August Tales

Dear All,

Well here we are in September one of my favorite months of the year! I always loved September in Australia because it was the start of Spring and it always bought with it, the promise of warmer days ahead. Here in America, I love it for different reasons. Here it brings relief from the hot days of summer. We can turn off the air chillers, open the windows and sit outside in the evenings without being attacked and carried off by mosquitoes (although they have been scarce this year). September is also the month of anniversaries - Kelly and Nate's, and Paul's and mine. This year it will also bring us our first grandson!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kelly is now due is two weeks. We are hoping he stays put until his due date of the 23rd. Kelly is in unison with us as she wants the time to be better organized at work. Nate however, has an agenda of his own. On a daily basis he talks to him and tells him to come out and meet daddy! We admit that we are bursting with excitement, however, depositions in our court case are set to continue this coming week, and we are legally bound to be here. Apart from the obvious discomfort of being 38 weeks pregnant and the inevitable swelling in her leg, Kelly is doing very well and is progressing normally.

Depositions did start a few weeks ago when Paul was questioned from 9am to 5pm with just a short break for lunch. However, the opposing attorney says he has several more hours of questioning to go before he even starts with me! I find it a daunting prospect, but I also can't wait to have it all over and done with. I can't imagine how I would be able to focus if Kelly was to go into labor and give birth while they were taking place!

The attorneys will be doing the depositions at our house once again. It is roughly a half way point for both of them and far more convenient and easier for Paul.

Erin has started her course at Nursing College and seems to be enjoying it so far. She says it is very full on and the work demanding. She has about a 40minute commute from her apartment, but luckily, she has met others and is car pooling with them. Erin was also bridesmaid for her friend Tabitha who was married a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately, we were not able to make it, but we were told it was a beautiful wedding.

Lauren has been successful in finding full time employment. She is working in an administrative role in a forensic lab. Naturally, she would prefer to be in the lab, but she is hoping that if a position opens up in the lab in the future, she may be able to get a transfer. Meanwhile, she too says the work is demanding, but she is enjoying it. At this point, she likes the people she is working with and as it is out of the public eye, she is able to dress casually, which saves money on office attire.

Damien too is well and seems to have plenty of work to keep him busy. I am encouraging him to think about a visit over here before too long and am hoping the lure of a nephew will do the trick! He admits to missing Australia, so it is difficult to find the time and money to visit us and have a trip back to Oz as well.

Mack (our dog), managed to get himself "skunked". It seems he chased a skunk into the woods and was sprayed full on in the face. He got it in the eyes, nose and mouth. You could smell it all over the neighbourhood. He started to drag his face over the concrete. The smell is the most disgusting smell you can imagine. Skunks are so pretty to look at too!

Anyway, we caught him and bathed him immediately to no avail!!!! Julie and Chris came to the rescue with tins and tins of tomato juice. We rubbed the tomato juice all over him and let it sit for 15 minutes then rinsed him off! He was confined to the basement for the night and next morning the entire basement stunk as well! We aired the basement and called the vet who advised us to bath him in a mixture of dawn dish washing liquid and hydrogen peroxide. We did this and then Julie and Paul rinsed him off in the lake!

After this, you could still smell it on his head if you got close enough, but it was decidedly better! We went boating a couple of times and when we do Mack likes to swim. Every time he got wet the smell was dreadful! Poor dog also developed a bad case of the itches. We put him on antihistamines, which did nothing. As he was crying and scratching himself raw, we took him to the vet and she put him on steroids. He is still on them, as she said it takes around 30 days for the skunk oil to get out of his skin! I am telling you, if it happens again, I will be on the next plane to Oz and will only return when it is out of his system!

Most Americans have smelt a skunk in their time, either by sniffing the air after one has sprayed or by driving past or over a dead one, but for Aussies, it is hard to imagine and lets hope you never have to smell it!!!!

Paul is doing well. Home Nursing and Home Physiotherapy discharged him last week! There were a great bunch of people and were very helpful. We intend to go out to dinner with one of the nurses and her husband in the not too distant future. Sheree and John have been to visit a couple of times (socially), and we have a lot of fun together.

We had a huge barn sale last weekend. It took weeks to get prepared, as we had soooooooo much stuff stored in the barn and I had to go though so many boxes. Bobby Bennett (Paul's mate), came up/down?? from Chicago to help get the boxes off the pallets and set up tables. He returned the week of the sale, along with Sid (cousin). I doubt I could have done it without their help.

We sold a bit of stuff prior to the sale to neighbours and friends and the sale started very slowly on the Thursday and continued on the Friday and Saturday! I begun to despair that all the work and preparation was for nought! Sid did carpark duties and directed people to parking. At the end of the first day he said we could make a lot more money giving house tours as everyone was more interested in the house. We had the house barricaded!!! He also said he was charging for parking and making a lot of money. (not true).

Donna and Dan (friends), came over to help on Thursday and again on Saturday, along with Julie and Chris, so we actually had a lot of fun.

We did have some colorful characters come to the sale. Firstly, there was parrot man and his bare-footed wife. He came with a large, tame, macaw parrot on his shoulder and she walked bare-footed over our stony driveway!!! One of the customers had a bird phobia , so she came and sat behind me whilst parrot man and barefooted babe shopped.

Next came breakfast boy! It was an adult male in his 50's who turned up with a tray on which he had a ceramic bowl filled with cereal and milk, and a plate with muffins on it. He took the tray with him, and proceeded to eat his breakfast whilst he shopped!!! He was very eccentric, but bought a lot of stuff, so we suffered him gladly!!!

Then we had antique lady. She is a lovely lady, knowledgeable in antiques who gave me a lot of advice in exchange for a sale preview and a big discount. She came the night before the sale, but when the sale began, she came back with her daughter and granddaughter and then came back again with her grandson. Each time she came, she bought something else, so I awaited her visits with eager anticipation.

We also had "liver man". He was lovely and was a horrible shade of yellow. He is awaiting a liver transplant. We had an American Indian who suffers from the effects of Agent Orange in Vietnam and a legless man! They were all very nice and stayed to chat and tell their very interesting stories. It was almost worthwhile, just to meet the local characters.

The sale was due to finish on Saturday at 1 and just as we were closing, people started to come in! It turns out we sold as more after the sale officially ended on the Sat. and Sunday!!!

Unfortunately, on the Sunday morning, people kept coming up our driveway and when we asked what they wanted, they said they were just bringing people back to look at the house! I thought they were very rude. However, when I went to the barn to begin packing up stuff to donate to charity, people came down and we sold a lot more. We sold over $3,000, gave away a lot and still have enough to call in a charity truck. At least we will eventually have a tidy barn!!!

Well folks, thats it for the month of August!

Lots of love to all,

Paul and Kathy