Annabell – Page 3 – Edgar's Page

An interesting week and a Survivor.

05/07/201905/07/2019 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

After our shopping trip this morning, (Monday) I helped Annabell get things sorted out them took Benji off to the Wetlands. It has been very cold here these last two days and this morning Benji didn’t want to get out of bed and go for a walk in the cold at 6am. With the temperature at -2, I can’t say I blame him, so we didn’t go and stayed in the room with the heater on. By the time I took him to the Wetlands

it was a bit warmer and he was quite happy to go out. We had a good walk around the wetlands – bit of a breeze and cool, but not too bad. The Kiosk is closed down for alterations but it should be up and running again shortly. The rain the other week has helped to make the wetlands look a bit more visually pleasing – as you can see – but we do need a lot more rain. In our walks recently there have been a lot of Kangaroos wandering about looking for water again. They have even been seen in Nicolson Avenue, which is a fairly busy road. At the moment it is a fairly mild day in that the last few days have been mornings of – degrees while today (Tuesday) was 4c, still a bit on the cold side but ok for a morning walk. Benji and I will be out and about most of this week as we endeavor to keep out of Annabell’s way. This weekend in the Ladies Brunch, so she will be busy baking in the kitchen. Apart from keeping out of the way, Benji and I will be ‘gofers’ and drive to the various shops to get anything she needs, if and when she needs it.

Went for a walk to the Wetlands this afternoon and had coffee in the Kiosk with Jennifer, Milan and Max. The usual sniffs but at least Benji didn’t snarl at Max and we had a peaceful time with coffee and scones. The day was warm and sunny and 21c but I can see that already the water is starting to evaporate. There is supposed to be some rain on Saturday – in nice time for the cuttlefish and the Cake Stall – will not interfere with what Annabell and the ladies at the Ladies brunch but it could interfere with both the RFDS events.

Rejoice with me! Today is Friday – the end of the week – an entire week without a single hospital visit nor a doctor visit. Is that something to rejoice about or what! Next week is different, and will include an ECG for her, but we’ll deal with that when it’s next week. In the meantime, it’s been a good week. Saturday and it’s all happening. It’s 6:30am today is the Cuttlefish diving, the RFDS Catering out there, the RFDS Cake Stall at the Hardware store and the Ladies Brunch — and —- it’s chucking it down. Isn’t that fun. It will be ok for the Cuttlefish Divers, they are going to get wet anyway, the ladies Brunch will be indoors, but the Cake Stall and the Cuttlefish Catering are currently at risk. Right at the moment I am being hassled but I am not taking him walking in the heavy rain, so he can just go

back to his bed for a bit;.

The rain faded away by about 7:30 and it turned out a fine day – almost. Everything went well, the Cuttlefish Catering, The Cake Stall and the Ladies Brunch. The cuttlefish catering we wont know until the end of today and we get the two days and the cake stall calculated. The Ladies Brunch was good but not as good as it has been. We think there was just too much on this weekend – something the ladies are going to have consider if they decide to continue next year. I did say almost a fine day since the rain came back about 3pm but only in the form of a few quick showers. Not enough to cause much concern. The Cake Stall had sold everything by 11:30 and they had nearly three full tables of home baking – and it all went.

Taken at 10am as the heavy, wet mist was slowly clearing.

Tomorrow (Monday 1st July) is the AGM of the RFDS here and my last time as Secretary. There is some doubt as to whether or not the Secretary Elect will go forward to election but either way, I will not. The Secretary elect was elected as Secretary but not without some controversial maneuvering. Members of the “In Group” wanted their man to be Secretary but the Coordinator from Central Operations in Adelaide who was chairing the meeting, ruled this as Out Of Order, since the person concerned was not at the meeting and therefore unable to agree or not to his election. Oh, yes, and we were told at the meeting that the RFDS Jet, which was to make a visit to each of the areas, will not be coming. Central Operations decided to send the Jet to the properties of each of the major corporate sponsors instead and since it is now in operation, there is not time for any regional visits.

The May Travels

13/05/2019 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Sunday: Annabell is much better today. The antibiotic kicked in and she is a lot better than she was last night. She has to take the second antibiotic this evening and we will go see the doctor tomorrow. I am feeling much more relaxed than I was yesterday. When we returned from the hospital I called the boys and asked them not to come over on Sunday as normal. They were concerned but agreed. Sadly this means that we didn’t get to see the Grandson this week Annabell has been having a difficult time of late but hopefully this infection has been the underlying cause and, with a treatment of antibiotics, we should be able to get on top of that fairly quickly – or so I am told.

Thursday: I headed off to Naracoorte to the quarterly conference. The boys kept an eye on Annabell whilst I was away. I was very late in leaving mainly because I had appointment with my cardiologist at 10am and I could not afford to miss that. This was a long appointment in that it lasted a whole 15 minutes when it normally lasts 10 minutes. I am well and everything is as it should be so really it was just an ECG and then a quick chat about how things were and the fact that he continues to be pleased. I don’t see him again for a year. By the time I reached Adelaide it was late in the afternoon and it took me some time to get clear of bank business before I got into town. I did get some shopping done for Annabell but by and large I booked into my hotel and stayed there. It was a cold, wet and miserable trip down – rained most of the way, and it was Thursday – no late night shopping in the city. I slept well enough and after booking out set off to the South-Eastern Freeway towards Murray Bridge and then Tailem Bend. Cold, and miserable and the weather was not great either!! I bought the car in the summer and was more concerned with the A/C – never thought much about the heating — well, you don’t when the outside temperature is 41c. I practically froze on the drive from Adelaide to Tailem Bend. I did have some hot food there before continuing on to my next overnight stay. Here I really had problems in that I was not, for reasons unknown, booked in. Every cabin was taken and I was offered the bunkhouse which consisted of a

room with two bunk beds, one on top of the other) a fridge and a small tv (that didn’t work) It was a broom cupboard with bunks. The kitchen was about 200 yards in one direction and the facilities 150 in another direction. I discovered what a great thrill it was to walk two hundred yards, rugged up against the cold and the rain, plus the same distance back, to make a mug of coffee. The discussion of the facilities is not for gentlefolk, so we just wont go there I did not have a shower in the morning. I did have a rubdown with a cold, damp facecloth and when I drove the last distance to the conference I stopped off in town, bought myself a pair of gloves and deodorant. I have to be truthful and say that yes it was a broom cupboard, but the bunkbed was comfortably and I slept well. Both meetings were poorly attended and only half of the commissioners were present. Still more than enough to hold the meetings. I got my books attested and signed fairly early on and I did the books of two other places. I had hoped to be clear by 3:30 but if not I would simply stay there in town and head for Adelaide in the morning. As it happened, the lack of numbers meant that we concluded business by 2:45 and I hit the road. I wanted to reach Tailem Bend before dark, and I did. I pulled into the River Edge Caravan Park and I was allocated a lovely cabin overlooking the River Murray. On a really nice day it would be very pleasant to sit outside in one of the chairs and watch the river and the birds – all very relaxing.

Promotion, Fund-raising and Aeromedical Jet

14/04/2019 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Part of the Team at OTR / with Ambulance Service.

It’s been a very busy end to the week. Thursday we were involved in a promotion with the opening of the new On The Run (OTR) Service Station. OTR are one of the sponsors of the Royal Flying Doctor Service so we help them out but we also have the opportunity to promote the RFDS. The OTR is the “home”of the Krispy Kreme Donuts, which we gave away for free on opening day. Personally I don’t like them. They are great in most people’s eyes and I know people in Adelaide that go for them in a big way, but I find them just a tad too sweet for my taste. But we had a good day – talked to a lot of people and gave out flyers . On Friday the Prime Minister visited the Governor-General and a General Election was called for the 18th May, so we can expect the letterboxes to be crammed with election material for the next weeks. Friday I took Annabell to the doctor for a check-up, called John (my son) and reminded of the RFDS Fundraiser on Saturday. Spent the afternoon working in the garage. Saturday morning I decided to have some time off so, I did not set the alarm and slept until almost 6:30. The dogs slept too and we didn’t go for our walk until almost 7am.

The dogs are well and enjoyed the walk this morning. It was interesting in that everything was quiet. Generally it’s still dark when we go out but it was light today and perhaps the other dogs were asleep which means that Dougal didn’t go ballistic like he general does if he hears a bark – or, indeed, any undetermined noise. The Kangaroos were few and far between this morning but because it was light I saw for the first time some of the damage the Kangaroos had caused. I have walked the same area for a long time and watched it change over the years. I have watched a man lay in concrete slabs and edging to mark out his lawn area, cover the area in new topsoil, plant seed and water the area ( got wet a couple of times) and watched the grass take root and finally become a nice lawn, which, thanks to the Kangaroos, is in the process of being destroyed. I can understand the frustration that must be involved here, but I still think leaving out water for them is the right things to do.

We did fairly well at the fundraiser today. Started at 9am and finished at 1pm. It was interesting in that a number of people wanted to ask about the new RFDS aircraft – the world’s first – and at the moment, only – aeromedical Jet – a Flying Intensive Care Unit. We wont see this here and it will be used for the long haul runs to the far north of the State. At the meeting last week were were told of the Whyalla Child Care Center. This Center, like a number of places, is on the flight path to the airport and every day the children see the RFDS Aircraft fly overhead. They sort of adopted the RFDS and some of the children said they wanted to be nurses and go on the aircraft, some wanted to be pilots and one wanted to be a

doctor for the RFDS. Knowing the children like to play with boxes, one of the mothers brought in some empty boxes. The children made their very own RFDS aircraft and since they see it every day, they new which colours to use. We thought this was fantastic and contacted Central Operations, who were very impressed. They sent me up a box of balloons, wrist bands, colour-in pages and a heap of put together aircraft.

Annabell had a telephone call from Ina in Adelaide. I was out with the dogs at the time but Annabell says she was sounding really good and she hopes

to be back home in about ten days. This means that Dougal might not be with us for more that another week or so – if Ina is correct. Not that I want to see him go, really, but Benji has been a bit odd this time – have no idea why. They have not been fighting or causing concern. apart from two spats, but that happens. Perhaps Benji doesn’t want to share anymore, whatever the reason, it feels different this time.

Lighthouse, Wetlands and Spencer Gulf

29/03/2019 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Friday 22nd. Just after lunch I put a blanket over the front seat in the car, strapped Benji in and off we went to the Lighthouse. It was a lovely day, warm but not hot, so it was a comfortable ride for the 24 miles. Of course, with the air conditioner on it would have been a comfortable ride anyway, but he did what he usually does, curl up facing me and have a nap. We spent some time wandering about and it was good for us to be out and about again after all the hot weather we have had recently.

We came back home by way of the town center and I went into the lolly shop and bought 250gms of sugared almonds, because I knew she had them in for the first time in a long time. I know, but it’s my indulgence and they remind me of my childhood in Scotland – every lovely crunch of them. In the evening, after the news, I took Benji down to the wetlands. It’s been a while since we were there. To say I was shocked is an understatement. The amount of water loss is incredible. With the continued drought and the fact that there is no

water going into the system, this, plus the water going out to water the trees, lawns and plants has really taken its toll. Having said that, it did rain for a bit last night and although it rained for several hours, it was fairly light rain and didn’t make a lot of difference to anything.

Today both Annabell and I are exhausted. The family at the back of us were having an 18th Birthday Party. The father came around and told his neighbours what was going to happen and said he would try and keep the music to a reasonable level. Well, that was a lie right there! He did indicate that they were going to play music, but they didn’t. I don’t know what the heck it was they played but music it was not – it was just a thump, thump, thump. My son follows Iron Maiden, and some other sort of heavy metal and though I don’t like to admit it, it is music – of a sort – but this last night, until 2am was just a continual thump, thump, thump. I almost took a serious dislike when the alarm went off at 6am. I did not have

a good night, but Benji and I went out for our walk in the calm, early, cloud covered morning. Today was the Congregation Annual General Meeting, so church was well over two hours long. I think Annabell is resting – good for her. We go back to the doctor this week and we expect he will increase the amount of her insulin again. At the moment she is not too bad, but the readings are still higher than he would like. ( He did increase the level to 17ml.)

The drought continues to bite in the north of South Australia and over in Victoria. There has also been high and strong winds that have turned the bare paddocks into dust bowls and animals are starting to perish for lack of food and water and the dust that gets everywhere – into the animal eyes and mouth. There’s not a lot of help being handed out. Must have looked away for a moment and when I looked back, March is just about finished and we are rushing towards April. Today – Thursday 28th – Dougal is coming to stay for a little while. I have no idea how long this time as Ina is still in a Respite Center outside of Adelaide.

Under our system, you can qualify for traveling assistance if you have to travel for treatment. The hospital at the Port does not have Nuclear Medicine facilities – our hospital does. So this lady had to travel from Port Augusta to Whyalla for treatment – a distance of 80 klms. ( 160kms round trip) She does not quality for assistance because the cut off point is 100 klms. This lady is traveling 160 klms twice a week for treatment but does not receive assistance. This was highlighted with the Minister for Health and he agrees that many of the rules were made to apply to Adelaide not the country areas. He has promised to have a look and overhaul where necessary.

Injections, Storms Wildlife and Sunsets

08/03/2019 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Saturday 2nd March:

Today we went to see the diabetics educator and learned how to do injections. For me it was very simple. Why? Well the new insulin injection system is very similar to the operation of an EpiPen., so I didn’t find it difficult. As part of the Red Cross First Aid Course, the use of EpiPens were included. Actually Annabell found it quite easy to use and she was able to administer the insulin without a problem. All in we were about an hour and a quarter with the nurse. On Friday there was a telephone call from the insurance company to let me know that they have received the photographs and the report from the repair garage but they would like their own assessor to come and have a look and make the final decision. Once that is completed I should hope that things will be settled fairly quickly. I have had a look and there are a couple of cars that caught my eye. We’ll see what happens after Tuesday.

Annabell has another infection so I have had her up at the hospital. She is now on another course of antibiotics and I will make an appointment for her with our own doctor in the morning and see what he has to say. She is not having a good run of things at the moment. The assessor should be here sometime tomorrow (Tuesday) They did say that they will try and get here in the morning.

I remember we did a course some years ago that suggested that once we set our minds to something we start to see representations of what we have set our minds on in many places. For example, if we buy a red car, in order to justify our decision in our subconscious mind, we start to see red cars around us – something we have never really noticed before. It proves to us that red cars are very popular thus we made the right decision. It used to be called the “Baader – Meinhof Phenomenon although these days it is called “frequency illusion” I mention this because I have been looking at a replacement car and the one I was giving thought to was coloured blue. Thus I am seeing a frequency of blue cars. I am amused by this and I was going to put LOL, but I am informed that LOL is now out of fashion so I don’t know what to put anymore..

We had a bit of a storm last night – lightening for four minutes – couple of peals of thunder – rain for about three minutes – been the scariest five minutes this entire week. This morning (Tuesday)

the Insurance Assessor came and took photographs and examined the car. He will write it off, but I can keep the car. However, it cannot repaired and I will have to arrange for the wreckers to come and take it away – or not, but once the registration expires next week, I can no longer register it, so, between that and the massive storm, it’s been a really interesting week.

The army with their tanks, artillery and armoured vehicles are here in Cultana for “live fire” exercises. I think they are only here for a couple of weeks, so we probably wont see much of them.

However, I did see army trucks with tanks on the back on the way north as I was travelling to Adelaide on Thursday. The two boys ( John & Andrew) are off to some music festival in Melbourne. Andrew is staying in Melbourne for a few days but John is heading back. He has asked me to go down to Adelaide, pick him up and bring him back home. I said I would. Couple of things I need at David Jones, so it works in well. That’s why I was not too bothered about doing any shopping this trip and just came directly home.

We are still having Kangaroos and Emus wandering around this top end of town. The City Council and the Wildlife people have asked us not to feed the Emus nor the Kangaroos, because it

Burns wrote “A rose-bud by my early walk”. I wonder what he would have made of this.

will get them used to being fed and watered and they will come to rely on it and be aggressive if they don’t get what they expect. Also if they are supplied with food and water, they will start to mate and that could cause problems farther down the line. Well, you try to do the right thing and it’s wrong, but no matter, I will still leave out the water. I know, I’m an environmental vandal, what more can I say.

Kangaroos and Living Plants

22/02/2019 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

As far as we understand, the funeral will take place at the Church on Tuesday at 11am. That’s what we organised, however, her son, breezed in from London and would have preferred the funeral to have been on Thursday past so he could catch the weekend flight back to London. Although I have done all the work – the Order of Service just needs the nod and I can start printing, collating and have it ready for Tuesday, I am advised that there may well be changes and not to print just yet. There is a meeting with the son on Sunday and if he decided to change things to

what he wants, it doesn’t leave me a lot of time to get everything organized, printed, collated and out. No pressure, yesterday will be fine. :o)

Ina is back in hospital and we had a phone call to ask if we would look after Dougal for a few weeks, I was out but Annabell said that it would be fine. The daughter has been staying for a bit but we will get Dougal when she goes home sometime next week. Don’t mind really, Dougal is no trouble at all. He and Benji get on fairly well and Benji doesn’t seem to mind Dougal sharing his toys. The only thing Benji gets cranky about is the sleeping arrangements. Dougal occupied the place next to me and Benji got cranky about that and made certain Dougal understands who sleeps where in future.

We spent most of Monday afternoon at the church getting the place ready for the funeral. I printed, collated 120 copies and passed each pile over to Annabell for folding. She can’t do a lot but she was sitting down and could do that for me – I mean, she couldn’t help with moving furniture and re-arranging pews, but she could do the folding, a total of 120 x 2 double sided copies, so she was a great help in doing what she did

The funeral went well as well as funerals are and our little church was full with close to 110 people – which is our maximum.l She joined the church in 1987 and was a Member of the Board of Management, Board Treasurer and Leader of the Sunday School. The children loved her and it was so very pleasing to see many of the former Sunday School (grown up and married of course) there to say farewell. It was one of the former Sunday School members who read the lesson. The service lasted over one hour mainly because the “in-thing”in Australia at the moment is to have a Power Point and that took up time. The committal at the Cemetery was relatively short and we returned to the church hall for lunch, which all the ladies of the church provided.

I have been outside since the heatwave mourning dead plants, clearing up the mess and cleaning out the plant pots. In doing so I discovered that the age of miracles hasn’t passed as the photograph will show. This was, to all accounts a dead plant and in among the dead and brown leaves was a hint of green, which I have worked with. It’s encouraging as we draw towards the last weekend of summer. The mess is not caused by dead plants but rather the piles of boxes, bags of clothes and unwanted furniture that my niece decided she didn’t want to take back to Adelaide. Some has gone and Lifeline will come and collect the remainder of the furniture on Monday. I’ll spend part of the weekend sorting through the boxes and the bags. In a couple of weeks the boys are heading over to Melbourne for some concert. Andrew is staying in Melbourne for a few days but John is coming back to Adelaide. I said I would go down and pick him up. It’s only an overnight stay and gives me the opportunity to do some shopping for Annabell at Tea Tree Plaza or the Elizabeth Center. I have been thinking about a new camera and this might be an opportunity to have a look around.

Still no word about the specialist and the insulin stuff as yet and the earliest we can get to see the eye specialist is May

Going Nowhere

14/02/2019 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Left home Friday morning – a bit later than usual – and headed off to Adelaide. I made sure that everything was set up for Annabell before I left. The drive down was uneventful until just outside Port Wakefield where a serious crash had blocked part of the highway. My lane was clear – but slow and the other lane was backed up from the intersection to Port Wakefield itself. This is where the Copper Coast Highway joins the Interstate Highway 1. It’s a bad junction and has been the site of many accidents over the years. Governments have thrown money at the place in at attempt to contain the flow of traffic but it’s still a problem and on holiday weekend is the site of a major bottleneck. The present government has proposed a solution and is willing to fork out $90million to sort the problem. Most people believe that this also will not work until governments do what needs to be done – build a new road that bypasses Port Wakefield altogether. But they wont do that. Despite being a bottleneck, Port Wakefield heavily relies on the traffic for its survival. Because everything has to go through PW, there are more food outlets and service stations, bakery, repair shops than anywhere else and all the coaches coming from and going to the North, stop at PW ( BP Service Station) for refreshments and a break. Therefore, despite all its problems, PW is a major supply and service center and a bypass road that takes the traffic away would cause irreparable damage to the local economy and, to a lesser extent, the State Economy.

The remainder of the drive to Adelaide was quiet until Adelaide and city traffic. I managed to get most of the things Annabell wanted and did

some shopping for myself – mainly things from Officeworks for my diary – which – by the way is getting harder and harder to find. I think I said before that ordering things from the UK and the USA is getting too expensive because of the postage charges. Some time ago there were two outlets in Adelaide, but they have closed down.

The hot weather is coming back again for a bit but I don’t mind, it’s already done all the damage it can do and my plants are all dead. I did have a hope for a little while that it was only the outside leaves that had been burned by the sun and the plant and roots were still alive. I kept watering all the plants – even if they looked dead. Well, I now realize they are dead and no amount of water will change that. So, the hot weather kills the plants and the wind assaults us with 87,000 leaves.

This has been a slightly frantic week with three fundraisers to organise, two unplanned medical appointments and a funeral to get ready for. Well, the hopes that my last two months as Secretary of the Whyalla RFDS would be quite and trouble free, were always wishful thinking. The specialist in Adelaide has been unable to recommend any suitable medication for Annabell. There is another drug that she could take which would fit the bill, but the problem is that that has to be taken with a partner drug and the second drug is toxic for her. So, we both may have to go to Adelaide to visit a specialist who will teach us both how to administer insulin injections unless there is one visiting here. No idea when that will be. I may be an apology for the next church conference because Annabell has an appointment to see the eye specialist and that’s when his next visit is.

Why “Going Nowhere”as the title? Simply because Neil Sedaka’s song has been running through my head these last few weeks and that’s how I have been feeling sometimes – sort of running around in circles going nowhere. Well, I suppose it’s preferable to standing still and stagnating :o)

On the news this afternoon there was a major accident at the Highway 1 and the Copper Coast intersection this morning. Sadly two people were killed and a third one flown by ambulance helicopter to Adelaide. Honestly this intersection really needs sorted out – soon..

Moving, Benji, and Water for Wildlife

01/02/2019 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Thankfully, the weather has calmed down from its hissy-fit last week. A warm week this week but temperatures will be no more than mid 30s. The Hay Convoy of 50 B Double Trucks went through on Friday and I did get a lot of photographs and a video that had been sent to me. It really was something to behold and I am sorry that I missed it but watching the video was incredible. Perhaps next time they go through I will be able to see for myself. They always go through that way but this is the first time we have ever had notification of the time they were going through. Actually, they have to go through where they did – there is no other way. – Well, there is, but it would add about 1100 klms on to the journey and not really achieve anything. Saturday was Australia Day, which started out fine – a bit cool, but fine. By 6:30, the temperature had fallen and the rain came down. It wasn’t really all that heavy but it was constant and the latter part of the Australia Day Celebrations were canceled – although the fireworks did go ahead. John Jnr and I spent Saturday at my niece’s place moving furniture. She was only here for seven months and she is now heading back to Adelaide. Some things she didn’t want to take back with her, so they went onto my trailer and into the garage and the church may dispose of them.

Back to the doctor with Annabell this morning. This was a planned visit, but not a good one. Generally her blood sugar level has been controlled by diet, but that is no longer working. Doctor wants to put her on diabetes medication but can’t. He has to contact a specialist in Adelaide, explain the situation to them and they will decide what medication is suitable for her, given her health concerns and her current medications. So we just have to wait.

I had a telephone call this afternoon from one of the major Hardware firms and they wanted to give us (RFDS) the space to run a fundraising event at the store. I said I would see what I could do and try and get a team together. I will call them first thing in the morning and accept since I have a team available for them. Ten days and I head off to Adelaide for conference. We plan these days away and both of the boys either telephone her or just come over and see she is ok, The Weather people lived down to their reputation yet again. Fine weather, they said – temperature in the mid to high 30s, they said. What they didn’t say was 43c today. It be a wee bit warm. Ah, look on the bright side – We survived 48.9, we can survive 43c. The danger period will come in about two hours when people start getting home from work and cranking on air-conditioners, which could overload the system. Might even blow a fuse again.

As it happened a cool change swept in and brought temperatures down quite a bit. Temps came down, wind came up and we had dust problems which I could see in the distance when I was walking with Benji. Come the weekend and we are looking at high 30s again, but that’s fine. I think one of the things that has made people grumpy is that many Australians have been unable to do what they would normally do in summer. Generally, in the backyard with friends and family – barbecue and a few beers, a glass of wine – backyard cricket with the children, and so on – in the park or down the beach. Not so much since it’s been blowing every day for weeks, then the heatwaves came along and all of this has disrupted the Australian lifestyle. I don’t do any of this but I like to go walking with the dog or dogs and I can take them out despite the wind, but the heat causes problems for dog paws, so it’s after 9pm when the sun has gone down and it’s starting to get dark. From time to time Benji will dig his front paws into the ground, lock them and refuse to move. I have no idea why he does this but after a minute or so he will start walking again as normal. I think he does this because he wants to see if my arm can actually come away from my shoulder since he does this without any warning. The heat is not only causing problems for us uprights and our companions, it is also causing problems for our wildlife. This is mainly exacerbated by the drought and just the general lack of moisture in the bush. It is really pleasing to see that more people are filling buckets of water the leaving them in their gardens. .

Australia – Frying tonight!!

26/01/2019 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Thursday 24th Jan. This morning I took Benji out for his walk at 05:30. I thought I might as well, I was awake anyway. Actually, I had been awake since 3;40 – it was a very hot, sticky night and I

didn’t sleep too well. We saw quite a few Kangaroos and when I got back I made certain my water container – a big blue bucket – was full. I also filled the bird dish. Annabell and I had to go out since we had an unplanned medical appointment for Annabell. We moved across to the shopping centre and got her medication, the supermarket for milk and a few things then we came home. On leaving home this morning to take Annabell for her appointment, I did something I don’t usually do – I left a fan on for Benji so that he could stay cool until we got back. We didn’t waste time, got what we wanted and headed home. Inside and put the A/C back on again. The temperature climbed to an “official temperature” of 48.6 but my monitor read 50c and the reason it read 50c is because it couldn’t go any higher. At even the official 48c, the reverse cycle A/C had difficulty trying to cope. The government were noted and warned that the electric system was “struggling” so for the first time ever, the massive generators were switched on to help the grid. Despite this precaution Adelaide and some districts around, suffered power blackouts – and this on the hottest day ever. Around 8pm it had cooled down a bit so we went out for our evening walk. I was outside a short while ago and felt that it was warmer than when I took Benji out earlier, I checked the monitor and found that it was sitting at 36c and it is now 23:05, Might not be the best night for sleeping.

`The Hay Convoy at Iron Knob SA. * Photograph by Angel Giles *

Did sleep reasonably well. Took Benji out this morning and was very surprised to see that many of the places on our walk had also put out buckets of water. I thought this was great. One place had a cleaned rubbish bin filled with water. I have increased the size of the container I use.

One of the incredible things that happen here are the Hay Convoys. Much of New South Wales and most of Queensland are in drought. Thus farmers cannot feed their animals. The farmers in Western Australia donated about 3500 bales of Hay – enough to fill 50 trucks and these are being trucked from Western Australia to New South Wales. The convoy was passing through South Australia on the Inter-State about 30 miles away. A number of people were going out to the Iron Knob truck stop to greet the trucks and the truckers and wave them on . I was invited to go with them and I really wanted to, but I had an unplanned medical appointment for Annabell and that was at the same time as the trucks were going through. I did ask my friend Angel to take lots of photographs – which she did

Daddy wasn’t using it so I was keeping it protected for him.

As I said before – the weather is strange and very unpredictable. From the hottest place in the commonwealth to being really quite cool when I was out a little while ago with Benji. It was ok, but really cool (17c) considering the temperature over the last few days. I did, however, remark to Annabell the other day when we were having these rolling power outages, that it was a bit sad when you have to walk about the house with a torch (flashlight) in your pocket and candles placed around the place – just in case, you understand. I have faith in Power Networks, I mean who else can tell over 100,000 people who have just lost power of the hottest day ever, that it was a blown fuse – and tell it with a straight face? That takes talent..

When I was growing up in Scotland the early days Fish & Chip shops sometimes put a notice in their window ‘Frying Tonight” That’s what it felt like here.

Lovely weather and visiting dogs.

14/01/2019 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

This is the photograph that I submitted for critique and whilst they waxed lyrical about each other’s photographs they were not thrilled about my photograph – bad lighting, poor composition, were two of the comments and when it came to scoring, it didn’t do well at all. I am not averse to criticism, even negative can be helpful, if done correctly, but they just didn’t like this and there was no constructive criticism. Anyway, I’m fairly comfortable with my photographs. I agree they could improve but not this way.

Got back from Adelaide last night. Was midnight before I got home and close to 1am before I got to bed and then back up at 5;45 to take the dogs out. It took me a while to settle the dogs down when I got home – you would think I had been away for weeks instead of just one day. I had to have everything done on the one day because I needed to be back for Annabell’s medical appointment. It was a fairly good trip – and I got everything that Annabell asked me to get for her but when it came to me – fail. David Jones has very little in the way of Organizers, or inserts these days, Kikki.K had nothing, Typo had nothing, same story at Officeworks, which I did find surprising. I have some things coming from the USA so I

shall just have to exercise patience and wait until they arrive before I can finish the change-over.

I did, however, get Annabell a new cookbook.

We bought an air-fryer and although it has a small cookbook along with the instructions, Annabell wanted something more so I looked for an Ari-Fryer Cookbook for her. I got this at Dymocks in Rundle Mall. We have no book shops at home. The last one closed down years ago. Yes the newsagent sells a limited number of books and the library has not caught up with Air-Fryers yet. Come to that, neither has Dymocks and there were only four books to choose from. Even in Adelaide many of the bookshops have closed down -Dymocks, Borders, Angus & Robinson, were the main bookshops in Adelaide. By contrast, Dymocks, the remaining bookshop, was crowded and many of the customers were young people. Anyway, I got her a cookbook and she is quite happy with it.

We have a Nursing Home here but the beds are very limited and it is not unusual for people to be sent to care in other places where a bed is available. This could mean they are sent over 100 miles away. If you remember I did visit one of our congregation who had been sent to a nursing home in Quorn which is about 90 miles from here. We have another person who has been sent there and I am going to visit him early next week.

The four Test Cricket matches against India have ended with a well deserved win for India. There’s no question of the fact that India really dominated the entire series and in all honesty should have ended 3 1 instead of 2 1. India dominated the last Test Match from start to finish and should have come away with a win, but bad light and bad conditions means that the match was abandoned and it became a draw. Be interesting to see how they do with a different set of skills in the ODI (One Day Internationals) ( Not very well, I fear!!)

In ten days from now we would have had Dougal for three months in what was to be a week to ten days visit. Anyway, he went home today. I took him round to Sam this afternoon. I think Dougal was glad to be home and glad to see his people. I’ll miss him but it’s nice to be back to me and Benji again. I think Benji will be quite happy and we had a good walk – just the two of us – this evening. We should be clear now until sometime in December when we get Yogi back for a bit. You never know, we could have Dougal back for a few visits if Sam has to go back to Adelaide for tests.

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