Another two weeks have passed. It started with mum back and settled in at St Catherine’s and she seemed to be going ok. We decided to attend the Jeep training course last Friday and Sunday staying at Chris & Nicole’s.
We left late in the afternoon on Friday arriving around 6pm. We had some tea and Chris and I headed of to the theory part of the course, leaving Jill with Nicole, to watch the Football on the TV. The theory part of the course covered 4 wheel drive ethics, various drive systems, tyre pressures and lots more including a series of questions for us to answer. It was about 11.30 when we left and headed back home and straight to bed and a good sleep. On Saturday afternoon we did some DIY jobs at Chris’s and later in the afternoon Allison and Chris arrived. We watched the football and made an early exit to bed with an early start on Sunday.
Sunday morning was full of excitement and trepidation. We headed off again leaving Jill with Allison & Nicole. Nicole and Jill watched a couple of Movies.
We were to meet up with the other MJOC members (Melbourne Jeep Owners Club) at the bakery in Kilmore. When everybody arrived we formed a convoy and headed north to the MJOC training course. We drove through the gate and passed what appeared to be various tracks marked out with tyres. My heart gave a jump and I thought to myself that doesn’t look to difficult ( little was I to know) We continued down a muddy, slippery track to the club rooms. After a discussion about recovery and vehicle design and their ability to handle various conditions, we were shown how to use a snatch strap for a recovery. Next we headed back to the marked track. Our first venture was to engage low range 4WD and head through a series of deep holes – officially called “wombat holes” then over a couple of ramps that put my heart in my mouth.
The first run was over a 45 degree ramp, second time was over a combination 65 degree ramp and then the 45 degree. We were then put through several hill descents and climbs using a method of driving through the brakes. The rest of the morning we repeated these tasks and had a few recoveries thrown in as well. After lunch back to the course and a few mud and water hole attempts and more recoveries. Finally late in the afternoon we were told the best had been kept for last. It was called the sluice. It consisted of a gully some 2-300 meters long, extremely muddy and slippery which started at the top of a hill and ended crossing a creek at the bottom, everybody made it to the bottom and then headed back to the clubrooms. The track had become fairly cut up with the number of vehicles using it and was by far the most difficult to traverse. After saying our thanks to the instructors and our new Jeep friends we headed for home stopping at Wallan to wash the thick mud of our cars, arriving home about 8 pm exhausted and tired. We are now more confident in going off road than ever before.
We headed for home on Monday morning and collected Jake from the kennels. I made it to see mum late in the afternoon and was surprised that she was nowhere as good as on Friday. Tuesday morning I was back at St Cath’s and there was not much improvement, but was told the doctor would be there later in the day. About 4 pm I was about to go back to see mum when I got a call to say they were sending her by ambulance back to the hospital. I followed the ambulance and had to sit in out patients until they had accessed her. When I was allowed in she was all wired up and did not know where she was. They did a chest X-ray and this showed a lot of congestion suggesting pneumonia. She was very cooperative and about 8 pm they found her bed in a ward. This week she has been more down than up. She has been partly delirious and they think she may also have a UTI. I expect she will be there for several more days.
Jill has continued to do her daily exercise, but is finding the walking much more difficult. Jill had a suprise waiting in Melbourne. I had arranged for Nicole to get Jill a new bed spread. 
Yesterday we had some sad news Peter Montgomery passed away. Peter suffered from MSA-C and our condolences and thoughts are to Peter’s wife Sue and the rest of his family.
Well I had better get Jill some breakfast.
See you next week on the net.