6 years

Saturday 25th was the 6th anniversary of my dear wife Joan’s death.  

Is 'anniversary' the right word?  Anniversary sounds like a celebratory word.

I miss her terribly and still feel her presence in our house.

Martin, Helen, Joan and Kev. Circa 1985

Sladjana

Today I met a young lady named Sladjana who is physically disabled with Transverse Mialitis.  She is 19 and virtually paralysed from the neck down.  She was visiting a lady who was her long time carer and accompanied by a young community support worker. 

Sladjana is known as Budgie to her carers.   Her wheelchair is amazing. She can control it with a chin control and when using her laptop she has a remote control mouse giving her all the actions of hands and mouse. There are other aids on the wheel chair such as breathing assist etc etc. 

I am unsure what actually I was invited along for, but I believe I may have interested her in writing a blog about her condition and her day-to-day struggles and wins.  I directed her to my blog and will wait to see if she likes the idea and wants help setting one up.  

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'Budgie' with computer mouse control

With community support from Clover

Budgie is intelligent, computer literate and artistic.

Regular medical checkup

Over the last week I have had some regular medical tests done....bloods and heart ECG. 

The blood test had a couple of pointers....cholesterol up; iron up and slightly elevated blood pressure even though I take a drug for hypertension.  

The ECG let my GP know that there is problem with irregular heart beats.  He decided to send me for a 2D/Doppler Echocardiogram.  I had that yesterday. The procedure took around 40 minutes and around 40 images were collected.  I will return to my GP on Friday morning to hear what is next.

I don’t receive any age pension, so I missed out on a state pensioner discount of the fee, however Medicare here is good and I paid $480.00 for the procedure and medicare will give me back $196.10.   

PS: My heart seems to be OK for an old fart.  The irregular heart beat will be looked at with a 24 hour portable ECG monitor.

Pilfering

Bunnings Hardware is a very successful Australian hardware chain.  I hope they continue being successful as I have  a moderately large WesFarmers/Bunnings share package.

There is a Bunnings store near me and I buy there regularly.   One thing I have noticed over the years is the senseless pilfering.  It is especially noticeable in the gardening machinery aisles.  I am unsure if the thieving of mower and other petrol engine parts is done by repairmen or if there are people who just like to be bastards.  Click images to enlarge.

In this aisle I counted 18 bits stolen

fuel caps are popular

Carburetor parts taken

This one also lost its chain

Firing up the pizza oven

Helen and James have fired up their just completed pizza oven. After 24 hours  since firing it up, it is still very warm to the touch. Great result!

Pizza oven

My son-in-law James and daughter Helen, are soon to try out their pizza oven.  James bought a builder’s kit and the oven is nearing completion. As soon as the dome is bricked in the surface is to be plastered with a heat resistant plaster and then the sand mound removed from beneath the bricks.  Small plastic spacers hold the fire bricks at the correct angle to follow the curve of the dome whilst cementing them in.

Looking good!

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A good idea

Daughter Helen bought a pasta maker and yesterday gave it its initial tryout.   It was from K Mart for the princely sum of $15.  The box did not include instructions and Helen had to google for instructions to get started.   I went to her house to see how it worked.

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It makes several different types of pasta and works quite well. Certainly easier than mixing pasta dough by hand.   I am astounded that a complex, well made little machine which does work well, costs so little.   Helen reports that it made a very nice spaghetti and she is trying other pasta types today.

Must get one to put in the cupboard with other gear, like coffee makers, electric frypans, deep fryers, juicers etc etc.

On second thoughts it has to be the most speccie Xmas/birthday present @ $15.

PS:  Went to Kmart(s) and found none.  We were advised it was a clearance sale and that line has been discontinued. Bummer!

PPS: A friend of daughter Helen has just found several pasta machines at another K Mart store and is buying me one.

Back into homebrewing

I am bottling a homebrew of beer today.   It has been some years since I last brewed and I did like the flavours I could produce in my own recipes.  There is a bit of mucking around, but I feel it is worth it in the end.   28 X 750ml bottles will sit around maturing for maybe three or four weeks before I can sample the brew. It is not being done to save money, however Australian beer prices are rather high.

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Adolph is still popular

I have just watched a rather poor documentary about the rise of Adolph Hitler.

In 2016, his manifesto, Mein Kampf, was reprinted.

‘The manifesto has sold about 75,000 copies and spent 35 weeks on the German "Der Spiegel" best-seller list in 2016, The New York Times reported. The book had been banned in Germany for seven decades; the state of Bavaria held the copyright until the end of 2015 and continually thwarted efforts to republish the book. But the copyright expired Dec. 31, 2015, and the new edition of the book was published immediately after.’

I believe that the interest in Mein Kampf is worrying and the philosopher Bertolt Brecht said.....“For though the world has stood up and stopped the bastard, the bitch that bore him is in heat again.”

Aunty Violet has passed

My aunt Violet died peacefully on Christmas Day at age 100.  She was my father’s sister.  As far as I know, she did not smoke, drink or swear during her long life.   Don't think I'll reach 100.

She is in centre of this photo I took of her extended family on her 100th birthday celebration party.

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My New Year's resolution

My New Year’s resolution is to have a chuck-out of old computer gear.

I have been reluctant to toss out hundreds of RAM (random access memory) sticks up until this date because I have been working on a little project which will have a huge bank of these sticks with a wireless connection to what is left of the memory of my brain.   Could work!?

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RAM sticks

At present I have 17 computers to give to needy people and I guess most will

go when school starts again.

Hard drives etc etc.

Bringing the voices back

Our son Martin has been working on the cassette tape transfer for a few hours so far.  It would seem that my late wife Joan was further away from the microphone than I was and her voice is there, but very low.  Martin is separating the sound tracks and going to even out the levels and then record the whole tape and transfer it to CD.  

The tape is at least 42 years old and during the current process, has snapped several times near the take up spool.  A fiddly job to re-attach the tape end each time, but Martin’s hands are a lot less shaky than mine and he easily does the job.

Should be completed this weekend.

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Voices from the past

Last week a good friend, Dennis, found a cassette tape sent by my wife Joan and I, just 42 years ago.  It was an update on our time teaching in Papua New Guinea.  We both talked about our work and adventures in PNG and about our kids.  The kids had a few words to say also.  I have been able to hear a few minutes of the tape on a scratchy old player.   I decided to do a conversion from cassette tape to CD with help from our son Martin.  The specific computer Martin has set up for this conversion suddenly decided that it should die.  I managed to borrow an exact brand and model and transfer the hard drive to the borrowed machine.  Martin will use a program named Audacity to clean up noise and transfer the data to CD.     The borrowed computer and the dead one are both Windows machines of the same model IBM Lenovo.  I was very lucky to borrow it from a friend who is an IT teacher at a large senior high school.  

Had I not found the exact model there would have been a bit of work sourcing drivers for sound, video, mouse etc etc; as there are so many manufacturers of PCs which use different drivers.  Apple, being the sole manufacturer of Apple computers have very few problems with drivers etc.

Tomorrow Martin will visit and will make about 6 CDs.  Lets hope there is nothing too embarrassing on the tape.

I imagine that hearing my late wife Joan talking will be difficult.

Blast from the past

A few weeks ago I found a gift given to me by one of my students going back some 50 years ago.  Herby VanDongen was a pleasant lad and his father made these cuff links which Herby gave me.  I must confess that I have never owned a shirt which used cuff links and I’m guessing that most people these days would not know what cuff links are/were used for.

I thought I would look up Herby and find out what he has been doing over the past 50 years.  I found Herby in the White Pages and gave him a call.   He is a successful business owner running an agricultural machinery business.  I am going to visit his business this Friday.

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The coins used in the cuff links are a Sixpence and a Threepence.  In the days of non- decimal currency, such coins had names.  The sixpence was called a Zac and the threepence (thrupence) was called a Tray.  

Goodbye Brian

My nephew Brian was aged 42 when he suddenly decided to take his own life in the backyard of his home in Mandurah.  His mother, Dorothy was visiting her daughter and husband in San Francisco when she heard the news. Dorothy, Katherine and Rick immediately flew back to Western Australia. The funeral service and wake was held last Wednesday.  It was a large funeral with Brian’s friends and relatives and Dorothy’s friends attending.   I am unsure about the background to this tragic event.  Brian’s wife Lilli, will be facing a difficult time.  

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Edison Phonograph 1911 model

I met my dear wife Joan in 1965 when I was posted to Bridgetown High School in the state’s south west. Joan was also on staff at BHS.  We were married in January 1966 and had 46 great years together.

Whilst sharing a house with two other male teachers in Bridgetown I found bits of what turned out to be an Edison Phonograph.  I realised that there were cosmetic parts missing and spent several months in my spare time rebuilding it and making missing parts.

I found a single, cylinder record and it was played regularly as a test for some of the repairs.   On completion of the project a student told me that his grandfather had some records and that I was welcome to them.  The lad brought in a large box containing 110 records in good condition.  I thanked his grandfather and still have the phonograph and the records. 

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A bit like me...old but still working

My dear Gay brother

I have just watched a 450th (?) re-run of a MASH episode about a gay soldier in the MASH unit.  It was quite emotional for me as my (our) brother was gay and lived a double life for quite few years before he came out.  His siblings, me, my sister and younger brother, all loved Robert.  He and we, knew he was different from an early age and I guess our parents also knew, but never acknowledged it because it certainly wasn’t kosher to do that back then.

Robert, joined the airforce and did a cooks course in NSW.  He graduated and after working at restaurants in NSW, applied for and won a posting as the chef for the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Rodan Cutler.  He worked there at Government House for a few years before moving to the United States, where he was for some time the chef at the oldest restaurant in the U.S., Fraunces Tavern in NY.

We visited Fraunces Tavern in 1990. Beautiful!

My brother died in our family lounge room surrounded by family and two friends from NY.  

I am sorry that some people will not understand this story.

Chicken Pox??

Our daughter Helen is off work due to a serious rash on her upper body and arms.  She went to her GP and he was unsure whether it is Chicken Pox or just some allergy.  Helen has had Chicken Pox before, but it is possible to contract it a second time.   Her pre-primary class has had seven kids away from class and she is unsure whether her rash is anything associated with something that is ‘going round’.    Vaccination is a problem with some parents and Helen would hate to be in the situation of spreading a potentially dangerous disease such as CP.   She will see what things look like at the start of next week before returning to work.

A bit too gaudy for me.

My daughter Helen and husband James recently visited France and Spain.  Looking at one of Helen’s photographs I was told the building pictured was designed by Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi.  He was a celebrated architect in his time for his theme park like buildings and colours.  See some of his work here.

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Teacher goes back to school

I have completed a small project for our daughter Helen at her school.  Helen teaches Pre-Primary and loves it.  A recent acquisition in the pre-primary area was a small one room ‘house’.  Her pupils enjoy practising house and Helen thought I could erect a clothes hanging line.  I bought some steel tubing and timber and clothes line.   The school has some quick setting concrete so our son Martin and I set a post in the ground and strung the clothes line and attached it to the wooden building.  Looks good.

Helen and her teacher’s aide, Lyndy, have an excellent working relationship and much of the improvements in the pre-primary area of the school are because of their efforts.

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The good old times??

Yesterday I was reflecting on my 76 years  and some of the technological advances I can recall occurring  during my lifetime.

Ball point pens

gears on bicycles

computers

mobile phones

digital cameras

credit cards 

bubblewrap

aerosol paint 

GPS..................etc etc

Of course there are many thousands more.  Make your own list.

Within our Friday gatherings of friends, I often hear the comment that it was a better time back then.  Hmn??     One backwards step in innovation, was the plastic toothpaste tube. The original toothpaste tube was made of a lead/tin alloy which allowed you to fold up the tube as the contents were used.  It worked.  The plastic tube makes it very difficult to get the last three or so tooth cleanings without giving in and getting over the 1950s hangup of getting every last bit of paste out of the tube.  

The tin/lead tubes are still used for things like oil paints.

Get over it Kev!!

Oldies meet weekly

I am part of a small group of friends who go back many years.   There are seven of us left including two widows and me, a widower.   We meet weekly on a Friday for several hours of laughs. stories and reminiscences, mixed with good food, wine and genuine friendship.

Yesterday we were talking about dancing and it reminded me of my first experience at learning to dance.  It happened when I was about 12 years of age and visiting my grandparents’ farm 130 miles from our house near Fremantle, Western Australia.    I was taken to a dance in a hall near a small railway siding where I watched, mainly women, dancing the progressive Barn Dance.  Most of the men were outside the hall standing around a beer keg proceeding to get ’sozzled’ as it was called back then.  One very large woman grabbed me and joined the dance circle.  My face was held tight between her large breasts; my feet not even reaching the floor and I was spun around causing me to hold on tight; so tight that I pricked my palm on an open safety pin holding some part of her dress together.

I must have whimpered, because she let me go and I bolted for the relative safety of the mob around the Keg outside.  It took me some years before I did learn to dance.

From the rear, Carole and Dennis, 

Joy, Margaret, Wendy and me and in front sitting, Wendy’s husband Ralph.

Click on the photo to enlarge.....Pic taken using the Meryl Streep filter to smooth out facial lines.

Night

I have just finished reading a book by Elie Wiesel titled ‘Night’.  There are just 120 pages in this horror story of Elie and his family transported to Auschwitz Birkenau concentration camp.  It is a personal witness statement of the horrors of the Holocaust.  It won the Nobel Peace Prize and should be a text for all high school students.

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Broad Beans

My front garden not only hosts roses, but seasonal vegetables such as the present planting of Broad Beans.  It is probably about three weeks before I can harvest the beans.

I love broad beans and there are going to be lots to eat all at once.  Have to give lots away to family and friends.

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Honesty

Helen and James; my daughter and her husband, are nearing the end of one month’s holiday in France and Spain.  Helen emailed me a couple of days ago with details of a great day they had.  She also told me that she had lost her camera somewhere and was to go to a nearby Police Station to get conformation that she had reported the loss for insurance purposes.   They didn’t expect that anyone would hand in a digital camera and were very surprised that someone had actually handed it in to the Police.

'Oh….by the way I found my camera after making a police report…..interestingly they just opened up some drawers and asked if any of the numerous cameras/glasses were mine before asking for ID or asking what model/make etc I had lost.  They even had bags with drivers licences attached to the front with elastic bands (with nationalities and addresses clearly on display) These were behind glass cupboards (not locked) and on view for everyone to see.  I don’t think they bother to send these items back to their owners. Amazingly they also had loads of lost umbrellas????'

They are impressed with Spain; the friendly people, great inexpensive dining and  the beauty of each place they visited.  

My son Martin found a new iPhone 7 in a gutter a few days ago.  As he picked it up it rang and a girl demanded he bring it to her.  He started out to the address and she phoned to direct him to another address quite some distance from his unit.  Eventually he arrived and the girl, about 14 years of age, snatched it off him and ran off without even thanking him.  Somewhat different to Helen's experience in Spain.

As Willy Wonka said..'Strike that, reverse it'.

Oops, I misread Helen’s email.   It seems that she found her camera in the car after reporting it lost.  My error was when I read that she was shown a selection of cameras handed in to the Police Station to see if hers was amongst them, I assumed that she had found her camera there.

Bye bye palms

Yesterday the tree loppers went to work at my rental unit.  There were three palms to come down and I was impressed with the professional  job they carried out.  I watched the last one to  be dropped.  It was about 35+ feet tall.  The method they used was to throw a weighted long rope over the crown of the palm and tie it off above where they were to make the cut.  One fellow walked out with the rope to where they wanted it to fall.   The chainsaw man made a V cut at the front of the trunk and as he slowly cut into that from the back of the palm the rope man pulled it toward himself.    Perfect landing!

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Oi, that's my car.

Today when I went back, the palms are gone and the stumps ground out.

All gone

Nephew visits old uncle

The last couple of days I have had my nephew Bruce staying over at my place.  Bruce has been visiting his family in Esperance on a short visit from his home in The Hamptons in NY.  We, Kev, Bruce and my Bro Graham, had two evenings with quite a few drinks and lots of laughs.  Yesterday we went into Fremantle and visited a quite wonderful store named Twisted Sisters.  It is full of hippie gear and Bruce selected clothes for himself and his wife Tam for the upcoming Halloween weekend.  The store owner served him and almost every item was knocked down by 50%.    I personally couldn’t see myself wearing any of that gear that I remember from my youth, and I know that Bruce and Tam will probably wear their outfits only once in public and save them for home and barbecues.

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Later we went on a Fremantle Jail tour.  Most interesting.   It has not been in use since it closed in 1991.  It was commissioned in the 1850s and used to incarcerate men and women over 136 years.  The current prisons in Western Australia must seem like holiday camps compared to the conditions prisoners endured at Fremantle.

Narrowband UV light treatment still on

I am still having Narrowband UV light treatment for Psoriasis three times a week.  Each day I attend there are another 100+ patients getting the same treatment.  One young fellow I have seen there many times is about 7 years of age and has severe Psoriasis affecting his body, face and eyes.  This is not his first series of treatments and he has been treated in the last Psoriasis season.  I say ‘season’ because for most patients this is an annual problem starting late winter, when it is believed insufficient exposure to sunlight occurs.

A brave young lad who must expect that the condition will return next winter and the whole thing will start over again.  This is the second outbreak I have had starting in the winter season and talking to other people getting treatment it would seem that until some new treatment is found, I will return annually.

Losing it?

The maintenance on the Quinns Rocks unit is ongoing.  Yesterday I had enough and drove home for a rest.  I parked my car in the driveway and had lunch.  Then I realised that I had left the car unlocked with my wallet and phone in it.  A quick search didn’t find them and so I rang my iphone from the house phone.....nothing?  I thought they might have been stolen, but this suburb  is relatively safe and so I guessed that the phone and my wallet might be still at the unit....sooo another 120km round trip to find them safe on a benchtop.

Am I losing it??

Still more maintenance

I am still making the daily 120km round trip to Quinns Rocks to do maintenance on a unit I own there.  Every day I find more to do.   Today my son is coming along as I need a second pair of hands with a couple of the tasks.  

Watercorp is sending someone out today to replace a shutoff valve in the  water meter.  The tree man has not yet taken down three large palms and another large tree.  I have a plumber coming to replace a tap set in the kitchen and airconditioning is to be fitted in the lounge room.   

Brother Graham has a tile grout cleaning machine and on the weekend it is going to be working hard on a large tiled area.

I want this to be over soon.

Maintenance is ongoing

Western Australia has a water problem.  Our rains no longer fill dams and we rely heavily on ground water and desalination plants.  The Water Corporation offers free watersaving shower heads, two to a residence on a bring in your old one and get a watersaving model basis.   I collected my second one today and installed it (with a bit of swearing) at my unit at Quinns Rocks. 

The renovation is going slowly but steadily.  I have a quote to remove the three large palms, grind the stumps out and remove all the mess.  I had an idea that the quote would be around $4,000, but was very thankful to find the man will do the job for $1332.   I  guess he has the gear for the job and maybe he has no work on at the moment.

Cleaning out the gutters is the next contract job for both units and it looks like it will be a difficult job as the roof tiles almost cover the gutters.  The quote might not be as generous as the palms.  An aircondition unit is to be installed for around $2,000 and I think the couple in the rear unit will probably ask for one once they see it being installed.

 Probably another two weeks work before it can be offered for rent 

Desal plants in Australia.  Click to view

Keeping busy

I own a couple of rental properties in a northern suburb.  Both are 3 bedroom dwellings on a single block.  They are probably 40+ years old and starting to need serious maintenance.  One of the units has been vacated recently and I have started maintenance on that one before being able to rent it again.    I have found quite a few problems inside and outside the unit and have started daily trips from my place to get things up to a reasonable standard.    Outside there are problems with three monster palms dropping  fruit in the nearby roof gutters which has caused an overflow and  flooding of the roof eaves.  A contractor will be sought to clean out rubbish from the gutters of both houses and a tree person is to give me quotes for removing the palms.  They are huge and old leaves; or are they fronds, look inviting for some miscreant to set alight.

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Inside there has been a problem with shower tiles leaking water through to an internal wall.  I have sealed the tile grout and some patching and painting on the damaged wall is necessary.   I have repaired a toilet cistern and changed tap washers in all the taps.  Next is to have new curtains made and install a front door deadlock.  Most of the window fly screens need replacing.
 
The tenants in the rear unit have been there for years and look after their unit as though it was their own.  Don't want to lose them.

I’d like to sell them both, but the housing market has crashed here.

Working still at age 102

A local Western Australia university (Edith Cowain University)  has decided that a honorary staff member should retire and work from his home.   He is 102 years of  age, which surely must be a record.  Hope he doesn’t die before he sees himself in the Guinness Book of Records.

He doesn’t want to leave the university campus, but the university thinks he may be at risk travelling to and fro from his home every day.  He catches two buses and a train to get to work.   He was awarded The Order of Australia this year and feedback from the public generally wants him to remain at his post.  I listened to a radio interview with him and he still has all his marbles and works with the Centre of Ecosystem Management as a research associate.   The university has offered to set up his small home as a workstation, but he feels he will last longer if he is in contact with fellow academics.

I retired at 59 years of age because I read that an early retirement can lead to a longer lifespan.  I have reached 76 years and even though I loved teaching, I am glad that I retired when I did.

Ernest 'Shiner' Ryan

Recently reading an article in the local daily paper about Ernest ‘Shiner’ Ryan, I was reminded about my contact with Shiner.   In the last year of WW2, we (Mum and Dad, me, Uncle Jack, Aunty Gladys and cousin Valma and grandpa ) lived next door to Shiner Ryan in South Fremantle.  I cannot recall the sleeping arrangements in our unit, but I am sure there were just two bedrooms. 

Shiner was Fremantle’s own crook.  He had served time in jails across Australia mainly for theft.  

Shiner

Under a staircase in our unit was a pile of canned fish with the labels removed.  Cousin Valma and I would play on what was later explained to be stolen fish, courtesy of a couple of Shiner’s U.S. servicemen friends.  At the age of six in 1945 I was not curious enough to ask what all those cans were doing there. I am guessing that it was a keepsafe operation.

The south Terrace unit we lived in, built in 1870

I remember the excitement when VJ day was declared.  South Terrace became a speedway of cars, jeeps and trucks roaring up and down past our place.’ horns blowing, bugles blowing and lots of singing and yelling out.

By 1947 Dad had built our house in Bicton, an outer suburb of Fremantle.   In that year, along with just about every other local youngster,  I had my tonsils removed in Fremantle Hospital.  I recall mother collecting me from the hospital and on the way home visiting Shiner Ryan in his flat.   Whilst sitting at his breakfast table he unscrewed one of the legs to show us how he kept his money safe in the hollowed-out leg.   Later as he saw us off at street level, he commented on a car which was parked with the engine running saying…’In my day that car would be stripped and in the river’.  

Shiner was a bit of a folk hero.  He married late in life.  That marriage lasted about 8 hours.

The popular 'Shiner' Ryan

Bathroom warm again

I found a ‘sparky’ to install and wire a new bathroom heater/light/exhaust fan in one of the bathrooms.  The one I bought is the same brand as previously in the bathroom and although there were much cheaper units, I kept with that brand as the ceiling cut-holes are the same size.    All done @ a price of $150. cash in hand.*  The new unit cost $240. and other brands roughly the same size and capacity sold for as little as $99. 

The man made use of an existing light switch near the doorway to the bathroom, then pushed a four core wire down the conduit alongside the existing switch wires.  The new switch has four buttons to operate fan,heater x2, light and the young sparky suggested I give away having two levels of heating and use just one and have that switch operating both heating lamps.   Works well and I have now returned to my own bathroom.

  OK, I won’t write any more Home Handyman stories.

*common term for these jobs is 'a cashie'.

Home Handyman problems

My sister Shirley has returned to her home in Esperance  at the bottom of Western Australia.  The FESS procedure was successful and after a couple of days here in the city she felt it was safe to return home.

I have a home handyman problem with a bathroom light/heater/exhaust unit which is probably 16+ years old.  The unit was installed after construction of the house and used a remote control to activate each part, as it isn’t ‘hard wired’ in.  Over the last month or so I had to be precise aiming the remote control at the receiver and then the whole thing died.   I figured it was the remote control, but after a bit of Googling, found a method of testing the remote.  The testing relied on a camera to record the infra red beam.  I used the built-in camera on an iMac computer and saw the IR light as I pointed it at the camera lens.  Smart stuff!  Sooooo, the remote is OK.  I guess that means the receiver is probably dead.   Trouble is, this model  has not been made for years and there are no spare parts available.

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Getting a suitable replacement which is controlled with a remote which will fit the exact size of the hole which will be left by the current one, is going to be difficult.