Walkabout 2011

Wed 2 Nov to Fri 4 Nov 11

jamag — Mon, 7 Nov 2011 20:58:00 GMT

The previously arranged Blue Airport Shuttle arrived pretty much on time and whisked us away from the

Itte Lane

home, for the last time this trip. We made it in good time to National Airport, and coincidentally (?) were dropped off outside the redcap porters’ position. They however, wouldn’t take our four cases, nor would they loan us one of their trolleys for our cases. There were $3 trolleys available, but we no longer had the single dollars, or the right amount of coin to access one of these. One of the porters was happy to get his cart into action though and took us all of 20 metres inside the terminal, to the check in counter. I waited for him to shoot through, while he waited for me to fork over a tip. I gave in first and parted with $10 – the lowest note left to us. I reckon the porter would have been welcomed into Ned Kelly’s gang. He seemed pleased.

Checked in and then had to haul four large (and heavy) suitcases, without the benefit of a cart, around the corner (almost as far as the porter had to go, but I got no tip), to the suitcase inspection area and then we were free to go.

We bought a Dunkin Donuts coffee and I sat down for a while to scan the crowds. There were several police people of all types, some extremely scruffy, without hats and one female had her pistol holstered on a belt up near her armpit, well above her waist which would make access to her weapon, very difficult. I thought at the time, I wonder how often they clean their weapons – would they work if they were needed ? Another gendarme sailed past on a Segway while yet another pedalled through on a bicycle – all this, inside the terminal !

The flight to Dallas was OK and we found our way to the neighbouring Concourse (D), where we had some time to kill before Qantas (QF8) left for Brisbane and Sydney, so it was off to McDonalds for a cuppa. Surprisingly, Marg spotted Lleyton Hewitt, wife Bec and three kiddies, soaking up some fast food at the same outlet. I think they were on the same flight as we were, though I expect they were not in cattle class like us. The automated train ride from Concourse B to D, was all done inside a secure perimeter, so we didn’t have to renew our acquaintance with the TSA – be grateful for small mercies.

On arrival in Brisbane (there was talk of the aircraft having to be diverted to Cairns due to head winds, but that didn’t eventuate), we were advised by the cabin crew that if we were travelling on this same aircraft to Sydney, we could leave our belongings in the overhead locker and then move out to the transit lounge while we waited for the aircraft to be refuelled. We had to pass through a security check as we disembarked the aircraft and Marg was selected for a full search and pat down, before we were permitted into the transit lounge. We were there for only a short time, when an announcement was made that the information given to us by the cabin crew, was incorrect and we now had to return to the aircraft and collect our belongings from overhead lockers ! How do experienced crews make those sort of basic mistakes ?

And so it was off to Sydney. Needless to say, with all the delays, we had missed our 12.10pm connection to Perth, but the efficient staff had booked us onto the next available aircraft, at 3.15pm.

Arrived in Perth at a little after 5.00pm (a four hour flight and a two hour time difference), where we found our previously arranged transport and reached our Booragoon home about an hour later.

So ends another trip to the US and this blog – I think that next time, it’s Leanne’s turn to come visit us.

Tue 1 Nov 11

jamag — Wed, 2 Nov 2011 07:39:00 GMT

This will be the last post for a couple of days as we'll be flying out tomorrow, but I'll finish up this diary, once we get home, with a resume about the flight. I'm sure there'll be some reportable incidents, en route.

Quite a reasonable day today - I think it was warmer than the past few have been and we went for our last walk in this country (this time anyway), down to the Giant supermarket and a few other shops close by - never miss an opportunity, right ?

Marg more or less finished the packing when we got home and all the bags weigh in now at under the 23kg allowance, so we should experience no problems at the airport. We're flying from here to Dallas/Ft Worth and then onto Brisbane where we will no doubt undergo the Custom and Quarantine checks, before heading onto Sydney and then finally, Perth.

I've added the last fixing point to the drain pipe which removes the water from the rear downpipe and transports it to the front of the house, but without the same happening next door, I think the flooding issue will be with Leanne and Brian for some time.

I know that most of the water is coming from Hector's place - he admitted to me that his pipe taking the water from rear to front, has several leaks. So long as he procrastinates, the flooding will continue.

Gizmo is not well and the steroids he is on at the moment, haven't helped at all. Hopefully, the chemo tablets (which arrived today) will fix the problem, but it will take time. I'm sure Leanne knows that the future of her much loved dog, could be short - it's a very sad time.

Mon 31 Oct 11

jamag — Tue, 1 Nov 2011 08:15:00 GMT

A cold day, but a bright one for Halloween. Went down to Target and the Springfield Mall today to do some last minute stuff - lots of silly shopgirls dressed up in their wicked witch hats, together with a few younger children in bumble bee outfits and other scary apparel. I suppose that we will get a bit of Halloweening around here tonight, but Leanne and Brian have laid in some treats, if the younger neighbourhood rabble surface.

Marg fertilised the garden plants for the last time - I'd reckon that they will be about to pull their heads in for the long cold winter, but at least they'll be well fed before they go.

I checked the Qantas website and the flight legs all seem to be OK, though the timings are all listed as "estimated", so we'll see what that translates to, in due course. I had a go at phoning Qantas to check our status, but gave up after a half hour on the end of the dog and bone, listening to their scratchy version of mood music, complete with the usual reassurances that my call was valuable to them.

I guess there will be a lot of folk back home who will be re-evaluating their loyalty to Qantas, about now.

Sun 30 Oct 11

jamag — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 06:42:00 GMT

Have to admit to being slightly concerned about the trip home, after the Qantas shut down. However, I see today that the Federal arbitrator has decreed all industrial action terminated for 21 days and with that assurance, Qantas will start getting aircraft back in the air, while they stoush with the unions off camera.
So we're back to Plan A, leaving Washington on Wednesday 2 Nov at 5.40pm (local) and arriving home on Fri 4 Nov.
I had a quick look today at the US Visa requirements and noted that while Australians are one of 35 nationalities who do not require visas for entry into the US for up to 90 days, any stay longer than that without a visa application is illegal. Our stay will be 91 days, ie 3 Aug - 2 Nov, but I think they will be happy to see us go, regardless.
Today again started with a very cold morning - there was thick ice on the windscreens of the cars, but it warmed up when the sun got going and reminded me of a wintery day in Canberra. I was able to give the lawn a final mow and then adjust the mower blades, to a fine tolerance.
Marg did some final shopping steriod tablets and seems to be handling it all quite well. We were told his appetite would become voracious and it has.

Sat 29 Oct 11

jamag — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 06:37:00 GMT

Stayed indoors today - kept in by the cold and the snow. It's a little difficult to see the snowflakes but you can pick them up on the top right of the photo, shooting down, to end their brief descent on the ground.
It wasn't much, just a light sprinkle which kept up most of the afternoon and didn't photograph very well, but I'd rather be at home in pleasant sunshine. Speaking of that, we were alerted early this morning, of the news that Qantas has effectively grounded all its aircraft from Monday 31 Oct, meaning that we have just lost our ride home.
It is fundamentally a union vs management issue which has reached the point where the Qantas board reckoned that something had to be done. It has already caused chaos and will create further chaos as the days go by, unless commonsense prevails. I lean on the side of management, even though we will be profoundly affected come Wednesday, as I believe the unions have forgotten their raison d'etre and tend to be exceptionally shortsighted in their aims. We'll see if their members are any better off, when this tete a tete is resolved.
I will call the Embassy on Monday to ask how we will be affected if we don't leave the country on Wednesday, as that will be the end of our three month visa period. It could have adverse implications, but there'll no doubt be a way out of the predicament.
The local weatherv website advises that the temperature at the moment is 41 degrees F (but there is small print to say that it feels like 31 degrees F, due to the wind), which is the equivalent of 5 degrees C and 0.5 degree C - so that's cold for us. No birds around at the moment and the squirrels seem to have taken cover as well.


Fri 28 Oct 11

jamag — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 06:32:00 GMT

A very cold day here here - there were reports on the news about snow having fallen in Vermont and apparently New York has commenced its preparations for the snow and ice season. It was very piccadilly here, when we got Leanne to drop us off at the Giant supermarket, so we could get hold of some groceries and purchase a bag conforming to the airlines specs for cabin baggage.
We found one at K Mart and together with all the groceries, managed the long walk home to Itte Lane. It may well be the last time we do that, but perhaps there are another one or two walks left for us to accomplish, before boarding the flying kangaroo.
Again I noticed signs in shop windows seeking staff - is this the start of the re-employment of America's out of work or are these jobs never filled ? I saw the same notices at Potomac Mills and wondered if, just like at home, there are folk around who would rather accept the dole, than work for their living.
The rest of this cold day was spent with Marg packing up and weighing suitcases, while I did some final work on the interior of the garden shed, ie outside ! The wall anchors that I've been waiting for, finally arrived yesterday so the remaining shelf can now be assembled and the whole thing packed up inside.
The more or less, final result -

Thu 27 Oct 11

jamag — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 08:13:00 GMT

Trapped indoors again by the rain.
All we could do today, was to finish off the painting of all the brass bits around the house. There were only a couple of door knobs left to paint, but they were given a coat of oil rubbed bronze, as was the overhead fan in the guest bedroom. That required it to be disconnected from the power supply and dismantled to get at a circular piece of dressy brass, then re-assembled and hooked back up to the power.
Marg began the packing of one suitcase today and the Model T spokes were wrapped and positioned so that they can be easily accessed by the quarantine people, when we reach Brisbane.
About a week ago we saw this little hand weighing device advertised;
and decided it was the bees knees.
It works by attaching the webbing strap to the handle of a suitcase. The weight in lbs or kgs appears in the window, so you can decide if the case will comply with airline maximums or if you have to remove 50 or so lbs/kgs. We've always used bathroom scales before, to give us some idea of weight, but they are often inaccurate - hopefully this little device will be as accurate as the airline's scales.

Wed 26 Oct 11

jamag — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 08:50:00 GMT

This was Gizmo's MRI day and we dropped him off at the vet's place at around 7.30am. Marg and I then caught a bus from the Franconia Springfield Metro to Potomac Mills. This is a vast shopping centre about 10 miles from us, which houses a huge range of outlets and shops of all descriptions, all of which are connected to a central internal walkway. These outlets are mainly focussed on catering to women's interests - regrettably there are no motor parts stores or bike shops, so my interest, which I worked hard at, waned after about 7 minutes.
Nonetheless we spent half a day there, picked up some good but cheap (compared to the prices in Oz) shoes and attempted other purchases only to be thwarted by a lack of availability or specificity.
Burdened with our shoe boxes, we caught the return bus to Franconia Springfield Metro and then called in at Home Depot and Target for essentials, on the walk back home.
We received a call from Leanne that Gizmo was ready to be collected from the vet's and so we congregated there at around 4.30. The vet showed us the MRI results and explained that the ailment causing Gizmo's problem, seemed to be connected to severe disease in his lumbar spinal cord.  Treatment will depend on the results of a spinal fluid test which we will recieve tomorrow, but the most likely possibilities are a tumour, or GME (granulomatous meningoencephalonyelitis). Nothing permanent can be done about the tumour, though the treatment for GME is successful in about 70% of cases. It does however, mean long term medication.
We hope for the best with Gizmo - he is a much loved member of the family.

Tue 25 Oct 11

jamag — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 07:54:00 GMT

A stay at home day, today. I was tasked with replacing the overhead fan in the TV room - the in situ fan was a bit of a mismatch in that room - it was more fitted for a bigger area and was a very brassy thing.
So it had to go.
We had picked up its replacement a few days ago and it proved to be very modern, with a remote device to control both fan speed and light.
Installation was as usual, a lot harder than the instructions (such as they were) indicated. I managed to get it all together and was able to hang it off the ceiling bracket while connecting the wires, but when I came to the part where it was all screwed into place, I found I was unable to incorporate the remote receiver into the upside down bowl which housed all the wiring. In the end, I had to mount the receiver on the beam to which the fan itself was attached. I don't know if that was the maker's intention, but it surely wasn't going to go in the bowl. Anyway that's done - you can see the receiver on the beam above the bowl.

The fan does look a lot better than the brassy one.
Yesterday while we were walking through Old Town, I came across a USPS graveyard for old mail boxes and thought it worth a photo.
I couldn't capture all of them in the one photo - there were probably half as many again out of the frame on the left. It maybe that these are no longer required as I've heard and read that the Post Office here is incurring some massive debt - no doubt for similar reasons as its counterparts all over the world. I guess the Postal Service may have found it uneconomical to service many of the existing mail boxes and simply uprooted them.
We also walked up one of the few cobblestone roads left in Old Town - it's very rough and cars generally only traverse this road at walking pace.

Mon 24 Oct 11

jamag — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 07:33:00 GMT

Accompanied Leanne into work this morning and were dropped off at the King St Metro, as we wanted to go to Clarendon to browse the shops there, especially Crate and Barrel and the Container Store.
When that was done (yawn), we trained back to King street and after a diversion to see if I could find a military disposals store I'd seen on the internet, which was located west along Duke St (it turned out to be not worth the effort), caught a trolley to the waterfront, where more shops were explored (double yawn). At around 1.30pm, we rendezvoused with Leanne and headed out west along Route 7, to Sears. There don't appear to be too many Sears stores about these days, but they're my favourite because they always have a man sized range of good quality Craftsman tools. I was able to pick up an oil filter remover and an angled set square, both of which I'd been looking for. Despite already having some vice grips, I would also have picked up an Irwin brand set as they are around half price here, but weight is becoming an issue and I don't really need them - do I ?
The neurologist called Leanne today, after we sent her a second request for information and she was apparently more forthcoming. I think Leanne is feeling a little more reassured as she gets more advice and detail, on what is happening to her dog.

Sun 23 Oct 11

jamag — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 07:29:00 GMT

The four of us went out in the am, to a variety of shops including the old favourites Target, Giant, Trader Joe's and Home Depot. Picked up a ceiling fan in Home Depot, which we will use to replace one which is too big and gaudy, for the room it's currently in.
Also paid a visit for a decadent lunch at Krispy Kreme. We all ordered two Krispy Kremes each, but were forced to rethink those options when the serving wench told us it would be cheaper by the dozen. Not needing to ponder that for long, we agreed and ordered three each. Sat down with a cup of coffee and polished off the lot. We were intending I think, to take them home but it really wasn't much of a challenge to scoff them, then and there.
The evening meal was an invite to Yvette's parents' place in Woodbridge about a half hour south of Springfield. Ed and Eileen Raslowsky are great people, who we've known for a number of years.
Dinner was superb and the conversation was lively, as Ed is no supporter of Obama and his Liberal cronies - I learnt a little more about American politics tonight ! Ed is also a gun owner and he displayed some interestingly old pieces for us.

Sat 22 Oct 11

jamag — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 07:57:00 GMT

Stayed at home today and did more work with the oil rubbed bronze paint as well as more in the garden shed. Leanne went off to work at around 9.00am.
Leanne had emailed the neurosurgeon a couple of days ago, to try to find out the cost of surgery and follow up treatmnent after the MRI (hopefully) identifies the problem Gizmo is suffering from.  She received an email from the vet last night, saying it was too hard to give any idea of the costs.
We were all unhappy with that response and will compose another email insisting we be given some idea of the surgery cost implications, before we agree to the MRI work.

Fri 21 Oct 11

jamag — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 08:13:00 GMT

Another cold day, though rain free.
Leanne dropped us off at the shopping centre, so we could pick up a few things for tea tonight. We walked home from there and I found it cold enough to wear a vest.
Marg started the cooking early and got most of the preparation done, while I got to work on removing all the kitchen door handles and painting them in oil rubbed bronze. Also did a few of the doorknobs - this job seems endless.
Also put in a bit of time getting the garden shed shelves in place and sorting the bikes and other machinery, so it will all fit inside the shed. Looks reasonable now, but I'm waiting on more wall anchors so I can finish off one side shelf.

Thu 20 Oct 11

jamag — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 07:27:00 GMT

Went in with Leanne, this rain free but windy, morning and caught the Metro at the Kings St Station, bound for the Pentagon City shopping centre. We had two missions - firstly to visit the Drug Enforcement Administration Museum and secondly, to do some window shopping as well as some "no, you've got to pay for that" shopping, at Pentagon City. This complex is huge. It spans two sides of a major road and has four floors of tempting (to women mainly) shops and exhibits.
But firstly we went to the DEA Museum, which we had not previously heard about. There were a number of enclosed sentry boxes around the building in which the museum is housed and each one contained a bored, but armed guard. I'm not sure why these folk needed to be armed, but I guess the environment is very different here and weapons may well be needed. One of these guards was able to provide information on where the museum was located - it was not well signposted.  The place turned out to be far from crowded - I guess like us, many folk may not know about it and it's hardly the kind of museum which would attract large numbers of visitors.  Details of past activities and (mainly) successes were presented in a series of information boards with a few agents' weapons thrown in, to maintain interest.
This is a photo of President Nixon (impeached but pardoned by Gerald Ford) announcing the formationt of the DEA in 1973, together with a few varieties of agents' badges.
We were out of there within the hour and turned our attention to Pentagon City. Shops visited included Nordstroms, Marshalls, World Market (Vegemite here sells for $9 for a 200gm container !), Victoria's Secret and Macys. The place is full of shops, many of which are of the boutique type - if you've seen one you've seen them all.
It has a large food hall on the ground floor, which is always packed and seats are at a premium. At lunch time, food samples are touted to potential customers outside individual shops, in the hope of enticing samplers to make their lunch choices at these shops.
This is a shot of one half of the food hall from the fourth floor. I couldn't fit it all in even from the 4th floor !

Pentagon City Mall has approximately 1.37 million visitors a year. It's built on 4 fully enclosed floors with glass elevators and exotic architecture. The lower level of the mall is directly connected with the Washington Metro line.  Built into it are 4,300 parking spaces.
After this experience, we metro'd back home, via Home Depot and Pet Smart (a large pet store chain), where we watched a dog daycare centre in operation. There were actually two glass enclosures spaced apart from each other, catering for big and little dogs. Staff worked inside each of the enclosures, keeping the dogs active and no doubt, preventing the smaller ones from being converted into food. Apparently owners pay to leave the dogs in the care of the pet store, while they are at work.

Wed 19 Oct 11

jamag — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 09:10:00 GMT

Leanne organised an appointment with an animal neurosurgeon this morning, so we went along at the appointed time (08;00am) only to wait the obligatory 45 minutes before getting in to see this august personage. A few hundred dollars later we were really no further ahead with any diagnostics, but were given a treatment of pills to counter any possibility of infection being the cause. We have also been given the costings for a set of MRIs - Leanne and Brian will think about . The dog disgraced himself by taking a small bite out of the vet - she tried to move him around and he yelped at the same time as he attacked her hand. She reacted quickly and the result was that no skin was broken but you could see the red welt he left. I think he was irritated because the vet was late and decided to make a point.
Raining most of last night and today, though there were some dry periods during one of whicvh we escaped the house and went shopping at Giant and Trader Joes and K Mart (and most other places in the shopping centre !)
Took down a few more faux brass items around the house and painted them oil rubbed bronze.

Tue 18 Oct 11

jamag — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 08:33:00 GMT

Only about two weeks now, before we leave Springfield VA and face the 15 hour plane flight back to Sydney, en route to Perth.
It was another beaut day in northern Virginia and we celebrated by taking down all the faux brass outside light frames;

and painting them in the oil rubbed bronze shade;
happily provided for us by Rustoleum.
Getting these frames down and then back on their wall, wasn't a great drama, but there was ample potential for the little glass windows to slip out of their frames and crash in too many pieces for even a good jigsaw puzzler. It didn't happen though one pane slipped out and was caught unbroken, by the ladder.
I had an interesting conversation today with a receptionist at Rubbermaid (the folk who produced the garden shed we bought). I had called them to get some additional wall anchors and when I made clear what it was I wanted, she said "Are you Australian ?" and went onto say that a friend of hers had met a fellow Australian on the internet. It seems he had come over to Ohio to meet this friend and the receptionist had in turn, met the Australian. We got to talking about a comment this fellow had made, concerning how cheap things were in the US, but I reminded her that the minimum wage is vastly different in the two countries. Here in the US it muddles along at $7.25 per hour (effective from July 24, 2009), while at home it is in excess of $15 per hour. That alone, has a major impact on the price of goods and of course, the ability to pay for these items.
Gizmo experienced another bad day - he seems to be occasionally seized by a fit of the shakes and has lost his appetite, quite apart from his wonky rear legs. Leanne has made an appointment to see the neurologist tomorrow at eight, so we're hoping there will be some answers there.

Mon 17 Oct 11

jamag — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 07:38:00 GMT

We decided to visit Tysons Corner today, but first went with Leanne and Gizmo to the acupuncturist, who regrettably advised us that she saw a neurological problem, which she couldn't attempt to fix. So we now have to make an appointment with an animal neurologist in an attempt to make Gizmo well again.
After that depressing visit, we caught the Metro at Braddock Rd Station and rode out to Rosslyn, which has one of the longest and steepest elevators on the Metro underground (there is one steeper and longer but I'm not sure of its location). A view from bottom up -
This is steep but nonetheless you often see foolhardy travellers running up and down these stairs. Anyway, from there we caught a bus to Ballston Mall and then another from there to Tysons Corner. Started at around 10.00am and arrived at midday.
The object of the visit was to get some trousers for me at LL Bean (which we did) and Marg took advantage of being in a shopping centre to do some other miscellaneous looking/shopping as well.
The return trip was far easier - while waiting for a bus back to Ballston etc, we spotted a Fairfax Connector bus with Franconia Springfiled on the destination sign. I asked the driver to confirm that this meant he would pull up at the FS Metro station and with his acknowledgement, we hopped on board for a single ride all the way home.   The bus system here doesn't operate like ours, in that there is a single (cheap) fare no matter where you are heading - think it's something like $1.50. So it makes public transport a very viable option.
While on the bus and from a height advantage, I noted the large numbers of drivers who eschewed the notion of wearing a seatbelt. I'd say that around 20% were wearing no restraint at all, which is 100% dumb.
It took us no more than an hour to return from Tysons Corner - again a plus as far as public transport is concerned.

Sun 16 Oct 11

jamag — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 08:03:00 GMT

Today was spent mainly around the house. While Leanne put a good deal of time and knowledge into removing the virus(es) off this computer, Marg did the washing and some cleaning up outside. The computer had a couple of Trojan sicknesses embedded and they were tough to master, though we were successful in the end. The laptop would simply crash, or would not load what was asked of it and sometimes would load something completely different. Now it's back in form and reliable, though for a while I thought its next home might be the rubbish bin.
I got out and did some of the jobs around the house that are on a new list, devised in collusion between Marg and Leanne. Will it never end ?
I borrowed a ladder from the bloke next door and got onto the roof to plug some holes in one of the skylights, which leak during major downpours. Also fixed a leaky gutter and hung up a clock. With Marg, I cut out some shelves for the pantry storage unit and contacted them with some paper from Target.

Also hung a whirlygig in the shape of a kookaburra with his evening meal (a snake), in his beak-

and saw some interesting vapour trails (six of them ?), in the very still morning air over northern Virginia -

Sat 15 Oct 11

jamag — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 01:07:00 GMT

Although overcast initially, today was rain free and the PM was good outdoor weather with no hint of humidity.
Gizmo seems to be slightly better, or perhaps he is simply getting used to his inert left leg. He is hobbling about now whereas before, he was more or less dragging his uncooperative limb. He is off on Monday to see the acupuncturist, so we'll see if that produces any improvement.
Marg and I walked down to Home Depot just after lunch to procure some home improvement products including a sheet of masonite, which the friendly staff at HD cut for us so we could fit it in the car. It is destined to become shelves in the pantry - Leanne already has a set of Ikea shelves there, but they're grated and smaller items fall off them, so we'll make proper shelving.
We aso found some tubing of the right diameter, so I'll be able to cut that up and use it as protection around the pop up sprinklers.
Done that -
Very pleased to have found that tubing - it looked at one stage as if we eweren't going to find any and I'd have to send some over from home. Now, job done.
Went out to Fuddruckers for tea tonight. We've been to a different Fuddruckers when we were here before and it was interesting to compare the two. Didn't really think much of this new place - it lacks the atmosphere of the Alexandria based Fuddruckers and I also think I've probably had my fill of hamburgers anyway !

Fri 14 Oct 11

jamag — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 09:45:00 GMT

Another wet day and some periods of this day, were very wet. It fined up a little after midday and we were able to hand over our nurse maiding duties with Gizmo, to Brian. In lieu, we went to Home Depot and sundry other shops, looking for raw mterials to accomplish a number of tasks around the home. Leanne has realised I think, that we only have two more weeks before we re-acquaint ourselves with Qantas.
Gizmo has not improved and his left rear leg is now very floppy. He has difficulty getting around and when he does have to move from one place to another, the left leg is simply dragged along the ground. Leanne checked with the animal neurological specialist, to whom she was referred last night, but they are talking in the region of $2000 with no guarantees. She is going to take him to an acupuncturist on Monday to see if there is anything that can be done. The cause seems to be a mystery - whatever it is has moved very quickly from an obvious irritant to complete immobility.