Gettin’ Hot!

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Summer is racing toward us at a great rate, and the earth is starting to crack in places where there isn’t enough organic matter to help protect the soil from the elements.

Its getting dry – very dry, and its compounded by the hot winds which dry everything out even faster…

My mood seems to have been slowing improving over the last week, and I think that’s because I know we’ll be having a long weekend away starting next Saturday, and there is a plan in place for us to have a bit of a discussion about what each of us would like for the next 5-7 years…

Onward and upward!
Below is a brief rundown of what I’ve been up to in the last month.

Monday

– I’m even sick of myself by this point. Being a misery-guts isn’t fun…
Collected our grocery order and did some gardening.
Not much else.

Tuesday

– worked in the bus for most of the morning doing carpeting of the ceiling. Its a neck-hurting job.
Did laundry.
Cooked chook food and poached chicken breasts.

Wednesday

– spent a couple of hours removing excess comfrey from the big vegie garden beds.
year it runs a bit wild during the down season, but its so very good as a compost and mulch and adds so much nutrition to the gardens that I dont want to ever get rid of it totally.

Planted some tomatoes and capsicum.
Got some fresh bags of compost.
Washed and vacuumed the car.

Super hot day – even put the aircon on for a while!

Thursday

– went to the next town over for a shopping trip with my friend L and had sushi for lunch. It didn’t sit well 🤢
Cooked dog food.

Friday

– my friend L came for coffee early as she’d left some stuff in my car yesterday.

Took recycles to the tip and then into town and bought a new bedspread and some blockout curtains.

Did some work in the bus.
Did laundry.
Watered.

Saturday

– finished carpeting the ceiling in the bus.

My wife finished work around lunchtime so after we’d had some sourdough toast, we got to work on the centre console we’re building for the bus.
It’s looking really good and I’m pleased with how it’s turned out.
Installed it and will take it for a test drive tomorrow.
Any excuse! :))

Sunday

– took the bus for a drive to the next town over today and went to the hardware stores and got some nice plants and a couple of extra pots for the wall plantings.

Our neighbours son came over to play with the dog for a while, and the neighbour told us he’s selling.
Sadly we weren’t surprised… 😕

Monday

– had a visit from a friend G who is going overseas for a couple of weeks so dropped through for a cuppa as she leaves tomorrow.

Spent most of the rest of the day finishing the curtains that I started at the end of last week.
They’re hung now and are blackout curtains but I’m not quite sure how I feel about the look of them yet.
Maybe it because I am used to having colour on that window, and they’re grey – dunno.

Tuesday

– the curtains worked well this morning.
Minimal light coming in, and the dogs slept a bit later.
That’s a win in my book!

Did an early grocery order.

Did some weeding and planting in the big vegie garden while the laundry was on.

Collected the groceries order mid-afternoon and did the watering of the raised beds in the house-yard.

Wednesday

– took the bus for a drive to the next town over and went to the ‘Over 55s’ social group again.
Still not wildly keen on it if I’m being honest.
Different age group and social circle / ideals mostly I think…

Thursday

– early trip to get groceries and pick up a book from the post office.
Did some cooking when I got home.
Charged the security camera.
Worked in the vegie garden in the afternoon.

Friday

– went early to the next town over to get some protein bars that were on special, and to get some plants I was looking at on the weekend.

On the way back I dropped into vinnies and got some pj pants and a couple of jars.

The Farm is drying out really quickly and some of the trees are starting to show signs of stress so I spent most of the afternoon doing spot water and some sprinklering.

We’ve had some serious fires close to where we live, and people we know have been affected or have had to evacuate and wait to be able to return to see if they still have a home.
It’s such a scarey thing…

Saturday

– huuuuge day in the garden pulling out old plants including the spoils of the sweet potato bed, and topping up some of the beds in the house-yard with fresh compost ready for replanting and mulching.

My love actually only had one appt today, which I went to and waited outside as it was just a signing – so we combined it with a trip to bunnings to get compost.

While I was doing my garden work, my Love started checking on the irrigation system in the house-yard and along the driveway fence-line as it hasn’t been used for the last almost year due to having had so much rain; so it needs some tweaking where it’s leaking or has just deteriorated or got buried under plantings.

Sunday

– we decided to take a drive to a coastal town we haven’t been to in many years, and even then when we did go there, we would always just be passing through on our way to somewhere else, so we thought we’d go on a bit of an adventure!

It took about an hour and 20mins to get there in our bus, and we hadn’t quite realized (even though we kinda of knew) just how much of the town revolves around also being on a river.

We drove around a bit to investigate what sort of businesses we could see, and then went down to the riverbank / esplanade to have lunch at one of the hotels.

I had a ‘topper’ of grilled chicken with some pepper sauce, and it was quite lovely, but I could only eat two small pieces.
We bought the rest home in the bus fridge.

We stopped off at Coles to get some chicken breasts before we headed back up the range to home.
Its lovely to be able to put cold stuff straight into the fridge in the bus, so we don’t have to worry about anything spoiling if we get sidetracked on the way.

It was a really nice way to spend the day, and a good change from our usual habits.

We’ll do it again for sure!

Monday

– big morning in the garden getting more of the house-yard gardens composted and mulched.
Cooked dog food.
Did houseyard watering of the wall and pots.

Tuesday

– a fairly quiet day spent mostly inside as I had to drop off both my dentures to the dental technician this morning to put in a new tooth as I’m having a tooth removed by the dentist tomorrow morning and I want the replacement in as soon as possible after having the tooth out.

It means that I am without a top denture from this morning until tomorrow morning after the extraction – which isn’t fun when you’re trying to eat something – so it’s a day and night of yoghurt and soup for me!

Not much different than usual, but I can’t eat anything like cheese and crackers or muesli bars – so of course I’m missing them, being that my diet is already so very limited.

Wednesday

– 24 hours of having no top denture is not something I want to repeat anytime soon!
Ugh – nevermind the dietary disturbances, it just felt horrible!!

I had the appointment for my extraction this morning at 830, and by 835 it was out, and that included the wait time for the anaesthetic to kick in.

It was soooo ridiculously wobbly that we figured he could probably use a pair of eyebrow tweezers to get it out 🤣🤣

Once home and the site had had some pressure on it for 10 minutes, I put my denture back in and was very relieved to see and feel it back in place.

I do wish that I had had the forethought to get two teeth added to the denture and two taken out today – instead of just the one; but hindsight is always twenty / twenty as the saying goes!!

I spent most of the rest of the day out in the big veggie garden refreshing two of the beds and planting out a few batches of seedlings.

We went out to dinner with our young friend, and it was nice to catch up properly in person, for the first time in while.

Almost zero tooth pain, and my denture feels and looks wonderful!

Thursday

– My friend L had to put her car in for a service today, so I met her at 9 at the dealership so that I could entertain her and drive her around while it was being done.

We had a snack at a cafe neither of us had been to before, then went for a look around the local camping shop, cheapie shops, hardware store and grocery store, then for some sushi for lunch.
I could only eat ⅓ of a roll, but thankfully L ate the rest so it wasn’t wasted.

The weather has started to heat up, and at least a couple of days a week we’ve had to aircon on in the middle of the day.

Thankfully though, with the loss of weight has come a much better tolerance for the heat, so when I do finally put the aircon on these day I run it at 25° which the old me would have been horrified by!
Past me would have had it on 22° at the absolute highest. 😐

Friday

– our eldest dog has his turn at the vet today.
He’s 16 now, and had to have some teeth out.
He has a heart murmur, heart disease, he’s going blind, his hearing is dodgy, and his dementia is advancing to the point that he often forgets what he’s doing or where he is.

He does however zoom around like a two year old and has an amazing love of life and is a chirpy little character – so while he’s still enjoying his life, we’ll help support him with that.

I spent most of the day in the garden, cleaning old plants out of one of the big vegie garden beds as well as some overgrown comfrey, and refreshing it with compost and mulch.

There is still a good amount of food in the bed (tomatoes, rumex, chard, rosemary), but now there is room for more!

Saturday

– another good day in the garden getting cleaning out and pruning done.
Did the laundry.

Sunday

– a morning in the garden together, then a lazy afternoon.
Did some grocery shopping.

Monday

– went to the next town over to fill the bus with fuel as it’s 14c cheaper over there, and it isn’t far so is worth the drive, and isn’t a false economy.
Did laundry and some garden work in the afternoon.
Decluttered.

Tuesday

– took my friend L for a drive in the bus to the next town over to see if I could find what I have in mind for my Loves birthday present – which (yaaaay) I did!!

When I got home I ended up ordering online the extra lithium battery I’ve been thinking about for ages for the bus.
had planned to buy it when I was at the next town over, but even though they had it in stock, the customer service was quite poor with the lack of knowledge about it, and to top it off, I could get it from the same company online for $150 cheaper!! Got it at a really good price as well 🙂

Quiet afternoon.

Wednesday

– garden guy came this morning and whipper-snipped.
Went to town to collect some plants that the nursery lady had saved for me.
L came for a cuppa.
Still no rain so watering the house-yard to try keep a bit of green space for the animals.

Thursday

– planted some squash in the big vegie garden before the day got too hot, then went inside to cook some animal food, and some lemon chicken for an early dinner for us for tonight, as we are going to the next town over to watch a film – something we never do!

I’ve already seen the film online at a permaculture film night, but it seemed like a good ‘community’ idea at the time I booked the tickets.

Not so much no that were going to have to drive there and back and won’t get home til late…
Hopefully it won’t be a shit experience!

Friday

– the movie last night was good, but I was a little ticked that I didn’t know Jade Miles was going to be there as MC – or I would have asked her to sign my book… (iykyk!)
Was definitely fan-girling a big bit! 😍

Had a busy day.
Fertilised plants, mowed the driveway, did laundry, poisoned around the new garden beds, watered the big vegie garden and parts of the house-yard.

Wrapped my Loves prezzies as it’s her birthday tomorrow

Decluttered some inside throughout the afternoon.
Started work on the cover I’m trying to make for the bus loo; and the new extra lithium battery and box for the bus arrived by courier.

Saturday

– my Loves birthday today.
She worked but was home by lunchtime.

We watched a lil tele in the heat of the day, then once it cooled a bit we did watering and some pruning.

Sunday

– cooked chook food and dog food.
Grocery shopped.
Did some watering

My love put together the windmills that I got her for her birthday.
I’m really pleased they turned out so well, and it seems she is too.

I had a pretty lazy day!!

Fresh home-grown peas and tomatoes

 


Home-made waffles, which get popped into the toaster for breakfast.

 

A beautiful rose given to me for my birthday.

 

Two double-yokers from our girls this week!

 

Cleaning out and topping up being done in the big vegie garden.

 

Advice to live by  😉

mini vacay

 

o0o

It’s different being away from home and being in someone elses home.
It’s a cross between a mini vacation and at times not quite knowing what to do with myself – then realising that I don’t actually have to BE doing anything with myself!

The downside though is – that apart from missing my Love – is that she is back there doing all the final moving of the bits and pieces that are still at the house in town, and I feel really shit about her having to do that without me helping – however minimal that is some days…

It’s also very weird for me to be so far away from home by myself – it’s just not something i DO!

My brother and sister in law actually live about a half hour out of town, so any time you want anything its a fairly mammoth effort to go to the store.
Which is something that I really like – but having been out of the habit of that pre-thinking, being that we now live so close to town, you get out of the habit of thinking of and getting everything you need or want, in one trip!

I didn’t go into the aged care home today to see Tony (my Mamas husband), as my sister was going to take him to church to see some of his mates, and church really isn’t my type of thing to be doing on a beautiful sunny Sunday morning, so I figured it was best if she just headed in on her own.

I ended up going into town as I wanted to get my brother and his wife a very belated housewarming present, that would be (hopefully) something that they would find was useful – and something I personally use about 5 times a week.

So off I went to ‘the big smoke’ and quickly found what I was looking for – which was an “Instant Pot”.
Well, it’s not actually the instant pot brand – but it does all the same things.

You can sauté, slow-cook, pressure cook, do rice, pasta and baking all in these little magicians – and we just love ours so much that we actually have two at home! lol

Right now – I am sitting on the verandah, home alone – overlooking miles of uncluttered farmland and the only sound other than the birds, is a neighbours generator, thunking away rhythmically in the distance…

Its pretty nice I gotta say!
Sarah

 

 

 

mini vaycay 1

Looking over the paddocks.

mini vaycay 2

The full blood moon rising.

the mummas nightmare

 

 

This morning started in the way no Mothers ever want it to.

A missed call on my phone before 7am, and a voice message.

Checked the voice message, and it was someone I didn’t know, telling us that our second youngest son had been in a motorbike accident.
He had been on his motorbike on the way to work, and had been hit by a car.

We live a 1 hour drive then a 5hr flight, or a 24 hour solid drive, away from where he lives.
Our stomachs lurched.

It was his boss Wayne whom had called us, and on calling him back, we found out that Wayne had seen him put into the ambulance approximately a half-hour earlier, and had briefly spoken to him prior to the ambulance heading off to the local hospital, which he gave us the name of.

At least we knew our son had been alert when he was carried off – alert enough to give the guy his Mummas phone number at least.
Good sign – hopefully

We then rang Hospital A, where they had taken him – only to find out that he hadn’t turned up there(!!) and they suggested that he might be at Hospital B if his injuries were substantial or required immediate surgery. 😐

While this was happening, my Love was on the other phone, calling our youngest daughter who is a Doctor in an adjacent City to where our son lives and works; to see if she knew anything or could find out anything.

We then rang Hospital B, and thankfully he was there.
All they could tell us was that he had literally just arrived, and was being seen to by the doctor at that very moment, and that they wouldn’t be able to update us for at least a half-hour, possibly more.

Wayne then rang us again, in a bit of a panic as he had gone to Hospital A, and had found out that they had taken our son to the more acute care hospital further away, due to some concern that he was exhibiting signs of internal bleeding – and he wanted to let us know that he was now on the way to Hospital B.
Bless his heart!

The next few hours were pretty scary.
One feels sooo helpless when you’re far away from your babies, and you know things aren’t right with them – and theres not a damn thing you can do!

Finally we got to speak to him very briefly, and although he was groggy, and tearful (in shock!) he was in quite good spirits, but a fair bit of pain.
He had just had scans done, was awaiting results, and was being given more pain medication.

The day wore on, and we only received sketchy updates, until finally around 5pm, when we heard that he was well enough that they were going to let him go home.

Such incredible relief!!!

We spoke to him again briefly after he got home last night, and he was very sore and still very shaken – as was to be expected – and was on his way to bed.
But he had got to hold his daughter, and we know that that alone is enough to give him the strength to bounce back to full health, quickly.

We feel so very blessed and fortunate to have had the day turn out so well.

It could have gone so very very differently…
Today, we could be mourning the loss of one of our children, but instead we are feeling so very thankful and grateful that things turned out as they did!

Don’t forget to tell your kids how much you love them, and how proud you are of them – you never know when you might not get the chance to do it ever again…

Sarah

 

Mummas Nightmare Motorbike Accident
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Mummas Nightmare Motorbike Accident

A bit more of me.

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I have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) – and it’s a terminal illness.

COPD is a serious, progressive and disabling condition that limits airflow in the lungs.
Those with copd are prone to severe episodes of shortness of breath, with fits of coughing; and excessive mucous production.
In 2012, copd was the 5th leading cause of death in Australia. The 4th in the U.S.

COPD causes changes in your lungs and airways.
– air sacs and airways lose their ability to stretch
– the walls of the air sacs are destroyed
– the walls of the airways become thickened and inflamed
– airways become clogged with mucus

These changes involves destruction of the lung tissue, specifically the alveoli, which reduces the flow of air in and out of the lungs which deprives the body of much-needed oxygen.

I have stage 2.

There are 4 ‘stages’.

There is no cure for copd – and while treatment and lifestyle changes can slow the progression of the disease so that you can feel better and stay more active – the fact is that over time, everyday tasks become more and more difficult.

There are good days, and not so good days.
It’s not something I try to dwell on – but it is an unignorable part of my life, and makes its presence known to me, each and every day…

It’s also effected not just by what I’m doing physically, but by temperature, humidity, stress/anxiety levels, air quality etc.

Sometimes it just plain makes me scared and/or angry.

Other times, I manage to put on my big-girl panties and just get on with this business of Living!!

It’s becoming more difficult, as time marches on, to ‘hide’ it.
Subtle adjustments have had to be made to the way I go about my daily Life, so that it has minimal impact.

For example – I need to get up to get ready for work earlier.

For some weird reason, my early morning pre-work routine can often knock the stuffing out of me.
By the time I’m finally ready to head out the door, I’m often gasping like a goldfish-out-of-water, and it can take up to ten minutes to settle the breathing back down to a tolerable level.

If I don’t take that time, it always bites me in the ass – because my job is less than 5mins drive away, and once I get to work, I have a fairly lengthy walk to get to my office.

If I haven’t spent those ten minutes at home getting my breath back before I left for work, then by the time I make it through the door of my office and it slams shut behind me, I am hanging over the desk, gasping so badly, turning purple and am so ridiculously out of breath, that I’m near the pass-out point from lack of oxygen.

Not really a great way to start a day, I can assure you…

And on top of that – it’s fucking embarrassing!!

I also get exhausted very easily, which is incredibly annoying!

My Wife is great with taking my ‘difficulties’ into consideration.

She checks beforehand, for example, that there are elevators available when there are a lot of stairs, or finds different way around if there are steep walks, or will initiate rest-breaks just by stopping and looking at the scenery, is she notices I’m flagging a bit more than usual.

She carries our groceries upstairs when we get home if she’s there, and she tries to get me to sleep more when exhaustion sets in.
Little things like that…but for me, they’re the big things…

Not a lot of people know I have copd, and that’s been my decision.

I’ve learnt from some that do know, that you’re often treated a little bit different when people know you’re terminal.
And not different in a good way – like my Love does.

They look at you differently.
They feel – it seems – like they somehow have been given an option to give their opinion on your treatment or lifestyle choices.

They ask how you are differently – like you’re maybe about to take your very last gasp right there in front of them, and drop down dead at their feet.

We’re all dying folks!
It’s the one thing in Life that is guaranteed.

And we don’t know when or how it’s going to happen, for the most part.
A bus might be round the very next corner you turn, and it may well be destined for you – or me – we just don’t know…

Am I scared of dying?

Yes and no…

The process itself doesn’t scare me.
And I know that all my children and grandchildren have fabulous lives waiting ahead of them – they’ll all be ok, and time will heal…

2 things do scare me though…

Having to go through the physical and emotional experience of suffocation.

I’d much rather get filled up with morphine if that was where the next step was headed, and just peacefully drift off, as my system shuts down from OD-ing.

The other thing is – being without my Love.

I feel like 100 years still wouldn’t be sufficient time with her, and I’m not ready to cut our time short – but like I said before – none of us know who’s gonna go first, or when, so just I have to keep trying to remind myself of that.

It does give you the “Life is Short” perspective though, and I find myself getting really pissed off with ‘time wasting’…

Not the kind of time-wasting where you spend Sunday on the couch watching movies, drinking hot tea, and eating chips and chocolate – but the kind where you sweep things under the carpet to deal with ‘later’, or you put things off that you really want to do – until ‘later’.

I’m a weird girl, I’m told…

I dont yearn for Disneyland, or a gondola ride through Venice, or hot buttery croissants near the Champs Élysées in Paris, or a six star hotel, or a pamper day at a Spa.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure all those things would be very nice, and I’d ‘adapt’ if I needed to (!!) – but they aren’t the things I yearn for…

I want to spend half an hour just kissing.
I want to make love slowly and luxuriously and often – just disappearing into oneness with my beautiful Wife.
I want to grow my own veges, on a block of dirt that we’ve started from scratch.
I want to live in one room, while building a 3 room home, and showering from a bucket.
I want to have to empty a stinky portaloo – cos my Love would spew her heart out, if she had to do it!

I want to feel the sun, wind and rain on my back, as I dig in the garden, getting dirt wedged under my nails!
I want to lie wrapped in my Loves arms, with my head nestled into her chest, just listening to her heartbeat, as we both doze; with a warm fat cat asleep near our feet.
I want to walk along the beach at dusk, holding her hand.

But what I most want, is to Live!

Not just exist…

 

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