17th March 2014
Whilst taking Richard to the bus station, and also when Merry
visited the hospital yesterday, the car seemed a bit reluctant and very hesitant. It is the first form of trouble we have
experienced with it in nearly10 years and it has been in some very remote
places that many people fear to tread.
Fortunately we have stopped using these out-of-the-way tracks but it has
left us with some inconvenience.
18th March 2014
As a result of the car’s behaviour Barry decided to change
the fuel filter on the assumption that it was a fuel problem, as it can’t be an
ignition problem as there is no ignition system on a diesel vehicle. We have carried a spare fuel filter since
travelling the Canning Stock Route and this seemed like a good time to use it. After changing the filter the priming pump
refused to prime the system so we now can’t start the car and having tried
everything that Barry can dream up, are now convinced that it is a faulty
primer that is built into the filter support plate that just happens to cost
$250. Not bad for an aluminium plate
with a small diaphragm valve in it that you can’t access in any way.
19th March 2014
After several more tries to start the car we used the RAC to
see what they could do, which didn’t start the car but the mechanic was
convinced that the priming pump was letting air in, which is what Barry had
decided but not suggested to him so that he drew his own conclusion.
20th March 2014
Bought a new priming unit which took most of the morning as
we had to rely on the sparse bus service, therefore the new unit was fitted and
ready for work in the afternoon. The
problem then arose that the battery had done so much cranking that it didn’t
want to know.
21st March 2014
The battery refused to charge when we tried to charge it
over night so we called the RAC again to use their power pack but it only tried
to start but not pick up and run.
Because of the original symptoms it has now been taken to a diesel
mechanic with a suspected failed injector pump.
If that is the problem we are looking at several thousand. However, we were informed later in the day
that they have got it up and running without that expense but it is still
running a bit rough so we still have an unknown problem that they thought could
possibly be a $400 ejector wiring harness.
25th March 2014
Now that Richard has returned to Gove and have temporarily
finished messing with the car as it is running, we took a decent length drive
to give the battery a good charge. We
drove out to Bayside estate and did a drive-by look at Steve and Terri’s house
which looks like the tenants are looking after the garden. The vacant blocks behind their house now have
two houses on them so the ocean view is either gone or very limited though the
gap between them. Additionally the two
storey house that was being built on the foreshore has been completed which was
also destined to block some of the ocean view.
In the afternoon Barry prepared the master bedroom in readiness for
painting. Merry has started planting out some veggies in the beds that Richard
dug out for us, so we now have beans, cauliflower, broccoli and lettuce in
progress.
26th March 2014
Merry visited a consultant with respect to organising a
colonoscopy which she is supposed to have tri-yearly since having bowel cancer
in 2007. Meanwhile Barry is continuing
with the painting which is now happening in the master bedroom so that we can
use the bedroom that Richard occupies when he is here.
5th April 2014
Barry made a shelving unit to compliment the unit he made
whilst Richard was here that housed our coffee, tea, etc, and applied a first
coat of paint to both.
7th April 2014
Barry applied a second coat of paint to the cornices and
ceiling and also applied a second coat of gloss paint to the two shelving units
that he made. One houses the six jars
that hold our coffee, tea, sugar, etc and the other houses our spices,
etc. The first is mounted above the
kettle on the right hand side of the kitchen bay window and the other on the
left hand side of the kitchen bay window nearest to the cook top. Meanwhile Merry has made a significant
improvement to the garden with more pruning and digging up the lawn for the
second veggie patch. She has also added
another three rose bushes to the front garden bed beside the drive to accompany
the existing six that we planted fifteen years ago that burst into life since
we returned and started watering them again. The veggies she planted in the
first veggie patch are doing well except for the beans.
8th April 2014
Barry finished painting the office/bedroom with two coats on
the walls and the outside of the wardrobe doors and one coat on the inside of
the doors. There is now only a final
coat of paint to go on the inside of the wardrobe doors and the bedroom door.
9th April 2014
We moved all of the furniture and L shaped workbench back
into the office/bedroom, refitted the vertical blinds and net curtains and set
up the computers again.
10th April 2014
We ordered some vertical blinds for the lounge window as
there were none in that room for some unknown reason whereas there were blinds
in all of the other rooms. We moved to
Karratha 18 months after buying the house and that time we found the afternoon
sun through that window had badly faded one chair.
14th April 2014
The vertical blinds have now been made and fitted. One of the tenants had fitted a cane type
blind which I think is actually meant to hang on a fence to add a bit of
character to an otherwise plain fence.
It did the job as far as privacy and furniture but left the room very
dark but is now a lot lighter, and definitely more attractive. Barry laid a few dozen pavers from the side
gate where the original paving ended, and now joins the driveway. This allows access to the rear of the house
without having to walk through sand from the drive to the side gate and
incorporates an area for the dustbin which will now roll straight out onto the
drive without dragging through sand, or lifting.
15th April 2014
We borrowed Nigel’s trailer (two doors away) and took a load
of previous tenant’s collection of junk and some of ours to the tip and
collected some veggie mix soil on the way back.
This has left the shed almost cleared out and ready for Barry to mix
heaps of cement and put a decent floor in the shed, with a cement path leading
to it. We then took two trailer loads of
green waste to the tip and collected some mulch on the way back but have
another load of green waste to go to the tip.
The back garden is now looking quite respectable with two veggie beds,
one in use and another almost fully prepared for use, but we still have to
renovate the pond. During these trips to
the tip, etc the car really struggled with problem that it has had for several
weeks, especially when the trailer was loaded
16th April 2014
Richard arrives back today on another break which is
actually a day late as his flight from Gove has to go via Cairns where the
airport was closed because of cyclone Ita.
He will probably dig the third veggie patch out us will he is here as
well as swimming in the sea which he can’t do in Gove because of the water
being home to numerous crocodiles. On
the way to pick up Richard, Barry bought a new fuel filter for the car as he
was convinced that it was the cause of our problems when we had to get the RAC
involved.
17th April 2014
Barry changed the fuel filter on the car and surprise,
surprise he was wrong all along and the car now runs like it is meant to. Barry took the final load of green waste to
the tip and then assisted Richard and Merry to add the veggie mix to the second
veggie patch which has since had some veggies planted in it. We returned Nigel’s trailer but will borrow
it again when Barry is ready to start on the concrete work.
19th April 2014
This was mainly a garden day as a start to renovating the
garden back to something like the way we left it, as seen below, bearing in
mind that the bird bath and little boy statue have been stolen by tenants
unknown, and the pond has been filled with dirt. Most of the stone work in the
foreground, our herb garden, other than a strip at the front of the pond was
ripped up and dumped in the old septic tank when it was changed over to mains
sewage and is currently just dead grass.
We also totally cleared the garden shed out ready for Barry to concrete
the floor which is currently just blue metal chips, but this will be after he
has painted the bathroom ceiling and the narrow strip between the top of the
tiled walls and the ceiling. This is the
last room to be painted.
25th April 2014
Richard has now
finalised the digging out the third veggie patches, as the grass there was dead
and has now had potato, carrot and onions planted in it, to add to the other
assortment of veggies in the other beds.
He left on the 8.30am bus for Perth this morning, which is a day earlier
than he usually leaves as he wanted the time in Perth to take on a nightclub
visit before flying back to Gove for his next 6 week stint. We called Colleen to wish her a happy
Birthday coincides with ANZAC Day and therefore enjoys the public holiday. It actually came close to raining today, in
as much as it drizzled for most of the day and night which on inspection in the
morning had penetrated the ground about 5cm.
26th April 2014
On the morning walk with Foxy to the get the Saturday paper,
Barry found a watch lying on the pavement, which according to the internet is
worth about $240. We suspect it belongs
to someone from the Eastern states as the time is 2 hours fast by WA time. We took it to the cop shop in town but to our
surprise isn’t open on the weekends, so will make the effort again on
Monday. Barry doesn’t want it as it is
too big and heavy and he already has a good watch that hardly gets used. From about 11.00am it rained real rain
continuously (at last) up until 4.00pm with some very heavy spells, especially
when we were walking from the car to the shops.
28th April 2014
Barry took the watch to the police station in the morning
and also received some more light rain.
29th April 2014
Barry Painted the bathroom ceiling and top 30 centimetres of
the walls being the only part of the wall that are not tiled.
30th April 2014
We have made a start on removing the blue metal from the
shed floor which is going to take quite a while as it all has to be screened to
remove dirt, dead grass and rubbish left from stuff that has been stored in
there.
2nd May 2014
Barry has finished removing and screening the blue metal
from the shed and is now ready to organise some form work prior to
concreting. Meanwhile, Merry has sown
and planted more veggies.
5th May 2014
Barry returned to the doctors for his blood test results
which unfortunately proved his PSA level has increased again and is to have
another blood test in a few weeks to see if it constant or a once off
occurrence. He is also being sent for a
CT scan of his chest as the x-rays he had showed some unidentified ‘thing’ that
the doctor wants checking out because he was a smoker and has been exposed to
asbestos at various times in the distant past.
6th May 2014
Merry had a pre-op consultation with the specialist and
anaesthetist in readiness for next Tuesday’s colonoscopy and endoscopy (her
routine check-ups). This will be the
last colonoscopy as they have developed blood tests to achieve the same
results. We have had the benefit of some reasonable rain over the last few
days, with more to come, so it would appear our drought can be considered to
have ended.
7th May 2014
Barry has started digging out the soil that was dumped in the
fishpond so that it too will be ready for concreting when Richard comes home
for his next break, but we won’t tell him about it until he gets here. However, it will be smaller than it used to
be so some soil will stay where it is at each end and become small gardens, the
larger of which will be created as a shrine to our previous faithful dogs that
gave us so much pleasure. Namely that
will be Gina who guarded our children when outside in the garden during our period
in Zambia, Tara who lived with us for twenty years in Kwinana and Wickham,
Brandy and Trixie, who started out with us in Geraldton but unfortunately
didn’t survive our stay in Karratha due to health problems. Fortunately Brandy was still with us when we
took Foxy into our care which was like introducing a youngster to keep an
oldish person company, but made it easier for us when Brandy departed. Having her with us on our travels around
Australia was a hassle at times as many caravan parks do not allow dogs so we
generally stayed in lower rated parks
out of town. It also meant leaving her
in the annex and fenced area when we couldn’t take her with us to national
parks, museums, shopping, etc, but we managed.
Now that we are home, which a new home for her, she has become a very
settled individual and is a virtual shadow wherever Barry is, just like she was
to Jeanne in Queensland and Ashley in Spearwood.
13th May 2014
Merry had her two ‘oscopies’ today after an overnight
admission due to having a drip put in to ensure she had sufficient water intake
during the night as she wasn’t allowed anything by mouth. Apparently they also took a few biopsy
samples for some unknown reason which we will discover when she sees her
specialist. Meanwhile we wait not
knowing.
14th May 2014
As a result of the chest x-ray that Barry had a short while
ago he has now had a CT scan to identify the unknown thing, and again will have
to wait to see the doctor until at least next week. This is because he also has to have the
repeat blood test next Monday to check on his PSA level as the increase may
have been caused by some innocuous underlying infection. Otherwise all is well.
21st May 2014
The results of the blood test showed Barry’s PSA has reduced
slightly and is now within the upper limit for his age group but above his
bench mark and therefore going to have a video conference with a Perth
urologist in June to determine whether another biopsy (in Perth) is
necessary. The CT scan only confirmed
what the e-ray showed, which effectively is nothing conclusive. Whatever it that is showing up doesn’t affect
my breathing and I am not short of breathe, etc, and apparently the point where
the windpipe branches off to each lung (the point where lymph nodes usually appear
when there is a problem) is clear so the guess work continues which will mean
another trip to Perth for a PET scan and possibly a lung biopsy. Will keep you
posted.
22nd May 2014
Over the past couple of days Barry has been making a three
shelved cabinet to fit into the toilet above the system which will house about
18 toilet rolls and a section for the bottles of cleaning agents, etc. It spans
the width of the room and is now in place but waiting for a door which will be
95cm X 42cm and will open upwards so that it is one piece rather than two pieces
opening from the sides. It will have two
support units to hold it open when necessary, like the caravan or aircraft, overhead
lockers or possibly have gas struts. It will require some research as it is
intended to have a copy of one of our panorama photographs printed on the front
to greet you on entry.
26th May 2014
We spent most of the day moving from various white goods
shops checking out new wall ovens. Our current
one is well over 18 years old requires several new parts such as the LED display
and therefore no timer facility, the internal light and its holder have had it
and the back plate has only one screw holding it in place, but otherwise cooks
beautifully. It has the great advantage
of having a door that slides under the oven base when it is open that saves you
having to reach into it and also had a separate grill, but we decided to
replace it as no spares are available due to the brand vanishing years ago
after it was bought out by Electrolux.
We eventually settled for a Fisher and Paykel double oven which fits
perfectly in the original alcove width wise but requires a narrow blanking plate
across the top as it is slightly shorter in height. Another project for Barry. The toilet cabinet had its last coat of paint
today and will be in use tomorrow albeit without a door for the time being.
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