Rats & Mice Run

Yesterday, I did what I call the Rats & mice Run. Inevitably, over the week, we end up with a reasonable load of deliveries to slightly out of the way places. At the moment, I am the only one that is spare enough to be spared for this run. I looked at the manifest & got the Boss's permission for Herself to tag along for the ride. The run started with 3 pallets of Coke product for the Supermarket at Pauanui. Its always a pleasure to go there. Audry, who does the unloading, is a Maori lass who doesn't have a lot of experience or confidence driving the forkhoist. She likes me delivering because instead of getting impatient, jumping on the hoist & doing it myself, I let her take her time & pass on to her little tricks of the trade that help her. She likes to see me pull up in the truck.

From there, we went up to Hahei, for one delivery. Hahei is a small holiday resort, with a low local population that only really comes alive over the 6 odd weeks of Xmas. Its similar to Pauanui, except that the visitors to Pauanui are very ostentatious in the display of their wealth. Hahei over Xmas positively screams "money" at you, but you have to look to see it. They are a more discreet breed. Cooks beach, our next stop, is one of my favourite places on the Peninsula. There is only one block of shops, there is a service lane behind them, & everyone has a forklift. And they are happy as well. The other reason I like Cooks beach is that it has an excellent all weather boat ramp that we plan to use when things are a touch more settled to launch our boat from to visit The Mercury Islands.

From there , on to Whitianga, where quite by chance, I met up with one of our other drivers, who had saved for me in his freezer a beautiful feed of Pipi's, & you KNOW how much I enjoy them. I saved deliberately a pallet of food stuffs for an organic produce shop. Jules, who owns it, is a most outgoing & lovely person. She is from Hawaii. Why do American women figure so prominently in my life ? She is very supportive, having cared for someone who had Lou Gehrig's disease, another motor neuron thing, for 13 years, so has done the yards. When she knew that I had bought Herself along for the ride, she raced out, threw her arms around Jude in a huge, all embracing hug, all before I even had a chance to introduce them to each other. We came away feeling heartened.

Next stop was Matarangi, another Auckland suburb wannabe for one delivery. From there it was up over the Whangapoua Hill, just about our own version of Wolf Creek Pass. Herself learned some new words there once when the wipers on the truck ceased to work halfway up in a torrential downpour, but it was all bright & sunny this time. Coromandel saw the delivery of 5 rolls of plastic piping to the local hardware store. Then thanks to the judicious use of a pallet jack & the hydraulic tail lift on the truck, a 300 kg safe to the local school.

Last drop of the day was a sauna, that also need a pallet jack & the tail lift. This involved some 20 odd kilometers of sheer misery laughingly known locally as a "road," going to a place called Tuateawa. Let me explain. Its a metal road that not a lot of folk use. If you are lucky, its about 1 & a bit lanes wide, & passing an on coming vehicle especially in a 6 wheel truck, is something that takes a bit of planning, skillful driving & a big bucket of luck. Some of the corners are that tight that you can feel the rear dual sliding off in the washouts & its only momentum that keeps you going. But we got there & delivered the sauna. Then the fun started. Let me just say this. Double slopes, 6 wheel trucks & letter boxes aren't good friends. Did you know that you can dig out a letterbox, let a completely stranded truck out that has been blocking a road for half an hour & put it back in its hole so it doesn't look as though it has been moved ? take it from me, you can. If we had been in Sherman it would have been a beautiful drive, with stunning views. It took 3 cans of beer to wash the dust out internally when we got home finally at 8.30 pm.

All in all, we crossed the Peninsula 4 times & delivered a shitload of freight. herself was quite worn out by the time we got home. I wasn't. I was exhausted. My shoulders are still aching from the driving, but we had a good time. Its always good spending quality time with each other.

Doctor, doctor, give me the news

Well, there was an awful lot of it today. We had our appointment at Waikato Hospital With the Neurology nurse, who is a very switched on lady who probably knows more about what makes a brain tick than most doctors. Just by sheer chance, the Speech & language Therapist rang this morning to check on Herself & when she heard that we were coming over, she asked if we minded if she sat in for a while. Ok with us we said, so she did. So at one point, we had her, the Neuro nurse & the Neurologist with us.

The MRI didn't show any abnormalities except the usual deterioration commensurate with her age. We talked at great length about PEGing, being shown the actual hardware used. Herself is going to undergo a procedure known as a RIB, or a RIG, not sure which. Basically they are going to inflate her stomach with a naso gastric tube & do the op from the outside with the help of live Xrays. This is going to be done some time in the next two months. Everything was well explained with the followup care etc. Now, I just have to stop being scared for her. For both of us really I think. Its a simple procedure with easy after care & support from the district nurse, but still.....

How I learned to stop worrying & love the bomb...

Well, it was close. I wouldn't have been at all surprised to see Peter Sellars come in seated in a wheelchair sporting a German accent. You see, herself had her MRI yesterday. Scared shitless doesn't really cover how she was feeling. She didn't even eat lunch which was very naughty of her. When we got there, she asked the nurse if I could come in with her. To my surprise, the answer was ' "Yes." but first I had to divest myself of anything remotely magnetic. This is what an MRI machine looks like...

This is pretty much the exact same machine as they used, but thats not Herself. She did have the same cool little leg rest though. The round thing at the back is a sort of a Star Wars helmet that they stuff your head into along with some earmuffs & some packing so that you don't/can't move your head. I got a pair of earmuffs too. Damn, but that thing is loud. It has a great repertoire of sounds too. Acid rap music, sex starved robot & a rooster with stomach ache. It was all that loud that I could feel it through the trolley. I couldn't hold her hand, but i was allowed to stroke her leg. It all took about 20 minutes & then we came home totally in awe of modern science. We won't know the results till Thursday when we have a visit to the neurologist at Waikato again. We know there is only an 8% chance that its other than what they have told us it is. This is all in the nature of crossing the T's & dotting the i's I think.

It's been bloody hot here today. It's still hot. Herself is currently outside doing her bit to combat global warming by watering the garden. That should cool our little patch down. I did my bit towards the Greenhouse effect earlier. I mowed the lawn & put the clippings in the compost bin. Surely that counts towards something ? Reducing my carbon foot print ? The mower IS an electric one.. Peace love & brother hood..

Monday Monday

Can't trust that day... So sang the incomparable Mama Cass. I know what she means now. Mondays always seem to be my worst day of the week these days. Especially when I have a "time out" weekend. I need them, probably about every second weekend at the moment. You know the sort of weekend I mean. laze around doing absolutely nothing except read, have good nights sleep & go back to work relaxed & refreshed..... NOT. Sleeping in the afternoon for some reason doesn't seem to be an option at the moment. Either a fly, or a dog barking, or a lawn mower , or the phone, you know how it goes. At least during the week, I come home tired & can actually sleep for most of the night.

Some nights, I wake up about 4.00 AM & find it hard to get to sleep. Those nights I call my "cat nights" because quite often the only thing that gets me back to sleep is a pussycat snuggled up next to me to stroke, while feeling her purring rattling into my chest. Tiggerpuss seems to have developed a 6th. sense as to when she is needed. You can just about put money on it that just when I'm thinking that its time to go find a cat, she jumps up on the bed. marches up to the pillow for a chat, then snuggles down purring. Just what the doctor ordered. I've got a ways to go yet, but I am getting there. Its not like I have any options really. Its all about finding a way to cope.

I did my usual bulk delivery run to Whangamata today. On the way down the East side of the Kopu Hikuai, the road evens out & the bush becomes stunted & scrubby. As I came round one particular corner what did I see but two small baby wild piglets frollicking in the morning sun. They saw me, jumped in the air, spun round & headed flat out for the scrub. All a big game. Later on that day, I did a delivery to a Mr Flower who grows Chrysanthemums. Very difficult to maintain a straight face under the circumstances.

Happy Birthday Anna Jayne

Well my precious darling, you've made it to the grand age of one year old. How time flies. We love you dearly. May your whole life be filled with joy & happiness...

Hello, my name is Numpty, & I'm a first time caller.....

I did an evening run to Auckland tonight & took Herself which was great. The only thing was, she wanted to listen to the radio. The truck we too was an import & the radio hasn't been converted to N.Z. frequencies. The only station we could get on either the AM or FM bands that wasn't playing rap, or broadcasting in some incomprehensible Asian or Pacific language was ZB talkback. My God, there's some really sadass people out there is all I can say....

About Alice

I think I fell down the Rabbit Hole yesterday. I'm almost certain that somebody slipped me a slice of the caterpillars mushroom as well.

You see, Herself had an appointment with the Doc at the Hospital in Thames yesterday. Clinical Outpatients have moved. They are now in the new block that has been recently completed & neither of us know our way round. We kept getting told to go to different places & talk to different people. The Surgeon that we see there is short, rotund, wears spectacles & has a reputation for eccentricity that is well known. Add to that, confusion & a certain amount of nose out of jointedness to complete the picture when we informed him that we had seen a Neurosurgeon at Waikato & had cancelled the appointment with the semi retired neuro that drops in to Thames on his way up to his holiday home & sees patients when he feels like it. This had the effect of compulsive spectacle twiddling & the raising of his top lip rather like horse. You get the picture ?

Anyway, we broached the subject of PEGging with him. I think that in a fit of sour grapes, he decided that he didn't know anything about the subject, ask your new neuro, see you in 3 months, THIS is the door out. Here's a neat picture of the 3 of us having a really groovy time in the consulting room.
Anyway, I went to Whangamata this morning & saw this come in & park in the parking area where I was unloading & I just HAD to take a photo of it

Aint she lovely? Its a '57 Corvette & its mint & its in pristine stock standard condition. Daddys baby for sure. The guy that owns it is very proud of it & more than happy for me to take a pic of it.

I'm sorry, but I can only finish with this clip. 1, because it's relevant, & 2, Grace Slick rocks..



Its from Woodstock if you didn't already guess..

I suppose I should say happy New Year

On reflection, Herself & I have had a fairly tough year one way & another. If you have been following my blog you will understand. The latest bombshell was that the occupational Therapist visited herself last Wednesday & told her that they are thinking about fitting a PEG (Look it up) next month. Ultimately, its her decision to have it or not, because it is, after all, her body. To say we are getting mixed reactions to the concept would be an understatement. Having read up on the subject, I must admit that I am not entirely happy with the thought of her having it so early. It requires constant maintainance, is prone to infection & the body does ultimately reject it.

There is also the psychological aspect as well. I have been concerned for a while now with her eating habits & her state of mind for a while now. Weekend events brought it to a head & after our visitors left we sat down & had a talk about things, namely that she needs to eat a lot smarter than she has been lately. You see lately, eating has become that much of a chore for her that she has been living mostly on yoghurts (good) & sandwiches, with fillings like jam or peanut butter (not good) She has conceded that she needs to (& can) eat far more nutritive food even if she has to put her veges in a blender to be able to eat them. Fish & chicken are good as well.

We had a great three days with Ally & the kids here for New Years Eve. It was a shame that I was so damn tired that I couldn't see the New Year in, but like I said, its been a tough year. I did manage to get the boys out fishing on New Years Day though. I wasn't all that optimistic, as traditionally, there is few snapper in the Firth at this time of year, but surprisingly, we did alright, bringing home enough for us all for tea & enough for Ally to take home as well. It was great to just forget about lifes worries for a while.

Well, thats the festive season done with. The next long weekend is at the end of the month with Anniversary Weekend. So, another year starts. I wonder what it will bring.