Net buster!

I awoke at 6.00 am and was checking my emails under the safety of the mosquito net when I noticed something moving out of the corner of my eye and this was marching across my pillow.....

A three inch long millipede!

Stinking Roger and the Bush Basher.

It was sooooooo quiet last night. I almost missed Rambo and his nocturnal rattlings!I thought it was very early when Will got up but it was 8.50.It was very cloudy and I was worried about conserving power so that the lights did not go out in the evening but it brightened up later and the solar panels charged the battery.Will got the old 'Bush Basher' lawnmower going......he cleaned out the carburettor.....and brought it back to life after three years dead. He set about dealing with the waist high grass and I went into the garden to deal with 'Stinking Roger', a prolific weed.Dulcie watched 'Hidalgo' about a desert horse race........she didn't seem to enjoy it much......every time I went to check on her she would say "They are not racing yet!"Eventually the 'Bush Basher' bit the dust and I had laid Stinking Roger low.We found Piotr the Pole and fitted him to hold up the bulging ceiling then we had to have cold showers because we have not lit the stove this weekend. I am not a fan and the whole process for me was very noisy.Friends, Penny and Roger (not Stinking) came over late afternoon and arrived about the same time as a thunderstorm which was all bluster and very little rain. As I was out checking the guttering in the dark with a torch I spotted a very healthy looking white bellied rat like creature crawling out of a hole in the straw bale wall. Could it be?After Penny and Roger left Will cooked fried chicken and chips and we had a game of Euchre.The storm has gone, the rain has stopped but there is a very annoying fly buzzing about. It will have to go!

Our home in the bush.

So.......we have come up to Frogknot for the first time since the beginning of December.We had to clear two fallen trees off the road up before we could  get up to the house.The grass is waist high but the dam is as full as I have ever seen it.Sadly some of the ceiling struts have snapped and there is large bulge in the ceiling now.Will is sad and very quiet. It is hard for him to see the place slowly disintegrating.

Return of the Wuss!

So........last night I awake in the darkness of the Man-cave and remember that the last time I had my tooth filled, the same one that was being dealt with today, that the dentist had said that it had been very difficult to do because it was so deep and very near the nerve!.......I didn't get much sleep after remembering that.I was already stressed out when I got to the QE II as the traffic had been dreadful. Even here in Australia, road planners and traffic light programmers get it badly wrong.The lift door was wide open as I entered through the front sliding doors and I made a dash for it but it started to close. It was a bit of an Indiana Jones moment as by the time I reached it there was only about a foot gap left and I stuck my arm in it hoping it would slide open again.I heard a woman inside squeal in alarm before the lift door slowly opened again."I thought you were going to get crushed," she said, "and I would travel up with am arm stuck in the door."The Dental surgery waiting room was empty. I stood at reception. The woman who booked your next appointments was sat there but no one else was about and it was probably not in her job description to book people in as well.A woman eventually appeared. I handed her my card. It was already 9.20."Thank you, take a seat."I think I sat for only 10 seconds before...."Nicholas Allen to surgery 6, please"I knew where it was this time.The smiley Indian woman was there and the Elective Mute. The Indian woman greeted me warmly,"Hello again,"But the Elective Mute ignored me and was wandering about opening and closing cupboards.I sat in the chair."How lucky that you were able to get an appointment so quickly," said the smiley Indian lady."I don't see it as lucky. I was hoping for it to be at least a month. I hate fillings. Actually I remembered last night that the last dentist who filled this filling said that it was very deep and very close to the nerve.""It will be fine, I am only replacing the filling."'Have you been listening to me?' I wondered.The Elective Mute was loading the dentist's tray with all manner of implements of torture." What a frightening array of implements," I said.Nothing! Deadpan!They started to mask up and put on their welding gear.The chair slowly lowered and I pulled a funny but frightening face and noticed the Elective Mute's eyes crease at the sides...I made her smile!I thought the chair was not going to stop and it got lower and lower and I actually did start to slide off it backwards before it thankfully stopped and I was raised a little again."Could you pass me the harrowing stun probe?"I closed my eyes."I'm just going to give you a little anaesthetic to numb things a bit for you."'No, pleashh, give me a lobt,' I wanted to say but my mouth was full of her fingers.She sprayed something on my gums.....surely there was more to it than that. I was at least expecting a needle!The needle came next. The spray must have been to numb my gum for the needle going in."Right we need to let that go numb. We'll just give the area a clean while we wait."The Elective Mute was in there with her sputum hoover and the Indian lady with her tooth hose."Just relax your cheek," she said pulling it as far is it would go.The cleaning did not take long at all and was not uncomfortable at all."Right, let's get started."'Yikesh! Do youb fink I ab numb enub yet? I don't!' My head was saying.The drill appeared and in it went.I ground down on my tooth."Just raise your hand if it gets too much and we will stop."I got my hand ready.It seemed to be endless grinding and the sputum hoover was going and a tooth hose as well. I just clenched my eyes closed but expecting any minute for her to hit the nerve.She stopped and paused to look at my tiny x-ray.....I could see nothing except the outline of teeth.She started to drill again and then stopped again."Yes, it is very deep."'Well, shtop den." I thought.She carried on drilling......surely she would hit my nerve any moment now..........The drilling stopped."Right, we need to dry it now because the filling will not stick if it is wet. Relax your cheek. Sandy could you pass the cataclysmic desiccating device? Now don't move, keep still."They dried my tooth. and she went at it with the mini metal hook trying to break bits off."Now I am going to fit a containment clamp.......if.........I .........can..........get..........it.......on," she said, wrestling it over my tooth."Now I am going to put the lining in. Sandy, the pernicious impermeable sheath?"She put something in, packed it into my tooth and then stuck in a purple glowing light stick and Sandy held an orange colour paddle over my mouth to shield their eyes from its glow. The light stick beeped twice and she pulled it out.She kept stuffing things in and then holding the light stick over it, and Sandy the orange colour paddle, before she finally said,"Right, now we will polish it. The pestiferous staining quilt, Sandy please."She stuck a small piece of black paper in my mouth."Now bite this gently and grind your teeth side to side a bit for me."She went in with the polisher which was very much like a different drill to me and seemed to be grinding my new filling down. I suspected that the black paper had in some way marked my tooth and she was grinding those bits down so that the top and bottom teeth fitted together well.This process took almost as long as the the filling itself but finally she seemed happy with it and the chair came up."Fank you sho mush," I gushed."Oh, it is nothing. I will put you on the waiting list for check up and clean. You are free to go.""Do I nob neeb to shee der lady ab der deshk?""No, you are free to go.""Well, fank you bowsh sho mush."......and I walked out without paying anything.It was the best filling I have ever had!

Five go 'mild' in Margate!

So.......today was going to be a hot day with 39 degrees predicted for Ipswich, just down the road.Xiaoling came over on the bus and all four of us escaped to the coast where we hoped it would be cooler.We went to Margate, near Redcliffe and had lunch at the Seafood Lovers Cafe....Will and Xiaoling had the octopus salad and Dulcie and I shared a Fisherman's basket but it was nowhere near as good as the last one we had which was a bit disappointing.After lunch we wandered slowly along the seafront to Settlement Cove and back.There was a wind of the sea which kept us a bit cooler but it was still quite 'Scorchio!'