was not blowing a gale. The only blessing – if you can call it that – of the wind right at the moment is that it keeps the flies away.
I have been busy with RFDS things this last few weeks. The major thing being organising the catering with the Model Railway Club. This year is their 50th Anniversary and they have organised a big Model Railway Exhibition to celebrate, with clubs and displays coming in from inter-state for the two days. Two funerals and guests at a wedding and I have had myself removed from the RFDS Social Media page. Benji has not been neglected. We still go out for our walks. There is a bit of progress with Benji. I did mention some time ago that for some reason being lifted on to a shoulder drove him crazy and he fought to get down, even to the extent of risking injury. I have never had a dog that didn’t like being carried on the shoulder at times. Annabell and I discussed this and since we really know nothing of his background before I adopted him, we surmised that perhaps he had been abused when in that position. Anyway, I worked on it – and treats helped.
We catered for a function yesterday at Civic Park and I was called from the people working that some forms had been handed to them by the Council and could I come down and collect them. I decided to take Benji with me. This Civic Park function is the culmination of a week in which we celebrate pride in our community and in the park all sorts of things happen with activities for the children. Anyway, what I didn’t know was that this year there was to be a demonstration by the Dog Obedience Group – lots of dogs. Benji was not a happy boy. He gets on well with dogs that come into the house – dogs that I look after – although where the WaWa was concerned that was a sort of armed neutrality. However, back to the park and he started
getting anxious and he jumped up on me, and I bent down and lifted him up onto my shoulder and he stayed, quite happily. Definitely progress.
Yesterday the Pride in the Park function was held in a warm and sunny 26c. I took Benji down to the Wetlands and had a good walk round. I was going to have coffee at the kiosk, but it was crowded and busy – which is good, so I gave it a miss this time. Today when I took him out at 6:16 am there was not a breeze and not a cloud in the sky, which wont last. The expected temperature for today is 34c with wind, -as I said in the first line – always with the wind.. I realise that I am probably a pain in the butt with this wind thing, but in all the years I have been here I have never known it to be like this. Yes we have had a bit of wild weather and high winds from time to time, but this constant wind was never a feature of past years.
This coming weekend we are out again catering at the Model Railway Exhibition. his is over two days and I can help at one but not at the second since we have a Special Service at Church and I will be there for much of the day – lunch afterwards for members and guests.
Wednesday
Wednesday
I don’t feel well………….
It was nice to read in Tales Around the Ranch that the nurses she and Sam were visiting will be all fun and laughter. That’s great and how it should be. Having said that for Denver, I really wish I could say the same for here. The new State Government (Health Minister) , the Nurses Federation and the Ambulance Officers Association are heading for a knock down fight with the Nurses and the Ambulance people threatening to go on strike, work bans etc and general Industrial Action and the Minister threatening them with court action and use powers to stop any Industrial Action. It is not a happy situation. Why has it come to this?? The previous government was a spendthrift government wot does wot Socialist Governments do – Borrow and Spend. The new Royal Adelaide Hospital cost $2.5 Billion and it doesn’t work as well as it was (is) supposed to. The government also forced EPAS ( Enterprise Patient Administration System) on the new hospital and made absolutely NO provisions for paper records. The EPAS system keeps crashing and is unworkable. So – it is costing the hospital millions $$ to have patient records brought from varions places (where they have been stored) to the hospital and take them back again – every single hour of every single day. Ok, you are now saying why can’t they be stored at the new hospital? Well……………. they can’t be. And why not? Well…………there is not a floor in the whole damn hospital that is strong enough to take the weight of the filing cabinets and all the records. Ok does that answer your question? Oh you want to know costs – well current estimate is in the region of $468 million and will probably top over half a billion before it;s through.
EPAS under review | Steven Marshall – Premier of South Australia
Jun 26, 2018 – “EPAS has been an enormous frustration for many clinicians and a rolling disaster for South Australian taxpayers,” said Minister Wade.
But the main problem is that when the previous government spruked the new hospital, they closed down several other medical facilities, despity widespread protests. Subsequently we do not have enough beds to meet the needs of the city – and the State when patients are flown from the country to treatment in Adelaide. What happens currently is that an ambulance is called out, picks up a patient and brings the patient to either the Flinders Medical Centre or the Royal Adelaide and because there is no room, the patient can be left in the ambulance for hours on end. This called “Ramping”and there can be four or five ambulances so ramped. The hypocrisy of it all is that the minister maintains that industrial action puts patients lives at risk and he wont have that, so he will take the nurses to court. However, he has no concern about leaving patients in an ambulance in the hospital ambulance parking bay for hours on end and does not consider that puts patients lives at risk since the engine must remain running to keep the equipment running. I mean don’t you just love the small of diesel fumes when you are sick. The photograph on the left you don’t see anymore It would be nice if we could say because they solved the problem – well they did,- really – they tore down that metal fence and built a wall so it’s hidden from view! Clever eh ?? No, Virginia, this is not a joke..
So what’s happening. Have no idea. A meeting with the nurses and the Minister broke down without any conclusion or agreement being reached, so the Industrial Action is still on the table as is the threat of court action against the nurses federation. Monday is a new day – the start of a new week.
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