Since February is traditionally our hottest month out here in the desert, we thought it would be fun to put on our full firefighting gear, including the breathing apparatus, and hike up Tank Hill (about 500 m) as a training exercise. The boys were all complaining about how hot they were and I moaned "Yeah, I'm cryin' for ya, try doing it with MENOPAUSE ya pussies!" After our heads exploded and we finished throwing up and enjoying the view, we marched down again much to the amusement of all the drunks down at the pensioners flats, who gave us a big standing ovation. We have to do these exercises several times a year to keep our BA qualification up.
Old Don, one of my aged care clients, has been in palliative care over at the hospital and finally passed away yesterday. I saw him the day before and he was very out of it; it's sad to see him go but everyone agreed that it was good that he went peacefully and that it didn't drag out for too long. The funeral will be in a few days, we don't have a funeral director or transport service out here, your body just gets popped in its box, collected at the hospital by your mates in whoever's ute is handy and whisked off to the cemetery which is a couple of km's northeast of town. We will miss old Don and his cheeky ways at the hostel. I wonder who's coming in next?
Saroji, our Sri Lankan pathology nurse, took about 3 litres of blood from me the other day for "tests" ("Are you sure you're not just drinking it??" I asked), and then Lisa the mammogram operator squashed my lady bits into the machine that goes "Bzzzzzttt.ding!", and after that Nick, the 17 year old doctor (I'm sure he's older than that, but he looks like a teenager) went through all the results. I was expecting him to look at the screen and say things like "Oh! Oh my god! Hmm...that's nasty..." but to my surprise I do not have dengue fever, syphilis, cancer, diabetes, Barmah Forest Virus or lupus, to name a few. So apart from menopause, I am astonishingly healthy. We like it when we get the younger flying doctors as they are still fresh and keen, excited by being able to order "tests", so you get a good thorough work-up and they look through the results in detail, hoping to find a rare disease or something they can write up in a medical journal.
Nick was well-acquainted with menopause and HRT, and pointed out that menopause is a natural, healthy thing for a woman to experience, but agreed with me that seeking some relief from feelings of wanting to eviscerate passersby was perfectly acceptable. He gave me a very useful information sheet and a small handgun for Gary to defend himself with until the tablets kick in.
Gary has finished the motorcycle workshop shed & the back yard pergola and is now starting on the big shed extension where our bedroom & indoor bathroom (such luxury!) will be. We got fed up with having to open and shut 67 doors to go out to the toilet & shower, so I worked out a layout where we can have everything inside the one shed, except for the 3 Kawasakis, which have been banished to the garage because I got annoyed at tripping over motorcycle engines every time I got in and out of bed.
43 degrees today. I am mulching garden beds, building a laundry folding table and playing in the pool with the dogs. Poor Gary is running load after load of dirt on the road train out to the Murchison Downs Station track, I sent him out with 3 big bottles of frozen water & Gatorade. He comes home absolutely red with dirt and stinking of diesel, hydraulic fluid and god knows what from having to get under the loader etc to do repairs, I don't know how he does it in this heat. Thank god I get to stay at home with nothing to do except the washing, firewood, making ice, killing scorpions, refuelling the genny, baking pies and sausage rolls, trying to find where those sneaky chickens are hiding their eggs this week, organising fuel and parts deliveries, stocking up the emergency larder, charging the power tools and making sure the Mippys aren't cruising around trying to steal our fuel drums. A lady of leisure!
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