Cate's Diary

[Llama]

That's just awful. Those poor kids and families.

 

[Cate]

I had a really productive day yesterday, rearranging & tidying up the house & decking. We had a bit of excitement at lunchtime yesterday with Archie barking his head off out on the decking. I went to check & saw something behind the kennel. D was here & went & got his snake catching gear just in case it was a snake. It was a beautiful blue-tongued lizard, probably the same one we saw the other day on the other side of the house. D picked it up & relocated it up above the house. We got some excellent photos. They're beautiful creatures. I decided to really tidy up near the house so that animals (read snakes) are much more visible & don't have such good hiding places. We have a lot of outside furniture & lots of succulents. It took me hours & was very physically tiring. I rested in between bouts.
I also had to rearrange the garage to fit in D's freezer, which is quite full. It was my idea to see if they could get it up in holus-bolus as there was no space in ours with 7 lambs, 1 venison & 8 rabbits plus, plus.
The house is looking pretty good at the moment. I have so much stuff ready to take to the op shop & 3 crates of things to take to an antique dealer. I'll take the op shop stuff one day this week.
I rang 2 golfing friends yesterday- the one who is in hospital & the other who just had a medical procedure. Both sounded good. They also both asked me if I enjoyed the lunch & I admitted that I didn't & we had a chat about that. I said I would keep in touch & I will. I love them both. They are quite a bit older than me & I don't think will be around for a long time. I rang another older friend, but she was out. I'll ring her on Monday or Tuesday.
I made sure to drink a lot of water yesterday & must get back into the habit. You feel so much better for it.
Sticking with my 1200, not drinking wine.....
My legs ache like crazy most of the time, but it's aches, not severe pain, so is much more tolerable. I can never get comfortable.

 

[Llama]

It was a beautiful blue-tongued lizard,

Blue-tongues are adorable! I have no faith in my ability to keep a pet alive and well but if I did I'd want a reptile.

there was no space in ours with 7 lambs, 1 venison & 8 rabbits plus, plus.

If you had inside knowledge about the apocalypse you'd tell us, right?

My legs ache like crazy most of the time, but it's aches, not severe pain, so is much more tolerable. I can never get comfortable.

That sucks. Is it muscle soreness or joint/tendon pain?

 

[Cate]

Blue-tongues are adorable! I have no faith in my ability to keep a pet alive and well but if I did I'd want a reptile.

They are LaMa

If you had inside knowledge about the apocalypse you'd tell us, right?

Of course We already had the venison & other bits & pieces when our shearer/butcher said he could butcher all 8 lambs. If we waited until he came back in a year they would be much tougher. The rabbits our son, D had lined up long before this & we haven't eaten rabbit for a couple of years. We will not starve. We have loads of protein

That sucks. Is it muscle soreness or joint/tendon pain?

Joint/tendon pain I think. My doctor says it's Osteo-Arthritis. It often feels like a burning sensation.

I have had another very active day. I took Arch for a walk, but it was too hot & when we got back home he threw up. I'll make sure that I take him for a walk a couple of hours after his breakfast & then not feed him until after his afternoon walk, which had better be later in the day. It was too hot for me too.

I'm sitting with a lovely long cold drink of diet tonic, diet lemonade, some lime juice & lots of ice. I have drunk quite a bit of herbal tea & cold water today.

My SIL has been having blues with her family. Oh, dear. Everyone tackles grief differently & it seems she is getting angry with her family. I rang her yesterday & she had visitors & I said I would ring her back some time & that I was just checking that she was ok. I'll be busy all day tomorrow, but I'll ring her Monday & see how she is. Christmas- it's fraught!

 

[Llama]

The rabbits our son, D had lined up long before this & we haven't eaten rabbit for a couple of years.

Now I want rabbit stew... Maybe I should should try and find a place that makes it in Vienna. Never seen rabbit on the menu here.

Everyone tackles grief differently & it seems she is getting angry with her family.

Sorry to hear that. Kudos to you for supporting her but take care of yourself too

 

[Cate]

Now I want rabbit stew... Maybe I should should try and find a place that makes it in Vienna. Never seen rabbit on the menu here.

I only like wild rabbits. They’re an introduced pest. Farmed rabbits are too fat & flavourless.

Sorry to hear that. Kudos to you for supporting her but take care of yourself too

Thanks, LaMa. I’ll be careful. I’m not letting on that I have heard anything but I did think that I would wait a couple of days.

 

[Cate]

I have had a long but pleasant day today. We left home before 7 am & didn’t get home until 6 pm. I couldn’t get my calories in today as I didn’t have any healthy choices so ate very little. I did get over 6000 steps. I’m feeling pleasantly tired.
I haven’t typed in anyone’s diaries & will in the morning. I think I’ll sleep well tonight!
Edit: Just had 4 rice crackers with blue cheese to get my calories up a bit.

 

[Llama]

Glad to see you had a bit more food (and protein) after all: long days need fuel! Good to hear you enjoyed yourself though.

 

[Cate]

Thanks, LaMa. I just made myself eat some nuts to get it up a bit more. I never thought a month ago that I would be saying that.

 

[Cate]

I slept very well last night & I don't ache any more than usual this morning.
A good friend of ours died over the weekend. He was in palliative care so we knew it was imminent. We will miss him. He was lovely & a very funny man. I'm trying to do a death notice in the paper from our social golf group & thought it sounded really good. I haven't done this before & it's probably a good thing that I am having this practice as it's very frustrating. It was to the point & now they want more words! I had better concentrate on it & come back here later

 

[Floater]

I'm so sorry for your loss

 

[Cate]

Thank you, Floater. I am glad that going through that process, with being just that little bit removed was probably a good practice run for the day that I don't want to think about for a long time. I did have to add another sentence (read extra cost) to get it accepted (possibly). When people tell you life is easier with technology, well no, it is not really. Some things are much easier, but I really don't feel that life is easier or better overall.
OK. I'm over that. I have it all set up for the future. I did it, I paid for it & I now have an account. I will get the money from the group.

 

[Trusylver]

the loss of a friend, even if expected can be hard, go easy on yourself.

 

[Cate]

Thanks, Tru. I will. It does shake you up regardless. I haven't done anything except computer work today, with doing the death notice, emails to members, forum, results to papers etc
I'm turning it off, right now! At 2pm!

 

[Llama]

Sorry for your loss Paperwork is exasperating enough when it doesn´t come with grief.

 

[Cate]

Thanks, LaMa. The funeral is going to be on Friday 60 km away in “the big smoke”. I really hope it’s in the morning as R & H will be arriving Friday.
I have ended up having a good day. I haven’t had much exercise & am feeling relaxed. We’re getting organised. I’ll do some more shopping tomorrow. Not much though.
So, after feeling really lucky not to have had COVID restrictions for ages & no cases in Tassie, they opened our border & we now have it here again. As of midnight tonight we must wear masks inside. Most people are frightened as Omicron is infecting even the triple vaccinated. Here we go again. Welcome to the rest of the world! It was inevitable unfortunately.
I have not gone over 1200 cals a day since the 22nd of November. Still 4 kg down. I would love to see just a small drop before Friday.

 

[Llama]

Covid sucks. We won´t be able to all come together as a family for Christmas (or after) because of restrictions on the number of visitors. Which makes sense, especially if church services still go ahead, but it still sucks. I hope things stay manageable in Tasmania.

 

[Cate]

I have been reading about restrictions where you will be, LaMa & was worried you wouldn't be able to get home for Christmas. I just looked at the list of exposure sites in Tas & feel we should really restrict our shopping to online as much as possible from now on. There was a close contact not far from us at all. Eating out right now & doing unnecessary shopping I think is unwise. People have become complacent in Tasmania because we did not have covid for so long & almost overnight that has changed. G & I will be very careful from now on again. The QR code check-in app has been sending warnings to people saying they have been in the places they haven't been & that they should get tested & quarantine themselves. They are choosing to ignore them. I heard them talking about it on Sunday. I hope the glitch in the system gets ironed out quickly. I'll check the website each morning I think & keep an eye out for contact points.
Still on 1200, still 4 kg down.

 

[Llama]

Covid is insidious: for many folks it's no worse than the flu or even a light cold, lulling people into a false sense of security. And then it hits the one in twenty or so where it's awful and might have life-long consequences up to and including death.

 

[overlandflyer]

all viruses mutate but mutation isn't common. it literally takes billions of cell reproductions before a mutation occurs. i can see what is happening now and it is disturbing. COViD might have mutated to a less devastating virus in the omicron variant, but with the attitude now, i hear multiple sources parroting the phrase... "COViD is like getting a cold... you may be sick for a few days, but you will recover and then gain natural immunity." this is giving the virus trillions of chances to mutate and all it will take will be one deadly mutation. Last Man on Earth might have been a comedy (sort of sucks it was cancelled), but it is horrifying to consider that it might someday be a reality. i was never in a frat so i had to look it up... Alpha was the initial COViD variant... Delta was #4... Omicron is the 15th Greek letter.

will it happen? maybe not. sad that we have the ability to wipe it out through vaccination, but there seems no course to gain complete participation. unvaccinated people... can you even begin understand where the hate is coming from?