Wetlands – Page 4 – Edgar's Page

Annabell, Funerals and Monday again

21/05/2018 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

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.

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!!

Out and about – again.

22/04/2018 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Well, that’s one task almost completed. I have finished writing the Church Newsletter and have now sent it off to my two proof readers, one of which is Annabell. Once they come back to me and I make the corrections, I will send out the Newsletter by email to those who have it and by snail mail to those who do not and a general after service distribution to the congregation. There is no charge for the newsletter and we pay for this ourselves. It takes a lot of work but I enjoy doing it ( mostly). Next task is an article for the State Newsletter, the minutes of the RFDS

Meeting and a letter of resignation from the West Terrace Consultative Committee. My church are unhappy with my membership of this committee in that, due to increased costs in fuel and accommodation, it is no longer a cost that the church is willing to continue to meet. It’s costing about $800 a year and it’s high time someone from Adelaide started doing their share of the work and being part of Adelaide committees. At first it was acceptable and I could travel down by coach, go to the meeting, walk back to Franklin St. and get the coach back on the same day. With the downturn in employment and a decline in population and thus coach use, the timetable was changed and no longer meets our needs, ( last coach leaves Adelaide at 4pm. – Meeting starts at 3:30 ) so it requires a drive down and an overnight stay, and that’s bumping up the costs, and hotel charges change with the season or what’s happening in Adelaide. I think it is a great pity but fully understandable and it is an amount we could put to better use.

We have not been wandering this week – other than the wetlands – and I have spent much of the time trying to catch up on cleaning up. After the windy conditions over much of the week, the place is covered in leaves. The morning we head to the wetlands and the afternoon I clean up around the place. Weather has been odd – to say the very least – and we have now experienced the warmest April on record with 10 consecutive days with temperatures over 30c. This week it is going to drop down to the mid 20c but then it’s going to build up again. According to what I read part of the problem is that the Ocean is warm and that’s helping to drive up temperatures and as far as I have been reading the warmth of the ocean is causing problems for the coral on the Great Barrier Reef.

Tomorrow (Monday) and the RFDS will be flying into town for a meeting to discuss the arrangements for the function on 3rd May, to see what facilities there are, where things will be set up and the catering arrangements for all the guests. I will also discover if it is the responsibility of the RFDS to notify the newspaper or if it is my responsibility to do so. I kind of suspect that will be my job.

We have an organization here called RICE – Remote and Isolated Children’s Exercise. Three ladies – a Nurse/Midwife ; A Health Care/ Social Worker: A Child Care Professional. They go out from their base and visit outback and isolated properties. They announce their dates in advance so other families have the opportunity to join them at the designated property. The Land Rover is filled to the brim with toys and games.. The Nurse/Midwife Practitioner talks to the moms and discusses health and children related matters- the Health Care person talks to any Aboriginal women that may be there and feel more comfortable talking to an Aboriginal person and the child care person, sets up the games and toys and spends the day playing and looking after the children. Other than toys and medical equipment, there is also bottles of water and baskets of fruit. The base is at the Port and their “Clinic” covers covers 620,000 square klms. The Nurse Practitioner ( Marg. MacDonald-Ashe) racks up some 50,000 klms a year in her Land Rover. I was going to put an outback photograph here, but they are all copyrighted

Walking the Wetlands

30/03/2018 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs, House, Garden and Dogs

Have been down to the wetlands the last few days and found the water level has really dropped. So much so that the bottom of the main pond is visible in one area. Still, walking around is not any different. Well it is a bit in that the Benji has a sore paw and walking on gravel hurts him, so I have to carry him over the gravel parts. Well, ok – I guess that’s part of the job description. The work on the Cafe/Kiosk seems to have come to a halt for the moment and I am not really expecting much movement until next summer. See, I am optimistic! The Whyalla jetty was damaged in a storm last year and closed down for safety reasons. It was popular with fishing people and people who just wanted a walk along its length. However, it has taken council until now to decided to replace it. The new jetty will be twice the size of the old jetty and will have a circle in the middle. They say that this is the design that was voted on by public consultation but I don’t remember being asked. I suspect that it is one of these things you never hear about unless you follow the daily “doings”of council.

The reason for us being down the wetlands these last few days has to do with Benji. I normally set the alarm for 5:45 and by 6am we are on the road. The last few days he has been very reluctant to go out in the morning and the other morning when we did go out, we had only gone about 100 yards when he came right to my side and sat down and his demeanor made it clear that he really didn’t want to go. So, I turned round and took him home. Later on in the morning he was a bit more lively so I got him into the car and we drove to the wetlands. He was quite

walking and checking the p-mail – except with the gravel area. Age — well I was told he was about 5 when I adopted him and he has been with me for over two years so he’s about 7(ish) – not really old at all.

The little jetty behind Benji – in the photograph – is used for launching boats. No, not boats for people, since that’s not allowed, but radio controlled boats. While we were down there one of the boats that had been sailing suddenly stopped and refused to move. The radio controller having no effect. Since it was too far out to reach he had to telephone the council and explain and they reluctantly allowed him to put a real boat into the pond to retrieve the radio controlled boat, which had now floated over to one of the islands. He was allowed to get the motorboat but to remove the real boat as soon as that had been done. The water is ‘run-off water” not suitable for animals nor humans and, of course, the lack of rain has meant no run-off water, or very little.

Our Wedding “a few years ago” Me. Annabell and Rev. James Currie

Recently I was reading a post about “How we met” which I found interesting. How we met… I had decided that I was not going to a retreat, since I had already been at several, and stay home. One of our Collegiate Ministers, decided I must have made a mistake and picked me up in the morning. It was there at the Church of Scotland Conference Center, Carberry Towers, that I met Annabell. The following August we were married with both ministers conducting the service – Alex Keith and James Currie. That was a wee while ago !! Can’t remember the piper’s name though. Actually if we want to be correct her name is not Annabell, it’s Annabella, named after Queen Annabella, Wife of Robert III, King of Scots.

Out and about

09/03/2018 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

It’s now into Autumn (Fall) and the days are still warm to very warm ( 28 – 37C) but it’s not too bad and we can still get out and about – just have to make sure the ground is not too hot. Message last week suggested that I should be in Adelaide this weekend and I did try and comply – honestly. However, I did send a message and tendered an apology. I will not be going to Adelaide this weekend for several reasons 1) the Adelaide Fringe Festival – 2) Womadelaide – 3) the Adelaide Cup – 4) It’s a long weekend and 5) I really am not going to pay the inflated Adelaide accommodation prices this weekend. However, I am not alone in this in that the people from the South East ( Keith to Mount Gambier) will have a similar problem. Anyway, I can think of lots to do here rather than drive back and forth to Adelaide this long weekend.

It’s starting to get quite cold in the mornings and soon I will have to change from a middle weight jacket to a heavier jacket. In the summer the hot north wind comes off the desert and pushes the temperature up. In winter the wind blows in off the Spencer Gulf bringing cool to cold air from the Indian Ocean and right at the moment the wind is from the Gulf in the early morning and the late evenings. At the end of this month, the clocks go forward ( I think!) and that will make a change. We will still go out at the same time – that doesn’t change. I had intended to take a run through to the Arid Lands Gardens to get plants to replace the plants the sun kindly burned to death for me. Annabell does not go out into the garden – too many hazards there for her – fine for us but not for her, so when I am away, I try to make sure that the plants are watered before I leave – but 47C was just too much and I was away for four days. Anyway, it’s not a total loss and I still have one single Mandevilla remaining. Still, look on the bright side in that we have managed through the heat of summer without any major bushfire. Oh, we have had a few fires that were attended to, but nothing too major.

At the moment Annabell is hosting the Ladies Coffee evening and morning. She (we) were only to do it for this month but she suggested that she (we) do it for the next two months –

March and April. This would mean that she (we) would not have to host it again for the remainder of this year (barring emergencies/Illness) Why the (we) well, she cannot carry the things – extra chairs, sort out the tables and set out the chairs and put everything away on the Wednesday afternoon- so in essence, she gets the credit, but it’s a joint effort given that there things she cannot do. Actually, I’m not altogether sure that she knows where the garage is :o) Benji does well and he gets well petted by everyone, but I generally have him in the room with me. Barring emergencies or Special Purpose Meetings, I should not be leaving for Mount Gambier until mid May.

When the ladies were here this morning I took Benji for a wander round the wetlands. Still a bit on the sticky side, but not too bad. I think the temperature today was about 32C but the ground was cool, so he was ok. It being a week day I was able to talk to the workmen down

at the Wetlands and I was correct in my assumption that they are preparing the foundations for a Kiosk/Cafe at the entry to the Wetlands. This will be a good move and will certainly attract more people to the area and that in turn will lead to the upgrade and development of the Wetlands. Sadly though, Benji is not good with other dogs – other than those he already knows, like Yogi and Dougal, so this means that once the kiosk is up and running and it attracts more people to the area, it could restrict our visits to the Wetlands. But for all that, it’s a good development.

Concerning..

11/01/2018 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Temperature today (Friday) was 41c and tomorrow a 44c day before a cool change comes in in the late afternoon. Our area of the state has been designated as extreme risk for bush fires. Other parts of the State, particularly, Penola and Mount Gambier where the major forests are, has been designated catastrophic. Water Bombers are on standby. I took Benji out very early this morning before the sun came up and I took him out a little while ago, when the sun had gone down and the road had cooled down and not hot on his paws. I went out and tested the road with the back of my hand before I did take him out. By the end of the evening we did have some bush fires – three to be exact. Two of these were under control, one was still causing concern. This morning (Sunday) I took Benji out at the normal time for his walk. I had on a polo shirt and wished I had a jacket on. It was very cool this morning, dull and low cloud cover – almost cold. Talk about the weird weather patterns. Today did, in fact, climb to 47c

Last couple of days Annabell has not been too great. The hot weather sometimes gets to her, particularly when her system is low to begin with and she has been very tired these last few days. I will keep an eye on her and monitor how she is. But you know, people are strange. Not so long ago people in church were complaining that it was too hot and the old A/C was not really doing the job anymore. So, we had a long discussion and purchased two reverse cycle air conditioners – one for the top end, one for the bottom area. Yes,—– you guessed it – people asking if we could turn the A/C up or off because it was too cold. I mean it took us a while to get the cash together to buy the blooming things and have them installed – oh well, you can’t win ém all.

Going back to the Apple concerns again – I am told by someone who has an iPhone 6 that it has slowed down and she finds it annoying. I am more puzzled now than I was because I have an iPhone SE which is, in essence, a slightly modified 6 in a different case and it should be slowing down, but I honestly say that I have not noticed any difference. Then again, perhaps it could simply be that I don’t use the phone often enough to notice any difference. However, it must be said that the iPhone was a sudden rush of blood to the head and I have always had a Samsung just about forever. After this contract is completed, I am definately going back to Sumsung.

These last couple of days we have not gone out in the mornings. I still get up, but the Benji seem reluctant to go out and I am not going to drag him out because I think it’s good for him. It probably is, but that’s not the point, I am finding there is not the enthusiasm there, so perhaps we will give the early morning a miss and do something else, like go to the wetlands mid-morning. Yes it could be weather related, but I don’t think so. We are now

into our third year since adoption and some things are starting to show, like his new reluctance to be petted, and if lifted he goes nuts. He wasn’t like that before, he was very loving and very cuddly and perhaps a steressful 14 months may have something to do with that and only now, 6 months later I find

it’s starting to manifest itself. But in a number of ways he’s not quite the same dog he was. I used to be able to lift him and carry him on my shoulder – now I can’t and I don’t know why the change. But he’s still my boy and we will work together and sort out any problems with patience. As for the walks, I only went out in the early morning to escape the flies, perhaps we can still go out but at a later time and I can use a personal fly spray – although I sometimes think the darn stuff attracts them.

Swans, Beach and a Day Trip

08/04/2017 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

There are now four pairs of Black Swans at the Wetlands

Up until fairly recently there were areas that were a sort of sanctuary – Benji went there and the WaWa stayed clear. One of these areas was my bed. Benji curled himself up at the back of my legs and slept there. However, over the last week or so the WaWa has become my BFF and she now— gasp— sleeps with me. Thus my bed is no longer a Benji Sanctuary and if he goes up on the bed she stands and barks at him. Oddly enough, she is quite calm sleeping close to him at night – although she is closer to me. She still walks quietly beside him when we go out walking in the morning and at night. I know it’s old hat but still no word about if or when Sooah is coming back and this Friday it will be a year since she left Kongsoon (WaWa) with us. It could be months or it could be another year, or never, we just don’t know. However the WaWa is settling down and we can do a lot with her and the coffee ladies have sort of adopted her and when I

kept her in my room, they asked for her, so I let her out and they were happy with her running around them and letting them pet her . Everyone has noticed the difference in her this last while back.

For a while there was only one pair of black swans at the wetlands. Now there are four pair and we really do hope that we will get to see some little black swans in the not to distant future. Today at the beach much of the seagrass is back but there was more than enough clear sand to be able to play in and we even got to go into the water for a bit, although Benji is not keen and I had to coax him. Next time we go down with the intention of going into the water, I’ll take some treats with me and see what we can do. Other than that it was a great afternoon and the dogs enjoyed playing and chasing in the sand.

Due to lack of aged accommodation here one of the ladies from our church has been moved to Quorn – about 80 miles ( 130 klms) away. One of her friends wanted to go and see her before she went home to Adelaide tomorrow, so I decided to take her. Lovely day, good drive and a fun-filled conversation.It’s not something I can do every few days or even every week, but I will encourage people to visit her as often as we can so that she does not get depressed by feeling isolated, particularly as she has no family here in Australia. The drive from Stirling North to Quorn is not the easiest of drives for us “Townies” with the long winding country road through the Pichi Richi Pass, and the lower Flinders Ranges, but it’s not too bad – bit tight in places, but not too bad. The lady we went to see was bright and cheerful and seems to have settled in fairly well. She has a room at the Quorn Country Hospital and she says she is well looked after and the staff are friendly and very nice. It is a typical, single level, country hospital. It was a good visit and the only tears were when it was time for us to leave and make our way back home. When a bed is available here she will be moved back – but she understands that this could take a while. We did a bit of shopping in Port Augusta before heading back home.

Salt Lakes and Camels

13/02/2017 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

After the week out and about with Benji it rained most of the day Sunday and almost all day Monday. Today (Tuesday) wasn’t too bad and we were able to get out to the beach this afternoon. I love this since it’s a school day and the beach is empty – not a soul – well a few teenagers in cars but no one walking along the beach and I discovered that the Benji doesn’t like the sand – He Loves It ! He loves running on it and he loves exploring the seaweed. Once we got away to the very far end of the area where there are never any people, because it’s too far away from children play areas, I took him off lead (leash) and let him romp around on his own for a little while. Playtime over we made our way back to the main area again and went to the

Foreshore Cafe for some Ice -Cream. After the cafe we drove to the Wetlands and had a short wander mainly to get to the cold water fountains – the Boy had a drink and I had a drink from the peeps fountain. By then I felt that it was starting to get a bit warm so we cut over the bridge and back to the car and home. I did notice on the bridge that some people have started this French thing about locking padlocks on the bridge sides. I wonder how long that will be allowed before the Council get out the Bolt Cutters. I also took some photographs of the Black Swans and what I thought was a baby swan. However, when I looked at the photograph later you can clearly see the markings that it is a small black duck who just happened to be close to the black swans.

The next week is not going to be a great week and I don’t think the Boy and I will be doing a lot of wandering and I think the picnic is out for the moment:

Wednesday 43 / Thursday 44 / Friday / 43 / Saturday 41 / Sunday 39 (Subject to change)- that being so I don’t think we will be out much. In the morning I will bring all the pot plants under the extended carport and at least give them some shade and make sure that have water as soon as we get back from our 5:40am walk.

I did just that, gave the plants some water and carried them to a spot under the pergola. At least I have tried to keep them from being burned by direct sunlight. Friday and I have to drive to Adelaide. Tomorrow (Thursday) I will check oil and water and make sure I have extra water with me for the car – and for me. At the moment the Benji is unhappy because we had to go out and we left him at home. I had to go to the optician for my new glasses and to leave Benji in the car in this heat (42c) would have been a death sentence – but of course, he doesn’t understand that – he just knows that I am going out without him.

The drive to Adelaide was interesting in that I took a couple of photographs of some unlikely visitors to this part of the world. Yes, they are common the further north you go but not so much in this corner of the planet. It was interesting that so many people – me included – pulled up and got out of the car to take photographs. There was quite a herd of them scattered across the paddock. But that wasn’t the only interesting things this weekend. The highway passes through the small town of Lochiel then continues on to Port Wakefield. The industry of Lochiel is the salt lake. Normally these are covered in water but this time, perhaps because of the extreme heat, as I passed through there were people walking out on what was lake but now was dry land. The remainder of the lake was a bright pink – which does not show up too well. Some of the

photographs are not so good because a cool change was starting to push through and the wind was fairly high. I tried to steady myself against a tree so some of them were not too bad. The lake, incidentally,is called Bumbunga and was part of the Micronation “Province of Bumbunga” – which is a long story of recent South Australian History.

When the meetings are over I am always happy to get back in the car and head from home. After this meeting I couldn’t wait to get back in the car and get the A/C on full – the A/C in the church wasn’t working and it was pretty hot and sticky. By the time I reached Lochiel and Lake Bumbunga, the cold change was sweeping in and there was a fair wind. The temperature crashed from 40 – 21 and it will stay down for most of this week.

Poems and Promises

17/01/2017 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

I was doing something for Annabell the other day and I came across this short poem by the great Author “Unknown” Most, I suspect, will pass it over but it speaks to me:

I explained it to St. Peter,
I’d rather stay here
Outside the pearly gate.
I won’t be a nuisance,
I won’t even bark, I’ll be very patient and wait,
I’ll be here, chewing on a celestial bone,
No matter how long you may be.
I’d miss you so much, if I went in alone.
It wouldn’t be heaven for me.

I think when it is time and I make the journey I will arrive in a field with many dogs and somehow, I don’t know how, but somehow, I will recognise the barks and voices of my dogs and they will all come to greet me. I will sit myself down on the celestial field and be overwhelmed by the love and affection between me and my dogs – long parted friends back together again. I will walk with the dogs towards a great gate at the far end of the field and as I approach it, it will open. I will ask the Gatekeeper, “am I really allowed in here?”and he will answer, “Yes, of course – your dogs have vouched for you”.

Me to me – “Do you think this means something?”

Me back to me “Yes – it means you’re cracking up!”

I think it must be something to do with the excitement of Yogi going home today. I am not unhappy about that but at the same time, not greatly overjoyed. This last month we have hardly

noticed he has been there – if you forget for a moment his bouncing on me at 4am and the chaos trying to feed all three dogs at the same time – he has been no bother. I have to say though, he is petrified of the WaWa and he only leaves my room when we go out, or he goes out and at dinner time. I think he will be glad to go home and be on his own again with his own peeps. And now that he has gone home, it will be quiet for a little while – well at least until the WaWa starts up again at some shadow.

Benji and I went for a walk around the Wetlands then went out for a drive. Like most dogs, they really don’t care where we drive to as long as they are in the car with mama or dad they are quite happy. Well we drove west, about 10 miles out of town and I took a few photographs just to show

Another view - west. — Another view – west.

what our surrounding landscape is like and why we have to drive forever to get so someplace that isn’t flat. Victoria has the Grampians – which I have driven through several times when I visited Drysdale and I suppose I have been through the Blue Mountains – albeit by train. The family were here this evening. I think I did mention that Andrew’s partner was pregnant. Anyway, she had the 20 week scan and the child is a boy. I was overjoyed at this but I would have been just as overjoyed had the child been a girl. Anyway, it’s summer. How can you tell if it’s really summer? When you have a shower in the morning and it doesn’t matter what tap

(sorry -faucet) you turn on, they are both hot!

On Sunday afternoon, I decided to do what I had promised after Yogi went home, take the boy down to the beach, have a walk then sit under an umbrella with ice cream. Well it never really happened – although we were at the beach. During our walk along the sand, a white Pit bull came out of nowhere and attacked us. I was able to get Benji up on my shoulder, but the thing was after him. Fortunately we were close to the roadway and two teenagers came running out of their car to assist. They used a perfect medium to chase the dog away – they threw sand in its face. They didn’t hit the dog or harm the dog in any way, but it definitely didn’t like handfulls of sand being thrown at it so it took off – no collar, harness – nothing. The boys wanted to make sure that Benji was ok and he was but they stood out on the road until I reached my car and got him and me inside. There was no real harm done but it was a bit scary – and here’s the thing – there are big notices all along the entire foreshore area that all dogs must be kept under control at all times. There is a fine of $2000.. I don’t know – perhaps some people seem to think the rules don’t apply to them.

Benji and Walking and WaWa Panic

02/11/2016 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Part of Ada Ryan Gardens on Monday Afternoon

Tuesday am: Got up, dressed and out with the Benji at 6am this morning. We have not gone back to the old route and are in the process of planning a new one. The reason I didn’t do this before was simply that with the old route I had become a slave to the fitbit and was more concerned with steps than enjoying a walk with my dog. I am not going to let that happen again – so a new start and a new route and an acceptance that the 10 klms a day was forced and sometimes I was taking the dog out at 10:30 at night because I needed to make up distance and I knew where to go and what part of the route to take that would allow me the steps needed to achieve the goal. A thoughtful gift from my younger son had a sting in the tail. But the thing is that there are not so many different places to go walking here and generally if I am not going to the beach, wetlands or the gardens I go walking in the dark around the area. The dark because it’s quiet and because there are no flies. I hate flies and living in outback South Australia is not much of a help in that regard :o) With all this rain and flooding I think it’s going to be a bad season. The only recent change was the drive out to the Wild Dog Hill Conservation Park. Not something I want to do on a regular basis because the track is so appallingly bad in places.

I had to smile!! A lady from Chattanooga – on another site- was complaining about a high electricity bill. It was $300. There are people here in South Australia who dream of a $300 electricity bill – almost salivate really! The highest electricity costs in Australia and among the highest in the developed world. Some of the largest companies in the State considered closing down for a while to try and combat the soaring electricity costs in South Australia. Only last week one of the Electricity Providers wanted to increase costs and the application was turned down by the regulator. The provider is now appealing against the regulator’s decision.

There are, as far as we are aware, three interests in Arrium – one from Japan, one from Korea and and a British company and as far as we can make out, the British company is the front runner. The Administrator is hoping that the company will have a new owner by Christmas. My one concern – and the concern of many – is that the unions don’t screw things up by doing

something silly. For this to succeed we need everyone working together. I don’t know if it’s just me ( probably is) but I get the impression that we are being sidelined. In the past when the media wanted a quote from a Mayor in the region it was to Mayor Jim Pollock they came for a comment. These days they look to the Mayor of Port Augusta for a comment. I stated in a post some time ago that I didn’t want the current Mayor to be elected. I felt we needed a strong, independent voice, not a party hack who will fall into line with whatever North Terrace decrees. Jim Pollock looked like a Mayor and inspired confidence – this one does neither. The sideline is subtle, but I think it’s there.

Amazing how quickly things change. In the news last night the British Steel Company was the “Front Runner” for buying Arrium, now, today less than 24 hours later the South Korean Steel Company is being “courted” and an Arrium Delegation is in South Korea.

Had a serious panic this morning. I was working on the front door installing a new security door and left to go fetch another tool. And yes, I did leave the door open. A short while later I happened to notice that there was no WaWa. I searched the house for her and could not find her. I searched all around the grounds – nope. Locked up and went wandering around the area looking for the lost WaWa. Came back to get the car and go further. Decided to search the house again – nothing in my room – nothing in the other rooms – went into Annabell’s room – nothing…….wait, was that a movement?? Lifted the cover and there halfway under the bed was the WaWa. You have no idea how relieved I was to see her. I complain about her but I never want any harm to come to her. I was just so glad she was safe and well – little pipsqueak bully that she is!!

Getting out and Walking.

30/10/2016 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

This is our "Back Yard" — This is our “Back Yard”

Benji has had a good day. He had not one, but two good walks today. We went down to the Wetlands and had a good walk around the main pond. We even used the new bridge. I brought him back and had some supper and then went out for a walk around the block – not as good as our original walk, but a decent start. All in about 5.5 klms. At the start of next week I hope to feel good enough to be able to go back to our morning walk – probably not the full walk yet but we will build back up to the 10 klms per day we were doing before the knee problems.

The weather has been clearing up and the temperature tomorrow will be a nice 34c. Couple of days like that and the rainstorms will be forgotten. Sadly it wont last at the moment but it will start to do so as the season wears on. I should be able to get some work done in the garden for a change. This last week has been a sad and horrific week for news. First there was the disaster that killed four people at Dreamworld in a horrific accident. Also in Queensland, a man waiting at a bus stop, got on, threw some inflammable liquid on the driver and set him alight, then sat down on the seat at the bus stop and watched. Others helped to get passengers off the bus. When the police and fire truck arrived the man was still sitting on the seat and still watching. It has been reported that he has a criminal record and has mental health issues. The driver died. Here in

It's been a hard days night :o) — It’s been a hard days night :o)

South Australia there is concern regarding the number of home detentions that judges are handing out – car driver kills three people, judge rules it was not careless driving but simply a moment of inattention that caused the head on collision, so he gets home detention – a whole five months. It’s even more of a joke because there are not enough people to run the system and monitor home detainees so you might as well tell them to just go and sin no more and try to be a good citizen – “and what’s that – you need your license because your brother-in-law is an alcoholic and needs you to run him to the bottle shop, well that’s very community minded and I believe we can grant that for you.” Also in SA the Building Company Collapse that has left over 200 houses in limbo, has debts of quite a few millions. And on the subject of millions there is now an investigation to determine whether the Arrium board were trading whilst the company was insolvent. But buyers are now lining up so we might have a sale before Christmas and a hope that this will bring some stability to the town.

Saturday: After yesterday I decided that I had put this off long enough so rather than to wait and see how I feel next week, I got up, got dressed and took Benji out for his morning walk at 6:30 am. It was not a long walk but it was a start and each day I will go a little further until I get back to our full route again. He lay there watching me and as soon as I lifted the track suit, he was up and at my side all ready to go. We did part of the old route and he got to check the mail, so he was quite happy. It was warm as predicted but the wind kept the temperature down and it was still a coolish wind. We did much the same as we did yesterday about 5.7 klms , so we are about halfway there. I am quite happy with my reduced route for the time being.

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