Category: Useful Things I did Today

Since becoming in-valid…. I am really excited by every little thing that I can get done. No dishes yet, but I can stack the dishwasher!

I’m back on the internets!

Small problem with out hosting company not being overjoyed about the growing popularity of my blog. Apparently, more traffic = more downloads, and once we went more than 15% over our bandwidth limit for the month, we got shut out.

So we gave them more money, and we have double the bandwidth for the next 12 months. I am going to have to host my images somewhere else in future though – especially for picture heavy posts like the Nundle trip.

Glad to be back, but a little stressed – in the next 2 days I have to pack, tidy and clean the house for the wonderful Damian who is housesitting for us, sort out a knitting project for the plane/train/bus, and sort out what is going on with my lungs. Got a doctors appointment at lunchtime today to review my asthma treatment plan, and then a wee yarn crawl with the lovely Emma.

We tried bonding Custard With Blueberry and Monkey, but Custard ended up with a torn ear, and I am loathe to put him under that pressure again, but I also hate the thought of him being lonely. Grasshopper is mending well, and hopefully will be able to join the general population in the condo when we return from Vietnam.

A good currency converter widget

I’ve been struggling a little with trip planning – trying to convert Vietnamese Dong into Australian dollars has been doing my head in. There are around 12,900 Dong to the Australian Dollar, so even though 200,000 Dong sounds like a lot of money for accommodation at the Banh Ma National Park, it’s really only about $15 in aussie beer vouchers, and a small price to pay for a chance to see endangered primates.

If you have the good fortune to be running Os 10.4, then you’ll already know what a widget is. And you probably have the default currency converter installed. But it has never been to Vietnam, and will only convert one currency at a time. This widget will convert multiple currencies, and has a huge range available (including legacy European currencies). So next time I need to know whether I’ll be paying more in US dollars, or if it would be cheaper to pay in Dong, I won’t have to take off my shoes to do the maths!

Duckies!

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Today was Kerry’s birthday, so we joined her and Adam in Kangaroo Valley for a day of paddling on the river. A little more active than my usual Christmas Eve activities, but now that I’m a Nettle I think I’d better get used to it. 🙂

We had a lovely day, Bev packed a great lunch which we had on the river, and we even had cake – and tea, which Adam cooked up on his camping stove.

Unfortunately the camera was in the barrel to stay dry, so no photographic evidence, but we saw about 4 different varieties of gorgeous reptiles, heaps of ducks, ducklings, cormorants, plovers, some kind of wading bird, a kingfisher, a few different kinds of very tiny (and very cute) birdies, and on the way home, Bev skillfully avoided hitting a pair of kangaroos with a deathwish.

And on friday, I got new shoes.

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Crocs Mary Janes. A few more pairs of these (black, lime green) and my collection is almost complete.

We have liftoff!

We have travel insurance (thank goodness we applied for that before my lungs went haywire), we have visas (thanks to Mum for both), and as soon as we have tickets we’ll be ready to start packing.

Grasshopper is moving around a little better today, probably because of the pain meds, and he is eating well. I had an email back from the new vet, and we’ll continue to keep a close eye on him this week.

My new “unvented” stitch pattern is a winner, and I have finished the first hat (finally got the degreases working satisfactorily), and am well on my way to completing the second, proof of concept hat. I’ll write up the pattern, and hopefully someone will like it enough to knit it.

Next, to research what I can take on the plane. It’s not a terribly long flight, but I am a bit anxious about not being able to knit on the plane. I am also starting to think about travel knitting. I’ll need something lightweight, something a little bit interesting but not too over the top challenging. I’m thinking lace, because a big project can still travel light, and provide a few good solid weeks of knitting, and something not too furry in case the weather is warmish. We’re scheduled for a mild winter, a little like a Sydney spring, but there could be some warm weather at some point.

Some warm weather would be nice. I need to keep absorbing the rays 😉

Grasshopper adventures

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Last night, everybunny was fine. This morning, Grasshopper (our special needs child) wasn’t putting any weight on his left rear leg. I rang Matthew the wonder vet, but he was on day leave. Damn. I had visions of the day we lost Rhubarb, when a suburban vet sent us home without painkillers, and my precious boy died in a lot of pain. Vets are wonderful, and it is a tough job with not much reward, but bunnies need a vet with knowledge about bunny medicine, and a vet that has 20 years of experience treating dogs and cats is very unlikely to “get it”.

Then I remembered Dr David Vella. He’s an “exotics” vet, and has a particular interest in rabbits. I’ve heard good things about him, and I am so glad I thought of him today. He’s never met a European Brown Hare before, and was absolutely rapt to meet His Chops.

David gave him some opiates, and we saw a relaxed Grasshopper for the first time ever. Examining him was hard without a sedative, but x-rays without a sedative would never be possible. During the examination, I was covered in fur, and my lungs stopped taking in oxygen. I had a Ventolin with me, and went out in to the waiting room for some fresh air. Thirty minutes later, I had taken about 50 puffs of Ventolin, and still couldn’t breathe. I was considering calling an ambulance when the vet came back with Grasshopper, who was starting to wake up.

The good news was, his bones are in perfect condition. His teeth (which can be a problem with pet rabbits), are in superb condition. And I think the vet has a little crush on him.

We put the boys in the car, and I rang my GP, who recommended a trip to hospital for the human. We came home, gave Grasshopper his pain meds and set him up in a convalescent home, and Mark dropped me up at Ryde Hospital. Apparently Asthma is one of those things that they make a fuss about, so I saw a Dr. pretty quickly. By that stage I was breathing pretty well, and they put me on a nebuliser for a while. Then they gave me steroids, and made me hang around for an hour, after which time I was sent home with some meds, and a recommendation to find a home for the hare.

Not likely.

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Road trip pictures

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The Masked Podcaster, modelling WIP

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The beautiful Hunter Valley

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This is what open cut mining looks like. If you’ve ever had a wine from the Hunter Valley, or used electricity in Sydney, then you ought to know what goes on here. I thought I had a clue, but this is was a bit of a rude shock.

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On the road to nowhere

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The coal travels to the power station on a conveyor belt, and we should be comforted that the clouds of grey stuff are just clouds. Nothing to see here folks.

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Around here David got some bad news on the phone. We’re too far from Sydney to go back, so onwards we go….

This was the second “event” of our trip. First, we saw a totalled motorbike, with a dust covered helmet beside it. Not a happy sight. We pulled over to look for the rider, and found him, gushing blood, by the side of the road. We took him to the nearest road house. Steve – I hope you got home OK.

(When I was a kid, our neighbour lost one of her teenaged daughters to a motorbike accident. A car knocked Cheryl off the road, and she died of her injuries by the side of the road. Nobody stopped.)

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We saw a sign with a picture of a cow and a sheep. The cows came first. There were a lot of them, and they were on both sides of the road, and on the road. Not a lot of grass to eat on the road, but cows are not allowed to join mensa.

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Then the sheep. Note the sheep dog mid leap into ute.

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Dog in ute.

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Sheep bums.

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Still life with cow.

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We made it!

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A rustic wool baler.

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The masked podcaster finds his mark.

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A wire sheep

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The big bad ass ball winder

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Machine number one. No idea what it is called, or what it does. See further posts for excuses.

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The drum carder.

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A lot of roving.

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Two drum carders.

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Unspun being turned into singles.

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Plying.

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The dye bath.

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Yarny goodness.

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Waiting for the dye bath.

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Unspun. I bought some of this, and am killing braincells thinking of what can be done with it.

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Raw Merino fleece. See the little crimps?

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After carding.

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Hmmmm…. Unspun.

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Of course we had to shop a little…

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Here is some of the yarn we didn’t buy.

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The shop.

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As we left, I spotted a calf in the neighbour’s yard.

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Back off, human.

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I’m eating.

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OK?

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And then there were sheep.

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Sheep with black faces.

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And a hunger for whatever we have in our pockets…

A great day was had by all, and we are already planning the next road trip!

I didn’t get home until nearly 11pm, so I had rather a slow start to tuesday.

Fiiiiinaly!

I finally got Mr Medical Supplies on the phone. It was a terrible line, and he kept cutting me off and never let me finish a sentence, but I have emailed a resume and I have a commitment that we will meet face to face “late next week”.

Today at the salt mine we put in place a new system of controlling repair jobs, and I spent most of the day putting little whiteboard panels on little plastic bins that clip to the wall. Joy. I complained that it was like being in a sheltered workshop, but the joke went flat. All the staff are under 30, most under 24. Still feeling like my efforts are worthwhile, and if I can whip the place into shape by Christmas I will be very pleased with myself.

And I listened to the latest Lime & Violet podcast. Violet has a lump in her breast, which is terrible news. What is even worse news, is that because of the way her health insurance works, she won’t be having it looked at until the second week of January. In cancer terms, that could be a lifetime. Basically, she has to pay a $1000 excess per year if she needs to make a claim. Not per “incident” but per calendar year. So if she has an examination now, she has to pay $1000 now, and another $1000 in January if her treatment carries over to next year.

She needs to raise money to pay for her treatment, so if you want some sock yarn, now is a good time. But now is also a good time for all of us to check our breasts, understand our health insurance, and make a change if you find out that you can’t get treatment when you need it because of the fine print on your policy. And if you do buy yarn, buy a lot, so that Violet can pay the extra $1000, and get her treatment NOW.

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And here is another cute bunny picture, because they make me happy.

A visitor

Lizard

Mark was busy in the garden today. He borrowed Ted’s new whipper snipper and cleared a lot of the back garden, and some of the front garden. He uncovered the grape vine, which we thought was dead. I moved some mulch around its base, and found this little guy. He’s a Blue Tongued Lizard, and a lovely healthy specimen, which is a great joy to us. Having “a bluey” in the garden is a good sign of a healthy environment.

Speaking of which, I am relishing the challenge of my current job. It’s a retail/service company, but one that I know I can help. They started about a year ago, and had such rapid growth that they haven’t had time to work out good procedures and processes. It’s my job to go through the place with a fine tooth comb and make things work. I’m a consultant, and they are prepared to print me a business card with the title “Queen of the Goddamn Motherfucking Universe”.

Gotta love someone who believes in you.

Actual hard work

A friend has a business doing Apple computer and iPod repairs, and he wants to get the place ship shape for the new year. I’m helping out by cracking the whip a little, tidying the place up (a lot), and generally trying to streamline procedures. Last week I spent a few hours tidying, and today I spent almost the whole day nagging, cajoling, and bitching at them to throw out the crap, and find a place for the useful stuff. I’m exhausted.

And I am crystalising an idea in my head that I really don’t want to work in a shop any more. I love dealing with people, but retail really sucks. A lot of sales jobs really suck, but retail is the pits. A large proportion of customers are lovely, but there is that 1% that think they are the centre of the universe, and that I should be overjoyed at the prospect of selling them an iPod for a $5 profit. And since I am not overjoyed, in fact it would be fair to say that I have a less than enthusiastic response to spending an hour helping you to decide whether your merchant banker fiance would prefer a nano (because he goes jogging at lunchtime), or an iPod with video (because he has “thousands” of CD’s), because the thought of this causes me actual physical pain, I am thinking that selling medical equipment might be a nice change of pace. Or maybe drugs…

Legal ones, of course.

Absolutely no knitting progress today. Not a stitch. Am thinking that public transport = good knitting time, and driving to work = stress and grumpiness. Another factor to consider in the search for gainful employment. So far I have;

Must be either a) extremely lucrative, or b) very flexible and fun
Would prefer to be away from Apple
Would prefer to be able to catch public transport
Would prefer to work in a relaxed and informal environment

I think I should put some more thought in – it’s not really leading to any useful conclusions at this point. And Mark is talking about applying for interstate jobs.