Kerran presenting the Young Citizen of the Year award.
Friday, January 26, 2007
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
School "holidays" over
The new school year resumes on Monday, but I don't feel as though the holidays have really got going at all!
Hospitals, doctors, waiting rooms, bathrooms and never-ending cleaning and cooking have consumed the break.
Hopefully we will get away later in the year to use the accommodation voucher I gave Rick for Christmas.
Hospitals, doctors, waiting rooms, bathrooms and never-ending cleaning and cooking have consumed the break.
Hopefully we will get away later in the year to use the accommodation voucher I gave Rick for Christmas.
Bathroom
It took all day to apply the cement to the shower area, but it does look vaguely like a shower alcove again.Angas will be back in about 10 days to apply the tiles!
Bathroom...gravel hole
Yesterday the bathroom hole was filled with gravel almost up to floor level. Another mess to clean up and I'm over grit and grime!Monday, January 22, 2007
Roadwatch
Several years ago Jessie and I "fought" with our school to adopt a section of roadway as part of the state Roadwatch programme. Eventually we achieved our aim, but it has been a constant struggle to get classes involved. Despite the fact that I am only a casual teacher at the school I organise the police, volunteers and the local council to do the 4 cleanups required each year.
Everyone seemed too busy last year, so only 3 cleanups were done, the last being in June 2006.
This morning, Rick and I collected 8 large bags of litter in 3 hours from the 2.5km stretch of road, going up and down both sides. Whilst the bulk of the rubbish originates from drink and food containers and packaging, some of the more unusual items included a mobile phone pad, shifting spanner, thousands of cigarette butts, drink seals by the hundreds, a McDonald's and a Hungry Jack's container (the nearest of either outlet is 150km away!!), half a tyre, numerous cardboard boxes, a pair of socks and so the list continues.
Details of the programme can be found at:
http://www.kesab.asn.au/roadwatch/index.htm
With the national Tidy Towns judging coming up at the end of February the town needs to be at its best - we won the State competition in 2006 - so we are just doing our little bit to help. Next job tomorrow will be the public garden over the road that I look after.
Everyone seemed too busy last year, so only 3 cleanups were done, the last being in June 2006.
This morning, Rick and I collected 8 large bags of litter in 3 hours from the 2.5km stretch of road, going up and down both sides. Whilst the bulk of the rubbish originates from drink and food containers and packaging, some of the more unusual items included a mobile phone pad, shifting spanner, thousands of cigarette butts, drink seals by the hundreds, a McDonald's and a Hungry Jack's container (the nearest of either outlet is 150km away!!), half a tyre, numerous cardboard boxes, a pair of socks and so the list continues.
Details of the programme can be found at:
http://www.kesab.asn.au/roadwatch/index.htm
With the national Tidy Towns judging coming up at the end of February the town needs to be at its best - we won the State competition in 2006 - so we are just doing our little bit to help. Next job tomorrow will be the public garden over the road that I look after.
Fishing Competition
The Annual Lions Club Fishing Competition held on the 90km beach north of Kingston over the weekend has attracted considerable media attention and insurance concerns for many of the 900 competitors. This is one of the 30 vehicles destroyed on Saturday night as a high tide buffeted by 100kph winds stranded many fishermen. Cars, caravans, tents and trailers were filled with sand, seaweed and salt water. Excavators were called in to retrieve what was left, but several were just washed out to sea.
Even today there were stories of disgruntled fishermen claiming noone had warned them of the dangers of surf fishing, despite the weather forecast having indicated extreme weather conditions were imminent and contestants having signed indemnities prior to competing. After a very high tide and 50mm of rain on Friday night, many still ventured up the beach the following night in all sorts of vehicles, many unsuitable for such terrain and conditions.
When the storm struck during the night many were asleep in either their vehicles or their tents, so were unaware of their fate . Fortunately noone was seriously injured though the SES, police, ambulance and surveillance helicopters were all involved in the rescue, which continued into today.
It was a treacherous night - fortunately we only had a few small branches come down in our yard.
Sadly, in today's world of litigation there will no doubt be some who will choose to lay blame with the volunteer organisers (raising money for charity) of the competition and will choose not to take responsibility for their own choices and actions.
Sunday, January 21, 2007
This one's for Kerran
Federal Court Ruling from the Melbourne Age, Australia (AAP) - A seven year old boy was at the centre of a courtroom drama. He challenged a court ruling over who should have custody of him.
The boy has a history of being beaten by his parents and the judge initially awarded custody to his aunt, in keeping with the child custody law and regulations requiring that family unity be maintained to the degree possible.
The boy surprised the court when he proclaimed that his aunt beat him more than his parents and he adamantly refused to live with her. When the judge suggested that he live with his grandparents, the boy cried out that they also beat him.
After considering the remainder of the immediate family and learning that domestic violence was apparently a way of life among them, the judge took the unprecedented step of allowing the boy to propose who should have custody of him.
After two recesses to check legal references and to confer with child welfare officials, the judge granted temporary custody to the English Cricket Team, who the boy firmly believes is "not capable of beating anyone."
The boy has a history of being beaten by his parents and the judge initially awarded custody to his aunt, in keeping with the child custody law and regulations requiring that family unity be maintained to the degree possible.
The boy surprised the court when he proclaimed that his aunt beat him more than his parents and he adamantly refused to live with her. When the judge suggested that he live with his grandparents, the boy cried out that they also beat him.
After considering the remainder of the immediate family and learning that domestic violence was apparently a way of life among them, the judge took the unprecedented step of allowing the boy to propose who should have custody of him.
After two recesses to check legal references and to confer with child welfare officials, the judge granted temporary custody to the English Cricket Team, who the boy firmly believes is "not capable of beating anyone."
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Prostate cancer
Rick has just been diagnosed with prostate cancer, the most common cancer in Australian men. Our advice is for all men 50 years and over, or with a family history, to be screened - a blood test is all it takes to see whether further investigation is warranted.
More information can be found at:
http://www.prostatehealth.org.au/
Next Thursday we will get the results of the CT and bone scans he had last Thursday - we will also be able to ascertain the most appropriate treatment at that point. But first he has to fully recover from the hernia operation he had the day following the prostate biopsy.
After seeing the biopsy report our local GP has reassured us that the cancer is localised, in its early stages, slow growing and treatable, so we feel a little more at ease, but to be 100% sure we eagerly wait the scan report next week.
More information can be found at:
http://www.prostatehealth.org.au/
Next Thursday we will get the results of the CT and bone scans he had last Thursday - we will also be able to ascertain the most appropriate treatment at that point. But first he has to fully recover from the hernia operation he had the day following the prostate biopsy.
After seeing the biopsy report our local GP has reassured us that the cancer is localised, in its early stages, slow growing and treatable, so we feel a little more at ease, but to be 100% sure we eagerly wait the scan report next week.
45 years of service
On January 15th Rick had a phone call from head office to say that he's been working with the same company for 45 years!
Despite a number of mergers and name changes, he has stayed faithful to the company and has 90 weeks sick leave owing to him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I wonder whether he'll get a golden handshake at some stage?
Despite a number of mergers and name changes, he has stayed faithful to the company and has 90 weeks sick leave owing to him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I wonder whether he'll get a golden handshake at some stage?
St Peters' summer garden
Despite the strict water restrictions, the unit garden is progressing well. In fact it's thriving with the heavy mulch and fertilising. Even flowers to pick to put indoors. Rain deluge
These photos were taken at 1am!!!It rained steadily all night. Waking this morning to find that we have recorded 50mm of rain is a godsend for the garden. We haven't seen that amount of rain in a very long time - nor have a lot of other people for that matter.
Having been away for over a week it was perfectly timed.
Tonight's forecast of gale force winds is not quite what we want.
Rain deluge
Getting out of our back door in a downpour is like standing under a waterfall!The patio is awash, and the timber oudoor setting about to float away!
At 1 am that's no laughing matter.
Rain deluge
Cleaning gutters in the midlle of the night is NOT my idea of fun, especially when it's pouring with rain, there is lightning in the sky and your husband is recovering from surgery!The single downpipe from our roof is insufficient to take all the water even in a light rain, but 50mm is way too much for the gutters to handle.
Bathroom update
The new bathroom pipes which caused so much angst when we arrived home from Adelaide. Cutting into the stone creates the finest, most intrusive dust you can imagine. This dust pervaded half the house and the patio areas.
Bathroom update
Friday, January 19, 2007
Bathroom update
We arrived home last night to a disaster in the bathroom - an ongoing saga. The plumber had been while we were away and the mess was just awful. We got home around 4pm and I think I unloaded the car at 8pm, after scrubbing and cleaning the bathroom walls, the passage carpet, the kitchen where they'd trudged through, the laundry where the manhole is, and the patio where they'd put in new pipes! It was worse than 3 weeks ago when the tiles and floor were removed.
The job is still not finished - some time they will return to pour a new shower floor and put on the tiles, but the mess could not possibly be any worse tahn what it was yesterday.
The wall is almost completely dried out but the soil below floor level is still far from dry, despite the hot weather and having the heater going in there!
So we are still showering in the bath with a short hose. Just as well we stayed in Adlde for a few extra days, as I don't think Rick would've been able to get in the bath before today.
What's worse is that we are considering a new bathroom/laundry/toilet in Adelaide - maybe not after this experience.
The job is still not finished - some time they will return to pour a new shower floor and put on the tiles, but the mess could not possibly be any worse tahn what it was yesterday.
The wall is almost completely dried out but the soil below floor level is still far from dry, despite the hot weather and having the heater going in there!
So we are still showering in the bath with a short hose. Just as well we stayed in Adlde for a few extra days, as I don't think Rick would've been able to get in the bath before today.
What's worse is that we are considering a new bathroom/laundry/toilet in Adelaide - maybe not after this experience.
Monday, January 08, 2007
24th Anniversary
It is hard to believe that 24 years have passed since we were married at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Adelaide at 11am on January 8th 1983.
It was a very hot 40-degree celsius day with a strong north wind blowing.
Thirty five friends and family joined us for an outdoor casual reception at Anne and Kevin's place at Modbury. Thanks for that Anne and Kevin.
Catering was a spitted pig with salads, our wedding cake was decorated very professionally by Auntie Nora and our wedding party consisted of Colleen Hoffmann and Dennis Hales.
It was a casual, no frills day with plenty of good memories.
It was a very hot 40-degree celsius day with a strong north wind blowing.
Thirty five friends and family joined us for an outdoor casual reception at Anne and Kevin's place at Modbury. Thanks for that Anne and Kevin.
Catering was a spitted pig with salads, our wedding cake was decorated very professionally by Auntie Nora and our wedding party consisted of Colleen Hoffmann and Dennis Hales.
It was a casual, no frills day with plenty of good memories.
Sunday, January 07, 2007
Flint's path
These next photos are in Flint's garden, a couple of kilometers out of town, where they had a wedding yesterday.
I helped Dhonda and Tim on Friday night and yesterday for a few hours to add the finishing touches.
It would be fantastic to have such wide verandahs and large garden area to do whatever you want - and we are lucky here to have access to such good quality underground bore water.
Living in rental accommodation has its frustrations - we have developed our garden over the last 20 odd years, but it would be so wonderful to have a garden of our own.
During the week the hot weather was a big concern, but 3mm of rain on Friday night was followed by wind, high humidity and a few more brief showers before the wedding at 3pm. The dust had been settled and the garden refreshed.
Apparently the wedding went very well and the garden was a picture - the result of weeks of planning and hard work.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
Iron Infusion
Well, after some messing around Jessie has finally had her iron infusion.
We had to phone the hospital at 7am - yes, we could come, be here at 10.30am - 150km away.
We depart at 8am - bald tyres and all - my car is booked in for new tyres the same morning - Rick has to cancel for me - we arrive only to be told that there's been an emergency so we will have to phone later to see whether we can come back. There's a possibility we may have made the trip for nothing and that this would be repeated on another day.
We do a little shopping - phone back - yes, come back to the hospital now.
We arrive at the hospital, fill in the obligatory paperwork, find our way to the High Dependency Unit.
Sylvia, with whom I've been communicating for the last 2 days (over jackhammers in the background in our house) apologises that there will be another wait. More retrievals have happened and there are only six beds. These people are only human, we understand.
Finally at almost 2pm the drip goes in and the heart monitor is connected. There's a 1% risk of nasty reactions. Jessie decides she will not be the 1%.
The first 15 minutes pass slowly and anxiously. No reaction. The first hour passess. No reaction. They speed up the process and only check on Jessie every 30 minutes now. No reactions - only a very sore upper arm. They apply ice and say that they can slow down the dosage to relieve the pain. Jessie wants to get out of here ASAP so she tolerates the pain.
Around 4.30pm the iron is finished. The lovely Ghanaian Doctor discusses various aspects of Crohn's and drug possibilities. He knows about Infliximab and agrees that Jessie definitely qualifies.
The saline drip is inserted to flush through the iron. Tea arrives.
At 6pm we are out of there!
The car has been sitting in the boiling sun all day. No shade. We drive for 10-15 minutes before the air conditioning begins to work. We arrive home at 8pm to clean the bathroom - twice - to get rid of the grime and grit.
I clean the bathroom again today - to get rid of more grime. I vacuum the dust and dirt that has permeated the adjoining rooms and wash floors where dusty feet have trodden to get the concrete, tiles and dirt out of the house.
We have also learnt that having iron administered this way is much more efficient than tablets and injections - it's a much bigger dose and all of it gets into the bloodstream, so it should last several months. The only hassle is the length of time it takes to administer.
We had to phone the hospital at 7am - yes, we could come, be here at 10.30am - 150km away.
We depart at 8am - bald tyres and all - my car is booked in for new tyres the same morning - Rick has to cancel for me - we arrive only to be told that there's been an emergency so we will have to phone later to see whether we can come back. There's a possibility we may have made the trip for nothing and that this would be repeated on another day.
We do a little shopping - phone back - yes, come back to the hospital now.
We arrive at the hospital, fill in the obligatory paperwork, find our way to the High Dependency Unit.
Sylvia, with whom I've been communicating for the last 2 days (over jackhammers in the background in our house) apologises that there will be another wait. More retrievals have happened and there are only six beds. These people are only human, we understand.
Finally at almost 2pm the drip goes in and the heart monitor is connected. There's a 1% risk of nasty reactions. Jessie decides she will not be the 1%.
The first 15 minutes pass slowly and anxiously. No reaction. The first hour passess. No reaction. They speed up the process and only check on Jessie every 30 minutes now. No reactions - only a very sore upper arm. They apply ice and say that they can slow down the dosage to relieve the pain. Jessie wants to get out of here ASAP so she tolerates the pain.
Around 4.30pm the iron is finished. The lovely Ghanaian Doctor discusses various aspects of Crohn's and drug possibilities. He knows about Infliximab and agrees that Jessie definitely qualifies.
The saline drip is inserted to flush through the iron. Tea arrives.
At 6pm we are out of there!
The car has been sitting in the boiling sun all day. No shade. We drive for 10-15 minutes before the air conditioning begins to work. We arrive home at 8pm to clean the bathroom - twice - to get rid of the grime and grit.
I clean the bathroom again today - to get rid of more grime. I vacuum the dust and dirt that has permeated the adjoining rooms and wash floors where dusty feet have trodden to get the concrete, tiles and dirt out of the house.
We have also learnt that having iron administered this way is much more efficient than tablets and injections - it's a much bigger dose and all of it gets into the bloodstream, so it should last several months. The only hassle is the length of time it takes to administer.
Rivers Crocs
We all acquired a pair of Rivers Crocs yesterday from their warehouse. For $10 how can you go wrong?Those are not the legs of models!!!!
Kerran - yours are dark blue as requested.
Ground zero
A bird's eye view looking down into what used to be the floor of the shower alcove. Angas dug and dug and dug, but the soil is still wet almost a metre below floor level.No showers here for some time!
Fortunately our landlord will have to foot the bill.
Shower renovation
We have trouble with mositure in the walls surrounding the bathroom for 24 years and finally we think we may be getting to the bottom of it - literally. Water has been leaking below the house into the soil from the taps. Since the walls are built of porous Mt Gambier stone you can see how much moisture is actually in the wall by comparing the top half of the wall with the bottom half!!!!!
If you like saunas you'd love it in the bathroom at the moment - with a blow heater going for several hours a day and the outside temperature hovering around 40 degrees celsius it is very warm to say the least.
What you see is the remains of the shower alcove - it will take at least 2 weeks to dry before the next stage of work can begin.
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Medical services
Living in a rural area has distinct advantages but when it comes to health care we are living in the dark ages.
In an emergency the local hospital is literally a lifesaver, but for everyday occurrences we are forced to travel more and more to access medical services.
We have been waiting for a fortnight for the ingredients of an iron infusion to arrive from the city, only to learn today that it will be quicker and easier to travel to a regional hospital 150km away to have the treatment because the local hospital is short staffed. We still have to wait for a high dependency bed to be available there - and to know that, we have to phone at 7am - we may or may not be going tomorrow or the next day or the next day! What sort of "first world" medical service is that?
Our federal politician recently surveyed us to ascertain what our priority needs are. My reply was medical services. Now some weeks later my reply remains the same.
In an emergency the local hospital is literally a lifesaver, but for everyday occurrences we are forced to travel more and more to access medical services.
We have been waiting for a fortnight for the ingredients of an iron infusion to arrive from the city, only to learn today that it will be quicker and easier to travel to a regional hospital 150km away to have the treatment because the local hospital is short staffed. We still have to wait for a high dependency bed to be available there - and to know that, we have to phone at 7am - we may or may not be going tomorrow or the next day or the next day! What sort of "first world" medical service is that?
Our federal politician recently surveyed us to ascertain what our priority needs are. My reply was medical services. Now some weeks later my reply remains the same.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)