Dogs, adoption and Adelaide

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Adelaide;

Why do we transport dogs to Adelaide for adoption?  Why not adopt locally? Ok. Only this week a little Maltese Cross was tied up outside a local supermarket in a shopping area. It was a very warm day and it was only when the little thing started going into distress that people realised something was very wrong. Dog owners frequently take their dog with them when they go to the supermarket, tie the dog up outside, get their milk or whatever, leave,  pick up the dog and go home. It’s common practice – but this character (whoever he may be), tied the dog up and vanished. Because it is a common enough sight, no one really paid much attention for several hours. Once it was discovered that there was a problem and the owner was nowhere in sight, the RSPCA (ASPCA??) were called.  Not so very long ago two puppies were tied up to a tree 10 miles from town and left there. They were spotted by a passing motorist who called the RSPCA and the dogs were taken to the pound.  To paraphrase the words of the late President Reagan ” locally is not the solution to the problem – locally is the problem.”  Backyard breeders are a problem and dogs – and kittens – get dumped on the doorstep of the local vet. The staff have frequently come to open up in the morning and found a box on the doorstep with two, or more puppies in it.  The other problem is that this is a kill pound. Two weeks is all they can stay, then they are euthanised. I cannot foster because of my own dogs but I  do what I can and help out with my frequent trips to Adelaide, but we do have a good number of people who cae enough to TasFirefoster until a new home is found. Oh but we are not uncivilised and  the council no longer uses a gas chamber, but uses a lethal injection. The gas chamber was taken out of service in 2009.

Queensland and Northern New South Wales are recovering from major flooding whilst  parts of Victoria and Tasmania are again having serious fire problems. I have a friend in Tasmania who sent me some photographs  of the fire in the hills above her property. They look quite disturbing and orders are out for evacuations. I said before, in this little corner of the commonwealth we are relatively free from real extremes of weather, fires and floods.

I find it interesting how attitudes change over time – well mine has.  I once looked on my trips to town as a bonus,  because  the early start to the Saturday Conference meant I  had to travel down on the Friday. However as the participants have become, over the years, more and more  metro centric ( if it’s good for Adelaide it MUST be good for the whole of the State) and have this belief that nothing of any importance happens beyond the Adelaide boundaries, I have come to look on the  Conferences as the price I have to pay for my frequent trips to the city. Sad, really. Still,  the dogs that I help to rehome benefit and that can’t be a bad thing.

Council, dogs and trees

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

20130207_120419When I head off to Adelaide on Friday I will not be alone. I contacted the SADR ( South Australian Dog Rescue) and I will be taking two little dogs down to their new homes in Adelaide – or surounds.  We stop about 30 minutes before we hit the city proper where we have a hand over point, in a well known location that everyone can get to.  The new family meet me out there and I  hand the dogs over. Generally I contact them about an hour or so out to give them time to get to the drop off point. I went in to see the SADR and told them I would be leaving on Friday. I didn’t take any dogs down with me last trip because I was going directly to the Flinders Medical Center – a very large teaching and research hospital on the far side of the city –  which takes me well away from the drop off point at Gepps Cross.

The argument continues and the planting of any tree has been halted whilst various council members  battle it out -native trees vs exotic trees. Personally I prefer the exotic trees particularly the Jacaranda . One particular councillor suggests that an avenue of native trees can be quite striking and I suppose that’s so, if you hire people to clean up the mess of limbs and bark and and are not too bothered that nothing will grow near them. So, all you get is a tree that will  break in a reasonable wind, shed bark and clutter up the drains and enhance the dry, dusty outlook of the town – great, go for it.. But they  (council) have admitted that the greening project has not lived up to expectations. Repairs to the system are in the process of being carried out whilst we continue to argue about what trees to plant.20130207_120734

After a week of fairly cool weather we went back into heatwave conditions again, but I don’t think we will make the  necessary conditions for a “heatwave”. Already the temperature is starting to drop back to manageable levels.  The dogs have been inside for most of that time. If the temperature starts to climb again then it will be unlikely that I will have companions on the way down to Adelaide because I, for one,  cannot drive for five an a half hours without some sort of break and I will need fuel and having them remain in the car whilst I fuel up is not a good idea. Without the A/C the inside of the car can become very hot very quickly- even with windows partly open , and little dogs don’t handle the heat too well. Generally when the temperature is above 35, we don’t transport dogs to Adelaide. I generally stop a number of times along the way when I have a dog with me – more than I do when I am on my own. However, tomorrow should be ok.

These are two photographs of parts of the town. The top one is taken from the  Lookout – actually they are both taken from the Lookout – the bottom photograph being the Foreshore.

Play, trees and council trucks

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs
The covered in pergola
The covered in pergola

Council trucks and workers are out and about closing off traffic, imposing traffic restrictions as they work to  clear he problems with the  greening project. It’s heartwarming to see my  rates (local taxes) at work. Why do I dislike native trees so much? Partly because they are ugly and not really trees – more big overgrown bushes with a propensity to shed bark, drop branches, make a mess and kill anything that comes close to them. If you drive around this place you will see  the council native trees and  that’s all you will see, nothing else grows beside them. Around them  are the branches and bark they shed, but no grass just dusty empty land.  And it’s the same around the place – where there are native trees there is dry, dead and empty land around them, which is really good for blowing into houses when there is a bit of a wind. It’s not that I dislike them but I believe they are probably great for the correct setting and an urban environment is not a correct setting. But then, what would we know – council has ‘Experts”.   A little poem for you to enjoy.No idea who wrote it.

When the Maker was resting from labour

And He gazed on the world from above

He saw many poor lonely humans

With no one to care for and love.

And the Lord in His infinite mercy

With compassion both tender and wise

Made a furry and four legged creature

With a tail and a pair of brown eyes—

And a heart filled with loyal devotion

From the moment his short life began

And the Maker smiled down from His Heaven

On the Dog He created for man.

When I was down in Adelaide I dropped in to the garden center and bought new plants. I also bought a Gooseberry Bush. I have decided that I will no longer put things in the ground because my soils is not good, but rather put things into pots with a good quality potting mix. I will sit them out in the places where I would have planted  them but with the added bonus that I can bring them into the shade if the  temperature gets too hot. I have a conference this weekend so I will be heading off to Adelaide again and being a glutton for punishment I will probably drop into the garden centre on the way through.

The dogs have been well and I still he to carry the little man for a bit when we go out for walks. I was outside playing with them and he still has lots of energy left, but after we play he sleeps for a bit until next time.

The Druids held trees as sacred.

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

For the best part of a year, the council disrupted traffic around the place during  construction associated with their project to ‘ Green the City”. Thc concept was that water pipes would be laid down everywhere, connected to a drip feed system and the runoff water and associated waste water, all treated, filtered and recycled, would be used to water plants and trees that would be planted once the project was completed. Well it was completed at the cost of over $6.5 Million, grasses were sown and trees planted. Six months later most of the grass is dead and most of the trees are dead or dying. Why? What went wrong? Well the system that the council chose was not the best (the cheaper option), the filtration system didn’t live up to expectations and allowed algae  to penetrate the system, clogging up the water drip outlets, so no water. MyallAlso, the council decided to plant ” Native Trees” – branch dropping, bark shedding, shallow rooted, fall down at the drop of a hat, trees. The council have this bee in their bonnet about planting native trees everywhere because ” it’s the green thing to do – plant trees that are naive to this area”  The trees that are native to this area are ugly and not good in an urban setting.  ( think more of  big overgrown bushes rather than real trees)  Loxton, a town similar to ours with a similar rainfall and climate, carried out a greening project and started by getting rid of all the native trees. They replaced them with “exotic” trees (anything not native to the area is exotic) and as a result they now have a fresh green, leafy and a more pleasing aspect to their town whilst ours still looks like what it is – a dry, dusty community perched at the edge of the desert. And before you ask, yes there was vegetation there to start off with but all that was  bulldozed and dug up for the  new greening project- now it’s empty,  dry and dusty with dead trees and dead grasses and  a drip system that doesn’t work — gollee isn’t progress wonderful!! Can it be fixed?  Yes, of course it can and it will only cost an additional half million. Will anything change – probably not since council is dominated by greenies who can’t see past native anything. Ok that’s my rant for the month  :o)

I wonder if the Druids would still have held trees as sacred if they had beheld the trees we have around here – native trees, that is. Myall trees are fine in the correct setting but this is not it If I could I would get rid of the one outside, but it would cost to much to have that done and to just do it would cost even more in court fees and fines for cutting down a tree without permission.

Took the dogs out for a walk last night and had a jacket on. It has been cold these last few days and still is this morning. Rained last night.A Man and His(?) OfficeThe temperature is not expected to go higher than 24-25 for the remainder of this week again.

An interesting summer all round.

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

New South WalesWe are sort of like a pocket of calm  in the midtst of chaos – an island of sanity in a sea of madness, if you like. Bushfires, tornadoes and cyclones happen in other places. Extremes of weather (other than heat)  do not happen here. We have the occasional rain storm and high winds that can bring down trees and damage a roof or three, we do not have people being driven out of their homes and being evacuated because of floods or fire. Actually,  and thankfully, we are quite boring, really.  The local government area  incorporates some 1032.5 square klms, with the urban area being 41.2 squ.klm.  Surrounded by scrubland and sea our closest forest is some 140 klms to the east of us – Mount Remarkable National Park. It is over ten years since we had major fires there and between us and there is a little body of water called the Spencer Gulf.  Queensland has barely recovered from the devastating floods of 2011 and now it’s flooded again. Here we fluctuate between scorching and cold. I have been talking about temperatures in the high 40s and at the moment the temperature is 15c and not expected to go beyond 24c – 28c for most of this week.

20130128_082157
Refuses to die !!

My knowledge of Poinsettias is limited to the fact that I was given a red one two years ago by a friend and since the only thing I ever saw were Red ( common in the Garden shops over here) I made the mistaken assumption that Poinsettias were Red. It is a bit worse for ware these days but it is still with us. It went slightly strange and I took it to the garden centre who told me that I was overwatering it.  Stop the water. Neve really helped so I decided that if it wanted to live than it better do something and for my part I devastated it but cutting it back almost to the roots – getting rid of everything that looked dead. It lives and is producing new growth and fine new leaves.  I have great hopes for it. So not everything is doom and gloom.

In the morning I head off to Adelaide and the Flinders Medical Centre. I should be home late tomorrow night after stopping in at the big garden centre on the way through.

20130128_082227
My Man

The Queensland floods continue to get worse by the hour and the Cyclone front is moving down the coast and the big concern is that it is heading for Sydney and already the North of New South Wales is feeling the  the effects of the rain and wind. Parts of the cities of Logan and Lismore are being evacuated with the river expected to peak at 15 metres above normal. The 2011 flood peaked at 17 metres.  The city of Bundaberg is the major concern at the moment and the speed of the water is something like 77 klms  per hour. For some it is going to be a very scary night.

Tornadoes, Cyclones and Bushfires – it’s all go around here!

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

White PoinsettiaI suppose all countries are strange in their own way but Australia seems to be strange in every way. South Australia is scorching, Victoria is burning, parts of New South Wales are burning, Western Australia is wet and Queensland,  battered by cyclones and a couple of  tornadoes is flooding, battered and bruised. At the Australia Day celebrations yesterday we were running a fundraising barbecue for the Royal Flying Doctor Service and just after 6pm, my son went home and got a pullover. I’m not silly, I already had one in my car so I just went and got that, and by 6:30 people were donning jackets and pullovers as the wind became stronger and colder and by the time the fireworks were set off (9pm) it was very cold. Despite that, it was a good and very busy day which stared at 1:30pm and finished at 8:30pm and everything we had was sold. I think somewhere around $900 will be added to the funds. Our small group has contributed $100,000 over four years whilst places like Roxby Downs in the far north contributes $100,000+ every year. Mind you,  it is one of the largest mining areas in Australia and they have a much greater need of the service than we have..

My  brother-in-law is back in hospital again and not very well so I will be going back down to the Flinders Medical Centre in Adelaide to see him.  I would like to go down now but it will be chaos on the roads as this is a long weekend and school starts back on Tuesday so there will be families returning from holidays, students going back to University and  school and people returning home at the end of a long weekend.  Not a good time to be ravelling. Tuesday should be much quieter. On the way home I will most probably call into the big Garden Centre  at Two Wells and see what’s available. I know — self-inflicted punishment –  but I  have this weird theory that sooner or later, something will take and my efforts will be rewarded,  then I can sit back and relax and count the pigs as they fly past.

Things seem to be going from bad to worse in Queensland and the State Government have asked the Feds. to give Army assistance because the  state emergency services can no longer cope. It’s not quite of the scale of two years ago, but getting pretty close. We are lucky in South Australia – we get hot and the temperature goes up and down like a yoyo at times, but really, we don’t get the extreme weather conditions coming in from the Pacific and Indian Oceans.   ——–A White Poinsettia – never seen one before so I bought it.

When enough is really enough!

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

John's PosterEverything seems to have calmed down  for the moment and the cool change has allowed the fire fighters to bring  the two major bushfires under control. This has come as a welcome relief for the fire crews. The dogs have been good these last few days and they, like us, just wanted to try and stay cool. I am going to take advantage of the cooler conditions and head off to Adelaide for the day. I will leave at about 6am in the morning and be back  late evening. I have a number of things to do and I should have enough time to get them done since they are in the city rather than the outlying areas. Well one is, Bunnings at Parafield, but I can accommodate that. I spent a good bit of time at the Garden Center and had my soil analysed and in essence it’s ok, but too compacted and not allowing water to penetrate through the soil to the roots of things I plant. I have treated the area with a wetting agent that should help to loosen the soil and allow water to get to where it’s needed. Although I have to be very honest and say that 44c really doesn’t care what plants and flowers it burns because all the wetting agent in the world will not save them – nor has it. I waited until it cooled down before I planted the flowers, used the soil wetter agent, fertilised and along comes another four days of 39-43c heat and they are struggling. Despite all the care and mulch, they are in serious trouble and I don’t think they can be saved. This is the last!  I am spending  way too much money on plants that just die despite the attention I give them, so no more. I think in the greenhouse where they were grown someone came in and left a door open for a few minutes and they didn’t die so they must be heat tolerant (On Label) and they were out side in a 25c day and they didn’t die so they must be Full Sun tolerant (Also on Label)  Full Sun in the highlands of Victoria is very different from Full Sun in  Arid South Australia’s mid-north. I have had my soil tested, I have spent  a lot on fertiliser, soil treatment, mulch, bought full sun and heat tolerant plants and nothing survives.  It’s all too, too traumatic.  I think concrete and paving stones are the way to go.

Lakes, Parks and Forest Fires.

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs
fires
Glenmaggie Area

I finally spoke to the people at the garden centre to try and identify the tree outside the house and  it would appear to be a “Paperbark”, so called because  the bark peels off like sheets of paper.  I decided to consult the  Garden Shop people after someone suggested that rather than a tree it could be one leg of a giant ogre with severe dermatitis. I considered this and became concerned that it could be something that’s escaped from the Forest of Fangorn and just on the remote possibility that this might be so, I thought I had better be nice to it. I have problems enough without a  bunch of irritated ents  throwing socking great boulders everywhere. This  could upset the neighbours, not to mention frighten the horses.

I did hope by this time I would know what I was doing for the remainder of the week – going to Adelaide or not – but things are not going according to plan. Ok,  they may be going to some plan – just not mine.  I had a virus in my  office PC and I lost a lot of my files. I decided that it was probably time I-upgraded the PC anyway. This computer I am currently using is a MacBook – so no virus here. However, there are just some things I cannot view on here even with a parallels system. ( running Windows on a Mac) The temperature is heating up again and I have no intentions of wandering around the streets of Adelaide in a 43c day when I don’t have to.  Herself has suggested that I delay it until next Monday and go down then. I was thinking about Friday but I have a dental appointment – and since it is the last one so I feel I should be there rather than re-schedule.

The weather climbed to 44c here yesterday after building up for several days. The dogs were  inside for most of that time. We just make sure that hey are cool and have plenty of water. Apart from beds, I have water containers all over the place. At the moment there are two major fires burning out of control – one in the  Bundaleer Forest, some 160 klms from here and the other in South-eastern Victoria. This is the more serious one and the residents of the town of Glenmaggie have been told that it is now too late to leave since the fire front is moving too quickly. Glenmaggie is a small town (pop. 450) on the shore of Lake Gelnmaggie . The Bundaleer Forest  here in South Australia,  is one of the oldest National Parks in Australia and it is believed to be one of the most beautiful.  There are over 250 firefighters, 50 water tankers and three water bombers fighting that one.

It’s an ugly tree, but it’s my ugly tree.

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

SAMSUNGNow that the temperature has continued to drop (at least over here) I will try and get down to Adelaide during the course of this coming week. I have things I need to get done and my brother-in-law is back in hospital again so I would like to get out and see him. There is  quite a difference between between driving in 28c and driving in 43c temperatures even although the car has very good air-conditioning. However, there is major construction work on the roads leading to the Medical Centre and traffic crawls along there.  I don’t make a habit of using the phone in the car but I had to phone Herself and tell her  that I was barrelling along the South Road at a whole 2 klms per hour.  I don’t think I would minded half so much if it were not for the fact that snails were overtaking us.

Helen is back home and when my wife spoke to her this afternoon she says she is planning to be at church tomorrow – in a wheelchair. She still cannot walk but she will be there none-the-less. I have sent the paperwork off to Adelaide re. the Commissions, and should hear by the time I get back from the city.

To the left is an Australian Native Tree. Personally I think they are a) ugly b) messy c) not suitable for this environment (urban)  d) they are a recognisable fire hazzard and e) they  can drop branches and injure people. In some parks people are warned not to  camp near or under gum trees. They are ugly in my eyes because, well they just are and for the life of me I cannot see any redeeming qualities about them. They are messy because they constantly shed bark which is very messy and a pest in an urban setting and downright dangerous in a country setting they create massive amount of litter – that is helping to fuel the bush fires. I may not like it, but I don’t really want to see anything to happen to it. After all, it didn’t ask to be planted where it is, so it should not suffer from Council mistakes.

Our weather is grey and it rained for a little while this afternoon. Nothing much but the temperature is well down. Still having problems in NSW and I heard from family that the bushfires are being reported on the news in the UK.  The cyclone is now heading back out to sea and it seems unlikely that  there will be any  problems from that. However, there is another low pressure building up which might lead to a new cyclone.

The dogs are certainly enjoying the cooler conditions and I have  not had to carry the little man during our morning walks. Behind the town there is a Levy Bank, about nine feet high.  Many, many years ago it was built to protect the settlement from floods. The weather patterns were also different then. I used to take the dogs for a walk alond the length of the levy bank and it was a good quiet walk. No so  these days, – it has become the haunt of trail bikes.  I took the dogs out for their walk at 6:30 this morning and (true!!) I had a pullover on. It was positively chilly.  I might take advantage of the cooler weather to get some things planted in the garden and hope that they get established before we have any more really hot weather. I might even get the garden shop to identify the above tree. —– PS I think I write too much…..

So far – so good!

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

2013-01-05 19.57.00The interesting thing about Australia, in general, is the many contrasts and the way things can change so quickly – from normal to catastrophic in the blink of an eye. Only a  month or so ago, we were having heavy rain and thunderstorms – now we are in heatwave conditions with homes and property being destroyed. So how are we today – Friday 11th January – well, parts of South Australia and the Northern Territory are in heatwave conditions, large parts of the Eastern States, Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales (NSW),  are struggling with serious bush fires and over in Western Australia they are bracing themselves for the onset of a Category 4 (and increasing) Hurricane  ( Cyclone in this part of the world) and in some parts of the Highlands, snow has fallen. It’s a strange country, that due to its geographical position, can change so quickly. In Scotland , where I came from, we have pretty miserable weather most of the time, but we never had any conditions where the temperature can drop 23 degrees overnight – i.e. today 47.9 , tomorrow 24.9. In some parts of Scotland if the temperature fell 23 degrees overnight, you would freeze to death. As I said the other day, we went from a record 47.9c down to 26c the following day.

Tourist: ” What’s that special Scottish name for when the weather is cold, grey, wet and miserable?”

Resident:  “Summer”

NSW are bracing for record temperatures again tomorrow as the exhausted firefighters battle some 130 fires burning across the state. To add to this volatile situation three fires were deliberately started and the arsonists have been arrested. All three are teenagers who thought is was a bit of a lark and their stupid parents agree even attacking the  media as they reported the  story. I continue to take comfort from the words of Charles de Gaulle ” The more people I meet, the more I like my dogs”.

Saturday 12th.: Was wakened up by a very strange noise at 4am this morning. I thought someone was coming in through the roof . Got out of bed and put the light on and realised what the strange noise was –  it was raining!. Went to check on the  dogs and they were still asleep. I went back to bed. When I  finally got up at 6:30 the rain had gone and all was quiet. A short while later I took the dogs out for their walk and it was positively cool. I checked the thermometer and found  the temperature was a mere 19c. The little man started off as usual, full of energy,  and the interesting thing is that he maintained most of that energy for the whole time we were out and most of the time he was running ahead to the full extent of the retractable lead. The temperature today is supposed to be 28c. and it looks as if the change in weather pattern is pushing the  Cyclone back out to sea, away from Western Australia although it is still close enough to bring wind and some heavy rain. So far, it’s good that we have managed to escape any bushfires this time round. —– Photograph is a part of my back yard.