#1711 Saturday 2 December

It's "yake" day today..... that's Lake Leschanaultia for those who can't "hear" Kaylia speaking.  She has a good time there and comes home very tired.

While they're away I've been repairing the shed roof.... so I'm very tired too!  It's like doing "touch your toes" for an hour straight.... interspersed with squats.
The next stage is to repair the bungalow roof.

3pm.... Naomi has come home with an op shop gimmick for me..... 

.... It's a cap with a solar powered fan in the brim!  It only works in direct sunlight.... but it's a very good giggle. 

#1710 Friday 1 December

Bali is looking less sensible everyday..... and Kaylia is pushing for it to go on the calendar!  We're going to have to make a decision soon so that we have time to get her to accept that we can't go to Bali after all.  At least we have an alternative....

Today was business pay day.... It's a full on day for me.  If I start work at the normal time I "hit the wall" long before all the processes are completed.... so I get up early.  I find that if I start work at 4am, then I can finish the job before I run out of puff.  I'll be glad when we can get another person to take over from me.

#1709 Thursday 30 November

Kaylia has changed her tune with immunisation injections!  Previously we have had to battle with her to actually get the injection done .... but today the injection was done at school and they report that she was keen to get it done and she actually helped!!


Holiday plans ..... a vacancy has come up at the Busselton place that Kaylia loves!  We have made a cancellable booking to secure it while we decide whether we are going to Bali or to Busselton. 

#1708 Wednesday 29 November

Kaylia got in trouble at school today .... I'm not very clear what the problem was ... apparently she was pushing people and not waiting.  I hope we find out .... there were no notes in the book.

Some time ago .... #907 29 May2015 .....  I wrote about the 50 year old welder that I learned to weld with in 1966



.... I still have this machine down in the shed ... it's the one on the right. It still works .... but it's hard to use compared with the modern welders.

.... but today I bought a new one!  It is a far more capable machine yet it is very small.  It has an output of 160amps yet it will hang from my belt while I'm working! The old one is so heavy that it's hard work to lift it .... the new one is about one hand in size and easy to lift one hand..... 4kg.

I love welding and being able to use welders like this is a real buzz.

Back to Kaylia.... we've talked about her fixation on "Bali at Christmas".....

We have debated long and hard about whether we risk booking flights at this time.... the price of tickets is so high that the trip is out of our financial reach ..... and the volcano is closing the airport .... the whole idea is very iffy.   ..... and then tonight, Jetstar have dropped their price by $2,000!  We can buy tickets within our budget ..... so do we risk it?
We have the luxury of being able to disregard accommodation factors .... it doesn't matter if our flights are delayed going up or coming back ..... we are fairly flexible work wise .... both Naomi and I can do our work while in Bali if we have to....  we're going to sleep on it and see what happens by Friday.  A big factor is that fitting in with Kaylia's world-view is a big part of managing her behaviors ..... and going to Bali for Christmas is a very difficult concept to dislodge.   If there had been vacancies at Busselton we might have been able to divert her .... but we're running out of ideas apart from that.


The house projects ...... I've put the room move "on hold" for a few days while I repair the storm damage .... I have bought all the materials needed .... now I have to tackle the 4 parts of the repairs.  These are:
1 Bungalow roof
2 Spa roof
3 Tractor shed roof
4 Garden area
All these tasks are quite easy and because the builders delayed so long,  in effect I am being paid to do the work .... and this is funding our holiday!  

#1707 Tuesday 28 November

I woke at 5:30 this morning ..... I was sure that I had heard the rubbish truck coming down the hill .... so I jumped out of bed, threw some shorts on and checked the bins ... Still Down! Yikes!  .... so I raced out the door to take the bins up to the road.  I got out to the driveway and thought .... "Hang on ... today is Tuesday ... not Wednesday."  I'd been dreaming of rubbish trucks!

At breakfast we were discussing the volcano .... in very quiet voices so Kaylia wouldn't be triggered into her "Bali looping"  .... Naomi wondered whether Kaylia could interpret our spelling "code-speak" ... so she tested.  "Kaylia, what does B-A-L-I spell?"  Kaylia thinks for a minute ... then says "Zoe Blakeman" (her teacher).  So we don't need to worry to much about Kaylia interpreting our code-speak!

#1706 Monday 27 November

The news about the Bali volcano  this morning doesn't bode well for prospects of travelling in 3 weeks time.   We will have to look for some other way of satisfying the voracious "Bali monster".(Kaylia) .....  We had thought of going to the Busselton place that she loves.... but that's booked out.  One striking thing I notice when we search for an alternative venue ..... is that a holiday in Australia is very poor value compared to Bali.

Another strange fact is that the price of an airfare per person increases as the number of seats being booked goes up.... and it increases by a lot!  For 5 people it's $100 increase per person.... 14% higher!

6pm   Kaylia was funny when she arrived home today..... I'd gone to the car and looked in and said "hello"    She replied "Good! How are you?"   She is getting the broad concept of social behaviours .... but the detail is a bit lacking!

#1705 Sunday 26 November

8:30am .... I'm downstairs... keeping Kaylia in bed as long as I can so that Naomi can get a good sleep in.  Naomi is still coughing badly.... we went to the after hours GP yesterday and hopefully the new medication will help.

Kaylia's first thought on awakening is "school on Monday".... the fixation is probably part routine and part genuine love of school..... but it's hard to put up with the constant refrain.

One of the joys of our life these days is the way Kaylia shows her feelings for us.... she doesn't have any verbal expressions.... she just gazes at us with an expression of pleasure.... I was about to say "love" but that is assumption.... it's clear that she is feeling pleasure but we don't know what other emotion she is feeling. 

2pm

 Remember how the tree men cut off some dead branches from the big tree near the letterbox?  

.... well, the galahs think that the hole in the stump will be a good nesting spot.  They are hard at work enlarging the hole ... so we will have baby galahs next season!

In this photo, you can see a galah sitting on the stump ... and under him is the hole that he is enlarging.

The repair work on the tree damage is going well.  I have now removed all the damaged wire netting and the next step is to relocate the roof (which was over the gym area) ...... and attach it to the roof frame above the spa. 

The task of lifting the frame into place will be quite a saga .... but the effort will be worthwhile.