Life in Retirement: September 2012

Monday, September 24, 2012

24th September 2012

20^th Sept 2012

I started this several days ago and got as far as the date.

Firstly a little explanation regards my writing. I don’t feel my art is good enough to enable me to express how I see things at times and It’s not my nature to verbally describe what I see or feel but when I write sometimes I find myself expressing how I see or feel without really thinking about it, some may think a little over the top at times but it is probably an emotional outlet on my behalf and is particularly how I feel about something I can see, like a stunning sunrise or the antics of Lorikeets or Plovers and yes I waffle on – so be it.

To those it may offend, just ignore it put it down to the ramblings of an old geezer (but far from senile). Does anyone read it anyway?

We’ve had some fairly warm weather lately that has allowed us to open up the house and appreciate the lovely breezes it captures. With the big bi-fold doors open upstairs at the front and a window or door open downstairs at the back of the house a fair breeze funnels down through the void over the front entrance and right through the downstairs area. It wasn’t planned that way but we will take it as a bonus and I don’t think we will have a need for too much aircon in summer.

Finally we had a couple of showers last week and even the little that it rained helped freshen things up and gave a nice green tinge to the park across the road and certainly didn’t do our lawn any harm.

Our resident Plover couple in the park produced a brood of chicks four in all but sadly after a few days only one seems to have survived. I don’t know if they died of natural causes or local predators, there are a couple of cats that prowl around here at night. Saturday night Lisa phoned me to say she had just avoided running over a humungous python crossing the road a few houses past our place, on Sunday I couldn’t find the plovers anywhere and figured the python must have got them, once the crowds of picnickers dispersed they appeared out of nowhere, the chick can’t fly so goodness knows where they disappeared to they are obviously smarter than we think.

These very protective birds are fascinating to observe as people come within their self designated no-mans land, of course this zone changes as the spritely chick scurries around ferreting for food, the nursemaid plover, whether it is the male or female is anyone’s guess, maintains an ever watchful vigil always keeping just a few metres away while the other parent does the security patrol maintaining the ever changing boundary. When a security risk presents itself the patrolling bird takes up a position in that locality and starts its unmistakeable staccato barking sound, in fact when I was kid we used to call them barkers . The intention of this is to make the intruder concentrate on the bird making all the noise and draw danger away from the chick and as mentioned previously this is often accompanied by kamikaze attacks that are great to watch for my warped amusement.

Got some Brownie points in yesterday, Nancy asked me to go for a walk with her, which I did without moaning. Strange that I enjoy bush walking and hiking but detest normal walking for exercise, I would much rather put some effort into bike riding which I did this morning just a moderately paced 14kls to start with and build up over a week or two until I’m back to my old routine.

Lisa has a job interview this afternoon, she is a bit nervous about it all, her current contract finishes in Dec and the uni have changed the rules and aren’t renewing contracts for people without PhD’s, Lisa won’t have completed hers for another two or three years, so we are keeping our fingers crossed for her this is the second interview and she has to front a panel so we can understand the stress level will be up a little, anyway a second interview is promising.

According to a report I heard on ABC radio today water will not be released from Wivenhoe Dam as a flood precaution prior to summer as they are expecting a hot dry summer, water storage in the Brisbane region is currently at 97.8% capacity.

Cheers

Nigel

Sunday, September 09, 2012

9th September 2012

9^th Sept 2012

Other than the crowded garage we have found a home for most things although our storerooms are looking quite full. There are still a few issues to address such as window coverings in certain rooms, gardens and a small garden shed to put outside items in. Until we finish tripping around Australia and more about that later, we won’t be going over board with furnishings downstairs or building a workstation in the garage and the BBQ area will make do with our old BBQ’s that have serviced us well for a long time, wonky as they are. In the original design a BBQ was to be built in, but we were un-decided as to what we really wanted and didn’t want to be restricted to a fixture. So we got the builder to run required services to the BBQ area ie water, drainage and power and when we eventually make up our mind we will probably have a small work station with a nice modern portable BBQ alongside. Some of these things have to wait, the purse strings have become frayed and the zip is crusty. (she’s asleep at the moment).

Our side fence eventually got finished, two days work only took three weeks. Front gates are being delayed, owner of the company fabricating them came and apologised for the delay, apparently his welder got bitten by a White Tail spider, he ended up in hospital for a week and nearly lost his thumb unfortunately he is taking a long time to recover, getting a temporary replacement has been a nightmare for the owner and needles to say his business is suffering. Nasty business and not much point us jumping up and down under those circumstances we will just have to be patient.

The man scheduled to seal our external tiles has been in hospital with Asthma and so he also has been phoning in, apologising – what can you say, knowing how ill Nancy was with it recently I would be pretty callous to go off my brain, I guess it will get done one day.

Bathroom extractor fan in Lisa’s bathroom hasn’t worked since we shifted in, the original was replaced by the builder’s electrician, the replacement didn’t work either so it became a warrantee claim. It took three bloody weeks for a service man to finally get here only to inform me the fan is faulty and has to be replaced which will take approximately two weeks, what a lot of crap, what sort of garbage are they making these days this was supposed to be very good quality.

We haven’t had rain since early July (whose complaining) the weather is fabulous, clear skies, high twenties and no humidity, spring is certainly good this year. From my leather recliner I can observe the bird life activity in the gum trees across the road, these gnarled old giants are host to numerous bird varieties. Through my binocs I can closely observe a couple of Rainbow Lorikeets canoodling like lovers on a park bench, a solitary magpie exerting great effort to produce a melodious tune that surely must be his mating song, to no avail, a brace of white cockatoos and the odd crow.

Around three thirty each afternoon the tree comes alive with feeding lorikeets cavorting about with feats of gymnastics acrobatics while seeking nectar from a profusion of gum flowers, and all the time a constant chatter like excited kids in a children’s playground. I guess it won’t be long before we see mated couples of the various birds popping in and out of the many hollow branch stubs we can see throughout the two big trees. Already our resident Plover couple are seeing off those that venture too close to an obvious nesting area, which as usual with these strange birds is completely out in the open. Unsuspecting victims, particularly those with a dog on a leash suddenly enter into convulsive ducking and weaving as a kamikaze attack together with staccato warning screeches, sends them scurrying from the plover’s no go zone. Unfortunately they often attract snotty nosed brats who delight in in throwing sticks at them from a cowardly distance, thank goodness their aim and strength is normally quite wayward, disappointing how oblivious parents are to the potential harm their loved ones are indulging in, harming the plovers that is. Soon however when the chicks are born their will be two plovers attacking from different angles, this evens up the odds a little and last year afforded me endless hours of amusement and saves me bellowing at the little sods so much (I don’t care if I’m a cranky old bastard).

Looking out my study window there is actually a large grey cumulus cloud forming, this would have to be the first significant cloud I have seen in two months, it’s pushing up from the south/south west and appears to contain moisture, promising rain perhaps? Oh well we’ve got to get it some time I guess.

I’ll keep you posted.

Following is a few photos of the finished house