jmgoyder

wings and things

Mar 6

Smiling, sighing and starting again!

by jmgoyder

Today, I started again with Husband.

I took Husband back to the nursing lodge and, after the usual teary farewell, I walked from his room down the long hallway and then thought that was getting to be a really stupid, repetitive ritual. So I ran back up the hallway, startling a couple of nurses, and yippeed back into Husband’s room, startling him even more, and pounced on him, wiped the tears away from his cheeks and yelled “One more hug for the road!” I left him laughing his head off. Yes!

Today, I started again with Son.

Me: (washing dishes with Son) Sigh

Son: You sighed again

Me: No I didn’t

Son: Yes you did – you just sighed as if you wanted me to go away

Me: I didn’t sigh and I don’t want you to go away. Sigh

Son: See – you did it again!

Me: (holding breath) Okay, so I’ll try not to sigh

Son: I don’t understand your sighs – you do it all the time.

Me: If I sigh, it usually just means I’m tired.

Son: Tired of me or of Dad?

Me: What answer would you prefer?

Son: The truth

Me: Okay, I’m a bit tired from the busy weekend with Dad and everything else

Son: I’m so sorry about the emus, Mum

Me: It’s okay – let’s not talk about it. Sigh

Son: Mum, can we have a talk later on about stuff?

Me: Why can’t we have a talk now?

Son: Because I’m busy resting – seeya. Oh, do you want more help with the dishes?

Me: No thanks, darling. Sigh

Son: Are you sure? You just sighed again.

Me: Sorry. Sigh

Son: I’m actually just watching the Harry Potter series because I missed most of it in my youth

Me: I think that’s great!

Son: Okay, love you, Mum

Me: Love you too. Sigh

Son: (from his room) I heard that sigh

Me: (thundering down the hallway into his room with a teatowel as a weapon) It was a happy sigh, okay!

Son: (terrified) Okay, okay! Sigh

He’ll be back!

Today, I started again with the dogs-versus-birds dilemma

And I was rewarded by a small miracle – Doc and one of the Bubbles together. I was utterly amazed because Doc has attacked cattle, sheep, other dogs, rabbits, and plenty of birds, over the years. He is a real little killer, literally! So to see these two guys simply curious about each other made all the starting overs today worth it!

Today, I started again with the vegetable garden

No I didn’t – hehe!

Animal Family Wings

23 Comments »
Mar 1

The horror!

by jmgoyder

I was going to take a blogging break for a few days so that I could eradicate (the conflict I am having with) the-thing-that-is-not-a-rat-please in the ceiling. My conflict resolution strategies have entailed spending a small fortune today on various poisonous potions, one of which is a small sack of stuff that you throw into the ceiling cavity through the manhole/trapdoor thing. But, now that I am armed with this lethal weapon, I am too nervous to get the ladder and climb up to open that trapdoor in case the-thing-that-is-not-a-rat-please leaps onto my head. If that were to happen, you see, I would probably never, ever recover, especially if the-thing-that-is-not-a-rat-please actually IS a big, fat rat.

So I am not taking a blogging break after all because blogging is a much safer activity. I have now rung a local ghost-buster who has agreed to come over tomorrow and investigate the-thing-that-is-not-a-rat-please problem, so hopefully the conflict will soon be over. In the meantime I will just have to put up with the alarming noises in the ceiling. It sounds like it is playing tag with itself; that is unless there is actually more than one the-thing-that-is-not-a-rat-please.

Years ago, when Husband I were newly married, I went out to the back veranda one morning and saw something that will haunt me forever. It appeared to be basking in front of a heater that was off. Of course it wasn’t basking; it was dead, and I have never seen another one inside again. However, it did cause a bit of conflict.

Me: I can’t stay here. I want a divorce. Arghhhhhhh!

Husband: It’s a farm. I’ll get rid of it. Never seen one inside before – bloody hell.

Me: How can you be so calm?

                                                                Image: Melinda (chanmelmel)

I suppose the-thing-that-is-not-a-rat-please could be a possum? Possums are quite cute! I’m going out to feed the birds now; the game in the ceiling has developed into something that sounds like a Sunday School picnic.

Speaking of horror, Son accidentally walked into the bathroom this morning as I was emerging from the shower and ran out screaming “The horror, the horror!” Oh well, at least we now know he can run!

Animal

18 Comments »
Feb 29

Picture this

by jmgoyder

I have some pictures I would like to show you:

  • The two crows I saw tonight, flying silently across the skyline, briefly silhouetted against the cloudset
  • Son, without his brace, on his motorbike
  • The huge white cockatoo who perched on top of our sky-high television aerial this morning
  • Husband laughing
  • Baby chickens hatching
  • My mother’s wedding day portrait
  • My father’s great big comfortable shoes
  • Wantok’s tribe flying overhead haphazardly
  • Five dead mice
  • The duck eggs before the emus ate them
  • All of the birds that were killed by the fox
  • My good intentions
  • Son playing golf
  • Husband having a beer with me on the veranda
  • The toy harp I played when I was 5
  • My brothers hugging me
  • Joy
  • Husband laughing
  • The huge white cockatoo who perched on top of our sky-high television aerial this morning
  • Son, without his brace, on his motorbike
  • The two crows I saw tonight, flying silently across the skyline, briefly silhouetted against the cloudset

I have some pictures I would like to show you….

[Note: I am going to take a brief blogging break for next few days – back next Monday – I really need to find out what that thing in the ceiling is and do a bit of conflict resolution!]

Animal Wings

14 Comments »
Feb 29

Piglets!

by jmgoyder

A couple of weeks ago I got a phonecall from the wonderful people who now own Mathilda and Vegemite, our two ‘miniature’ pigs, to say that Mathilda had given birth to eight piglets! The stories of Mathilda and Vegemite are here:

https://jmgoyder.com/2011/11/09/it-all-started-with-a-pig/

https://jmgoyder.com/2011/11/12/vegemite/

Here are some pictures this family kindly took for me as I haven’t yet had a chance to visit. The pictures were emailed to me this morning and I was overjoyed! It is so great to know that Mathilda and Vegemite are so happy at their new home, although I still miss them terribly.

Apparently Mathilda has taken to motherhood with alacrity, as you can see!

There is nothing like a pig picture to pep a person up!

When Son eventually gets up from his slumber, I am going to scare the hell out of him and say I have decided to bring the spotty one home – hehehehe! I will wait until his shock begins to turn into rage and then I will say “just kidding!”

I can’t wait to take the pictures in to show Husband – he will be delighted.

Oh, and Vegemite is about to give birth too!

Animal

16 Comments »
Feb 28

‘This is your life’

by jmgoyder

A few final moonflowers popped up this morning, but I think they are now finished for the year. How would I know? I got it wrong before!

After a lengthy appointment this morning, to get Son’s post-surgery dressing changed by a nurse and his wound examined by our doctor, we went to visit Husband in the nursing lodge. Son was in his back brace and the pain had kicked in again so he took one of his pills before seeing Husband. I filled Husband in on the latest details about Son’s next few months of convalescence – the physiotherapy he would need, the fact that he isn’t allowed to lift even two kilos, his moody frustration and so on. Husband wanted to come home to help and I had to explain that this wouldn’t help, that it would make things harder as I would have two invalids to look after (yeah, sometimes my words don’t come out the way I intend them to).

Apparently Son will never be able to do this again:

Husband insisted on walking us out to the car even though he was quite wobbly. As we drove off, I saw him in the rear vision mirror, standing in parking lot, leaning on his walking stick looking so forlorn I wanted to reverse the car and rescue him, bring him home, but I couldn’t because by then Son’s pain was so bad he needed to lie down, so I had to rush home. I was crying (which Son says I do too much of) because I had forgotten to harden my heart.

Okay, so one of the things that has been said to me by my beautiful friends and family is this: “Soon you will get your life back. It will get better.” Now, whilst I agree with the latter, I don’t understand the former because this IS my life and Husband and Son ARE my life. Yes, I have my writing, the birds, my connection to the local university and many other joys, including this blog, and Husband and Son have never made me feel guilty for the time I spend writing. Bravo to them.

You know what I miss most? Sitting out on the front veranda with Husband and Son and chatting together every evening as the sun went down. We didn’t do this often enough in the recent months as Husband’s Parkinson’s disease got the better of him, but those conversations were the best! I don’t want a future without Husband here, but I know that he and I both have to adjust to that reality. And I don’t want a future without Son’s company but, once his spine is completely healed, he will inevitably leave to pursue his many dreams. Yeah, I know I’ve already posted this photo but this is the three of us back in 2009 when things were okay-ish.

Soon it will just be the birds and me.

This is my life and, despite the difficult, sad bits, every single micro-second with Husband and Son has been joy.

I don’t want any other life!

Animal Wings

20 Comments »
Feb 25

Fear of folding

by jmgoyder

I have been doing a rather frightening job today – folding the mountain of washed clothes that has accumulated in our spare room. I only got halfway before getting a fright that I was frightened of getting – movement amongst the pile.

Let me explain. We don’t just have feral fox and randy rabbit problems here; we also have spinny spiders, massive moths, carefree cockroaches, sneaky snakes and mischievous mice. Now, before you unsubscribe or delete in horror, I can assure you that we do not live in a feraldom. We do, however, live in a farmhouse that is over 100 years old and, despite Husband’s various renovations over the years – black and white tiles and a fantastic red Aga in the kitchen, a beautiful, antique-filled dining room etc., this is still an old farmhouse and old farmhouses tend to have holes.

Heat waves, like the one we’ve experienced over the last week, tend to draw these creatures through these holes and into the house to privilege us with their company. For me, personally, cockroaches are the worst and I have baits everywhere and I’ve seen and killed two in the last two days and they are those big ones that come from the bush – argh. I know it’s ridiculous, but they terrify me! I’d rather a mouse but perhaps I shouldn’t say that….

So, back to that pile of folding. Okay, last night, as Son was looking for a fresh pair of underwear in the mountain, he saw some movement inside an unfolded sheet – you know, one of those fitted sheets with elastic on the corners. Well, it wasn’t a fox or a rabbit or a spider or a cockroach or a snake – it was a mouse. Heroically, Son, wearing his post-op. splint/corset, tried to eradicate the mouse by lassooing the sheet but, lacking the required energy, gave up. He didn’t tell me this until later – not heroic!

That’s why I felt like the hero this morning, folding all of that washing knowing that within that sheet at the corner of the pile, in the corner of my eye, there was a mouse. I managed to do the whole job except for that sheet.

Oh no! Now there’s something really loud running around in the ceiling. It sounds like a sprinting competition; it sounds like something really huge.

Son is asleep again so I am going to escape to the outside.

I will not fold!

ps. I have not included pictures because that would be too weird.

Animal

18 Comments »
Feb 24

Gotcha!

by jmgoyder

Here is one of the several million rabbits digging up the foundations of this farm and all of its buildings. So far they have avoided camera capture but yesterday evening, whilst sitting outside waiting for the blue wrens to surround me (which they didn’t) I spotted little bunnykins and took a quick photo.

Yes, bunnykins is very cute, I agree. However, bunnykins and his extended family are apocalypticing our home. Any day now I anticipate waking up to a mine site rather than a grassy farm. I have dreams in which the house has fallen into a big hole and I have to climb out via the ceiling.

I have decided to try and find Husband’s mother’s recipe for rabbit stew.

Animal

14 Comments »
Feb 23

Tomorrow just became today!

by jmgoyder

I think there might be a funny story within this situation, but I haven’t quite found it yet.

This afternoon I found out, almost by accident (during a phonecall with Son), that he could be discharged from the hospital today. I immediately rang the hospital to confirm this and said I’d be there first thing tomorrow morning, explaining that I lived 200 kms away. But the woman on the phone said it had to be today because they needed the bed.

Okay….

In the meantime I’d received a phonecall from our local hospital to say that they would be delivering a special chair and other equipment for Son this afternoon and would I be home … okay

Long story short, I then rather frantically had to arrange for relatives in Perth to pick Son up and have him overnight, cancel my planned visit to Husband, confirm delivery of Son’s equipment (which, as it turns out, can’t be delivered until tomorrow anyway).

Okay….

So, our wonderful relatives are now bringing Son home tomorrow morning. As he can only tolerate sitting for about 15 minutes without pain, I think this may be a long journey.

Previously I’d been told Son would probably be in the rehabilitation unit until next Monday, maybe this Friday at a pinch, but only if he made a quick recovery.

Well, he made a quick recovery all right – it’s only Thursday!

I feel a little sped up!

So home tomorrow … the beginning of a new adventure – hehe!

It’ll be Son and me and a bunch of birds; wish us luck as we let the funny story unfold!

Animal Wings

12 Comments »
Feb 23

Flexibility

by jmgoyder

Geese, with their long necks, have incredible flexibility. In the photo below, Pearl (on the left), appears to be giving herself a little hug!

The biggest drawback after scoliosis surgery is loss of flexibility. Son has had 12 of his 24 vertebrae fused, so this area of his back is now ramrod solid. The good news is that this middle area of the spine doesn’t require much flexibility anyway and Son still has the top and bottom of his spine to flex, dance, bend, lift, so he still has his shoulders and hips. If he wanted to, he could even preen himself the way Seli does in the following photo.

I love watching the geese preen themselves. This is Godfrey and Seli below. As you can see, Seli does actually have a head!

Okay, so Son is not a goose, but he will still be dancing, preening and spreading his wings again!

Okay, so he might not have as much flexibility as Pearl (picture below again) but you never know!

Animal Uncategorized Wings

14 Comments »
Feb 19

Torn between two lovers

by jmgoyder

Remember this song? If you aren’t old enough to remember it (hehe!) it’s worth a listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1F5BLLFAeM

Here is our male Indian Runner duck following his girlfriend. When these ducks run, they look exactly like Basil from Fawlty Towers! I have never named these two because originally we had several until we realised we had a fox problem, so I just call our remaining couple “Duckies”. The male is the one I rescued from the fox that awful morning after the massacre of several poultry. I ran outside, in response to terrible squawking, to find the fox with its jaws around this duck’s neck. Ever since then, he hasn’t been able to quack normally. On the upside, he is very good at sex and never leaves his girlfriend alone; not only that, he tries it on with all the geese and, just recently, with little Tapper.

And here is Zaruma who, as of yesterday, proved his manhood by getting it together with Tapper.

I didn’t even realise Tapper was a girl until I witnessed both the Indian runner and Zaruma eyeing her off (I reckon that this is a gentler way of describing what really happens – hell! Unlike chooks, ducks kind of take awhile.)

So Tapper is now in great demand and has become a terrible flirt! She can’t seem to decide between the Indian Runner and Zaruma.

The funniest thing is that, while I always look away tactfully, whenever ‘it’ happens, the geese go crazy-loud like some sort of cheering squad. I do not approve!

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

In a different way, I feel torn between the two people I love most in the world, Husband and Son. With Husband 20 kms south of the farm in the nursing lodge and Son 200 kms north in the hospital, Son is taking priority at the moment and I’m heading back up to Perth to see him soon. Yesterday I spent the afternoon with Husband and he and Son had their first phone conversation since Son’s surgery. I had to enable this because, although Husband can answer his phone, he’s not so good at ringing, and Son is too incapacitated at the moment to answer his phone – argh. Anyway when I finally got them phone-connected, one of the things Son said to Husband was “Now I really know how you feel, Dad.”

Here is a picture of them shaking hands a few days before Son’s surgery. We were at my brother’s place just down the road from the nursing lodge. It seems like a hundred years ago now!

Animal Wings

10 Comments »
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