News & Updates from Vicki Avcin ~ AusCrafts · Page 63

Last Sunday morning I had a phone call from my daughter in law to say that my son was in hospitalwith a fractured skull and a bleed on the brain.

Not the call you want to get at 12.30am!

He had been on a ladder putting roof cladding on their new pergola extension and the ladder had tipped sideways and he fell 3m to the ground earlier that day.

Panic stations, how could I get down as I also have my husband ill with a clot on his right lung and it was also partially deflated.

The next 48 hrs was something I wouldnt wish on anyone.

Hubby had a Dr appt on Monday morning and until after that I couldnt go anywhere.

Flying to Brisbane (a flight that takes 45 mins) was going to cost more than I could fly to Fiji so that was out, school holidays started on the Friday and the trains were booked with people leaving early to go on holidays and so after he Dr saying hubby would be OK I caught the shuttle bus down to Brisbane on the Wednesday.

Daughter took me up to the hospital and I dont think my son and I have clung onto each other so much since he was a small kid.

He slept most of the time I was there and after passing a cognitive test (memory) they let him home after 5 days.

He was sleeping a lot so not a lot of conversation with him but just being together was what counted.

My daughter and I had one day I didnt go out because I knew there were other people coming to visit so we had a girl day by firstly taking Jaylee, daughters dog to a big dog park.

We got about half way round, throwing the Frisbee to Jaylee, when down came the rain. We thought wed be ok as when we got there it was sunny, but we ended up soaked even after trying to shelter under one of the big trees.

Jaylee didnt mind running in the rain and just wanted to chase the Frisbee. After we went home and got dry clothes on, we went out and spent an hour at the airport plane spotting, then some take away for dinner before heading home.

Back out to see my son the next day before I came home the following day.

He is improving slowly but cannot drive or go to work or do anything for that matter other than rest so it was a little easier leaving him knowing he is improving little by little each day.

Not the best trip down to Brisbane Ive had and hopefully when I go down in a few weeks time it will be a lot better trip.

Ive had a lot of Barbie dolls since I was a kid and seems some still are got to have Barbies.My first Barbie was sent to me from the US before they even got to Australia in 1959 and I still have her.

My mothers pen pal, a lady who my mother worked with here in the Second World War, was in the US Army and working in communications and they stayed in touch and she would send pictures of her little girl.

I saw photos of Cheri and her Barbie Doll, so Muriel (mothers pen pal) sent one over for me along with some homemade clothes for the doll.

So when someone in a Women in Firefighting group I am a member of, put up that theyd bought one from one of our stores, I went hunting.

Found one locally and raced off to purchase that day. Her PPC is very similar to ours, and yes she is wearing boots, not high heels!

I still like the old/early versions of Barbie over the new Barbies best but in all the time Barbie has been out this is the first firefighting one Ive seen here.

She will stay in her box and join the collection of all my other firefighting collectables I have.

Well last week I told you about our new little friend. It is definitely a sugar glider and simply the cutest little critter. It has been here every night munching away in the bird feeder.

But it has been joined by one of our big possums who has now discovered the feast. While the sugar glider seems to prefer to eat birdseed in the feeder, we moved a big stump into thegarden and have been putting pears on that and we know thebig possum is eating the pears, but we think the glider is also.

The possum only turned up a couple of nights ago while I wasat Cadets and hubby missed getting a good photo(was just agrey blur lol) but Im hoping to get some photos of it too.

Itwont be as shy as weve had them before and they just sit andstare at you, but the little glider usually goes and hides when wego out, took a lot of patience to get photos !!

Look at those big eyes…….. isnt it just the cutest little fellow.

Definitely cuteness overload around here at the moment.

Last weekend we were sitting outside about 7pm when we heard something in the trees out in the front garden.

As it was dark we couldnt see just what it was, but then we heard something eating from the bird feeder.

As all the birds disappear just before sunset we figured it wasnt a bird so hubby went and got the torch.

We could see something in the feeder but couldnt really see exactly what it was. We snuck closer before turning the torch on again and a little head popped up…… a little possum!!

Hes been back every night since so we are making sure there is seed in the feeder after the birds have gone as well as putting out some fruit and carrot on a stump.

All this week weve been thinking its a small possum but tonight just on twilight we saw something fly into a tree in the other side of the garden, then fly over to the trees near the feeder.

We havent been able to get a good look at it but now think it is a sugar glider.

They are similar to possums although smaller and have a membrane which acts as wings and allows it to glide from tree to tree.Which ever it is, we welcome another little critter to our place to join all the other native wildlife that calls our yard and the surrounding area home.

Another great training night with the Emergency Service Cadets.

This week our cadets learnt about the different stretchers used in Rescue and the purpose of each one, where and under what circumstances they would be used and most importantly how to load a patient and safely secure the patient for transportation.

As well as learning these skills our cadets are getting ready to participate in the upcoming Cadet games which will be held in Brisbane in July.

The cadets will have to go through a variety of skills and drills which include 6 Squad Challenges and 6 Mixed Team Challenges.

The events are more about teamwork, innovative thinking, camaraderie, respect and mutual appreciation of all emergency services and defence services. (We have army and navy cadets).As much as the cadets hone their skills on things like communications, first aid (inc CPR and AEDs), map reading, knots, incident control, camp craft (lighting a fire), land search strategies, hand eye coordination, and their marching skills, it is all about teamwork.

The cadets did a great job and delivered the patient safely and without incident around obstacles to the destination.