The Fremantle Doctor

Well the Hornets picked up another win before the break putting us in 6th place, out of eight, finishing 5-7 in the first half. Not bad considering they won only three games last year. We really should be 7-5 instead, but its a work in progress.

Now we have a few weeks, four to be exact, off until our next game. On Sunday the temp pushed 100 degrees. Not excactly the Christmas that we are used to. I am hearing reports of blankets of snow in Eugene and Cortez. So at least ya'll will have a white one.

With the temperatures going way up in the last week or so I am really starting to understand why people say pulling concrete is one of the more physically demanding jobs out there. I recently helped put in a patio and carport on a house in the area. It was a scorcher of a day, somewhere around 36 degrees Celsius which is about 97 f. My day started kinda feeling like I was in the way, and trying to figure out how the concrete was going to get from the drive way to the patio and car port. You see the last time I worked it was on a huge pub. They had a huge crane type machine that would pump the concrete out of a truck and up and over all the construction equipment. From there a man with a remote control, like one for a small car or plane, was directing the tube around the rebar mesh shooting it out of the tube as another man wrestled with the tube working it into the right areas. My job was to walk around in the "mud" holding what looked like a huge weed eater. On the end of it was not a cutting string however, it was a floppy vibrating tube. I would stick the tube in the concrete and fire it up and it would shake it down to an even level. Lets just say I was spoiled on the first day. As my father in law Steve says "all jobs are pretty easy if you have the right tools," and we did that day. And it was a nice 23 degrees.

So back to my second day, hot, 36, and no pump. The truck arrived about 10:00 am after we had set up all the boards and laid mesh, driven in stakes to make sure it is level using a laser level. That's when I found out what my real job for the day would be. Tha Barra, as they call it. Or pushing the wheelbarrow. I also did not know that the other wheelbarrow guy was built for the job. About 5'6", he barely had to tip the handles up and he was off, my first trip I was shocked at how heavy the mud was. I also had to stoop over not able to lift the handles up as the mud would spill out, and the driver of the truck seemed to load my barra up to the brim every time. About two trips in, my heart was racing, and my back and legs were already burning. My shirt was completely soaked and my partner was not slowing down. Then I started on my third trip and I came to a complete stop. The tire had blown. Impossible to move it any further. We had to dump it, then shovel it into a working barra and continue. Another barra was sent for and returned. First trip with this one and the tire popped. So I shared the barra with my buddy Lee. Which was the only way I made it, only having to go every other time. Lee and I talked while it was filled over and over and over. I learned of his chili garden and told him I had once seen a guy eat 2 habeneros for 50 bucks. He laughed and said he had eaten 15 at once for 500. I believed him. He said his whole throat closed up, and it took him a day to recover. He had broken the record of 10 that someone had set at a pub. He seemed happy about it. I told him he was crazy.

Now I tried not to complain to Lee about the barrowing but it was so hot and seemed never ending so I finally said "Man I am not sure I am going to make it through the day..."
He responded "You'll be right mate. Just wait till the doctor gets here."

"The doctor?" I said, "who is the doctor?"

"The Fremantle Doctor." He replied.

Now Fremantle is a town about 75 km south and west of us. So I am sitting here between barrows wondering why and when this doctor was coming. Although I was feeling very much like I needed to be seen. Completely exhausted and not knowing if I could continue, the Doctor finally arrived. He came in cool and sweet. You could see the relief in everyone's faces when he pulled in. See the Fremantle Doctor has no degree, writes no prescriptions and runs no tests. In fact he is not even human. The Fremantle Doctor is the cool sea breeze that reaches the hills at about 1:00 pm. It seriously dropped the temp about 15-20 Degrees in short bursts. It was and is a life saver. And thank god he came when he did. He cooled us all off, chased away the bush flies, and covered us with the smell of the Indian ocean.

We powered through the rest of the day, my mood had gone from grim to good. The owners came home and smiled as they looked over there new patio. It felt good.

The picture above is a French restaraunt here in Mundaring. Its nationally recognized I guess. Someone told us if Liz and I went there to expect to spend 500 dollars. We decided to pass. At night the sign lights up and a trippy green hue is shot over the gum trees. I thought someone would get a kick out of the name of this fancy french eatery.

The other pictures is a little car we saw in Fremantle near the prison. It was Liz's fav color and we thought I would have a hard time driving it. The prison is the first on the west coast. It housed the original criminals sent over from the UK. They built it themselves, and most of the town of Fremantle. Little did england know they were sending there prisoners to an island paridise. So when there sentences were up they sent away for there families rather than go back north. Guess they wanted to live in the towns they built.