Here we are — 11.11.11. I have it on good authority (my mate Uri Geller) that a portal to another universe is going to open at 11.11am. I’ve got my slippers on; I’m ready…

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Hmmm, this other universe doesn’t feel very different, but it’s 11.17am here, so I guess it must be.

Heh, heh. I found yet another excuse not to go out today (too hot, thunderstorm brewing), so I’ll make it to tomorrow before I have to put fuel in my car. That will make it three months! I last filled it on 3 August.

And that’s despite fuel consumption of 14 litres per 100Km. I don’t do much driving.

This has been a great car (2001 Mitsubishi Magna V6 station wagon). It was a government owned car before I bought it in 2003 and had done 72,000Km of long country trips for Customs and Excise. That meant the engine was well run in.

Now, 8 years later, it’s still only done 142,000Km and is ultra-reliable and uses no oil or water. It was a good buy.
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Whoa. Did I say 142,000Km? I did, but my memory misled me. I’ve only done 114,200Km. That’s only 42,000Km in 8 years, or 5,250Km per year. That’s even better.

Yes, 29 October, yesterday, was Dad’s birthday. He would have been 89. I still think of him often.

I’ve just been for a walk along Marmion Avenue and as usual, Minnie at first wouldn’t come with me, preferring to plonk down in the shade.

But I reached the seat up the road and noticed a bloke coming along behind me stoop down to pat something, and there was Minnie.

He stopped and sat on the seat beside me and I chatted about Minnie, how she follows me but is slow due to arthritis. He didn’t say much, just nodding, but when he got up to go on his way, he patted me on the shoulder! Unusual…

Minnie’s got an adenoma (pre-cancerous lump) on her b/s and it’s growing. I can also see a soft lump on her side, same side as the adenoma. It’s pretty obvious it’s growing inside her, but what can I do? She seems happy, despite difficulty walking. But if I take her to the vet, he’ll say he can operate, but the cost will be $2,000 or more. She’s already had one operation costing $1,000 about four years ago to remove the adenoma, but it grew back again.

I can’t justify spending thousands of dollars on a dog which is going to die within a few years anyway. But it’s hard.

Well, thanks to Ian and Naomi, the villa is now on the web and up for bookings: http://www.bbevillas.com/villa/villa-frangipani
Click on the photos (on the web site) to get a slide show.

It might seem expensive, $350-$450 per night, but keep in mind you’re getting four double rooms, plus your own dining and lounge and pool and enclosed compound. It’s aimed at big families, two or more families, groups of friends and so on. Also business groups – meetings, seminars and the like.

It’s warming up (27C today, 30C forecast for tomorrow) and I dread the thought of another heat wave like Jan-April this year. That period was so traumatic for me (house on sale, house being stripped out, selling or ditching or gifting all my things) that I don’t want to go back there. I’m finding I look forward to the damp, grey days we’ve been having.

Selemat malam.

A very unusual thing happened today (regarding Minnie).

I had laid down for my usual afternoon nap at about 2pm, but I couldn’t get my mind off the way Minnie is visibly getting old. To be frank, I was lying there thinking about what is to happen and how I’m going to handle it, and the tears were flowing, but I swear they were silent tears. I wasn’t making any noise, apart from the odd sniff.

I could hear Minnie, out in the dining room, moving around a bit, and after about half an hour, she came into the bedroom and stopped by my bed for a pat and cuddle, then she lay down on the floor beside me.

She never does this! Unless there’s a thunderstorm, and there wasn’t. She usually won’t sleep in my room unless it’s a really stormy night.

Had she detected my distress? I have no other explanation.

It makes it even harder to bear, of course. Don’t misunderstand, she’s not dying yet (any more than I am), but she’s slowing down and won’t even try to go for a walk. She’ll sit outside the gate for a while, and she wants to go in the car, but I can’t get her up there very easily. When she sits, it’s a slow and obviously painful movement, but she’s still smiling. She eats and drinks normally with a good appetite. She pees and poos fine. But there are lots of lumps and growths. She doesn’t do anything about them – she doesn’t scratch or lick them, or pay them any attention at all, so I’m not too worried.

But the time is approaching… She’s twelve and a half. This is the downside of dog ownership. It’s very hard.

The 1st of September 2011. Today is the 25th anniversary of when I moved into this house. I can remember that day. I was knackered at the end of the day, but the movie, “The Killing Fields” was on TV that night, so I rigged up my TV antenna in the lounge room and watched it.

I think I must be one of the longest term residents of this street. I’ve had four sets of neighbours on the south (left) side and five sets on the north (right) side. I’m still in touch with several of them, and even with a couple, Phil and Sally Litton, who were neighbours in Gwelup St, Karrinyup in the early eighties.

I can also remember saying at work, “This is my last move. I’m staying here. You can bury me in the back yard.” Bit illegal, I think, but I’m still here.

There was a roadside meeting last weekend to discuss the council’s move to fence off some of the walking trails in the bushland nearby. I heard the result yesterday; the meeting resolved that the council be asked NOT to install fences and to remove what they’ve done. It’s the nanny thing again; because of a very few people who are using off-road quad bikes or whatever, we’re all to be prevented from using the tracks. I was very pleased to see that people said no.

Since early May, I’ve made a concerted effort to minimise my electricity use, and boy, has it paid off! I was rocked by my previous bill, covering that hot spell we had from January to April where I was using the aircon every day. I used nearly 700 units for the two months.

This last two months, I used only 121 units compared with 750 units for the same time last year. Excellent! Got rid of the bar fridge, you see, and switched lights off. It works. I used the reverse cycle for warmth a few times this winter, but obviously it didn’t raise the bill too much (the bill was $50.85 for two months!).

You probably know I dote on Minnie the Labrador. She’s got arthritis badly enough now that she doesn’t even want to go for a walk some days. One day last week, she wouldn’t come out, so I left the gate open and went for a walk myself, up on the footpath along Marmion Ave. I could see her just sitting behind the fence as I went. I figured she might go out on the lawn, but didn’t worry about her.

But when I got back, she was gone! I called several times, then out on the street, I just caught a glimpse of her disappearing through the undergrowth way up the road, where I’d been. In pain as she was, she had wanted to go and find me! I rushed up there and called her down, and with some long rest stops on the way, got her home. I’m not worthy of that dog. She is just fantastic.

Inside every cloud, there’s a silver lining. It’s an ill wind that blows no-one any good. It’s always darkest before the dawn. Cliche, cliche, cliche…

It looks as if things are going to work out better than I feared, much better. Too early to say yet, but it looks like the villa in Bali is going to be possible after all, without having to leave my home, and to the great benefit of family members. We’ll know for sure sometime in July/August. Hold thumbs (the South African version of cross fingers).

I went to the Stirling Recycling Centre yesterday, (the tip, in other words, but the part where they separate out whole items and accept castoffs). What a treasure trove! Furniture, electrical, electronic, tools, building materials, books, blinds, you name it. I was thinking, “Why would you buy anything new? It’s all here.”

The problem is you can’t try anything out that needs power. I saw a floor scrubber that would have done nicely, but does it work? I need an inverter, that takes 12V DC from your car cigar lighter and turns it into 240V AC. You only need it briefly, so it doesn’t need to be big or expensive. Hmmm.

Then there’s the furniture. I saw a corner lounge I would have been quite happy to buy, $50, but how to transport it? They have a delivery service, they say, but Trigg is too far they also said. Friend with trailer needed, methinks.

Of course, I saw one of my items there, a low bookcase from 1983 or so. How do I know? My driver’s licence number was there in texta in an inconspicuous place. But it was water damaged, so I don’t want it back.

More exploring to be done there, and they’re open every day, except Christmas and Boxing Days and Good Friday.

I did buy one thing: a book, Footfall by Niven and Pournelle, for $1. Wow. It seems to be an SF book along the lines of an idea I’ve had for ages. We’ll see how good it is.

I’m gradually getting my entertainment corner set up again, with amplifier, Tannoy speakers, DVD recorder etc. Problem is, if I want to have a new floor covering, I’ll have to pull it apart again. Ugh! I’ll try to minimise how much I put in.

I also fixed my TV antenna during the week by lowering it down (it’s about 10m up on a steel pole) and refixing the element that had broken its rivet. But when I got it back up again, I realised one of the guy wires had fallen off. Dammit. So today, three broomsticks taped together and I managed to hook the guywire on again, (after multiple tries!) and it’s no longer wobbly in the wind.

I have an invitation to a brekky with a couple of mates this coming week, but it’s at 9am. That means I’ll have to get up before then. Urrrrgggh.

Sorry for the long silence. I’m at home in Perth again but I haven’t had much heart to write for a while.

I had to come back early on the 16th May as the depression in Bali was some of the worst I’ve had. Having Ian and Naomi there helped a lot – just having someone to talk to.

But it’s made me realise I can’t do this. Despite being on the market for 3 months, my house didn’t sell; my depression is a recurring problem and I felt completely isolated in Bali; and I’ve had another couple of instances of atrial fibrillation, which in theory is not daagerous but is unpleasant and can lead to clots and strokes.

It all seemed so simple when I started this process, but I completely underestimated how hard it is to “leave home”. Sitting staring at a blank wall in Bali, I thought, “Where am I most comfortable?” and the answer is, sitting at my table reading or watching TV, here.

Additionally,  I couldn’t get anyone to take Minnie, and I can’t leave her!

As my house was being stripped more and more, my anxiety levels were ratcheting up at a fast pace. I thought going to Bali for a month would fix me up, but just the opposite – it got worse.

So all in all, I’ve made a giant stuffup. I stand to lose my deposit, but that’s not the end of the world. However, my brother and his wife see the villa as the answer to their dreams, so they want to take it over. If they can do it, it would be the ideal solution. But finance is the problem of course, and it may not work out.

So I’ve crashed and burned. But on the bright side, I’ve made a great new friend in Barry Wood. He has helped me above and beyond the call, for certain. Likewise, Keith Geary. He has helped me so much, so often in the past few years that I am eternally grateful. I just hope I can repay them somehow.

Also thanks to those who’ve expressed their concerns about me – it’s made me realise I’ve got some wonderful friends.

Things are still pretty tough on the Black Dog front, but time is the great healer. We should know more about the future next week, I hope.