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Currawinya, Barraba, NSW

S 30°22'45" E 150°36'18"

Mon 24 - Mon 31 Mar 2008


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Monday 24th

I did a number of small renovation tasks. I tried to do the next modification to the laundry plumbing but I had failed to check the stock of material and had to cancel that job until I can get all the stuff I need to complete the job.

I went back to a book I had bought in Brisbane from the "Withdrawn from the Collection" shop. It was a meteorology text book which I bought to improve my knowledge of meteorology so that I can better appreciate the weather reports and forecasts. I was horrified to find that some earlier reader of the book had highlighted many sentences, some in highlighter pen, but most in pencil. I set about removing what I could, trying to return the book to the form the author had mandated. As I was doing this, I reflected on the mentality of a library borrower who marks up a book and returns it to the library for others to read. In a way this person was "publishing" an "improved" version of the book. I assume the person was a student rather than a professional meteorologist so the "publication" was on a par with much of what is "published" on the internet today, unsubstantiated stuff even less useful than the "so-called reliable" output of some journalists.

Tuesday 25th

We went to town to do shopping and to visit the library. I found that I had both Monday and Tuesday papers.

In the morning I did some chores and in the afternoon I took a nap.

image of business card
Wednesday 26th

It was a foggy morning which turned into bright but cloudy day.

Jean had a meeting of the Barraba Red Hat Ladies in the morning. The four original members were all there and three new members turned up. One of them said there was another lady who had wanted to come but she had another commitment but she will come to the next meeting. Elsie May offered to get a notice of the meeting in the Barraba Gazette.

They decided to call themselves the BELLS, Barraba Elegant Lovely Ladies Society.

They decided to meet once a month, initially at the Country Cafe, but later of at members houses. They talked about plans for outings, perhaps taking a train trip to Newcastle for fun. The new ladies were very happy that the organisation isn't about fund raising. Clearly they al spend a considerable amount of time working for organisation that do fund raising.

I spent the afternoon revising the Barraba Red Hatters pages on the website and preparing a whole lot of new documentation for Jean including a new "business" card.

Thursday 27th

I had my first session at the Cardiac Rehab programme. I was surprised to meet one of my Lions colleagues who had very recently had two stents inserted by Professor David Muller (my guy) at St Vincent's and has only been home from Sydney less than a week. Since there were only two of us, the Coordinator had decided to try the Home Programme and gave us a large file of documents to read and a diary to record our actions and progress.

After that we were introduced to the "six minute walk". This is a measured six minute brisk walk on a 20m long stretch of corridor. Pulse oximetry and heart rate are measured and recorded every two minutes. I guess they will compare the results with similar tests done every time we go to the sessions. I thought I did pretty well, confirming that I am pretty fit.

I had woken up early in the morning so In the afternoon I took a bit of a nap to catch up.

Friday 28th

In the morning I decided to set about a major revision of this website, As we are no longer travellers, I think a normal blog diary would be more appropriate. I guess need to get some blogging software to make this easy.

We got a message from Tamworth saying that Jean's new shoes had arrived, Her spectacles were also ready for collection so we went to town. We got there at two o'clock and had the shoes and the spectacles by half past two so we headed to the Homestead Cafe for coffee, lunch, and some software downloads. We went to South Tamworth to buy new car seat covers and floor mats for the Terios. On the way out of town we went to Bunnings to buy a light fitting for the new kitchen cupboard. We were home by five.

I had downloaded Movabletype but found that I need Apache and MySql of PostgresSQL to make it work. I couldn't find MacOSX binaries for any of these programs so I will either have to search some more or teach myself to compile the binaries myself. I suppose I shouldn't be afraid of that but it seems like a lot of effort for not much benefit. I have Drupal loaded but that also needs a database to operate.

Saturday 29th

I thought we had to go to the doctor to do a fasting blood test but Jean pointed out that is was Saturday not Monday. I did the shopping and fitted the new light on the bottom of the new kitchen cupboard, Then I set about revising the website.

In the afternoon, I prepared the wall lining for the laundry so that I will be able to finish that job quickly after I get the plumbing modified. Then there will be the painting to do (I hate painting).

I fitted the new seat covers and mats in the Terios.

Sunday 30th

We both slept in and had a late breakfast. I found a bundle of energy and set about doing the work in the laundry. I got a fair bit of it done before lunch. I took a bit of a break for lunch and finished the job about half past five. I got everything right except the connections to the new mixer tap are the wrong way round so the hot water comes from the blue side and the cold water from the red side. I'll fix it one day when I have a load of enthusiasm. At least its done and we make progress.

Monday 31st

We went to the doctor to get our regular blood tests and to get flu and pneumococus vaccinations. The doctor didn't want to give the two injections on the same day because of the increased risk of side effects so we will have to go back next week. I did some more chores and spent the rest of the day sedentary.

I'm still working on finding useable blogging software. think I might have found a solution in Sandvox but I will have to test it first.


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Created: 24/3/08 and last revised 31/3/08
Author: Robin Chalmers - Copyright in all the material on this site is asserted by the author.
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