Albeit a short one. We had a meeting at work yesterday that lasted 5 hours. i did begrudge the time a bit because I have been doing night runs for the last two weeks & so missing out on my evenings with Herself, but it was a worthwhile meeting I guess. Today I got a bit done. Did my bit for Global Warming by burning a heap of rubbish. Its a cunning plan; hopefully by heating the air up by burning rubbish, summer might last that little bit longer. If you believe that, then you will also believe that sitting in the dark for an hour is going to help things as well. I'm proud of my efforts. I turned everything in the house on. Felt quite good about it when I saw the pic of Aucklands CBD lit up like a Xmas Tree as well. Seriously though folks, quite aside from most of our electricity being generated from renewable resources, you can all do far more to help by turning off lights when you're not using them, turning off TV's when you aren't watching them. Same with Puters. You would be amazed to know how much energy is used by an appliance on standby.
I mowed the lawns today. That uses a bit more power,(electric mower) & generates a bit more methane,(composting lawn clippings) Stuffed a bit more of the ozone layer, ( aerosol rust penetrator) getting the bolts undone on Morris The Mixer's motor. You see, Morris needs a new drive belt, because his old one is about 20 years past its use by date. Its all a cunning bit of procrastination to put off actually using the damn thing for the purpose that I bought it for, namely doing mowing strips & actually making the back yard look finished.
What else did I do ? Oh yeah, watched Star Trek Generations on TV. that used about 100 litres of water out of one of our hydro lakes I suppose. Will have a spa later too. That should use a bit more power & put a bit of steam into the air.. Damn I'm enjoying this...
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
Things that rip ya nighty...
Call me a little bit possessive, but I really don't like complete strangers from other trucking companies climbing into the cab of my truck & shifting it when I'm not there. Especially when all they are doing is shifting it 6 foot forward so its nose is right up the butt of the truck in front, then parking their rig close up behind. Its a little like a stranger coming into your house & going through your things. I got myself out of it AND resisted the urge to dump the old girl in reverse & back up hard into the front of his nice shiny new truck. Not that the thought didnt cross my mind you understand....
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Beauty & the beast
I sat up & watched King Kong last night. I did see the original many years ago, which was an absolute masterpiece of animation for its time, all shot with models that were moved one frame at a time, absolutely brilliant. Finally, someone with the balls to do a remake has come along. New Zealand's own Peter Jackson, who has done a stunning remake. I had seen it before, but somehow appreciated it all the more second time round. He stayed very faithful to the original story.
Naomi Watts is a very acceptable replacement for Faye Wray. I didn't notice at all the gratuitous cleavage shots, or the erect nipples through the thin filmy dress at all, but the ape sure did. And it was his undoing. How the hell is a gorilla supposed to successfully defend himself on the top of the Empire State Building against biplanes armed with machine guns with that winsome lucious package draping herself artistically all over him ? The end was inevitable really. Very sad, but inevitable. I enjoyed the movie. Nothing like a bit of good honest fantasy to make you forget about things, & not a swear word in the whole 3 hours odd of it. Wonderful.
We decided to go visit Morty et al yesterday. Took the chainsaw, the computer box & lunch down. Lunch was in the form of a heap of bags of deli scrag ends from a neat little wholesale deli that I have found in Auckland. Some compensation I guess for having to be up there at the moment. had a lovely day. Free entertainment provided by a couple of knob end kids on a mini bike who thought they could escape the law by cutting through the back of the Poly Tech by using a walk bridge. Didnt work. The cops took their time & set them up very nicely, suckering them into going back over the bridge & straight into the arms of a loving constable. Naive little bastards.
Its always good to go see Morty & the kids. They always make us feel so special there. Still trying to figure out what subcategory of "special" we come under. We think it has good connotations, but we aint certain. Anyway, for a little bit of work, we came away with a nice load of firewood, an updated puter, a big box of grapes, three yummy squash, a nice fuzzy glow & a partridge in a pear tree. Today was quiet, with just a friend from work coming round to see us. He's a nice guy & has just had a major op on his ear. It was left far too long & nearly became lifethreatening. I wont give you the details, but it had started to get very messy & the infection had nearly got to his brain.
Gonna finally get around to bundling up various assorted pressies for my kids & will get them away tomorrow.
Naomi Watts is a very acceptable replacement for Faye Wray. I didn't notice at all the gratuitous cleavage shots, or the erect nipples through the thin filmy dress at all, but the ape sure did. And it was his undoing. How the hell is a gorilla supposed to successfully defend himself on the top of the Empire State Building against biplanes armed with machine guns with that winsome lucious package draping herself artistically all over him ? The end was inevitable really. Very sad, but inevitable. I enjoyed the movie. Nothing like a bit of good honest fantasy to make you forget about things, & not a swear word in the whole 3 hours odd of it. Wonderful.
We decided to go visit Morty et al yesterday. Took the chainsaw, the computer box & lunch down. Lunch was in the form of a heap of bags of deli scrag ends from a neat little wholesale deli that I have found in Auckland. Some compensation I guess for having to be up there at the moment. had a lovely day. Free entertainment provided by a couple of knob end kids on a mini bike who thought they could escape the law by cutting through the back of the Poly Tech by using a walk bridge. Didnt work. The cops took their time & set them up very nicely, suckering them into going back over the bridge & straight into the arms of a loving constable. Naive little bastards.
Its always good to go see Morty & the kids. They always make us feel so special there. Still trying to figure out what subcategory of "special" we come under. We think it has good connotations, but we aint certain. Anyway, for a little bit of work, we came away with a nice load of firewood, an updated puter, a big box of grapes, three yummy squash, a nice fuzzy glow & a partridge in a pear tree. Today was quiet, with just a friend from work coming round to see us. He's a nice guy & has just had a major op on his ear. It was left far too long & nearly became lifethreatening. I wont give you the details, but it had started to get very messy & the infection had nearly got to his brain.
Gonna finally get around to bundling up various assorted pressies for my kids & will get them away tomorrow.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
I came, I saw.......
Tonight I exorcised a personal demon. I did a round the depot run with a truck & trailor. Not so very long ago, I would not have had enough confidence in my ability to do it. I even parallel parked it in the middle of a line of trucks, not once, but 3 times. Herself, who came for the ride, was very impressed. It takes a bit to do that with her.
Some time ago,she planted some grotty old spuds that had been overlooked in the pantry for a while & sprouted. Cynic that I am, I scoffed. We harvested them on the weekend. I had forgotten how satisfying it is to eat potatoes that you have grown yourself, specially when they are accompanied with silver beet & garnished with parsley that you have grown yourself as well. Its very nice & very back to nature.
Some time ago,she planted some grotty old spuds that had been overlooked in the pantry for a while & sprouted. Cynic that I am, I scoffed. We harvested them on the weekend. I had forgotten how satisfying it is to eat potatoes that you have grown yourself, specially when they are accompanied with silver beet & garnished with parsley that you have grown yourself as well. Its very nice & very back to nature.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Strange, but true
There is a facility on the web called Stat Counter. Thanks to Morty, my blog is on there. The page tells me who has been reading my blog & how they got there. Its interesting to see the different countries that come up. Its also interesting to see the search subjects on Google that lead surfers to my site. For some of you, shame on you. As my number of posts increase, so proportionally do the number of viewings on my site via Google. What I find really strange is the number of hits generated by one particular post. You'll never guess which one. Surprised me. Try 101 uses for a dead bathtub. Strange but true.
It's the weekend again.
Fairly self evident I thought really. I mean you work five days, have two days off. Generally, as you do, I spent some time yesterday idly wondering what to do with it. Fishing I thought would be nice. The tides looked good for a launch at a respectable hour at Te Puru. I should have known better. 5 minutes later, it started to rain. That should have told me something, but I even went as far as to see if any of my workmates were interested. That clinched it. There is now a wind warning for the gulf.
I actually slept in this morning til 7.30. Herself slept til 9.30. A friend came round last night with a nice lot of field mushrooms. I did some last night with a cream & garlic reduction to go with a nice bit of steak. Herself can manage mushies OK, so we had the balance with bacon this morning. She got the bacon taste OK, but couldn't manage the bacon. I find it very touching that although there are a lot of things that she now can't eat, she doesn't expect me to forgo them as well & there are always little surprises in the groceries for me that she cant eat any more, but, bless her, she soldiers on uncomplaining.
We had a lazy morning, finally looking at the clock & realising that we only had 15 minutes to get to the library. When we got home I actually heard her admit for the first time in a while that she was tired. Even so, she was going to do the washing & a few other jobs before having a nap. I'll get it all out of the way when I finish here. Somehow, priorities have changed a bit with things like that. One thing I do miss is our daily soak in the spa together. My poor old bones need the warmth, but its not the same without her there & I must say I feel somewhat guilty being there on my own. I think that I will email the Neuro Nurse at Waikato to see when she can go back in.
I think that if the weather comes right that I will have a go at the back yard. The roses need pruning, the garden path needs weeding & the lawn needs mowing. So much fun to be had, I scarcely know where to start.
RANT TIME
I read this morning on the Herald web site that the police have bought 12 new 8 seat Toyota Previas to be used as camera vans. They are a bit coy as to how much they paid for them, but they cost dealers $62500 each. I guess they can affod them though, as camera vans have bought in revenue of a good bit of 50 million dollars a year. Apparently the lowly Mitsubishi L300 isn't good enough any more. I have very decided views on speed camera's. As a deterrent, they are bullshit. Everyone gets warned off by flashing headlights, slow down while they go past then crank it up again. If they are really serious about reducing overall speed & the corresponding road toll, they should be putting more mufti cars on the road. As a professional driver, I find the thought that the next car on the road could be an unmarked Police car with a radar that can read the speed of oncoming traffic far more daunting than the odd van parked up on the side in the same place all day with some old codger sitting in a lazyboy in the back reading a book. God knows there are enough Muppets on the road. I see any amount of them most days. Irresponsible passing, dangerous driving, you name it. Lets target these clowns instead of the poor bastard that just happens to stray 10 or so K's over the limit. End rant.
I actually slept in this morning til 7.30. Herself slept til 9.30. A friend came round last night with a nice lot of field mushrooms. I did some last night with a cream & garlic reduction to go with a nice bit of steak. Herself can manage mushies OK, so we had the balance with bacon this morning. She got the bacon taste OK, but couldn't manage the bacon. I find it very touching that although there are a lot of things that she now can't eat, she doesn't expect me to forgo them as well & there are always little surprises in the groceries for me that she cant eat any more, but, bless her, she soldiers on uncomplaining.
We had a lazy morning, finally looking at the clock & realising that we only had 15 minutes to get to the library. When we got home I actually heard her admit for the first time in a while that she was tired. Even so, she was going to do the washing & a few other jobs before having a nap. I'll get it all out of the way when I finish here. Somehow, priorities have changed a bit with things like that. One thing I do miss is our daily soak in the spa together. My poor old bones need the warmth, but its not the same without her there & I must say I feel somewhat guilty being there on my own. I think that I will email the Neuro Nurse at Waikato to see when she can go back in.
I think that if the weather comes right that I will have a go at the back yard. The roses need pruning, the garden path needs weeding & the lawn needs mowing. So much fun to be had, I scarcely know where to start.
RANT TIME
I read this morning on the Herald web site that the police have bought 12 new 8 seat Toyota Previas to be used as camera vans. They are a bit coy as to how much they paid for them, but they cost dealers $62500 each. I guess they can affod them though, as camera vans have bought in revenue of a good bit of 50 million dollars a year. Apparently the lowly Mitsubishi L300 isn't good enough any more. I have very decided views on speed camera's. As a deterrent, they are bullshit. Everyone gets warned off by flashing headlights, slow down while they go past then crank it up again. If they are really serious about reducing overall speed & the corresponding road toll, they should be putting more mufti cars on the road. As a professional driver, I find the thought that the next car on the road could be an unmarked Police car with a radar that can read the speed of oncoming traffic far more daunting than the odd van parked up on the side in the same place all day with some old codger sitting in a lazyboy in the back reading a book. God knows there are enough Muppets on the road. I see any amount of them most days. Irresponsible passing, dangerous driving, you name it. Lets target these clowns instead of the poor bastard that just happens to stray 10 or so K's over the limit. End rant.
Sunday, March 08, 2009
A Unique Week
Albeit fairly long & traumatic. I won't rehash, if you've been reading, you will know what has been happening. The weekend has been really good though. Herself's natural brother & sister had arranged to come down & stay with us overnight. I must admit that I had misgivings, as i wondered if it might be a little much for Herself. Even more so, when her daughter phoned to see if it was OK if them & Herself's younger son came down for the day. I couldn't say no could I? It turned into a really fantastic day. Everybody had a ball. Herselfs brother & sister brought heaps of food down, took over the kitchen & made sure that Herself had nothing to do except sit back & enjoy.
They were kind enough to realise that she needed a rest too. They quietly beetled off home about lunchtime, theoretically leaving us the afternoon to recoup. Yeah right !!!!! Herself had good snooze & I spent the afternoon fielding phone calls from dear friends checking in to see how she was. Even a couple of visitors which was nice. Nobody stayed too long, which was even nicer. I didn't really get much of a snooze this afternoon. Normally I feel tired at the end of a weekend, but I must admit to feeling more refreshed for the week than I usually do.
We are both getting used to the concept of having PEGgy in our lives. It does have its advantages for her. She is in a bit of pain still, so is taking regular painkillers. She can't take Paracetomol tablets, so she has been prescribed the liquid. God that stuff is foul! Syrupy texture & sickly sweet. She used to gag & choke badly on it. I don't blame her. I wouldn't drink it ! So now, she just gives it to PEGgy to take. Much better.
History was made too. we were down wandering the mall on Friday, & SHE told ME to slow down. On the subject of walking, she reckons that she is walking as usual tomorrow. I have , unknown to her, talked to D about it & she, like me, is doubtful. She had already decided on a short slow walk. I think that walking is very important for her though, not only for the exercise keeping her lungs clear, but also for the spiritual/mental aspect of it. I have seen the value in that respect from a friend who had cancer, that he maintains he walked it away. I'm not going to comment either way, but he doesn't have cancer any more.
Well, that's about it for us this week. Back to the grind in the morning. Herself is growing more confident in handling PEGgy on her own day by day & any reservations I have about leaving her on her own have pretty much faded into the background. It still seems a little strange to look at, but I guess we will both get used to it eventually. Like we are getting used to everything else I guess.
They were kind enough to realise that she needed a rest too. They quietly beetled off home about lunchtime, theoretically leaving us the afternoon to recoup. Yeah right !!!!! Herself had good snooze & I spent the afternoon fielding phone calls from dear friends checking in to see how she was. Even a couple of visitors which was nice. Nobody stayed too long, which was even nicer. I didn't really get much of a snooze this afternoon. Normally I feel tired at the end of a weekend, but I must admit to feeling more refreshed for the week than I usually do.
We are both getting used to the concept of having PEGgy in our lives. It does have its advantages for her. She is in a bit of pain still, so is taking regular painkillers. She can't take Paracetomol tablets, so she has been prescribed the liquid. God that stuff is foul! Syrupy texture & sickly sweet. She used to gag & choke badly on it. I don't blame her. I wouldn't drink it ! So now, she just gives it to PEGgy to take. Much better.
History was made too. we were down wandering the mall on Friday, & SHE told ME to slow down. On the subject of walking, she reckons that she is walking as usual tomorrow. I have , unknown to her, talked to D about it & she, like me, is doubtful. She had already decided on a short slow walk. I think that walking is very important for her though, not only for the exercise keeping her lungs clear, but also for the spiritual/mental aspect of it. I have seen the value in that respect from a friend who had cancer, that he maintains he walked it away. I'm not going to comment either way, but he doesn't have cancer any more.
Well, that's about it for us this week. Back to the grind in the morning. Herself is growing more confident in handling PEGgy on her own day by day & any reservations I have about leaving her on her own have pretty much faded into the background. It still seems a little strange to look at, but I guess we will both get used to it eventually. Like we are getting used to everything else I guess.
Friday, March 06, 2009
Competition time
We need a name for Herself's new bit of plumbing. The best that I have come up with so far is "Peggy." Pretty obvious & tame really. if you can do better let me know. First prize is a years worth of blog viewings.. The second prize is....... Well, there really isn't one actually..
Thursday, March 05, 2009
Be it ever so humble
There seriously IS no place like home. This I know to be true, because we have spent the last 4 days in the tender care of Waikato Hospital. It's not that we weren't taken care of. We were basically spoiled rotten. mainly, I suspect, because of Herself's unfailing cheerfulness in the face of adversity. We got a major surprise when we arrived. The Neurosurgeon obviously decided that herself was fit enough to cope with a PEG op instead of the RIG. if you are interested in the difference, look it up. Wkipedia has heaps on the subject. The most important thing is that although the PEG op is more bodily invasive, its all done & dusted in 15 minutes as opposed to 45 for a RIG & is done under a light general instead of a local.
The time that I spent standing in the staging area for theatre waiting for her to come out was probably the longest & loneliest time that I have spent for longer than I care to remember, but she came through with flying colours. Groggy , but good. The vomiting blood bit was impressive. Scary but expected I guess. After all, the surgeon had just done an Aliens remake on her tum. From there on, it was really improvement all the way. Lots of sleep & top line care. If she hadn't had a little congestion on her lungs, we could have come home yesterday. In retrospect, its probably as well that we stayed, for both of us. It's been wonderful for me to have the break & pass her care over to someone else for a small time. Its not that I dont gladly do it, as I know that she would gladly do it for me, its just nice to relax & not have to make the decisions. The driver for my firm that lives in Hamilton showed up on Wednesday night with a beautiful big bunch of flowers from my bosses & a lovely card that had been signed by all the troops at work. Its nice to know that she is held in such high regard by my workmates. A very touching thing to happen.
Oh by the way. I weighed myself before we left. Guess what ? With 4 days of "Healthy " food , no booze, no butter no salt & no internet, I gained nearly a kilo. I had steak, eggs & chips & a beer for tea tonight wiv bread & butter & salt. Damn, but it tasted good.
The time that I spent standing in the staging area for theatre waiting for her to come out was probably the longest & loneliest time that I have spent for longer than I care to remember, but she came through with flying colours. Groggy , but good. The vomiting blood bit was impressive. Scary but expected I guess. After all, the surgeon had just done an Aliens remake on her tum. From there on, it was really improvement all the way. Lots of sleep & top line care. If she hadn't had a little congestion on her lungs, we could have come home yesterday. In retrospect, its probably as well that we stayed, for both of us. It's been wonderful for me to have the break & pass her care over to someone else for a small time. Its not that I dont gladly do it, as I know that she would gladly do it for me, its just nice to relax & not have to make the decisions. The driver for my firm that lives in Hamilton showed up on Wednesday night with a beautiful big bunch of flowers from my bosses & a lovely card that had been signed by all the troops at work. Its nice to know that she is held in such high regard by my workmates. A very touching thing to happen.
Oh by the way. I weighed myself before we left. Guess what ? With 4 days of "Healthy " food , no booze, no butter no salt & no internet, I gained nearly a kilo. I had steak, eggs & chips & a beer for tea tonight wiv bread & butter & salt. Damn, but it tasted good.
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