Critters and Courses

Having just finished posting the last blog, I decided to check out the banner pages on Sally’s Adventures: About the Author, Vision and P & P (Praise and Prayer).  I don’t know when I last updated them, but it must have been around the time I returned from Africa in 2016!  It was quite fun reading back on how I first got started and the journey to where I am now.  When updating the P & P, I decided to write to a well-known Christian author Max Lucado whose work I have admired and read for many years.  Having recently read a section from his devotional book called ‘Let the Journey Begin’ I wanted to include this portion at the bottom of my P & P page.  Unfortunately I haven’t yet heard back so haven’t been able to include it for you this time. I’m still hopeful to hear from him soon and if permission is granted I will let you know so you too can be inspired and encourage.

Having returned from 3 months away and wanting to have something to aim for, I decided to look further into learning some gardening skills.  I enrolled to do a short TAFE course in Production Nursery Skills, which I was told about while looking to do a course in Horticulture next year.  The course in Nursery Skills is a two-day course and I think will be a good introduction to getting back into studying.

I really don’t like studying, as I had so many problems at school due to being dyslexic.  I hated exams and the stress it brought, as I just could not recall the information I had learned when I needed it in the tests.  I’ve done a few courses in different things over the years, including a degree in Biblical studies and a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment when I was hoping to start a franchise of my Mothercraft business. I also thought of doing a Masters course in counselling, but was put off by the work load and the amount of reading that needed to be done.  I think doing horticultural and starting with a short course might be more my thing.

However, committing to studying Certificate III Horticulture for six months is still quite daunting.  At least the TAFE campus at Joondalup is not too far to get to from my place.  The government is offering half price for certain courses, so I thought I’d grab the opportunity while it lasted.  My plan is to not only gain more gardening skills and knowledge for my own plot of earth, but also to be able to help when the community garden that is planned for Trigg eventually gets approved. I’m hoping this time around, going back to study will be a better experience than my early school years, which still haunt me.  I’ve also heard that learning new things and challenging your mind improves your brain function.

In the meantime I’ve noticed my roses have become infested with aphids! One sure way to get rid of them is squashing them between your fingers. Another way is to spray them with white oil, which unfortunately seems to also burn the lovely new copper Rose leaves and can kill the good critters too.  I’m hopeful the ladybirds and other beneficial critters will soon appear to feast on the aphids. Earlier in the season I used the white oil on the scale, which had taken off while I was away and had transferred to other rose bushes.  Due to the cooler weather I was able to keep up the spray and have now brought those little critters under control. I haven’t seen any of my beneficial wasps as yet and hope they too have survived the winter.

The other little critters that seem to be running rampant are the ants.  There seem to be little piles of sand throughout my pavers as well as my garden.  I’m not happy that there are so many of them. I’m sure there are more this year than last.  Has anyone else noticed there are more this year?

Having planted a heap of seeds in my raised garden, I was determined not to have them all eaten by the slaters and slugs, so I made some traps from used recyclable paper coffee cups. Cutting little holes half way up the cup, then sprinkling in a few slug pellets and putting a saucer over the top to keep them dry seemed to work quite well.  When there were a few dead critters in the bottom of the cup, I could then throw out the cup and start again. I’m pleased to say most of the seeds have survived.

After my disappointing attempt to book next year’s holiday at Christmas and Cocas Islands, I had a chat to Neesha (whose mother was one of my teachers at Christmas Island.) She had just returned from the Islands and had booked group accommodation for next year.  By providence (God’s unmerited favour), there were four places still available, so I asked if Vi-Lay and I could take two of them.  I then called around to see if any of my friends might like to join us.  Janice from Newman jumped at the chance, inviting one of her friends too. There are some activities included in our group booking, including a canoe safari at Cocas and a local tour on Christmas.  I am also interested in the scuba diving on Cocas so I can better enjoy the critters under the sea, but before I do this, I had better learn how to dive.  This prompted me to look online for scuba classes and I found one just up the road at Hillarys Boat Harbour. Janice says she wants to join me in the lessons. She hopes to come to Perth in November, so together we could take the plunge.  Before these lessons, we both need to get swimming fit and pass the online test. I’m praying there is no maths involved!

This month there was a combined churches pastor’s conference at our North Beach church, where I joined some of our church baristas to serve coffee throughout the morning and lunchtime; Chris, Ash, Merv and myself on the first day, with Chris taking time off and Ellie helping out on the second day. It was lots of fun with lots of food being served by the amazing kitchen crew. It was also a lovely time to get to know Ellie as we chatted between the services.

My lime tree is absolutely covered in blossom as is the pear.  I’m excited as the orange, mandarin and lemon trees also have buds. I pray that this year they will produce fruit, as last year the flowers never matured and just fell off.  This year I have sprinkled with citrus fertiliser, potash and iron to help them along. Both grapevines are putting forth their spring shoots, the fig is sprouting, my wisteria has already flowered, the jujube, which I wasn’t sure would survive, has tentative new leaves and paw paw fruit continue to ripen on a very wind battered tree, which has lost most of its leaves from the winter gales. I’m still waiting for life to burst forth from the deciduous persimmon which was planted last year.

You may remember I mentioned that during my iso period I injured my finger, smashing it between two pavers.  It has continued to be sensitive, slightly swollen and an area of inflammation.  My doctor suggested I have an x-ray, which resulted in finding a small break in the tip.  Ouch! She suggested I strap one digit to the other.  I thought about this and the implications and came to the conclusion that if my index finger was strapped to the middle finger it would prevent it from bending.  My finger didn’t hurt when I bent it; it only hurt when the red spot on the first joint was pressed or knocked.  Also the strapping would have to go over the break, the damaged part of my finger, making it even more sensitive. So instead, I looked for a finger sock (which I later found out was called a finger stall). When I went looking for one at the pharmacy, my friendly pharmacist, Jess, jokingly called it, ‘a finger condom’.  She said she enjoyed the reaction she received from saying it. Any way, it wasn’t what I was looking for as it had no padded protection, being made of latex. I think it was just to stop the finger from getting wet. I went home to see what I could make from an old pair of gloves.  I rummaged through my medical drawer, as I was sure that I had an old one of Mum’s. I eventually found it and later found out it’s called a finger stall.  It’s made of leather and although the elastic had long worn out, it was just what I needed.  I then cut a tube of finger & toe bandage for padding and stuffed this into the stall.  Perfect!  Well nearly, as I am constantly removing it to do things like typing or washing my hands. Still it will suffice, helping me not to knock it or poke it till it has time to heal.

Bob, one of the other owner occupiers spoke to me about cutting back our street trees. He was concerned that the trees were blocking the view to the street where we exit the property, as they have grown so big.  Knowing the street trees are council property, I suggested I call the council to get them trimmed.  Within days a young man was doing a great job.  I went over to have a chat and was horrified at how much he had cut off!  The trees in the street were already laden with olive flowers, so I was anticipating a bumper crop again this year and was shocked at the amount of branches which now lay beneath the trees. Still, safety first, produce comes second. I’m sure there will be enough to glean when harvest time comes in March.

Then later in the week I popped in to visit Lucinda and had a lovely catch-up chat with her all about the things she was doing. We caught up again this time for a chat over lunch with her friend Jase.  We had lots of laughs and gratitude to the Lord as we sharing our Christian experiences.

Another person I caught up with was the Norwegian guy from the flight from Brisbane.  He was employed by one of the mining companies to fulfil a high tech job and was coming to the end of his visa.  I had promised to show him around some of the northern beaches. We had hoped to maybe take a dip in the ocean, but the day we had planned to catch up was wet and cold. I didn’t think he would mind coming from Norway and having swum in much colder waters, but he declined the offer.  It was a good decision as when we walked along the beach, the waters were very rough and had washed ashore hundreds of bluebottles or Portuguese man o’war. These nasty little critters can cause intense pain and would have been impossible to avoid as there were so many of them.

Two funny incidents with a few other critters recently.  Firstly, when I was walking through the bush to the doctor’s surgery the other day to get my x-ray results, I stopped to take a photo of a donkey orchid and while my attention was on the orchid I head a flapping of wings behind me.  I turned around to see a juvenile magpie hopping closer to check me out.  I was rather surprised, especially as this fledgling was without parental supervision at such a young age and was so friendly and unafraid.  I think she was female, as they don’t have as many white feathers as the male birds. She was very inquisitive, hopping around to take a closer look at me, so I chatted to her, asking if she minded me taking photos of her bush flowers and if I could please take one of her.  If I hadn’t been in a hurry to get to my appointment, I would have stopped to chat a bit more. I do love maggies, although spring is the season to be wary of them as it’s breeding season and can they can become very territorial if they don’t know you.  Magpies have face-recognition, so if they know you’re friendly they generally won’t swoop you.  If anything appears threatening, they will swoop to protect their young.  Although I wasn’t in my usual area of the Star Swamp bushlands, I’m sure the message has been passed around that I’m harmless.  In my patch of the bush, I often warn the Maggies I’m coming with a particular whistle, and many of the older familiar birds don’t even move when I jog past within a meter of them as they nuzzle around in the earth for bugs.

Another magpie story came from an early morning jog when I saw one of these little feathered friends sitting in the grass on someone’s verge.  It was a well mown lawn with a sprinkler system which had circular impressions where the sprinklers were.  This funny character was sitting in one of these hollows as if it was a nest.  I wondered, as it was a chilly morning, if he was trying to keep his tummy warm! It made me laugh at his antics.

The other funny encounter was when I was driving back from my catch-up with friend, Grace.  Stopping at some lights, I pulled alongside a vehicle with a boxer dog hanging out the window.  In my doggy voice I said “Well hello there. Are we enjoying our ride?” the dog seemed to ignore me so I continued my chat asking if he enjoyed the odour on the wind. At this point he turned his head away pulling it inside the car as if giving me the cold shoulder.  I laughed, as did his owner who had heard my comments and was also amused by the dog’s blatant disregard of my attempts to get a friendly response from him.  I transferred my attention to the owner, saying it was obvious he had been taught not to speak to strangers.  Then as the traffic light turned green and we began to move off, he put his head back out of the window with his nose in the air, as a person would do to show distain.  I jokingly called out after him, ‘Snob!’ and laughed at his antics. What a character.

My last funny encounter was when I was jogging through the bush when I heard a rooster crowing. I thought it might be coming from the homes backing onto the bush but as I approached it was definitely coming from the bush. I took a path off the main track and there he was, a young grey rooster.  He was quite friendly, coming towards me but unfortunately not close enough for me to catch him.  Later I mentioned him to one of my neighbours who said quite a few unhappy people had brought it up on the neighbourhood Facebook page.

Photos: 1. The last of the Jonquils    2. Wisteria    3. Indian Hawthorn    4. Intoxicating scent of Port Wine Magnolia     5. Hand X-Ray    6. Lunch out with Lucinda and Jase    7. Inquisitive Maggie    9. Sculpture at Scarborough

Prayer & Praise Points:
Praise the Lord for all creatures great and small that make up our wonderful world.

Please pray with me for the situation in Afghanistan, especially for the women there. Pray that the authorities will fulfil their promises of peace and humane rule.

Pray for wisdom for our leaders as they seek to open Australia up after all these lockdowns. Pray for businesses which have been affected, that they will bounce back.

Praise the Lord for all our wonderful friends and family. Praise Him for continued good health and our freedoms which we often take for granted.

Please pray with me for Kat’s speedy recovery of her knee and my finger.

Please continue to pray for my sisters, Tricia, Jen and Kat to come to know Christ’s love for them.