St John's Ambulance Service

Yesterday I had a visit from an ex-student of mine; Hwee.  Hwee was a fav student of mine at Willetton SHS and she works as an ambo for the St John’s Ambulance Service here in Western Australia.    There are many stories we should gather on the work of ambos; some of them humorous, some dangerous and some sad.   Ambos certainly see a broad cross-section of society. There is a good book or a realty TV show to be made there.

I was surprised to read that the U.S. state of Alabama still has separate schools for whites and the rest of society.   I thought the American Civil War to end that sort of rubbish was won in 1865.   

Mitch is on the mend

Mitch is on the mend.  The latest surgery was to reconstruct his left knee.

 They want to leave a week in between each surgery. Next will be right knee then left wrist. He is in good spirits and keen to get things moving along. Abdomen seems fine now so let's hope it stays that way. 

Mitch with mum Karen

'You've been in the wars!'

Short report on my niece’s son Mitch. Text from mother Karen....

had a set back last night.  Emerg surgery to remove part of his bowel that had a hole in it and leaking air through his tummy.  Big abscess draining now.  In ICU. Hopefully tomorrow back to trauma unit.

and then more the following morning....

In pretty good spirits.  Gut not working still. Small blood clot left vein of kidney. Bit jaundice today. So many things at work/concern.

My mother would have said...’you’ve been in the wars’.

Google searches

Some six years ago I wrote about a David Attenborough documentary titled ‘The Biami People of Papua New Guinea’.  I found it on YouTube on January, 18th 2010. You can find that post here.

Yesterday when I was checking my blog hits I found that that posting suddenly has 80 hits with people searching for The Biami People of PNG.    Most of those hits were from the UK and so I thought that Attenborough’s documentary must have been screened on BBC television that evening.   Looking closer, I found that around 5 hits were from the U.S.A.

Searching for that documentary with Google I found a TV programme on air on May 8 with small clips of many of Attenborough’s travels and the Biami was part of a collection of his previous adventures…this one from 1950.

http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/shortcuts/2016/may/04/attenborough-90-wildlife-legend-top-10-tv-moments

This is a screenshot of that segment…

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Mitch update.

Mitchell's situation is looking better.

Facebook post by his mother Karen.

Mitchell's ongoing saga

 My niece’s son Mitch is still in intensive care after his major road accident.  His leg and arm have been repaired, but he is still on oxygen because of damage to his lung.  The medics cannot repair damaged ligaments until his lungs are deemed strong enough for more surgery.  The lung problem is preventing an MRI scan as the medics think he is not  strong enough to detach him from oxygen etc for the 15 minute transfer to the MRI machine.  If the ligaments are not repaired soon, they may shrink.

Mitch also has some cracked/broken ribs.   

I have this information from my sister in Esperance.  It is all a bit ‘sketchy’ and I hope I have it correct.

T-Boned by a 4WD

My sister Shirley lives in Esperance, a nice seaside town on the south coast of Western Australia.  Her daughter Karen also lives there.  One of Karen’s sons was involved in a serious road accident yesterday.   He was riding a moped to work when a 4WD T-boned him breaking his leg in three places and his arm.  He had a CT Scan and was flown to Royal Perth Hospital for specialist treatment.  Further scans have shown extensive bruising of his heart, lung, kidney and spleen.  The open wounds and broken bones of his leg and arm will probably be operated on today.  There is concern that his heart and lungs may not like the anaesthetic and fail.  I would surmise that RPH has the equipment and skills to get him through the first stage.  If he pulls through, this looks like a long spell in hospital.  

Karen and another son and her ex-husband, the father of Mitchell are standing by.

Update:  Mitchell has survived the initial surgery to repair his leg and arm.

Blowflies

Here in Western Australia we are still in Autumn.  It is cool and we, in the metropolitan areas, have had some welcome rain.  Another welcome event around this time is the dearth of flies.  In warmer times I have a problem with blowflies getting down my kitchen exhaust system, negotiating the exhaust fan and coming in for an inspection of my curry cooking.   The exhaust system goes through the ceiling, through the roof cavity and out to fresh air through a ‘Chinaman’s Hat’ vent.  Previously I had surrounded the vent with fly wire to keep the blowies out and recently had to venture up on the roof to repair gaps in the wire screen.   

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          Someone, please remind me what flies are here for.  

The cooler weather has brought on a small plague of moths who make every effort to lay eggs in all my pantry leftovers. Time to buy some sticky moth baits.

 I guess moths have a place in this world too??

Another question: Is it sensible for a 76 year old bloke to be up on a roof?

Creepers and the Corpse Flower

At 76 I have seen lots of interesting plants especially creepers.  When we worked in Papua New Guinea, one plant was not common, but usually found by following a scent which was described as smelling like a rotting corpse.  I saw only one of these plants, by smelling it and wandering off into the bush to find a strange looking plant which was not one you would cultivate in your garden.  Read about it here.

Here, at my  house, I grow a number of Passionfruit vines and am always fascinated to see how quickly they form support structures to enable them to bridge a gap.  Where are their brains?

Having a look for the sun

Almost there!

A most welcome gift

Yesterday we had our weekly gathering of 6 oldies.   One of the group, Ralph, was chief photographer for Telecom in Perth, Western Australia for ten years until his retirement. Prior to that he was in the RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force) for 20+ years as a photographer and served in Vietnam during that conflict; Malaysia and Woomera rocket range and as Ralph says....’also at the local pub at Werribee’.  Plenty of stories from Ralph about his life adventures.

Ralph yesterday gifted his collection of cameras to me. Some nice gear in that lot and even if they are all from the time of film, I think I might source some film and shoot some photos through the medium format Zenza Bronica.  At our old house, I built a darkroom and processed film and printed photos.  I taught photography for some 12 years and have gone completely digital in cameras and photoshopping images.

The new acquisition will join my camera collection.  Click images to enlarge

A little sucker

Doing a bit of pre-winter gardening I found a little sucker (literally) sucking on my Tahitan Lime Tree buds   Don't know its entomological name and being a nice day and feeling well I didn't punish it.   Drink up kid!
Click image to view.

I can't drink upside down.

A good deal!

I was doing some grocery shopping in an IGA store and noticed a large stack of coffee machines.  When I asked about the price I was told they were free with the purchase of 6 packets of coffee pods.  I went for the deal and for A$39 I have 6 packets of 12 pods of different tastes and a nice coffee machine.    Best deal I have had in many a year.

I already have a coffee machine but have not used it much as I didn’t enjoy the coffee I had ground.  It is also a bit messy compared to the pod machine.  I'll sell it or give it away to someone.

Click images to enlarge

In with the new

out with the old

Winners and losers

And I definitely lost today.  My microwave oven light had died so I sourced one from a parts supplier.  It is not a standard low wattage bulb and it cost $38+.    The salesperson told me it was expensive because of the microwave rays it would be exposed to.   BS!  The bulb isn’t in contact with any dangerous rays. 

  PS; if you are attempting to replace such a light bulb in a microwave oven, be careful of any residual high-power zaps from touching the wrong bits.

I have a microwave leak meter to detect leaks from poor door seals. Inexpensive, and well worth owning when many microwave ovens are operated at eye level.

Made my day!

Doing some shopping at a local market this morning I met Suzie, a wonderful young lady I taught during my years at Willetton SHS.  I urged her to visit for a cup of tea and we had probably about an hour of great reminiscences about family, school and friends.

Suzie has an ongoing affliction of migraine headaches and over a number of years she has tried the usual medical treatments and even some alternative treatments to no avail.

She is hopeful of eventually finding the cure.

Suzie today and another pic from my scrappy marks book when I taught her in Year 8.

You made my day Suzie.

How is it so?

Today I received a small tool I had ordered from Germany.  It is designed to accurately push out pins in a metal watch band to adjust the size to suit a wrist.  As an old bloke I am getting quite skinny and I needed to shorten the band of the watch I received from my school upon retirement some 17 years ago.   It cost a mere A$1.40 and was sent air mail, post free and delivered to my door by Australia Post.  How is that done?  Click to enlarge the image.

  

I’ll try it out tomorrow, but not be too upset if it doesn’t do the job.

Music on the Brain

Wonderful programme on ABC Catalyst recently....Music on the Brain.

Research worldwide has shown that people in deep dementia awake and even sing along when headphones playing familiar music are placed on the head of patients with remarkable results. Similarly, patients with advanced Parkinson’s Disease when experiencing dance music lose all the dyskinesias associated with Parkinsons and begin dancing effortlessly. Footage taken in nursing homes show this amazing temporary change.

If you are in Australia you can view this 30 minute program on ABC iView.

http://iview.abc.net.au/programs/catalyst/SC1502H006S00

Oldies gathering

Had a gathering yesterday of a bunch of oldies with a lifelong association with the scouting movement.  As we have lost a few in the years gone, their wives have remained friends as part of this small group.  Most of us started out in the Cub Scouts at around age 9/10; progressed to Sea Scouts and then the Rovers.  So I, at least, joined the movement at around 67 years ago.   Here is a pic.  I am not in it as I was wielding the photographic machine or whatever it’s called. 

Click image to enlarge

Imagination

This morning I ‘installed’ a small job I did for daughter Helen’s Pre Primary class. I drove to the school and went to the office to sign in as a visitor.  The school registrar quizzed me about what I was here for and asked if I had a Working With Children certificate.  I told her I hadn’t and she was on her way to tell the Deputy Principal.  I yelled out that I was not going into a classroom and my daughter had chosen this exact time so that her class would not be outside in the playground.  She hummed a bit, but signed me in and gave me a visitor’s badge to wear.  A lot of people think that Principals run schools, but in my experience the registrar seems to be in charge most times.

The little job was to try and attach a few things I had made onto a tree to entertain the kids and spark a bit of imagination.  The tree wasn’t my choice as it was difficult to get all the things looking like they should.  I would have preferred a straight trunk tree, but Helen said it looked fine and the kids would love it.

I stood outside the fence when the kids were let out to take a look.  It was a great success.  One girl told everyone the ‘there is someone inside there’ and tried to open the little door.  Worthwhile project.

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Young performers

A friend (and ex-student of mine) Sean, has two lovely kids, Cody and Bae.  I took a snap of Bae when my wife Joan and I visited Sean and his family in NSW some 10 years ago.

Click images to enlarge.

Bae is now 16 and is quite the thespian.  Pic here of her playing The Bad Joke Monster in a production of ‘Conundrum’ and was nominated for Canberra Area Theatre (CAT) award.

Cody is a music performer and has recently commenced a music diploma.

Canadian visitors

Had a nice couple of days with cousin Ann and husband Doug visiting from Canada.  Ann was a Lock from Narrogin Valley in Western Australia and she met Doug who was in Australia, working and they returned to BC, Canada where they still live.  They are leaving Australia on Sunday flying direct to South Africa (Sith Iffrica) for a few weeks there on safari etc.

Many laughs in the two days they stayed over at my place.  My wife Joan and I visited Doug and Ann in Canada for a pleasant week and they suggested that I could return for another visit.  Maybe; or I could just wait for their regular four yearly visit back to Australia to catch up again.

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