Hold the front page!

What a year..first Alex thinks he's #'d his left wrist while in Portugal, then Phil #'s his left hip and had to be helicoptered out of the bush, and now (hopefully finally) in a truly dramatic effort to up-stage all, Ben has #'d  his left scapula. Me?..... I'm staying wrapped in cottonwool for the next 2 weeks...especially my left side!

I was diligently working away on the indoor trainer late Saturday afternoon when a pathetic pain wracked   voice said in my ear...I think you need to take me to hospital...and there was an  ill looking Ben  holding onto his arm in a way that all cyclists recognise there is a fracture somewhere, although usually its the clavicle not the scapula. 

Despite Ben not having private health insurance l  opted to go to that route rather than wait for hours and hours in a public hosp emergency dept and so 2 hours later, after an xray which was a bit unclear and a CT which was not, we got the whole story in graphic detail.

Usually scapula #'s  are just left to heal themselves as they are stable due to location and the underlying rib cage and despite my initial fears on seeing the scan, that's the case for Ben too..if you take a good look at middle  pix on the right of the bottom scan..the one that is 100% side on, you'll see that nothing is sticking out either into his ribs or out into his skin.  

He's up for 4 weeks total immobility in a sling with no exercises at all to allow it a good chance to heal itself as best it can, followed by Physio.  

I'd never seen anything remotely as bad as this before, but the surgeon said he'd seen similar on motor bike accident victims.

Poor Ben..appalling timing  as he wont be able to work and he was on the verge of getting an adult  apprenticeship in the building trade.....

 

I'm now going to have what might be a rather robust discussion with the Private Hospital..they wanted to keep Ben in overnight to see the surgeon when he came in the next day .  I was told that since he was uninsured their protocol is to ask for 5 nights accommodation and if he didn't stay the 5 there would be a refund.  On discharge I was told a different story which was that if the Health fund allocated 5 days funding for the particular problem then that is what I would have to pay, or the hospital would lose money on that admission!!!

I'm not very good arguing my case on the spot but forewarned is forearmed and I've been busy marshalling my arguments just in case...I might even suggest that I would consider  contacting "Today Tonight" or some other equally appalling "exposure" TV program..

helmet standard change - yet again and again and again

How to govern by feel, hope and a prayer(click the title for the link).  

This time the standard was updated and brought in so quickly wholesalers and retailers were caught on the hop but  after protest the change is  to be delayed by 6 months.

Our helmet standards are already so stringent they surpass any other standard on the globe and now they are being tightened even further.  In my mind they reflect the "nanny state" persona of our laws, after all we ARE the most governed people in the world with federal, state and local governments alive and well and living off our taxes.

I'm just hoping that the aero helmet I bought for road TT's will not have to be replaced too soon ..first i want to make it earn what I paid for it!

Bizarre

This, like the scene on my weekend ride into the country of green grass and full dams, is sooo bizarre for this part of the world, it needs to be recorded for posterity:

from the bureau of meteorology site

Biblical Victoria

Moses, Aaron, Pharaoh, Joseph

where are you?

We had the  drought, 

we had the terrible bush fires, 

we've had/are having the floods 

and now we're getting the locusts.

This map (from www.dpi.vic.gov.au) indicates where the swarms are currently..and they'd bloody better keep away from my veggie garden .

Noooo..not again!

Just when I thought it was safe to enter the cats sleeping area  first thing in the morning without first checking for rats dead, half dead or (shudder) alive:

    

    "A Present from a loving admirer"

it's been a while but here we go again, only this time Flea has been  very, very politically incorrect.....juvenile possums are "barley" and what's more are hardly fair game for our rat catcher extraordinaire.

Phoenix veggies

well bugger me!..planted one day, swamped and buried the next and 3 days later  when I get round to looking properly at the damage..what do I find?  yay! 

Maybe now  I can stop sulking and get on with looking after my babies again.

2 torrential rain days in a week is 2 too many

Guess it's just as well I have a veggie garden for lifestyle rather than economic reasons!

this time it was alot worse and this time I'm not bothering to replant..well at least not til the current weather pattern has passed by.   I've lost all my potatoes, newly planted winter veggies capsicums and lettuce...also my patience!

There must have been a huge amount of rain as it pushed this fence over a bit

and  this large potted plant parked itself half way down our garden.  It can only have come under the fence  from that neighbour.

We also had floods into the garage and into the front verandah, but thankfully not actually into  the house. One of Alex's mates is coming in with a digger to gouge out trenches for additional drainage pipes, although this might well be a case of closing the stable door after the horse has bolted.