Catherine – Edgar's Page

Catherine, Road Trip and Introducing Benji

October 4, 2015 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

He was unknown now he is "Benji" — He was unknown – now he is “Benji”

The drive to Adelaide was uneventful. I took Catherine shopping – mainly to the duty free and then along Rundle Mall before heading off to the hotel. I was staying – she was not. The car came for her at 19:45 and her flight was at 21:45. I did not go to the airport with her since there would be a wheelchair and an assistant waiting for her at the other end and she would be taken to the Emirates Lounge and, not being a passenger, I wouldn’t be allowed in there. Her bags were checked in for her. It seemed little point in my going out there and having to get a taxi back for no real reason. She will be well looked after. I watched some television, sent s few emails to Annabell and went to bed.

I was up fairly early on Saturday morning, checked out and set off to Mount Gambier arriving there just after 1pm. The “Unknown” was waiting for me – we had formal introductions ( of course) and he took his place on the front passenger seat – seat-belted and clipped in. After driving for about 15 minutes I had to stop and make different arrangements. For some reason he was unhappy in the front seat, so I set up the carry case with a blanket and set him up in the back seat. Being slightly elevated he put his head on the window and sat and watched the world go by. Then he slept. As a traveler he was very good and slept most of the way. We were slightly delayed and I had decided that I had to make Bolivar on Saturday. I did but it meant doing something I always said I would never do – travel the Expressway and negotiate the Steep descent from Crafers to the end of the Expressway then drive through the city in the dark. Not the most enjoyable thing I have done of late, but we made Bolivar where we stopped for the night and I was finally able to call Herself and let her know how things were.

We left Bolivar at about 5:30am and drove to the Tin Man for fuel and a walk. I was asked – since the forecast was for 36c – why I was wearing a jacket. I answered that my car was almost like an ice-box. I had a youngish dog in the car and was keeping the temperature down for him.

We arrived home when Herself was still at church so I was able to get him settled in and a wander about the place – inside and out – a bit of food and a drink. Apart from anything else I was slightly stuffed since over 1200 miles in two days is tiring and my hand feels like it has been stomped on by half a dozen, big longshoremen – with boots on. I think I need my head examined, but that is something I have to avoid at all costs – mainly because of a concern that they will find nothing in there.

Oh and I don’t have photographs (yet) since I was too busy concentrating on other things – like driving

Road Trip, Lovely people and Gazinia

October 1, 2015 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

This weekend I head back down to Adelaide. It’s been a quick and not uneventful holiday for Catherine, but we have been out and about as much as we could and I think she has been happy enough. She is talking about coming back in two years. Once I take her back to the airport and stay overnight in the hotel, in the morning I may be heading off to Mount Gambier, which is about a four mile drive from Adelaide. I have been as far as Naracourte and Mt. Gambier is about 150 klm further on from there – Have Camera – Will Travel ! There is no certainty that this will actually happen and I wont know what I am doing until another day or so, but I am hopeful.

I am starting to come back to the world after a traumatic week. After having lost The Man and then Chienne, I was starting to get a bit on the down side and slightly depressed. I am not sure if it is just a cliche or not but people talk about “The kindness of strangers” and I was overwhelmed by the messages of kindness and sympathy that seemed to just keep coming. The kind thoughts expressed by people I had never ‘met ‘ was very humbling and something I will always remember.

A few days ago I pulled the car off the highway to the side of the road, got out with a camera and took some photographs of roadside flowers. These very pretty flowers are

called Gazinia and in many parts of Australia they are considered to be weeds and councils have attempted to eradicate them. I am quite thankful to say that here they have not been successful and I do believe they have given up trying. The flower that grow in perfusion are full of life and colour and make a very welcome change from the (beloved by a very few) Saltbush. Here in my little corner of the universe, I find the saltbush that I am familiar with dead and boring = dead boring! I suspect there are species of saltbush that flower and look pretty ( never seen any) and I suppose that saltbush is part of Australia but then, so are flies and I can’t recall anyone ever waxing lyrical about them. The South African Gazinia, however, have become so popular that many people have taken some of the roadside plants and replanted them in their garden and have been rewarded with an explosion of

colour. Before you ask, yes I am thinking about it!!

As it happens I am heading to Mount Gambier on Saturday morning. I was not sure for a while but a telephone call this morning confirmed it. I am overjoyed. Bit too early for the Blue Lake I suspect. If I get away from the hotel early on Saturday morning I should be in Mt. Gambier by about lunch and back in Adelaide by mid-afternoon. I don’t think I will be able to drive the whole way home, so we will probably stop off some place for the night – I expect Highway 1 Caravan Park. A lot will depend on how I feel and it might well be that I will stay in Mount Gambier rather than drive the four hours back to Adelaide. In fact the more I think about that the more I warm to the idea.

Garden, work, and a dog.

September 4, 2015 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

For the moment work outside has come to a halt. It was raining for much of yesterday and it’s raining again today. I realise that probably makes me a bit of a woos – not getting out there and shifting the rock in the cold and the pouring rain, but there you are – guilty as charged. I might be annoyed at the weather but I bet you Weed Central is loving it. If it dries up during the day I might get something done. I was also thinking of taking a run out to somewhere along the highway and have a look at what’s around. It would be great if we still had

Kangaroos wandering at the far end of the road – where everything used to end. I have not seen any wildlife since the area was fenced off and they started building houses there. It’s also meant that I have had to change where I take Chienne walking since the route we used to take is fenced off now.

One week from today and I go down to pick Catherine up from Adelaide Airport. We will be staying overnight in South Terrace before heading north in the morning – probably have breakfast along the way. Herself is very excited – you can tell be the way she has panic attacks every five minutes :o)

The rain stopped and after lunch I went out and finished off the work I had to do. That is it – well not really, because I have decided on a change that will extend the stone area by about four or five feet into the washing ( crazy paving) area. It will not impact on where she works and will help to create a better looking area all round.

At the risk of offending people, I have to confess that there are times when I despair of South Australia in particular and Australia in general. Inattention, drove through a give way sign, killed four people – suspended sentence. In New South Wales – Man arrested – kidnapped and raped five children – three of these little children, one 9 years old, one 17 year old, held a knife to their throat and told the young children that if they made a sound he would kill them. He got 12 years – just over 2 years per child- and it’s not even 12 years – he’ll be out in seven. It occurs to me that we as a society don’t have to really do or say anything that could bring the law into disrepute – they are doing a very good job on their own without any outside help. Did you know that you can score a 25% discount on a sentence if you plead guilty and save the state the cost of a trial? That’s not justice – that’s money. No wonder people want to come to Australia – you can do just about anything, get a slap on the wrist, told you are naughty and sent home. I mean by his actions – He Killed Four People – he can go home – they can’t – ever. I think there is something to be said for the American system where you get to elect judges or vote them out of office, but I suppose even that has flaws. Having said that I do so like the American sentencing system – life means life – 99 years sounds good.

Got all excited for a little while. I found a little Maltese wandering around looking kind of lost. I didn’t want to leave her so I brought her inside, as I was going out at the time.

No - it's not The Man , it's a Girl - close though.. — No – it’s not The Man – close though..

Took Annabell to the hairdresser and then came back to attend to the little one. Chienne was no problem – well two girls together, what more needs to be said :0) We fed her and watered her then I put a collar and a lead on her and took her out to walk round the area. After about ten minutes this guy comes running out and calls the dog by name and she runs to him – so we found her daddy, who was very pleased and happy to have her back. Didn’t get a photograph to the two girls together but at least the little one is now home safe and sound.

Weeds, Stone and Windows 10

August 31, 2015 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

I have to admit that it is not the prettiest of things but it’s clean, neat and tidy and since I don’t seem to be able to grow anything here, clean, neat and tidy seems like a reasonable compromise. That’s only part of the area I am doing, I haven’t even thought of starting in weed central yet. The stone is called Tregalana and is, I think, 20cm. I have two days in Adelaide and I hope to have the backhoe work completed, the area laid out and partly covered in stone by the second day and look at the Hexagonal Pergola that I would like and organise getting it home. Probably mean a third day with the trailer. That’s not so bad in mid-spring when the days are longer. It means I can go down with John, get what we want and drive back, with John taking a turn at driving. Yes, that would work. The stone for this area will be about two trailers ( about 1.75 tons) but for weed central, could be a lot, lot more.

I know I said a fair bit about the new Wetlands and the work being done there but I really am impressed with the way

Another area of the wetlands — Another view of the wetlands

the area is being developed. When it is finished and the plants have grown it will look nice.

Well that was exciting!! I received a notification that Windows 10 was ready to download on this computer so I went ahead and began the upgrade. By late afternoon it had froze on “32%” and stayed there for most of the day and well into the evening. Using my tablet I found out that 32% was a common problem and there was really not a lot I could do about it. What I did do was unplug the computer and restart the computer, Windows restored Windows 8.1 and aft5er a few scares it restarted with no problem. ( HA!!) I left the computer alone for a while and went off to help herself. When I came back the machine had gone into “Sleep Mode”, which is normal. What was not normal was the fact that I could not get it out of sleep mode. Again I closed down and went for a restart – not this time, The machine refused to reboot. I tried several things but nothing worked. I got out the copy of Windows 8 and put that in ( yes it had power) and tried to reboot it on that – again nothing. Left it off overnight. This morning I tried again – same result – nothing. Then I had a thought. ( don’t be concerned, I recovered quickly) Some time ago I had a problem with the printer and after trying many things to get it working I hit on the idea of disconnecting it from the mains – and on re connection, it worked. I had my doubts that something as simple as this would work on the computer, but I went ahead and carried out the process of disconnection

and re connection. Hit the on button and, yes it worked and to prove it I am here. Now here’s the problem, I didn’t rescue everything and I lost some things – mail being one of these things ( Outlook – go figure) I also have a few programs that are not working as they should and I may have to reinstall them. I think I will give Windows 10 a miss for the time being. The icon is still sitting there in the right corner but it can stay there for the moment. Once I fix things I’ll stay with 8.1 for the time being.

Travel and Changes

August 24, 2015August 24, 2015 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

I have downloaded Windows 10 on the computer in the office. Can’t get it to download on this one yet – have no idea why, the icon is there but it just hangs. Fullness of time I expect. I haven’t had time to really have a look at this new Windows but I hope to sometime soon.

Although it might not seem like it there are advantages/ disadvantages in the dissolving of the State Assembly. Instead of 7 meetings a year, by dissolving the Assembly and amalgamating the two presbyteries into one, we reduce the meetings per year from 7 to 4 – 1 meeting per quarter – two meetings in Adelaide -two meetings in Mount Gambier / and that’s the

sting in the tail. There was a total of 5700 Klms for six meetings and the assembly. The new system will mean 98ooKlms for four meetings and an assembly – with the assembly being in Brisbane, Queensland – which, from here, is a 22 hour drive. Looks like a bunch of fun.

John’s knee operation was successful and having been down to Adelaide to see his surgeon he has been given the all clear and will not have to see him again – unless there are any problems, so I can scrub the Memorial and Flinders Hospitals off my list. I came back from Adelaide late last night and have no intention of moving again until I go back down and pick up Catherine from the Airport. I have booked us into the Chifley on South Terrace. Her flight wont get in until after 8p.m. so we stay overnight and head north in the morning. Good, because I gets to chat to her first and catch up with all the news in Scotland. I am so looking forward to seeing Catherine again. It will be an interesting visit in that we had word from Scotland that Catherine had a fall and has broken her shoulder, but she’s still coming over.

Other than two trips to Adelaide, one to collect Catherine and one to take her back to Adelaide Airport, I have no trips planned until November and Mount Gambier. I had a trip to Adelaide on Tuesday for the West Terrace Consultative Committee. A presentation to the Committee on Jewish Funeral Customs was made by Dr. Klee Benveniste of the Adelaide Hebrew Congregation, which I found very interesting. She also gave an explanation on some of the most common features within the Synagogue, which I also found interesting and most of which I did not know. I would like to do a presentation but at the moment with everything sort of up in the air, I have no idea how things will develop. Perhaps November will bring some clarity and we can work towards acceptable changes. There are two changes that we cannot accept and if either one is imposed on us, many of the people will leave. I am not sure about me but I don’t think I could work with either of these unacceptable changes.

The last few days have been cold, wet with very high winds. I’m so over winter. Although I have to admit that the high winds and rain that were an annoyance here, caused a fair amount of damage elsewhere. Being in the center of Australia we are “protected” from the excesses of weather that other parts of the country experience, The only really issue we ever have is when there is a coupling of high temperature and a north wind coming in off the desert – things tend to get a bit on the hot side then. I have gotten used to Central Australian weather, but what I think I will never get used to are the flies. Still, two out of three is not bad – Central Australia, Heat, Dust and Flies.

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