EXPLAINING MY ABSENCE

I am having to type with one hand as on Wednesday night I took a nasty tumble ending up in hospital suffering from a dislocated shoulder...fortunately the left one. Some wonderful medical staff put it back in place but I now have to wear a sling for two weeks and not use the arm at all.

Having been a typist since I was 15 I can touch type quite quickly still but with just the one hand I don't do very well and it is just sooooooo slow.

I'll still be checking out others blogs but I hope you will understand if I don't comment for a while.

Full story of how the fall happened when I return. Until then au revoir. Keep well; keep happy.

OUR FEATHERED FRIENDS ARE BACK AGAIN

I wonder if any of you remember me writing about first twenty eight parrots and then pink and grey galahs nesting in a large tree near our local post office.

We stopped to collect our mail on the way home this morning and lo and behold there was a 28 parrot on that same tree. I didn't have time to take a proper look but it would seem they are nesting there again although I thought it perhaps a little early in the year for that. Maybe the 28s want to make sure of their territory before the galahs arrive.

Next time we go to the post office I must remember to have my camera with me to see if I can perhaps get a photo of the bird/s.

It is just so lovely to see them persevering with living in such close proximity to we humans.

ANOTHER WEDNESDAY IN OUR LIFE

Exercise group this morning and we worked hard but had fun at the same time which is so important as laughter really is good medicine.

After that I went and saw my very nice podiatrist who looks after my feet so well. I have no choice as I just can't reach my toes any more and John also checks all is well with my feet as they are one part of our body that can be badly affected by diabetes.

I am getting on well with injecting the insulin myself now and it doesn't hurt a bit and I am so pleased to report that my blood glucose readings are actually going down...at last. On 24th June my highest morning reading was 9.9 (shock horror) but this week I've now had a 5.2 and this morning 6.5. I am seeing a diabetes educator tomorrow morning and will discuss with her if I should keep my injection at 22 units as it now is. It is often difficult with something like using insulin for the first time to know just how far to go without going too far.

We got some laundry done with me helping MOH hang it on the line and bring it in and with the temperature at 20C today with a slight breeze we got it all dry. More rain due at week's end so it's great not to have to rely on getting out the clothes horse to hang damp clothing on.

MOH and I both go to our hairdresser to have hair cuts tomorrow. She's a lovely lass who works from home and we get to see her three gorgeous little girls while we are there. Oh, I must remember to buy some Freddos or something so I have something to give them when I see them.

THAT WAS THE REST OF THE WEEK THAT WAS

I just didn't get back here as the downward spiral continued when we found that a branch of our bank had made a stupid error on MOH's credit card. Fortunately I do use internet banking and on paying a couple of bills on Thursday I discovered his Visa balance was much higher than it should have been. We both pay our credit cards in full every month 'cos it's the only way to keep our heads above water on our age pensions.

Anyway as was his usual habit MOH went to a nearby bank after he had made claims at HBF and Medicare to cadge all he could from them and he then pays the balance owing from his savings a/c using his Access card. When I found the wrong total on his Visa I checked and found no payment was made from him during July!!! Panic stations! We checked his bank dockets only to find that the teller had taken money out of his Access a/c and promptly redeposited it into his Access a/c and not into his Visa a/c. It is all fixed now (and interest charged will be refunded) after we made a visit to the bank on Friday but........

I rang that bank on Thursday morning and got "we are either closed or busy with customers....please leave your name and number and we will get back to you". We'd heard nothing by mid-afternoon (I did mention the matter was rather urgent when I left my message) so I had MOH call them and once again there was the message to leave name and number etc. The really annoying thing about all this is that here we are at 5.38pm on Monday and they have still not returned our calls. If I was on my own and had to rely on taxis or private transport to get around I would need to have telephone communication with the bank. I have actually complained to the powers that be that this is not good enough but whether anything will be done about it I don't know. This by the way is not the only time we've received that message and from another branch as well. Otherwise I can't fault our bank thank goodness.

So now you may realise why I sort of stopped in my tracks. MOH lost his wallet so rush to contact banks etc., re putting a stop on cards being used; then waiting for cards to arrive in the mail; then setting new PINs and periodic payments having to be set up again and firms receiving those payments need also to be notified about new card numbers etc. Mainly insurance and a couple of charities MOH sends small amounts to each month.

Phew!! Now hopefully I can get back to trying to get my diabetes into some semblance of order and think about the upcoming cataract ops in August and September My eyes are to be measured for new lenses next Monday so another little medical appointment. Oh the joys of old age but when one thinks of the alternative one puts up with these little inconveniences with a smile.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO WEDNESDAY?

Wednesday came and went quite quickly as for us it was a busy day.

MOH and I went to our physio exercise group in the morning and worked well with sit down and stand up exercises and using weights. I decided to go back to 2kg (one in each hand) to see how I'd go and managed OK so may try and gradually work back to 3kg which I used to use last year. A lot depends on how painful my hands and wrists are on any given day.

Midday the young man that does work in our garden arrived and I had him pop a few more plants out in the front garden, do some weeding there and also some weeding round plants in the back garden. Boy in a week the rain came along and so did the weeds, thousands of them. Mainly wild oats and winter grass so MOH will have to be out with the whipper snipper soon before any seeds appear. We did that last year so where did this year's weeds come from????

MOH tells me that his dad (back in the UK) would always say that if you could sell weeds they just wouldn't grow! Perhaps we need to find a market for weeds???

Mid afternoon our lovely cleaning lady arrived and vacuumed our living areas and washed all the floors for us so the house is looking neat and tidy (well not sure about the tidy) again.

It may not sound like very much but at our ages it's amazing that even having people come to do jobs entails quite a bit of work on our part as well and we just get a little weary.

So that was Wednesday and I was too tired last night to even open my blog let alone post anything.

TUNEFUL TUESDAY

While I am sitting here pondering what I could write about today I am listening to one of my Roger Whittaker CDs.

His is a voice I really love and although he is now 75 he is still a very good singer. I first heard Roger Whittaker sing when he was the first to record "Wind Beneath My Wings" way back in 1982. I loved that song when I first heard and still do but back then I was far too busy to take much notice of music that was on the wireless.

In the early 1990s I bought a double CD with a variety of artists and two of the songs were sung by Roger Whittaker..."I Don't Believe In If Any More" and "The Last Farewell" and loved both songs and kept replaying them and still do.

When I got a computer and became used to using the internet and could order things online I began looking for CDs featuring Roger Whittaker and I now have a collection of about a dozen of them. He sings a lot of his songs in German (in fact he is very popular in that country) but I prefer songs sung in French if they are to be in a foreign language.

I am 79 and Roger is 75 so I guess we are contemporaries at least in age if not in talent. I like songs that tell a story and also a singer that sings so I can understand the words he is singing.

One of my very favourite songs he sings is Albany which he collaborated in writing with someone with the surname of Munro (don't know who that would be).

Enough about that. MOH cooked chilli con carne for dinner tonight and it was delicious. Enough for tomorrow so that is another day I won't have to cook.

We are off to our exercise group tomorrow. Not sure how I will go as I am quite stiff and sore lately but I will go because I know it will do me good. I like Pennye but will be very glad when our usual physio comes back to take the group. I know Jenny began back at work on Monday just doing three half days a week for a while and not taking the exercise group. I think I may have mentioned she has been recuperating after a very specialised knee operation and she has to be careful for a time not to undo the good that has hopefully been done.

Cold here tonight (2C) so electric blanket set on 1 all night methinks and I am sure Precious will approve of that as well as she snuggles up on my bed or perhaps it will her turn on MOHs bed tonight. She has been on mind for a couple of weeks now so must be his turn soon

Goodnight everyone...hope all is going well for all of you and catch you later.

MOTIONLESS MONDAY

That's about all it was too....apart from stripping the beds and cooking a nice steak with vegies for midday meal I did very little. It has been very cold and although I do enjoy winter I am wondering if that is why I seemed sore everywhere today?

I am not getting a cold or anything like that but don't have the energy to do anything of consequence and I hurt. Oh well, days like that come along to try us from time to time and MOH has been rather quiet today as well. Perhaps we are hibernating!!!

Tomorrow I must get on and take advantage of the fine weather this week to get some laundry done. I must. I must. I must.

Haven't even decided what is for dinner tomorrow which shows how slack I've been.

Hope everyone has had a good day and will have a good week as well. Goodnight.