Taking my mind off things.

 

Now there's no chance that I could ever have fish except plastic ones. I'm the one who can kill cactus, remember, but I could sit all day and watch them scoot through this fantastic Grand Prix of a fish tank.  Up, down and around, how great would that be instead of just going from side to side.  I find watching fish very soothing, almost to the point of going comatose but this would be just the opposite. 

And for all the cat lovers, a bun bed to keep the beasts warm.  Do the clicky thing to get the full delight of these ningnongs playing hamburgers.

And just for River, I found a Purple double Dature flower.

Now I have no idea what this bird is called except fashionable enough to wander the Flemington paddock on any race day.   The whole outfit could go straight on to some beanpole model and be a winner.  If it didn't have that bug in its mouth the expression would be sheer "Le Louvre".

I'm just passing time until tomorrow when I have to have a CT scan on whatever is growing in my sinus cavity and depending on how big it is, followed by an appointment with a specialist followed by surgery or non-surgery.   Non-surgery in my book.  After the scan I have to get my eyes tested just to make sure the dizziness is not related to them although I think my glasses are the cause of the non-focus. They haven't been the same since I sat on them and the arms ended up pointing in different directions.

I have an opinion and too bad if you don't like it !!!!

Isn't he cute. Michael Kutsche's concept of a squirrel for the Disney movie of The Great Oz.

Now that the sweetness is over, down to business.

Rabid Abbott is bringing back Knighthoods and Dames for exceptional Australians.  Dear Goddess I almost lost lunch and last week's breakfast.  All I could see in front of me was Sir John Howard and Dame Outback Mining Queen.
But now I can say what I like about the big earred creep because George Brandies (not a typo) says I can.  I am allowed to be a bigot, swear at people and call them names.  It's free speech.  Good one George, take a knighthood for farnarkling.  As for big ears, I unavoidably was listening to him last night and so help me, I could have sworn I was listening to J. H. Smallperson.  I can say that, free speech, remember.

The search for the plane is off because of the weather.  Lots of weird going around about that plane.  It takes an Orion 4 hours flying to the search area, two hours of search then 4 hours flying back.  So whoever directed the pilot into the Southern Indian Ocean was not intending to return.  Why aren't they using drones to skim the waves? Oh sorry, drones are only for hunting and killing.

And Craig Thompson, friend and champagne deliverer to call girls everywhere is miffed that the legal system might actually work and dump him in jail.  Don't worry Craig, hopefully the member for Frankston will soon be joining you. Of course you might get a knighthood for your tireless efforts to get those working girls off the street and into your bed. 

Don't ask about mother.

She's chipper, the old girl.

22nd of March, just past an Equinox, heading for Easter and she's still with us.  My eyeballs are typing this as I am tired and they keep falling out if I don't keep my eyelids shut.  This always happens, she gets crook, I run around in circles and she gets better, I have a meltdown.  I was supposed to go today but I had several accidents before I managed breakfast so I thought it might be better if I didn't go anywhere near traffic, the house is dangerous enough.
Her BGL is still all over the place even with slow release insulin but the cellulitis is back in the calf where it lives just waiting for the next break out.
The new lot in charge are finally looking to me for information about the old girl, it's gotten through their thick heads that just because I don't have a certificate on a wall doesn't mean I don't know what I'm talking about.  If I can talk for 15 minutes to Professor Thompson and his group of students at the Alfred without being considered an idiot then I should be able to discuss with them at the Home, mum and all her history.
And I'm certain they have the room bugged.  My ragings about the food seem to have hit home. The "Cook" is still serving up stew but this week it was chicken not beef although mum says it was a kindness to have put the geriatric chook out of its misery.  She's missing cake but I've made sure that everything coming in is sugar free and I still refuse to sign the food register.  If she gets sick they can blame the Swill shoveller in the kitchen except for Sunday and Monday when the Chef is on and he cooks real food. The outside bins are never full when R cooks.
I have managed to cut out five winter dresses and two autumn dresses.  It was fine while I was cutting out but I didn't realise how far I was stretching across the bed to do it.  When I tried to get out of bed the next morning, every muscle in my back and legs told me to piss off and went back to bed, leaving me standing without support.  It took an hour under hot water in the shower for the pain to ease off and I would have stayed longer but I could feel the water cooling.
I can't remember how long it is since I had a new dress to wear.  Now for a couple of winter nighties and a new dressing gown. I have a thick fleecy fabric in off white and I don't think I want to wear that in the street as a dress. I can almost hear Captain Ahab creeping up behind me with a harpoon.
And cross fingers, I think the dvd viewer has come good.  I have the new phones, still can only turn them on and off.  With all the fuss and bother of the last few weeks I haven't looked into the computer situation.  And can't figure out if I'm in trouble now that Microsoft is going to stop supporting XP if I'm running FireFox.  Thank goodness I don't own an iPhone.
Now I'm going to have a treat. Cafe style fruit loaf and lovely hot coffee. I really deserve it.

Still here.

I'm still coughing but not as much, nose is almost clear and the headache is gone.  I'm certainly going for the flu jab as soon as possible.  I know is doesn't stop the flu but it does calm it down a bit and it's worse than a cold virus. 
Mother was glad to see me. She is going downhill slowly but surely and there's nothing we can do. She's quite cheerful and the mind is still okay.  After the Saturday night when even she thought she was going to die, Doc Marvin has keep a close eye on her.  Now every carer and nurse in the place knows if the paperwork for her is not up to date when he comes in, whatever time or day then they are going to get a mouthful. 
I expect to get a mouthful myself after this weekend of being extremely rude about the running of the kitchen and the quality of the food. Mother's glucose and insulin is still not stable but it doesn't matter to the kitchen. Charcoal toast and cold lunches for the past three days and my sister witnessed this as did I.  
So when I went to see her yesterday, I ordered a toasted ham and cheese sandwich for her lunch just in case she got another load of swill. I had coffee, walked through Mentone, walked through Coles then to the Home.  The sandwich was still warm when I opened it and Mum shared hers with another resident and they both said the same thing, cold lunch. It would only be 5 minutes from the kitchen to mum's room so the plate is obviously not warm to start with. It was 10 minutes before I got a word out of either of them as they drooled their way through that damn sandwich. The tea boy was berated by all when he came to remove the dishes and since he's a little squealer, it'll be on my head.  I have already threatened them with the Dept of Aged Care so now is the time to be very quiet and let them wait for the other boot to fall.

The Arfur Daley car yard is reducing its stock. The wheeler and dealer has sold the Kombi on ebay and it's going  Tuesday. The buyer wanted to know if he could drive it home so it went round the block this morning, puffing smoke but otherwise going like a dream. I had to laugh though, he had his mate with him and all I could think of was Ratty and Mole from The Wind in the Willows.  The nephew is 6'4" and the mate is about 4'6" and all I could see of him in the van were his eyes and a hat.  So I still have a '64 no wheels Falcon, a VW soft top and a black Datsun which will be sold as soon as it's turbo tuned.  This turn-around is all due to the fact that he has now bought an Audi, front in perfect condition, engine magnificent but no boot where it was rear ended.  The owner, when told the fix-up price just said forget it, the wheeler and dealer offered him cash and it was his.  He just happened to have the back end of an Audi in perfect condition on hand.   I sat through 30 photos of the ins and outs of an Audi and I have to admit it's in beautiful condition inside. Cream leather and wood trim with all the bells and whistles and a very clean engine.   When he finishes with it, it'll be perfect. 

And a big thank you to Miss O'Dyne again who told me about the trick of putting a small pipe on the tap handle to make it turn easily.  He's doing that for me next week in the usual barter for car rent space.  I just cannot grasp the tap hard enough to turn it on or turn it off so I've always got the hoses wrapped around  trees for the leaks I can't help.  He came in last week and opened up all the jars I had lined along the bench. I'd already hacked off the lid of the vegemite jar.
And wonderful in the storm last night, Mick the tree lopper had cleaned the spouting so well, I only had half a bucket of water to put on the plants.

Head hurts

Everything hurts especially when I cough which I've been doing since last week.
Sinus dripping like a tap, joint pain, headache and this is only a cold virus. I'll be getting the flu jab as soon as possible. Two nights of not sleeping didn't help. If I sat up, I coughed, If I tried lying down, I coughed and whistled. It sounded like rats had set up a nest in the lung.

It's been made worse by not being able to go anywhere near the Home and having to rely on other people to give me news. We nearly lost mother on Saturday night but once again she came through. I'd had  cancelled the little party on Saturday but a couple of friends went in. She was very hot, not the weather, and wet cloths for her head and a fan helped. Night nurse rang me about eight and her blood sugar was through the roof and Doc Marvin had ordered Insulin for her to stop it going to coma level.

Next morning she tells me it was 136, in which case I was talking to a corpse or she heard wrong. She then tells me she shouldn't have had a glass of lemonade but I find out from friends she'd had several glasses because she was so thirsty. Bingo! If I'd been there I would have realized she was having so much lemonade because water wasn't quenching her thirst, diabetes was acting up when it's been stable since she went to live there. That episode was due to infection and is still not settling down and Insulin is still in the mix. Doc Marvin arrived yesterday to check on her. They are always so surprised that he turns up, you'd think by now they should know and have all the paperwork up to date instead of getting a lecture and I wouldn't want a lecture from him.

So no pavlova for mother but joy, the lazy bitch in the kitchen had put her down for frankfurts for tea. Mother always has toasted sandwiches for tea, always. fortunately the tea lady came in and questioned the choice. It looks like I'm going to have to start going in at lunchtime to see that she's having at least one meal that's edible. Yesterday they served up curry, she never eats curry, ever, so she didn't eat and the BGL went up to 27.9 just before the Doc arrived. Today it was lovely chicken with potato and green vegetables because the part time chef was cooking.

I am barred from going in until Thursday when this damn virus should be almost gone. I would go tomorrow but I can't take the chance of her catching anything and I would be totally out of it by the time I made it back home. I haven't bothered taking my BGL either. The only thing that stopped the cough, momentarily, and the glass coated throat was taking water with honey dissolved in it. Sips of that while I talked on the phone was the only way I could talk. And I agree with Miss O'Dyne that one can live on toast very comfortably.
Computer is still powering down to dead stop but I'll keep going while I can.

Bright as a button

No idea where that saying comes from but that's what the old girl was like today. My sister was astounded. I was astounded that my sister went back for a second day but she said mother looked so bad yesterday that she didn't want to remember her like that. Mother is fine, a little breathless but she had a shower, pathology and ECG and lunch. Rang twice on the phone and doesn't remember much about yesterday at all. Now she wants a new mobile with bigger buttons so she doesn't make a mistake by locking it and not being able to get me.

I have lungs that are on fire, throat still like broken glass, dizzy and headache.  She would like to see me tomorrow even without the pavlova. And you wonder why I keep saying we'll have to throw her in a vat of molten steel to knock her off.

And the plate. Neat, it's an inside windchime using an old plate and bits of cutlery. I'm not sure about the heavy spoons and forks though, I'd rather put large gems on a longer chain. Mind you, plates with this kind of edge were very expensive in the day but I've got a parrot one hanging around somewhere unless I've gone mad with de-cluttering and chucked it.  Not even pretty dangles are taking my mind off what's gone on these last two weeks. There's a meltdown coming, I feel it.

Nineteen seconds to meltdown

Nothing like staggering in with a meagre breakfast and black coffee to find an email from Miss O'Dyne and she has sent me a cake. Not just any cake but a Maraschino cherry cake with fluffy cherry frosting. I drooled, probably would have drowned if it had had whipped cream on the side.

I have a new phone, $54, with additional handset for the study and 67 pages of instructions on how to use it. Apparently it was my fault with the phone. The last time I tripped a over t, I detached a wire inside which was shorting out all the other phones. Now all I have to do is work out how to make the thing go ring ring instead of sounding like a air raid siren. 

The computer is another creature altogether. In March 2010, I had it upgraded to 1gb of memory but the whole thing is not powering up as it should. I'm saving it for emails and banking and just managed to do online shopping by a whisker before it tanked last night. So now looking at new towers, not laptops. I like my desktop, in the study and when it's turned off that's it, I walk away otherwise I'd be at it all night.

Mother, well, mother is not doing too well.  She had an x-ray this morning and tomorrow, pathology and an ECG. Thank you Doc Marvin who set up an in house service for all of this so residents wouldn't have to go and wait in hospitals anywhere.  Her heart is not beating fast enough to get the fluid out of her lungs, she has a pressure sore that is not healing, the cellulitis in the leg is still building up for a breakout and she has tremors in both arms so bad so threw lemonade over the idiot Tea-boy on Monday.  In other words, she's cactus but today is her 84th birthday and she made it, just like she said she would. I had organized something for Saturday but I must cancel as she is too ill and tired for people.  She would say no, but I'm not falling for that. Of course she could fool us again and survive and if she does, then she really does deserve the label of "Terminator".