On the upside, our rainwater tank is completely full and over flowing.
On the downside, it hasn't stopped raining for like a week now. Everything is stained with muddy red footprints. The grass (lets be honest, weeds) are all ankle height because we can't mow the wet grass. I'm down to my last pair of undies because we can't dry the clothes. We've barely had any customers because no one wants to be outside in this weather.
It's pretty relentless.
Josh and I made a trip to Brisbane on Thursday afternoon, to pick up 300kg of Queen Garnet "super plums". It was nice to get away for the night and have dinner in Southbank. It wasn't so nice driving in the bumpy old ute, who's only redeeming feature (the killer air-con) died about an hour in to the eight hour return journey.
Despite a few dramas, we managed to pick up the plums on Friday morning, and sweated our way back to Childers.
It was grey and cloudy, and incredibly humid when we arrived home - yet we started processing the plums. Since we have no forklift, we were packing the plums into smaller boxes, carrying them to our cellar and crushing them.
The crusher broke.
So - we have 150kg worth of plums processed and fermenting, the other 150kg are sitting in the cool room to ripen up a little more before we subject the crusher to any more torture.
In summary, this week has been a lot of rain, sweat and plum juice.
Sunday, 31 January 2016
Friday, 8 January 2016
Famous last words.
So, remember how I said I was pretty much back to normal? Famous last words.
Yesterday, I woke up worse than ever! At about 5:45am, I bundled myself in the car and took myself down to the hospital again. You know it must be bad if I'm up before 6am!
The same nurse that saw me the first time was back on duty, and she was surprised to see me back again. She couldn't believe that it had come back, and definitely worse this time!
Again, she took some vitals, doped me up on steroids and sent me back to the GP for a prescription and allergy testing. I'm on a stronger course of steroids this time, and for twice as long. So far, they seem to have had a minimal effect. It reduces the puffiness, I guess, but certainly not the redness, heat or itchiness.
I've also had blood tests today to try and identify the cause - it's for all the usual things (pollen, grass, pesticides) and for some unusual things too (mangos that I never eat, shellfish that I never eat). The general vibe is that it's something that I've developed an allergy to, but don't realise - so, it's just kinda come out of nowhere and I don't realise that I'm ingesting it, because I always have. Or that it's something in the air - some new tree that's flowering, or some spray that either Josh or a nearby farmer is spraying around.
Fingers crossed that we find out soon, I can't deal with this itchiness for much longer!!!
Yesterday, I woke up worse than ever! At about 5:45am, I bundled myself in the car and took myself down to the hospital again. You know it must be bad if I'm up before 6am!
The same nurse that saw me the first time was back on duty, and she was surprised to see me back again. She couldn't believe that it had come back, and definitely worse this time!
Again, she took some vitals, doped me up on steroids and sent me back to the GP for a prescription and allergy testing. I'm on a stronger course of steroids this time, and for twice as long. So far, they seem to have had a minimal effect. It reduces the puffiness, I guess, but certainly not the redness, heat or itchiness.
I've also had blood tests today to try and identify the cause - it's for all the usual things (pollen, grass, pesticides) and for some unusual things too (mangos that I never eat, shellfish that I never eat). The general vibe is that it's something that I've developed an allergy to, but don't realise - so, it's just kinda come out of nowhere and I don't realise that I'm ingesting it, because I always have. Or that it's something in the air - some new tree that's flowering, or some spray that either Josh or a nearby farmer is spraying around.
Fingers crossed that we find out soon, I can't deal with this itchiness for much longer!!!
 |
| Old boof head over here! |
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| It seems worst around my eyes, but my whole face and neck is itchy! |
Tuesday, 5 January 2016
The time I overdosed...
Not to be outdone by Josh's medical dramas, it seems 2016 might be my year to shine.
The other day, I woke up with an itchy eyelid and nostril. Weird, hey! I took a Telfast (antihistamine) and tried not to scratch it. An hour or so later, it was still super itchy, so I tried rubbing on some ointment - still no relief.
I toddled down to the local pharmacy to see if they could help.
"I'm dying!"
"You look pretty healthy for someone who's dying...?" the pharmacist enquired.
"Well, I am. You just have to look closely. At my eyelid."
I explained what was happening, and he seemed very surprised that the Telfast didn't solve it. He said that it was probably a contact allergy (so, I touched something, then rubbed my face) and that I should take these pills.
"Now, it says take one three times a day, but instead, I want you to take four at once, about an hour before you want to go to bed. You'll have the best nights sleep of your life and wake up good as gold tomorrow."
Nervously excited about my impending 'best sleep ever', I gulped down the pills and hit the hay.
I tossed and turned all night. I couldn't get comfortable. I was hot, then cold, then hot again. I slept in til 9:26am, when Josh couldn't stand it any longer and kept beeping the tractor horn right outside the bedroom window.
Groggily, I scratched my face and peered in the mirror. I was not good as gold.
I was blotchy, itchy, red and miserable. I couldn't think clearly and felt like death.
I stumbled around, complaining, for about half an hour or so before Josh told me to go to the hospital. I sat there for about an hour, listening to some old guy dribble on about needing his blood pressure checked, how the Chinese are buying up all the land and how much rain we were supposed to get this week. I politely ignored him and tried to keep my eyes open.
Finally, it was my turn to see the nurse on duty.
She took some notes, and all my vitals, then declared that I'd overdosed myself.
Whatever was wrong with me the other day was pretty irrelevant, as all the symptoms I was showing was from an overdose of the anti-allergy medication the pharmacist prescribed. She gave me a steroid pill for three days and said it would clear up soon.
Sure enough, I'm back to normal today. My skin is still a little dry, but (thank GOD!) the itching has stopped.
Moral of the story? Always listen to my mother. She said that taking four pills seemed like too much.
The other day, I woke up with an itchy eyelid and nostril. Weird, hey! I took a Telfast (antihistamine) and tried not to scratch it. An hour or so later, it was still super itchy, so I tried rubbing on some ointment - still no relief.
I toddled down to the local pharmacy to see if they could help.
"I'm dying!"
"You look pretty healthy for someone who's dying...?" the pharmacist enquired.
"Well, I am. You just have to look closely. At my eyelid."
I explained what was happening, and he seemed very surprised that the Telfast didn't solve it. He said that it was probably a contact allergy (so, I touched something, then rubbed my face) and that I should take these pills.
"Now, it says take one three times a day, but instead, I want you to take four at once, about an hour before you want to go to bed. You'll have the best nights sleep of your life and wake up good as gold tomorrow."
Nervously excited about my impending 'best sleep ever', I gulped down the pills and hit the hay.
I tossed and turned all night. I couldn't get comfortable. I was hot, then cold, then hot again. I slept in til 9:26am, when Josh couldn't stand it any longer and kept beeping the tractor horn right outside the bedroom window.
Groggily, I scratched my face and peered in the mirror. I was not good as gold.
I was blotchy, itchy, red and miserable. I couldn't think clearly and felt like death.
I stumbled around, complaining, for about half an hour or so before Josh told me to go to the hospital. I sat there for about an hour, listening to some old guy dribble on about needing his blood pressure checked, how the Chinese are buying up all the land and how much rain we were supposed to get this week. I politely ignored him and tried to keep my eyes open.
Finally, it was my turn to see the nurse on duty.
She took some notes, and all my vitals, then declared that I'd overdosed myself.
Whatever was wrong with me the other day was pretty irrelevant, as all the symptoms I was showing was from an overdose of the anti-allergy medication the pharmacist prescribed. She gave me a steroid pill for three days and said it would clear up soon.
Sure enough, I'm back to normal today. My skin is still a little dry, but (thank GOD!) the itching has stopped.
Moral of the story? Always listen to my mother. She said that taking four pills seemed like too much.
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