#2266 Monday 19th February

Gee it's hot.  I'm not sure that I've ever known such a long heat wave. The hot days just seem to go on and on.  It's too hot to do anything outside..... and the shed is like an oven.  Fortunately the house is very comfortable inside ....  

#2265 Sunday 11th February 2024

It's 7.30am and I've had some "shed time" and come back to bed again. I've been gathering data about the beast.  I want assemble a kit of spare parts to cater for travel emergencies and this morning I was working on the belts..... It has 3.... a belt for the water pump, another for the power steering pump and the third for the alternator.  Usually a vehicle just has one belt for all three.... but this arrangement is a sort of safeguard.....  if one belt breaks, it won't affect the other parts.  I had planned to remove the 3 belts and take them down to the parts shop to find matching belts..... but this morning I realised that each belt has a part number on it.....  so I'll see if that information will help me find spares.  I also need radiator hoses. Eventually I will add a water pump to the spares being carried.

Yesterday I did the annual backup of this blog.  Each year I create a pdf file of the recent posts.... 

Lately I've noticed how Kaylia is maturing..... this is a variable process with some areas progressing more than others. But I like the way that she is happy overall. I can often hear her in her room talking to herself..... and it's a very happy sound. 

#2264 Friday 9th February 2024

 Big day!  The Department of Transport approval letter has been received!  The next step is for the Landrover to be inspected and approved.  Once this approval is given, I can take it in for an inspection for actual registration.  It's a very long process but progress is really being made.

Kaylia is at work today.  She works on Fridays and gets a pay of $18 per fortnight.

#2263 Thursday 8th February

 I've just watched a video about a researcher using an MRI to observe the activity in a dog's brain when the dog is presented with praise or when presented with a food reward.  Over a number of observations of blood activity and dopamine production in different dogs it was shown that praise generated a much higher level of dopamine (pleasure hormone).   So it shows that our dogs are more motivated by their social bond with us than they are by food.  Interesting.

#2262 Monday 5th February

 Kaylia has speech therapy sessions every Tuesday morning and she really enjoys them.  Often when I'm with her she works hard at improving her pronunciation of words.  For instance she often remembers the school balls which were held at the Crown Towers in Burswood.  In the past she has known it as "the Burswood Hotel" and she worked hard to get the BERZ sound.  This morning she was saying "Crown Towers" quite well and I wondered where this had come from.  She said that she had driven past it and seen the Crown Towers.  She spelled the words on my phone.  I am impressed!

My Landrover is making progress  .... no further news from the department yet .... but I'm hopeful.

#2261 Thursday 1st February

Phew it's hot!  43 degrees outside and it's even hotter down in Midland.  I've stayed inside all day as the makes it too hard to do anything outside. Fortunately the measures we have put in place manage to combat the heat we'll.  We have lots of insulation, we have heat blocking curtains over the windows.... and a number of air conditioners.  Plus solar panels that produce nearly as much electricity as we use. 

I had to venture out and go down to the big shopping centre in Midland and while walking around there i was struck by the number of elderly people sitting round or lying on the seats in the rest areas.... for people who don't have an air conditioned house, the shopping centre is a really good place to escape the heat. 

#2260 Tuesday 30th January

Happy birthday Kaylia!

She's had good day and she's gone off to bed very satisfied.  She is a very easy person to  look after these days..... stick to the routine and all is well.