All in a day's work

Sunny day.

Worky day.

Lots of work to be done.

Palms in the back garden in dire need of a trim

Trim........trim.........trim

Pomgamia tree needed a haircut too

After all the tree trimming, the grass was envious, so tomorrow will be a grass cutting day.

What's up doc?

I don't know if I should be relating these facts, but since this is my blog about my life, I need to fill in the gaps.
Okay, remember when I took my first set of blood tests back in May and the results went awol?
Then you also remember that my doctor took some more blood samples and sent them off to the lab at the hospital back in June?
Since then I have been waiting with baited breath for the appearance of said test results.
My daughter and some of my close friends could not fathom how I could be so cool about the entire situation.  Why didn't I go to another private lab they wanted to know?  Because I did not want to have any more blood samples taken. I'd already been through the process twice!!!
Somehow I didn't want to know the results before I went on holiday, and I reassured myself that the results would surely be ready by the time I returned.
Really now?  Decided to check yet again when I came back, and my doctor, the sweet lady that she is, was up in arms.  Her advice..... go pay the hospital lab a visit and see whether they would release the results to me if I pleaded my case.
Three weeks ago, I headed to the lab, where I met a pleasant young chap who told me that he couldn't give me the results even if he wanted to because.....get this....the hospital did not have any paper to print the test results for disbursal......what??????????
I told him all I really wanted to know was whether they had been completed.  He took pity on me, and off he trotted into the back section of the lab to ascertain whether they were completed.  He returned smiling and told me that they were indeed finished, and that as soon as the paper delivery arrived that afternoon, the results would be printed and sent to my doctor pronto.  I thanked him profusely, because you all know I've said it before, it's very hard to get good service out of government personnel.  I am eternally grateful to this young man.

Okay skip forward three weeks to today, when I kept my appointment with my doctor for the said test results.
Do you want to guess the outcome?  Only my test results were received....not a single result for any of the other patients who have had tests over the past few months.....what????
I'm still dumbfounded.
However, the good news is, is that all my blood work was okay with the exception that my cholesterol was a tad high, but nothing to worry about.
In the meanwhile I may have to pick up the cause for all the others who are not as fortunate as I am to have blood test results today. 
Why is it that things have been allowed to get to this awful stage?  People's lives are at stake here.
Something needs to be done.  The staff cannot work under such conditions, and its unfair to ask them to do so.
We hear these stories every day, shortages of everyday items at the hospital and the clinics, but yet nothing is being done to take care of the situation.
It is totally unacceptable.

Back to regular programming

Did you miss me?   I missed me.
Wow....I just don't know how folks enjoy lying in bed all day long....that was hard work for me just trying to keep quiet and get some rest with the flu bug for all those days.
Drove me batty it did......it's just not for me.  And would you know it, the entire week I was ill, not a drop of rain in sight....days hot and bright.....and the garden suffered.
Today is one week since I became sick, and thank goodness....YES.....thank goodness I felt so much better today.
Not wanting to push my body too much, I decided a healthy dose of morning sunshine would do the trick to "sun away" the remnants of the bug.
Of course being sick for a week, my neighbours knew something was not right because my grass verge was like no man's land.
"Is everything okay?  I saw the grass looking very tall, and I know that's not you," one said politely in a concerned telephone call.
"Just getting over the flu," I told her, "I'll have it taken care of by weekend," I assured her.
This morning was just the right time to get the garden whipped back into shape.
Not only that, but during my sickness, the neighbourhood had had two robberies.  Gosh I'm down for a couple of days and all hell breaks loose.
Time to get some shrubs cut back  so that any intruders can be seen easily.
My golden palms along the front patio were the first to face the music.

See how thick they had become?

 

 

Aaaah....so much better

 Trimming merrily along, I suddenly came across this odd looking thing hidden between the fronds.

Admittedly, I was scared at first, since it did resemble some large bug.

Upon closer inspection, I saw it move, and then two mouths appeared.

Two very hungry mouths

A hummingbird nest with two babies.

I saw the mama bird flitting around as I was cleaning up the cut fronds.  She looked quite anxious, but I'm sure she finally realised that I hadn't done any damage to her young ones.

Of course my bodyguard kept me under surveillance to make sure I was okay.

We shall now return you to our scheduled programming......it's so GOOD to be feeling better again.

Flu blues

Yes, I've got the flu....the achy, bone hurting, groggy head, painful eye sockets kind of flu.
I got rained on Friday after visiting with my girlfriend who was just getting over the flu virus as well.
I don't know why I seem to think that I'm invincible in my old age.
I've been chilling out in bed....achy....achy....achy.
Food has no taste, not even a piece of KitKat chocolate....that should tell you something.

I'm all drugged up on medication which I hate taking....

Panadol Multi-symptom Cold and Flu tablets - Non drowsy formula

My boy Brownie is still keeping an eye on the house and on me as well....

Brown Berts on double duty

I'm still drinking herb teas as well.

If you don't see me for a couple of days, I'll be in bed trying to get better.  You know how I hate lying in bed doing nothing.....it's driving me crazy.

When it's not one thing.....

.....it's another.

I had been keeping my eye on a few areas on Brownie's skin that were not looking too right.
The area under his neck was coming along, but then I saw a few tiny spots appear on his front legs which he kept on licking.
He also began to carry out a strange ritual many times during the day and night.
Lying or sitting quietly, he would suddenly get up quickly as if stung and begin to roll vigorously on his back on the floor throwing his feet into the air.  It was quite quirky and a bit funny at first, but then I realised that he was actually trying to counteract something going on with his body....an itch perhaps?
He did wriggle and squirm on his back  before but not with such intensity and ferocious abandon.

Brownie in "itchy back" mode

Time to call up my good friend Mr. Google to see what I was dealing with.
To my amazement several dogs were having the same symptoms as a result of problems with mange, yeast and fungal infections as well.
Next course of action, a visit to our friendly veterinarian.


In the vet's office I attempted to explain and demonstrate what Brownie was doing, and my vet was so impressed with my display that he said to me, "Do it again!!"
He is so funny.


After a quick weigh-in (19.1 lbs), he was declared to be "Too fat!" and needed to be on chow only.
Weight also determined the correct dosage of meds needed.
Diagnosis: A fungal infection.  Mr. BrownBerts is on meds for a month and a cream to be applied to the areas twice a day.

 

 Meds and cream for Brownie

 

 "A notepad for the other patient"

He slept right through the night and didn't once have the "itchy back" syndrome since his first tablet yesterday.

 My only problem now is how to distract him from licking the cream off after I have applied it, so that it gets a chance to do some good.