Wednesday
Thursday Thoughts
I was not going to do another post until I got back from Adelaide. I leave in the morning and will be out of touch for a few days. However, it’s a grand old day – the wind is blowing fit to burst and I sit here with the very loud sound of chainsaws in my ears. The house next door has had two of the gum trees blows down over the footpath so they are presently being cut up. Meanwhile – as the wind blows – today is bin day – recycle bins – do I need to elaborate. It was not blowing when the bins were put out last night and there is rubbish blowing all over the street – mainly papers and wrappings because it’s the recycle bins and they are the lightest. Not a great day :o) And just before I close – it’s chucking it down ( Sorry (Denver!!)
Wednesday.
Hospital, Benji and assorted hackers
The weather over the last few days has been fairly mild – 19c – 21c which means that I have been able to get down to the wetlands. We normally do two circuits of the wetlands before we head for home. The foundations of the new bridge across the main pond have been constructed and if the foundations are anything to go by the bridge may well be unnecessarily elaborate and enormously expensive. But then again perhaps the two concrete structures are for something different and not for the bridge at all. Photographs when it’s finally built. Anyway, the wetlands was fairly quiet today.
I have been waiting for it to happen and today it did – Benji turned on the WaWa and she went screaming off in fright. Since then she has stayed away from him. I don’t want harm to come to either of them but I hope this stand off continues for a while. The WaWa has adopted Annabell and she just sees everyone as a potential threat to her and it is unlikely that she will abandon that. This means that the respite is probably only a temporary thing.
I will be going into hospital on Monday 29th August and back home by Wednesday 31st August. Probably spend a few days with my feet up and relaxing, do a few exercises and then start to get back out again. I should be driving within three days. I just don’t know how I’ll manage! Me and Benji, dinosaurs and lions, lying on the bed watching the television. It will be a hard couple of days, but we will certainly try our best. I will be taking a break from all fundraising and other work for the RFDS for a few weeks until the repairs to my knee have settled down and I’m walking easily again.
It’s amazing ; a mere 19 million people trying to get on to the web site and it crashed – how unexpected! Who would have thought that would happen? Now the Government are blaming the crash of the Census Web Site on over-seas hackers. But it’s like everything else this government does to save a few dollars. Go murder someone, plead guilty and you can get up to a 40% reduction in sentence for pleading guilty and saving the government the cost of a trial. And this, by the way, overrides the mandatory life sentence for murder and if you look contrite and even cry and say how sorry you are, there is every chance that a good part of your sentence will be suspended – you might even be home in time for dinner. It used to be that you could be fined for making comments that would bring the law into disrepute, but the judges and lawyers are doing a very good job of that on their own without any assistance from members of the public. Man found guilty of abusing an elderly patient in a nursing home. Judge did not apply a heavy custodial sentence because he felt the young man had been punished enough by having his details in public and having lost his job and reputation, so he sentenced him to six months – five months suspended and the remainder
subject to time served in custody, so he was about ten days to two weeks in jail. This is justice, South Australia. The Attorney General has the legal right to challenge a sentence, but rarely does, and even when he does, nothing much comes of it.
Anyway, back to the census – it is believed that hackers disrupted the web site and denied access. Was unable to get on line last night nor again this morning (Wednesday) The whole thing was a shamble. Whoever came up with the idea of trying to get the entire population of Australia on line in the one night and on a single web site, really needs talking to. Oh and BTW, we have a government with a single seat majority – could be an interesting period. The leader of the party and Primer Minister, is detested by a number of his party so it remains to be seen if they can get over that or if their dislike is so great they will bring down the government. I’m betting on the latter.
Wednesday
Adelaide, Trusts and Operation.
Wednesday: Well the good(?) news is that there is damage to the right knee that will require some surgery – generally overnight stay. On Friday I have to go for an ECG then go round to the Pre-Anaesthetic Clinic to do some things and fill out some forms and have some discussions with the Anaesthetist. What this means is that the operation will be carried out fairly soon – more than likely timed to coincide with my Adelaide week. Ho well these things happen. I was able to get the clinic stuff done on Friday because my Cardiologist has been called to Adelaide and has changed the date of my appointment. So that worked out very well. Of course I want this done as soon as possible but after Adelaide would be kind of neat.
Still having problems with the WaWa but managing to control them a little better and I do tend to take Benji out with me as often as I can. In this cooler weather, it’s ok to have him in the car with a window partly open whilst I go into the hardware store. Don’t know what I will do if the WaWa is still with us during summer and too hot in the car, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. But then I should be able to get out back to the Wetlands area. The army are all gone and the place seems sort of quiet without them. Operation Hamel was a great success and having 8000+
military here was a breeze. They enjoyed being here – they were well treated and looked after by the local people who, in turn, enjoyed them being here.
Friday: Had the ECG this morning and everything is ok. I am still able to walk in the land of the living. I had a discussion with the clinic doctor, answered his questions – everything is well and I am fit and healthy, which is nice to know. From there Annabell and I went over to the Specialist/Surgeon’s room and discussed with his Associate the possibility of dates. My best date was Monday 29th August, which is just over three weeks away. I had already decided that I would take whatever date was given and as it happens, I can still go to Adelaide and have the procedure when I get back. It’s all worked out well. I did not attend the Mount Gambier Presbytery because of car trouble so I really needed to be at Para Hills. Then the week after I go back down for the Trust Committee, then back and hospital. So, as I said, it all works in very well.
There’s a Dog Wash tomorrow at the Vet Clinic to raise funds for the RSPCA. I was thinking of taking Benji down and get him a bath and a Bandanna. Our Craft and Fabric shop closed down last week, which means no place here to get any material for anything and I have a garden umbrella that needs repairing. I may well have a look for some canvas when I’m in Adelaide. Years ago we had a few small country craft shops around the town, but then a major chain shop moved in and we lost all the little craft shops. Now the chain is in trouble so it has closed down and moved out after about ten years – there is nothing to replace it. The nearest member of the chain is in Rundle Mall, Adelaide.
Wednesday
The Dark, the Ghost and the Rosebush
Friday: The workmen came this morning to fill in the trench. That’s all they were contracted to do – they have no idea when the concrete work will be done. Still, at least I can get the car back into the driveway – I think – I haven’t tried it yet. —– I have just been told that the concreting will be done tomorrow, so it will probably be Sunday before I can use the driveway again. I am quite pleased that it is completed now because for the month of August Annabell will be hosting the Ladies Coffee – Tuesday evening and again on the Wednesday morning.
The other news is that I do not have to go to Adelaide to have the Laptop fixed. It has been done. I telephoned the Apple Shop to make an appointment with the Tec, and instead I ended up with one of the Senior Tecs and together we sorted the problem out over the phone. It took a while and I will expect to see a jump in the telephone bill because of it, but whatever it is it will be nowhere as much as going to Adelaide either by coach or driving. So the Laptop is now running El. Capitan the newest AppleMac OS. I am quite pleased about that.
Took BJ out for our walk this morning and by morning I mean 5:50am, and just as we passed a fence we were suddenly confronted by an apparition in white, scared BJ who started barking like crazy ( unusual) and set my heart off racing at a rate of knots. It was only for a few moments before it vanished behind the very large caravan in the driveway. No it was not a ghost, what is was, was the lady of the house out laying towels over her rose bushes to protect them from the cold. Admirable to be sure, but at 5:50 am – still dark, dressed in white ( white dressing gown carrying white cloths) reflected in the street light on the opposite side of the road – scared me half to death! Not quite what you expect at that time on a cold winter. morning. I told a lady in the church today and her comment was “that’s good, John, as long as it was not dressed in black carrying a scythe and an hour glass, you’ve nothing to worry about”.
The concrete is laid, the area blocked off and all the workmen gone. Looks good and the men have done a really good job. I can walk on it as from tomorrow but not drive on it until at least Tuesday. Busy week ahead – Wednesday I go to the Specialist and hope that he will organise the surgery for my collapsing right knee-cap in the not too distant future. Then I have a day off and of Friday I go see my Cardiologist. I only see him once every four months and there is a good chance that the visits may well be finalised since everything has been great for the last year.
In mid August I head off to Adelaide and will be away for two days. I am no sooner back than I set off again, but this time just for a day, at least that’s the plan. The second visit may also be for two days and that should be me (Officially) until November unless I decide to go down for the weekend and take the trailer with me to Bunnings. Having said that I probably will need the trailer for ten square meters of Synthetic Turf for my plan. I have already started on that and as the weeks progress I will add more to it until I have things the way I want them.
Trench, Gas and a T-Rex
Last night my son suggested that after I have done the backup (which I have) I should do the factory reset and reinstall myself. Not keen on that idea. I was reading on line – always a dangerous thing to do – of people who did just that, made a stuff-up of it and locked themselves out- then had to send the machine to Apple for repair and that was not cheap. I sometimes think that we go on line to find information and end up scaring ourselves half to death :o) We are fortunate in that there if a fairly large Apple Shop in Rundle Mall in Adelaide, so it’s an easy thing to hop on the coach, do what has to be done and coach back home. Well yes it does mean 10 hours on a coach ( 5 x 2) but at least you know that it has been attended by Apple Techs. Or, if I am feeling generous with myself, drive down, get the machine attended to, book into the Sage, spend a quiet night in Adelaide and drive home the following day. Not going to happen mainly because I am going to be in Adelaide several times in August so I’ve waited this long I can wait a few more weeks – I think…..
With regard to the weather, Adelaide is taking a bit of a battering and another storm front is moving in. We get some of the left over rain, which is always welcome. But looking at the path of the storm front, it has gone through below us, which is about normal for these things. You may remember – or you may not know – but in November of last year an electrical fault was discovered underneath my driveway, which had to be part dug up. The fault was fixed but then they discovered a gas line fault and that could not be fixed. There was not a part available in Australia. They put in a temporary patch and filled it all back in, promising to come back soon as they had the part and repair the fault and re-concrete that part of my driveway. As I said, that was last November. The workman arrived today and not only did they open the trench, they extended it. They kindly came yesterday and suggested I park my car out on the roadway. Anyway there were trucks and vans and a back-hoe and men with shovels and they dug up the area. Then some other men arrived and they inspected the hole and the pipe and dug two more holes, then extended my trench on either side and I had to go out and move the car so that they could do this. Anyway, that’s it for today and they will be back again tomorrow to carry on working. Looking at the trench I thought it would look just right with a couple of WW1 Soldiers sitting in it. I know, I have a very warped sense of humour!!
Took Annabell shopping and as we entered the supermarket she met a friend and chatted. I wandered off. When I came back, she looked and shook her head. Well, what can I tell you – it’s a nice Dinosaur and I know BJ will just lurve it. (He does!) Then she wanted to know if he has enough toys already and I thought, you can never have too many toys. Feel free to disagree.
The work on the trench continues and the gas to the house has been disconnected for the moment. I can make myself as much tea and coffee as I wish, but I can’t cook anything since we have a gas cooker. By the time Annabell comes home ( I go and collect her) from her ladies Coffee Morning, it might even be back on again, although after talking to the gas fitter, it might be off for most of the day – do the repairs, test it, then turn the gas back on. Anyway, if I get peckish there is always the Microwave.
Wednesday evening: The new gas pipe has been installed and the repairs completed – howeffer…. the trench – nice though it is – will not be filled in until sometime tomorrow. Then we will have another wait until they finally get around to doing the concrete – in the fullness of time… Although, having said that, they could actually surprise me.
Wednesday
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