Tag Archives: Shortest Day

So it’s been a while

But I have a good reason. Honest.

I’m in hospital again. Planned but it’s still going to be a long stay. And we’re away from home, in Melbourne of all places.

So whilst I was looking back through photos, I came across the photos I took one night when the was an amazing moon halo. The halo was complete. I can’t remember now why I was out so late, it may have just been for a meal out, but I watched that halo for hours. It was simply amazing. The planet Jupiter was also out (I believe) and despite the full moon, it was very visible.

I don’t know how well the halo can be seen in this picture but it is just by the tree line. I’ll also see if the ones on the phone came out any better.

So, hospital. Yep. Lousy health again in afraid. Specifically my cervical spine. C5-C6 and C6-C7 have got issues, more accurately had issues. The discs had to be replaced but the joint also fused, both of them. And there was a slight complication with one of the 3 vertebra involved. It was partially removed and reconstructed, then put back in. Or some version of that order. And I have spinal stenosis as well, so the nerve root canals had to be widened or cleaned out. 4 of them were very bad. Bad enough to be affecting my arms both in sensation and strength. Hopefully one everything stoked down and heals there will be no lasting unwanted paralysis. I then went straight into ICU before being transferred to a ward for recovery and now find myself starting inpatient rehab.

The good news is that spinal stenosis does explain some of the issues I’d continued to experience that were not consistent with my lower back issues. The main one being related to my balance. Spinal stenosis at C5-C7 explains it. Sadly I have also acquired the spinal spondylosis, just another way of dying that my spine has age related degeneration 2 decades earlier than it should have. Yippee.

Stuart’s work have very thoughtfully sent me some lovely flowers which have brightened up my 4th room in a week no end. Thank you.

Shortest Day of the Year

So the shortest day of the year started with our coldest night yet.

-‍6C on the sheltered veranda.  It came as a surprise, as did the fact that we still had water!  We have had a couple of issues with the water supply freezing.  I’m not sure if I have mentioned the madness of having to dig up the water pipes to locate them, so that I could bury them properly… It was not an amusing day with Stuart away from home and the hardness of the ground here.  So once the chooks had been fed, I had to take my newly acquired gift, a crowbar, to the ground to dig holes in the garden to try to find a pipe, only to have to bury it again sometime later…  It actually wasn’t that long ago.  30th May.  It was a Tuesday.  I was less than amused.

I have just spent the morning digging to find an exposed pipe so that I could bury it again.
I believe I may have accidentally buried my sense of humour along with the pipe instead of my jobs list.
The irony of this situation is not lost on me, unlike my sense of humour which presumably won’t freeze overnight.

But it has paid off.  It was much colder last night and we still had water this morning, so all we need to do now is to get some grass growing over the soil we added… After all this is Australia so it shouldn’t be that difficult to get grass to grow, should it?

We actually consider this to be buried deeply. After all it is as deep as this water pipe gets!
Starting with the square metal post in the middle bottom of the picture, the line of bamboo canes is the water pipe course leading directly to the base of the emergency water tank.

 

And that soil in the bottom of the last picture, is all that stops the water pipe from freezing because the pipe is actually on the surface of the ground due to a major lack of soil!

So this morning, it was a glorious morning.  Hoar frost, -6C, water, the pond was frozen (OK not very thick, but enough for a complete layer), the water inside the chook house was frozen but the water in the newbies quarters (the old building used as a quarantine area) felt positively warm.  So with chooks in various locations all fed & watered and unlocked, I was able to go walkabout with a camera in hand.

-6C on the sheltered side of the house and on the veranda. A new record low in our time here.
Our view, still frozen and still before the sun gets over the hillside
Frozen but looking good.
Eucalyptus in the frozen sunlight.  I still find it hard getting my head around Australia, Eucalyptus and is being frozen.
Our view, starting to warm up now.
A different angle on our frozen view
In there is the house and the chook house. It puts things into scale!
A spider’s web covered in hoar frost

It wasn`t long before the camera battery was complaining and I had walked as far as I could without either my crutches or my breakfast.  It was time for home.  Breakfast really was calling my name…

Porridge with raspberries and some demerara sugar.