Wish I’d Said That

On 11 November I posted about the date: 11/11/11

I’ve just read another guy’s web comment on it: “… also 11/11/11 for our US cousins.”

Wish I’d thought of that!

Revision!
It’s all clouded over at the moment (5.45pm) after a hot 36C day. Two more days of heat, 38C and 39C before some relief on Friday.

Happy Xmas Day

Best wishes for today, Christmas Day and tomorrow, Boxing Day.
It’s been another fine, warm day in Perth, as always. About 32C, but cool breezes.
If you’re feeling like you need a lift, try this: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2011/12/50_best_photos_of_the_natural.html

Beautiful photos of animals in the wild and in zoos. A very high standard of pictures.

Summer Solstice

Here we are, 22 December 2011 and it’s the longest day of the year. The days start getting shorter from now on. 
Hang on, you say, wasn’t it yesterday, 21 December?  No, I have it on good authority that because of the 1/4 day (365.25 days) in our years, every four years the solstices move one day.
That’s lucky, because I meant to write this yesterday!
The Santa Clause
Anyway, another Christmas rolls around and what a year it’s been for me. One I wish I could erase and do over, to be honest, but it’s working out OK.
As you know, I got the idea that selling up and moving to Bali was the answer to all my dreams. Well, it could have been, but it turned out to be much harder than I thought. It seemed so easy at first, but it wasn’t in the end.
First, I couldn’t get a buyer for my house. I’d just assumed it would be snapped up due to the resources boom, but not so. I got one offer, but it was never formalised and was far too low.
Second, I’d assumed I’d be able to take Minnie to Bali with me, but no, due to the rabies scare up there, no animal imports allowed. That really upset me.
Third, getting rid of most of your possessions and furniture is a lot different to simply packing them onto a truck to move by road. It’s a lot harder than you think.
Fourth, the salesman felt my house was too cluttered and smelt of dog (quite true), so he stripped all the carpets and window treatments out and repainted the interior. Yes, he did it, with the aid of my good friend Keith, and he went far beyond the call of duty. I worked damn hard too, getting rid of most of my books and DVDs to a charity and taking a heap of stuff to charity op shops, along with many, many trips to a bulk rubbish bin. I also gave away nearly all my clothing to the Good Sammy bins etc.
Then there were three or four weekends of garage sales (I wish I hadn’t sold some things at such crazy low prices!) and all the cleaning and tidying each weekend for open house inspections.
All the while, I was going crazy under the pressure of what to do with Minnie. I couldn’t bear to give her away or leave her. She’s getting old now and increasingly lame from arthritis.
Then, early April, I had a little ride in an ambulance due to prolonged atrial fibrillations and spent a couple of days and nights in the hospital. Not serious, but a bit unsettling. And all this time, January to end of April, we had probably the longest, most persistent heat wave we’ve ever had! Every day was 33-36C for four months with virtually no rain.
So the period from January to end of April was almost too much for me. I’d committed to buy the villa in Bali, but I had no house sale to fund it. I’d paid almost all my money on a deposit and had a progress payment looming, which I couldn’t meet.
So I figured spending the whole month of May at the villa would let me relax and recuperate.
Instead, I fell into a deep depression up there. It felt like a hot, humid prison. Luckily, my brother and his wife and daughter were coming up to stay, so I had some company after the first 12 days but had to come back early to Perth.
However, it’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good, and I’m pleased to say that it’s all worked out rather well. My brother and his wife had long held a dream of buying a place in Bali themselves, in part so as to get good child carers for their severely autistic daughter. My villa was a bit more elaborate than they’d planned, but it really is ideal for their purposes, so they decided to go in with me as a joint purchase.
In order to ease the costs, we decided to fit it out for rental and they’ve done a great job in this last half of the year. It’s ready to rent now, and is advertised on a Bali web site (http://www.bbevillas.com/villa/villa-frangipani). They’re up there now for Xmas/New Year, doing the final preparations, and we should see some return on all the hard work soon.
Meanwhile, I’m still in my house in Perth, still with bare concrete floors and no curtains, but I don’t mind. Minnie’s still with me, and seems quite happy, even if she doesn’t look so good. I ain’t leaving her! I’ve lost my desire to go to Bali at the moment, but I guess I’ll get back there someday. When my ship comes in…

A Magic Date

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.

Frugal MacDougal

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.

Good dog

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.

Telepathy?

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.

Spring is Sprung

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.