Bromeliad: Neoregelia Blushing Tiger, blooming

Orchids are a wonderful group of plants to grow, but you spend a large part of the year tending plants that appear happy to do stuff all for you. I thought it would be nice to have some colour going when the orchids were not in bloom...but what could be happy in the same environment?

Bromeliads!

And so it came to pass that I acquired some Bromeliad 'pups'. It was very difficult to choose which to try because the variety and colours are staggering! Quickly I realized that a new addiction could be in the making, and have learned not to even open the emails and catalogs that come along anymore - its just too much temptation.

This is my Neoregelia "Blushing Tiger". Ive only had it a few months and already its bloomed for me - what a charming envoy for its species - but I must not cave in! I must not order more plants...till at least next year.

Calm before the storm

Non-verbal goings on

Cat with one hundred names: #1

Priapus will sit next to his dish until I fill it to its correct level. He would rather starve to death than eat the last few kibbles left in the bottom. Also does this with his water dish.

Future Food: Macadamia nuts

Super sweetly scented, almost like honey.

Spring Blooms & Hope Springs

Life has been toying with us lately. Not with a sense of fun and adventure, but more like a barn cat with the last mouse of the night. Tossing us away only to catch us up over and over again, all claws and teeth but no merciful kill. There is no malice in it, but it is indeed hard not to feel so.

And yet still - I hope! Despite thinking it foolish to do so! Hope must be one of those things that humans "cant not" do.

We are due a win, and look forward to it.
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Native rock orchid with Johnny Jump ups, in the neglected back garden yesterday.

Epidendrum seed pod

Id love to know who pollinated it, this is the first time any of our Epidendrum have set seed and then both of the pods were on the same flower stalk where some one could have sat on the porch railing and done their work....one to wonder about.

But mostly Im just posting this, and quickly, to prove I am still alive - just seldom near the computer these days. Heres hoping for more sedate days soon, Cheers!

Whoa Geeze!!!

Friends in High Places

We wouldnt have attempted this steep climb with deep holes on our own, but when out with your local 4WD club you can try more challenging tracks than you would when out alone. A little tug with the 'snatch strap' was all we needed to get out and up to the summit. Another couple this hole trapped were not so lucky...4WD can be a very expensive hobby if bad luck strikes.

Visitors

Bush Birthday Picnic

Bad Haircut #16

Here is the picture I gave the stylist (Rachel Welch):



And what I got was (David from BBC's Psychoville):




Hmmm. You know, now that I look at those shots together like this, I can see how she got there. Still, she will be having nightmares involving curling irons for a long time to come.

Just enjoy the moment...

...after all, this moment is all we ever really have.

Swimming in deep, profoundly thick stuff lately. Heres hoping we find our way to shore soon. In the meantime, a butterfly from last April. Be good to yourself today.

Manys the time...

...I set out to post something but could not decide what to say or what photo to lead with. Everything has been unsettled around here since mid-march when The Most DH found himself made redundant at work. Oh, so much involved there - at least one hundred tirades I could launch into! But whats the point of that really? I might get it all off my chest but, whoopie doo. You know. Anyhow. One day at a time and all that rot, eh?

But hell, the homebrewed beer has been great. It gets better every week! Now we really need to get the next lot going, but the cider is not quite ready to bottle yet. And horrors! Said cider needs about five weeks in the bottle before it can be drunk - bummer!

Im not ignoring you.....

...but we have started homebrewing again. Once this ale is ready to drink, then I may be ignoring you, a bit. Certainly I will after we start the next batch, cause that will be a cider. Ive recently become quite fond of 'hard cider'. Will let you know how it all works out, but in the meantime, back to work for this little black duck.

Alternate uses for your Hi-lift Jack

The Hi Lift Jack is an important 4WD Accessory, but that shouldnt discourage you from using it in other inventive and imaginative ways.
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Quite by chance I noticed a brick falling out of the bottom of our house, and pointed it out to The Most DH. After investigating we found that the South side of the house was suffering from being wet all the time. In a drought. Go figure.

So, we need to dig a drain to deal with it. The bigger, and more immediate problem was that the concrete footing the hot water heater sits on, had been undermined. The hot water heater was attempting to pull itself free from the house. Oh, no you dont, you tricksy bugger!

The Hi Lift Jack was employed to re-level and hold the hot water tank while we excavated, and poured a new footing. A great day was had by all.

Bonne Chance: Unaware of the camera

Rock Climbing in a Land Rover Discovery Series 1

Proving its all about picking your line, here The Most DH pilots the Disco up some fairly serious rocks. And all this on 29 inch Cooper ST's. A couple weeks later, we went back at night and did it in the dark - now that was a gas!

Bonne Chance: Happy Cat Nap

Our sun-drunk feral friend pretending to be an ordinary domesticated pet.

Leaf Cutter Bee in Cosmos

Snagged a few minutes this week for photography, at last. It must have been my week for insects as I bagged a few goodies, the first of which to share is this Leaf Cutter Bee. Ive seen their handiwork about the garden, and Ive seen them muscle bits of leaf into cracks in the brickwork of my house. Too bad they are too busy to wait till Ive got the macro lens on.

She's more articulate than I am lately

Here our trusty Land Rover Discovery powers her way up a punishing 4WD trail somewhere in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales. You can not only see some good wheel articulation, but you can also just glimpse the new front diff guard* underneath. (Its the bit thats still shiny.) Later in the day our new rear diff guard* paid for itself by taking a nice hit during a water crossing - but no pics of that this time.

Anyhow, here is a shot from the top for you to enjoy.


* diff guards
Metal housing designed to protect your differential**

** differential
(disclaimer: this is a nutshell explanation - do not write and complain)
A vehicle's wheels do not always rotate at the same speed (like when going around corners) Your differential compensates for that, preventing one wheel spinning while the other drags.

So obviously, 'cracking a diff' leaves you S.O.L.***

*** S.O.L.
S**t out of luck.

Just a picture today

Sulphur Crested Thugs

Another archive shot. Sulphur Crested Cockatoos prune my Acacia Cultriformis last August. As you can see, I wasnt able to sneak up on these guys to get better shots. To add insult, they mocked me from thier aerial retreat.

3WD Action

I snapped this one at a recent 4WD rally event that The Most DH and I attended. We had a great day and the only damage sustained was the passenger side mirror got ripped right off.

Hey! That tree jumped right out in front of us, shouting "Stop logging now or there will be more attacks!"

Honestly.

Bonne Chance: Quo Vadis?

Our feral friend had what I call an "away day" yesterday. Where do you go Mate? And what happened that you return to me with a limp?

Of his dog attack wounds - still no luck tracking the blighter - all but one have healed. But that one has formed an abscess. He has let me work on it a bit, however, he clearly could use some professional help as he also has a bad case of truly foul diarrhea. Truly foul diarrhea that he has little control of.

Where are my gum boots? I need gum boots - STAT!

My last attempt to crate him for the vet left me with some angry red souvenirs, and a painful morning with the cotton balls and antiseptic...so no luck there yet. He clearly remembers the last time I boxed him.

I cant blame him for my wounds, I pushed it past where I should have backed off. This pesky 'doing the right thing' feeling is a tough one to shake off, even if you arent sure if you are - or not.

If he does not get rapidly better, I may have to rent a trap. Not that I think he'd fall for it - not for a minute! But Id rather not wait till he is too weak to fight me. And now with this new limp...well...

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This pic of him is from a happier day early this month.

Bonne Chance: Peaceful nap

Since I last blogged about my feral friend, he has been attacked by a dog. I did what I could for his wounds, which were not as bad as they could have been. Bonne Chance is still not having anything to do with being boxed for the vet - no small wonder there really. The dogs owner better hope I never find out who he is...although it is only a matter of time as it comes down my street every morning at 6:15am. I suspect they just let it out, rather than take it for a walk. Morons. What goes around comes around.

Progress

There is progress...I can use scissors again! Other things are still very hard to do, for example: picking up a glass or can to drink from. If the nerve is capable of healing, it can take 6-12 months to do so. The surgeon who repaired it is not confident, but it aint over yet!

I had wanted to do a post that wasnt about my botched carpal tunnel - as well as bring you up to date. But I squandered too much time at There, I fixed it.com, and now Ive got to scamper!

Long story short...

...wait and see.

Magellan last September

Trolling thru my archives, I found this shot I took last September of my good friend Magellan. Lucky for me, he is still going strong although we lost his sister Verdigris awhile back. There was some strange illness that swept my little flock, it did not respond to any treatment I tried (and I tried them all). I hope I never see that bug again.

Anyhow, still one handed and having a go at doing things despite. Today it was cutting back an out of control vine in the garden. Well, it isnt my best job, but it will do. I think the hardest things about being one handed is not being able to get a bra on by myself, or bathe alone. Also, it is hot, itchy and sweaty in this cast, GET ME OUTTA HERE!!!


LOL

PS Sorry I havent been answering folks, but Im sure you understand. Cheers!

Bored again

The Most DH had to return to work last night. He'd been doing a stellar job keeping me entertained, but all good things must come to an end. So while he was out, I got the camera and spent some time messing about with my remote trigger ... here you can even see some of the stitches, they are so neat and evenly placed - nice job Doc!

Course that was only good for an hour or so. In desperation, I managed to do some dishes! How sad is this, that doing dishes one handed on a saturday night counts as entertainment??? LOL

Happened!

Tough going with one hand but bored sitting around...so here goes:

As they suspected, the original surgery did 'accidentally' amputate a part of the motor nerve responsible for moving my thumb. What was left of the nerve was trapped in the scar tissue. The specialist freed the nerve, and re-attached it to the muscle as best he could (it being shorter than it should be due to the missing piece).

As the longer a nerve is trapped, the more damage (death) it sustains, prognosis would have been better if it had been treated right away - last August - but public health being what it is, it was December before the specialist could see me. I got the impression from him that, if the referring physician had advised him of the nature of the injury, he could have seen me sooner.

We just wait and see now how the nerve manages, and hope that it is capable of restoring some of the lost function. I am waiting to see how it ends before deciding what action to take. It will be awhile before we know, so I will keep you posted....although at the speed of snail, LOL.

Thank you for your messages, you are great Mates! I plan to get around the blogs very soon and catch up, Meow!

And back on again!

Called the doctors office and advised him the hospital had canceled us....I guess we got a small win here folks - its back on for tommorrow...what a roller coaster! Fingers crossed that it really does happen - Thanks for your thoughts and wishes, Mwah!

Surgery cancelled

Just got the call that my surgery has been cancelled as "too many emergencies came in over the weekend". Now we wait again.

Public Health care...if you need something done fast, you're screwed.

Too much fun

We get out exploring whenever we can, and Ive even had a go at driving off road - its a hoot.

Might be off line awhile again after tuesday the 9th, as I am scheduled for microsurgery of my right hand. Long time readers will remember that last August I had an open carpal tunnel release done, which didnt go as planned. After they get it open again they will be able to find out what went wrong, and if there is anything this specialist can do to improve or repair it. "Fingers crossed" LOL.

Touring Canopy

The Touring Canopy mounts to our roof cage, and sets up in a flash. Shade is essential here in Australia.

It makes stopping for a cuppa a very civilized affair.

Unknown Australian Wildflower

I do not know what this little charmer is called - am still looking for a wildflower field guide to Australia.

Ive been having trouble with my vision for awhile now, and blurry photos have become common. I dont know they are blurry till I get them up on my screen in full size mode, very frustrating! Ive tried compensating by using the auto-focus feature, but so far, not much joy there either. Will keep trying to find a work-around that works for me.

Yes, I have been to the doctor for this. It is a complex problem that there is nothing they can do for. Fairly typical of me, if I do say myself. I seem to be prone to being difficult. I will have to bring you up to date on the situation with my hands soon too...perhaps next time?

Somewhere in the Blue Mountains

I do not remember exactly where this was taken - but we did a little rock climbing and sat and enjoyed the view a while.

Im still not up to regular blogging, but do feel the urge more often. Lets see how it goes, Ciao for now!

Happy New Year

Wishing you all a comfy spot for a good nap in 2010.
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Ive been on the road for a couple days, and leave again tommorrow for another round. Till then Bonne Chance knows where Ive stashed supplies of food and water for him. The Indoor cats envy his life, but they just dont have any idea, do they? He is still unwell, but attempts to re-box him for a first vet visit have yielded no success. Will keep gently trying.

Be safe out there till next time.