We are finally settled!!!

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So, here we are at the end of week one...I have been on call one evening, called in at 2130 for a swallowed apricot stone, otherwise not too bad. Did a "ceesar" (c-section...hadn't done one in ten years...used 0.5% "heavy" bupivicaine versus 0.75%) on my first day, another later in the week...went amazingly well. Also did a full day of ortho on friday, hip, knee and a three level decompression lum lam on a very nice Kiwi 80 year old woman who didn't wake up for two and a half hours after a three hour desflurane sleep. I was worried.

We are in our house at 47 B James Street, moved in on Thursday afternoon, my post call day off. Getting settled in, figuring out what we need, and how things work. Bought a George Foreman for two today, to cook out fresh grouper and cod bought at the docks this morning. Spent 7 dollars American on two meals of fresh fish. Cost of food is pretty low, unless you are adicted to chicken. That's pretty high.

The sheep population here in NZ has fallen since we were here last. It seems that irrigation here in the South Island has resulted in an increase in the dairy industry. There are now many business dairies milking hundreds of cows, replacing sheep and the commercial deer raising farms. In fact, the largest dairy processing plant in the world is just north of Timaru. There is a new enormous warehouse that handles the exports of dairy products between the South Pacific and the Timaru Hospital. Containers of cow stuff galore.

It is amazing how nice it is to have the anesthesia techs to help out. I really don't need to know where stuff is, as they get it all for me, and set much of the necessities up. I want to do a femoral block with 0.25% bupivicaine, sciatic with 1% lidocaine, spinal with heavy bupivicaine. It all magically appears. Nice. I only have to worry about the outside the "theater" stuff...that being the ever present paper work that plagues us. Of course, since this is the operatint theater, we have no movies. Sad, really.

Perhaps next weekend we will venture out from our new nest...

j&n

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Photos

View down the driveway of 47 B James Street
You can see our house and our car at the end of the drive under a cloudless (currently) NZ South Pacific sky.

Timaru Botanic Gardens
This is a photo of the TBG which is about a half block from our house, my new running track. Plants love it here. There are an amazing number of flowers we have never seen.

Seven Eleven Equivalent
This is a photo of the 7-11, or rather the 6-11 store not far from our house. Nahid bought a couple lamb shanks for supper a couple nights ago.

Bo(e)ring Statue
Whilst I was snapping this photo, the comment was made that his was a boring shot...quite appropos, as it is in honor of the Sons of Timaru that died in the Boer War in South Africa...read up, history buffs.

Sopheze
Sopheze Coffee spot on the main street in downtown T, quite the spot for the with it shoppers. We missed Breakey this week, perhaps next week.

Havin' a cuppa...
Here we are having a cupppa coffee and white tea at Sopheze today...

Two Beeves
We ran into two Beeves (Bevs) at Sopheze whilst sipping our cuppas. The one the left works in the Timaru Hospital HR Department.

Saturday morning rush hour in downtown T.
Notice the frantic pace evident in the frenzied folk...

Rose Garden by Caroline Bay
They are so British...so refined and so civilized.

Hangin' in T...
Typical neighborhood in T. We were on a nice long walk, doing errands, checking out the neighborhoods, and holding up the street signs.