2021 – Edgar's Page

Farewell the Old – Greet the New.

31/12/2021 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

I sometimes think we started to loose our sense of wonder when we gave the term “Magical” a designation it does not need. We tend to think two ways about magical- we dismiss it because we have been told so often that ” magic does not exist” and on the other hand we seem to think that ” Magical”, if it does exist, is something “other worldly” or “supernatural”. I think both are wrong – magic does exist but not in the way we have been conditioned to believe. Magic is all around us in mundane, everyday things. The magic of the sunrise not just taken from the Wetlands, or the foreshore or any exciting place, but just walking along a nearby street with your dog and looking across the spare ground and watch the sun rise slowly from the horizon into the sky. On any day, given the right conditions, a sudden change of wind or a change of sunlight, or even just you- open to change – ordinary everyday things can become magical. There is a slight rise – a small hill, if you like, at the Ada Ryan Gardens. As you crest that hill you look down the other side to the child play area, the, Sea Rescue buildings, the water lapping gently along the sandy beach and beyond to the ships at anchor on the clear blue water as it stretches onwards to meet the sky at the far horizon. A child wakens from sleep and smiles as she/he looks into the eyes of a mother or father. The simplest of things, given time and circumstances can suddenly be magical.

I had a new Covid-19 Restriction Plan from the State Government which would come into effect at midnight on the 27th. I had not printed it off when an urgent email arrived also from the State Govt. to the effect that we are to disregard the plan due to come into effect on the 28th. The current plan with all its restrictions is to continue in use until further notice. The various State Govts. are concerned about the rapid spread of the new variant and I can see restrictions – perhaps even lockdowns coming into play early in the New Year. Unfortunately where I need to go to for the conference (Norwood) is in an “Area of Concern”, so it is unlikely that I will go there any time soon. Between that and Annabell’s health concerns I doubt I shall be going anyplace for the time being. The weather has not been too bad but according to the weather report on the news this evening it is about to get a tad on the warm side with Thursday at 35c, Friday at 37c and Saturday at 40c = nice lead in to the New Year. Sunday and it starts to drop down to the mid to high 20s.

Benji has changed his morning ritual. Instead of getting his treat then going to check on Annabell, when we come back from our morning walk, he gets his harness off and goes directly to Annabell’s room, then he comes back for his treat. He spends most of the morning looking after “His Mum” It’s amazing that it is only in these last few weeks that we have begun to understand how much his “mum” means to him.

We did have a family Christmas but not in the way that we generally plan it. Generally Annabell and I do the cooking and the preparations and the boys come over , they bring additions to the table and spend much of the afternoon here. Not so this year. Christmas was spent at Andrew’s place still with the family and Andrew’s partner – Rachel Claire. The food was very good and the Apple Crumble and Cream was a change from Christmas Pudding. I helped a little bit but not too much as I didn’t want to seem to be interfering. I played with Connor and let everything happen around me.

Well days have passed and Annabell is starting to get a lot better. I am still Chief Cook and dishes washer – and shopping boy :o) But she is a lot better and I am happy about that. She still sleeps a lot and she still tires, but she is getting stronger. We are concerned about the rapid spread of this new variant and what effect it could have on her Adelaide Hospital treatment and the Day Surgery, but we will just have to “wait and see”.

I think that’s all I have to say. December has been an interesting month, rounding off an interesting year – in many ways. I could say that I hope 2022 will be a better year, but it will be what it will be and we will take things as they come. I expect I will stay up and watch the Edinburgh Tattoo ( pre-recorded) and probably have something wet, 22 years old and Scottish :o) Take care everyone and I hope – wherever you are- you have a great New Year and a fantastic Hogmanay.

Christmas Day, Annabell, Benji and Me.

25/12/2021 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Today ( 24th December) is Annabell’s Birthday. Presently she is asleep and still recovering slowly. She sleeps a lot and tires easily but she is getting better and we have managed to get out from time to time. It is, however, two weeks today since she came from hospital and Benji is still watching over her. I have not been out much with Benji. We still go on our morning walk but only because it is early morning before it starts to get hot. Presently the temperature is wandering around a daily temp of 29 – 35C. I have taken him to the Ada Ryan Gardens, but only once since the present illness. I do not like leaving her on her alone for too long. I was supposed to be going down to Adelaide yesterday but I cancelled that. I was only really going to look for a new mobile (Cell) phone so I can survive with what I have for the time being and probably until I have to take Annabell to Flinders sometime in January. Currently my mobile is going to voice mail and not ringing. My son called and I missed the call, but he called the house phone and alerted me to the what was happening.. This has been happening a lot of late so with phone in hand and a large hammer on stand-by I examined the phone and found that for reasons unknown, the annoying thing had gone into flight mode and was blocking all calls and sending them to voice mail. I fixed the settings – again,, With unbelievable will power, I laid the large hammer aside. Not too far away though.

And yes, I did consider selecting the phone, paying for it and having it sent up from Adelaide. As you probably know, Adelaide is about a four and a half drive from here, yet to get something sent up to here would take over two weeks. I asked if the Post Office Delivery Service had been taken over by the stagecoaches of Cobb & Co. – which was the 19th century Australian version of the American Wells Fargo. I didn’t get a reply. I was quite miffed about this until a friend, who works for the Fed. Govt in Canberra wanted something from Sydney 30 minutes away, and it took ten days to get there. Fair enough I can make allowances for Covid-19, State Border closures and lockdowns, but to take these time within the State is pushing things just a tad.

Benji is well and he has not changed. We go out for our morning walk at 6am, returning around 06: 40. Has his morning treat then he heads off to check on his mummy and sleeps there for the remainder of the day. I only see him if I rattle the car keys. Sadly, because of the heat I cannot always take him with me. I have a small, mobile air-conditioner type fan that I can take with me. If I do take him with me I put that on when I park the car, check my watch ( allow 21 minutes only), partly open the windows and lock the car. He’s generally fine as long as I watch my time and make sure the cooling fan is directed at him to keep him cool. It’s not bad, a dog with his own personal air-conditioner :o)

Back to work- I think there is movement and Benji has left the room.. I should like to wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas – or Happy Holidays if you prefer. I hope everyone has a lovely time. My son and his partner and hosting Christmas Dinner today so, that’s good. Normally we do and Annabell does all the cooking, but not this year I am sorry to say. Andrew is a decent cook – don’t know about Rachel yet :o) we’ll find out today. Thank you all for your thought, prayers and good wishes for Annabell’s recovery – it is all very much appreciated.

Love and God Bless

Wednesday

22/12/2021 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Annabell, Hospital and Benji

12/12/2021 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Tuesday 7th. December (interesting date) Annabell is recovering, although we still have not determined the cause of the seizure. She was seen by a Cardiologist today and over the next few days she will have some tests to determine what damage this may have caused to her heart. The brain scan is problematic because of the damage the diabetes has caused to her kidney, it could not withstand the contrast that would be needed for the brain scan to be effective. However, Mr. Alam (Cardiologist) should have the results of the ECG and the blood tests in a few days and then decide with his team what the treatment will be. I have been at the hospital every day and evening but not tomorrow. Tomorrow I will be at home all day. As of midnight tonight because of the Covid outbreak in South Australia, new rules come into effect, which is one visitor per patient, per day. Connor wants to go visit his Gran so Andrew will take him tomorrow after day-care. This means that I cannot visit. This is ok since it will allow me to get the house tidied up and take a wander to the shopping centre and get some shopping in.

I have notified Adelaide and Flinders Medical that she will not be down for the Day Surgery on Friday. They will reschedule early in the New Year. Likewise with the Flinders Lodge- accommodation cancelled. However, I did speak to the Lodge people and they have told me that when we are ready to come down, they will organise the accommodation for us. The people at Flinders Medical and at the Flinders Lodge did call and asked how Annabell was – so that was really kind of them.

Thursday; Since the new rules are one visitor per patient per day, I did not go to the hospital until after lunch – giving the doctors time to do their rounds. I arrived at the hospital at about 12:30 and was told that Annabell was going for an ultra-sound and then she would be able to go home -depending on the results. Between one thing and another and the doctors examining the results of the ultra- scan, then a few more tests, she was discharged and I was able to take her home. By now it was close to 5pm.

Annabell has always said that Benji is MY dog. My response has always been to insist that he loves his dog mummy, “which is why he sits at your feet when you are watchng TV and why after we go for our walk he wants to go into your room to check on you”. Well, when I brought Annabell home, did he go gaga! I have never seen him so excited! He ran around us, then around Annabell, the tail going to cause a hurricane and it became difficult to walk forward for a little while, I had to stop him from jumping up on her. I think he was pleased to see her home. I would go missing from time to time, but she was always there. On the subject of missing, I am on extended Leave of Absence. I did not go to the conference yesterday but I did tender an apology and the reasons for that apology. Did I get a response? Sadly I don’t have those exciting kind of dreams! As far as I am concerned, my job right at the moment is to look after Annabell. Not sure….. but I think it’s part of the Job Description I agreed to.

Sunday: Everything today is quiet – of course, it is only 07:30 so I should expect it to be quiet. I did take Benji out at 6am after I checked in on Annabell. She was sleeping peacefully. She did not have such a great day yesterday but we survived it all and ended the day peacefully. Today the temperature is to be around 34c, which is good after all the rain, high wind and cold of a not so great Spring. Still raining and flooding in the Eastern States of New South Wales and Victoria.

Wednesday

08/12/2021 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Yes, that sort of works for me right now :o)

Annabell Very ill

05/12/2021 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

At 03;20 on Saturday morning I called out the emergency services. I was wakened by a strange noise and rushed into Annabell’s room to find her convulsing and fighting for breath. The operator stayed on the line and advised me to do CPR, which I started doing. She stayed on the line in until the emergence services arrived. I did break off to unlock the doors. When they arrived they took over and I left the room to look after Benji. They worked on Annabell for some time before getting her ready for transporting to the emergency rooms at the hospital. At the time it was a suspected stroke. Once they left I got a quick wash and went up to the hospital. In the meantime I called John and he met me at the A & E.. We knew that Andrew had Connor, so we left off calling him until about about 5AM. By then he was awake, got Connor ready and met us Up at the ward. Annabell was still down in the Emergency area and undergoing scans to find out the problem.

The doctors here called Adelaide and were in constant contact with the specialists there. It was determined through the various tests and scans that she did not have a stroke, however, she did have a seizure but they don’t know as yet what caused it. She was moved to a special Pressurised Room and we were with her for as good part of the morning. Connor was getting fractious, so Andrew went home. He was going to see his former partner and see is she could look after Connor for the day, but she was already flat out and unable to do so. Because of the medications and the various tubes, Annabell was in and out of consciousness for much of the time and unable to speak clearly. However, she did know three words -” Okay / Don’t know.” She did not know who I was nor John.

The Session Clerk (Helen) from the church came and we sat stayed for a while. Annabell didn’t know who she was either, but she let John sit beside her and hold her hand. John had only finished night-shift so he was starting to tire. I sent him home. Whilst John was away it was decided to move her from the pressurised room she was in to the High Dependance Unit. I telephoned John to tell him to let me know if and when he was coming back. He said he was just about to leave so I said I would meet him at the front entrance and after signing in and answering the questions I would take him up to the H.D.U. Helen left and John and I stayed until about 5:40pm and then went to have dinner at Andrew’s. After playing with Connor for a bit and then dinner, it was now 7pm, so I headed back to the hospital for the last hour.

There was quite a difference in her and she was a bit more coherent. Conversation was still a bit disjointed and confused. When it was time for me to leave the trauma nurse asked me to have a talk with her. We discussed the difference between 5:40pm when we left until now. I said that I found her almost coherent, but confused. Also I still believe she really didn’t know who I was but I sensed that she knew I was someone she knew, so she gave me her hand to hold and we talked a little. She has a new word “Odd” everything was “Odd” The nurse said she wanted to know what I thought before she wrote her report, that she is able to hold a limited conversation but there is still a fair bit of confusion and lack of recognition. I agreed with that assessment.

I arrived home at 9pm and began the process of clearing up. The rooms were a mess and everything that had to be moved to allow the passage of the emergency people and the wheeled stretcher, had to be replaced. I also Went into Annabell’s room and tidied that up and remade her bed. After that I attended to Benji, made some coffee and sat down for a bit.

I was up at my usual 5:30 this morning (Sunday) and took Benji for his morning walk. I will take the service this morning and then head up to the hospital and hope and pray that a decent sleep overnight has helped her recovery. It’s been a long post, so thank you for your patience. I’ll keep you informed on her progress, but suspect it will be a long recovery.

Bicycle, Ambulance and Fire Engine.

26/11/2021 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Tuesday evening is Annabell’s Coffee evening with the ladies. I took her there and came back to do some work on my own. Just before 9pm. she telephoned and asked me to come and pick her up. At the far end of the street there seemed to be a lot of people, an Ambulance, a Police Car, a Fire Engine and a State Emergency Service (SES)Truck, so I had to slow down when passing. I collected Annabell and brought her home. All the emergency services were still there and from my slow passing I could see that there was a person in the stretcher . All very interesting. On Wednesday morning we found out the story, when one of the coffee ladies phoned Annabell. There is this man called Greg. and on a Tuesday he meets up with his mates, play snooker and have a chat. One of the males is disabled and his wife collects him. It was a pretty wild night and the wife asked Greg, if he would like a lift home – they could get the bicycle into the SUV. He said no, he was fine and would ride home. He is a biker and goes everywhere on his bicycle. Well he didn’t make it and came off the bike. Someone called an ambulance since Greg injured his back and could not move. Now Greg is a very big and very heavy person and the

ambulance people could not lift him. By this time, the police showed up. What to do?? Well, the police knew that the Fire Service had heavy lifting equipment, so they were called out. Now, if the fire truck goes out the SES goes with it. Using the Fire Equipment they got Greg into the Ambulance and they were just leaving as we passed on the way home. I understand from Annabell’s source, that poor Greg was highly embarrassed to say the least and the crowd that I saw around the accident seemed to have had a good show.

On Wednesday afternoon I was unhappy with Annabell’s health and I questioned her several times to find out how she was. She assured me that she was ok. I had my doubts. I may not be a physician but I have a sense of smell. I asked her again how she was and she assured me she was ok, so I went out with Benji. When I returned, just about an hour later, she was sitting in her chair, bag on her lap and shoes on and all she said, was “I need to go to the hospital”. I got Benji sorted out, got my driving glasses and off we went. Yes, she has another infection and is being treated with antibiotics. It was nearly midnight before we got home so I did not go walking this morning. However, I did go to the pharmacy when it opened and got her script filled.

Today, as you can probably imagine has been a day to relax. I left her sleeping and later, after breakfast, I took her to the shopping centre. The remainder of the day has been fairly quiet. It has not rained at all today, but the wind, which started in the early morning and now – at 10pm. is still going. We had a call from Flinders this afternoon to let us know that the scripts have been faxed to our local pharmacy. I will get them dispensed here and take the units with us to Adelaide. Thus we should not have a repeat performance at the Hospital Pharmacy.

In a recent visit to the lighthouse with Benji I noticed that the council were doing some upgrade work to the base. I thought that was an interesting view. Probably not but it appealed to me.

Thanksgiving 2021

25/11/2021 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Another week -More Rain.

20/11/2021 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Monday and the start of a new week. Last week it rained almost every day sometimes for hours on end. Parts of the state were flooded and some parts still are a week later. The upper parts of the state took a drenching and one family of four were trapped in a caravan as they were crossing the state. A satellite phone and food supplied were dropped to them by air, but considering the conditions it could be some time before a rescue operation is organised. However, they are in no immediate danger. The last of the present rain was Sunday Afternoon. Today being Monday, there has been no rain

This morning on our walk between rain bands.

at all. In fact it has been a pleasant sunny day. Tuesday was warm and sunny and we were able to get out and about. Wednesday, sunny and blowing a gale -wind never stopped the whole day. Wednesday night the rain started back again. It’s now Friday afternoon and still raining. This morning we could not see the hills and the rain started just before we finished our walk but it was not too bad since we were almost at the house.

On Tuesday, since it was a good morning and Annabell was OK, I took Benji back to the Wetlands. It was an interesting walk. Try to picture this —- Walk, walk ,walk –Hello John, How’s Annabell? discussion: Walk, walk ,walk –Hello John, How’s Annabell? discussion: Walk, walk ,walk–Hello John, How’s Annabell? discussion. I did two tours of the ponds and the first tour was taken up with people asking me how Annabell was. It’s really quite humbling to realise how well thought of she is. Tuesday, as I said, was warm and sunny and it was on Tuesday that the photograph of Benji was snapped. Wednesday the wind fluctuated between strong and gale-force. I removed the canopy from the garden swing in case it was damaged, again. It was damaged a month or so ago when the wind blew it against the garage wall and broke

the units that hold the canopy on to the frame. I had two new units made and I would prefer that they don’t get damaged or broken. The wind died away and Benji and I took advantage of that and went out for a walk. Just got in and the rain started.

The family -mum, dad and two children – bogged down in the Simpson Desert, were rescued and brought out by Helicopter. The Camper Van remains where it was bogged. It was quite a complicated rescue, requiring organising fuel stops, there and back.

Annabell has been fairly well but she does get tired and tends to sleep a lot. This is another reason why I don’t go to the Wetlands in the mornings – it would take me too long to get back in the event that she takes unwell and a visit to the A & E is required. Locally, I could be back in five or six minutes. I really need to keep a watch on things before our visit to Flinders in a few weeks. Her Day Surgery is on Friday 10th December, conference is on the 11th – her rest day. We are staying in Kent Town, which is only about seven or so minutes away from Norwood, where the conference is held, so provided everything is ok, I can nip along the road to the conference.

Saturday and no walk this morning. The rain started started back last night and it’s still going and by the look of things, will be going for some time. I’m really over this wet weather and even when it stops raining there is not much you can do because everything is wet and damp and there

The Garden Swing Canopy pretending to be a sail

seems little point in bringing out chairs and cushions, just to put them away when the rain restarts. In all the years I have been here, I have never seen it rain so much as it has recently. It’s quite depressing. Interesting though – most of the people who a week or so ago, were cheerfully saying “oh we need this rain” are quite silent. I agree that we need the rain, but really, this is overkill :o)