27th December 2013
Richard and Barry managed to
carry the two sections of the last of the furniture that was left in the sea
container. Barry had already split the 2
sections and removed the doors to reduce the weight, and it happened quite
easier than expected, and reassembled in the lounge. It now has the old TV mounted in it and the
stereo unit on it so the lounge room can now be used as a lounge rather than a
store room.
28th December 2013
We had a day
of hanging pictures and still finding homes for other items plus putting up shelving
in the garage to help clear the garage floor.
All but one picture now has a
home as the largest picture arrived with a broken glass which is not a surprise
when you see how badly it was packed by so-called professionals. The replacement glass will cost around $100
and the insurance only covered it for a short period for transportation and
unpacking when moving house under normal conditions. Not with the unpacking
happening 7 years later. Merry has
tidied up the enclosed courtyard that is accessed via our bedroom glass door
and now looks almost as good as it used to except the fishpond fibreglass
surface needs patching before we can fill it, restock it and turn on its waterfall.
29th December 2013
Most of the day was spent
attacking the overgrown back garden which involved pruning trees and severely
cutting back several bougainvilleas, and also cut down one of the palm trees in
the front garden. The other will go when
the caravan is not parked alongside it as we dislike palm trees, and especially
Cotton Palms. The back garden now looks
almost respectable but the fish pond requires rebuilding and the garden beds
need digging over and replanting.
30th December 2013
We took our final trip to
Bunning’s to return the window locks that don’t work with our windows and buy
the material for rebuilding a shelf unit in the garage and a few other
items. We also went into town so that
Richard could buy some snorkelling equipment and check out surf boards but
changed his mind about the board due to excessive cost and the few occasions
that it might get used.
31st December 2013
We hired a trailer and loaded the
garden cuttings and old household machinery and took two trips to the local
rubbish tip to get rid of it. The worst
part was getting the huge ball of Bougainvillea onto the trailer as Richard had
tied it all into a ball with rope to keep it under control which work but made it very heavy to get on and off of
the trailer, plus we were unable to retrieve the rope once it was off the
trailer. In the evening Richard went on
the prowl in town looking for New Year action but didn’t really find much
although he didn’t return until 3.00am.
1st January 2014
Barry made a start on replacing
the stolen shelf unit in the garage but it will bigger. And also rebuilt his
power saw bench ready for action. Merry has
added more plants and hanging baskets in the bedroom courtyard.
2nd January 2014
Barry finished erecting the
shelving unit in the garage and has partially loaded it which has given us a
lot of floor space back. We will
eventually add a workbench to it.
Richard has uprooted the clothes hoist and re-installed it closer to the
house which is much more convenient and leaves a large clear area that will
become our veggie patch.
3rd January 2014
The automatic sprinkler system in
the bedroom courtyard has been tested and proven useless but the pond has been
partially renovated by Richard
4th January 2014
The automatic sprinkler system in
the bedroom courtyard has now been updated ready for us to go to Perth for a
week with Jack and Rory who are coming over from Canberra. We will all be staying with Colleen/Craig
for that week and then bringing Jack and Rory up to Geraldton for another week
before returning them to Perth for a flight to Darwin, and on to their new home
in Katherine. Richard sprayed the area
that will become our veggie patch to kill off the glass ready for being dug
over when we return from Perth.
5th January2014
We drove down to Perth, a five
hour trip with a lunch break at Jurien Bay, and had time to erect the tent in
Colleen/Craig’s back patio ready for Richard and Jack tonight. We collected jack and Rory from the airport
and had a late dinner before returning to Colleen/Craig’s as they were going to
be late getting home from Craig’s mother’s in Bunbury. We slept in Abby’s room and she moved in with
Emma and Rory for the night rather than putting up the camper trailer in the
dark. The plan has changed as Richard
now has a job interview on Tuesday so we had intending staying down for a week
before going back to Geraldton and then bringing them back to Perth for the kid’s
flight to Darwin and on to Katherine.
Richard will then stay on at Colleen/Craig’s until he has had his
specialist medical appointment with regard to his gall stone problem. If he is to have an operation soon he will
stay for that and then come to Geraldton for the 6 week recovery, but if it is
put on hold he will fly out the next day to his job in Gove.
12th January 2014
The four kids are all having a
ball so Merry and Barry have decided return to Geraldton and leave the kids and
Richard to enjoy their time together in Perth and we will continue with the
numerous jobs we still have ahead of us, and it will also reduce the fuel cost
of the repeated journeys between Perth and Geraldton. Perth is having a heatwave (third day over 40oC)
so moving to Geraldton will subject us to a cooler climate as the heat is
heading below Geraldton.
13th January 2014
Barry has now fitted all of the
new window locks, fitted the new wardrobe door knobs and started fitting
shelving in the laundry, plus filling numerous chips that tenants have made in
the walls and especially on the corners where they crash there vacuum cleaners
into them, in readiness for a paint job in the not too distant future.
Meanwhile Perth’s heatwave has moved across the Nullabor to South Australia and
Melbourne, but has left some of the Perth Hills suburbs with a fierce three day
bush fire that has consumed 56 houses and one death.
14th January 2014
We still have a lot to do in
order to satisfy our ultimate aim but the house is now in good shape although
the internal walls have yet to be sanded and painted although it doesn’t really
require the painting except where it is patched up, but we don’t have the paint
that was used before we bought the house over 15 years ago. The front door that bears the bulk of the
weather, both wet and sunny, needs sanding and re-varnishing. The garden will be a long process as the
grass has been without water for a long, as have the trees and other plants,
but the roses have been pruned and are reshooting.
16th January 2014
The garage has been sorted out to
an extent but not to the point where we can put the car in there, but there is
now plenty of shelving but have arrange brackets high on the back wall to have
remove the roof rack from the car if we want to use the garage, which we do as
the strong Geraldton wins blow up our street and is usually salt carrying as we
are relatively close to be ocean. When
we find a buyer for our sea container and it is removed from the leeward side
of the house we can park the caravan on that side with its protective cover and
the car in the garage although we may have to remove the dual wheel carrier
from the back in order to close the door.
The kids are still happy in Perth
with slightly cooler weather until the coming weekend when it is predicted to
rise again to the high 30s with hot wind off the desert to annoy the bush fire fighters.
22 January 2014
Jack and Rory should be either in
Darwin or on their way from Darwin to Katherine or possibly actually in
Katherine which will be quite a change of lifestyle from living in the
surrounds of Canberra. Canberra has low
night time temperatures with many being sub zero in the winter and relatively
low day time temperatures, whereas Katherine has hot night and day
temperatures, and at this time of the year there will be many continuous days
around 40 degrees or more and very humid as the wet season approaches.
Richard had his medical consultation
with not too pleasant result in as much as he now has a surgical appointment
for his next rostered days off in February as the gall stone that he has
developed is very large and may require real surgery rather than keyhole
surgery. If that is the case, he will be
in hospital longer and here with us recuperating for a much longer period than
expected.
23rd January 2014
Richard is enjoying his birthday
flying back to Darwin and on to Gove to start work tomorrow and make the
necessary work type arrangements for the sick leave in conjunction with his next
rostered off period.
27th January 2014
Australia Day Holiday and we spent
it continuing to fill chipped holes in walls and sanding them in readiness for
painting.
30th January 2014
Finally painted the ceiling in
the hallway round to the bedrooms, bathroom and included the toilet ceiling
plus through to the meals area and family room.
6th February 2014
We have been continuing with the
painting and have now completed the hallway and toilet ceilings with two coats
plus two coats on the family room/meals area/kitchen and laundry ceiling. In addition to that, there are now two coats
on the hallway/toilet/meals area/kitchen and family room. Meanwhile Merry acquired a strange swelling
on her inner thigh which the doctor thought may be a deep vein thrombosis but
the ultrasound proved otherwise and it has now been put down to a bite, either by
an ant or possibly spider but no perpetrator was ever seen at the time. However, more than a week later it is
subsiding and slightly less painful.
11th February 2014
The painting continues with all
of the above rooms finished and two coats on the guest room ceiling which is
the room Richard uses when he is here which will happen again sometime after
his operation on the 17th February.
The exact date will be determined by which type of surgery they use and
that will determine the length of recovery time, so he could be here for a
couple of weeks or about 6 weeks.
Merry’s leg is still giving her some pain despite a reduction of the
swelling but has elected to wait a bit longer before seeing a doctor again in
the hope that it will not be necessary.
12th February 2014
Two coats of paint have now been
applied to the walls to the guest room.
14th February 2014
Mary has seen her doctor and been
referred to a general surgeon for a consultation today. This has resulted in arrangements for Merry
to have a biopsy performed in a couple of days’ time as the surgeon suspects it
may be a cancer. We are not convinced at
this stage as her PET scans in October showed no signs of any impending
cancers, however, we will wait and see what the biopsy outcome is. The first coats have been applied to the
wardrobe doors and frames, plus two coats applied to the linen cupboard doors
and frames
17th February 2014
Merry went into the hospital for
the biopsy but we won’t get the results for about a week as the samples are
processed in Perth. She had to be at the
hospital for 9.00pm, which she was and then had to wait until nearly 5.00pm
before going into theatre, having started fasting from 7.00pm the previous
night.
18th February 2014
Merry was discharged from
hospital at about 10.00am after telling me to collect her at 9.00am, however,
the good news is that our diagnosis of an abscess was correct rather than a
cancer but we don’t mind the surgeon being wrong this time. Merry is now home but enduring more than her
fair share of pain but the abscess has been drained and her incision packed to
continue cleaning the remaining mess out and allow it to heal from the inside
outwards. Having got that sorted,
painting the wardrobe doors and room doors plus frames can be continued. Richard had also gone into hospital in Perth
and his gall stone has been removed using keyhole surgery and is up and about
after the overnight stay.
19th February 2014
Merry attended the Ambulatory
clinic to have her wounded leg repack and dressed but attending doctor didn’t
like the look of it and called one of the surgeons down to take a look with the
outcome being re-admission for 48 hours.
We were taken to the emergency entrance were she had to go though the
admission waffle and see a nurse and then another doctor which took us to
3.45pm to wait for the doctor. At 4.29pm
I complained about the wait, especially as other people that had come in after
us were going to the doctors’ area before us, with an ‘I’ll see what I can do’
answer. At 5.00pm Merry told them she
was leaving and would deal with her own pain control and suddenly they invited
us in and was attended by a nurse and three surgeons and they did there inspection
and took blood samples and provided a meal at about 6.00pm. Barry went home at this stage for his dinner
and returned at 7.30pm to find they had found a bed for her in the Maternity
ward. It is a new hospital that was
built with half the number of beds than the old original hospital even though
the town is expanding. However, Merry is
now more comfortable than she was.
20th February 2014
Merry’s leg has improved and she
has avoided another trip to the theatre as no new puss is present and the wound
packed and redressed. It is thought that
the problem was caused by the nurse who didn’t pack the wound prior to
discharge when we thought it had been done.
She is now progressing well but will be in hospital for another couple
of days. Both inflammation and pain have decreased, but getting a worthwhile
meal or drink is not easy.
22nd February 2014
Richard arrived by bus in the
afternoon and came with me to visit Merry before settling in at home to
recuperate from his gall stone removal operation.
23rd February 2014
Merry came out of hospital this
afternoon after her longer than expected stay and has now reverted to the daily
redressing at the clinic.
26th February 2014
Still having daily dressing
changes but the swelling is going down, albeit slowly, and the pain is greatly
decreased. However, Foxy is now in
trouble as a result of going for her annual vaccination as the vet discovered a
couple of teeth that are not in the best of health and is now due to have them
removed on Wednesday 5th March, which will cost two weeks grocery
bills, but in every other respect she is in good health for a ten year old.
1st March 2014
Garon and Sue drove up from Perth
and stayed with us for the longer weekend (Labour day) holiday and used the
caravan as their bedroom/en-suite which gave them the benefit of
air-conditioning, if required, as it was in the low 30 degrees during the day
but the nights cooled down enough with the breeze for them not to use the a/c. On the Saturday that they arrived we had
dinner out at the harbour side Skeeta’s restaurant which is a pleasant setting
and good food although it doesn’t come cheap.
On the Sunday they visited the impressive HMAS Sydney Memorial and later
had another fine meal, courtesy of Barry.
4th March 2014
Richard has made a good recovery
and now allowed to do some light exercise and will return to work in about 9
days time. Merry has also made a good
recovery although still having the wound redressed regularly but not for much
longer as it has been given the okay by the surgeon, but the nurses want to
continue for a while longer. She has
also been to an ENT specialist for her 3 monthly inspection of her throat,
which has passed with flying colours so we may be able to settle into a normal
lifestyle. When Richard has returned to
work we will be able to move into his bedroom while we paint our master bedroom
after which we can move some of the lounge/formal dining room furniture in
there to give us room to paint that area.
Then we can start on the outside as it should be a bit cooler by then.
5th March 2014
We had our solar panels and
inverter fitted today so our power bills should be very small or non-existent
from here on.
6th March 2014
Barry did regular checks on the
solar system and noted that at 7.30am the panels were producing 0.25Kw but at
8.00am it had increased to 1.6Kw, and at 10.30am it was pushing out 3.5Kw and
at 12.30pm it had achieved its maximum of 4.6Kw. The total produced was 32.5kw hours for the
day. What used to be spent on the power
bill will recoup what we paid out for the system within 5 years and also add a
substantial amount to the house value if we decide to move. The cost of power is expected to rise in the
next couple of months and also each year at a similar time when the budget is
announced so we should stay well ahead and can run our air conditioners, when
necessary, without worrying about the power cost.
9th March 2014
It appears that even on overcast
days such as the last two the panels generate between 2Kw and 3Kw so are still
exporting into the grid for much of the time.
Merry has just left for the hospital to have her leg dressed again but
it will probably be for the last, or next to last time, as her leg has now
almost completely healed. Perth, and
therefore Geraldton being a 4.5 hour .drive north of Perth, have now had over
100 days without rain and still no sign of any.
13th March 2014
Geraldton received 4 minutes
worth of light rain followed by 2 minutes of light rain half an hour
later. Just enough to settle the dust
for a very short while.
14th March 2014
Another 2 minutes of light rain
fell this morning and dried up almost immediately.
15th March 2014
Richard departed for Perth in
readiness to catch his flight to Darwin and on to Gove to return to work after
his recuperation period. He dug out two
large patches of our dead grass to convert into veggie patches whilst he was
here and also applied for several other jobs as his current one is going to
vanish in the not so distant future as the alumina plant is going to be shutdown
by mid-year.
16th March 2014
Richard flies from Perth to Darwin
and then onto Gove which may be subject to flight delays as cyclone Gillian is
also heading towards the Gove area in the Gulf of Carpentaria.
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