Long overdue Update

I think i emailed most about my move, but here is just a bit more. :-D

I found out in Late March that I had gotten the "TAO" Trainee Ambulance Officer position with the NSW Ambulance Service. So once i finally received the contract from them i handed in my resignation to Rural Ambulance Victoria (RAV). Yesterday was my final day working at RAV. I am sad in some ways to be leaving behind a good job and good friends, but at the same time very excited to be finally starting on the journey to become a fully qualified paramedic. YIPPEE.

I am spending this week finalizing things with the house and cleaning and packing for the move. I am having to put all my furniture into storage for 8 weeks+ while i am in Sydney training as i still don't know what training branch i am being posted to. YIPES.

My mum is coming up today (should be here in a hour or so actually) to help me with a few things and to also drive me back from my Oral Surgeon appointment. Double Yipes.... :-( Tomorrow i have to have one of my front teeth removed as it is "resorbing" and falling apart and has big holes in it. Not a nice thing to have happen. So it looks like i will be starting my new job with either a gappy smile or a plate... hee hee. No laughter permitted thank you very much. :-) So now i can sing once more that "all i want for Christmas is my ONE front tooth?" :-D.

Banjo will be heading off with mum when she heads home, so i know he is going to be upset with me. And then he will have to have another long journey up into some unknown town in NSW. He is pretty good with the 6+ hour journed to mum's but i could be living over 13 hours away this time.. I don't think he is going to like that journey. :-) His leg has healed very nicely and he only has a very slight limp now. Although when he decides that he wants to jump up on the window ledges and then down again is becomes more pronounced, but his spring is coming back and it is great to see.

If you are interested in checked out my new employer here is the web site link to ASNSW (Ambulance Service of New South Wales).
http://www.ambulance.nsw.gov.au/

Well the packing is calling again. - I abandoned it in favour of updating my blog. :-) Priorities right? :-)

Hot and Dry

Still really hot here most days and still very dry. Unlike the monsoons that the North have been getting (Major flooding), we have received little to no rain. So we are now on level 4 water restrictions. This means no watering of gardens/grass or any plants outside, no washing of your car unless it is at a commercial car wash, no filling of pools (yes even one of the town pools has had to close), and many more to tiresome to even list. For those who wish to keep the plants in their garden alive, well a bucket in the shower, the laundry water and the dishwashing water are all good ways to try to keep the poor plants alive.
I drove up to Sydney earlier in the week (7 1/2 hours North of where i live now), and south / southeastern NSW is in even worse state than we are. As you drive down the highway dust storms just crop up and blow across the road. Even though we are a fairly "hot" country this is unusual for our area. They are predicting that at current rates and without significant rainfall that we will only have enough water to last until March (that is the whole of the North East Region). So if you are reading this and thinking about it we would really appreciate some prayers for rain. Specifically rain that would fall in our catchment areas.

So enough about the drought. The fires are somewhat under control now and have burnt just over 1 1/2 million hectares now, but the Dept of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) are saying that they are "controlled", so we are happy with that.

When i went to Sydney this week it was for an apptitude test and psychological test to get into the NSW Ambulance Service as a Trainee Student Ambulance Officer. So depending if they think i am sane or not :-}, i will find out in a week or so how i did. As much as i would love to get in i am not too stressed about it any more as i figure i can only keep trying to get into becoming a paramedic.

Banjo's leg seems to be healing although he keeps doing silly things and making me take him back to the vet. His vet says that we need a frequent flyer card now as i have had to take him back every week for the past 4 weeks. Good thing that i have gotten some OT lately :-). Anyway this week he had to go back again because the bandage slipped about 3cms and was nearly below the break. When i took him in and she examined him we found out that the rod in his leg had actually come out through his skin and was sticking out and "glued" to the bandage, so it was very painful for him when we tried to take the bandage off. So poor boy had to have more sedation so that the bandage could be taken off and a new one put on.

Banjo's Leg Update

Just took Banjo back to the Vet for his splint removal and check. Well unfortunately his leg has not healed at all and is actually worse than when the vet set it originally. She thinks he must have knocked it on something in the last 2 weeks and so it is really crooked.
So tomorrow he will be having surgery on it and they are going to put in a metal rod to keep it straight and help it to heal straight and he will have to have another cast on for 6 more weeks. Poor Baby.
Also depending upon what they find when they operate he might have to have 2 rods put in instead of one. If this is the case then they will be permanent rods, but if he only has to have one then they will remove that rod after his leg has healed.
Banjo is not happy right now as he is and the Vet said that he would not be able to walk on that leg at all if we just left it, so we are definitely going ahead with the surgery.

previous post and photos.

Ok, my bestest friend Lana has informed me of an easier way to publish my photos. So i have put them in a slide show form. Thanks for the tip Lana. :-)
So they are in the previous blog if you want to take a look.

Merry Chrismtmas everyone.

Fires, Banjo, life in the past few months

It's been awhile since i have blogged and what can i say?? well lots actually but time has been a major factor and also the internet working. so where to start? mmm well i will start with my baby (that's Banjo - my cat).
A few weeks ago it seems that he tried to jump over the back fence and got himself "caught" in the gate by his back leg. When i went to bring him in for the night he wouldn't come to me so of course i went and picked him up and he bit me a couple of times and meowed really loud. (now Banjo is not a biter or a meower, so this was extremely strange behaviour for him). Anyway after he did that i put him on the ground and he just collapsed... Uh oh. So i brought him inside right away and tried to make him stand up again and he wouldn't at all. Panic set in and i called the vet immediately. They couldn't find a break but because he was in so much pain they kept him overnight and said they would xray him in the am if he still couldnt' weight bear. So they "admitted" him. :-) The next morning after xray they found out that he has broken his back leg right above his knee. So right now he has a splint on his back leg and is not a happy kitty. Oh dear.

Fires.
We had some bushfires start in the North East of Victoria about 3 weeks ago now, and they are still going. The original fires were started by lightening strikes and there were about 20-30 small fires originally but they were mostly in inaccessible terrain up in our mountains, so with high winds, high temperatures, severe drought conditions and the inability of fire crews to get in to the fires right away we have now got over 700,000 hectares of our bushland that had been burnt and the fires are not out yet. All the "little" fires have now joined into one LARGE fire and 2 smaller ones (but by small i am still talking over a few hundred hectares each).

We have unfortunately had a few fires that have been deliberately lit, that are not helping. If you are interested in looking at the situation a good website is www.dse.vic.gov.au and then click on the fires link and you can look at the PDF maps of the area. I have been able to go up 5 times to the fires, and have actually been to 3 different ones. It all depends where they send us where we go. It gets sooooooo hot during the day (roughly 90-100 degrees F - and that is just the temperature without the fires), that when you are wearing the protective gear it is horrible. So nights are better, and i figured after working 1 day shift i would work the rest at night. :-). So during the day we have extreme heat and then at night we are getting out and trying to keep warm by stoking up small fires and taking a break near their warmth. Strange, very strange. Our strike team is taking a "break" right now and letting a few other teams from the state and other states in to work.

Victoria is known as the most bushfire prone state in Australia because of the amount of mountains, parks and forest that we have. So far we have been lucky and only one person has been killed as a result of the fires. We have had a few serious injuries, and about 30-40 houses burnt but these are good compared to previous fires like this one. If any of you have watched "The Man From Snowy River" then you will have seen "Craig's Hut" which is the hut that "The Man From Snowy River" stayed in on top of the mountain. Unfortuately it was one of the first houses destroyed by the bushfires this year.

My mum went into hospital a week ago for a Total Hip Replacement and is doing really well. We were really hoping that she would be allowed out of hospital for Christmas Day so that we could all spend the day together but the Doctors have said no. so we are going to visit her the day after Christmas.

Well it is late now and i have unsuccessfully tried to upload some fire photos for the past 1 1/2 hours now so i will "edit" this post tomorrow with pictures, hopefully with more luck. :-)

90th birthday

I have been told by my bestest friend that because i have 3 days off in a row that i should publish something on my blog :-) Ok, i will then, esp. as i have pics of my Nanna's birthday to post.

My Nanna (Grandmother) turned 90 years old last week and to celebrate we invited a lot of her friends and all the family to come down to Traralgon and celebrate with us. At the beginning of this year Nanna had to go to a nursing home for respite and ended up staying there. She kept falling over and so my Mum and Aunt decided that the best thing for her was a nursing home, as she would be close to her friends and also receive the care needed. Now maybe i am biased (well of course i am) but i don't think that she looks 90 at all. :-)



This is My Mum (left), Nanna, and Aunty Tricia.









We were able to get a "family" photo also and we are only missing a few people.

This is most of my Mum's side of the family.
Nanna is a great great Nanna, but the baby (Bailey) is not in the picture. He is my cousin Sue-Anne's grandson that she has custody of.

Well i was going to add more but the computer (internet) is taking forever to upload my pictures so i will upload more when i am trying not to do three things at once. :-)

Update coming soon

I haven't had a lot of time lately to update so hopefully next week i will be able to sit down and get a good update in. Right now i am at work, relieving in Bendigo and so can't stay on for too long (long story why i am on the internet).
But i have been looking at everyone else's blogs and discovered that i am not the only one who needs to update. hint hint hint :-)

Down Under Again

Well I figured it was about time that I updated my blog so here it is..

I got home safely from the USA with only minor incidents on the way home with my luggage, and luckily I have a wonderful friend in the states still that is kind enough to send over all the luggage that they wouldn't let me bring back ;-).

I flew back into Aussie Land on the Friday and started work again on the Monday. Not too bad but I found that I still had a slight case of jet lag. Sunday night before work my boss calls me and tells me that on Tuesday after I finish work at 1500 I will have to drive 4 hours south to Ballarat to do a 3 day class for work, (that is the AMPDS class). Now I was quite happy to do the class, but so soon after getting back?? Yipes.. So after finishing the class I am now qualified as an International EMD (Emergency Medical Dispatcher). A very usefull skill to have in this day and age.

I have been back now a little over 2 weeks and am finally back and settled into my "routine". Banjo was not happy with me when I came home and then up and left him again for 3 days.. He has become a real house cat now and doesn't like to go outside anymore, just wants to watch the world go by from inside the house. ;-).

Yesterday I was invited to attend a training day with the Country Fire Authority where I am a volunteer. I had a great time and learned lots and got to put into practice some theory I had previously learnt. In words that we use here I got to put some of the "wet stuff on the hot stuff" ;-). As we were on our way back to the station from the training we got dispatched to a small fire, so I thought that i would get to attend my "first real fire" but alas another truck got there before us and put the fire out so we were cancelled. Oh well there is always a next time. And with the way that the summer is shaping up here, it is guaranteed that I will get lots of experience.. We are in the 8th year of Drought here and because our winter was warm we didn't even get the rain to get us part way through the summer. Water restrictions are in force already in some of the small towns and we will not be far away, and we are not really in summer here yet.

I hope to add a few more photos from my trip soon but am still trying to organize which ones i want to print and put in my scrapbook, so one day they will get in here.

Here are a few photo updates. :-)

Me and Banjo relaxing at home on my new couch. (which you can't see, but it is really comfy, and i got a great deal on it. )

Tony (baby bro) and Mum when we took Mum out in Shepparton for her birthday.

Blurry picture of me in my CFA uniform. I don't know what Banjo was doing as he is all blurry. :-) And yes you can laugh at me. The jacket is just a "tad" big on me. :-)

I don't know if i will be able to post more before i leave for the USA but will have lots to post when i get back. :-)

MAS Job

I forgot to add this in the last post.
When I got home today I and had a letter from MAS regarding the Student Paramedic job that I applied for nearly 2 months ago.
Well i passed everything except for the panel review (interview) where they stated that i "Did Not Meet Criteria". So i don't exactly know what criteria they base it on but i felt that i didn't do well when i interviewed.
Oh well. So it looks like i am still going to be here in Wangaratta for a while longer.
I am still looking into other avenues to get into the medical field, so haven't given up yet.

Flying

Ok, i was going to post a nice blog with new photos and stuff but got side tracked with all the stuff that has been happening over in London with potential Terrorist Attacks.
I have just talked to my Travel Agency and they are saying that we are not allowed to take any carry on baggage with us on the plane, just our necessary paperwork.
I am praying that this will change slightly in the next 5 days so that i might be at least allowed to take a book to read. Otherwise it will be a very boring 24 hours of flying from Melb to Greenville.
I am very grateful for the safety precautions though and hope and pray that nothing happens on my flight or any others.
I don't know what my connections are going to be like now as they are saying that you should get there 2-3 hours in advance for domestic flights - mmm could be difficult as i only have an hour layover between Washington Dulles and Greenville.
I would really appreciate prayer that i make all my connections and that the whole flight/s go smoothly.
If anyone hears anything different over there i would appreciate a heads up so i can be prepared.
Hope to see you all soon

RAV

I have been asked about where i work and so i thought that i would finally post these "very interesting" pics of my work place. :-) Have you ever noticed how boring it is to take photos by yourself ??? mmm anyway here are a few.


The building houses not just the comms room but also the area offices for the managers, the paramedics and their rooms, the first aid section with 2 staff, and also the mechanics.

This is the calltakers desk, very sophisticated as you can see, with technology abounding. Then we have our "slide" system with which we "send" the cards (yes we still write out the 000 calls) to the dispatcher.

And finally some pics of me at work. Brett and I going over the next weeks roster (he is the acting Senior Comms Officer).

Ambulances not where they are supposed to be

As you can see this Ambulance "missed" the road. :-) He was doing a "U" turn and the long grass hid the large ditch that he drove into. Oops. Luckily he did not have a pt on board and wasn't hurt. If you look at the car driving past you can see the PASSENGER having a good gawk at the ambulance. The comms room got just a few calls about this truck in the ditch. :-)





This one happened a few weeks ago now, but while waiting for his partner one of the paramedics put the truck on the "sensor" for the automatic door. Unfortunately for him the sensor didn't pick up that the truck was parked there and the door came down on top of the truck. It took the mechanics about 3/4 of an hour to get the door to retract off the ambulance so they could drive out.

MAS & Cleaning

After a busy week last week I am home again and ready to relax..

After church on Sunday night - when part of the BJU mission team came to visit our church I drove down to Melbourne for the week.

Monday morning saw me getting nervous for my panel interview for the job with MAS. mmm can't say how it went as I was extremely nervous and thought it went horribly but you never know.

Tuesday and Wednesday I was able to spend some time with my Mum and Cherie and we "winter" cleaned her house... It looks HEAPS better than it did and we got rid of just a few boxes of "junk" :-).

Thursday I had my written exam (3 hours long), and it was different than exams from BJU I will say.. I have to get 50% on each of the 6 sections of the exam in order to pass, and even though it was a challenge exam for what I supposedly do know already, there were copies of cardiac strips on the exam. Yipes....... I took some guesses but have no idea if they were right or not. I had no idea that there were going to be questions like that on there as I thought that i was being tested on what i knew already and on my prior qualifications..
Thursday also saw my nephews come home after spending 4 days with their Dad. Cherie enjoyed the break away from being a full time single parent and i think it gave her a little breathing space to be able to get some things done that she would normally not be able to do.

On Friday I had the dreaded Medical and Physical exam. Well i wasn't so worried about the Medical as i am pretty healthy in all, but last time i failed the physical..... Yipes.... I have been going to the gym regularly and talking to the gym instructor about how to best pass this physical and guess what????? Yes, it worked... I had to get a minimum of 13 points to pass the physical and i got just that 13... :-) I would have loved to get higher but i am happy that i passed.
Right after the physical i had my practical scenario, and that went OK. Because the skills of all the people interviewing are all varied as they are from all over the world they base the scenario on the skills level of the person and so they are all individual scenarios.. Because of the differences between my skills here and what i could do over in the US i ended up doing a BLS scenario.. A choking person who went into Cardiac Arrest and i was alone with no partner. (and yes that does happen here, with back up 20 minutes away).

MAS will let us know the week of August 14th on the results of this past week of testing, and if they offer the job then it starts in November sometime. So if i do get the job it is perfect timing for my trip to the states, as i leave the 21st August and get back in October and would have to give 2 weeks notice at RAV.

So after travelling all over Melbourne in the past week and putting many more kms on my poor little car, Banjo and I decided it was time to come home and get some stuff done at home before having Jury Duty later in the week.

I have now also disconnected my old email address so please send to the new one.
ttfn

It's Pouring :-)

Well not literally. But that is what it feels like right now.. Do you find that sometimes in your life that it doesn't rain events but pours them? Mmm. I know that there is a good spiritual analogy out there for this but for now I am sticking to Joshua 1:9 (thanks Capt. Snyder :-))

So next week I have my interview, medical & physical, written exam (3 hours), and then practical scenario for a student paramedic job with the Metropolitian Ambulance service in Melbourne. And to make things more complicated they are on three different days and in 4 different suburbs of Melbourne...To be prepared for this I have taken a week of Annual Leave from RAV and am going to stay with my sister.

A few days ago i was offered a WEEK of OT at another comms room down in Morwell and it was for next week. Oh dear can't do it, am going to be in Melbourne.......... The OT would have been nice for when I come to the US, but hopefully some will come later on.

Then i got home on Thursday night after work and found out that I have been summonded for Jury Duty in 2 weeks. The Jury Duty starts the day i am supposed to go back to work after my holidays.. haaaa haaa haaa, needless to say I think my boss is ummm... less than pleased. :-) Oh well can't be helped. I just find it funny that I have only been here in Wangaratta a year and already called up for Jury Duty.

I like the rain analogy as we have FINALLY gotten rain here. I can't remember the last time it rained enough to actually soak into the ground, (i think it was back in early January), but hopefully this will help out the farmers and also our water levels. We are on water restrictions as the water levels are really low. Wasn't a lot of rain as rain goes but hopefully the start of a "wet" winter for us.

I know that I promised photos but I don't have a digital camera yet. When I get it I promise to post more.

New Email

I have had to change my email address and pray that i have been able to contact everyone and give out the new address. But if you are on my page and don't have my new email address just email my old one in the next week or two and i will reply with the new address.

When i upgraded my internet they wouldn't let me keep the old address (oh dear). Hopefully soon i will be able to post more pics and write more.

The BJU Mission Australia team is currently in Aussie Land and will be visiting the "South" in two weeks. If you are interested in taking a look at their site and the Aussie pics that they have their link is: http://homepage.mac.com/gmatzko/2006BJU/PhotoAlbum108.html . I am sure that they would appreciate prayer as they minister around the country.

Rural Victoria and Me

A few people have requested photos of where i live and some "updated" photos of me. Well I dug through the archives and found some pics that might give you an idea of where i live and my life here in Australia.

This one is of me standing in front of the Ambulance Station where i am working. I know that you can't see everything that well but this is the only one i have currently of where i work. I have just put a digital camera on Layby and so when i have picked it up i will start to take more pics.

The computer is playing up currently and taking FOREVER to actually download one picture into the blog so will only be able to add one or two more for now.


Where i live currently in Wangaratta. It is a small 2 bedroom unit but actually very nice and i was blessed when i went searching for places as i got a really good price on the rent.


Tomorrow a workmate and I are off to Bendigo for some "extra" training in a different computer dispatch system called CIS. It was designed here in Victoria and is actually much like CAD, minus all the bells and whistles that go with CAD of course. Anyway, i have already worked in Bendigo a couple of days but actually have to be "trained" officially in how to use the system. Hey i only crashed the system twice last time i worked there. :-)

Next Tuesday i am attending a light structure minimum skills course for the Country Fire Authority (CFA) where i am a member. I have already completed and passed my minimum skills to be able to fight light scrub fires, so I figure they must trust me enough to let me attend this class and not hurt anyone. :-) I was and am looking forward to attending my first fire. Unfortunately for me we have a large scrub controlled burn this Saturday but i have to work at RAV. I was sad as it would have been a great learning day as it was a controlled burn that the CFA were actually starting. Oh well hopefully next time. Once i get all my completed uniforms i will try to get a pic of me so that you can all have a good laugh.

Back Home

Ya know I feel like I have been driving constantly for a week. Phew... that I am home again.
I went down to visit my Mum in Yarram (about 6 hours South of here), and also do a "Course in Occupational First Aid [Level 3 Equivalent]". The course was successful and I passed it, so that helps me on my way to be able to get the next step in my First Aid teaching cert. I just have to complete a "train the trainer" course now, so i am praying that RAV will let me get that cert too. It was nice to be able to go to Sale to do the class as i was able to visit my Mum at the same time and with it being mothers day, that made it extra special.

Before I went down to South Gippsland i finished filling out the paperwork for another assessment with the Metropolitian Ambulance Service. I thought that i had everything done right and so sent it all away. Anyway while driving back home from class one afternoon i get a phone call from MAS stating that my RPL (Recognition of Prior Learning) is expired.... mmm i didn't know that they expired. So they told me that i needed a "new" one. Mind you the dates that they had for MY RPL did not match me at all, but i didn't argue and just said that i would contact the "right" people to figure out what was happening and sort it all out. They were supposed to call me back on Friday but i haven't heard from them so i will be calling again on Monday morning. I have really prayed about this and have asked the Lord to really slam the door shut immediately if he does not want me to do this.. It is so hard to have to do this for the fourth time since i have been back. Twice with MAS and twice with RAV.

I am still "testing the waters" regarding this blog so excuse any mistakes.
I have to post a pic of my "baby" though. :-) His name is Banjo and he is a real cutie huh? :-)

He loves to sleep on my frogs, - he is about 2 1/2 months old there and the bottom pic was taken 2 weeks ago when he was about 9 months old.













I have more to say but will do that later. I just got home after driving all day and should get some things done.

Warby Ranges

This is the view from the Warby ranges just outside of Wangaratta. It was a beautiful day and I could even see the snow on the mountains in the distance.

New Things

Well, i figure that seeing as how everyone else has a blog that it might be about time that i started one.. I have no idea what i am doing but so far so good. I might have to ask Lana to help me out as she has had some time to "play" with hers and get everything the way she wants it to be. I hope that i can change the title of the blog??? mmm i don't know if i want it that way forever.

It is going to be a busy day tomorrow. I have a few errands to run and we have a Ladies Banquet at church tomorrow night, and i am looking forward to it.

I am going to play more on this and try and post it now and then try to figure out how to send it so that others can see it. :-) that ought to be fun.