T'is me again :)

Good grief, another month has passed, so this may need a cuppa tea and a sit down to read :):).  When I checked in to write a post today, the format has completely changed which has thrown me a bit but hey ho, will see if this is the new and improved, lol.   The last time I wrote I was in the midst of a lurgy - well it took four days to come right and had the energy of a wet noodle.  Back to work for two 12 hour days on the weekend after having used two of my days off being sick,  grr , and was ok but still not feeling 100%.  I worked Monday as well and came home, and had cold corned beef ready to go with a new salad I was creating with courgettes and hazelnuts, followed by FRESH mango for dessert.  I ate my dinner but it felt heavy on my stomach, nothing to worry about, just did not feel yippity skip like I thought I would after having such a healthy repast.  Can't remember now what time I went to bed, but remember still feeling a bit meh so read for a bit and tried to get comfortable.  I believe I did doze off but woke around 3.30am having gone from feeling meh to distinctly queasy. While the neurons and synapses of my sluggish brain were trying to do a check through 1000 diseases I could have been suffering from, I had the distinct urge at 3.45am to propel myself henceforth from my place of repose, in a lightening dash to the loo whereupon I was sick.  Ok, I thought to myself heading back to bed, hopefully that was it, but oh no...... for the next four hours I alternated at each end spending very close acquaintance with the porcelain bowl by which time I stopped throwing up but for most of the next day, kept the seat warm with my various trips back and forth.  There are 25 steps from my bed to the loo, (for those playing at home, lol) - that is what I was reduced to as there was not much else I was comprehending at the time apart from muttering imprecations and a pox on those staff members who had bought the gastric bug to work.  So, twice in two weeks I had two days off sick - the shock of that was nearly enough to carry me off.  I spent the next 24 hours, apart from trips hither and yon to aforementioned porcelain, flat on my back in bed.  I think I may have had a couple of sips of water - before friend Donna, bless her, delivered a bottle of lemonade to my door step (I was asleep at the time I think but she would not have been allowed in regardless, lol, all very prevent the plague behaviour at the time).  The next day, I also lay in bed again, this time sipping lemonade and nibbling on some plain biscuits I found in the cupboard.  I dropped 2.7k during this time !!!! and even now am not feeling like a whole lot of food at any given time, sticking mainly to fresh if possible.  If I thought I was unwell at the last time of writing, this time I thought I was dying.  

Several things have happened over the past weeks that now give me regular dates to affix to my calender.  I am not sure whether I mentioned going to a psychic fair some two months ago now.  Friend Donna turned up one afternoon and on a whim, we decided to shoot out to have a look around at the fair. After looking at several stalls, I decided to have a reading from one of the clairvoyants sprinkled around the main room and having fixed my eye on someone who seemed to be doing a roaring business, I wandered round the room and ended up in front of someone completely different.  The reading was interesting, I was told I was lacking in energy (ya think) that if I had a list of things to do, I may get the first one done but maybe not.  After a few more observations from the woman concerned I asked if she was living in my head as she was accurate in all that she said. She did a brief healing on me as I was leaving and I decided to go back the next day and went to a different person who did used crystals for another healing re-energizing blast.  I was so tired that day by the time I got home I did nothing but sleep but OMG the next week went like a dervish about the place. It transpired that the first woman I saw  (Judith) was in fact a Kiwi and in the old six degrees of separation, had attended Waikato University, doing an art therapy course with a woman I had worked with at the then Presbyterian Support group (during my social work training).  It also happened that Judith was going to run a weekend course on alternative healing which coincided with one of my weekends off, so I attended that and had a ball.  The very short version is that she holds a group once a week so that folk can continue building on their skills which I have been able to attend in and around different shifts (doing the course was where we made the Waikato connecton).  Through that course I met another woman who in idle chat said she was going to attend a Rotary breakfast meeting (a couple of weeks ago now) and lo and behold,  has presented me with the opportunity to attend her group for the past three weeks. 

I belonged to the Fairfield chapter of Rotary before I began the Aussie segment of my life and at the back of my mind over the past few months has been the thought to get involved with a community organisation again so was more than happy to be invited along.  The meetings are held at the Geraldton club which is a big old building across the road from the waterfront so we begin the morning with a coffee on the balcony watching the town start the day.  The meeting gathers at 6.45am finishing at 8am so its an early start, lol. I was introduced around to several people on the first morning and then as we gathered to start the meeting, I was struck by a horrible thought, OMG am I going to have to sing the Australian national anthem each week, and if so, can I do it....... At home we always finished our meeting standing singing God Defend New Zealand so there was my rather large dilemma the only words I know to the aussie national anthem are "girt by sea" and "advance Australia fair".  Michelle, who took me laughed when I asked her and said no they didn't do that, (phew) I was more than relieved as we had just beaten the Wallabies the weekend before where I had loudly been singing our national anthem with the telly on full volume at work, with a baby in my arms, telling him to be very afraid when he heard that song when he grew up, lol.  They do toast the flag to start off the meeting and I can drink to that without too much worry I think though it has been so quick I have almost missed it to date.  I was made very welcome and had automatic friends  at the next weeks meeting when three other members arrived wearing All Black colours to celebrate the World Cup win, woohoo.  So now there are four kiwis infiltrating the ranks, heh heh. 

Last meeting, we had a chap come and talk to us about being part of the yacht race following the path of the old clipper ships, navigating the world right now.  All the yachts were docked in Geraldton for several days last week before leaving for Tauranga, NZ their next stop.  Each yacht is built exactly the same, with a crew of 18.  The captain of each yacht is a professional sailor and all the others are volunteers or people who want to experience either the whole race or segments of it.  It costs forty English pounds to do the whole race so not for the economically challenged.  Whilst the yachts were in port here, they were open at times for the public to visit and also took folk out on the ocean for short trips under sail to have an amazing experience.  It was fascinating to hear how 18 folk managed their days and the minimal space, two people rotating sleep in the bunks provided as the other was on deck sailing.  The chap who came to talk to us had lost 13 kilos in weight since leaving England, as meals were mostly rice or pasta and consumed quickly.  The yachts had sailed through the roaring 40's to get here and he said it was so cold that he sais wore 9 layers of clothing to bed and was still cold while sailing through there. 

In between all this, in a bid to try and manage a more healthy approach to life whilst being a shift worker, I have once again trekked back to Weight watchers.  Donna (I know, she appears in most of these life changing moments, lol) wanted company to go along to meetings and again fortuitously, it was at the same time I was wanting to get things back on track.  They have changed the program since I last was on it probably about 5 or 6 yrs ago now and while I love it that fruit is free points, have not got my head entirely around the new way of doing things.  I must be doing reasonably ok as have managed to lose 4k along the way.  It makes life much easier at work , having to eat three proper meals a day with any amount of fruit that I want in between if I am hungry instead of cramming food in on the run.  I have picked up energy (a small amount, lol), and am eating more fresh food, without getting hungry in between and not even wanting rubbish food, not when you can have enough of it to fit in your eye instead of  nearly your body weight in the foods that are good for you.  Have been having fun with smoothies - 1/2 cup of plain yogurt, 1/2 cup skim milk, frozen banana with a variety of other fruit to hand (strawberries, peaches etc) drop of vanilla and have been putting dollops of ww jelly in and then blitzing with one of those hand held whizz things.  Makes massive amounts to drink and it is like a meal all by itself.  I was told the trick of peeling bananas and wrapping individually in glad wrap to freeze and it works a treat to thicken without having dollops of ice instead.  The jelly gives colour and sweetness, and when blitzed and drunk immediately, you would never know it was in it.  Things took a bit of a hiding this week as I have just been at conference for two days with work and all they offered was prepackaged, pasties and such like,  but back on track this morning so all good.

Am back at work this afternoon after having a week off for annual leave which was when I had planned on going south with Jude which unfortunately did not come off in the end.  She got offered two weeks work cooking for a shearing gang which she couldn't refuse and in the end it worked out well for me as I have been catching up on a heap of things off my to do list.   I am in the process of getting four years of taxes sorted out - that involved four days going through receipts and papers going back to my arrival - two rubbish bin sacks full of rubbish and on the fourth day, found the last two papers I needed for my Aussi paper work.  Got two new tyres on the car, the front right hand wheel had a slow leak so kept needing to get it pumped up, so decided it was a good time to get things checked out.  It transpires that the other two back tyres need to be upgraded as well and that will be on next weeks list.  They do not have Warrant of Fitness over here so no cause to get your car checked for safety any time unless the car is over a certain age.  The chap at the tyre place said all the tyres were in a parlous state and if stopped by the cops for anything, my car would have been yellow stickered as unsafe so a lucky save there and should be set for another year at least after the upgrade. 

Am looking at the time and need to make tracks to get ready for work, can't wait to catch up with the kids and see how much the babies have grown while I have been away. Was going to add some photos but will leave that until the weekend I think when I have more time.  Will aim for another post by next Monday with photos :):)

Home, in bed.

I have succumbed and for the second day, have spent most of the day in bed. I am not dying but have headache, running nose, sore throat, and cough and occassionally a temperature (I think) so am swallowing cold and flu tablets, berroca, menthol chews and drinking water while periodiacally slathering chest, what bits of my back I can reach, and feet with Vicks. I sit here muttering imprecations and a pox on fellow workers who have bought their lurgies to work so that I too may share ... not impressed. I believe I took a morning off last year with sinus streaming but I think it would be nearly five years since I have had a day off sick, let alone two - I am not a good sick person as anything that might seem interesting to do seeing I am not at work, I do not feel like doing. Can only manage reading a couple of pages of book at a time before wanting to snooze. Normally, I may not consider the above symptoms as being sick and would tend to ignore them but as we have two out of the three babies at work that easily get sick, I thought it best to keep my germs to myself, thus also feeling somewhat virtuous instead of spreading bugs at whim. I will be even further unimpressed if I continue to feel lousey through the next two days which are my days off. I can only think lots of night shifts combined with the change of season variable temps have maybe lowered my resistance. There were maybe warning signs last week like getting ready to go to work on days off and then getting afternoon shift mistaken for night shift plus working an extra one, that I should have taken heed of. I did think it odd I was making so many mistakes with my roster but could not pinpoint why my head was not clear thinking. I could have been swallowing preventative drugs last week but then again, maybe my body is saying it needs the rest. :):)

Anyhow, before you all suffer from shock from seeing two blogs in a row, I will bring to your attention the new gizmo I have installed on the left hand side of this epistle. I believe if you enter your mail address, future postings should automatically wing their way through the ether to your mailbox. If someone tries it out, please let me know if it works. :)

I have enclose two photos of what I am informed are Ospreys. I was driving home from work one morning when I spotted the two birds on top of the power pole looking to start building a nest. I parked over the road from them and grabbing my trusty camera got a few shots, though it was a miserable overcast day. With interest I watched for the next few mornings and then a day off and the nest fixings were gone, as were the birds. A few days later they were back on the opposite side of the road and they had built a  around a street light which is now covered in a basket like woven circular nest. I managed to see the birds a couple more times but have not seen any movement over the past week. I am not sure of the gestation time for Ospreys but their babies may have already hatched and flown the the coop. I am told there are several similar nests a little further down the coast at Cape Birney which is like a suburb of Geraldton.

Today is the first fine, though windy day, that we have had for several days. I know this because I think It was last Friday when I was able to get clothes dry. We had a spectacular storm on Saturday night, lashing rain, wind and lightening, though I didn't hear any thunder. There was hail south of Perth that was still on the ground in places, the following day. There was so much that it looked like it had snowed. Lots of the vineyards in Bunbury were affected as I saw on the news last night.

One could not escape sport last weekend (though I kind of did by sleeping through most of it as on night shift). It was the grand final for the AFL (aussie football) and a veritable clash of the Titans with all the build up. Geelong won which made the workmates family very happy as they are staunch supporters. I called in on the way home from work to say hello at 8.30am and Hayden was already in his Geelong jumper and wearing his cap. The following day was the grand final for rugby league with the NZ Warriors against Manley - somewhere in the haze of sleep, I thought the Warriors had won so for 24 hrs until I saw the news the following night I was walking around in blissful ignorance that they had in fact lost to the Aussies. Damn. And through all this in the background is running the Rugby World Cup held in various venues in New Zealand. I will be watching this weekend to see the Wallabies go up against the Spring boks and will be backing the aussies naturally. Was good to see NZ beat France, always sweet when that happens and a win against Canada. I love the fact the New Zealand altered the whole education system, changing the school holidays to fit around the Cup. Is there anywhere else in the world that this would happen? I am on nights this weekend so hopefully the babies will want a feed around the time the games are televised, heh heh which will give me the perfect opportunity to watch. Of course day time this weekend is BATHURST for all the petrol heads out there. V8 racing is fully televised over here during the season much the same as home. There is something compulsive about watching the race, take your eyes off the screen and someone will crash or there will be an incident that changes the whole course of the race. Go Holdens! (would once have said Ford but not sure they have made a decent car since the Mk III,  heh heh and  Murf  (Greg Murphy)  drives Holdens (as did Dad, and always remember him this weekend also, with his Holden paraphenalia).
It is the Sunshine Festival in Geraldton this weekend which means a parade, floats and a host of activities down at the waterfront for young and old. With a bit of luck I will catch some of it between sleeps. I missed the replica of the Endeavour (Captain Cook's ship) being in town but have seen it and been on it some years back when it was in Auckland. There were two cruise ships in last week, I love driving to work and pow, there are these huge liners just out to sea, with other cargo ships coming and going in between. There is seldom less than 5 ships on the horizon and at the most I have counted 12 either coming or going.

I am ready for another snooze so will sign off.  Surely if I sleep enough I should wake up cured in the next 12 hours, lol.  Things to do, places to go on days off, my luck I will still be shaking this off but am cautiously optimistic.

Pests......

Egad, where did September go.  I am starting to feel somewhat like a mole, what with working so many night shifts lately, as in busy at nights, and sleeping during the day.  That being said, there have been a few awake moments not devoted to work.  

My garden continues to both frustrate and gladden me.  The frustration has not been targeted at the garden but more at all things pestilential in my life.  It is a sad state of affairs when rat bait, slug bait and multiple cans of flyspray outweigh anything else in the groceries.  I digress but stay with me ....  I am now on my third brand of one meal kills all rat and mice bait, not including the high pitched thingie that you plug in and is meant to rid the house of a variety of pests ( the only thing I haven't had a lot of lately is visitors, lol).  I have been through mortein which they seemed not to eat much of (killed plenty at Tardun with this brand); Talon I think was the next brand, for those discerning mice/rodents that are resistant to products in other brands (ya think); and am now onto rat squeak or rat pak (can't remember which one) ...... will keep you posted, -  and none have proved their advertising yet, as I have noticed a new calling card left on the window sill over night, - may it be the last one !!!!!

Back to the garden.  The gladdening is from flowering plants and small shrubs which are bursting out all over and the fact I am eating lettuce nearly everyday and spinach a couple of times a week still.  The frustration is .. wait for it .... PESTS.  My beans are valiantly trying to bean away (two meals) however the vines seem to be disappearing before my eyes as locusts and snails take their toll - the broccoli have almost disappeared because of the same thing.  Right I thought, ( read that with a John Cleese tone in your head), I will get the little baskets, and the universe responded by having slug bait on special .... so I bought a kilo of it, heh heh.  Now, over here the snails are different.  I believe I have seen one shell in the garden of the common brown snail we have in nz but over here, they are white and small, about the size of your thumbnail, so much so, at first when I saw them covering the lemon tree here, I thought they were blossom.  Managed to knock most of them of the lemon tree (more of a shrub as it is only a baby one) whilst watering it but given 30 mins they were sliming their way up the trunk again. Right, again!  Inside I came to get soapy water with a dollop of garlic for good measure  in the bucket and once again I swooshed the lemon tree with it whilst knocking them off with a stick. Suck on those suds, I thought.  I also left a liberal sprinkling of the bait I had bought.  They must breed them tough here because not a day later, the snails have crawled back, though I am happy to report there are a layer of dead ones on the ground.  I am very careful when bringing lettuce and spinach inside and do the whole salt water rinse before anything else as the odd tiny one escapes the naked eye as I beat them off whilst  harvesting.

I have had another house inspection and passed with flying colours again which is nice.  I had just come off  a ten hour and two 12 hour night shifts the morning it was due.  I rang the real estate agents who said it would cost $55 to reschedule inspection and when they tried to get hold of the agent to maybe try later in the day they could not reach her.  What the heck, I left a large note on the kitchen bench, one at the front door and went to bed as after a quick zoom through the house with the vacuum cleaner, I was ready to fall over with tiredness.  I did not hear a thing and as my room was the only one in the house not completely tidy, I guess I killed two birds with one stone so to speak. 

In preparation for this house check, one of the tick list things is lawn care.  Now I have never had to do anything like this in my life but off to Bunnings I went and bought a container of weed and feed, waited until 7 days after I mowed the lawns and applied it to the back lawn.  It is meant to be an easy process.... the container comes with a lid that you have to put another plastic gizmo (attached to lid) in two holes so you can attach the hose to the lid and it is meant to spray out evenly and do the work for you in mixing it right.  Not sure what I did, but could not seem to get which holes were meant to be filled and which one open, and then the hose attachment was too big so had to man handle it on so not quite the one handed with ease job I expected.  I got thoroughly wet into the bargain, - jeans only clean on that morning and then I read at the end, you are not meant to get any of this stuff on your body .... arrrgh and a shower later, with jeans in the washing machine, and then another ten days to see if the stuff is working.  I think it is, though most of the lawn seems to be dead looking.  I must say - it would appear what I thought may have been ok grass was in fact weeds, who knows with aussi lawns, lol

One product I do love is those inside continuous bug sprays ( I have two on the go at anyone time).  I have become so accustomed to them going now I no longer hear the little pfft they give out most of the time, so become blissfully unaware when they run out, and often only notice when an insect has the temerity to appear in the house.  This happened a couple of weeks ago when a fly flew past me while I was sitting on the couch reading a book ..... and worse, when I lifted up the venetian blinds in my room to see a large spider on the window almost in front of my nose.  Wearing glasses I sometimes have difficulty in perspective now so was not entirely sure whether the spider was inside or outside at first.  LUCKILY for me, I decided to get fly spray just as my hand was reaching out to tap on the glass.  Again I reached for  a one spray kills all  with one spray can under the sink and let a goodly blast off towards the window.  Nothing happened for what seemed to be a millennium, and then the spider moved at speed across the window and up.  I removed myself to the bedroom doorway, across the side of the room and continued to aim at the window with more blasts.  The flaming thing shot higher up onto the ceiling.  Hmmm I thought, it is going to where the air is clearer as the poison droplets were drifting to the floor.  Right, now for the sucker punch,  I moved ever so slightly inside the doorway, and sprayed the remainder of the can upwards at length as I emptied the can and my fingers got cramp (slight exaggeration but not by much, lol).  I left the room as the spider was still moving across the ceiling and went back some time later to find it had flipping well dropped dead, with its legs curled, onto my bed, thus necessitating me having to sleep in the back room until the next day when I was very sure it was dead and able to be knocked by a long handled broom onto the floor, before being sucked up by the vacuum cleaner.  While the dying process was occurring I had checked to find one of the continuous sprayers was empty, none in the house to replace so a quick trip to the shop to buy several more plus batteries for the nozzles to spray.  I am happy to report I am insect free once again. :)

Just looked at the time and gotta go to work so will sign off for now :):)