09 I'm ... just easy to see

Popped in to see Benalla Bob on my way through. He is looking well and keeping very busy. V nice Prado, too! Nearly enough to make me wonder about the commercial grade D-Max I bought, but not quite. Anyway, great to see you, Bob. And thanks for lunch!

--- ooOoo ---

Urgent dental job to fix front teeth, parts of which had mysteriously come adrift. Jolly good job and jolly clever dentist in Seymour. Now, when I smile, I don't scare dogs.

--- ooOoo ---

The last time I visited my GP he made some very polite comments about gaining 5kg.

He also noted that some of my important blood readings were trending negatively. Increasing.

And he noted that my blood pressure was up. Again. And commented that it measured higher on my left arm than my right arm.

Fortunately the blood sugar was up only a little and remains relatively good.

He renewed my important prescriptions so I am able to keep driving.

And he gave me referrals for three ultrasounds. In other words, echo location.

The first was to have a sonic look around my lower abdomen. I did protest that there were no submarines lost in my abdomen, no matter how generously proportioned he thought it was (gut, not sub), and no sonar would locate such. But neither the GP nor the sonar specialist was impressed by my wit, so after 20 minutes of slippery slidey sonar special experience and a further 10 minutes of wiping the crud off my belly I collected the images and off I went.

The second was an echocardiogram. No room for wit here. The GP had suspected there could be a bent or blocked artery somewhere around my heart or neck. So I lay on my side and submitted again to the sliming and prodding. Rolled over. More prodding and beeping. More wiping and degreasing.

The next day was a stress echocardiogram. A-ha! Plugs on. Machine that went bing! Step onto this dark grey mat. Ok. Start walking. Ok. Stroll, stroll. My blubber wobbles a little. Why am I puffing? Why is this now uphill? Why is it going faster? Puff. Ok, all - wobble - under - puff - control - puff. Getting - puff puff - steeper. Jiggly-wobbly. Puff puff. Puff Puff Puff Puff. Faster. Puff. Gasp. Steeper! Gasp. Rasp. Gasp. Not enough breath. Where's the doc? In the back corner chatting with technician. Gasp. Gasp. Gasp. Arggh. Gasp. ["Mr Moir, it will slow down in 10 seconds"] Gaaasp. Jiggle. Wobble. Thousand-and-one. thousand-and-two ... thousand-and-seventeen, thousand-and-eighteen ... gaaaaaaaasp. gaaaaaaaaaaasp. ["Mr Moir it will slow down in two seconds"] OK THANKS gaaaaaaaaaasp hack jiggle puffff eyeballs-popping-out wobble thousand-and-three gasp thousand-and-four. Then finally it slowed down and stopped. Leaving me doubled over the support bar trying to get breath back. [Mr Moir. Quickly, onto the examination table.] Gaaasp. Ok. Puff. More slime. Prod. Gaaaasp. Puff. Puff. ["Do you do much exercise, Mr Moir?"]. Lifting - puff - glasses - gasp! Then finally it was over, puff puff. And again the wiping and degreasing. A short wait, then the cardiologist came out and said "Mr Moir. It looks ok. Tell your GP the main thing at the moment is the blood pressure."

And that was that. Now to wait for the GP's verdict.

I'm not fat. I'm just easy to see.

Be seeing you!

08 Echuca Moama Show

This is nearly two weeks late, sorry.

Echuca and Moama are twin towns that face each other across the Murray River, which forms the border between Victoria and New South Wales. Echuca is in Victoria and is promoted as a historical tourist destination that encapsulates bygone life on and around the river. It has living and static museums, and a small fleet of river boats that once transported passengers and freight (notably the W commodities - wheat and wool) through inland SA, Vic, NSW and perhaps as far as QLD - up the connecting Darling River.

The Echuca Moama Show is held over two days on (this year, on 11th and 12th of November), at the Echuca Showgrounds. It is a much larger exercise than the Heathcote Show that I went to on the previous Tuesday, with entertainment and fireworks on the Saturday evening.

I left Glen's bush block bright and early on Sat 11th, and had a pleasant 100km drive up the Northern Highway, with only a small number of numpty drivers out at that time of the morning. The Showgrounds were easy to find and because I was so early I found a parking spot about 30 metres from one of the gates. $10 entry with an indestructable fluoro wrist band and I was in business.

Just inside the gate was a very helpful signpost.

Very helpful, because to my knowledge there was no programme supplied as there was at the Heathcote Show.

As usual the horse competitions had started at sparrows'. Oddly (or perhaps not) I thought I recognised some of the hosses and riders from Heathcote.

Somewhat reminded of the Thelwell cartoons from 1950s onwards

As with the Kilmore Show, the horse competition rings were quite a distance from spectators, in the middle of a race track. At Heathcote there was no racetrack so the horses, riders and competitions were much more immediate and enjoyable.

So I turned away from the horse comps, knowing they would continue all day and likely into Sunday (wasn't sure, because I didn't have a programme), and wandered back towards the community area. There was a sponsored chainsaw carver just firing up.

I wandered back an hour or so later, and he had carved and stained a very convincing eagle. Or was it an owl? Whichever, it was fiercely realistic and would be a great addition to any child's bedroom! Or garden, where no doubt it would scare away the wrens and finches.

So I continued to the livestock area. There was a pair of draught horses and cart offering free rides ...

A shed for livestock competitions (dairy cows as I passed by) ...

The usual petting farm ...

And a pet lamb ...

The sheep in the back ground were waiting to be shorn by an older gent using hand shears like these ...

He said the tool was older than him, and he was 75.

Also in his seventies was a sleeper cutter, right next to the petting farm and shearing demo - demonstrating how rail sleepers were once cut from red gum hardwood ...

His story is on the signboard ...

I passed by again an hour later and he had completed two sides (of four) ...

His next step was to roll the log 90º and complete the other two sides during the next hour, so he was cutting at about quarter the rate of the original cutters.

A few yards away from Doug was a display of stationary engines, also a regular feature of country shows, showing some early type of farm mechanisation ...

Much as I would have liked to watch the unmoving engines, I moved on to an exciting display of moving machinery! These gals and guys were just setting up ...

I believe many of them are truck drivers, and take their work home. Doesn't stop the driving behaviour ...

Across from the model trucks was a speedway display, again just being set up ...

And then just around the corner was the ute competition (static, not circle work - that happens at the Deni Ute Muster, annually in September, 80 km up the road).

Somewhere under the flags was a beastie 1990s HiLux. Look and weep, Paul!

In a nearby shed there were some stalls and face painting and crafty activities, and portable putt putt ...

And finally there were the trinket stands and hot dog vans ...

The laughing clowns (Or in this case the laughing Mickies and Donalds) ...

And the big kids rides ...

By then the stomach was telling me it was time to feed so I looked for the Lions Club tent, but couldn't actually find any service clubs. Instead there was a local - Moama Pizzas - offering coffee and sizzle food. Off I went with the flat white and the egg & bacon roll. Nice flat white. Good idea having the roll instead of the bread (as provided by the Heathcote Lions) but I wasn't so keen on hte extra-smoked bacon in the roll. I think the bacon could have been very nice on a plate, but I suspect was out of place with egg on a sweet roll. All it was missing was the maple syrup.

Also by then my head was starting to feel the effects of leaving my hat behind in the caravan. The show was still very quiet and even though it was still morning my head was quite warm and I decided to make tracks rather than buy a hat and stay and wait for everything to get lively.

So an enjoyable morning at the Echuca Show, and a couple of lessons: (1) for a two-day show, especially one with entertainment and/or fireworks, it is probably better to arrive mid afternoon; and (2) take hat, every time. Maybe get an Akubra.

Until the next time ...

Be seeing you!

07 Things that go TAP TAP in the night

I was back at the van after a pathology visit, minding my own business, cooking some dinner.

In the caravan, the windows wind out for ventilation and the canvas pop-top skirt has some zip-fastened flaps, also for ventilation. In both cases the gap is covered with midge mesh.

Now, granted, my food doesn't appeal to everyone, but I seemed to have stirred the local insects to an absolute frenzy.

So I was cooking away (in my case that consists of 20 minutes of frantic vege-chopping, 2 minutes of protein-slicing, a few spoons of minced garlic, ginger and chili, a squirt of lemon and lime juices, and a healthy gurgle of olive oil. Lowest flame possible. Leave alone for 60 minutes. Done. V tasty. Steve's staple.) and watching David Attenborough on TV (courtesy of the jolly clever inverter!).

Started hearing tic! tic! ... tic!tic! tic! accompanied by a low frequency hummmmmm. Turned down the TV and the noise became quite prominent. There were hundreds and hundreds of blowies hurtling themselves against the midge mesh. Very angry about something. Perhaps they didn't like the ginger. Not everyone's favourite.

The sun set, got darker, and I ate the food. The Blowies blew off. To be replaced by tiny beetles that had found their way in through the tiny gaps near the door latch. (Note to self - seal forthwith). I found this out while I was reading Innocents Abroad, having a bit of a chuckle, when I felt a bit of a tickle on my arm. It was a tiny black beetle about the size of a flea. It didn't jump off, so I'm guessing (hoping) it wasn't a flea. Then some more on my arms and legs.

I decided that was enough wildlife for the evening so stopped reading, turned off the reading light and music, and tried to sleep.

Tic! Tic ... Tic! ... Tic! ... Tic! Tic!

This lasted another ten minutes until presumably whatever it was realised there was no longer any light to fly towards.

Finally. Some silence.

Then the breeze picked up.

Tap! ... Tap! Tap! ... Tap! ... Tap! Tap Tap!

This went on for a while. At the rear of the van, then on the side, then at the rear again, and so on. It was much louder than the earlier blowies and while it did cross my mind I concluded that it probably wasn't some giant insect trying to gain entry. So I put on my very thick tradie brave boots, grabbed the freebie pen light, and poked my head out for a look.

It was the straps used for unwinding and winding the two awnings. Each awning has one strap, and these were loose and flapping in the breeze.

Tap! Tap!

After a while the wind did die down. Then the Boobook (Morepork) started, just a few feet away from the van. [There's the age showing again].

Boob-ook! ... Boob-ook! ... Boob-ook! ... Boob-ook! ... More-pork! ... More-pork! ... More-pork! ... More-pork!

Well I knew what that was.

After a long while I drifted off. Then drifted on. The boob was still -ooking. And -ooking. Drifted off. And on. Boob. Ook.

And later, between the Mores. And Porks ... an occasional Thump!

Boob. Ook.
Thump.
More. Pork.
Boob. Ook.
Thump.

That one puzzled but I was pretty zonked by then, and didn't have a floodlight to investigate properly [Note to self ...]

Finally drifted off, only to be woken at stupid o'clock by my phone. It was still dark-ish so again I donned my brave boots, grabbed the little freebie light, and the phone, and slowly went out.

It was somewhere between nautical and civil dawn. Everything was dark and grey but I was able to make out shapes. About 50 metres away in the dimness was a large black wallaby, about the size of an Eastern Grey kangaroo (about 5 feet high)

So I grabbed a quick phone-camera shot, which suffered in the low light, before the wallaby thumped off around the water tank and up into the national park at the back of Glen's bush block.

By then I was wide awake, so I boiled up some water for a jolly refreshing Lemon and Ginger tea.

By the time I finished that it was daylight, so I wandered around to get some stuff out of the ute. I happened to glance at the windows and midgemesh, and noticed the corpses of a whole bunch of what could only have been suicidal attempts by smallish flies to smash through the mesh.

Ow!

Ouch!

Ow! Ouch!

Ouch! Ow! Ouch!

These were small but not tiny - about 2cm long. 

The remainder of the day was uneventful. I continued reading Innocents Abroad and Started Marcel's Letters, and waited for Saturday - the Echuca Show!

Until then ...

Be seeing you!

06 Heathcote Show

Today is Show Day in Heathcote, a small town of around 2,800pp situated on the Northern Highway about 110km north of Melbourne depending on wind speed and direction.

It is also Melbourne Cup Day, and Rekindling has just won the Cup as I write this.

However the Cup was not the point of coming here. With a bit of effort and focus I managed to sleep in a little while - it was cool and cloudy this morning - then spruced up and headed off to the Heathcote Show, a few km south of Glen’s bush block.

Easy parking on a side road, then $10 entry.

First in the gate were the horse competition rings. Five of them I think (possibly six - some of the signs were a bit small and distant for my old man eyesight) for the different competitions. Beautiful looking horses.

Wandering right along, I came across some people minding their own business. Now given that I have been through the citizenship operation (exactly one year ago today!), don’t accuse me of stereotyping Aussies, but … who am I to judge?

After scolding myself for displaying my quasi-foreign bias, I discovered that they were watching the sheep dog trials.

Seriously clever dogs (and handlers!). Could have watched them for hours. Well, for at least several more minutes.

Then it was off to the livestock pavilions. The first was the sheep and goat pavilion.

The merino sheep - resplendent in full wool coats - were down the other end getting some attention from the judges. The nearest goat was pleading to be taken for a walk …

Then off to the poultry pavilion. Sounded like a scene out of The Music Man.

Nearby was the obligatory petting zoo for little kids.

I had to move on quickly - I had skipped breakfast and the exhibits were ... beginning to look a lot like luncheon.

So, off to the Lions Club stall for an egg & bacon sanger. Hit the spot and sort of nudged aside the image of those exhibits on the BBQ. For a little while.

A large coffee, then back to the dogs. Whereupon I tried to channel that canine intelligence - with little or no success. Self-improvement using role models never really worked for me. But those sheep started to look quite tasty, so again I moved on quickly …

There was a little collection of old cars. Four Morris Minors similar to Elsie’s. Plus a Morris 1100 and a couple of ring-ins - a Rover 3.5 and a Borgward Isabella.

Then a couple more pavilions. First the Wool Pavilion …

… then the Arts and Crafts Pavilion with quite a number of competitions:

Baking ...

THE MOST IMPORTANT COMP OF ALL ...

Needlework ...

Knitting ...

And school participation ...

Then out to the community sites …

Including one for Cameron …

And finally Sideshow Alley

And that was it.

A bit of fun. Not huge. Cloudy and a few spots of rain. Very enjoyable.

I'm looking forward to the next show on Saturday 11th at Echuca just up the Northern Highway.

Be seeing you!