WEEK 22 OF 2023

Didn’t get up till 5.20am and part of me didn’t want to get up but I did. It was very cold.

A quiet day doing bugga all and watching Judge Judy with Tim, that woman can piss me off being judgemental at times. I prefer to watch The People’s Court.

Up at 5am as usual and another bloody cold day.

Tasha bought me two long sleeve singlets and half a dozen pairs of knickers, which is good because a number of knickers the elastic has gone in the legs.

Jess told me that the long sleeve singlets and not called singlets but I have never called them anything else.

Tim is going on and on about wasting power and wanting to unplug and stop using it, I said I didn’t agree but if that is what he wants to do he can but he got bloody angry because I didn’t agree with him. I asked him why that was but he said he didn’t know why he was like that.

Damn it is cold but I am up and dressed and need the heater on.

Tasha had a pre opp appointment, her operation is on Tuesday she was told she would be in hospital for about 7 days that part she isn’t keen on but we will see what happens.

Tim had a rehab appointment and while there the surgeon came and spoke to him, he is now to have a another operation tomorrow sometime.

Slept in this morning till 5.25 and yes it is bloody cold.

The computer is being a right bitch this morning, driving me mad with frustration.

Tim has to be at the hospital around 3pm, Tasha will take him and either Jess or Sandy will pick him up after the opp.

Thankfully Jess got home from work by 2.15 so she was able to meet Sam.

I will put myself to bed.

Tim slept on the lounge last night his operation was more complicated then expected. He got home around 9pm.

It is the first day of winter but not as cold as the last few day.

It feels like a long ass day and I keep forgetting it is Thursday feels like a Friday or Saturday.

Tim isn’t complaining of pain at this time as his hand is still numb from the injections they gave him at the hospital.

Last night when he was coming to bed Tim fell over, he was able to get himself up and into bed, the sound of him falling made me jump and caused concerned. I hope he is ok.

Another not so cold start to the day.

Sandy dropped in to drop off my postage stamps, so I added them to the letters which she took to post.

I will need a shower this afternoon as twice today I have found myself drenched in sweat.

I woke at 4am needing to pee but decided to put it off for an hour which I managed so up at 5am as per usual.

A cold but not too cold morning. Jess has had work every day this week.

It has been a warm day, took till after 1pm before I was able to sit comfortably without back pain.

JO-ANNE’S THOUGHTS

We here we are at another cold Friday, heard on the news at 5am that the so called experts thing we are in for a not so cold winter but we will see.

Being Friday it is a day for Jo-Anne’s thoughts but what are my thoughts, well I think that those who are suppose to be experts about stuff have bugga all common sense.

Common sense is something I feel so many do not have any more maybe the fact that we are pretty much a nanny state/country unlike when I was a child or even when my girls were little they would walk home from school. I drove my girls to school but from the time Kathy was in year 5 they would walk home from school. Now days it feels like children are always driven to and from school.

Yes children need supervision and yes left to their own they will get into mischief but children have been getting into mischief since the beginning of time.

Also it is natural for parents to worry about their children as there are bad people in the world, and bad things happen but that is how it has always been.

So many expect the government to support them instead of earning their own money by doing an honest days work.

The cost of living is high but that isn’t a new thing throughout the ages the cost of living has been higher then most people can deal with. I do not know how some people manage on just what the government pays but it is better then having nothing like it once was.

My thoughts are all over the place this morning but that is pretty normal for me.

THURSDAY’S WORD OF THE WEEK

Good morning not as cold this morning still cold though, I have been slack this week with posting just because I have had computer troubles with it running slow and freezing and overall giving me the shits.

Today’s word or the week is: shit

It is considered a vulgar swear word, the dictionary says it means

Faeces or to expel faeces from the body

A contemptible or worthless person

To tease or try to deceive someone

An exclamation of disgust, anger or annoyance.

AUSSIE FACTS…..TASMANIA

Another Monday and another lot of Aussie facts this week we are headed to Tassie also known as Tasmania.

Tasmania is an island state of Australia. It is located 240 kilometres to the south of the Australian mainland, separated from it by the Bass Strait, with the archipelago containing the southernmost point of the country

Tasmania has an area of 90,758km2 located 240 kilometres off the southeast of Australia. There are 334 other islands that lie just off Tasmania, ranging from rocky outcrops to three sizeable, inhabited islands.

In 1642 Abel Janszoon Tasman named his ‘first sighted land’ after his Dutch superior Anthony Van Diemen. While Tasman missed meeting any Aborigines, they knew their land as ‘Trowunna’, ‘Trowenna’ or ‘Loetrouwitter’. Despite the official name of Van Diemen’s Land, usage of the alternative ‘Tasmania’ gradually grew.

Tasmania was the second colony to be established by the British, in 1803. Tasmania’s first penal colony was established at Macquarie Harbour (Sarah Island) on the west coast in 1822.

Named for Anthony van Diemen, governor general of the Dutch East Indies, the island was first encountered by Europeans in 1642 and named by Abel J. Tasman, a celebrated navigator under van Diemen’s command. The first British settlers in the early 19th century retained the name.

WEEK 21 OF 2023

Sunday and bloody cold as well, I had to drag myself out of bed but I know once up I am fine so dragged my body out of bed at 4.50am.

I had no problems doing the shopping this week.

Had a ok day although I had a lot of back pain making sitting in any chair difficult and painful.

I dragged myself out of bed at 5am, Tim had a shower last night and left the towels on the floor soaking wet which I hung up to dry.

The driver Leo had at the start of the year is back which is slightly annoying but it is what it is.

Both Tim and I had medical appointments at the same practice, the doctor was pleased with my BGL’s and has taken me off another of the diabetes tablets so now I only have one for diabetes down from 4 tablets and insulin.

I also managed to get in and out of the car on my own.

After my Dr’s appointment I managed to go to the chemist on my own, Tim acts like I can’t do anything.

Woke at 4.45am and after peeing I decided to stay up and it is bloody cold. I had the heater on for a while this morning.

Tim drove Sam to his headspace appointment, as Jess has work.

Tim had rehab this afternoon, his thumb isn’t healing as well as it should be, so he has to wear the brace all the time for a while and see how things go.

Another cold morning and it isn’t even winter yet, it isn’t always easy getting up at 5am and yeah I could sleep later but I like my early mornings once I am up and dressed.

Someone changed the battery in one of the lounge-room’s clocks but didn’t fix the time, how annoying. I changed the time but couldn’t rehang the clock.

The day has warmed up nicely.

Another cold start to the day, I wish I could put my own socks on, I don’t like asking Tasha when it is so cold to come down and do it.

Sandy called in after she dropped Temika at school, just to say hi and see how I was.

Tim went and had another ultrasound done on his thumb it doesn’t look good, he may need more surgery.

It warmed up nicely and was lovely in the sun.

Not as cold this morning, it is still cold just not as cold and still need the heater on for a bit.

Sandy called in to pick up the mail I had to post, this was seriously appreciated as there is no way I could get down there to post them.

Around lunch time it suddenly became very overcast and started to piss down with hail in fact we had three down pours with hail. It also became very cold, cold enough to think about turning the heater on, but I didn’t.

Jessica was at work when the down pour happen and because of the turn in the weather her work was cancelled, she was doing traffic control work.

Slept well and up at 5am as usual turning the heater on before getting dressed. It is bloody cold morning.

Tim getting us KFC for lunch, Kathy bringing me over some snags & mash for lunches next week.

My right leg has been shaking a lot during the day.

Kathy and Summer turned up around 1pm and after depositing my meals in the freezer they went over to Tasha’s so she can help with Tasha’s assignments.

Damn it has been cold today.

JO-ANNE’S THOUGHTS

Hello well here we are at another Friday and yes it is cold here a nippy 14 degrees no need for the heater so what are Jo-Anne’s thoughts on this Friday.

Well there are far too many cockroaches here for my liking Tim will need to spray again. Thankfully we haven’t heard anything running around in the roof so that’s good. Tim sprays himself as it costs a couple hundred bucks to get professionals to do it and the stuff Tim uses is pretty much the same stuff the professionals use. I know some of you are saying no its not but depending on the professional it can be the same stuff and it works which is the most important thing for me.

Getting rid of bugs, roaches, mice and such are the job of the tenant not the landlord and we are tenants been living here since May 1988.

Tim likes feeding the birds out the front which is ok with me except the birdseed being walked into the house is annoying but not overly so, I can live with it.

It isn’t easy dealing with roaches and mice when you live next door to a hoarder, although he is a nice person, the inside of his house is not so nice. Not that it’s a place I go.

CREATURE DAY

Good morning every here we are at another creature day and this weeks creature is the Olm, I know you are thinking what the hell is an Olm.

Well it is native to central and south-eastern Europe and is listed as vulnerable. Your best chance of seeing it is in Slovenia’a Postohna Cave, where underground cameras and TV monitors allow you to see it.

Centuries ago, when floods washed them from their caves people believed they were baby dragons.

There is nothing normal about this slippery salamander, it’s blind and only found in underground rivers and caves. It swims like an eel and can go years without eating and lives for a 100 years.

It spends its whole life underwater and finds food using super-sensitive sensors in its snout.

The females lays eggs only once or twice in a lifetime, on the ceiling of a cave and can smell if the young inside it is growing or not, if not she eats it.

AUSSIE FACTS

 Good morning everyone, I hope all are fine and doing well me I am as I always am. This Monday I have a few more facts about the NT as in Northern Territory.

The NT flag was flown for the first time at a ceremony in Darwin on 1 July 1978 marking the grant of self-government.

The flag was designed by Australian artist Robert Ingpen AM, whose work is well known throughout Australia.

The Coat of Arms is symbolic of the people, history and landscape of the NT.

It has our floral and fauna emblems, the Sturt’s Desert Rose, two red kangaroos and a wedge-tailed eagle.

The kangaroos hold a shield decorated by Aboriginal motifs in one hand and shells found on our coastline in the other.

In the centre of the shield is an x-ray drawing of a woman as seen in rock art in Arnhem Land. The designs on either side symbolise camp sites joined by path markings of Central Australian Aboriginal people.

The eagle holds an Aboriginal Tjunga stone that rests on a helmet. The helmet is a reminder of the NT’s war history.

The red kangaroo embodies the NT’s unique wildlife. It is the largest living marsupial with adult males standing more than 2m tall and weighing as much as 75kg.

Males are a rusty brown colour and females a smokey grey, while both have heat-reflecting paler fur on their under surfaces. They also have striking white marks with a black line on the sides of their muzzles.

Their long, thin limbs allow them to travel large distances through harsh conditions. They are found in the NT in very dry areas.

During droughts they retreat to waterways and open grassy areas where food is available. Sometimes several hundred kangaroos can be found in the same place, although they are independent animals and have no social structure. They prefer to rest under shade during the heat of the day.

When the drought breaks they move to mulga tree areas where food and shade is available. This is also where they breed. Females normally carry one young in their pouch.

The Wedge-tailed eagle is Australia’s largest bird of prey with an average wingspan of 2.5m. It is dark brown with a chestnut neck.

Their long, wedge-shaped tail and broad wings make it easy to recognise. Their legs are covered in feathers right down to their feet. A hooked beak and strong talons are the hallmarks of a bird that hunts other animals.

Although they are found throughout Australia, in the NT they are more commonly found in the arid centre than on the coastal plains of the north.

Before cattle and sheep farming in Australia, they ate a range of small mammals that lived in the soft ground cover, as well as other birds and reptiles.

Agriculture and fire has destroyed much of the ground cover, so introduced species like rabbits have become a large part of their diet. It is thought the eagle also hunts kangaroos that gather around watering holes.

Eagles form long-lasting pairs who defend their nesting and breeding territory against intruders. They nest in the high trees and build large platform nests that can be reused from year to year.

At sunrise they hunt for food. Later on, as the sun heats up the air close to the ground, strong updrafts allow the eagle to soar and glide up to 2000 m high during the middle of the day, warning other eagles to stay out of their territory.

Sturt’s Desert Rose has been the floral emblem of the NT since 1974. It is an arid plant which grows best in stony or rocky ground such as dry creek beds.

The Desert Rose has had many botanical names in the past.

It is a member of the cotton family, rather than the rose family. It was named after Charles Sturt who first collected it during his journey to Central Australia in 1844-45.

The plant is found in the southern parts of the Territory, and is cultivated as a garden shrub in Alice Springs. It can also be found in parts of South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland.

It’s a small bushy plant which usually grows to 1.5 m.

It has dark green, round to oval shaped leaves. The petals of the flowers are mauve with a deep red marking at the base.

The flowers look similar to the hibiscus, which belongs to the same family. The plant’s fruit is capsule-shaped and contains small seeds covered in short hair, which is a trait of the cotton family.