Tag: Doctor

Fires, Dust Storms and the Gate of the Year.

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Overall it’s been another heatwave week with temperatures reaching a high of 45c.  Today this was accompanied  by a hot wind off the desert and it really was a hot and strong wind – walk outside and it really hits you.  Hot days are bearable but when there is a hot north wind like there was today, it makes life a bit more difficult.  Took Benji out for a walk at 05:30 this morning and the wind was starting to develop along with the heat, but still ok for walking, not dark but no sun either. However we had not gone too far when he  was sick, so  I took him back home. Fortunately we were only about a couple of hundred yards from home. I think over this last week there has been little relief from the heat an night ( I’ve not had much of a sleep) – even with the fans on, so perhaps the heat was starting to get to him.  Having brought him home, he went into his bed and I kept an eye on him. He seemed to be ok. However, Annabell was unwell and we had to get an emergency appointment with the doctor, so Annabell had to be attended to. The clinic is in partial closedown  but  we managed to get an appointment and see the doctor on duty.  From there we drove to the shopping center and the chemists for medication. She too seems to be doing fine for the moment but I have kept one eye on each of them  :o)

This afternoon
The sun almost blotted out.

The high winds continued throughout the day and we had dry thunderstorms, lots of crashing, bashing and flashing (no splashing)  and the wind did  start the inevitable dust storm. Not as great as previous weeks since much of the dust has already been blown off. I did take Benji for a drive into the  Hummock Hill, but being exposed to the gulf, the wind was gale force and difficult to walk. I  did go down off the hill to the foreshore, but it wasn’t all that much better down there. I decided that the best course was just to come home again.  As the evening has progressed Annabell is starting to feel unwell again, so I will have to keep  a watch on her. Fortunately I am a lightish sleeper so I’ll know if she gets any worse during the night.   I was due to go down to Adelaide on Thursday with John, but I think I might give it a miss .  I’ll talk to John tonight and we will decide. I am not in any great rush to get down there at the moment. However, I’ll see how she is come Thursday. Over and above that we will also need to see how the weather conditions are beyond Port Pirie. Last thing I want to do is get stuck down there because it’s not safe to drive back up – although having said that, the major fire is at Cudlee Creek which is in the Adelaide Hills a fair way from the Main North Road and the Port Wakefield Road.

Victoria (the State) is in a bad way with fires burning out of control and over 4000 people being evacuated to the beach. The Royal Australian Navy is on standby ready to evacuate the  people if and when it becomes necessary. New South Wales is not much better and lives are being lost. Generally we complain that it’s  hot particularly on a day like Monday with the hot wind coming in off the desert. But most of the land around here is empty bushland with the only trees being the trees that  the founders and the succeeding councils have planted around the town. Outside of the town there’s really not a lot to burn. The Adelaide Hills are a different proposition altogether.  The terrain makes it very difficult to  tackle any fires in the hills and surrounding areas.

Well here we are. South Australia, 9pm on New Year’s Eve. A few hours until the end of the year and the end of the decade. I wonder what 2020  and the new decade will bring?

Piper’s Lament
“The Flowers of the Forest”

“and I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year

Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.

And he replied, go out into the darkness and put your hand

Into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than a light

and safer than a known way.

 

I hope you all have a lovely. joyful and peaceful New Year

Annabell, Funerals and Monday again

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs
Annabell

If being away this time was full of frustrations being at home this week has been full of concern and anxiety. Annabell  is ill and on Monday I booked her into the doctor. He saw her, examined her and decided that she needed to go to hospital to have an infection attended to. She could barely walk. The infection is on both legs.. I got her up to hospital,  she went into A & E and I called the boys. Andrew drove down to the hospital. John was away but he called me  after a bit to find out how things were with his mum. The consulting doctor was a  Gentleman from the Sub-Continent and at times difficult to understand but he ordered a whole bank of tests so we were there for much of the night, but he would not admit her, gave her  a prescription for an anti-biotic and we were sent home. The late night chemist was still open so I was able to get her medication. I also stopped off for a take-away for dinner – a late dinner but we were both hungry. Tuesday I telephoned some people and said that Annabell not would be at the coffee evening or morning for this week.  After left to go to the Conference, the Session Clerk  called me to let me know that one of our parishioners had died so when I came back I not only had to look after Annabell, I  had a funeral Order of Service to organise. I have also been taking care of the housework and the cooking as well as everything else. But all is well and I  can manage. The funeral is today, not the best Order of Service I have done, but time was a factor – or rather, the lack of it.  Still,  by this afternoon things should start to settle down into routine. I will book Annabell into the doctor on Friday for a follow up and let him know what happened at the hospital. I will do that when I get back from the funeral. Annabell will not be going out. For the  time being I wont be doing much outside of the house, other than shopping,  until Annabell is well again. Benji is fine and he and I  go out for our walks in the evening. However, at the moment I make sure that Annabell is settled before we go out – and I take the phone with me and make sure the house phone is close to hand for her.

I did mean to say that the other week when  the ambulance arrived and she was taken to hospital, one of the neighbours came over and asked if there was anything she could do – which I thought was very kind of her. I have had  several telephone calls to ask how she is so that’s been nice. As it turned out I was able to book her into see Doctor this afternoon, so that’s good and at least will allow her a good rest starting tonight. The funeral went well, despite a few problems but everything worked out in the end.  Raymond had been a Lodge member, and  a dozen of his lodge brethren said prayers outside the church before the casket was put into the hearse. They then formed a  Guard of Honour at the church gates as we led the hearse and following party out into the street. It was quite interesting. Took Annabell to the doctor this afternoon and he was concerned that the hospital had not contacted him to inform him of her treatment, but was pleased with regards to the tests that were undertaken as well as the  EKG – which will happen in a few weeks.  He has put her on a course of antibiotics – flucloxacillin – and will see her again on Tuesday.

Poor Thing :o)

Well, there you be – it’s Monday again. On Saturday we had a double function at the church. I attended the first, which was  a lunch, but the second I did not and came home to see to Annabell. Once I was sure she was ok, I took Benji for a run out to the Wetlands. Sunday I left her sleeping and went to church. Normally we have coffee and cookies in the Hall after the service, however, I made my apologies and  after the service, I went over to the shop for bread and went home.  It was just the boys on Sunday evening,  so dinner was fine. The boys and I did the washing and tidy up afterwards. John’s car is in for repair, so although Andrew brought him over, I took him shopping and then home. So that’s ended our week and here we are at Monday again. Should be a quiet day and tomorrow we are back to the Doctor. It’s all go!!

 

 

Sooah and Kongsoon reunited: life post WaWa

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs
Mom , Dad and the WaWa – reunited

Wednesday mid afternoon and I was sitting in the Doctor Waiting Room with Annabell. Annabell was due to see him. My mobile (Cell) phone was on buzzer and it started to buzz. I took it out and had a look at the message, then handed the phone to Annabell to look. She was just as  taken aback as I was. It was a message from Sooah to say that she was in Whyalla and wanted to come and see us. When Annabell was clear of the doctor I messaged Sooah to let her know that we would be home in ten minutes. About half an hour later Sooah and her husband arrived. They were back in Australia and although they tried to get employment in Whyalla, he could not and was offered a position in Sydney, which they took.. They arrived in Australia and met his new employer and agreed on a starting date, then drove over here. They came to collect things that friends here were looking after and, of course Kongsoon ( The WaWa). On Wednesday evening Annabell and I got all her things together and fed and watered her one last time. They wanted to get an early start so we arranged to have everything ready at 6am Thursday. To be honest I really

didn’t sleep all that well.  Just before 6am they turned up and we loaded everything into the van. There were tearful hugs and farewells and then they were gone and  the WaWa with them.  The fortunate thing is that it all happened so very quickly, rather than get dragged out. Sixteen

Benji and The WaWa

months ended in just over 10 hours.

It has been an interesting 16 months and we will miss her. I think for all that she attacked him, Benji was a little confused and wandered about looking for her. I think he was expecting her to suddenly jump out and nip at his heels. I made a point of sitting down in the chair and getting him to come up into my lap, which he was able to do without being barked at and his heels nipped. However, he will only be a single dog for about ten days then we will be looking after Yogi for two weeks whilst his mum recovers from surgery. But that’s ok. We have looked after Yogi a number of times and he and Benji get along well, so there’s no problem there.

Benji is still in the room with me and the door closed, but at least the closed door is not my way of keeping him safe, it’s because it’s cold and I have the heater on. During the  day the doors are left open now but he still stays in here with me. He will get used to having the house all to himself again.

Benji and the Beach

Yesterday (Friday) I took him down to the Wetlands – which turned out to be packed. Parties, picnics and games for the last day of the school holidays. We decided to have a look at the beach. The weather was nice, the sky was blue and clear, the water looked

The deserted beach

inviting and the beach was empty – we had the entire beach all to ourselves.

Adjustments will come slowly. If my room door was opened Benji garbed  one of his toys and used the squeaker  as a sort of security thing – to ward off an invading WaWa. This afternoon he was sitting on my lap in my room and Annabell opened the door to come and talk to me.  Immediately he jumped down, grabbed a toy and started squeaking  it. He is still sitting on the floor, facing the open door with the toy in front of him and Annabell is gone.  It will take a little while to realise that she is not coming.

New plants, toxic plants and climbing plants

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs
Sturt's Desert Rose
Sturt’s Desert Rose

Tuesday and I have Herself at the doctor this morning. I expect to bring her back home and let her lie down for a while.  Our appointment is at 9am, so we should be home by 10:30 and I’ll let her rest until lunch. If she is feeling up to it I may take her out for lunch.   Yesterday I  spent the day clearing the ground – covered it with fertilizer then a Blood and Bone  mix, dug all that through and watered it all in. I planted two new flowering bushes – a Lemon coloured Hibiscus and a new bush called  Mexican Orange Blossom (White flowers) AND I have fenced the area off. Unless they have mountaineering skills ( like some dogs I know)  they should be kept out of the area. Not that I am not thankful for the work in watering they have done, but  I feel this responsibility added to their extensive Guard Duties, is really too much to expect so, fencing it off is for their own good.  I feel that this is a good time to plant these things (black thumb notwithstanding) because whilst it does say  “Full Sun” I am not certain that it means South Australian Full Sun, so, now the bite has gone out of the sun and it is cooler, it might be better and give them time to get established. I have also planted Bougainvillea (Two) along the line of the fence in the hope that they might brighten up the place a bit.  I have two different colours at the moment but I may well get two more during the course of this week and provided they all survive, it should be a nice coloured wall

The doctor appointment well and I think we are clear for a couple of months. Still  waiting to see if we need to go visit the other specialist, 20131008_151606but at the moment, she is not too bad – tired but well.  She should be ok provided she does not overdo things.

Our local hardware store also sells a limited number of plants. Once upon a time we had three Garden Shops – now we have but one. I bought two Bougainvillea  at the hardware store at a cost of $9:50 each. That was the last two they had.  The two I bought yesterday at the Garden shop cost me $16:95 each. This is part of a big chain and since it’s the only place in town they can charge what they like – mainly because the nearest Garden Shop is over 100 miles away. Although— having said that –  I do know a young couple who  had a house built then took a trailer to that particular Garden Shop and filled the trailer with plants for the garden they had started to lay out. In a few weeks I will be going to Adelaide and be there for a week. On the way home I will stop off at Bunnings on Main North Road and have a look to see if I want anything in the way of plants. I’ll probably stop at the Arid Lands B.G. on the way through.  Oh, I did buy one plant the other day and I am unsure what to do with it. I liked the flowers and thought they would look nice. But I decided to look it up on Google and was horrified to learn that it is toxic to dogs, cats, horses sheep and cattle. It also gives off a perfume that  destroys other species of plants around it and encourages the spread of its seeds. It is called Lantana Camara and, I think I may have to be careful where I put it.

We had a little bit of precipitation (not using the other word – don’t want to cause upset)  this afternoon so that helped to get  things settled in – I hope.  In another section I have the trailer parked and I am  digging out the gravel from that area. It is unlikely that I will be able to plant anything there but I will put down weed matting and refresh  the area. There is also a very large area that’s covered in gravel but it’s the cheapest stuff you can get so it does not look all that nice. I will, over time clear all that away and again refresh it  with some decent gravel – granite chips perhaps.

It's a hard life
It’s a hard life

I have never had any problem feeding my associates. Well, not strictly true in that I have to have a gate between them –  one on one side of the gate – one on the other. Chienne  gets right into the food dish as soon as it is put in front of her. She raises her head only when her bowl is empty. The Man, on the other hand, herself calls O.C.D. He has a ritual he has to go through – sniff, walk away – sniff, walk around daddy’s legs, –  sniff, walk around daddy”s legs – sniff, walk away, return, eat. If I fed them together after the first walk away, Chienne would be in there and finished before he came back. Ok, so he’s weird, but I guess he fits in quite nicely. He sleeps a lot and I still carry him when we go for “walks”.

I am still undecided  about accommodation in Adelaide for the State Assembly and I’m leaning towards a hotel closer to town and about equal distance between the two places I have to go. I think that might be the place.

Lost in Cyberspace – again!

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

By look looks of things we might have sorted out the email system this time. The emails that arrived two days ago are still there and nothing has vanished into cyberspace. So that’s good because I am expecting some emails from Adelaide in the next few days and they are important and I cannot afford to lose them. I have a gmail account, which I rarely use, mainly because of the problems in changing my email address on so many different official forms.

I did say that the immediate danger has passed for the moment but there are still two fires burning out of control in inaccessible bushland. Large areas of New South Wales and parts of the Grampians are still a concern. We still have the one on the other side of the Gulf and that is almost contained.

Herself is unwell – anemic and very tired –  and she is still loosing blood and we don’t know how or why. I really hope it’s not something that is in any way, shape or form, related to the MRSA. It’s been five years this year since that  horror ordeal.  I don’t want her to go through anything like that again. It may be something as simple as the blood transfusions, which we did three years ago. I hope that’s it and not something more sinister.  If it is transfusions, the doctor makes arrangements for her to go to Day Surgery at the Hospital where she will spend most of the day. I have made the appointment for Friday so we’ll see what happens

This on-going mail problem is really bugging me.
This on-going mail problem is really bugging me.

***Insert yelling and fearful curses*** – The mail has vanished again – everything over the last three days has just gone – not deleted – just gone – as if it never was. It’s not in the recycle bin and it’s not in the deleted files folder, it’s just *poof!!!*  gone. I have directed mail to the AppleMac  deleted Outlook from this PC. Everything should now go to the Apple. I am sooooo frustrated – I thought we had solved the problem. I have told Herself “do not NOT upgrade to Windows 8 – stay with Win. 7.” I just couldn’t believe it!  Where is Sherlock Holmes when you need him?

It’s raining – actually it’s been pouring for most of the night. All we can hope for is that the rain is not just localised and that it is raining on the other side of the Gulf, which will help to contain the fire and perhaps allow our own fire crews to come home. Fire Crews from all over the region are there, including several of ours. It was reported yesterday that the fire had broken through the containment lines, but was being brought under control again. This rain should help- this fire has now been burning for a week or more.

I took the dogs out last night and I thought the sky looked a bit suspicious but I felt we could have our walk and be home before anything happened.
We didn’t make it and down it came when we were on the homeward section. Tell you what, I had carried the Man going out, but he was leading the charge and tugging on the way home, particularly the last 200 yards or so. He dislikes being wet.

Wheelchairs, native plants and a virus

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs
Samsung the noo 036
Me and my Teddy Bear!

The drive to Adelaide was fine until Port Wakefield then it rained all the way in for the last 150 klms. I had written about our trip and the problems we encountered but somehow or other it just didn’t save, and I don’t know why.  However, that aside, after some delays we brought Alan home and he has now been with us since late Saturday. He is quite frail and since he is on heavy doses of Warfarin ,this means that he has to go for blood tests every few days – something we were not told.  We were also not told that he can barely walk so I have managed to get a wheelchair for a while and that, at least, will allow me to take him out and about without worrying about his stability. However, he is family and he is here and we  will look after him and  try to keep him  as active as we can. I have to take him to the hospital tomorrow and then I am going to take him on a road trip over to the Arid Lands Botanic Gardens. I want some new plants for the new area I have prepared and  we can have lunch – if we get away from the hospital in time.

The eremophila are doing well (I think – well they are still alive) and I want to look at some native bushes. I do not know much about plant names but my Native Plant book calls them – ” Correa Reflexa” – Native Fuchsia / “Pomaderris  Obcordata” /  Wedge – leaved Pomaderris and I will take the book with me. They are Arid – low rainfall plants so they should be available in the Gardens. If they are not, I am certain they will have something similar. I did not get the opportunity to find out since  it has been raining for most of the day. If I had been on my own I would have gone through to the Arid Lands Botanic Garden, but the thought of pushing a wheelchair all the way from the car park to the shop and nursery in the rain did not really appeal to me. And the oddest thing is that the temperature climbed to 40c  in other areas and sparked off several bush fires, one in South Australia and one in Victoria.  After Easter, I will try and organise the trip to the Arid Lands Botanic Garden.

Quick update : I have influenza and  quite painful – but provided I don’t sneeze or cough, or talk too much I am fairly good. It’s sort of like the old comedian joke ” It only hurts when I laugh”. I feel like (and probably look like) an idiot wandering around with one of these medical face masks on and if you should go to my doctor’s surgery, he insists that you wear one – and no, he’s not Japanese. Modern trend I guess.

PS. It’s still raining.

Winter is heading off – the sooner the better.

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs
Scanda Personal

I think winter is starting to move on and make way for spring and summer. It would really be nice if we had a summer this year. I just want some warm weather so I can get out and get on with some of the projects I have lined up-  such as the decking and replacement of the roof on the pergola, the concrete and  rebuilding of the washing area an for these I need  several days of dry weather. We have not been getting dry weather. It rained for two days this week including this morning.

I have been using a Filofax for years. I have a Samsung Galaxy S 2 but I prefer to write things down on paper with a pen. I joined  phILOFAXY and I did make some comments on there, but with the passing of time I  get the feeling that it is really not a group for me.  It’s run by some really nice people and I like some of the ideas and the web comments and I will probably continue to look at it, but I won’t comment on there anymore. However,I will continue to look at the blogs that I like and that interest me.

She who must be obeyed, has been quite ill and I have had to  take her to the hospital for teatment.  Her doctor was concerned about her so he had her put on to a Ventolin machine for about 40 minutes and it really helped her. I have spent much of this week recovering from the flu and trying to look after my good lady. She is breathing a lot easier now, but I feel she should be in the house and not go out for a little while. She wants to go to church and I feel she should not. We do have a Board meeting afterwards but we can manage. She rarely takes time for herself and she should. With the  ‘gravel’ in her voice she sort of sounds like Darth Vader on a good day. Poor thing…