Shower

The district nurses have been saying since they started coming that a hand held shower head would be useful when they are helping Jim to shower. I was much inclined to agree.  I like them for washing my back, cleaning the shower unit, washing my feet.  I had held off getting a replacement because I thought it would be (i) complicated and (ii) expensive to install it.

Then I went to Bunnings and found a suitable replacement. No need for drilling or making holes.  Simple to install.  Allegedly!  I decided that installing new shower arms and heads was outside my skill set and arranged to use part of Jim's council funding for home repairs, maintenance and improvements to have someone come and do it for us.

Turns out it really was simple to install. It took the man who came on Monday a full 20 minutes to do it. The new arm simply screws into where the old one was attached. Maybe I could have done it myself, after all.  But certainly not in 20 minutes!

This is the original shower arm and head. The head is quite small. When the handyman took it down he found an ancient washer blocking the water flow. He asked if we had noticed that the water pressure had reduced at any point. In fact, we hadn't. We think the washer must have been blocking the water since before we moved in.

This is the new shower arm and head. The head is much bigger. And the water pressure is much, much stronger.

I really must remember that most little projects that I have in mind and even some of the larger ones probably won't be as complicated to accomplish as I expect them to be!

An Occupational Therapist came to visit on Tuesday. She had lots of sensible things to suggest to make the house safer and more workable for Jim. Some were simple and quick to accomplish, such as Jim sitting on the opposite side of the dining table and using the chair with arms, which was in our bedroom. Others won't be hard to implement, such as getting grab rails put in the shower cubicle. Some may take a bit longer. Apparently we are entitled to some state government funding to have the bathroom remodelled. The OT is going to help draft an application, but the waiting list for funding could be months or even years. We can be patient. The district nurses mean that replacing the bathroom isn't a matter of extreme urgency. She left a list of things for us to consider and is coming back next week bringing some things for us to look at and to discuss a few Next Steps.

In the meantime, Jim and the cats are enjoying watching the Olympics. They seem quite cosy, tucked up on the couch.

We are back out of lockdown in Victoria. There are still multiple restrictions but it does mean that we can go out to wherever we fancy within the state and we can, if we are minded, meet family and friends in pubs, restaurants, parks ... I have no immediate plans for such social gallivanting but I can now get to the mushroom farm. Lindsey is working today so can't accompany me. But we can go to Elaine tomorrow. There are no markets today. It's a fifth Saturday

A (nother) Locked Down Weekend

My goodness but there was weather on Saturday. Not weather as in catastrophic floods, or cyclone like winds or Antarctic temperatures. But weather, nonetheless.

It rained persistently all day. It was cold and windy and squally. It was definitely a Stay in Bed All Day sort of day. Although, of course, we didn't stay in bed all day.

On Thursday a cubic metre of wood was delivered to our place. I brought some of it inside and stacked some along the front porch. But I had probably half of it still sitting on the front lawn

And there it remained through Friday and during the rainy, windy, horrible weather on Saturday.

We stayed inside on Saturday. I lit the fire first thing. We drank tea and ate bacon sandwiches in the morning. I used some beef, beetroot and feta rissoles from the butcher and made burgers and chips for lunch. We drank hot chocolate and watched a replay of the Olympic Opening Ceremony from Tokyo in the afternoon. We had chicken parcels and wine in the evening. And stayed warm and cosy, tucked up inside pretty much all day.

Yesterday was a much better day. There was even some blue sky and occasionally bursts of sunshine

although there were storm clouds hovering around all day

but fortunately no storms eventuated.

I took the opportunity of a quiet day with no rain and moved Ziggy down onto the road so I could have a gentle tackle of the garage. I have reorganised the back of the garage and wheelbarrowed the rest of the wood in and stacked it along the back wall. I really want to completely reorganise the garage and find new homes for the tools and equipment that aren't being used and then sort out the gardening stuff. 

So it was a quiet weekend, as it should have been during a lockdown. But it was very cosy and pleasant and even a little bit productive. And that nice Mr Woolworths delivered an order of supermarket shopping. I can't get to most of my usual suppliers of food during the lockdown and it was quite fun doing an online supermarket order.

Watching birds, out of reach in the trees, in the backyard:

And going for a stroll in the front drive:

Tani's first birthday

Today marks the one year anniversary since we took possession of Tani.

So we bought it a present (It's a present for us, really, but don't tell Tani)

It couldn't go where I intended it to go, in the far corner of the dining room. The installer said it would run up against the roof ridges and potentially cause the roof to collapse.  A collapsed roof didn't seem entirely desirable so we put it next to the kitchen bench. Possibly a better site, come to think about it. The fan points directly into the lounge room.

The installer says that the roof rafters are somewhat baffling. Instead of running in the usual pattern they are laid in all sorts of odd patterns.  I have a recollection of the Foxtell installer saying something similar, except that he said that it was a difficult roof space to work with. Anyway, the installer and his son managed to get the fire and its funnel installed in around 2 hours, which wasn't bad going. And as long as the roof rafters do their job, their pattern doesn't affect me particularly. Although, if I have solar light panels installed, which I am intending to in the kitchen, hallway and possibly the lounge room, I will try and remember to warn the light installer.

Jim had to go for some scans and tests yesterday so, while we were out, I called at the service station to fill the car and to buy some firewood.  It's an expensive way of buying firewood if you are intending to use it for actual home heating, but it was a birthday present after all. I'll get some wood from a more sensible source once I can go out and about again.

It was nice and warm and cosy yesterday evening.

As predicted, the lockdown has been extended, by a week this time. I have checked with Lindsey that she hasn't told everyone that I won't be at work today because of the lockdown.  And she hasn't. So I am up early and I am about to get organised and head to Reservoir. And Ziggy can go in for its service. But we can't go to Marlo on Monday for the week, as planned. Just as well that I had already moved it to September! 

Locked Down Weekend

It's 08:00 on Sunday morning. It's grey, cold and gloomy but it does seem to have stopped raining. For now. And we are locked down. Again.

It is alleged that two separate groups of people carelessly, maybe even recklessly brought Covid with them from Sydney and let it rip in Victoria. It is suggested that they knowingly violated the conditions of travel for people in their categories coming from Sydney and thus seeded Covid into the Victorian community. As daily numbers of cases went from 0 to 19 in a short number of days and the virus pottered out into the regions, we were put into a five day proper lockdown. Numbers are still rising. I don't think it will only be a five day lockdown.

It is ever so slightly annoying.

Jim had a visit to his geriatrician on Thursday, before the lockdown was announced. I stopped for lunch on the way back at the Ballan services, which had been an exposure zone when one of the groups of people passed through the previous week. Fortunately, it had been deep cleaned and was open for business. I knew that Rupert and Hugo were home alone, so I bought them a Happy Meal from Macca's each. We don't usually eat MacDonalds food but needs must and their chips aren't bad. By the time we got to Hill House, Lindsey had returned. Rupert and Hugo were delighted to have all these visitors and were even more delighted that I had brought them fast food for lunch.

Then they announced the lockdown, to start from 23:59 that night. Lindsey, Jim and I trundled out to the Mushroom farm and the IGA to do our Saturday shopping on a Thursday. The IGA is within our travel zone during lockdown but the Mushroom farm isn't. We didn't have time to head to Elaine, which is definitely not within our travel zone. If the lockdown lifts we can go on Thursday. Or wait until next Saturday. Or whenever the restrictions lift.

The bloke from the council home help who was going to come and replace our shower head on Tuesday can't come during lockdown and will reschedule when it lifts. I haven't heard from the fire installer so I don't know if he can come on Monday. Time will tell. However, Jim can have his CT scan on Tuesday, plus his blood tests and I assume the district nurses will come as usual. Not sure about his podiatry appointment. That will depend on when the restrictions lift.

In the meantime, it has rained with enthusiasm since Friday. I wondered why the gutters were overflowing with such enthusiasm outside the laundry door. Investigation revealed that over the back fence's tree had a branch that had drooped with the weight of the rain and was now snoozing in our gutter. We are on the list to have the gutters cleared by the council Home Help people but I think the branch might need to be dealt with before that. I shall ponder. If only we were allowed one visitor I would summon Lindsey with her branch cutter but I don't think this counts as an emergency and can probably wait until we are allowed a visitor.

Oh - and I used the tumble drier for the first time yesterday to dry some towels.  I had no idea I would need a space pilot's licence to use it.  It has many different programs but no option simply to say: Be hot and run for this amount of time. I think I have worked it out now.  I think!

Brandy and Whiskey are enjoying the early mornings, when I put the little radiator on to warm our bedroom for when Jim gets up.  They lie on either side of it until either the sun comes out and they get too hot, or I turn it off.

Brandy looks as though he is in jail
and Whiskey is visiting 😁

and up at Hill House,
Rupert and Hugo are in their exercise yard,
looking longingly at freedom
(or the rabbits that are beyond their reach)

Ever since the district nurses have been coming to help Jim shower we've been going through towels at speed. They use at least two towels to dry Jim and the floor, plus I've got a bath mat by the shower and by the bath and I have a towel on the bed for him to sit on when they dress him. Not all of these need washing each time the nurses come but some of them do.

It is proving very difficult to dry them with the central heating out of action. Likewise the sheets. I have caved in and bought a tumble drier. I haven't had a drier for many years and haven't really needed one when I had radiators or hot air blowing around to help dry things. Also, there hasn't been anywhere to put one.

In Tani, of course, there is the garage.

A nice man came yesterday morning and delivered the new drier. I had moved the car out of the garage for ease of access, and made a space for it. As the man walked into the garage with the drier, he said something that I didn't catch. I asked him to repeat it and he did. He was speaking in Arabic. He then explained (in English) that he had asked a blessing on our home. All blessings are received with gratitude, in any language. I was very pleased both with my drier and with the blessing.

The district nurse had been coming on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The original intention had been that they would also come on Saturdays, so the visits were nicely spaced. They were less well spaced when we dropped the Saturday because of the inconvenience, largely to me. They can't say when they will come with any certainty at the weekends (not that they can during the week but it's a bit more precise) and I didn't want to have to stay at home potentially all day on Saturdays, waiting for them. So we've moved the Tuesday visit to Monday. It works much better. 

Jim's disabled parking ticket has arrived. It took exactly a week from when Dr Jenni put the application in to it arriving in out mail box.

I was getting out of the car up at Rupert and Hugo's place and became aware that there was something overhead.  I looked up and there was a wedge tailed eagle above me, quite low down. It had moved along by the time I got my phone out to take its portrait:

The magpies were hiding in. the long grass in the paddock. The rosellas were hiding in the trees. The horses were watching, I assume out of curiosity since full grown horses probably aren't an eagle's target prey. The rabbits were out the way. Everyone was still, including me.  But not including this little one, who paid no attention to the eagle at all.  I assume it thought itself far too small for an eagle to bother with:

Can't see it?
Look at the top of the weather station

I am particularly pleased with the way our dresser is looking at the moment. The daffodils are making it look very cheerful

And after a run of pleasant mid-winter days, today is foggy, damp and chilly. Tempting though it is to stay in my snuggly pyjamas and cosy dressing gown all day, I had better get showered and dressed.  We are still at Rupert and Hugo's place. I suspect Brandy and Whiskey are waiting at their place for their breakfast. And for me to put the heating on!

Heating and other stuff

I have long said that I would never buy a Dyson vacuum cleaner. They seem to me to be very expensive and not to be any more effective than similar, cheaper models. They don't seem to last very long. I will happily admit that I have never owned one but I know several people who do have them and they seem to be more trouble than convenient floor cleaning.

Having said that, when Stella's split system heaters stopped working (it was the machine bit outside that had died), she bought a space agey Dyson heater to tide her over while she waited for a new heating system to be put it. It was very effective. So much so that I was too hot when we were there and it was on. 

I decided to go out and buy a proper heater on Sunday. The very helpful bloke at The Good Guys suggested that, given the design of our house, blow heaters and oil filled radiators probably wouldn't be very effective and that I probably needed a tower heater. I looked at them and asked if the Dyson was worth the money or if any other manufacturers made a similar thing. And so my Dyson space age heater, cooler and air purifier came home with me.

I'm not absolutely convinced that we need an air purifier, but it is incorporated in the device. I will hold fire on getting a split system, reverse cycle air conditioner until the summer.  If the Dyson acts as effectively as a cooler as it does as a heater, it may not be necessary.

Brandy and especially Whiskey
are intrigued by it - 
particularly when it is oscillating

I went out with Lindsey on Sunday. She hadn't been available on Saturday so we did the grocery shopping on Sunday. In a variation on our Saturday pattern we went into town to The Good Guys, to Wilson's fruit and veg, to the scoop shop and to Woollies. I haven't been to Wilson's for ages. Was good fun!

Yesterday, Jim and I went to Melbourne. We went to the surgery in Reservoir to finalise an application for a disabled parking permit for him. It can be quite difficult getting him and his walker in and out of the car in ordinary parking spaces, especially in supermarket and shopping centre car parks.  Then we went out to Ivanhoe so he could see the optometrist. He was there in January but she wanted to see him again after six months rather than twelve because she had never seen him before. His British optician had given us a history to bring with us but it has disappeared over the past almost five years so she knew nothing about his eye history and neither of us knows anything about his parents' eye health. You will be happy to hear that his vision hasn't changed and nor has his eye health. He is going to come with me when I go for my annual check up at the beginning of next year, then he too will revert to an annual check up.

I spoke to the wood burner installer yesterday morning before we headed to Melbourne. Much to my surprise, he is coming in two weeks. I expected to have to wait much longer.

And now we have to start saving again for the new bathroom.  I have a list of things we would like to do in the house. It is in priority order. The bathroom is at the top. But you have to be realistic. You can't go without heating in a Ballarat winter and I wouldn't have paid real money to get the gas central heating fixed. I may yet get the thermostat repaired, if that is all that is needed, but I have never liked the overhead heating. I will not be unhappy not to have to use it.

Winter has arrived

This is, I think, probably the coldest weekend we have had so far this year. According to my garden thermometer it is just above 4d as we speak. It's gloomy and grey, damp and dark. There is snow forecast hereabouts, although not right at our place. It is proper winter weather.

It is therefore entirely unsurprising that our central heating decided yesterday that it was going to cease working!  To be more accurate, it is the thermostat on the wall that has decided to die. I think the heating itself is probably working perfectly well but with the thermostat out off action I can't turn the heating on. Last time the thermostat stopped working I fiddled about with its cover and discovered that inside, for unfathomable reasons, it is powered by batteries.  I replaced the batteries and it has worked well ever since.  I tried the same remedy yesterday when I got back from work and nothing happened.  I have tried again with several different batteries and there is absolutely no sign of life. We do have a small radiator and a small blow heater which are preventing us from freezing but you couldn't say that it is cosy and warm at our place.

There should be numbers on that screen

Quite coincidentally, I bought us new dressing gowns yesterday which are proving their worth. They are both warm, snuggly dressing gowns. Mind you, having said that I bought us one each, the one that I thought was mine seems to have been commandeered by someone else:

We have been saying for sometime that we would like to put an environmentally sound wood burner in the house.  We really liked the wood burner we put into the Tupton house. It wasn't very large but it kept the whole house toasty and was much cheaper to use than the gas fired radiators. We said when we got it that we wished we had done it much, much sooner.

I know that there are concerns about wood smoke and particulate pollution, but I still think that responsibly sourced wood in a properly installed, low-polluting fireplace is likely to be better for the planet than using gas or coal fired electricity for heating the house. So today I put on warm, snuggly winter clothes and ventured out to investigate. I have now bought a wood fire and all its paraphernalia to go in the corner of the dining room where the china cabinet presently sits. I have the contact details for an installer who I will contact on Monday. 

I wonder how long his waiting list is. I can't have been the only person who got up this morning and decided that the time had come to do something about winter warmth!

I occupied myself early this morning by constructing an aeroplane for the Kit Kats. It cost me the grand total of $4 in Kmart. I suspect it was an end of line price.  The cats are a little puzzled by it:

I think the wings are putting them off. They can't seem to work out how to get past the wings to get in the plane.  If they don't work it out I might take the wings off and convert the plane into a boat :-D