Committed Travellers

Today the Queensland Premier announced the borders would open on 10 July, except to Victorians. We are looking forward to having friends cross the border and come to stay with us for a few days. It will also be great to end the nonsensical Anna bashing about the Queensland border being closed, while not complaining about the other states that have also refused to open their borders.   I spent a couple of hours tidying our laundry cupboards and drawers, finding several products we won't need to buy for several years as we have a significant oversupply. This happens because is hard to see what is at the back of the cupboards. The door hinges have started to rust so I sprayed them with Inox until I can replace them. We can't decide whether to replace the laundry cupboards and benchtop, paint both of them, or do nothing. The latter option is winning by default.  Blue came with me to visit a friend. He stayed awake and was friendly and curious. When I walked him after we got home, I

Blue and Tilly had a quiet start to their day. He was nibbling her tag and bell. As he is now taller I removed the roadworks orange bunting from around the base of our bed. Tilly can still get under but Blue would have to crawl under. If he does he hopefully can't wee under there from a crawling position.  It was a lovely sunny day and I was able to get a few jobs finished. Spotlight no longer stocks the brackets needed for our blind to replace the one I broke during the window cleaning exercise. One blind downstairs has three brackets so I took the middle one to replace the broken bracket upstairs. Tilly and Blue helped me do some gardening. I put her harness on and attached a lead and extra length of rope which Blue kept pulling. I moved a pile of small rocks to hide ugly irrigation covers, then spread a couple of bags of mulch and planted succulents out the back near the pool. The neighbour's tree is still dropping leaves on the pool so the leaf cover is on. Blue walked on t

It was a day for indoor jobs because it was cold and drizzly outside. I finished making the cushion covers for the Bushtracker and they look good. Hopefully they will wear well. Blue and Tilly don't need to exercise outside. He ran up and down the corridor by himself several times, then Tilly got the idea and chased him. I had to wait until he had fallen asleep after his dinner before I could trim the fur from his feet. He came all the way down the stairs by himself for the first time today so it is important his little paw pads grip the timber steps well. Tilly can race up and down the stairs without risk of hurting herself, but she tries to play with him on the stairs and that is when he is at risk of falling.  It was dry enough to take Blue for a short walk late in the afternoon and I spotted a few pelicans paddling past on the river. The sunset was impressive.

This morning we walked to Cafe Alfons on Chevron Island. Blue walked about half the journey. We had breakfast with a couple of friends. Dogs are allowed at the outside tables but we were told Blue is not permitted to sit on laps - it was cold so it was lucky I had taken a blanket for him we put on the ground. Where ever we go he puts smiles on the faces of strangers. So many people comment that he looks like a teddy bear. Two women at the next table showed me photos of their poodles and they looked like they had been groomed ready for a show. I can't see Blue ever looking like that! I finished the Bushtracker access door job. I removed the rest of the old sealant, cleaned the area with turps and was just squeezing the new sealant onto the back of the frame when Anita came to watch. It was a good thing she was there as I needed some extra chux cloths, soapy water and tools I hadn't anticipated I would need to clean off the excess sealant. That side of the van was in the sun so t

It looked like it might rain so we did not go for a walk this morning. There was no rain all day even though the sunrise suggested it might. I finished resealing a vent in the wall of the caravan. We had this installed to let heat out when the gas oven was alight. We have replaced the oven with a microwave oven so don't need the vent which lets dust inside the van. Under the stainless vent I found two 63mm holes in the caravan wall. To fill these I cut pieces of polystyrene to size and jammed them into the holes. I smeared sealant around the edges and for extra protection taped the inside of the vent to make sure no dust can get in. I screwed the vent back into place with some additional sealant. Having opened my marine grade sealant for the vent job, I decided to tackle the access door on the Bushtracker that is leaking, otherwise the sealant could go to waste. Removing the plastic access door was far too easy because the existing sealant had not adhered to the plastic. It had cer

Our walk this morning was shorter than normal, but at least we did get out on another cool but sunny day. We tackled a couple of outstanding caravan jobs. As there was no wind we wound out the awning and gave it a good clean. That side of the van is in the shade so I dried it with cloths and left it for a couple of hours to air before winding it back in. I had some new awning deflappers and worked out how they fit our awning. Next we emptied our jerry can full of diesel into the Toyota. First we tried the 12 volt pump I bought for this job, but it didn't work. It is designed as a submersible pump so the shop that sold it to me might not have realised it won't fit inside a jerry can. I will do some more research on this. Plan B was to use the jiggler, which is a length of clear plastic hose with a marble in a fitting at one end. When jiggled it forces fuel up the hose, but we put the jerry can on top of a couple of boxes to make this job easier with a lot less jiggling. There wa

Anita had an early start with appointments and shopping, while I caught up with some personal administration. The registration is due on my father's car being driven by my out-of-contact brother. With the mail redirection I have in place the registration letter was returned to the Victorian government agency. They then sent another letter in a plain envelope which got through the filter and told me I have to go through an amazingly complex process of proving my identity, the power of attorney etc. All this for a car worth less than $1,000! That tedious job is still outstanding. I loaded Blue into the Toyota and drove to Brisbane to see my sad friend whose poodle had to be put to sleep. The urn containing his remains was delivered while I was there with another friend who still lives in our old street in Spring Hill. We had a lovely lunch of roasted vegetable soup followed by some Gorgonzola cheese and strawberries. Blue behaved himself and was admired for his teddy bear looks. Whil

I walked Blue around the block and he actually walked most of the way. We were going for a walk without him, but he followed us and realised our plans so we took him. He is getting much better walking, but freaked out when a fire engine went past with its siren blasting. We are exposing him to daily noises and activities as part of his socialisation. We had just crossed the road at the end of our street when an idiot hooned around the corner at great speed with accompanying loud noise. Initially I was worried he was going to drive straight into the river, but he turned at the last second. He must have been doing 80 to 100kph. A fisherman by the water thought he was going to either hit him or collect his car. Miraculously neither of these things happened. If he had reached us 30 seconds earlier it might have been a different story as Blue was slowly walking across the road. I noted the registration number and called the police. Unusually the phone was answered and I gave all the details

We decided to walk to the mirror shop as I had not had any response to my email ordering a replacement mirror. I finally placed our order this afternoon after receiving an invoice. The round trip was 4kms by the time we posted a letter and stopped in at Aldi. I stopped to pick up what I thought was rubbish on the main road, but it turned out to be a brand new tool still in its packaging, which presumably had bounced out of a tradie's ute. It is a flexible drive used for getting into tight places with a drill. In Bunnings these cost $63 so I was rewarded for my efforts. I painted a second coat around the mirror frame in the bathroom then cleaned the bathroom windows and flyscreens and replaced the blind. This led to spring cleaning the rest of the bathroom. The garden offered relief from this job so I planted some cuttings from our Zoysia clumping grass to see if it will grow in different areas of the garden. I even weeded out some clover that had infiltrated our ground cover. Blue

We have changed feeding times for Tilly and Blue so they have to wait until 8am for their breakfast. This is aimed at discouraging them from becoming active too early so they get fed. They also have a late lunch and late dinner and have quickly adjusted to this change. I became suspicious when they were very quiet so went looking for them. They were both trying to get the bath plug. A few minutes later Blue was guarding it from Tilly. She lost interest and played with another toy instead. I spent the morning fixing the blind in our downstairs bathroom and cleaning the windows. I also tied up a couple of the bromeliads which had fallen over in the overnight rain. Yesterday I fixed a loose join in the underground irrigation system. When I opened the control panel to turn it on, I discovered a mass of ants and eggs. I had previously found a similar mass on top of the swimming pool control panel. It is time to get someone to deal with our ant invasion. Anita had organised lunch at a seafoo

We took Blue to breakfast with our friends at a cafe that is very dog friendly. It even has a kennel where dogs can be left while people eat. Blue was not going to be staying there! He prefers laps but did settle on the bed we took for him. The young woman who took our orders mucked up the coffees and was very stressed about it. We kept reassuring her it was not a disaster and the proprietor gave us free protein balls to encourage us to return. I painted the mirror frame with enamel paint but I had removed the bulbs from the light fitting to gain access to the top of the frame so may have to do a second coat tomorrow. My next job was putting a soft waterproof covering on the caravan steps which are metal with protrusions to clean shoes - not good for bare feet or tender puppy feet. I first put on rubber backed rugs but when it rained they stayed wet for days. Today I put on a plastic mat designed as a bathmat but which we use to capture kitty litter when the cat leaves her box. Unfortu

We walked to the Brickworks for breakfast but took our raincoats as it was cold and rain was forecast. Blue is not happy walking along the main road as the noise of traffic spooks him. When we went into the only cafe that allows dogs we spotted some friends and they joined us in the covered outdoor eating area. Just as we were leaving it started to rain so I put Blue in the backpack so only his head got wet.  We put Blue into the crate at the back of the Toyota for the first time. He sat up all the time we were driving looking out the back window. That will be a boring view when we are towing the Bushtracker. We went to the Bundall mirror shop but it has relocated so we doubled back and found it in Southport. I showed the proprietor photos of the frame in the bathroom and he suggested we just replace the mirror rather than remove the frame, but get a mirror with a bevelled edge to make it look a bit smarter. I worked out the size we need and  sent him an email requesting it be ordered.

I had another physio appointment in Brisbane this morning so arranged to call in to see a friend on my way home. She kindly provided lunch and we had a good catchup. The drive home was in pouring rain but there were no major holdups.  Unfortunately Leo the poodle had to be put to sleep. After two surgeries to deal with his femur falling out of the hip socket, there was no sign of improvement so he went back to the specialist clinic. When he was scanned an aortic clot was identified and despite blood thinning medication he made no improvement.  I needed to do something practical when I got home so removed a fixed mirror we want to replace as it has been damaged since we moved in to this house. I covered one corner with tape to minimise the spread of shards of glass. Once I worked out how it had been installed I was able to pry the rest of the mirror away from the frame without having to reduce it to small pieces. The frame is ugly so I will try to pry the timber from the plasterboard wa

Blue started playing the cat game on Anita's ipad. Instead of using his paw to hit the target and score, he licks it but still gets a result. He and Tilly were very quiet this morning which made a nice change. Last night Blue was waiting on the carpet for dinner and Tilly joined him hoping to speed up the process of getting food into their bowls.  We varied our walk today exploring coffee shops located near office blocks opposite the council's Evandale Parklands. There is one "waterfront" cafe which overlooks this canal. It is one of three cafes that only offer pre-cooked food.  The fourth cafe looks like the best option but it was too crowded for us to find a seat. Social distancing seems to not apply in that cafe where a senior police officer was having coffee with a couple of blokes not spaced 1.5m from other diners.  After breakfast at home we got some more jobs done. A week ago I had removed this catch from our wardrobe doors for lubricating, but could not work o