Custom Composts

I still haven't found Helen's car key. At each inquiry amongst friends and businesses I have had contact with over the last few days I have received the same...'what were you doing when you lost it.' That doesn't help one bit. Helen thinks she has a second key somewhere and we can buy and re-program the engine immobiliser
A wheel wash entering the piggery area

Our neighbour Dave runs a composting business near Mandurah. About two weeks ago we were in Mandurah and decided to check out Dave’s poo farm. He has a business partner and a reasonable sized work force. There is lots of machinery; front end loaders etc, turners and a very smart separator.
Rows of compost in progress

On the 400 Hectare site there is also a large piggery with approximately 18,000 guests at any one time. The muck from the pig pens goes into a series of filtering ponds and water and nutrients are used in the composting process. At any one time there are about 10,000 cubic metres of compostable material mixed in precise proportions in rows where turning machines turn it every couple of days. The whole composting process takes about 12 weeks. Dave estimates that they market about 150,000 cubic metres of finished product per year; most going direct to farms. A large mushroom compost operation is also on site.

A turning machine turning the line of maturing compost.
The Separator
The separator is a million dollar machine and passes the product through a series of screens, magnets and blowers to separate metal, plastic etc. The turners are also very expensive, running to around $500,000 each.

For the home composters here is Dave’s composting formula:

30 Parts Carbon to 1 part Nitrogen

The carbon can be...(woody stuff, leaves,paper,sawdust)
The Nitrogen can be ....(Greens)

The water to air proportions are also important....the mix should squeeze in the hand without being able to show any water. Turn regularly for the air part.

I must have those proportions all wrong as my compost tumbler makes compost cricket balls.

Test your internet connection speed here. This is not an advert.

Winter blues

It's wet and cold here. It seems like only a few weeks ago I was looking forward to winter; being able to rug up and feel warm near a heater, but the reality of it is quite different.....bring on summer! Don't know how we would survive in a place that really feels winter. Ours is quite mild really, with minimums of around 1 or 2 degrees Celsius at worst.

On Friday we attended St John's in Subiaco for a consultation with the oncologist and a top up of rat poison at the Ivy Suite. Joan's bloods were perfect: good liver and kidney function, but the CEA ( the blood tumour marker) had risen again. It was a small rise, but a rise.

We asked for more details from the last CT scan report and he gave us a photocopy. That scan was on June 16th and another scan is due in a couple of weeks. The report noted that there are small differences in some of the tumours in the liver....one is slightly larger and one smaller. It doesn't mention anything about the bowel cancer. Once again it suggests that the 'small irregular non-descriptive peripheral aspect of left lung may well represent a benign cause'. or in layman's terms..that lump might not be cancer. The report suggests that this is a Stable Disease.

Our daughter Helen is today returning from a week in Melbourne. While she was away, I took her car for some TLC. I have 'repaired' a rear mudguard scrape she had and replaced a broken rear light. Painting comes next...not my forte. I guess age is catching up with me as I have lost the key to her car which also has the remote and immobiliser attached. So, we will loan her one of our vehicles until I either find the key or re-key the whole lot. Bugger!

Pavlovian Ruby

The (new) Prime Minister of Australia has in a statement told Australians "People should not be afraid to say what they felt about border protection". Boy, is that a green light to all the racists here?!

In fact Australia's refugee problem is just a drop in the ocean compared with many other countries. Leaky boats chartered by refugees sail mainly from Indonesia; some direct from places like Sri Lanka. Many letters from readers and indeed remarks by opposition politicians say that the government should intercept these boats at sea and send them back to where they came from. I would assume that would mean giving them fuel, food and water, medicines and ensuring that the craft is seaworthy. It would be worldwide news if a single boat sank after being turned around by the Australian Navy. Fail!

Another suggestion is that we let them get to Australia and then immediately fly them back to their country of origin. Fail!

A letter from a cretinous reader suggested that all the boats be towed back to their port of departure, the refos unloaded and the boats sunk. Fail!

Whilst I have sympathy for refugees, most of them attempting to reach our shores are Muslim. A letter to the editor of one of the local newspapers said....

' Nearly 500,000 Muslims living in Australia cannot vote for Julia Gillard (the PM) because according to the holy Koran, an atheist cannot be a leader of the believers'.

The letter was written by one Hafeez Shaikh who, I believe, is an ex Muslim. There are a few dyed-in-the-wool Australian Christians saying the same thing.

Helen and James' puppy, Ruby (the destroyer) is still trying to eat anything left within her reach. They have purchased an electronic teaching (punishing) device which has a electronic collar and a base station which is placed in Ruby's target zone. As soon as she approaches the base station there is a loud buzz and if ignored the collar gives her an electric shock. It works...as soon as Ruby hears the buzzing sound she swiftly leaves the area. It will be interesting to see if Ruby later associates that area rather than the buzz with the punishment.

No good news here

About twenty minutes ago we witnessed an accident in Fremantle. An aboriginal man who was very intoxicated walked into the rear side of a slowly moving bus. The victim fell to the ground unconscious. As it happened there was an ambulance on the spot caught in traffic. The ambos jumped out and did a splendid job. The bus driver was most concerned for the man and I guess for himself. I gave him my name and contact details as a witness. The victim didn't look too well when we were leaving; a fair bit of blood coming from the head and face. He was on his way to Fremantle Hospital. The ambulance crew also witnessed the accident.
Our friend Haddon is in Hollywood Hospital getting life saving treatment for the compounded results of chemotherapy and cancer. He has had a lot of fluid drained from his lungs and one lung has 'collapsed'. See here if you wish.

He will be in hospital for at least another week and then it is hoped to get him home with the help of that wonderful organisation the Silver Chain. They will supply a hospital bed and visit at least 3-4 days a week to administer medicines and attend to his toiletry etc.

Our other friend, who is in full-time care as a dementia patient, has recently caused a few problems. It seems that he was on an outing with other patients and when the bus was alongside a school, something clicked in John's head and he became very animated and struck one of the carers. When back at the residence he struck a couple of other elderly patients, knocking one to the ground. The management of the residence have told his wife Joy that if any more incidents occur they may have to either sedate him heavily, or transfer him to a secure home. The incident came 'out of the blue' and for a few days his speech was quite understandable. The brain is unfathomable!

The World Cup

The World Cup is still playing out, I think. There is a nice letter about the Cup in this morning's West Australian newspaper.

Allan missed out the most significant record of all at the soccer...oops, football cup. The record goes to More horns than a herd of Wildebeests. That by the way, is a Kev one.

I notice that when I click the Next button on our blog I invariably get directed to a long journey through Christian blogs. I thought that Google searched for key words and directed the reader to similar blogs? I cannot remember writing too much about religion. How does that happen?

The new Australian Prime Minister has declared that she is a non religious person. I am sure that will be felt in the polls and the upcoming Federal elections. It shouldn't; we have seen Presidents and Prime Ministers toadying up to religious factions before. In the U.S. the fundamentalist Christians have a big sway in elections. Pollies of both parties here have courted the fundamentalists, some of which can rightly be called cults.

In the 1950s the Labor Party split and the Democratic Labor Party was formed by Catholics. Voters were advised how to vote from the pulpit. The leaders of the DLP (long gone from the political scene) had some very appropriate names .... Santamaria......Martyr.

Look Good - Feel Better

This morning we drove to Mandurah for Joan to attend a free workshop run by the Cancer Council. It is called Look good - feel better. There were 5 volunteers helping women feel better about themselves with makeup tips and tricks and another woman demonstrating wigs and head gear for sufferers who have lost their hair to chemo. It was a very rewarding two hours. I took photos with the permission of some participants. The scheme has been running in Australia for 20 years and 18 years in W.A..

Each participant received training on personal makeup and a nice sample bag of 18 products valued at $250. minimum. The scheme is sponsored by the cosmetic industry to the tune of around $1.5m per year.

One lady, Catherine, had a shaved head decorated with kids' stick-ons done by her granddaughter. She became the model for the workshop and it was an amazing transformation. From the stark chemo look to made up face and a hairpiece; a real transformation.
Joan getting the treatment.


Later we visited our neighbor's Dave's business which is a large composting plant in the countryside out from Mandurah. Most interesting, and I will gather some pertinent facts before I write about that. I don't want to get it wrong as it is a very complex business.

Aus Aid

Just lately we have been the recipients of kindness given to us by friends and neighbors. Wendy, Judy and Juliet have been kind as to give us some very nice winter soups. Thanks friends!

Juliet and Joan are friends in a group named Designing Women. Juliet is involved in an Leadership Training project by AusAid. The Australian Government is running leadership training courses for potential leaders from developing nations. There are many nations involved and Juliet has been involved with mainly South Pacific nations including Papua New Guinea. Participants are brought to Australia; in this case, Queensland, and after the course is over they are bonded to remain in their own country for two years. Sounds like a good scheme!

Haddon is feeling a little better about his situation at Hollywood Hospital. His CT Scan showed no blood clots in his lungs, but plenty of fluids. Today he had one of his lungs drained of 1.6 litres of fluid and the other lung is to be drained tomorrow morning. One pertinent point about Haddon's treatment is patient pressure. Without patient and family pressure on the GP and the oncologist things may have deteriorated to the point where he may have died.

Last week I delivered a Mac computer to a single mum who is temporarily living with her part aboriginal daughter. The daughter is a harridan. She abuses her mother sometimes physically. The house seems to have some 8 young aboriginal women staying there along with an extremely abusive man. I was somewhat intimidated and happy to leave the house after installing the computer. Unfortunately the computer malfunctioned and I prepared another to replace it. I rang to arrange a suitable time to exchange machines. She said, 'come now they are all out!'

I delivered another machine on which I had loaded a program named Garage Band as she is/was a country and western singer-guitarist. She was ecstatic and told me that she was on a priority list for government housing. Hope she gets one soon.

The King has abdicated

I have to think long and hard to remember all the events of yesterday. Early in the day we had our Prime Minister fall on his sword and Australia’s first female Prime Minister took the reins. Kevin Rudd didn’t have the numbers and decided to step down rather than let the Australian public know what was going to be a fairly close vote by the caucus which would have been politically damaging with an election waiting in the wings.

Kev was a bit abrasive sometimes and journos had a field day with his flowery language. I don’t think the journos are going to give the new PM Julia Gillard a very long taunt-free holiday. She will be a good target for cartoonists. I wish her well.

On a personal level yesterday was busy and thankfully not as bad as it could have been. I will try and chronologically remember all the events.

In the morning I collected a friend, Rob, who is recovering from a hip reconstruction and we went to Murdoch University where they were having their annual IT toss-out. It was a treasure trove of electronics and computer gear. I had been tipped off about this mountain of goodies the day before and went and collected 6 Macintosh computers. We estimated that the original cost of some of the individual pieces was in the tens of thousands of dollars. We loaded up my car with as much computer gear as we could and headed back to Rob’s place to unload his stuff.

I had to leave to be home in time to drive our friends to the GP. Haddon has had a dramatic change in his condition over the last few weeks; extreme weakness, difficulty breathing and as a result, a few falls which have required help from family to get him up from the floor. He was determined to get his GP to do something and that he did. The GP diagnosed fluid in his lungs and a low haemoglobin level needing an immediate transfusion of a couple of units of blood. The GP was a bit offside with Haddon’s oncologist about her lack of care for her patient and rang her and eventually arranged for him to be hospitalised. Coincidentally, when I was taking Haddon and Mararet home to await a phone call about the arrangements, I had a call from Joan who had had a fall and hit the back of her head on a wall. By the time I arrived home she had already called Healthdirect, a government emergency medical helpline. She was advised to go to an emergency department at a hospital for tests to see if there might be any internal bleeding because of the Clexane she has to inject daily. We went to St John’s at Murdoch and although they charge like a wounded bull, got in within minutes. Whilst we were being taken into emergency, Haddon, Margaret and their son arrived as well.

Joan had a number of tests and a CT scan of her head which fortunately showed no internal bleeding. She had an infusion of anti-nausea and painkiller drugs and we waited and waited and waited to be released. By the time we got out of the hospital it was around 8pm and we were starving. We decided to drive into a Red Rooster store and get some chicken and salad. As I waited at the counter I watched a young fellow, who was probably the shift manager, throwing food at one of the female staff. Then he started throwing trays into a full sink from a distance of about four metres (unrequited love?) Things were getting broken and other staff were not acknowledging what was going on. When I got our food I decided I would go back to that store next morning and report that to the day manager. If that was the norm I would be worried about the food.

Haddon was still in emergency waiting on the results of a chest X-ray. He was told that he couldn’t be admitted at that hospital because of some protocol with admissions and that he would have to get an ambulance to take him to the St John’s hospital at Subiaco which is about 25 kilometres away the other side of the city. I hope he eventually gets the blood and treatment for the fluid in the lungs.

PS: Haddon is in Hollywood Hospital and has had one unit of blood and one to come and his lungs will be drained today. A bit off mucking around, but the health system does work.

Ruby the Staffy pup

This is the second day that Joan is back on Xeloda. It has had immediate effects and she is feeling poorly and not wanting to eat. She is booked to see her GP on Monday morning to try and determine what is giving her bad muscular pain. The oncologist offered no reasons.

Yesterday we visited our daughter Helen and her partner James. Their puppy is still ‘an excitable gal’ and is still jumping up on visitors and doing a cartoon character when she tries to run on the polished boards. Another inconvenient little habit she has is when left home alone tries to eat anything she can get to. Yesterday I replaced a chewed up power plug she had spent some time on. She has a few other tricks as well.

Take a look at this innocent baby Staffy and see if you think she would do that.
Just as well it wasn't plugged in.


We both taught at John Curtin Senior High School. I taught there in 1964 when I returned from Papua New Guinea the first time and Joan taught there in senior roles from 1990-2000. It was during Joan’s time there that JCSHS became the John Curtin College of the Arts. They have had a couple of notables school at JCC of the Arts....Paul Mercurio and Sam Worthington.

The College is in the news lately because one of its male year 12 students has decided to wear dresses on two of the five days of the school week. In true art college style a group of girls at the school have taken up a petition to allow this gentle lad to cross dress as he pleases. The girls think that... ‘as long as he wears the skirt in an appropriate way - like it’s supposed to be - mid thigh length - it should be fine’.

Poor dears need something to protest about.

Disappointing results

We have had a rather disappointing visit to the Oncologist today.

A couple of days ago on Wednesday Joan had a CTscan at a government public hospital. The dye infusion didn't go well and much of it spilled out on Joan instead of being infused. The scan was done and a Doctor looked at the scan and deemed it to be OK. Today the scan and the analysis had not reached the Oncologists's rooms. Our man rang Royal Perth Hospital and asked a physician to dig out the scans and compare them with the previous scan from three months ago to see what is happening. About an hour later he received a verbal report which suggested no changes. He told us that that is a good sign...'We call that a stable disease'. The results of a blood test showed that the blood tumour marker had risen up to 2,000. Still not alarming, but disappointing.

He then illustrated graphically what could be going on with the CT scans. The first sketch would indicate that the scans at a 3 month interval shows a stable situation. The second illustration could possibly show that in between the two scans the results were much lower and had climbed back up to be on a level with the previous CT Scan. Not too comforting!

He has put Joan back on Xeloda at a slightly smaller dose. We shall see what side effects she can tolerate at the lesser dose.

Coronial inquiry

An ongoing coronial inquiry in Perth is hearing that a 'prominent' Toxicologist agreed with his wife that her colorectal cancer be best treated by a homeopath. He claims that he didn't investigate what the homeopath was treating his wife with and she eventually died without medical intervention. Her initial consultation was with a surgeon named Platell. He recommended immediate surgery and follow up chemotherapy.

My wife Joan, once diagnosed, also met with Dr (or is it Mr?) Platell. He advised Joan that surgery wasn't an option and without intervention she would have about six months to live. Joan has just passed the six months mark and apart from the side effects of the rat poison she has been getting, still going quite well.

This morning she is having a CT scan to determine the progress of the treatment. We are hoping that the scan will show that the tumours have at least not grown in the time she has been off chemo. We will find out on Friday.

The influx of asylum seekers arriving on Australian shores has increased to the point that the government has had to fly a large group of families from Christmas Island to the desert town of Leonora in this state. They are being accommodated in a mining camp. Leonora is not a town one would choose to live in unless there was a really good reason. It is a 'One Horse' town, very hot in summer and freezing in winter. The refugees were greeted by a large group of rednecks hurling abuse. One reasonable looking woman was seen on the TV coverage wearing the uniform of a St John's Ambulance volunteer. St Johns was forced to sack her because she stated that she would not be able to tend to the refugees if they needed medical help. Glad I don't have to live in such a town as Leonora. Small towns; small thinking!

Soccer World Cup

I am not a sports fan, especially of Soccer, however I watched part of the game between Paraguay and Italy this afternoon.

The noise from the plastic horns the locals blow was both annoying and deafening. On one news channel tonight it was noted that players and most of the audience don't like it, but organisers refuse to ban it because it is a traditional African 'musical' instrument. I reckon there must have been lots of hyperventilation collapses because they kept the noise up non-stop for the entire duration of the match. About three blasts from one of those petrol funnels and I'd be seeing stars!

They are called Vuvuzela and look to be from the $2 shop.

Soccer players are amongst the world's best actors. Any fall by a player appears to be like a multiple fractured broken leg, which heals immediately once the free has been awarded.

Amber's big adventure

I found this representation of the Gulf oil spill. Take a look and shift it to your area to get an idea how such a spill would affect you. Very interesting! click here.

On Sunday we decided to let Joan's new (5 YO) cat out of the house after being cooped up for over two weeks. We were a bit worried that she, Amber, would bolt and never come back. When we opened the screen door it took a lot of coaxing to get her to venture outside. Lots of very slow movements and sniffing and then she bolted! I raced through the house to open the front door and saw her dashing into the neighbor's front yard. I 'headed her off at the pass' and she made a frightened dash through the open front door to the safety of the house.

We waited about 15 minutes and repeated the process....exactly; with Kev once again scaring her into retreating through the open front door. I will secure the side gate with some shade cloth today and give it another shot.

It was a nice warm winter's day and Amber and Kev were a bit warm after the sprint. She spread out flat on her stomach on the cool tile floor and I merely removed my jumper.
Joan is due for her third CT scan on Wednesday and we will see the Oncologist two days later. We are hoping that the forced break from chemo has not allowed the tumours to grow.

Hip Surgery

Friday afternoon I visited a friend in hospital who is recovering from hip surgery. At the time of my visit he was in considerable pain and required a shot of Morphine. He had done a little too much exercise and his right thigh was as tight as a drum.

His surgery was a Hip Resurfacing one where, if the ball of the femur is still in reasonable condition, a titanium cap is forced over the ball of the hip joint....I imagine with a bit of hammering with a sterilised mallet. Anyway, it is done and he now has about a week in hospital with painful exercises before heading home. He will be out of action for at least 3-4 weeks. He has had a couple of knee jobs and still needs the other hip fixed, but I think he needs to lose the memory of this op before he contemplates that.

Here is a You Tube video explaining the difference between the two different methods of hip surgery. Video.

Post Script: A more detailed ,but gory, video of the procedure...here.

The 'Twiggy' and Gina show

Yesterday the Prime Minister arrived in W.A.to hold meetings explaining his proposed Mining SuperTax. Early in the day some high profile miners staged a rally in the city to protest the introduction of the tax. It was definitely a rent-a-crowd mob. Speakers included the richest man (depending on which day it is) in Australia and the richest woman. ‘Twiggy’ Forrest stirred up rent-a-crowd with the usual ‘What do we want?’ and our richest woman, Gina Rinehart did similarly. Ms Rinehart recently announced that she wants to bring in cheap Chinese labour….a true Australian patriot! Later, Mr Forrest accused the Prime Minister of turning Australia into a Communist dictatorship. Say what!? That would have caused a few shivers amongst the Peppy Grove attendees.

I don’t really understand the implications of the introduction of this tax and I don’t think the average punter on the street does either. It’s complex and may well, as the miners claim, stifle the mining industry. It is a huge jump in tax and I think it will go ahead with some robust negotiations and a bit of downward adjustment.

Also yesterday morning I drove Haddon and Margaret to Hospital so that he could have a couple of scans to determine where he is at with his prostate cancer. They were there for hours and when I collected them in the afternoon he was shattered. In old engineering terms, he had been drilled, punched, bored and reamed.

In the Purple Zone

Joan has to keep a daily diary of her chemotherapy side effects. In the booklet that comes with Xeloda there are three 'Zones' of side effects. Green, Purple and Red. This morning she entered the purple zone with nausea, stomach cramps, a mouth ulcer and chills. The instructions are to ring the oncologist. He is in Chicago at a conference at the moment, but his offsider advised Joan to stop taking the Xeloda and treat the mouth ulcer and urgently ring again if these symptoms persist. The red zone is a straight to hospital ticket.

She is unable to eat anything and that is a bit worrying. This afternoon there has been some improvement and she is feeling a bit better about her situation. We hope tomorrow will be better.

Recently a Western Australian trade union official was released from the Bali jail after serving 5 months for smuggling into Indonesia a small quantity of marijuana. He initially claimed that he had been set up by his enemies and the drug had been planted on him, but later recanted and admitted that he was using marijuana for a medical condition. He was very lucky to get off with a five month sentence especially after lying to Indonesian customs officials. On his release he ranted on about the corruption of the Indonesian justice system and urged the Australian government to seek the release of another Australian, Chapelle Corby, who is serving 20 years for smuggling in over 4kg of weed. His public criticism of 'corrupt Indonesian officials' will certainly not help any efforts to seek the release of Chapelle. Idiot!

No fun getting old!

Yesterday I drove friends to St John’s hospital in Subiaco. Haddon is a close friend of almost 60 years. We spent our youth in the Sea Scouts on the Swan River and have stayed close friends since then.

About a year after I was diagnosed with prostate cancer Haddon was also diagnosed. His was more advanced than mine which hadn’t jumped out of the prostate. We both had a Radical Prostatecomy, but unfortunately his cancer was also in the bladder. He has, over the years, had lots of chemotherapy and up until relatively recent times…probably just a few months, coped well with it.

Just recently he has lost his muscle strength and needs help to get around. His GP and indeed his oncologist, cannot pinpoint any specific reason for this development.

Haddon is on a double blind trial of a newer chemotherapy regime…neither he nor his oncologist knows whether he is getting the real chemo or just a placebo. He feels that it is this latest chemo that is making him very weak and sick. His PSA level is not outrageously high. I get the feeling that he may well pull out of the trial in the hope that he regains his strength.

Joan, my wife, is very happy not to be on a double blind trial. She knows what treatment she is getting.

It's a bugger getting old!

Whoda thunk?!

Joan's cat is becoming less stressed in her new home. We can not yet trust it to stick around if we let it outside....maybe another week or so.

We have had quite a few cats over the years. This one has put me on a new learning curve. Firstly it is a ginger female. I thought that all ginger cats were Toms, but the Cat Haven told Joan that that is changing. Secondly, the instruction booklet that came with the cat clearly says that cats are lactose intolerant. I am one of those blokes who only reads the instruction manual as a last resort, so I gave her a nice bowl of milk which caused her to be very messy in her toilet area. Whoda thunk?!

I have been rather slack on the computer front. A few days ago I received an email from an Aboriginal gal I help out, asking for another 7 machines. I have set up three for her with an older operating system which suits the educational software I have. The other 4 machines will be specifically set up for internet and general computing. They are all slot loading iMacs and are virtually bullet-proof.....no worries about viruses....very few operating system problems. Just as well, they are going to be hammered!

of Cats and Computers

Took the plunge and changed ISPs from iinet to vividwireless. iinet have been a great ISP, but our phone lines and distance from an exchange would not give us any better download speed than .43mb......vividwireless is giving us around 8mb. So sorry iinet, but goodbye. For $25 a year we can keep our iinet email address.

Yesterday Joan went with her sister Dorothy to the Cat Haven to collect her birthday present, a ginger female. The new moggy is not so new...five years old and is gradually settling in. It will be some time before we let it outside and it will be a house only cat at nights.

We, and our next door neighbors, have ongoing problems with noisy, fighting tomcats in our back yards. Dave has loaned me the ultimate deterrent...a super soaker water cannon. Can't wait to blast them tonight. Perhaps a judicial addition of a small amount of ammonia will discourage their return?

Lemme at 'em!!

Last night we went to the Melville Art Awards in which Joan has a piece called 'Windows on the Wetlands'. The art, especially the painting, was a mixed bag...some outstanding and some quite naive. An ex student of mine who is now approximately 32 is a successful portrait artist and her self portrait should have won an award, but didn't.


The background music was a chap playing Spanish guitar. Great stuff!

Starting Xeloda

My dear Joan has embarked on a different regime of chemotherapy. The last one Folfox6 did have some positive result but the main component Oxyliplatin (Oxyplatin) was damaging her nervous system and was discontinued. The new regime is Avastin infusions once every three weeks and daily tablets of 7 Xeloda tabs, four after breakfast and three in the evening. they are 500 mg tabs and I reckon she should take them with some tomato sauce.

She is to have a CT Scan later this month and we hope to see some improvement in tumour reduction.

The three week break she had with the crossover from Folfox to Xeloda saw some increase in the tumour marker, CEA, result. The last blood test showed the level at 768 and the latest result was over 1000. Still, that is lower by far from the 9,300 at diagnosis.

The oncologist is a pleasant looking bloke who has a predictable patter. When he invites us in to his office the same greetings are made every time.

He is quite similar to a pensioned-off Nun who is resident in the Ivy Suite (the cancer ward). She has been trained in dealing with patients in a most stressful time in their life and does it very badly. 'How are you?' 'Not bad' 'well keep staying well'. "You can make a cup off tea over there'.

One step to the next patient and exactly the same story for the next patient who has listened. St John's...give her a job somewhere else.

WW2 Aboriginal servicemen

The Aboriginal Lady I gave a Mac to and whose Wireless account I set up has had a lot of trouble connecting to the net. She is not very familiar with the technology and I have had to visit her place quite a few times doing ‘in service’ courses on email and Googling. She is getting there and will one day be able to let me go.

Yesterday I went to the Optus store where I bought her modem and wireless plan telling them that there seemed to be a problem with the modem. The young Chinese/Australian guy I had previously dealt with gave me a new sim card and after fitting it today, the connection is holding up fine. I have spent more time helping her than any other person I have given a computer to and this is because she was the wife of an Aboriginal teacher we knew in Papua New Guinea in the 1970s. He died some three years ago.

Her house has a garden area which is not well looked after and bare garden beds, so I took a pile of plants from our garden along with some soil wetting agent and fertiliser and if she waters them occasionally there should be a flourishing garden in a few weeks.

She and her sister are children of the ‘Stolen Generation’ and were brought up and educated by a Catholic Mission some distance North of Perth City.

Her father was one of more than 5000 aboriginals who served in World War 2. Many Aboriginals joined as Maoris or Indians because of a ban on recruiting Aboriginals. He served in Borneo at the close of the Pacific War in 1945 in the 2/16 Battalion.


Ted Farrell 2/16 Battalion

It is not widely publicised, but Aboriginals were treated very badly for their sacrifices. No pensions, citizenship or medals for them. No reunions on ANZAC day; no welcome at the local RSL club. Things have changed, but most of those veterans didn't see much change before they died. Sad!

Zucchini and Yakult

The last time Joan was denied chemo it was also because of a low white cell count. She did a bit of reading on the net and a seemingly reliable source says that Yakult is good for repairing damaged bone marrow and since then Joan has been drinking one small drink per day. It didn't seem to do much good when looking at the latest blood test results. Also when she was reading the very comprehensive document of the new Chemo she will (we hope) start next Wednesday, she found a warning about taking Yakult when the patient has a low white cell count?? The warning was specifically about the danger of infection when the blood's defences are down. No more Yakult for Joan!

After visiting 'our' Bunnings store to report that a packet of BroadBean seeds had also spawned quite a few Zucchini, the horticulture lady reported back on what the seed merchant's Rep. had to say. It seems that one of three things have happened. 1. Some seeds from last year have sprouted. 2. My compost contained some Zucchini seeds. or 3. Some imported soil has brought in the Zucchini seeds.

None of these explanations filled the bill. I have never planted Zuchini before; I haven't used compost in that garden and the soil is exactly the same as when we shifted in here 5 years ago.

I went back to Bunnings and found Judy. I once again reiterated that I was seeking nothing, not even another pack of seeds. I told her that all those assumptions were invalid to which she replied that in the photo of the plants I had given her she and the Rep. noticed that the Zuchini seedling was not quite in line with the other two Broad Beans in the photo suggesting it (they) were not planted at the same time. At that moment I walked away from her.

I will return and buy another pack of seed and open it in front of the store gatekeeper in the hope that there are more Zucchini seed inside. I know, I should get out more!

New chemotherapy delayed

Today we attended St John’s Oncology Centre first for a consultation with the Oncologist and then the new regime of Chemotherapy.

Not good news; Joan’s white blood cell count is down and the first dose of Xeloda has to be delayed for another week. I hope that Mr Bone Marrow gets back on track. The Oncologist rescheduled Joan to return in another week to hopefully get a triple dose of Avastin and start the Xeloda tablets. Today she had a single dose of Avastin after more on the spot urine tests looking for blood and excess protein…fortunately that test was OK.

The Avastin inhibits the growth of tumour blood vessels. Blood vessels grow uncontrollably in cancer and Avastin can stop tumours creating new blood vessels.

All other tests were fine, except that the blood tumour marker (CEA) went up slightly from 700 to 768. Not a biggy really as it has come down from the initial 9,300 to 700 and a little increase 68 isn’t too much of a worry. Better next round!

Joan was due to have a gathering of fabric artists next Wednesday and I was asked to get a pile of computers out of the sitting room by then….no need to worry about that now as she has had to cancel the gathering because of the rescheduled chemo on that day.

If one consults Dr Google there are a number of remedies for tired bone marrow, but the Oncologist tells us that there isn’t really much that can help. He suggests plenty of fruit and vegetables and less meat. Did he read that on Google?

Afghanistan and the Taliban

On Monday evening I watched 4Corners on ABC TV. It featured a story about a young Afghan girl who was taken to Britain when she was 5 years old and had a burning desire to return to see ‘her country’, Afghanistan.

She met up with her family and cousins and travelled out of the city of Kabul to see what was happening in the countryside. She was obliged to wear the Burqa to fend off the almost threatening looks of males and indeed females. She found complete suppression of females, and students at a girls’ school were frightened that they would also be, like other girls’ school students, attacked by the Taliban.

The male domination also extends to family members. Her cousin, a young man, told her that he would be humiliated if she didn’t ‘toe the line’. Shades of the ‘Honour Killings’ practiced in India and Pakistan.

She returned to Britain saddened by the condition of her country…even though there is much more freedom after the routing of the Taliban regime; glad that her parents opted for a life of freedom and emigrated to the U.K..

I hope that all the rednecks who decry boat people for attempting to come to Australia saw that program. In the same position I would use any means available to get out of that hellhole.

Sadly, some of the Afghans and Iraquis who do manage to gain entry to Australia bring along some of their bad habits…the Burqa and male domination.

Despite the might of the U.S. military, the U.N. and allies, when the west has declared the war won and leave, the Taliban will return.

of Birds and seeds

Yesterday I was trying, for the tenth time, to replicate a chilli con carne dish famous in my youth. No luck! It is OK, but just doesn’t look and taste the same; in fact it’s ‘not within a bull’s roar’! Pity. I will give it another go some other time.

The fatty and gristly meat scraps I carefully trimmed off were tossed out on our back lawn for magpies and crows to eat. I watched as four maggies and one crow (Raven) swooped in for a feed. The Magpies each took one piece of meat and worried it on the grass and eventually swallowed it. The Raven went around collecting ten pieces of meat, holding them in his beak and then flew off to eat or share with other Ravens on someone’s roof. I’m not sure that Crows/Ravens are that nice and probably don’t share with the rest of the mob. By the way, the collective noun for a mob of Crows/Ravens is a ‘Murder’.

It got me thinking about birds and the wide diversity of different habits and foods of the some 18000 species of birds. Magpies and other species use their pointed beak to search out worms in the soil. Chickens (fowl) are scratchers, others are good at removing bark on trees searching for grubs and Parrots use their pincher beaks for cracking nuts and eating fruit. Hawks and Eagles eat meat, live and carrion. Crows eat anything! Smaller birds are mostly insect eaters and some fly under our covered area searching out spiders.

So why is it that other species such as the cats, the dogs and the reptiles all eat the same tucker? They are all carnivorous. Is that they key to it?

Humans are omnivorous and we can eat just about anything …and do. A recent show on TV showed people eating poo.

Enough of that silliness.

Before we travelled over to Queensland I bought two packets of Broad Bean seeds and planted them in two different gardens. They had germinated before we left and when we returned I noticed that there seemed to be some ‘ring-ins’ amongst the germinated plants. Some look very much like Zucchini plants and I am sure they are. Just for interest sake I took some photos of the plants with my new camera, printed off a pic of the broadies alongside the foreign seedlings and went to Bunnings where I had purchased the seed packs. I also pulled out one of the foreign seedlings to show her. I tried to explain that I wasn’t after any freebies but just wanted to show them that it seemed that Yates seed had somehow been mixed up at some stage.

The lady in the gardening section told me the problem was powdery mildew??? I discussed that possibility but went on to say that the plants were obviously different. She then thought it was important that I identify which type of BB seeds I had bought…..Frustration! I again told her that it didn’t really matter which type of BB seed I had bought; the problem was that some different seeds had become mixed into the packet.

At last she saw that the BB seedlings were quite different to the foreigners and mentioned that the Yates Rep. is going to be at their store tomorrow. I am now to expect a visit from the Rep. with no doubt another packet of seeds…not really what I was after.

Pics from Brisbane

Patrick and ? with Greta behind. Greta was a college lecturer 50 years ago. Click the pics to enlarge them if you want to see all the age spots.
Howard and John
David and Patrick
Fred Ebbeck; lecture of 50 years ago, still in good shape.

The Glass House Mountains. My very efficient sub editor Graham, who lives in Sydney town, informs me that these 'mountains' are named The Glass House Mountains because a navigator named James Cook thought they looked like English glass houses. Maybe too much ship's rum?
Australia Zoo
This koala doesn't need superannuation.
The Ettamooga Pub. A repro of a cartoonist's hotel. Read about it here.

Before we left for Qld I ordered a Canon G11 digital camera online from Sydney. It arrived yesterday and I am 'suitably impressed'. I have a Nikon D70 Digital SLR with all the trimmings, but I have for some time thought it was too damn heavy and bulky to tote around. I read a blog by a chap in Madang PNG and he uses a Canon G11 to get great closeup underwater shots and above water landscapes. It retails in big stores for around A$780, but online, all up including Fedex delivery it cost $525. It looks like it will take me a bit of reading to get full use of all its functions. I started to read the handbook yesterday. It is a photocopied book. Yikes; I have been diddled!!!! I don't think so. It is sourced from China and they have made an English language copy of the handbook. I emailed the suppliers this morning to confirm that there is a valid Australian warranty on it. Love it so far. Now I will sell the Nikon, all the lenses, flashes and other bits

Back home in W.A.

We are home. Every trip away is good if one has a return airfare ticket!

The flight from Brisbane to Perth was five hours and 15 minutes. Once again I sat in the middle of a three row seat and got arm cramps trying to eat lunch. Daughter Helen was at the airport to meet us and drive us home....thanks Hel!

Over the past few days we have done much driving and siteseeing. After the Gold Coast and the reunion, we drove North to Caloundra for a two night stay over and look at the local sights...more on that later.

The reunion was good, but sitting at our 5 tables with another 600 guests making a lot of noise was not ideal for a 50 year reunion. At our age some of the folk were in pretty poor shape. We both enjoyed it though. It will never happen again.

The Gold Coast has a reputation of being very tacky, but we didn't see it that way. Sure, the name is tacky, but the infrastructure is huge and there is lots of fun for younger people and those wishing to show off the bod. The hotel was good, with free secure parking and good guest facilities. Friends who also attended the reunion scored a suite in the Q building which at 80 floors is the tallest building in Australia and the world's tallest residential building. They were on the 6th and thought they would take the lift to the top for a view. I wasn't told how much that was but Albert and Kathy decided against it.

From the Gold Coast we headed North to Caloundra. Our SatNav device was absolutely useless in Brisbane City, but sort of worked between places on the road. Joan is the complete navigator and trip planner. I couldn't have easily driven to all the places we visited without her. She was brilliant with the exception of some confusion about left and right. I am good at other things.....I cannot recall what they are/were at this moment but we did manage some fast curvy mountain roads without too much drama.

There are some very nice curvy road in the Glass House Mountains...can't imagine why they are named that? Also in the mountains there are some nice little towns with real country atmosphere. I have noticed that hills suburbs both here and Queensland attract a certain type of people on a Tree Change......Reiki, massage, arts and craft people.

We visited the Australia Zoo. It is very large and takes up a whole day if you attend all the scheduled shows such as the elephant feeding etc. The main arena which looks like it can hold around 5-6000 people had a great show of animal talents with a bit of showtime humour. I was ready to give it a miss when the main 'Ring Master' did the warm up with silly school kids games such as a shout-out competition for the loudest groups internationally and statewise. The birds stole the show and a flight of parakeets zoomed low over the audience at high speed for some time. The 'monster' croc was lured out with some tasty dead rats and he did his duty and leapt for his tucker. We looked at quite a few animals before deciding that Joan was too tired to take any more. The lizard we saw in the Brisbane Art Gallery was also aplenty at Aus Zoo. It seems that it is a Water Dragon and a large one we saw at the zoo was probably around 500mm long. They are seemingly unafraid of humans, even noisy kids who try and grab them. I suppose they are capable of a little disciplinary nip if they are upset.

Pictures later

The Queensland Gold Coast

This evening we are attending a reunion of the remnants of a group of teacher trainees who were trained in Papua New Guinea in the 1960s. There were, in total, probably around 500 graduates. This first and almost certainly only, reunion only managed to attract only about 20 survivors and partners. On the course I attended, I am the youngest survivor at age 70.

We will be cabbing to and from the show at the Gold Coast Convention Centre. If it seems a bit grand to have so few people meet there, it is only because we have piggy-backed on another PNG reunion, The Bikpela Pati. You don't need to know much Pidgin English to work that name out! Their reunion is expected to have over 1,000 attendees.

Tomorrow we check out of this hotel and head for Caloundra, and if Joan is up to the walking, take a look at Australia Zoo. Overnight in Caloundra and next day head back to Brisbane airport for our flight back to Perth.

Some more pics...
Interior of Brisbane Art Gallery











Very stern Gallery Attendant











The Story Bridge













A 'Queenslander', a typical Queensland style of housing...built high on stilts, made of timber and iron (steel) roofing.










The timekeeper's office at the Ipswich Raillway Museum. At its peak there were 3,000 workers employed there. In cooperation with the Queensland Museum it is maintained as a working museum with steam and diesel trains continually being rebuilt and maintained.




One of the engines in the main entrance.

There is a working loco which was one of 30(?) brought to Qld in the lend-lease program from the U.S. in the 1940s. A massive machine!

Brisbane and beyond

'tis difficult to remember all the things we have done and seen over the past four days. Brisbane is a very cosmopolitan city with, compared to Perth, many seriously high rise buildings. The areas we have walked, were, it seems, rather closeted. All the people friendly malls we initially saw were peopled by business and lawyer-type folk. It was only yesterday when we got a little lost that we stumbled across the odd-people malls. They aren't bad 'dudes' but the are the Goths and Strangees of Brisbane. They didn't intimidate us as we shuffled past them and they would probably be nicer than the lawyers if we fell over....Oh yeah!?

We drove out to the burbs to visit a couple we knew in Papua New Guinea in the 70s. Romy worked on my staff at Popondetta Vocational Centre and after Independence when we returned to Australia, he and his family stayed on until 1986. Romy and Bella are Fillipino and they were wonderful people and friends when we were in PNG. This visit was a bit of a shock as they have both had major medical problems. Their kids have made good in Australia and are successful in their professions. Sad that Romy feels that he is finished...and it seems that he has every reason to think so. His memory is failing him and I think he feels that his kids are not too supportive. It will happen to lots of us. It was good to see them again and we all know that we won't see each other again. Sad!

When we returned to we went on a river cruise on the CityFerrry and the CityCat. It wasn't really a cruise, but a fare paying trip at $7.80 for the both of us for a day's travel on boats, buses and trains. Not too bad at all! The Brisbane River is a good trip. There are lots of ferry stations and lots to see, although most of the passengers would have nothing on their mind except the trials and tribulations of work in the big city. We saw a whole lot more.
On the trip back to North Quay ( 'key' to you non- nauticals) we stopped of at the wheel, a junior version of the London Eye. Not too bad!

I cannot remember when we visited the Cultural Centre on Southbank. And that it surely is! We viewed "Taim Bepoa" Thursday Island photo exhibit, the Year 12 student artworks and then the Hat Salon by Stephen Jones. Joan loved that exhibit, and I was one of only three men attending, the other two, like me were in tow with their wives. We had a coffee at the art gallery cafe and we spied a very unafraid, unworried and unspooked lizard. He/she is obviously a local as we saw another at the Roma Street Parklands later.

This morning we checked out and headed for Ipswich. First stop was the Railway Museum which was well presented and we were the only people for the first tour of the Steam exhibition. Ipswich was a major player in the Queensland Railway story. Well worth a visit!

After that we visited the Art Gallery where Joan wanted to see an historic quilt exhibition. After that we headed off towards the Gold Coast where we had booked into a nice hotel. About 50 kilometres from Ipswich Joan suggested we stop for some lunch and it was at this time that we realised that she had lost her purse containing wads of cash and all her cards. Panic! What to do? We had no money. We rang the Art Gallery in Ipswich and they were going to look for Joan's purse. We left our mobile No. and headed back to Ipswich. When we got back to the Gallery they told me that nothing had been found, so off to the cop shop. As it happened a little old lady...probably around our age, had handed it in...cash and cards. Whew!!!

We will make every effort to find out her details and at least thank her.

We made it to our hotel on the Gold Coast and all is well. More later.

Brisbane photos

A few Brisbane Pics until our next post.








A city resident















City contrasts



















Gotham City Brisbane













Thursday Island Dancers Brisbane central













The band..'been in a good paddock'











The Big Picture...a painting of Brisbane in the museum. It is accompanied by a nice book which dissects the painting naming parts of the scene.

Sorry the spacing is messy....I can't seem to fix it.

First Taste of Brisbane

First day in Brisbane and it is raining and overcast. We have been out for breakfast and had a look at the main commercial area of the city. Very impressive!

There are large, wide pedestrian areas with plenty of eateries. Just around the corner from the hotel is a small oasis in the city; a restaurant with lots of trees and greenery named Java Coast. It was recommended by a friend of Joans. We’ll try it out for lunch. Pic from our room on the 12th shows the rear of the Java Coast.













Departing from Perth yesterday was easy, but unfortunately we were given seats in the centre of the aircraft. The foot room was adequate but elbow room for the centre passenger; me, was very cramped when eating. We were in flight for over an hour and a half before being served lunch . The aircraft, a Boeing 767, was full and it seemed like there were only four stewards serving. We were placated with a second bottle of wine.

Four hours and fifty-two minutes is a long time with a screaming and nasty two year old performing non-stop Perth to Brisbane.. This lovely young boy continually slapped, punched and head-butted his young mother. It made us remember how good our two kids were on the many flights we had to make within Papua New Guinea and to and from annual leave to Perth.

Arriving at Brisbane we collected our bags and went to collect the hire car we had booked. When the insurance cover was explained to us we decided to take out the extra $34 dollars a day insurance to avoid massive charges if we had any sort of accident. Car rental in the U.S. is cheaper, less restrictive and more relaxed. That $34 was more than the daily car hire!

You can see that I am a bit of a TA and when we drove to our hotel, was a little peed off to find it cost $20. per day for parking. Joan soon told me to cool it, and today I have tried and seem to have calmed down a bit. I wont mention the small snack we had in the hotel dining room last night…the cost and the 15% surcharge.

First impressions of Brisbane. Very modern with a retention of lovely old buildings. People-friendly malls. Plenty of smokers…many more than seen in Perth. Perth has smokers out on the street at smoko and lunch times, but here it seems they are out at all times. This afternoon we are off to South Bank, culture central, museums etc etc..













Recycling: The Treasury Building is now Treasury Casino.



















The old among the new

Castaways Sculpture Awards

Yesterday we drove down to Rockingham to take a look at the annual 'Castaways' Sculpture Awards on the beach.

I am not big on art, but sculpture I find interesting. Here are a few of my favourites out of the 48 entries. I voted for the simplest exhibit which had the most impact on me.

'Once a King' is merely a stack of Jarrah firewood. The Jarrah tree is a mighty Western Australian hardwood which has, since the white settlement of Australia, supplied excellent timber for houses, bridges, wharves, small ships and boats and lately very expensive furniture. The Jarrah needs a little protection from those who would knock them down for railway sleepers.













Once a King



















Light Shadow













Extinctus















Part of 'The Sea's Sculpture'

Extinctus is made of old motor tyres and yes, the scales on the fish are sunglass lenses.

Joan's blog...here, has more pics.