Here we are at another Friday so here is a little more about Parkinson’s this week we are talking about balance or the trouble we have with it.

Slowness of movement has an important part with they symptom of dizziness and balance which is common with Parkinson’s. A suffer may notice difficulty when getting out of a low chair due to a fear of falling forwards, this is something I have experienced.

We can also have issues when walking around the house or even just standing. One issue is that we may at times feel like our feet are stuck to the floor, when we try to make our feet move we

Also when turning around we may move our feet wrong causing us to lose our balance, another problem can be at the threshold of a door where for some unknown reason our feet don’t want to move and our balance is lost and we fall unless we think to take hold of the door frame.

We can also have a problem when faced with downward incline our legs feel like they are going to run away with us and in some cases may do just that. This is why many will choose to have some form of support when walking downhill and if on level ground they have good balance, which I don’t always have now days.

Many will find it difficult to get on and off a bus or train and maybe even in and out of some cars.

Walking in a crowd can be unsettling as if we get bumped it may cause us to lose our balance and fall, it is our slowness in movement that can cause such problems.

There are some particular movements that are affected by Parkinson’s such as turning over in bed, thankfully I don’t have a problem with that. Getting in and out of a bath is a problem which is why I now shower using a shower chair as standing causes me balance problems with the hot water and steam.

It is this fear of falling that increasingly limits our ability to do things. This is why exercise is important we need to keep our bodies moving and not allow our fear of falling to stop us doing stuff, or we may end up sitting in a chair wasting away. This naturally will affect our mental health leading to a state of depression it can be hard to find a way out of.

Time for a bit more of working life in the 1890’s back then it was well known saying that there was a pub on every corner in the cities and towns of Australia at the time.

These businesses employed the usual domestic staff tend to the kitchen work and make sure the accommodation for travellers. Of course there were barman and barmaids to serve the liquor and of course the barman were paid more then the barmaids. Men got around 20-30 shillings a week and women 15-2o shillings. These workers often had the advantage of free board and lodgings.

Turning the page in the book sees us at a section about work in the country. There were many numerous occupations including labouring jobs, carters, blacksmiths and stockriders.

There was also all the Aboriginal workers from the 1860’s Aborigines of both genders were employed and knew how to handle horses and cattle with great skill.

Aboriginal women from mission stations ere especially educated to be servants , what is so wrong is that many station proprietors neglected to pay these workers.

Next week we will look at shearing.

Tim of the week for some Aussie slang.

Wowser: Straight laced person, prude, prudish or a spoilsport

Wuss: A nervous person or animal to be a scaredy cat

XXXX: Called four X a beer from Queensland

Yabber: Someone who talks a lot

Yabby: An inland fresh water crayfish

Hello Tuesday I hope everyone is doing well this morning, or night, or afternoon whenever you are reading this.

Today we are looking at the Burrowing Owl, this is a ground dwelling owl that makes it nests in burrows dug by other animals such as squirrels, armadillos, skunks and gophers in the open plains throughout North America.

Galloping across the ground on their long legs they pounce on their prey which include insects, small mammals, amphibians, reptiles and other birds at either dusk or dawn.

Left on their own in the burrow while parents hunt, juvenile owlets scare off predators my mimicking the sound of a rattlesnake.

The surround their nests with mammal waste this heady concoction attracts dung beetles which is one of the favourite foods.

The burrowing owl, also called the shoco, is a small, long-legged owl found throughout open landscapes of North and South America. Burrowing owls can be found in grasslands, rangelands, agricultural areas, deserts, or any other open, dry area with low vegetation

Well here we are at another Monday and of course that means it is time for some more facts, still looking at Earth facts.

The Earth is the only planet in our solar system known to support life, as living things need just the right amount of heat and light from the sun as well as food, water and oxygen to survive.

If all the land on Earth was shared equally among the entire population, each person would get an equal size about the same ar couple of football pitches.

The Earth is over 4 billion years old, but it is only expected to support life for a further 500 million years. How the hell do they know that.

There are thousands of artificial satellites as well as twenty odd thousands pieces of man made currently orbiting the Earth.

The population of the Earth is about 18 billion and increasing

Had another good night woke when the alarm went off. When I went to wear my shorts they were so loose I was unable to wear them and had to change into a pair of longer pants as I have no more clean shorts that fit. It will be another nice day warm but not hot.

I used the new air fryer/oven to toast my banana bread and of course I burnt most of it.

A warm day but no need for the a/c.

Tim has ben making his own beef jerky type stuff in the new air fryer/oven as it has a setting for dehydration.

Had a good night woke with the alarm, found the kitchen not a mess but not as clean and tidy as usual.

Made myself an egg-flip for breakie with a hot cross bun which I couldn’t eat.

In for another warm day top of 27 degrees.

Turned the air con on at around midday.Tim took the empty cans and bottle over to earn & return.

Another good night up at 5am as usual and could here rain as I was having my morning wash. I am unable to go with Sam to meet his driver due to the rain.

Rained on an off all morning but then fined up.

Had a phone call from the podiatrist they changed my appointment to Friday at 9am.

Another pretty good night, I am wearing light weight long pants as my shorts are not dry, Tim did a load of washing Monday night and hung them on the clothes hoists to dry but as yesterday was not a good drying day due to the rain and all I found the shorts still damp this morning so went with what I am wearing instead.

How frustrating is our internet we are online and everything should be working just fine but no I keep getting a message saying no internet….grrrrrr

Dawson came over for a visit he was here for about an hour or so, it is always nice to see him.

This afternoon while I was eating lunch Tim went out didn’t say where he was going, for some reason I thought he was going out to buy his lunch, which he but he also bought me a new mobile phone that was a surprise. It is a Samsung Galaxy A05s. I will have to get either Jess or Tash to help me set it up. I shake far too much to try and do it myself.

Another really good night slept straight through till the alarm went at 5am. We are in for another scorching hot day with a high of 38 degrees, yesterday it got to 33 degrees.

I turned the air con on at 9am.

Kelli called in to pick something up, it was nice to see her, she was only here 5 minutes but that’s ok better then not seeing her.

Jess came over and set up the new phone, I will have to install a couple of apps but it is working and for that I am grateful.

Tim followed Jess into were she is working tonight to met someone she works with he is connected to some church that runs some kind of men shed thing Jess thought might interest Tim he wants to do something other then sit on his bum watching Youtube or Facebook.

It is a warm morning here 23 degrees when I got up at 5am. At 5.50am Blain walked in he brought down the disable parking permit as I have an appointment with the podiatrist this morning.

When I was speaking to Kathy I asked how Michael’s dad was doing and Kathy told me he passed away last night, I said that is big news you could have told me without waiting for me to ask after him. I hope Michael is doing ok.

Went to the podiatrist saw a new woman she was nice but I had to pay for the first time in years, cost $66 and I should get $58 back.

I am having a hard time settling tonight so got back up at 10pm and watched the last hour of a movie with Tim, before returning to bed.

After returning to bed around 11.20pm I managed to get some sleep before the alarm went off, I suspect I will be having a nap sometime this morning.

I sent Tasha a message last night asking if goes to the Plaza could I go with her.

I shut the house up at 9am and turned the A/C on for about 15 minutes and then turned it off for a while I turned it back on at 11am. Around 1pm there was a change in the weather and the temperature dropped, so Tim turned off the A/C.

I have also done a new post on Radom Things which can be found here:

https://jamfn.blogspot.com/2024/03/left-handed.html

Well hello Friday you have arrived at last, that makes it sound like I have been waiting a long ass time for you to come around but nope not the case just the usual amount of time from one Friday to the next.

Here is a little more about the slowness that comes with Parkinson’s Disease. Slowness can also effect ones speech over time with people often unable to raise their voice, this is because the slowness of movement effects the muscles of the chest and diaphragm as well as those of the larynx which results in speech becoming softer, slower and slurred. I have heard Tim say often that I don’t speak loud enough, I don’t think that is the case as I sound normal to me.

Even though family and friends of a Parkinson’s sufferer may find the slowness o movement irritating and frustrating it is part of the disease and however, much we try we cannot hurry or go faster.

Everyday tasks such as dressing, washing and eating can over time take longer to achieve, our love ones need to remember it is also very frustrating for us suffers as well. We try and do things as fast as possible but sometimes it doesn’t work out that way. We still think as normal no slowness there unless the condition is well advanced or we are effected by side-effects of treatment.

We do not need people to speak slower for us to understand, we understand just fine the problem is getting our bodies to do what our brain says to do.

Next week we will talk about balance.

Well here we are at Thursday again so it is time for more about the working life in Australia in the 1890’s.

This week we are looking at transport and shops.

To save money most workers lived either in the city or the inner suburbs meaning they would be able to walk to work. As the cities began their slow sprawl to the outer suburbs, trains, ferries, trams and the omnibus system was established to service them.

In the 1890’s the main form of transport was the horse, it was in 1898, 670 four wheeled cabs and 212 hansom cabs crossed the streets of Melbourne and 1,332 drivers were licensed for the movement of goods.

Over time more and more cable trams were able to carry more and more passengers, in 1898 a first class gripman earned 40 shillings per week, while first-class conductors earned 38 shillings per week.

Large department stores had become a feature of city and suburban life by the late 1800’s. Salespeople worked long hours and had strict rules which contrasted with surroundings the these lavish stores, such as David Jones, The Mutual Store and others.

Here we are at the time for more Aussie Slang.

Up one’s self; To have a high opinion of yourself

To get up someone To rebuke someone as in the boss got up me for being late.

Vinnies: St Vincent De Paul, a local charity organization/shop

WACA: The Western Australia Cricket Association. Perth’s cricket ground

Woop Woop: A made up name for an unimportant town, think he lives at woop woop

Hello Tuesday, I hope everyone is doing well this weeks creature is the North American Beaver .

The first thing many notice about this beaver is its teeth they are large and strong , they use these to gnaw down trees and build dome shaped homes called lodges.

The can swim up to 8km/h with the aid of their webbed back feet and paddle shaped tail. They are also able to stay underwater for up to 15 minutes and have a set of transparent eyelids that function like goggles.

They are second only to humans in their ability to change their environment, felling trees to transform forests and fields into ponds.

The North American beaver is one of two extant beaver species, along with the Eurasian beaver. It is native to North America and has been introduced in South America and Europe. The North American beaver is one of the official national wildlife of Canada symbols and is the official state mammal of Oregon and New York.