G'Day,
I haven't been doing much over the last week or so except going to work and coming home to sleep. Mum who lives with me has been holding my house together, my 2 adult children don't do a lot in that department. Or in any other department actually. They have never been hungry enough to have the spark to get up off their arses and have a go. Or maybe I'm not tough enough to make them do it. We have a fairly easy life style in our country, and Pete and I have supplied all of their needs. Why do they need to bother, and I also don't like fighting, its akin to bashing your own head against the wall with them. I know I'm wrong, but its easier just to do things for myself than ask them to do anything for me and be made out by them to be a bad guy who is picking on them. So we go to work and they stay home and reap the benefits. Ahhhhh!!!! I can write what I want here within reason, Right?
I had today off work, there haven't been many off this fortnight, (9&1/2 days work) but I got a nice pay packet. Next month's roster is lighter on work for the first fortnight. We have lost a few people this month. One of these was a surprise as her death was sudden. Well, as sudden as anyone could expect in a nursing home style situation. She had been a patient for many years and there is now a big empty and very noticeable space where she spent her time on the veranda during the day. Sad, I and the other residents miss her a lot. I cleaned around her bed the other day and thought about her and that that was the last thing I could do for her. I didn't get to say goodbye as I was in Melbourne when she died. We also lost a man to alcohol related disease, who had links to an ex staff member, so that was close to many of us as well. Another couple of people are expected to go soon. Truisms of small town hospital life, where towns people care about and know each other. I guess I could also say that dealing with death often gives us the opportunity to help others who haven't had the same experiences. But, from personal experience, I also know that the death of a close friend or a family member is very very different to what you experience in a work situation.
The site for the new multi purpose centre ( our new hospital) is at the digging of the foundations stage. After about 2 years of setbacks and a few more years of planning and red tape something is finally happening. They reckon we will be in it mid next year. The kitchen will be very different from what we have now. We won't be doing any cooking as there won't be a stove. We will put everything on trays into a warmer, plates, cutlery and all, and from the same trays straight to the trolley and then to the patients. Generators will cover any power breakdowns we might have so they reckon we won't need any cooking facilities. It will take some getting used to to have nothing else to fall back on. Progress?
Rufus our pup is nearly a year old and king of his domain. He has had some problems with allergies. To grass I think, as he likes to rub his tummy along the grass and that seems to be where the rashes come out the most. He likes to sit on me when I watch T.V. and have his rash gently stroked then he slowly goes to sleep on me. I have shampoo for him and Michael has been putting tiny bits of tea tree oil on him so he doesn't lick at the rash. He is a real sook.
Mum has had a bad cold and been sick for a couple of days but I think she is on the mend with the help of antibiotics. Annie and Brett bought it home with them, luckily nobody else has caught it. We went down to the post office and chemist today, she rode her go cart I walked. I haven't been walking for a while and was a bit tired, I must have lost some of my fitness over the last week of not exercising. My iron levels might be a little bit low too.
I have been picking beans and cooking them straight off the bushes which is taking advantage of my gardens best. I have also been using fresh herbs and spring onions straight from the garden. I have quite a lot of herbs growing. Basil of different types, parsley, Italian and curly, bay leaves, rosemary, chives, coriander, oregano, and garlic are the culinary ones. The lilly pillies are ripe and I have also been munching on those. My little mandarin tree is heavy with fruit and the branches are drooping, the won't be ready to eat until late winter.
It has been perfect weather here except for lack of rain. The weather man says it is coming though. I wish it would hurry up. Today was in the high 20's and the night time temperature has cooled down to make sleeping more comfortable. All of the plants I have planted over the last month or so are looking happy and healthy. The butterfly bush I planted a few years ago has died after struggling for a long time. It either didn't like the drought or where I put it. They are supposed to be tough, and they do grow around here, obviously not tough enough for me. O.K. till next time bye. Love Linda.