The Ankle

In my last post I told of my agonizing day and my fears for the next day.

That same night, about 3am, I woke as I usually do after not taking alcohol for the day, in need of a pee. I wondered to myself as I swung the legs out of bed, how this was going to go, half expecting an agony episode to get to the can. I have had numerous of these traumatic incidents resulting from crook ankles in my football playing days and, worst of all, pinched nerves in my lower back. I don't pretend that I'm on my own in this, most humans of my acquaintance can tell a similar tale.

With trepidation I put my weight on my left foot, expecting a dagger strike. Instead there was a loud clicking noise from my foot. I hesitated then continued, relatively pain free. Again in the morning I could walk, yes a little painfully but no stabbing crippling pain. A bone or a ligament in my foot must have found its way back into place, that was the loud click.

My friend Vince rang in the morning. He had read my blog post of the previous evening and offered to come and help. The man is a retired osteopath with healing hands, who now lives in Inverloch, but still a healer and philosopher.

I told him of my miraculous recovery. He said, "See what can happen when you put it out there, a call for help. The world works in mysterious ways."

Then he said, "I'm pleased you are reading Victor Frankel's book."

I hadn't mentioned Victor Frankel in my post, the author of the book 'Man's Search for Meaning', which I did mention as a means of coping with my pain.

Vince said everybody should read it, particularly now with world affairs so disgusting and dangerous.

I agree.

I Don't Need This

On Saturday I went to the farm and did a bit of slashing down the back in an area that had been badly neglected for a year or two. A black wattle tree had fallen leaving an area hard to get at by anyone cutting grass, so my main man Gord had not done there, and I had forgotten about it.

I was not there long, maybe an hour with the metal blade on the whipper and I got most of the rampant blackberries. There are plenty of blackberries down there in other places so don't have the idea I'm caught up with the maintenance, there are some useless trees and shrubs that need removing and the blackberries keep coming.

I was there long enough to strain my ankle on the unlevel ground, not badly, but enough to cause me discomfort that evening. Sunday I was on duty in the museum, and decided to drop in to Hanna's on my way home, to see what needed doing there, and dig a bit of garlic which I should have done two weeks ago as some of the tops have died off too much and shriveled away. I must have aggravated the ankle as it was worse last night.

Then this morning I could hardly walk on it, the pain was severe. I had told Hanna that I'd come back this morning and tidy up with the whipper around my growing plot which does look a hell of a mess, and I didn't want to let her down, and I wanted to dig the rest of the garlic.

The phone rang on cue, it was Elvie asking me to bring a bucket of chinese lanterns for the Herb and Spice people. I told her my predicament and asked her to tell the foliage wholesaler if he wanted beech today I may not be able to do it as I can barely walk.

Luckily Lib was home and she strapped my ankle with adhesive bandage and I dosed up on the panadeine as well as my normal cortisone. With my boots on over the bandage I could hobble about and I hobbled about whippysnipping at Hanna's while Lib dug the garlic. Good job she did too and she helped my pick the lanterns at another place also. When I arrived at the farm I wasn't feeling too bad, so down the back I went to pick copper beech that wasn't too hard to get, where we hadn't yet cut this year, as until I did the cutting on Saturday you could hardly get to he back of a couple of nice young trees. Jod picked this up with the quad bike and took it up while I started on some green beech for the other wholesaler who had already put in an order for Wednesday. I didn't think I could do it tomorrow as I have meetings all afternoon to do with the museum and Nobelius Park.

Jod came back and helped me and we got it done. I can hardly walk on it again now. I took the bandage off in the bath and the poor old ankle is really stabbing with pain when I put weight on it. God knows what it'll be like in the morning. I'm going to take painkillers now and go to bed.

Lib is home again tomorrow and will strap it again.

You probably don't want to hear this tale of woe. I'm reading a book at he moment  called, 'Man's Search for Meaning', written by a psychiatrist who was a holocaust survivor of Auschwitz. He says enduring suffering to enable purposeful action gives existential meaning, and pain and suffering can give meaning itself, in it's endurance. That probably needs tidying up but I want to get this posted before midnight and be in bed. I'll talk more about this book another time.  

Shepherd's Warning

It was 5.45am this morning, right on the appointed time, when I dropped Gord off in Glen Waverley at the house of one of his friends. They were taking a cab from there to the airport for a flight to New Zealand. Heading back home eastward the sky was lit by a beautiful red sunrise, and a radio announcer pronounced the old adage -

"Red sky at night, shepherd's delight
Red sky in the morning, shepherd's warning."

There was heavy rain forecast for the day, but when it would arrive was the question I was asking. I bought a long black at the Macdonald's 24 hour and fueled up and checked the tyres and oil in Lib's car. The announcer said as I drove through Emerald at about 6.30am that the temp was 24C, which was the forecast max, so all there was left to happen was the rain.

I got home and picked some variegated pitto that was ordered but is scarce at the farm at the moment and went inside to have some breakfast and take Lib hers in bed. She had the day off. I worked tidying up a Signpost article with some amendments that my subject had requested when I discussed my draft with her the previous evening.

I had to be at the farm at 10.00am to pick Elvie up and take her to the rheumatologist in Dandy. I didn't know what time I'd be back at farm but I knew I still had 10 bunches of green beech to get to complete an order. I had unpleasant visions of getting up a tree down the back in the afternoon in pouring rain. So I called in on a friend I knew in Emerald who had a green beech in her back yard, hoping I could cut some off quickly and throw it in the van and leave it when I picked up Elvie, for Jod or Meredith to bunch.

It worked perfectly in the 20 mins I had to spare and I drove to Dandenong with Elvie, into the rain building to heavy, grateful for my good thinking which meant I didn't have to get wet later. We were on time for the 10.45am appt but the parking was bedlam and in the end we waited more than an hour in the waiting room. Elvie's blood tests showed her inflammation had gone up again but specialist did not want her back on cortisone so there are more extensive blood tests scheduled for Feb and Mar and another appt in Mar. It's like going round and round the mulberry bush.

We got back to the farm and I had lunch. Oddly it was still dry there even though it had already rained quite heavily in Melbourne. I decided I'd go down the back and start cutting beech for the next day but as I was was preparing to do that the rain started so I went home instead. Lib had gone out to a funeral. Tragically the son of a lady who had worked with Lib for many years committed suicide last week, aged 34.

I lay down for a short kip and fell asleep for three hours. The rain has continued on and off but it has not been as heavy as forecast. I hope it's not too wet tomorrow, besides our normal wholesaler another customer has rung an order so i'll be busy. At least I can be sure tomorrow will not be hot.

Now and Again, You Win, and Laugh

Today as is the norm on a weekend I put a few bets on the gee gees. There was racing at  Warrnambool and also Werribee. I take running doubles, 50 cent bets, through the card, using trainers I like as selections using a sequence formula of my own. It is fun, checking my account balance at the end of the day. No running double collect today. That's OK, You go a streak of loss, then the numbers work out and there's a good collect.

But today I made a good profit despite none of my running doubles selections getting up. I also put on some bets $1 each way for horses that take my fancy, or trainers, I have another list of trainers that I back for win and place, just $1 each way. Last week I landed Beliveau at $114 a win for $1, and a good running double for a weekend profit of $200.

Today, now get this, I was putting on $1 each way on Balzac, race 8 Warrnambool. Aaron Purcell is on my list of W+P trainers. I made a mistake and instead of moving the the mouse after clicking on $1 a win, I clicked again, not on a place bet, but again on the win. So I effectively but unintentionally put $11 a win on the horse instead of $1 each way. I cursed quietly at the time for my stupidity as i confirmed the bet without realizing my error.

Can you imagine my pleasure when I checked the account this evening to find that Balzac won and and the payout was $135.30.

You do have to laugh.