long-toothed hinterland dweller

My currently Barotraumatic life

I've been suffering for almost a week now with Ear Barotrauma - also known as Barotitis media, Eustachian tube dysfunction or plain old Airplane ear.   Caused by flying while congested with a head cold, it has happened to me many times before, but usually clears in a day or so.  This time both ears have been affected, and so too, has my hearing.  Quite disconcerting to be 'off the air' for so long, but a taste of what it may be like later in life when my hearing really does deteriorate.

I found the term Barotrauma on the several medical websites I searched looking for a quick-fix.  No luck yet with decongestants, nasal sprays, or anthistimines, so I am just carrying on with muffled hearing - and frustrating others by whispering, because my own voice is echoing in my head.

One hardly needs to go away to relax when living in the hinterland, but my trip to the NSW South Coast was pleasantly different.  I stayed with a friend at Tuross Head and enjoyed the lake and the beaches as well as the countryside.

We had tea and coffee on the verandah of the secluded Forest Gallery ....

and a swim at the equally secluded One Tree Beach ....

Used to the heavily congested traffic on the Pacific Highway north and south of Brisbane, I was amazed to find that the Princes 'Highway' is mostly only one lane either way -- and surprised to see the roadsides infested with the same lantana, wild tobacco and morning glory that we see in the north. 

Also similar is the vast number of closed dairy farms with their forlorn and rusting milking sheds.

So I added another photo to my collection .... 

And now, after a cool, relaxing (and blogless) two weeks, it's back to more life in the slow-lane in my quiet hinterland corner.

Tripping off

Have been laid low for a few days with an URTI type virus - hence no posts.  Now I'm off for a week visiting friends on the NSW South Coast.  Am looking forward to some cooler weather - the heat and humidity has been relentless here.

For those who are wondering, the wasp nest on the budgie is still intact.  I suspect it may have hatched by the time I return, though.  By then the budgie will need a good scrub to get all the hard mud off.  A day or two in a bucket of water will probably help.

Meanwhile, look at the unusual gecko that turned up on the verandah the other day.

This is as close as I could get, but hopefully you can make out the deep brown markings that are very like Aboriginal art motifs and give him a very striking appearance.  His thick broad tail makes it hard to distinguish which end the head is on -- all part of his protective camouflague.

Geckos have been a favourite of mine since age six, when I was given a copy of the delightfully illustrated children's book, 'Gecko: The Lizard Who Lost His Tail'.  This was one of a series on Australian fauna written by Leslie Rees.  Others were 'Shy, the Platypus', 'Karrawingi the Emu', 'Kurri Kurri the Kookaburra' and 'Sarli the Turtle'.  School libraries were full of these 'educational' titles and teachers loved to read them aloud to us in our 'Nature Study' lessons.  I can't imagine that any Aussie kid growing up in the forties, fifties or sixties wouldn't have come across these stories.  Gecko was my favourite character because of the trick he had of dropping his tail -- and growing it back again later!

I didn't see a gecko in the flesh until I went to teach in New Guinea.  There they ran riot inside the houses, chasing and swallowing whole, the moths that congregated around the lights.  These were of the common 'Asian House Gecko' variety (Hemidactylus frenatus), also found in Australia's tropical north.  In recent years, however, they have been venturing further south.  This summer they have reached plague proportions in Brisbane and householders are fast losing tolerance for them as they find one of these cute little lizards popping out of every cupboard and drawer that they open.  Worse still, they seem to have a knack for getting caught in closing doors, which brings them to a very sticky end.

Although I'm not aware of the presence of Hemidactylus in any numbers around here, sightings have been reported as far south as Byron Bay and at Uralba, south of Ballina.  Geckos differ from most of the house skinks (like the ones in my kitchen and living-room), in that they have suction pads on their toes and spend most of their time patrolling the walls and ceilings.

I will try to identify my handsome, painted little friend and find out more about him.  And if he is at all interested in eating the clothes moths in the wardrobes or the weevil moths in the pantry, I'll certainly invite him in.

See you again in a week or so!

A vote for wasps

At first glance I thought my blue budgie was sprouting a nasty tumour. Then I realized I was looking at a mud wasp's construction.   They are turning up everywhere at present - it must be the season.

There was another on the wall beside the kitchen door.

When I removed it, a neat row of chrysalli was exposed.

Elsewhere, right before our eyes, another variety of wasp decided to build on the spout of a watering-can sitting on the window-sill.  We watched the construction take place over two days, the meticulous little builder plying back and forth with loads of mud.  When it reached this stage, with an opening at the end (see below), she deposited her single capsule, plus a dead insect for nourishment, and sealed it up.  I have been checking it every day, hoping I might catch the young emerging.

Other wasps have been about also, building papery houses that they fix to the walls of our house as well as branches in the garden.

My first impulse is to destroy these untidy attachments and muddy lumps and crush the young before they emerge.  After-all, you only need to experience one wasp bite to regard these creatures with caution forever more.

Not many people know, though, that wasps are one of the unsung heroes of the kitchen garden.  Of all the many wasp families, the majority of them perform a valuable role, ridding the garden of a range of harmful pests.  Some are parasitic, depositing their larva in the bodies of caterpillars, which they later consume.  Others are fierce predators, attacking pests such as grasshoppers and aphids that do so much damage in a vegie garden.  Hence my decision not to remove the wasp constructions as they appear.

Other insects that are beneficial in the garden include spiders, ladybirds, praying mantises and hover flies.  To the organic gardener they are fondly known as 'Bennies'.  Insecticides are to be avoided because they do not discriminate, and will wipe out these good insects as well as the destructive ones like grasshoppers and aphids.

Frogs, lizards and snakes perform the same role as the Bennies, preying on the harmful insects and keeping their populations down.  My bearded hinterland dwelling companion caught sight of two brown snakes while clearing undergrowth this week.  They can be deadly to humans, but are impossible to eradicate when surrounded by bush as we are.   Thus, we never go without shoes - and are always cautious when working around thick vegetation.

It's the same with the wasps.  A repellant on the skin is the best precaution when working outside.  But otherwise we are glad to have their presence.

(Post script: In case you should be concerned about my little budgie -- she is not in pain.  This budgie is made of strong stuff - resin to be precise.  She and my tin cat, Chatterley, are birds of a feather.)

A Saturday evening post

The busier and more interesting my life, the less you see of me here.  Much has been going on of late - work, socialising, tripping around and house and garden projects.   Even when undertaken by professional tradesmen, these take time for planning and organising. 

This week, on the inspiration of my husband, it has been the installation of solar heating for our pool. As the only dedicated swimmer in the household, this was not something I had ever considered a necessity, but it was cheaper than we expected and will hopefully mean extending the swimming season by an extra 3 or 4 months a year.

The job is not quite finished yet, but so far we have black plastic tubing on the roof, white poly-pipe through the garden and a pump and control panel beside the pool.

March temperatures are still very pleasant for swimming, but by April usually not so.  Now I am anticipating some deliciously warm water to entice me into the pool throughout the autumn months.

Another 'project' has been our involvement in the house-hunting pursuits of two of our children.  Both our son and our younger daughter, with their respective partners, have been looking for homes to buy in inner suburban Brisbane.

These days it's usual to tackle house-hunting from home, like this - 

Here are D & M one recent weekend, sitting with laptops at either end of our kitchen table, sifting through listings on realestate.com looking for their very first 'dream' home.

This week they think they have found THE house, so we have been with her parents to check it out - and now we are all waiting anxiously to hear whether their offer will be accepted

For the other couple still living in Melbourne, but anxious to have something teed up by the time they relocate north next month, we have been doing some of the leg-work and checking out likely prospects on the ground.

So here I am this afternoon gathering some salient information from an agent while on a tour of six possibilities that were 'Open For Inspection' today.  Lots of leg-work -- up and down stairs -- in and out of rooms -- and navigation through confusing streets in an unfamiliar city.

There was nothing out of the bag among today's lot, but we took dozens of photos and plenty of notes on the good, the bad and the ugly - the features, defects and deficiencies of each. 

And we came home tired, to appreciate anew our own four walls - and the comparative comfort and convenience we enjoy.  Not to mention the fact that we have more than enough space to swing the proverbial cat.

The peeler-corer

This is for Tabor, who has travelled all over the world without coming across a pineapple peeler!

There are expensive, stainless-steel peeling machines designed for commercial kitchens, but these cheap plastic gadgets are perfect if you only want to prepare the odd pineapple for home consumption.

Here's a side view of my peeler.

First you slice off and discard the bottom half-inch of the pineapple. 

You then grasp the yellow plastic handle and insert the spike on the end into the centre of the core.  Next to the spike are two short metal blades -- one that removes the core and the other the outer skin.

The outer cutter slides in or out so that it can be adjusted to fit the diameter of the pineapple.

Once the two cutters are in position, rotate the device 360 deg.

This separates the skin and prickly bits from the fruit and cuts out the core as a little plug about an inch across.

A strong knife is then used to cut one slice from the fruit.

And ... voila, this is what you get! 

Repeat the procedure for more slices.

This handy little tool costs only a few dollars. I bought my first one around 20 years ago with 'Patent pending AUST' stamped on the back.  The next one had been patented in AUST, UK, US and JAP. 

The latest, bought recently for a friend, cost me $A 8.95 from a kitchen shop. 

With no inscription, it is probably a pirated copy.

If you think you need one -- like everything these days, they can be bought on the web. 

Depending upon where you live, you can order one from here, or here.

For dinner tonight we ate sweet and sour pork with fresh pineapple -- much nicer than using fruit from a can.

Summer fruits

Yesterday was officially the last day of summer ... and apparently the hottest summer on record for Queensland, according to an ABC news item this evening.  So we weren't imagining it when we kept commenting on how hot it has been this year!

Interestingly, last night we decided to brave it without the air-conditioner on in the bedroom - after having it running overnight almost continuously for the past 3 or 4 months.  The first thing I noticed this morning (at 4-45 a.m., mind you) was the noise of the birds in the garden.  The closed windows and the hum of the aircon motor had been blocking out bird sounds.  Today I was rudely wakened by a chorus of the loud ones - the crows and the magpies - with a backing of many other softer chirps and twitters and some distant cackles of kookaburras.

This past month there has been some wonderful rain, so everything is green as it should be.  Fruits are plump and full of juice.

Even before we decide that the pomegranates are ready to pick, we find them oozing drops of bright pink liquor - especially after rain.  The drips are worth catching - natural grenadine syrup!

Now that we have found a way to foil the rats and possums, the pineapple patch is producing magnificently.  Pineapples (Ananas comosus) are from the bromeliad family and we have some of the other decorative 'broms' growing elsewhere in the garden, too. 

Here's the first of the pineapple crop, picked early in the season.    Beside it is the handy plastic peeling/coring gadget that turns the slices into neat, rindless rings.

The one below is pictured in the garden with its home-made protective mesh covering off, but still not ripe enough to pick.

The pineapple patch is a very prickly place and I am amazed that animals aren't deterred from seeking out the fruit.  I know that dogs avoid them; I heard of a woman who used to collect discarded pineapple tops from the fruit market to plant as a protective barrier to keep dogs out of her garden. 

We have two different pineapple varieties growing - the small sweet 'roughs' with their sharp, prickly  leaves, and the larger 'smooth skins' with their kinder unserrated leaves.

Here you can peer into a plant where the red rosette is the first sign of a new fruit about to form.

Already I'm feeling sad that summer is starting to pass.  I'm going to miss the long days ... and the balmy evenings ... and evening swims in the lukewarm pool.

On the other hand, it will be nice to get my herbs growing again - and some fresh greens like cabbages and lettuces.