Mary Jane Possible

I am getting near the end of my tether with Maxy and the growth in his inner ear. I have tried nearly all the medicines available including the alternative ones which can’t be mentioned. I ear seems much cleaner but he is still in pain and I can’t keep giving him pain killers. He is still a happy chap, bouncing like a tigger except when he barks, howls, or eats, and then he cries out in pain.

Today the news is all in the rage over Zuma, our president not, plunging our country into financial chaos just to get his sheep into position to sign a nuclear deal with Russia which will allow his family to gain billions in the process. And then having dagga which is what marijuana is called here in your private home has been de-criminalised, maybe to null the effect of Zuma’s rape of our beloved country. Okay not quite legal yet but not being a criminal offense is on the right path to getting medical marijuana, oh Mary Jane.

2 Months to Go

"Let it be the 14th of June, let it be" wishes I, then maybe, okay a small maybe that Noma and Richard's new baby will be named after me since it will be born on my birthday. "How did I know?" queried an expecting Noma as I asked her if it will be the 14 June after she said 2 months to go. Well it is more like I wish. As you can see both Noma and Pabi are all excited about the coming birth, as women tend to be in these matters.

Disabilities

Standing in the queue at my local bank, I noticed this sign asking you to allow customers with disabilities or mobility impairments to jump the queue every so nicely. Why not, as we are South Africans.

Hey you, standing in the aisles with itchy feet and fading smiles, can you feel me? Hey you, out there in the cold.

Frank’s Chicken

What the heck, Frank, is this large with wooden rooster doing at your shop? It doesn’t look anything like a Portuguese chicken as per the Nando’s logo which most South Africans are familiar with. Has the rooster come home to roost? Frank tells me that this fine specimen was in the garden of his old house which has been now sold and he has to move his stuff out, hence the rooster needed a new home.

Sleeeeeeeeep Kitty

It is Monday and the weekend is over but someone forgot to tell Paddington. Here I am working at my desk and Paddy decides to sleep between me and the keyboard on top of my diary which at the bottom of the page has a quote “Be not the slave of your own past. Plunge into the sublime seas, dive deep and swim far, so you shall come back with self-respect, with new power, with an advanced experience that shall explain and overlook the old” – Ralph Emerson. Oh well both Paddy and Minky are always playing nearly nonstop then crashing not too far from me, their big protector. They seem to have a trust that when I am near nothing will come to harm them, and they came sleep deep.

Leave Sleeping Cats Lie

Sunday afternoon cat nap is what the doctor ordered for little Paddington who at only 5 months old is growing fast and is full of beans. Up terrorising the other cats, though out the night before, Paddy was found past out on our bed this afternoon. Well the other cats want me to leave the sleeping cat alone so that they can get some peace.

Back in the Bike Shop

I was on my way to the Canon Roadshow on Scarlet my Vespa GTS 300 Super, when I felt the distinct wobble of a flat back tyre. Oh no, I was nearly there, only 2 kilometres to go, it goes to show that I wasn’t meant to be there.

So there I was stuck on the side of the road in Midrand, far from support and the tyre was rather thread bare so I could not use my puncture kit. Dael was off today, and he was kind enough to spring into action and arrived within 45mins to pick me and Scarlet up. He took us across to Mark at ME Motorcycles where we dropped Scarlet off. Eish this will teach me to skimp with money knowing the my tyre needed replacing and I needed a service as well.

Supermodel Minky

Yip I am sure this cat of ours, Minky, thinks she is a supermodel as she loves to pose. Plus she is a daddy’s girl which makes her never too far from me. In the office she is on the couch and when I go for walks in the garden she follows along with her shadow Paddington.

Let there be Light

What a downer of a day. I had work to do today on the computer but at 6am on the dot the power went off. We forgot that the City of Joburg sent out a tweet that power is going to be switched off between 6am and 12pm.

But the City of Joburg lied, yes the power was only switched back on at 3:45pm, that is just about the whole day and I don’t have a generator to create my own nor do I have a fully solar powered home. Grrrrrrrr! Hence the downer of a day.

Oh well when finally the power came on my cell phone battery so pap that I had to wait a while to recharge before looking for a photo to take for the day. It was then that one of our cats, Princess, thought it is a perfect time to hop onto the bathroom counter and have a drink of water.

Cats in the meeting

Working from home has its advantages and disadvantages, having cats sit in on a meeting is not okay if the client is allergic to cats and Minky or paddy wants to jump onto their laps, such as the other day with Velile who cats love but his eyes swell up.

Anyway today's visiting client, Edmund, is fond of cats especially those who don’t claw you to death. Edmund came round to discuss Digital Marketing for his family’s business and who else can he go to but the Digital Marketing Specialist himself, mah.

Ngomfi Human Rights

Yip, that time of year again when South Africans take a day off a think about Human Rights or if you like me, spend time with family. Is Human Rights Day a one sided thing where majority of us dwell on the pass sacrifices that brought us our Constitution? It seems like, with news of some groups of the South African people being excluded from the remembrances.

But is it all that cracked up to be when there is still a lot to do to bring no discrimination and equality for all in this country of ours. Nelson Mandela told us that he had discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, "one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can rest only for a moment, for with freedom comes responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not yet ended."

We spent some of the day with family and I didn’t take many photos. Don’t ask me why, just didn’t. As I was leaving Robynne and Marko’s home, I saw the wire sculpture of a Hoopoe bird that was bought on Saturday and I quickly took a photo with my cellphone.

The African Hoopoe or as it is called locally the Ngomfi, is a symbol of friendship and South Africa needs to bring back the joy and love for each other. The ngomfi is a harbinger that you will have a visitor or a friend is coming to visit. It is the colour of beer which is why it is associated with celebration, drinking, and eating. We South Africans need to bring back the joy of breaking bread and sharing the umqombothi with even those to whom we discriminate against as we have many more hills to climb together.

Water Restrictions

The water restrictions imposed upon us by the City of Joburg, due to the drought has been partially lifted in our area last week even though the Department of Water and Sanitations have officially lifted theirs. I suppose it is good to be cautious but it was about time as it was not easy watering our vegetable garden by watering can when there was a perfectly good irrigation system built into our garden and what a pleasure in turning the sprinklers on and watch our herbs and vegetables breathe a sigh of relief.

Ingress vs Pokémon

Last week I got a call that today was going to be an Ingress Missions Day, now we haven’t played Ingress for a very long time as Pokémon has taken over and for me even that is not played that often.

Anyways Lynda, Robynne, Rebekah and I joined the diehard Ingress players for some Ingress missions. So both augmented reality games are made by Google Niantic but which one is the better. Ingress is geekier leaning with team battles but Pokémon is more a children’s game and easier to play. We had to relearn Ingress as it has been a long time but half way through the day after following a couple of missions, Ingress went out of the window and Pokémon took over.

Yorkie Lost

Last Wednesday, in the afternoon a storm came through the area, and afterwards I found a pitiful and scared looking Yorkie had taken shelter in our yard. It was an unfixed male and from the looks of it, he has been groomed about a month ago, he has a black collar and a small bow in his hair. I then walked with him, knocking on doors around my neighbourhood looking for his owners.

Sadly the search was unsuccessful but I did meet a large number of new people that I wouldn’t have met, if this Yorkie had not taken shelter in my yard. It was now getting late, so I took him to the Helderkruin Veterinary Clinic to have him scanned for a tracking chip but no luck there either. The vets offered to keep him there for a few days which I did and then went onto social to post some photos on the lost and found animal pages. It was here on one of these social pages that the Maltese, French Poodle & Yorkie Rescue South Africa contacted me.

As of today, no one has come forward, so I handed the little chap, who turned out quite a friendly little dog, over to the Yorkie Rescue. They are going to get him cleaned up, fixed, and placed into a foster home until his owners can be found, that is if they can be found, else they will find him a new home for good.

Bad Friday

Okay not all Fridays wake up at the end of the week thinking, today I am going to be a bad Friday, just like this Friday started off quite nicely, I must say.

I crawled out of bed after a restless early morning, I should have taken this as a sign but no, I had a good start. First I headed to meet the Vespa crowd for a breakfast in Northcliff. Surprise of the day was to see old fellow Vespa rider Stafford at the breakfast. Good to see him between his long rides out exploring Africa on his Vespa. A good catching up was had.

After breakfast, I had some work to do at home, the joys of working from home. I wasn’t home long when I got a phone call from Gert, informing me that the repairs of Matthew’s computer was done and I could pick it up in the next hour. So after a quick check of mails, I headed to Randfontein, then from there across to Benoni on the other side of Johannesburg. Matthew was very pleased that his computer was back but before he could enjoy it, we had to buy some lightning protection as it was power surge is what fried his computer in the first place. While going through Benoni, Matthew and I saw this wheelchair friendly tut-tut. Oh very interesting.

It wasn’t far from here that disaster struck and my Friday went from good to bad. My pickup started losing power with very little revs. I suspected an electrical problem so we limped down town stuttering and backfiring to a look for a battery centre or auto electrician. Seeing one, I nursed the pickup towards it and it died in front of the shop. But for some unknown reason, this shop didn’t have any car batteries even though it advertised on the outside with big signs. They directed me to another battery place not even 2 short blocks away but first they offered to jump start my pickup.

After putting a new battery in and some testing, we found that my alternator had packed up and wasn’t charging the battery. With 3 hours of daylight left, I dropped Matthew at his sister’s place and headed for home. I made it home safe and sound with an hour of daylight left, thank God, He was looking out for me on this bad, horrible end to a Friday.

The Lost Cat

Towards the end of the day, I had had Paddington sleeping on my diary will I tried to work and Minky not far on the arm of the couch. An idea came to mind, why not play some cat sounds fro YouTube. Awesome idea.

As soon as I started playing, Paddy was up and Minky had joined him looking for the lost cat. It was while Minky was behind my screens searching that I started recording them.

Unlikely Tourists

While I have been many times to Vilakazi Street, a tourist trap in Soweto with guests wanting to see the house still behind bars, 8115 Vilakazi Street Orlando West Soweto. The unlikely tourists were Viandre and Velile with me as tour guide. Oh dear I am sure Just Vel will have something to say about him being a tourist in his own back yard, at least he was impressed with my knowledge of the historic places here, thanks to my time spent as a Joburg Photowalker.

Do you know that Veilie still hasn’t even being to the Kliptown Youth Centre in the middle of the Kliptown squatter camp or to be more PC the informal settlement at Kliptown. What a bunch of unlikely tourists we are. Oh and above is a photo of our traditional lunch of a kota bought from a local spaza shop just to prove that we have what it takes except for any smileys.

Spider or What?

Along with nature comes along all the bugs and goggas. Okay the butterflies are nice and some of the spiders such as a baby baboon spider near our pool that I had to shoo off before the cats find him.

But the brown button spider is a no no for me. And now this, I don’t know whose egg cocoon this belongs to, my first guess is a spider because of the web but it could be something else due to its odd shape.

The Giraffe and 3 Lights

I don’t know but somehow I nearly slipped up with my photo a day. There I was sitting in the lounge this evening after supper drinking some hot chocolate and WHAM suddenly I remembered that I had not taken a photo for the day.

I looked around frantically looking for a subject to capture in my lounge, and then I saw the 3 lights hanging quietly in the corner about the wooden giraffe. Okay but I am not sure the title of the giraffe and 3 lights might work, but what the heck it is getting late.

Bee Wash

We usually take Lynda’s car to The Car Wash in Honeydew but these last few months have been rather hectic so it was overdue for a wash. But arriving at our normal car wash dive we found it closed for renovations. In fact it looks like the whole building is being torn down so we had no choice but to start trying out new car washes.

Today we decided to try the place called Carwash at the Stepping Stones between Honeydew and Sundowner, oh these names for car washes are so original. While the little Brio was being pampered we decided to have something light at Olive ‘n Twist, a continental cuisine restaurant. Well the food wasn’t up to scratch to write home about, Lynda had a chicken wrap which fell apart and was overdone with salad whereas I had a rather dry grilled chicken.

On top of the food not being up to scratch, a bee decided that it loved Lynda and her cordial. No matter how many times of whooshing it away, the bee always came back to her. Anyways at least her car enjoyed itself being pampered.

Makro Big on Life Fail

Makro and their slogan Big on Life failed badly today on quality of their goods. I am not sure when quality took a back seat at Marko who are now part of Walmart since the American group bought the Massmart group in South Africa. Also part of this group is Builders Warehouse whose prices are not competitive like they used to be.

This morning we went down to our local Makro aka Walmart to buy a micro SD card for Lynda’s phone, and while there Lynda decided that she would like to buy some clothes if she could find something there that she likes. She found this lovely black light jersey but when trying it on something didn’t feel right as if one sleeve was longer than the other. After checking the lengths, sure enough there was a difference. We checked every one of the black jerseys and all of them had different length sleeves.

Didn’t anyone check the quality of the clothing? These must have been mass produced as everyone in this store was incorrect and most likely everyone in South Africa is badly made.

The Bodyguards

At first Paddington was a little wary of the dogs but whenever I take walk in my garden Paddy and Minky join me and the dogs exploring every nook, cranny, and tree. The pool was not looking so wonderful, full of leaves and a palm branch after all the rain and nearly gale force wind of yesterday, so I decided to take a picture of a sparkling blue pool with floaty leaves but then I noticed Paddy walk straight under Maxy and I had to take a photo. Here is Padding with his 3 bodyguards Maxy, Podge, and Jade.

Cloud Burst

To match my sombre mood from yesterday, the gods in heaven decided it best to give me a cloud burst of rain that would wash away all those sad thoughts. Depression is a reality for me and I am walking ever so close to that line. All I have to go on is my faith and that 1 verse that is found in Psalm 32:8 that God gave me late last year, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.”

Jaded Selfie

Okay try getting a selfie with a wiggly worm called Jade. Not easy but Jade takes every opportunity to get into my arms when I am out in the garden, followed the rest of my dogs and 2 cats Minky and Paddington, which are all vying for my attention, Jade normally wins.

On Sunday, my daughter in law Robynne, lost 2 of her beloved dogs when they got electrocuted due to bad workmanship at their home. It is not nice to lose a loved one, so my heart goes out to her. I had 3 horrible incidents with my dogs, the first was when I lost Skye my beloved whippet to biliary, another was when I found Patch after he was attacked and killed by a pack of Jack Russels, and the last one when Jade broke her leg 2 years ago. If you look carefully on Jade’s front right leg, you will see her battle scar from her broken leg. These are some of the posts over that frightful period, rock bottom, Jade at Lammermoor Veterinary Clinic, Jade and her daddy, banned from the vet, two sick ladies and a tiger, Lammermoor Vets, What to do with Jade? Cat got your Tail? and my favourite it’s behind me, isn’t it?

It is sad today sitting in my garden thinking about Skye and Patch up there across that bridge chasing rabbits and butterflies. Thankfully Jade is still here getting a selfie with her daddy.

Marvellous 3 Inch Nails

Yes 3 nails caused Lynda to be stranded on the side of the road yesterday evening on the way back from work. Let me start from the beginning, Lynda left work but did not get very far as she discovered that she had a flat tyre. Firstly it was getting dark which is not funny, plus the jack of her car had become stuck and difficult to remove from its storage place to be used so after phoning me, I called the Discovery Insure’s Roadside assistance to come to her aid, isn’t that what we pay insurance for.

About an hour later a person called Marvellous from TMA Towing & Recovery arrived representing Discovery Insure in a clapped out Volkswagen Golf. He had to pop the bonnet to switch the car off, and later to start the car with a whine of a loose fan belt in a way the only VWs can do.

Anyway Marvellous was very courteous and helped Lynda change her tyre, thank you Marvellous.

So now today, I had to take Lynda’s car in to get her tyre fixed. I didn’t want to go nowhere near Tiger Wheel and Tyre Woodmead which was just down the road, since the petrol incident and are now known by their acronym TWAT. Instead I decided to take it to the Rivonia branch of Tiger Wheel and Tyre. The guys fixing the tyre discover 2 large nails about a inch long in the tyre and they informed me that another tyre also looked suspicious as it was half flat. Behold a third nail was found. Uhmmm.

Marvellous 2 new tyres later and a rather lighter pocket, Lynda’s car is back in action.

Tree Fern Love

In the first home that I owned, I planted a tree fern below the lounge window and by the time we sold the house, it was kind of large. In my new home, I wanted another one in a customary sort of way and not to mention they look beautiful. Since we aren’t allowed to have an indigenous one, as they are protected; I had to settle for an Australian one. Not quite keeping with an indigenous garden but I love them tree ferns.

This little fella, I planted in the nook below my bedroom after clearing all the undergrowth. These tree ferns can grow up to 5m tall, but I am expecting about 3m which means it will peep above the nook by my bedroom window eventually and be seen from the deck and pool area, nice.

Who’s your Daddy?

Princess, who is a year and 4 month old rescue fluffy putty tat, is getting so loveable lately, and when I am sitting in the lounge, she comes and cuddles close to me. She was never so loveable, and always bit with someone gave her too much attention. For her it is contact at her pace, but now well she just a princess who loves her daddy.

Don Francisco

Yesterday my good friend Frank or as he is legally known as Francisco, turned 50 years old along with his business, Metal Cross turned 10.

Lynda and I were summoned to the villa to celebrate in Don Francisco’s 50th birthday. We have never been to a Portuguese Mafia party, intrigued, so we arrived dressed to the tee and armed to the teeth. But we were family and had nothing to worry about; someone else can be fed to the fishes. We enjoyed our evening with the don, family, and friends.

Happy Birthday Metal Cross

Ten years ago, Frank had a dream, a dream of starting a dent and scratch repair centre free of the unethical business practices that were plaguing the panel beating industry. The Metal Cross Vehicle Makeover Clinic was born. Metal Cross started from a gazebo in a parking lot opposite a car wash behind Fourways Value Mart in the northern suburbs of Johannesburg. Through ups and downs with his wife Liz by his side, Metal Cross is now the top scratch and dent repair company in Randburg maybe even the whole of Johannesburg.

Happy birthday Metal Cross. Here is to another 10 good years.

Use some Petrol

What the hell, this was my response when an employee of Tiger Wheel & Tyre went off to get some petrol to clean the battery terminals.

Let me start from the beginning... Lynda’s car started getting a battery problem, so I picked her car up and took it to Tiger Wheel & Tyre in Woodmead for a new battery. The first part of buying the battery was good but when it came to installing it, the employee didn’t have the right tools for the job and was away for some time before arriving with another employee from the wheel alignment section with some spanners.

Both of them started to take off the old battery and put in the new one. I then commented to them if it is possible to clean the accumulated acid on the positive battery clamp. It was then when one of them said he was going to get some petrol (gas for my American readers) to clean the acid off. What the hell, I had to stop them, did they want the car to go the way of a Ford Kuga (Escape), up in flames at the first spark. Not very impressed Tiger Wheel & Tyre!

Silverfields

Maxy my Italian Greyhound is still in pain from the growth near the inner ear. He is now off the alternative medicine as he now refuses to take it and since late last year we have just been managing the pain but bacteria growth in the affected ear has gotten out of control. About a month back, Andrea, the vet at Silverfields Veterinary Clinic, took a swab of the bacteria and sent it away to be cultured and tested.

The lab results didn’t come back very good as it showed that this bacterium was very resistant to all the medicine thrown at it except one which showed slight affect and that was Otomax. The problem with Otomax, it works better if it is close to the eardrum and Maxy’s ear was so clogged up but we started a process of every two days cleaning with Ococlean, antibiotics, and pain killers.

Andrea and her assistant Carin seeing to Maxy’s ear problem

In 2 weeks Maxy’s ear was much cleaner but the growth was still there and he was still in pain that he cries when he tries to eat, bark, or howl. Good news because we can now try the Otomax and Maxy did put on an extra half a kilogram of weight in the 2 weeks.