RFDS – Edgar's Page

Spring has Sprung..

11/09/2020 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Spring be here! With the warmer weather and there being no restrictions, the wetlands has become a busy wee place. There are a number of reasons for this, the weather is nice, it’s quiet and peaceful and the kiosk is very popular. The food is good, well cooked, tasty and reasonable priced. Benji likes his Ice-Cream so when it’s been warm and we have completed our walk I have taken him to the kiosk, bought a dog portion in a cup for him and a cone for me. I get Rum and Raisin, he gets Vanilla. We have not been around to the ducks and geese for a little while. Benji has been having a bit of a problem with his paw so I thought it best to keep him off the gravel path. The serious gravel at the back of the Wetlands going down to where the geese are, I generally carry him over. Irrespective of the weather, the Wetlands has become the ïn” place at the moment and although the walking areas are fairly quiet, the kiosk is always active – and the Ice-Cream is nice.

Yesterday was a lovely day, hardly a breeze and 24c – really nice and yes, the Wetlands was packed. There was not a parking space to be had. I drove through drove to the foreshore and

we spent the afternoon there. There was more seagrass than there was sand but what sand there was Benji enjoyed. We left just before schools ended for the day and were able to miss the traffic through town. Today – another nice day – the Wetlands was busy but there were spaces in the carpark so I parked there and took Benji for a walk, doing our figure of eight (8) We start off at the bridge and go around until we reach the other side of the bridge, – we cross the bridge and walk in the same direction, returning to the bridge and completing a circuit of the area. I took a few photographs and we went home. At home I removed the disk from the camera to load

The New Jetty – still not complete yet. Should be open in a few weeks.

the photographs onto the computer and had lunch. After lunch the boy and I took off to Hummock Hill and the Foreshore. I tried to take a photograph and could not – I had forgotten to get the disc out of the computer. I drove up to the Electrical Retailers and bought a new disc – I needed a spare anyway. From there we drove back to the foreshore and Hummock Hill and spent the afternoon there. It was a lovely afternoon and the place was quite busy with a good number of people around.

This week was the AGM of the local Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) and I was asked to resume the role of Secretary- which I did. Annabell wasn’t terribly happy, but although I have had concerns I feel that the organisation and its goal is bigger than petty differences. Anyway, due to Covid the group has not been operational for four months so it was a fair break. Time to get back to work. Having said that, we have had three funerals in the last four weeks (the latest this afternoon). We hadn’t even started this funeral today when we were told that another of our friends had died. Sad, yes, but we wont be involved with that.

It’s only Wednesday and already I want the weekend to hurry up and get here. It’s been a very strange week – funerals aside – and up to a point Benji has not been given as much

attention as I would like. Sunday, sometime after the boys had left, I ended up taking Annabell to the hospital; Monday the RFDS AGM: Tuesday, Ladies Coffee evening: tonight just

We will have Yogi back for a few days next week.

too tired to do much and Annabell wasn’t feeling the best. The funeral today took a lot out of her. The Church Newslletter/|Magazine is due out next week. Well, that’s not going to happen! I would like it to but I am less than halfway through it. I do want our magazine to end up like the State Magazine to which very few contribute – which is very sad.

I had Annabell at hospital at 1am this morning and I have to take her back at 8:15 this morning when the two doctors are on duty. She is not a well lady and I am concerned about her. Acording to the nurse this morning she may require a whole bank of tests to determine the problem, so we will just have to look after her and support her. I need to be at church, but other than that I will cancel all my activities for this weekend – Annabell is more important.

Towards the Final Curtain V

09/08/2020 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

The police are at their wits end and are at a loss on what to do next. Hardly a week passes without there being a death on our roads, drivers taunting police and engaging in police pursuits, which have to be terminated because it’s too dangerous for the police to continue. And if the clown ( not the word I really want to use) crashes the car and is killed- guess what – it’s the police fault – it was only a car for goodness sake! And it’s not just males. What made the police and the rest of us, shake collective heads in despair.? Less than five minutes drive from here ( my house) a driver rolled the car in the scrub, one passenger was badly injured and was flown by the RFDS to Adelaide, where he died. The other passenger suffered “multiple limb injuries” and treated here in hospital as was the driver of the car, who suffered minor injuries. This was NOT the outcome of a police chase. Ok having taken that in, now take this in – The driver of the car was charged by Major Crime Investigators with causing death and harm, by Dangerous Driving. There was also a raft of other charges. The Driver of the car was 12 years of age. The passenger who died was his 20 year old brother and the other injured person was 11 years of age. In Heaven’s Name – where do we go from here? This is not over – there will be more to come out of this. The main area for these deaths on the roads is Adelaide and surrounds and it is

Just so tired, daddy. Not able to go walking.

concerning me that I have to drive down there in a couple of weeks and right at the moment I am not greatly enthused. A few days later a teenager walked free from court after a crash that killed his passenger, The driver suffered head injuries and said he doesn’t remember the crash or the fact that he was high on drugs and alcohol when he lost control of the car, so the Kindly judge gave him a suspended sentence and he walked free from court. In South Australia you can kill someone, go to court, plead guilty and get 40% deduction of your sentence just for pleading guilty and saving the state the cost of a trial.

I have had an email yesterday which now tells me that there will be no physical meeting next week. The people cannot come to Adelaide from Queensland so the Conference will be by Zoom- which is yet to be set up, so no doubt I will get all the necessary information in the fullness of time.`My problem is that the NBN is not stable in this area and I keep on dropping out. This is what happened at the RFDS Conference – freeze up, then drop out.

I have been doing some further reading on the South Australian National and Conservation Parks and discovered that with the exception of parts of the Flinders Ranges National Park, to even have a dog in your car within the bounds of a National Park can still attract a hefty fine. The reason for the part exemption of the Flinders Ranges National Park, is simply that the main road runs through the middle of the park. However, here’s an interesting thing – I have said that dogs are banned from National Parks – Service Dogs are not. Interesting.

On the subject of the Flinders Ranges, the weather, which is cold, wet and miserable was soo bad these last few days that it was snowing at the Flinders National Park and there are reports that it looked like a ski area. Apparently it has snowed there before but that was about 60 years ago. So, really, it has been cold here the last week or so. Down here it has just been raining almost constant, but a couple of times it has not really been “rain” but a continual wet and cold Scottish Drizzle. Might not be heavy but it’s just as wet.

Towards the Final Curtain U.

13/07/2020 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

The weather for the last few days has been quite mild and at 22c good for wandering around the lighthouse and the foreshore.. Most of the restrictions have been lifted so it’s

What ?? Get out of the car on to the cold road??? You Jest!!

good to get out and about . However, it was never really much of a problem up here. The kind of restricted period has given me a lot of time to play with my cameras and I have bought a macro lens for the Canon and ordered one for the Nikon. As I said before, I have a lot to learn and whilst I have no one here to teach me ( will be better when the camera club starts up again) but I like to potter around taking photographs of things and places that interest me and, of course, lots of photographs of Benji – who even has his own folder on my computer. It is still very cold in the mornings. On Tuesday morning Benji and I went up to Hummock Hill to photograph the sunrise. It was bitterly cold and my hands were freezing. Like little digits of ice! Anyway, I took quite a few photographs of the rising sun and the surrounding area, but I just don’t seem able to get the setting right for a sunrise. Photographs club starts back next week, so I will start to get some information that I can put into practice. I did buy a new Camera Backpack which I am quite pleased with. With the restrictions in place the President of the Camera Club posted a letter, number or colour on the website each week. This week the letter was “J” and Annabell and I came up with a few ideas. I did go to the Shopping Centre and photograph the Jewellers, but I wasn’t too happy with that – I felt it was “Ordinary” and I wanted something different. In the end I drove into town and photographed the Court House and posted it under the tile “Justice”. Our court house, unlike Adelaide, is a reddish brick building, not at all inspiring but I was quite happy with what it represented.

I was not involved at the RFDS Fundraising this weekend but I did drive down to the Cuttlefish Area to catch up on what was happening. Both days have been very productive both for the RFDS and the Cuttlefish Dive

Organisers. It was very busy and despite having extra supplies, the RFDS was starting to run out. Fortunately by that time things were slowing down and heading towards the end of the day. Benji and I left the Cuttlefish area and drove round to the far side of the point and the Lighthouse. I like the lighthouse – it’s a nice drive and it’s a quiet enough area and the lighthouse always makes for a good photograph subject. I have a one-person tent and I was thinking of upgrading this to a larger tent which would allow me to go off overnight with Benji and a photo trip. Of course we would always be at the edge of the National Park and actually driving through the Park should not be a problem as long as I keep him in the car when I get out to take any photographs. All pretty much in the air at the moment – not really the weather for camping.

I went back out and did another round of sunrise photographing, but still not happy with the results. I’ll most likely delete them again. Well, if nothing else, the delete function on the camera is getting a good workout. Anyway, it was -1c and bitterly cold so I’m not doing that again – at least, not until it’s a bit warmer. Benji and I have not been going out in the

early morning walking because it has been so cold. We have taken our walk later in the day when it’s a bit warmer. We also go wandering in the Wetlands and the Foreshore. To add to the cold the last two days have been wet. According to the forecast we will have showers until Tuesday – so not a lot of walking. The Cuttlefish Diving is on again this weekend for a three day period – Friday, Saturday and Sunday (today being Saturday) and the RFDS are organising the catering for the three days. A very busy three days for the crews involved, For the remainder, I have been to the council and the two hardware stores and no indication as to when they will be ready recommence their weekly barbecues.

I include the Ada Ryan Gardens photograph mainly because the Council with grants have been working out there and have spent a bunch of cash to install new ground lighting. It looks impressive on the council page so as soon we as get some dry weather I will go out some evening and take photographs of the gardens under the new lighting.

Towards the Final Curtain O

30/01/202030/01/2020 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Growing up in Scotland there were – and probably still are – a number of popular brands of paints. One of the most popular was Dulux. This, as far as we children were concerned, was a British Company using a very recognisable Old English Sheepdog as its company mascot. As children we stopped thinking of the dog as an Old English Sheepdog and it became – and I expect in the UK at any rate, still is – known as the Dulux Dog. I liked

Dulux, not really as much for the dog but more for the fact that this was the paint my dad used. That’s all there was to it, the Corporate Identity, the fact that the company traded in India, Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand, Canada – and other countries, was unknown to us and as children – what did we care anyway. For us it was just Paint. It has been almost 40 years since we left Scotland so we brought with us the memories of all these early days. I have no idea what has changed or how much has changed. For example, I can say this – I worked for a Government Department and the place where I was stationed, the Distillery and all the Bonded Warehouses, have been demolished; everything has been flattened. I mean some of these warehouses were built by Prisoners of War — From Napoleon’s Army ! So if I annoyed anyone by saying “It’s a British thing” then I apologise but that’s what I knew and understood and when I wrote it I was thinking of my childhood, nothing else.

The Australia Day celebration ( at least here) ended up being cold and very windy. In the afternoon it was a nice breeze, not too cold at all, but as the sun went down, the wind

Bouncy Castles deflated because of the wind.

increased and the South Wind off the Spencer Gulf was strong and cold. So much so that the Bouncy Castles were taken down and two of the major kite units broke their moorings and came down. The RFDS Site was fully exposed to the wind and the ladies were just about frozen, so they closed fairly early as did a number of other sites. The fireworks still went ahead. In previous years we have been at Ada Ryan Gardens for Australia Day but this time the City Council was making a great play about Australia Day returning to the Foreshore. I don’t think it was the success they had been counting on. The coolness of the day would have been fine, but the wind put a bit of as dampener on things. Personally I would liked to have had Benji with me – it was cool enough to have him, but the thought of fireworks close up was the decider to leave him at home – to look after mummy!

Next weekend is the first meeting of the year so I will be heading off to Adelaide for a few days. Mount Gambier wont happen until the May meeting. I have plants in pots and they are dying. Those that are not dying are severely wilted. They may come back but based on past results it is unlikely. Yes I pick heat tolerant plants but 46c is pushing it just a tad. At 06;40 this morning they were all watered and those that could be moved were moved into the shade, but the extreme heat was just too much and even the shaded ones suffered. Even now in the early evening it is still too humid to take Benji out for a walk. The present temperature at 7:45 pm is 32c and not expected to fall below 28 overnight with heavy rainstorms and possibly flooding

forecast for tomorrow and Saturday- what joy! From the sublime to the ridiculous.

Towards the Final Curtain I

21/12/2019 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

The heatwave continues with temperature soaring to 49c in some parts of the regions around here. At the moment we have touched 46.5c and that is expected to get even hotter today and tomorrow. Port Augusta recorded 50.1c but the “Official Temperature” was only 44c. I have problems with this “Official Temperature” guff and I see it the temperature is what that big bright orange ball in the sky beats down on your wee head – that’s the temperature – not some reading on a thermometer, protected from direct sunlight, protected from rain and protected from wind. It may well be “Official”but that doesn’t make it real.

Government: The fires are getting worse and now the outer suburbs of Sydney are at risk

Prime Minister: Yes I know

Government: The temperatures will soar into the high 40s this entire week and break records across the whole nation

Prime Minister: Yes I know

Government: The Drought is spreading and cattle are dying and farmers are in desperate straights

Prime Minister: Yes I know.

Prime Minister: Address your concerns to the Deputy Prime Minister, I am going on holiday

Oh I agree, everyone deserves a holiday, but when your house is threatened by fire, it is not perhaps the best time to take said holiday. At this time the Prime Minister should be here – taking happy family photographs in a warm sunny place while firefightere have died at home, and an area, bigger than Wales is burning , is not a good look.

A temperature reading at Waikerie in South Australia was 51c and my thermometer was reading 50c – which is as high as it can go but the “Official” temperature is 44.3c. Well, yes, it’s still hot but 6 degrees

Wonder what the “Official”temperature is.

lower than what it really is. Tomorrow (Friday) is going to be the hottest day of the heatwave with Saturday predicted to be thunderstorms – which should be interesting since I have a fundraising day for the RFDS. Fortunately the one that the Council was trying to organise for Saturday evening, has been cancelled. We really needed more than two people although John and I would have managed, we have done it before, but certainly under less stressful weather conditions. Just had a look at the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) site and it says 45c with overnight at 28c – another uncomfortable night. Tomorrow we are looking at about 46+c before the cool change sweeps through, bringing much welcome and needed relief.

Friday and the temperature did indeed reach 45c but in some parts of the state it went higher and a fire started. It is now burning out of control and heading towards the town of Lobethal in the Adelaide Hills. Everything was thrown at this fire but the high heat, the difficulty of the terrain and the changing winds just blew it out of control. Despite all they have on their hands, New South Wales sent some of their firefighters down to help us. There have been reported injuries to firefighters and police and 28 people have been taken to hospital. The wind whipped up dust storms for a while – which really didn’t help matters. We just have to pray that nothing happened here because our firefighters and units have gone to help fight the fires in the Adelaide Hills.

The fundraising for the RFDS that was supposed to happen today – didn’t. What with all the heat and the problems thoughout the week dates were mixed up. Well yes, we do have a fundraising

Part of the fire area in South Australia.

event and it is on 22nd December but somehow days got mixed up and it was believed that the 22nd was today (Saturday) – it”s tomorrow (Sunday) and I’m not down to do it – it being Sunday. Anyway, we have put it down as a heat related mix-up. The fires here in South Australia have claimed two lives and injured 28 – many of those injured are firefighters and the present outlook is not good.

Towards the final curtain D

11/10/2019 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Whilst the good people of the Northern Hemisphere wax lyrical about Autumn – or Fall, here in this little corner of the Southern Hemisphere, Spring has Sprung and Dear Mother Nature has

given us a reminder of who is really in charge. The temperatures this week have steadily climbed to 41c, with a high North Wind. In this corner of the planet a North Wind is a hot wind coming off the desert. It was not the most pleasant of days to be running a fundraising Barbecue for the RFDS , but never the less, we did it anyway. Given that it was the middle of a long weekend and many people were away, if we made more than $150, I will be very surprised. Why did we do it- we were asked to – that simple. And, of course it was for the Royal Flying Doctor Service. However, we have a policy that if a trader asks for the RFDS to do a fundraising venture, I will do my upmost to get a team together and accept on the belief that if we refuse, they may ask someone else next time. LOL, I have even organised a fundraising event from one thousand kilometers away when I was in Mount Gambier – and yes, I have had my head examined – several times!! Most of the time it’s good fun – we work and chat with customers and when it comes to the RFDS, people are very generous, and they were this weekend too – even although there were not all that many – and I expressed the belief that there was more money put into the donations tin than there was to the cashbox. Anyway, it’s funds that we didn’t have at the start of the day and that’s what matters. Having been through an early 41c on Saturday, the temperature crashed overnight to be 24c on Sunday – Monday wasn’t too bad and today (Tuesday) I was feeling very cold when I took Benji out for a walk at 6am. I guess I was too pig-headed to go back for a heavier jacket, so I just continued with the walk, but it was a cold morning.

One of the drawbacks of living “in the sticks” is the fact that I miss city shopping. I don’t mean that the shops here are not good, they are, but there are things not available in the country that are commonplace in the

city. For example, I want shoe polish, not the common New Zealand (Kiwi) Shoe polish but a polish that is produced here in Australia and is not petroleum based. Decent size Australian Company but products not available here. We really only have one shoe shop here and that’s “Spendless” with small shoe departments in Harris Scarfe and Target. The shoe shops we did have have all gone. How can you survive in a place where 60% of the population wears flip-flops or no shoes, 35% wear sandals or sneakers and only 5% of us wear actual shoes.

Over many (Too many) years I have gone from paper organisers, to electronic organisers ( Palm Pilot ) and finally back to paper, Filofax, Van der Spek, Mulberry and my current Kikki.k. I have gone from Personal, to A6, back to personal and finally to A5 and Kikki.k. It was all so very easy once. I was in Adelaide fairly often so was able to buy what I needed in either David Jones or Borders, and in a few of the stationers. Not so now. David Jones no longer stock much in the way of Planners/Organisers and I think has only one Filofax in stock and Borders closed down. Now I have to order on line from China, Hong Kong, or, if it is from the UK or the USA, I practically have to donate an

Benji on the Hill; We were just up there again this afternoon.

arm or a leg to defray the postage costs. For other things I have a supplier in Perth, Western Australia, and she’s very good. For my inserts these days, I download a system that I like in the size I want, copy it to a USB and take it to the local printer who will print everything for me in an A5 size — I supply the paper, which is great because it means I get the paper quality that I really want.. And yet, it would appear that paper-based planners and still quite popular, but in South Australia it certainly doesn’t feel like that.

Wetlands and Dogs

Featured by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

These last few days Benji has been very reluctant to go out for out early morning walk. I can understand this – it has been very cold. I thought that I would leave the walk to later in the morning – say 8am instead of 6am. I also thought it might be a good idea that we go to the Wetland instead of a local walk. It was a cold but lovely morning this morning and the ponds at the wetlands were like glass – no breeze at all – not a ripple.

However I decided it was not such a good idea. There were a good number of people about and all of them had a dog, or dogs/. Benji does not get on well with strange dogs so the walk really wasn’t much fun for him. I think we will just stick to the local area in the morning and go to the wetlands in the afternoon when it seems to be a lot quieter. The interesting thing was that all the people with dogs this morning were males. If I want to go to the foreshore I have to remember to take bags with me as the council has not yet replaced the dog waste bags that it removed for the upgrade.

Benji is a rescue dog and we have not known what his true age was. In October of this year it will be

four years since we adopted him. At the time I was told he was three years, so plus the four we have had him, that would make seven. I always felt he was older and it turns out I was right – he was born in November 2010, which means he will be nine years, not seven, this year. All of this is academic because in the end I don’t care what age he is, he’s my boy and I love him dearly. However, it may go a ways to explaining why he is so reluctant to get out of bed and get out of the house at 6am on a winter morning – and – I shall have to take the pace at which I walk into consideration and slow down a tad. Of course the reluctance to get out of bed and get out of the house on a cold winter morning could simply be a kind of human trait, since sometimes we are pretty reluctant to do similar ourselves. I had out longer than usual last night and he actually did slow down and he seemed to me to be a bit tired, so I lifted him up on my shoulder and carried him for a while. One of the neighbours asked “who was taking who for the walk?” After a little while I put him back down and he seemed to have a lot more energy

This coming weekend is the weekend of the Whyalla Show (Fair). The RFDS will be on display again this year but I will not be attending this year as I will be in Adelaide for a Presbytery Meeting. We have Yogi here! Jim took what is believed to be a slight stroke and was taken to hospital. Fay is spending much of the day there so she asked if we would look after Yogi for a few hours. I said I would and went down and collected him at 8am this morning (Wednesday) I said before that he has not been a well dog and he has certainly lost a fair bit of weight and he is crying a lot, but that could be because this was all so sudden and he is anxious and does know what is happening. At the moment he is a sad little dog, but Benji and me will look after him for a bit.. Yogi was only here for a few hours and he “cried”much of that time. I held him up on my lap but I had to be careful and not put Benji offside.

As it turned out, Jim did not have a stroke – not even a minor one. He underwent a brain scan an ECG and various other tests and when they proved negative he was allowed home. When I took Yogi back home Jim was

sleeping. He will check in with the hospital every few days for a little while to make certain everything is ok. However they really don’t know what caused the turn he had. Fay was chastised by the doctor because she drove him to the hospital instead of calling an Ambulance. Her comment was that the ambulance can take too long to arrive and is was quicker to drive him to hospital. That’s a worry…

The Sands of Time and a Crazy (Confused) Dog

30/07/2019 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Tomorrow (Saturday) my son and I along with another person will be running an RFDS fundraising event at a local hardware store: We did this and I tell you it was the coldest I have ever been all winter – thus far. It was freezing cold down there with practically no shelter from a cold, biting wind. I did have a jacket on but it was a light jacket and not a lot of help. Still we got through the day. Otherwise it has been a pretty quiet week. Last week one of the coffee days was cancelled because of the lack of numbers and the evening group has also dropped in numbers – not quite as bad as the Wednesday morning group, but still down from when I set up this place for them coming here. I set out the room for seventeen ladies now there are only about 11 of them. This week Annabell will be part of the missing number as she drops out for the two meetings. On Monday (tomorrow) I have to take her to hospital for 7am and she will undergo an eye operation. It’s day surgery and she should be out in about three hours and I’ll take her

home and watch over her for the rest of the day. I was told for at least 24 hours after the surgery. I am also responsible for getting the drops into her eye three times a day. I was given instructions about washing hands before administrating the eye drops, use A bottle first – wait ten minutes, wash hands (in case I may have touched something) and use the B bottle. I have to administer the first bottle for a week only and the second until finished. So, for the next week or so I am Chief Cook – and bottle washer, as well as being chauffeur, although my driving duties are somewhat curtailed until such time as she can go out without dark glasses.

You gotta love the timing – as I am in the process of re-decorating and painting. I did stop painting for a few days whilst she recovered but I am back into it again and hope to have everything finished by this evening. True, I get almost as much paint on me as I do on the walls, but still, I find it enjoyable and therapeutic with the added joy of pulling one end of the

blue masking tape and watch it all fall off. I know, I know – small things and all that :o) I did finish the painting this evening. cleared up and tidied up put things back together for the moment until everything has to be moved for the new floor covering to be laid. Presently I am sitting in front of the computer with a coffee which I will sip quietly whilst contemplating Annabell”s words to me – “You know the bathroom is looking a little jaded. Could do with a lick of paint”.

I had come to the end but something happened this morning that I want to mention. Because of the painting I had taken Benji’s bed into my room and that’s where he slept these last few nights. Generally he sleeps at my back so I felt a little bit abandoned. Anyway, I got up this morning and made ready to take him out. He didn’t want to go. Fair enough, it was a tad cold. Sat at the computer and after a few minutes he started pawing at me. I asked him if he wanted to go out – the ears came up and the tail wagged, so I took that as a yes and off we went. We walk some 1.75 miles in the early morning, come home and he has his after walk treat, then he heads to bed. He wandered over to the area where his bed generally is – no bed.. So I took him through to my room and he went into his bed. I left the room, he followed and went back to sniffing the area where his bed should be. I think there might have been some message in this so I went to the room (he followed) picked up his bed, brought it back to where is should have been. He had a sniff, jumped into his bed and promptly went to sleep. Perhaps it’s me! Perhaps I’m just a slow learner and should have realised that the bed should have been available right after he had taken his human for a walk. It’s a worry.

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.

Dogs, Heaven and the RFDS Jet

31/05/2019 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

… then I’ll hike it through Glen Falloch where the mountain breezes blow

And I’ll draw up in the evening in the Valley of Glen Coe.

Of course, in my idea of heaven the road wouldn’t be there and all the dogs I have had throughout my life would be with me. There would be cloud and mist but it would never be cold. There would be sunshine sometimes, but not too much and if food was needed, then it would just be there as required. I think there would be no people – I have never really been much of a people person – at least I don’t think so because really, I prefer solitude. I loved the isolation of being in the mountains, away from noise, people and civilisation and yet, many of the things I do or am involved in, are serving or helping people.I used to think that this was God’s idea of a practical joke – He knows I am not really a people person, so He sees to it that all the things I do I am involved with people. But then, God is just and to balance this out He also gave me a love of dogs, and over the years all the dogs that I have had, each one has been the joy of my life, all in their own different ways. In a blog I read recently I wrote about this and mentioned that for some time after Benji was adopted I was calling him Chienne, but he was very forgiving. You know, you read it all the time but it never really becomes trite “A dog is the only creature on earth that loves you more than he loves himself.”

We definitely cannot have Max back again. I know I keep saying this but twice already today there have been several ‘spats’ between the two and when Annabell and I have to go out, we do not leave them together – something we have never had to do with any other visitor – not even the WaWa. There has been rain and high wind over much of the State. We have had some rain and some wind but nothing like the lower areas. About twenty miles further out in the bush there was some flooding and the road to where my son works was flooded. He decided to come in the back way, which, as it turns out, was not a great decision. He ran into a pothole and damaged the converter and tore the exhaust system. We got it back and into the garage and his ‘detour’ will set him back about $600. I will be leaving the post as Secretary of the RFDS Branch at the AGM in July. Don’t know what happens after that – we’ll see. I decided to leave because at one point I was concerned for Annabell after the car crash and the fact that we never seemed to be away from the hospital or the Doctor Surgery. Things have calmed down, everything seems to have cleared but we have a young lady who is very keen to be secretary and she has sort of taken over, and come the AGM, we will elect her as the Secretary and I will bow out. Well, not really, there are some things I said I would continue to do

People said it couldn’t be done. They said no one could do it. So we tackled this thing that couldn’t be done and we did it – a world first. The Royal Flying Doctor Service was under a bit of a cloud with the new Intensive Care

Unit (The new Jet). People were concerned that it wouldn’t work in South Australia because it wouldn’t be able to land on a dirt strip in the far northern outback of the State. So the RFDS organised an outback Sheep station get the airstrip ready because the jet was coming. The sheep station is 370klms north of Port Augusta, a 7 hour drive from Adelaide. The jet covered the distance in just under 40 minutes and made a perfect landing on the dirt runway. It made just as perfect take-off. There is a you tube of the landing, which I have saved, and I hope it works. In areas further north than the Flinders it would take the normal RFDS Aircraft about 1 hour and forty-five minutes to cover the distance back to Adelaide. The Jet will do it in just under an hour, which makes a big difference in a life emergency.

We have not seen the jet up here and it is unlikely that we ever will – well not for a medical emergency anyway – perhaps for a goodwill visit. —- I have deleted the You Tube Video as I have been told that it is a channel 7 video and thus copyright.

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