Pottery Chatroom Board

I've largely stepped away from the internet these days.
My health is no longer good, and my get up and go has got up and went.
COPD mixed with pneumonia is a vicious combination.

An interesting 18 hours.
Around 10 pm I awoke unable to breathe.
I was trying hard to suck air, but zilch.
I thought I was going to die.
Called an ambulance, who brought oxygen and cortisone, and they managed to get me breathing again on the way to Ipswich Hospital.
Turns out my COPD is worse, I also had pneumonia, and a mucus plug, where phlegm blocked my airway, preventing air from entering, effectively smothering me.
They've given me all sorts of new medications.

Katie, I hear you about the gap in our lives left by a loved dog - it's the worst.

A tragic week all around for the potties.

(((Marson))).
I'm so sorry.

I have lenses in my eyes, one short vision and one long vision.
It means I don't need glasses, despite being 75 years old.
Then after two years they had to be adjusted with a laser to make up for the scar tissue from the original surgery, which they said is a normal procedure.
It was all free to me because I'm an aged-pensioner.

Susan, so Smoke has three people looking after him? Do you all call him Smoke?

Katie, when you said something's eating your irises, I immediately thought you had an eye disease.

Max, pound system? Weights, or currency? Actually it doesn't matter, as we're decimalised.
We have a number of pigeons and doves with pink legs.

Max, I was reading about Lake Mead. Bodies from the 1970s and 1980s; one stuffed into a metal barrel, with a bullet hole in the skull. In due course there'll be a spooky book about it.

Yes, I had my flu shot just yesterday morning, and no after affects at all: The weather is cooling, though we rarely reach freezing-point in this part of Queensland - maybe one night every couple of years, and then the local media is full of it, asking for reader's photos, which they never pay for. As a photographer who sells photos for money, I never send free photos in. I think the days of the news photographer are over, with so many folk simply whipping-out their phone at the first hint of anything unusual.

The really brightly coloured birds, like parrots, tend to be sedentary, though we do get some that have annual migrations, such as the Rainbow bee-eaters.

LOL about the meat platter. So many things from recent memory are becoming history.

Susan, a few years ago I was asleep in the motorhome in a wooded area, and a huge tree limb broke with a loud crack, hit the ground on its end, bounced up, and landed again on the bonnet (hood) of the vehicle, denting it and breaking the windscreen.
You better believe that I and the two dogs leapt outta bed. I never park right under a tree for precisely that reason, but when the branch actually ups and rebounds right at the motorhome, there's not a lot to be done.

Katie, I'm getting my flu shot today - winter is coming.

LOL about the haircut. When I was younger I'd give myself mohicans, or shave my head, or do other silly stuff for my driver licence photo.

Katie, Queensland has phased out the use of an eye chart for renewing a driving license.
The government determined that nobody in Queensland had ever been prosecuted for driving while visually impaired.

Shelly, I'm sorry to hear that your son has to undergo chemo; it's probably better than the alternative though.

Katie, sure it's bird flu, and not Mad Bird Disease?
WTG on your model car sales.

Shelly, I'm so sorry to hear of your son's diagnosis. I sure hope the chemo works for him.

Previcid for memory? That's given to people with severe heartburn, (oesophageal reflux).

Reading many of our Posts recently, I fear we are all getting old.
I thought the COPD would get me, but now I'm wondering if dementia will.
I consistently fail the usual tests, like remembering what I had for dinner last night - I can rarely recall such things.
I have trouble remembering the names of my dogs.
They used to say that the only one who didn't realise a person was mad was the person themself, and from observing Mum's slide into dementia, I feel that saying applied to dementia too, as Mum never seemed to realise she had it.
That is my one glimmer of hope, as I'm pretty sure I have got it in the earlier sages, - which may mean I don't have it.

Who would've thought in 1999/2000, that so many of us on the old eBay chat boards would still be chatting in 2022?
Even without this chatboard, my Facebook Friend's list includes others from those times, such as Gayle, and Myra and Jane. I wish I could still remember their eBay user names. (Gayle is/was Trez Chic or similar).

Some years ago I took a photo of a clutch of Cassowarry eggs. Cassowarries are the third largest bird in the world, so their eggs are large - and bright green. I listed the image through Shutterstock, who sell images on behalf of the likes of me.
That photo has taken off this Easter, selling many times, including to Cadbury chocolate, to print on their Easter egg wrapping.
It's made a bit of money this year, though I don't remember it selling much for previous Easters.
Life is strange.

Max, I haven't seen any birds wheezing and coughing, or falling from the sky.
I'm not sure whether Australia has bird flu in the wild, though it has been a problem with domestic chickens, and then every last chicken on that property has to be destroyed, which is heart-breaking when the larger properties have a million or more birds.

Susan, I don't have a landline, just the cell phone.
It tells me if the caller is one of my contacts; if I don't recognise the number I let it go through to voicemail. If the caller does not leave a message on voicemail, I mark the number as spam, and then I never hear from them again.
I've done that for years, and never had a problem with robocalls or spam or sellers.

Your crash lawsuit is starting to sound worrying.

Max, those big strong garage door springs should not be breaking like that. I wonder what causes it?

Katie, stay well.
Here's some info about dizziness and blood sugar levels.

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/type-2-diabetes-dizziness

Susan, pulling out in front of a driver means little, and does not prove you're at fault, unless you pulled out in a manner that obstructed him.
If you pulled out while he was still a good distance away, then he should not have hit you, period.
Things to consider are the speed he was doing. Was he distracted, such as using a phone, eating or drinking?
Anyhoo, good luck with that.

Good news that Boss is mobile again, Katie.

Shelly, I hope the news is good for your son, re the tests.
My hand is fine, thanks. Sylvia's foot is healing slowly, and she's walking on it without a limp.

Susan, the guy who hit you is suing you? HE hit YOU?

Max, garage door springs come in fairly standard sizes. Hopefully it won't be too long before the service guy fixes it. Um, how is it possible to break a strong spring like that?

Katie, sorry to hear about Boss Dog. Is he getting better, at all?

Max, thanks for the update on Irene.

What happened to Irene? Max, why a Bob Evans place?

Yes, Australia has opened up again, and tourists are flooding back in. Qantas is almost back to normal numbers, which I think is due to our previous total closure making the sudden lifting of restrictions like a dam wall bursting.

Susan, if fuel-thieves drill into the tanks, then I guess it doesn't really matter whether the car has an inside lock or not.
I had my other eye done last week, yes, and I'm more than happy with it, because I'm taking photographs again.

It's soo good to be back to cooler nights. I get to sleep again.

Shelly, I'm sorry to hear your news about your son.

It seems modern cars don't have an internal lock to the fuel cap because they're tamper proof - people cannot syphon fuel out of the tanks due to S bends and stuff in the pipe.

The floods affected huge areas of Qld and NSW. Inland seas, and worse along the coastline.

Max, the floods were the worst in Australia's white history (ie since records began).

Sylvia is starting to put weight on her bad foot, and walk around now.

Petrol is going up around the world right now, and is likely to go higher yet.
I've bought shares in petrol-producing companies, and they're showing a healthy profit. The trap will be if Putin suddenly pulls his head in, and petrol prices come tumbling down. (I have a hair-trigger finger on the SELL button for my online brokerage company.)

Thanks Shelly, the floods have receded in Queensland, though they're still bad in NSW.

Sylvia's foot wound where her big toe used to be, is recovering on schedule. It's a slow schedule because she's diabetic, which means slower-than-normal healing of wounds.

Yes, our birds, like many others, go out of breeding plumage in winter.

Five years is not a bad life for car tyres, Katie. Though as you don't mention the condition of the tread, I assume they still have a life ahead of them.

Yes, I remember Ginger. I always thought of her as, "long-suffering Ginger", but now it seems as though my flippant thought has come tragically true for the poor lady.

Massive rain over Queensland.
I'm cut off here in Coominya. No roads out. But we're high enough to be an island in a sea of floodwater.

This Ukraine invasion is a worry. But then I've been worried about Putin's ambitions and his ruthlessness since he took over from Yeltsin in 1999.

Marson, they told me that almost all cataract surgery needs a laser follow-up after two or three years.
They explained, with diagrams, how the muscles behind the eye usually develops scar tissue from the original surgery, and as the tissue thickens, it moves the lens ever so slightly, which is enough to put it out of sharp focus.
The laser procedure, which takes only 30 seconds, burns away enough scar tissue to allow the lens to return to its normal focus.
(While the actual laser procedure takes just 30 seconds or so, the waiting room bit, waiting for the pupil enlargement etc to happen, is a half-hour job.)

Hi Susan.
The eye surgeon didn't want to give me two different lens, short vision in one and long-distance in t'other. But I have a friend who has that, so I insisted.
My surgeon said that in 15% of cases the brain cannot handle two different lenses, and the patient becomes nauseous and disoriented.
I said I was willing to take the chance, because otherwise I'd still need glasses for the ones I didn't have, either reading glasses if I had long-distance lenses put in, or long distance glasses if the other way around.
My passion for wildlife photography was being impacted, because I could no longer see the birds at 30 paces or further. I also earn money from my photography, selling the images around the world.
After I explained all that, he agreed that for my particular lifestyle, two different lenses would be good.

Sylvia is very active, with a wiry build, so keeping her off her injured foot is difficult.

The bird is a Rainbow bee-eater, and they live in burrows. In this image I managed to get it flying past its own burrow.

Max, I have a short-vision lens in my left eye, and a long-distance lens in my right. That way I don't need to wear glasses for one or the other.
Last week's procedure was my left eye, the short vision lens, which I don't use for driving, so I was able to drive home.
Next month's laser op will be different, being on my long-vision eye, so I may need a driver for that one, unless as you mentioned, I wait it out for an hour or two before driving.

Sylvia's foot is ever so slowly improving, so they're not talking about a further amputation at this time.

The eye op went great, and my short vision is AOK again.
Next month it's the long vision procedure.

Shelly, Sylvia's back in hospital again while they Xray and otherwise check her bad foot. I think their talk of removing her foot was more of a warning to her of what could happen if she continues to walk on the foot when she's supposed to be resting it.

Marson, wow, both your son AND his girlfriend injured? Um, were they sober?

The photo is a few years old now. It's a flock of wild budgerigars.

Katie, sorry to hear your colonoscopy is postponed again.
That was your own choice?
In Australia, all elective surgery in public hospitals is cancelled until further notice.

I do have my laser eye operation tomorrow, but that's in a private eye clinic, not a public hospital.

If we thought that amputating Sylvia's big toe would solve the infection problem, we were wrong. She's back in hospital, and they're talking about taking her foot.
I appreciate that they were hoping to save her foot, but the way it's panning out, it would've been better to take it off first time.
This is like death by a thousand cuts.

Great news about your dog, Katie. There's a song, "the cat came back". That could be changed to, "the dog came back".

The days are still hot here, but summer is slipping towards an end, with the nights much cooler. On our early morning walks I have to wear a long sleeved shirt even.

The bird is a Crimson chat. About the size of a sparrow.

Katie, um, snow pics?

I hope that by now, the really bad parts of your weather bomb has passed, and that America is again having a normal kind of winter.

Meanwhile we've just gone through several days of heat and humidity which was broken yesterday in a series of wild thunderstorms.
I had one terrified and trembling Beauty dog to calm, which I did by pressing gently on her body with my hands, like a comfort-blanket, while Duzzy, a most solicitous little dog, helped by nuzzling his face into her face. (Duzzy is not scared of thunder).

A cormorant caught a fish, then posed for a second while I clicked the shutter.

Max, I'd not heard of Tom Brady, so I googled, and the first entry was about a Tom Brady denying he's retiring.
Is this the same Tom Brady who's going to retire?
I guess statistics are on your side - sooner or later Tom Brady will retire. But is it sooner, or is it later?

https://www.foxsports.com.au/nfl/nfl-2022-tom-brady-retirement-lets-go-siriusxm-show-latest-news/news-story/fea6e6239ac05c86cdb0027c92cafb0a

What are you putting off again, Kaitie? The colonoscopy, or the snow plough? I don't envy you the colonoscopy. Make sure you stay dehydrated.

Susan, I read about those falling iguanas. That's wild. Reminds me of the moving angels in Dr Who.

The bird is a Square-tailed kite. They're listed as vulnerable, so I was pleased to get a shot of this increasingly rare species.

If you're having a lot of snow, be safe.

I saw a news item that made me laugh out loud, where a bridge collapsed yesterday under weight of snow, just hours before the President arrived to talk about - infrastructure spending.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-60173771

Susan, they're called Galahs, and they're cockatoos.
They're a playful parrot. My pic shows one hiding from its mate for no reason other than to play 'a joke' on it.

Marson, ROTFLMAO.

I saw an interesting caterpillar, took photos, then researched it.
It's only found in the eastern part of Australia, it seems.

Here's an interesting article on the Saunders Case moth ...

https://alessandrabergamin.medium.com/the-summer-of-the-saunders-case-moth-a2b9bd24b52b

Sorry folks, that King parrot was the male, not the female.

Sylvia is back from the hospital early, because there was a Covid scare - that virus is running rampant right now. The hospital decided to discharge as many patients as possible.

Max, great news about the furnace. What a time for it to conk out, in mid-winter.

Katie, you're talking about Mike's mild dementia?
I'm wondering how long it takes to develop into something deeper. Only I'm becoming more forgetful all the time. I even have trouble remembering my own dog's names sometimes.

I sell my images on shutterstock, which pays peanuts per pic (less than a buck, and often only 50 cents, depending on the purchase plan the buyer is on - the buyers are mainly magazines, newspapers and other communication-type corporations, and those who pay, say, $500 for a 12 month subscription get unlimited images for that $500.)
But the upside is, I get to keep ownership of the image, so I can sell it again and again, and not just on shutterstock.
So if an image is really popular, the shutterstock sales may run into the hundreds per year, at an average of, say, 65 cents each, which is a handy amount, especially as I have hundreds of photos selling there.
These days, at 75 years old, I honestly can't be bothered printing and framing my photos to sell in markets, and that's without the pandemic stopping me going into crowded places.
I guess you could say that I'm not "maximizing my assets" to use the business term.
But y'know what? I don't care.

RATS covid testing kits are free to people on Concession Cards in Australia, which includes the elderly, the disabled, low-income and students.
As those groups may include some who get easily confused by written instructions, it's also free for the pharmacist or other professional helper to administer the test for them, with the government paying them to do it, though as Katie mentioned, going into a place that's full of potential covid patients is not necessarily a safe thing to do.
Laying hands on the test kits is another matter, with a massive shortage right now. Though I noticed our local pharmacy advertised they had a batch delivered yesterday, and there was an almost immediate line of elderly folk all down the road until the tests were sold out again - it took less than an hour to sell and administer the test.
Right now Australia's outbreak makes it one of the world's most affected countries, which is a far cry from 3 months ago, before we opened our borders.
I think that governments around the world are now deciding that it's herd-immunity time, and those who haven't been vaccinated have themselves to blame. Trouble is, Omicron infects the vaccinated and the boosted.

Sylvia's stll recovering in hospital. I don't know how long she'll be there for.
Because I'm here to cook etc, they'll probably release her earlier. Sylvia said that this time when the social worker (she calls them 'do-gooders') came to chat to her, which they always do as she's 82 this May, there was no pressure for her to go into residential care, because I'm here.
The over 75s are on the mandatory hospital reporting list, where the hospital must report patients. Other things on the list include bullet wounds, stab wounds, people who have no Medicare card - this world really is Big Brother these days, but then we get the governments we voted in.
Susan, you're right about her bad hand and other injuries healing slowly or not al all, because of the diabetes.
Yes, my own hand has healed from the wild-cat attack now, which I guess proves I don't have diabetes.

The photo is a King parrot at the sunflowers. It's a female; the males are more brilliantly colored.

Shelly, I think Sylvia may be in hospital for a while longer.

Max, they've allowed her sister to visit her, and me too, but only one of us at a time. I'm deferring to her sister, as they're blood relatives.
Sylvia and I chat on our phones, and on zoom where we can see each other.

Katie, how'd it go with that covid-exposure. Y'all ok?

The hovering bird is a New Holland Honeyeater in a flowering Grevillea tree.
I can understand how American hummingbirds hover, because they're so light.
But this bird is 7 inches long.

I think the West Wing is perhaps the best TV series I've ever watched.
It's also got me interested in the architecture of the White House.
The West Wing seems to be of a different era to the White House proper.
I'll have to google to see when that addition was built.

Thanks for the birthday wishes.
It was an eventful birthday: Sylvia, a diabetic, has an ulcerated big toe that the doctors cannot heal-up.
It's on the underside of her toe, so unless she put on clean socks daily, not allowing the insole of her shoe to contact the ulcer, it becomes infected.
The infection goes into her foot, then into her leg, which becomes swollen and purple.
Yesterday the leg was really bad, so I drove her to the doctor, who said there was a stench from the toe, and he was worried aboiut gangrene.
As we live 50 kms from the nearest big hospital, he said that it would be quicker if I drove her to the emergency dept at Ipswich General, than calling an ambulance, which would have to travel the 50 kms to get there, before taking her back again.

WELL. The emergency entrance is guarded by armed security guards and a team of nurses, to keep covid patients out - they have to go to a special Fever Entrance.
They aimed a thermometer at her head, and the infection had given her a fever, which is a covid-like symptom, so she was taken by one of the guards to the fever entrance, and I was not allowed in, so I drove the 50 kms back home.

The infection is in her toe bone, so the toe must come off, which they will do today.

I've been reading and watching news of the foul weather in north America.
I've been to Charlotte, Asheville and a couple of other places mentioned.
It looks awful. Stay safe everyone.

I'm traveling hardly at all since the pandemic started, so when I see DVD boxed sets at garage sales or goodwill shops, I buy them.
There are two American TV shows I have, both full boxed sets.
One is The West Wing. I bought all seven seasons, and I'm onto the second season right now.
I love that series. I don't know how well it mirrors what actually happens in the White House, and I suspect that each Administration would be different, but for light comedy and pure entertainment, it's great.

The other boxed set is The Handmaid's Tale, seasons one to three, and again I'm on to season two.
I dislike this programme: Too black, too violent, too depressing. I don't know if I'll be able to finish the set.

Katie, I hope the gall bladder problem can be cleared up soon. I understand they can hit the stone with sonic waves to disintegrate them?
.
My eyes are getting fuzzy, even though I had cataract surgery (new plastic lenses) 2 1/2 years ago.
I went back to that eye clinic a few days ago, and they said it was because the muscle behind the new lenses had thickened, and moved them a tad, thus making my vision fuzzy.
Meanwhile, Australia has banned elective surgery in hospitals while the health system deals with Covid, but as the eye clinic is not a hospital, they're exempt, so they made an appointment for next May, to use a laser beam to erode the muscle and 'instantly' restore my vision.
.
Then yesterday they phoned to bring my appointment forward, to 10th Feb.
As we were finishing, I asked the reason for it being brought forward, and she said it's because they were being inundated with people transferring from hospital surgery, which in in the elective-surgery ban, to the clinic, so they decided to open the laser room full time instead of two days per week, because eye doctors are available in plenty of numbers, as they can no longer do their work in hospitals.
Then she asked why I was asking.
I said it was because my vivid imagination thought of one of their clinicians reviewing all last week's test results, and yelling, "oh my god - get that Hepworth guy back in PRONTO"
As I hung up, she was still convulsing with laughter.

Max, I'm so sorry about your little dog.
How old? It sounds like there was an existing condition?

Max, I find it hard to sit or stand still for long, but when there's an interesting bird or other critter in the viewfinder, I'll hang around, click, click clicking.

It was a glorious sunrise this morning.

The bird is a Little Corella. I managed to catch it's opened wings with the sun behind it, letting light through.

Katie, it sounds as though they discovered the antibiotic for him just in time.

Here's a photo of a pair of King parrots, male and female.
Click the image to enlarge it.

Katie, this business about Mike must seem like living through a nightmare. I hope you get it resolved.

Shelly, I was put on Pantaprazole 40, but I stopped of my own accord because of the side effect, which was continual belching. It could go on for five or ten minutes. It was not hiccups, which come from the diaphragm, and are to do with breathing, but actual belches, which come from the bile duct, and are to do with digestion.
When I told the doctor I'd had to stop he put me on Pantaprazole 20 - half the strength, and then, like you, I only take it when I eat foods that my experience tells me could trigger acid reflux.

Susan, I first met Sylvia online, when she was a member of one of my photography groups. Then her husband died of a heart attack, and she stopped posting in the group.
After maybe three months I messaged her to see how she was doing, and she was in a real mess. Not a soul had come to the house to visit since her husband died, and she was left alone. Her sons didn't come - it looked to her like she'd been abandoned.
Then she fell ill, and that's where Queensland Health found out about her, and started taking a - to her - unwelcome interest.

I immediately hopped in my car and drove the 200 miles to see her, and was frankly horrified.
She had given up. No housework done, and the property was like 5-acres of jungle.
She was terrified of being dragged off by the authorities.
So I drove the car back the 200 miles back to where I was living in the van, and drove the van to her place and parked it there while we sorted-out her problems.
Then I had to get another friend to bring my car from the Gold Coast to Sylvia's place, then I drove my friend the 200 miles home: Let's just say it was a good thousand miles my two vehicles did that weekend.

Max, it's not wildlife, but here's a photo of a rain forest I visited recently.
https://www.picfair.com/pics/013525183-the-cascades-track-new-england-np

Katie, were the back injuries from the helicopters caused during military service? Is Mike receiving any Veteran's help?

Max thank you, but there's an element of self-interest in what I'm doing: During this pandemic I feel more secure not traveling around in the motorhome. Basing myself somewhere permanent or semi-permanent seems 'right' from my own point of view.
I've even spent a few grand on a high carport to keep the roof with its solar-panels safe from hail and bird droppings.

Sorry to hear that, Katie.

Mike must be getting on now. What ails him, Katie?
Sylvia's mower is also a John Deere.

Katie, Sylvia is an 81 year-old diabetic, and that will always raise red flags with health authorities when the person lives alone on a large (5 acre) property.

The spare bedroom is necessary to keep things 'legal'. It's against the local authority laws to camp permanently in a motorhome on private property - it's supposed to be located in a licensed van park.
But having a bedroom in the house gets around that.
It also gets around the fact that Queensland Health want Sylvia to have a live-in carer/companion in order for her to continue living here.

The mowing is not too hard as she has a ride-on tractor mower.

Shelly, no, I doubt that Sylvia could live here alone - and before I came, Queensland Health were unhappy about it, saying she should go into care if she doesn't have a carer living here.
It was heading towards a court case, because she's independently-minded, and was refusing to budge.
I can see their point, because if Sylvia had become injured or died while she was alone, and it turned-out that QH knew about her situation, all hell would've broken lose, perhaps people there losing their careers - western nations are becoming nanny-states more and more these days.
The court case to put her into care would've involved doctors, psychiatrists, lawyers - in other words, expensive.
That's when I stepped in and said I'd park my motorhome on her property, and help her with mowing her 5 acres, and some other stuff (bearing in mind that I'm 75 myself).
Anyway, it's quieted the baying wolves in Qld Health, and as well as the motorhome, I have the spare bedroom in the house.

My hand is healing, though not totally healed. For instance, I used to be able to lift and pour from a smallish pail, one-handed, including twisting my wrist and my hand. But these days I need to use both hands to do that. It's definitely healing though, and I'm confident it will get back to normal.

Shelly, my antennae twitched when you said you're on medication for acid reflux: After my last endoscopy, they said they'd found Barrets Esophagus, which is a pre-cancerous lesion in the espohagus caused by bile. I'd never felt any burning or other sensation before, but as it can lead to esophageal cancer, they've put me on medication to stop the reflux. It's called Pantoprazole. Is that what you take?

Katie, I recall that decades ago, resins were put into cupboards, sea chests etc so their fragrance would act as an insect inhibitor.
But once the fragrance went, the insects returned.

Marson, some of those pithy sayings are hilarious.

I saw that about the endangered Malayan tiger on our Australian news.
The zoo had intended to breed it, in a bid to keep the species going. Now it's dead.

Max, I assume the Australian fireworks you saw were the ones over Sydney Harbour.
The mango clusters are called panicles, from memory.

Katie, ultrasounds are certainly a different kettle of fish to the 'oscopies'.

Ah, of course. Marson + chocolates = her final sentence.
The equation makes perfect sense - Marson likes chocolates.

Morning all on the last day of 2021. I'm sure that 2022 will be a wonderful, Covid-free year of peace and goodwill - ok ok, I'm a dreamer.

Shelly and Max, my hand is coming along very well thank you. Only a slight puffiness there now, and lots of peeling skin; I wonder why skin peels all around a wound - or is that just me?
Shelly, yes I should've mentioned that clicking on the Wompoo fruit dove image would enlarge it. Thanks for doing that li'l thing for me.
Max, most thieves are dumb - that's why they have to be thieves. You sure can't get much dumber than stealing someone else's bike, and then riding it around the same area you stole it in.
It's a worry when people who are double jabbed plus a booster, both get covid. They say that without the jabs, it would be much worse, so that's the silver lining. But still, it's a worry.
Where do you live, Max, for you to be enjoying warm weather?

Katie, it's good to hear that your coronary artery disease was caught at Stage One. It means you should be able to manage/medicate it to prevent it becoming a major problem.
They usually do the colonoscopy and endoscopy together, while you're there on the operating table. At least that's what they do with me. But that may be our Australian free health care system that tries to save money by insisting such things are done together.

Susan, icard? Is that a card made by Apple?
I'm glad to hear your booth sales have been good recently.

It's mango season here right now, and we're pigging out on them from our own trees.
https://i.postimg.cc/13pPNM4J/Mango-tree-1.jpg

It's Christmas Eve in Australia. Happy Christmas and Happy Holidays to the few survivors still posting here.

I thought I'd show you a Wompoo fruit dove, which I was thrilled to photograph during a visit to a rainforest an hour's drive away.
They're secretive birds, not often seen, which is why I, as a wildlife photographer, was so happy to get the image.

Max, the wild cat got me because I was stupidly trying to save its life.
My two dogs had it up against a 4' high mesh fence, and they're not merciful to anything they find trespassing on their property.

Koalas and possums just shimmy up a tree, but this cat did not see the mesh fence because of the meshes; it thought it could simply race through, but it was wrong.

Along comes Gordon, whistling a happy tune, saw what's up, and thought, "simple - I'll just use the scruff of its neck to hoick it over the fence; what could be simpler?"

Turns out, getting a full understanding of Einstein's Theory of Relativity could be simpler.
That thar feral latched onto my hand and gave me all it had.

But one week later and the healing is beyond expectations.
The practice nurse (who is a Registered Nurse and also the doctor's wife) kept saying how amazing it was, and I agreed it wasn't bad healing for an old guy. She said it was great healing for any age at all.

https://i.postimg.cc/ydRXFJsZ/injured-hand-a-week-later.jpg

Hi Shelly. I hope you had a great birthday yesterday.
If you're at all unsure about your eye doctor, then there's really no need to be going back to him, is my view.

Susan, pleased to hear about your glass sale. It goes to snow that elderly gentlemen have their uses.
Strangely, I was just yesterday reading about uranium, and barium, cobalt etc - all those things that make stuff glow, and how the pioneers in the field almost all died of cancer.

Katie, that diet you have Boss on sounds healthy. So it's not an all-kibble diet that causes his anal glands to inflame.
Maybe discuss with the vet what could cause it? Though if it's infrequent, it may not be worth stressing over.

Katie, I was reading recently that a kibble-only diet can bring on anal-gland problems.
The fibre and bulk from soft foods massages the glands on the way out, which gently squeezes them and releases any build-up.
Since reading that, I've always included something fibrous, a slice of potato or pumpkin, or a bit of cabbage from my plate, with the food when I feed my two dogs.

Katie, we're seeing footage from the KY weather event. Stay safe.

What is/was wrong with Boss?

I got attacked by a feral (wild) cat, and using a mouse and keyboard is laborious and painful.
It looks like our quick actions in first aid may have saved me from surgery and an IV antibiotic drip.
So it's strong capsule antibiotic, codeine painkillers that zonk me out and I sleep for10 or 12 hours, plus being one handed for a while.

I'll return when using a comptuer is less stressful.

https://i.postimg.cc/d01bZxSC/injured-right-hand.jpg

Susan, I'd never heard of Cowbirds until you just mentioned it, so I did some reading: WOW! They're not even in the cuckoo family, and they seem a lot more aggressive than the average cuckoo.

. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two or three years ago Australia had some widespread and truly horrendous bushfires, which engulfed almost every part of the continent, if not with fire then with smoke, and many people died of smoke-related problems like asthma.
Then it was discovered that entire communities of animal life had been wiped out, to the extent that koalas were placed on the vulnerable list. In some areas including my own region, they went locally extinct, and the more sensationalist media screamed about koalas going completely extinct in the wild.
A huge scientific programme was brought to bear, with people coming from all over the world including the USA to work on the problem, but I really disliked the way they brought the few koalas they found, to the ground in nets suspended below, to weigh, measure and ear tag the animals: It must've been so stressful.
Then they said that sightings of koalas should be reported to a hotline.

Koala number must be increasing, because for a couple of months now we've had a family of koalas living on and around our 5 acre property - a male, female, and joey.
I see them quite a lot, including the male bellowing when he's in rut.
"Science" wants me to call the hotline and report them, but that would mean a team of people racing here to pull the marsupials to the ground and measure and tag them.
No way, sez I.
This is one koala family that will not be harassed. They can live here in peace.

https://i.postimg.cc/QtRHjXXr/koala.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/x8vTYMxK/koala.jpg

Thanks Katie.

Max, I hope they catch that bike thief.
I posted images a few weeks ago? I don't remember. It's a worry to be losing memory when one's 75.

Here's the world's largest cuckoo, the Channel-billed cuckoo.
Other birds hate it, and are always chasing and harassing it, especially crows, ravens and such larger birds, whose nests the cuckoo mainly parasitises.

https://i.postimg.cc/XvwsPFgx/cuckoo.jpg

Max, I wish there was an easy way to post photos here. I have some wonderful images I'd like to share, if I knew how.

Katie, it's good you've had that test. Hopefully the doctors will be able to help you from the results.

Max, your ironstone 'bowl' on a pedestal sounds like a compote bowl.
Try looking for "ironstone compote bowl" in eBay,
That groomer sounds like trouble, I'm afraid. Is there no-one else you can use?

Susan, I'm a fan of New Zealand's Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern. She's a young go-getter, but there's many people, mostly middle-aged misogynistic men, who can't stand her.

Max, Auckland International Airport in New Zealand is a 3 hour jet flight from the nearest point in Australia. I've only been there while transiting to other destinations, such as the USA.
Never been there for a holiday, which is my loss, from what I've heard.

Max, I'm sorry to hear that you need increased oxygen. I can well imagine how it must impede your daily life.
I hope you'll improve, though COPD is a progressive disease. I assume your doctor will have discussed it all with you. Keep trying to exercise your lungs, even though it must be soo hard by now.

Susan, thanks for explaining about Zac. He goes back a long way in your life.

Katie, I still have all those videos I made with and about Mum. I have not looked at them for yonks though. It seems like another life. Well, it WAS another life.

I'm approaching the third year of not having my usual "annual' dental check-up, because the thought of having two humans peering into my wide-open mouth during a pandemic, does not, shall we say, fill me with cheer.

Susan, so sorry you're going through all this. You mention Zac often. What relation is he to you?

True on all counts, Katie.
Plus I use the tractor mower to keep her grass down, and help her with such things as property taxes, taking the garbage the 120 yards to the kerb each week, and just generally being useful.

Max, I've parked my motorhome on an elderly friend's 5-acre property.
She's 81 and becoming frail. The health authorities were concerned about her living alone, and were suggesting she may need to enter a nursing home, which terrifies her as she's an independent type.
So I park there now, and I also have a bedroom in her house, because she feels safer with me sleeping under the same roof rather than in my motorhome, due to her having occasional falls. (She also loves my two little dogs.)
I actually consider the motorhome as 'home' no matter where it's located, but I'm single, mobile, and able to move the vehicle - and myself - to wherever it will do some good.

Like Katie, I'm also concerned about your BP issues, Max. I hope they get it under control sooner rather than later.

Good luck with your booster, Katie.
I haven't been vaccinated long enough to require a booster - sometime after Christmas, I think.
I had not heard of problems with boosters at all.

What gizmos, Katie? Are they located in another state?

Susan, your generator automatically kicks in when you have a power outage? Now that's really handy.
You were lucky the house didn't burn down, for sure.

Katie, are you happy with your new notebook?

Stay warm, American (and Canadian) Potties. It's going to get chilly there soon.

Good to read your good news post, Katie.

Susan, aircon is good for keeping humidity levels down, but if it's not warm enough to warrant aircon, then yes, a dehumidifier would be the go.

Katie, ditto with my White Coat Syndrome pushing my blood pressure upwards.
One doctor, some years ago, used to put me in a vacant consulting room to do my own reading.

Marson, sounds as though you have a regular smorgasbord of medications.

Katie, that's the strangest roo I've ever seen.

Max, why do you need to take potassium?

Katie, I guess I'd been waiting to see if it got better, but instead it's getting worse.
I'm starting to suspect IBD.
I'll be going to the doctor within the week.

That's a worry, you taking so long to come out of sedation. I suppose you must spend longer than the average patient in the recovery room.

Katie, sounds like you get enough exercise. I know what you mean about not feeling 'well'. I have not felt well since the colonoscopy three months ago. It was my umpteenth colonoscopy, but the others all ended with no after-affects. Not this last one though.

Susan, do you have COPD?

Susan, you're supposed to exercise (my exercise is walking) hard enough to make you puff slightly, but not make you winded, so at least 20 minutes a day.
That way, your lungs expand and contract regularly, and that strengthens them.
New research says the 20 minutes doesn't have to be in one hit - you could do a couple of 10 minute stretches.
Of course, walking has more health benefits than just exercising the lungs: General mood; leg muscles; bone density; ankles, feet, and so on.

Katie, I'm thinking that little machines can be pretty durn deadly also. Think, motorcycle at speed. Or segways.

Katie, I fear the pandemic is here for next season too, and perhaps the season after.
After that, they say it will become endemic in the human population, like the flu, not too bad some years, but really bad in other seasons.

As for getting old, I cannot run, or even jog anymore. My COPD lungs, plus my old leg muscles, will not allow it.
For someone who used to run everywhere, it's my biggest signal that I'm now old.
For those who have Facebook accounts, the video shows me running in 2007, fourteen short years ago.

https://www.facebook.com/gordon.hepworth.3/videos/10155853619398065

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-16/queensland-what-happened-to-the-flu-in-2021/100456616

Oh noo: I broke the board.

It was early morning here in Australia - about 5 am, and I was walking my dog.
A gas station over the road was full of cars with no drivers, and at 5 am that was unusual.
I crossed over, looked in through the window, and everybody was watching the TV on the wall.
They kept showing a big plane hitting a high-rise building which I recognised to be the WTC in New York, so I thought it was a disaster movie,and walked on.
But after I'd walked five minutes I finally worked out that cars are not going to pull into an Australian gas station just so folk could watch a disaster movie, and so a big plane must indeed have hit the WTC.
I walked back to the fuel place, and cars were still pulling off the highway to go in and watch their TV.
I joined them, and learned the full horror, including by now, the first tower falling.
The joint was crowded, so I had to pick Snow up. I stood there, holding my little dog, shoulder-to-shoulder in a crowded gas station, almost in a daze as the rest of the drama unfolded.

20 years ago?
I still remember where I was and what I was doing when those planes hit the towers.

Max, I don't understand.
Memorial Dy in USA is late May. Why would a local newspaper have an article about it in September?

Max, OIC. Yes, I charge the batteries in my motor home via three solar panels on the roof. Or I can plug into a domestic power supply to charge them. Or I can go for a drive and charge them via the engine.

Hmm, my COPD is definitely not as bad as yours, I'm relieved to say.

Max, you mean the solar panels on the rooves? They're everywhere I look. It reminds me of TV antennae in the 1950s - if your roof did not have one, you were considered 'poor'.

I was diagnosed with COPD stage 1 in 2009, and it's still at stage 1.
I've been very lucky that it has not progressed. In fact, I'm starting to question the diagnosis, because COPD is definitely a progressive disease.
Sorry about your A fib. My doctor says I have heart arrhythmia, but says it's harmless, so I'm not going to worry too much. At 75 years old, I can't be bothered worrying about the small stuff - there's enough big stuff to worry about.

A Happy Birthday Max.
Why was your pulmonary appointment canceled, did they say? Why do you need a pulmonary specialist? I assume you have lung problems?

Winter is finishing up in Australia. Not looking forward to summer.

Katie, I'm in full agreement with you about Facebook's hypocrisy.
They allow blatant thieves and robbers to advertise with them; they allow misleading information going under the guise of 'posts', but if you complain about it, it's you they boot off.
I have a friend who got a FB warning for saying that groups of males who roam the streets looking for gay people to bash, were "vile pieces of sh*t", so she posted the FB warning on her FB page, saying that Facebook was truly the worst of all the social media companies, - and that got her booted for a day for 'hate speech'.

Susan, great story about Cyclops. It gave me a laugh.

Max, cold calling is not scamming per se. It's pestering maybe. It only becomes scamming if you make dishonest claims or try to dishonestly separate folk from their money.

Max, masks are mandated throughout the Australian continent right now, and over half the population is in lockdown.
Where I am (Queensland) has just come out of lockdown, thanks to no new community cases for some days.
As Katie says, it's the unvaccinated who are spreading this thing now.

My second A-Z shot is next week. It's a long wait between jabs with Astra-Zeneca: 12 weeks.

Susan, good luck with your one-eyed cat. Love the name Cyclops

Sorry to hear about Peaches, Susan.
As you said, you improved her lot in life,and she would've been grateful - and contented.

Max, I cannot believe how some people cannot or will not take this pandemic seriously.
We get the same in Australia also.

Max, you're right about the vaccination certificates being too big. However you can apply to have a digitized version on your smart phone, and then you just flash that to anyone who needs to see it.

Susan, wishing Peaches the best. It's a horrible thing, having to put a beloved pet to sleep.