Spent the day weatherproofing the house in preparation for the cold snap. With 13 degrees forecast tomorrow and 12 later in the week, I felt a bit of additional security would be desirable. So ... All the gaps between the new weatherboards and the door surrounds and window surrounds have been filled - the big ones got some expanding foam into them (they really mean expanding I discovered after scraping gallons of the stuff off the weatherboards...). The little ones have been polyfilla'd with silastic in a tube. This had the accidental side-effect of deterring next door from planting the new plants she has arranged in pots along her drive in positions that will effectively provide further obstacles to constructing the fence (and carrying the left-over wood to the designated place of delivery).

Next came the hole in the front door. This being a door recycled from a banking chamber it had a latch inserted in it and holes for the key and the handle cut into the wood. Removing the latch became an issue some time ago as it has a sticky-outy bit that had to be held in place with a nail, with varying degrees of success. That left two one-inch holes through which the wind has been whistling with gay abandon. So today I cut down a bit of wood and shaped it to go into the hole and that is now glued in position. Look Ma! No drafts!!

I have also knocked a bit of quad along the base of the skirting board in the front room to cover the gaps where the floor boards do not quite meet the wall base. So all up, despite the chilly weather, I am hoping to be quite snug, even if I still have not ordered any firewood and am making do with hardwood palings and bits of rotten four be twos. I had intended to cut up the two remaining fence posts, but could not face the prospect of sharpening the chainsaw - again - so have loaded them into the back of the ute to take to quilting tomorrow. Hopefully I can con Caroline's husband into cutting them down into manageable lenghts with his saw - shamelessly helpless female, I know ...

At the top of the chimney in the loungeroom, part of the topmost course of bricks had come adrift and so there was a huge gap between the ceiling and the chimney breast. That is now stuffed with some left-over insulation batts and the difference it makes is quite astonishing (well, logically it shouldn't be, but it is nevertheless). Basically there are now very few drafts indoors and with today's top of 20 degrees this actually became a bit stuffy indoors ... You can't win. So a few of the sash windows are now cracked at the top and will be closed shortly as the evening cools down.

Despite it being pleasantly warm today it has also been threatening rain on and off with the odd spit or two just to put you on the alert. I expect that will intensify over the next few days, judging by all the sheep/bushwalking/road weather alerts that have the tom-toms drumming on the radio. I expect this is why the geese have decided to breed so early - they are under the impression we are entering deepest winter. I had a look in the container (for spare insulation batts and the weather-strips for the door surround) and also discovered the bag of frost blanket I bought while living in Christchurch which has never been used as I can never find it when I need it. It will come in very handy later in the week when the overnight temps drop to one degrees or lower. I never did find the weatherstripping. I know I have some as Wayne kindly delivered it on one of his trips up here, but where it is I can not imagine as I have looked in all the usual places and quite a few unusual ones now... Oh well, when and if the plumber turns up to replace the pump, I will need to go to Hobart to return the old pump, so can get some more of that stuff then.

While rummaging I also found the brass window-opener I bought to make the toplight over the front door openable. I have since discovered that you need the toplight to open outwards so you can use it. Since the toplight would open inwards if it were to open at all, the rod is useless. But wait! The window in the future dining room was to be a fixed panel window. Perhaps I can use this item to make the top section open outwards, thus allowing some ventilation anyhow!! So that is the next logistical challenge on which I will undoubtedly sleep for many a long night to come while i work out the design for the whole thing. So little time, and so many things yet to do. Good thing I mentally allocated five years to getting the place in shape...

It was a glorious day today, and tomorrow is set fair for more of the same. After that it goes to custard in a major way apparently, with frost forecast for Saturday morning. So I will start looking out the recipes for green tomatoes and see what I can do with them. There are a number of fruits that appear to be colouring up, so those I can pick and bring indoors to ripen, but the rest of the crop will, I suspect, be a write-off. Sad really as the bushes look rather nice and are producing fruit like there is no tomorrow (which, sadly in their case, is the outlook).

So I got stuck in a cut a whole heap of wood up for firewood which will clearly be required, while waiting for the phone to ring. Actually, the first call came through at 7:30am (presumably hoping to get me while I was asleep). He said he would call back in a couple of hours to check if it was still available before coming up but that was the last i heard from him. There were several other enquiries, all promising to come up, but only one couple actually put in an appearance. In their seventies, they are looking for a van to park permanently on their block at Snug to live in during summer. They were planning a permanent annex, but now have to cost out building a roof over the van as well. So I have their contact details and have given them first refusal, if anyone else comes up. They indicated they will call back within 48 hours, and I suspect they really will. They were definitely Tasmanians, we compared geneaologies for a bit and he used to live at Levendale, so was familiar with the house over a period of 50 years.

Then another car pulled up in the drive getting me all excited, but that was just the bloke from over the road who is planning to go through the stack of weatherboards to extract the actual weatherboards that are the right profile for the house he is repairing. There are definitely some in there, I know. I will get him to help me transfer them to the other side of the drive at the same time, so they are not leaning up against Kip's fence as they are at present. So now it is simply a matter of keeping my fingers crossed that this couple are keen and I have made a sale. Otherwise it is on to Gumtree and another add in the Saturday paper next week.

Having little if any signal last night, and having read the latest book, I decided to sort through my quilting magazines and get rid of the ones I didn't want. Since so many of them had just one project I was vaguely interested in (saw that there might be some chance I might at some distant time actually progress it), I started tearing out patterns and instructions and discarding the rest of the magazine. The patterns went into an arch-ring file each in its own plastic sleeve. So now I have the following categories: Gifts (quick and easy things to make to sell at stalls etc), embroidery (stitcheries, cross-stitch and freehand embroidery), 'notions' (being pincushions needle cases etc) clothing (quilted garments), applique, piecing, and two parts of a block-of-the-month (still wondering where the original magazine has gotten to - must be around here somewhere), which is very pretty, needle-turn applique and which I seriously doubt i would ever complete, but some blocks will make nice cushions.

As a result it was pushing midnight before I got to bed, to the utter disgust of the animals who made numerous pointed sorties into the hall accompanied by loud sighs. But this morning was up around 6 trying to log into the computer. No signal. No signal for the phone either. After an hour or so, I gave up (having finished my breakfast and with things to do), but there was still no signal on anything this evening when I tried to log in earlier. So I drove part way into Oatlands till I had signal and was assured that there were no reported problems (ummm, what was I doing if not reporting a problem?) and that if there was no improvement in three days to give them a call back ... now that is what I call service - NOT. They also assured me they would call back in the next 24 hours to let me know what was happening (how, when I had no signal?). Anyway, I continued into town and bought a takeaway dinner for a treat to compensate, and by the time I got home - voila - a signal. What's to bet someone had accidentally knocked a switch the wrong way and they are not game to admit it?

Getting the signal back is a huge relief as I have that ad in the paper tomorrow. Would hate to miss out on a potential buyer because they could not get through. The caravan is now squeaky clean (though I think I will go over the floor once more tomorrow morning), but still smells a little musty. So I will open up the windows and ceiling vents in the morning, first thing if it is not raining.

Once that was all sorted I went down and fitted a cabin hook to the door of the chookshed and cleaned out the chicken's bedding. Then worked on installing the perches (still a work in progress) with a view to moving everyone in in the near future. It seems the geese have decided that late summer is the ideal time to breed (should be July/August), so will need to get them into the other half of the orchard before they get further along the track. Not exactly ideal timing, I have to say. Still, with the chook shed door open, I am hoping they take themselves to bed in there tonight and I can trap them to clip their wings - hard. Wish me luck ...

Today started off fairly chilly but warmed up later, so I let the fire go out and got stuck into the kitchen once more. Now all the tools and boxes of 'stuff' have been sorted through and re-homed and the place is beginning to look like the real deal. I will need to vaccuum the floor before I go much further, and have decided to give it a scrub and apply some diluted bondcrete to seal it before moving in the major appliances.

Meantime, in an effort to give myself an incentive to finish off cleaning the caravan, I have placed an ad in the Sunday Mercury. Given this has statewide distribution it seemed like a good idea. Will see what happens in response to the ad. In the meantime i have to call Clinton and Val to let them know the ad has gone in, as agreed. I am asking $5500 or near offer, a thousand less than I paid for it, to allow for wear and tear and the difficulties we will encounter getting it off the block. Once it is gone I can get in touch with the insurance and see if they will reimburse part cover for it, which would be a welcome cash injection.

I have called the plumber to remind him of the need to replace the pump (still not done) and have also had an email from NZ to confirm that all of my colleagues are safe and well, despite the chaos in the City. I have been particularly concerned for a colleague who worked at the Timeball in Lyttelton which, as you will have seen from the photos, collapsed in a major way.

Other than that, I have recovered the honeyspinner from the container, and the bread-maker so that I can get on with dealing with those two matters as well.

It was not as chilly as they forecast today, but still a good day to be indoors. I did pop out to take advantage of the lack of wind to spray the trees that have cherry slug on them. Given it was cool and overcast, the bees were not all that active today, so I figured it was worth the risk.

Apart from that I have also been sorting through the mixed functions in the kitchen. Since I have been cutting up firewood, a lot of the boxes and stuff have been covered in sawdust, so I sorted their contents into more compact boxes (the remaining fittings for the kitchen cupboards were in a huge box, and did not require the space etc). And sweeping up the thick of the sawdust with a view to applying a vaccuum cleaner once I have removed all non-kitchen-related items from the room. The sawdust in the boxes turns this exercise into a bit of a lucky-dip, but I guess I will get there eventually. The idea is that the fridge and the freezer will then be removed from the loungeroom and placed in the kitchen, and the freezer finally activated, which will give me somewhere to put the remains of the chicken cacciatore I had for dinner tonight. A whole chicken is a lot of food for one person to get through I have discovered. Still, he was lovely and tender and very tasty, lol.

Also managed a couple of loads of washing which are festooned on airers in the bathroom and laundry for dealing with tomorrow.

I forgot to mention yesterday, in the midst of the horrors unfolding across the Tasman, that the PM on the hen revealed a dilated cardiac myopathy (in other words a congenital heart condition that resulted in a heart attack) so no disease and no other external causes involved. What a relief! It also means my flock is effectively culling itself of undesirable breeding stock so I can merrily hatch chickens next spring knowing I am breeding from healthy, sound stock.

The day started rather adventurously as my hair drier burst into flames as I was drying my hair. So I guess I have no hair drier any more. At least I was done and had switched it off before the actual flames emerged, so it was simply a matter of unplugging and carrying it outside ready to toss into the bath if it got carried away. As it was, it went bang and the flames went out. So I left it on some gravel to cool down and have now popped it in the rubbish to go to the tip later this week.

Today was another day of quilting, followed by a prolonged visit from my Austrian neighbour who owns the pub. He is scrounging some weatherboards to do up the cottage he owns on the other side of the railway line, so I have told him to help himself when he is ready to go, and to pop over any time i am here.

The other neighbour has dropped off a note in response to my notification that I plan to commence building the fence. It asks me to place the remnants of the old fence on her property in the space between her shed and the boundary. It is of course, purely coincidental that this is the space she previously felt was too small because of the shipping container, and which she has subsequently narrowed further by installing a rainwater tank and planting a shrub. So I think I will just put as much material there as will fit between the shed and the one metre setback that she has, herself specified, and if there are leftovers I will keep them for myself. Since we share ownership in the materials, there will be no grounds for dispute, especially if I give her the sturdier remains from the front section of the fence.

I am not so naive as to assume that 'no grounds for dispute' will allow us to avoid a dispute but at least if it is necessary to call in third party intervention she will be demonstrably in the wrong.

To be frank I am a little sick of the whole thing so will not bother to rise to the provocation at this point but will deal with it on the day.

Oh. My. God. Those poor blighters in Christchurch - it just never stops for them does it.... I was in tears driving home this afternoon hearing the early reports from the city after today's calamity. I can but hope that my friends are all alive and well and that their families and friends are the same. Tragic...

I was at quilting today but had to dash home at lunch time as I had forgotten to take the lunch I had packed, and the veges I had picked for distribution and the wallet, necessary to pay for the day. I heard a brief news update en route but assumed it was referring to back news of some sort. But no. Unfortunately one of us is planning a trip to NZ in three weeks time - a trip she has planned for 30 years. It includes Christchurch. So she was necessarily alarmed about the potential for it to impact on her plans. Hopefully we managed to assure her that a lot can happen in 3 weeks and that getting in touch with the Agent right now is not helpful.

All poultry present and correct at feeding time, so hopefully this is the last to bite the dust...

I have just returned from Sandy Bay where I dropped off the third chooky corpse that has appeared in my back yard. Two of these deaths have been sudden and asymptomatic so I am concerned as to what may be going on. Again, the hen was her usual self this morning. This afternoon she was dead and in advanced rigor mortis, so had presumably been so for some time. So time for a post mortem examination to see if any gross pathology can be seen which might identify at least the affected organ. If it is the liver, the next one goes to Mt Pleasant for toxicology ...

It was freezing cold last night with galeforce winds continuing. So the fire was chugging all last night and was re-invigorated this morning also. And I stayed huddled beside it for much of the day, apart from a quick trip into Oatlands to collect the latest episode of the fencing saga. Presumably her legal advisor was competent as I now have a firm understanding of what she intends to build and am fairly happy with it, though bemused she feels the need to spend more than she has to. Still, it will save me money as I will now only need to run one row of chicken mesh to finish off the chicken-proofing to the full height of the fence. Goody!!

It was sooooooooo cold last night I had the electric blanket on all night (admittedly only on setting one of a range of 12 settings) and it was good - very good. Just a bit tricky getting up this morning as usually I am winter flannies before this becomes necessary at all, and short-sleeved summer PJs just didn't cut it in terms of getting out from under the bedding.

There was only four mm in the gauge this morning which was a bit disappointing. But so far today there has been another 11 mm, and apparently more to come. Good thing too - I had started bailing out the shower cubicle for handwatering the garden which was getting onerous.

I darted out in the rain and brought in some dry and not so dry wood to cut up and lit the fire and have been keeping close to it all day. The break in proceedings was to build a pair of bee-ramps for the fronts of the hives. Basically just a sloping landing board to go in front of the horizontal landing board to help them find their way home.

The three books from the library were of varying quality, but one was great - so much so I have decided to get in touch with Petrarchs and have them order it in for me, so I can use the book voucher my sister gave me for Christmas. The book is called A practical Manual of Beekeeping by David Cramp. I hated it at first as he starts of with this Americanised 'you can rule the world and make billions' line of hard sell which I hate. But he gets that out of his system early on and then lapses into a more anecdotal style which is pleasantly self-deprecating, but confident nevertheless.

It has all the recipes for things like pollen cake and so forth that you need to be able to make up for your bees to get them through the harder weather. And since this has been a cool summer and I have one very weak (if not completely moribund) hive, I am going to need some supplementary feeding if anyone is still alive in there. Will chase Graham up to see when we can next take a peek inside. Since I still don't have a smoker I am unhappily dependant on his good will. Hope he has bought one for me from that chap who was clearing out his stock. If not, I will need to get one pretty darn soon so I can be a bit more independent.

Today involved the trek to town for animal food, people coffee and other such essential supplies I prefer to buy in bulk. While down there I managed to pick up a replacement pump (still waiting for a call from the plumber to let me know he got my message it has arrived) and so forth. I also picked up a pressure sprayer (to differentiate from the one I have been using for Roundup) and some pyrethrum which I read is not good for bees - bother. So I will need to apply it in the evenings when the bees are not about. Not much chance of doing it tomorrow, by the looks of the forecast.

I also had to call the chap from the beekeeping association, which I duly did. While you get good signal in Hobart, it is usually accompanied by large quantities of traffic noise. So I drove to the top of Mt Rumney and parked in the lookout (glorious views over various bays and inlets of the Derwent Estuary) and sat to eat my lunch. I picked up the phone to make the call and blow me down of a council water truck decided it was the ideal moment to damp down the parking area. So I had to wind the window up on the ute to hear the beekeeper's wife tell me he was not available. I tried his mobile service but that was gone to message-bank so I set off back down the road. Just got part way down when he called back and we had a lovely chat. He has emailed me three documents he thought I might find useful. They are!!! One is an e-book about beekeeping published in America, another a brochure about foulbrood (which we have all heard about but had no idea what it was!!) and the third is a real gem! A solar wax-melter. So Instead of having to scrape off the frames, bung the wax into a double boiler and wait for it to melt, you pop the whole frame into this thing and let the sun do the work. Now that's my sort of toy!!!

Then home via the local library to replenish supplies and three of the bee-keeping books I had ordered were in stock. So they too came home to keep me company this evening. One is about gardening for bees, and I am pleased to say that most of the recommended plants were already on my list, so I will just have to get them now ...

Naturally, having decided to spend a day gardening and giving the dog an airing, it rained today. We only got two mm last night, despite the various sudden and vigorous downpours, and another mm today. But enough to dampen enthusiasm somewhat.

Still, we uprooted various gone-to-seed plants in Eleanor's garden and planted out some brassicas, beets and various other root and leaf veges and when she gets back it should be looking good. Barry was most appreciative of my help and gave me some zucchini to take home which are presently waiting to be added to the next stage of dinner which is cooking in the oven. Christina, from FIMBY came out to my place to check on progress and managed to identify the problem with the tree that I thought I had killed. It has actually started re-shooting which is encouraging, but apparently I have cherry slug on my pears, plums, hawthorn and goodness knows what. Given the extent of the problem I think I will pick up some pyrethrum spray while down in Hobart tomorrow.

Christina is breeding rabbits for meat (an interesting prospect but one I may have to put on hold for a bit, under the present circumstances) and so we had a conversation about dispatching rabbits and chooks and I showed her my sophisticated arrangement (two roofing nails in the end of the sawhorse). She also had some amazing metal hoops that you can place over your garden to support plastic or netting and protect your plants. I felt that my (presently in-development) idea of using PVC pipe for the hoops and then sewing cotton tape onto plastic to attach curtain rings to was far more economical given I have all but a few of the necessary items. It won't be happening this year, but will certainly be in place to protect things next year.

Meantime I finally got in touch with Jonno last night to see if he knew what was wrong with the hot water pump which has been making strange noises for some time now. He identified a dying pump and so I have been in touch with the suppliers and I can collect a replacement tomorrow. Will then get Jonno to install it for me and return the dead pump to the suppliers.

I have also been in touch with the beekeeping association. The secretary of the Tasmanian branch kindly informed me that for $250 I could get voting rights, but gave me no further information other than contact details for northern and southern reps. So I sent an email to the southern rep who has already been back in touch and sounds much more friendly and responsive. Apparently the southern beekeeping association is a separate, but affiliated group, with rather less in the way of membership fees, and rather more in the way of positive proactive approaches. I will give him a call tomorrow while i am in town (and have a viable signal).

Meantime, I have once again run out of library books before the library opens (tomorrow) so am a bit bored. Wonder what i can get up to? Will probably do a bit more embroidery, and finish off the cover for the bee journal in anticipation of tomorrow's phone call.

Well, the letter tells me she is seeking legal advice. Hopefully that is true and her lawyer points out to her that she is shooting herself in the foot. She also claims I am in breach of the rules of natural justice for asking for details of the proposed fence within seven days - stating she is entitled to 28 days. This fails to consider that my original request for this level of detail was sent in my letter of 10 January. I begin to think it is clear she does not have the funds for the wire section of the fence but lacks the courage to own up to this fact. Of course, that would be difficult when she has previously given me written assurance of her ability to do so in 28 days of completion of the rabbit proof fence that she requested in her first letter.

I think I will overlook the fact that she is out of line and not respond to this latest letter. I will simply wait to see what arises from her visit to the lawyer. In the mean time she has begun planting up along the line where my paling fence is to be built - no doubt to provide herself with various opportunities for further obstructiveness at the time the fence is actually under construction.

At least I had quilting today and made some progress on the tapestry. The opera house now looks like an opera house, and the section of ocean above the Harbour Bridge is now coloured in. I was once again subjected to endless chatter from our new member, but at least she worked out I was not really in the mood today so only directed about 50% of it my way.

Tomorrow I will be at Eleanors to help out with the visit from the Fimby ladies, so called in to see Barry on the way home, collected some plums and sought and obtained permission to bring the dog with me, so he gets a change of scenery. He must be heartily sick of being stuck indoors in this weather.

Another glorious autumn day - actually downright warm at Quilting. Ended up sneaking out and sitting on some cool concrete, with my feet on grass, in the shade down the end of the shed. Am now home and stripped down to cooler garments. Hope tomorrow is not quite so warm as we are at the sunny end of the room tomorrow.

The dog was glad to see me home (goodness knows why as he had been helping himself to the cat food all day - perhaps he needed to make room for more ...), and both cats are safe indoors now. Since they have been out and about since four this morning (when I woke up) I expect they will be tired tonight. I know i am. So I left the latest registered mail item at the post office to deal with tomorrow, while I am surrounded by my friends.

Well, the chicken lives to see another sunrise (well, probably several to be frank) as I could not get my act together at all today. Eventually I gave up and went into Oatlands where they were experiencing a power outage, so after groping around in the supermarket in the dark I emerged with the necessary items and headed home. En route it occurred to me I have lived here almost two years and have yet to see what Andover looks like. It is the turnoff to the tip, but I have never ventured further. Lovely country through there, but when you get to Andover it is two houses and a level crossing. And neither of the houses is particularly pleasing to the eye ...

So at the next opportunity I turned around and headed homeward but then thought, there are a couple of other sideroads to explore yet. One had me bluffed as it has a street name within Parattah, which changes to the property name further along. I had only seen it referred to by the property name, so failed to take the turn. Perhaps another day. But I continued on and went up Bailey's Road which also leads to a property, but which does remain a public road for some distance. I had been told many months ago that this road was worth exploring, if only for the interesting piles of rocks and branches that result from the tidiness obsession of one of the property owners. They were right. These have to be seen to be believed. The rocks are all drystoned up into long but very deep walls that go nowhere, And the branches look as if they have been set up to provide cross-country jumps for horses. Really neat, closely woven piles. But clearly they are not for this purpose as they are too close together and they have branches poking up that would take out a horse's belly if it were to be put to them. Definitely the most exciting thing around here today, lol.

Was just eyeing off a can of spam for dinner when Caroline called in for a visit, so I showed her my floorplan for the 'when I win lotto' house I could build on the former site of Bellevue if I were so lucky... Clearly I have too much time on my hands and need to focus and get back to work. Still, tomorrow and Wednesday are quilting so it may not be for a few days yet.

Another fairly grey day, though with a bit of sunshine here and there. Did some weeding and some reading and otherwise did very little - though I have staked both the walnut tree and one of the apples that seemed in danger of being blown horizontal at the rate it has been leaning. The remaining hens all seem in good health, which is a relief as I was concerned the australorp may have had something contagious. I think I am going to have to gird up my loins and give the chicken the axe very soon so I can get on with adapting his shed further to accommodate the remaining flock. I plan to switch paddocks between them and the geese so that the geese can get onto some fresh grazing. This will also simplify matters when the time comes (if indeed it does come) for Rita to build her fence, and give the geese access to the 'pond' when the time comes for them to mate.

I think I have finally worked out what the pond is that she has been digging for the last few weeks (though remain confused by the overhead structure). I suspect it is the overflow for her rainwater tanks and as such will collect any larger quantities of water. Fine in the sort of weather we had last winter, but i note that this winter is once again forecast to be unusually wet. Still, I guess if it becomes a problem then I can address it when that happens. She also seems to be (finally) removing the various tank rings from along the boundary - perhaps she has worked out that was not the best place to put a vege patch, even if I did not own chickens ...

The australorp hen died last night. There has been no helpful feedback from BYP so it remains one of life's mysteries I am afraid. She has been planted under the walnut tree which has finally gone into the ground near the new chicken shed to provide shade in summer when it gets a bit bigger (the tree, not the shed).

Sunny weather today inspired a quick round of the main yard with the lawnmower to discourage all that new growth brought on by the various sprinkles of rain and I also did a quick round of roundup on those areas where re-growth is occuring in unwanted places (eg against the house foundations, the edges of the raised beds, the future terrace out the back etc).

Then a bit more fiddling with the woodbox to work out how to reattach the top rail onto the panelling beside the chimney breast that I had removed, straightened up and re-attached with some masonry nails.

So I was just getting into relaxing mode when the painter turned up again with his ladder and a book about the district that contained the same image I have already seen of my house in the 1920s (at the far end of the street, the photo having been taken from up the hill near the methodist church). We stood and looked at photos for some time, and talked about former occupants, then he up the ladder to have a look at the house with no real conclusive results. Then he wandered off into the distance and I returned indoors where I lit the fire as it is coolish tonight. It was 0.9 at seven this morning, which seems a bit chilly for this time of year ... Still, the tomatoes are still alive and producing lots of green, small fruit, and even the rouge de marmande that I grew from seed is producing fruit now. Clearly too late for any of it to have a chance to mature, but I will sort that out next year given half a chance.

It was grey and overcast today and I have to admit I did not get terribly much done. I have made a little more progress on the woodbox (but not much, it is fiddly stuff) and went to see the local doctor who has promised to talk to the neighbour next time he sees her. I have emphasised that she is making herself unhappy and that this is also effecting me in terms of general health concerns. The good news is that the blood test he took last time gives me good results in terms of all the things you might normally worry about at my time in life (heart, cholesterol etc) and so in general I am doing fine.

The little australorp hen is looking distinctly seedy today so I will be isolating her from tonight while I seek advice from Back Yard Poultry forum. I suspect the axe is the solution, but am concerned it may be contagious.

This morning the neighbour was hard at work attaching guttering to the shed that is immediately adjacent to the area where the new paling fence is to be built. She only had a short run of guttering, not the entire length of the shed, so has apparently concluded the best possible spot for the tank into which it will drain is immediately adjacent to the boundary. And of course, the tap, from which she will extract the water from the tank, must, necessarily face directly toward the boundary with the result it will be inaccessible once the fence is in position. No doubt this will be all my fault.

You will note that her concern for the crowded conditions provided by the shipping container appears to have slipped her mind and I have no doubt whatsoever that it will provide an excuse for argybargy on the day the fence goes up. If so, I am afraid I will be calling in reinforcements in the form of the police.

Needless to say this latest provocative behaviour put me in a bad mood so I decided that, rather than sit and stew, I would go into town. There was a chap up here from Source, a food co-op who was sounding out people as part of his business planning exercise. It is presently run from the University campus in Hobart but there is a vague chance it may be relocated to Oatlands. The chance seems somewhat vaguer now I have spoken to him, which is sad. We could do with something like that.

The trip home was interrupted by a side-track into a farm where the recently demolished house yielded up over 200 hand-made bricks (there are plenty more there, but after two trips my hands were not up to picking up any more and my legs were not up to clambering up a high pile of debris to extract them). These are now stacked under the kitchen window which is probably not the ideal spot, given it is where they are to be laid eventually, but will have to do in the short term until all the moving around that will be necessary with caravans and containers is resolved.

The site of the ruined building is probably the best possible building site in Oatlands - being at the far end of the Lake from the town with views to the town and the mill. Elevated, flanked on one side by a creek and far from the madding crowd, it is still occupied by a lovely small sandstone barn which is slowly sinking into decay. I plan to buy the lot when I win lotto, lol.

I felt rather intrusive picking around amongst the debris and saddened by the waste. There was what was clearly an old copper flattened and twisted in the pile, along with fragments of the grille from the back of a fridge and various other evidence of occupation. The house burned to the ground about 7-9 years ago, but the end walls and chimneys were still standing when I first arrived. Sad to see what was once a lovely home destroyed. The entrance is still flanked by stone walls - proper dressed stone as well. I expect it will all slowly disintegrate into the ground over time.

South Australia now has a wine glass and a bunch of grapes as well as the tails of a couple of rosellas who are moving their way into the Western District of Victoria. I may yet finish this monstrous thing some time this year.

We had a new member join the group this week and she sat beside me and bent my ear for the entire day. So much for sitting, sewing and enjoying the occasional diversion into conversation. Still at least she made more interesting listening than many I have struck so perhaps once I get used to her we will get on. People seem to have lost the gentle art of silent communication. I blame television.

I was also allocated my square of calico for the block I am to make for the quilt we annually donate to the local hospital for a raffle. My block is to be an applique goose so not too difficult - a head and body all in one piece, a beak and two wings. Pretty straight forward stuff.

Another cool morning so the fire was lit for the few hours before I left for Quilting where we lit the fire also. But we let it go out after lunch as it warmed up considerably. The fire at quilting is a new innovation resulting from Caroline's latest take-over bid of her husband's shed. It is now our shed. Completely. He did cling to the last few metres of it, but we moved him out over Christmas and made him install a woodheater for our comfort. And very comfortable it is too.

I have finally finished Western Australia and all that is required there is some minor backstitching. Tomorrow it will be SA, a wineglass, some grape leaves and a bunch of grapes... And so it goes on. Still, it is nice to have one entire coastline completed and be moving across the Bight on the home stretch to Sydney.

Nothing more exciting happening here so I am off to heat up dinner.

I have been cursing Telstra for some time over the absence of signal of recent weeks. But today I moved the laptop out to the kitchen table and voila - a good steady signal (so far). So perhaps we upset the equilibrium with the insulation and sisalation (though you have to wonder why when most houses have it these days).

Today was bit of a tidying up business day with phone calls to DPI (bee keeping registration) and to Mental Health Services and ARAFMI seeking advice on how to deal with the neighbour. The general consensus seems to be that i am dealing with either a psychotic or a personality disorder. The first responds to medication, the second only to long-term counselling. The worse news is that she has apparently not sought treatment in Tasmania for some years (not sure they should have told me that, but there you go). Apparently, by making the call and expressing my concerns I have commenced a process that will expedite matters in the event of a major problem - not a result i had anticipated, but reassuring nevertheless. Their advice is that being assertive with her is counterproductive and the best idea is to walk away (much as the police have said), but that is not so easy when you have vital matters to discuss regarding the fence, and she is, herself, prone to take any response apart from immediate apologetic obedience as offensive. I also noticed today she has broken down the fence around the top vegetable garden, no doubt to create difficulties when working on the paling fence ('but your chooks - which are house at least 50 metres away) might get in an destroy my garden' sort of thing.

I also re-read her latest missive and drafted a response which I will post tomorrow after sleeping on it. She is wriggling around and avoiding providing any description of the fence she proposes to build. So I have basically said I want it in seven days or will refer the matter to the Fencing Tribunal for a ruling. I have also indicated that the three days notice prior to commencement that she is presently proposing is a little unrealistic given I would need to knock up 40 metres of fencing, relocate the chooks and the geese etc and give them some settling in time (about 3 days work, certainly, but not something i can guarantee I will be available to do on no notice whatsoever, especially if I have either tradies on site, or am working full time). So I have indicated that three weeks is the minimum acceptable notification period. I have no doubt this will precipitate yet further correspondence but this has now gone on too long and referal to the Tribunal is the only sensible approach given the shenannigans she is indulging in.

What else? I got the Derris dust and liberally sprinkled every brassica in sight (though I think a caffeine spray may also be in order as I have noticed a fairly healthy snail population). Almost finished embroidering the book cover, but a few fiddly bits to go before i make it up into the final shape (more hand-stitching) and my bees don't quite look like bees so I hope they settle down into shape with a bit of handling.

Also cut loads of wood for the fire as it started out very cold and gloomy this morning and really did not pick up noticeably till late this afternoon. So basically the fire has been ticking over all day.

I'll be off to quilting tomorrow so will have little to report for the next couple of days.

The plan was to make brandied cherries today, so I set about clearing space in the kitchen to do this but by the time i had finished I had been sidetracked into hanging the doors on the cupboard in the alcove. This involved applying the iron-on adhesive melamine strip and trimming it to fit before hanging the doors. One hinge did not want to attach itself regardless of what I did, so eventually I removed the bit attached to the cupboard, manouevred it into position on the hinge, then screwed it back in place - phew.

Then I ran out of reading material (crisis, the library does not re-open till Monday afternoon) so had to hunt around for something to read during my breaks. The first option was my gardening bible which told me to pinch out the leaders on the tomatoes this month, so I did that and picked three tomatoes with a view to bringing them indoors and testing Peter Cundall's theories.

Since i was in gardening mode, combined with clearing up the kitchen mode, I also planted up the punnet of basil that i bought yesterday - six plants in pots in the kitchen and the last one bunged in the garden alongside the tomatoes.

And then procrastination set in in a big way so I designed a cover to embroider for the bee records, cut it out, traced on the design and started stitching it. Given the lack of reading material I expect it will be finished tonight, if I can find an image of a queen bee for the spine.

While i was about this lot a car pulled up over the road and the occupants indulged in a good look so I wandered outside with the dog to see who they were. Turns out it was Beth, with her mum. Beth is Lucas's girlfriend and suffered from the insecurities of the being the non-family member who tags along when Barbara and the kids come up, so was unsure of her welcome. But she and her mum were invited in for a look around and went on their merry way once more.

Then time to cook dinner - pork cacciatore tonight using pork chops - very tasty, but I don't think I will do it again - it seems a terrible way to treat lovely pork chops. Maybe next time some chunks of pork instead - once i get a side for the freezer, that is.

The black hen who had the (presumed) close encounter with the predator remains nervous and prefers to spend her time inside the shed. I have rarely seen her out and about still. So the poor girl must have had a nasty fright I assume. Glad she is safe though. The rest of the menagerie seems fit and well though and the dog, as always, is irrepressible.

I forgot to mention yesterday that a place I have been keeping an eye on for some time was populated for the first time in months. It is a situation beside the lake which was once the site of a lovely old house which burned down several years ago. A few months back they knocked it over and left a huge pile of bricks that I have been yearning after ever since. So being the cheeky sort of sod that I am, I drove in and introduced myself and sought (and obtained) permission to scrounge some bricks. I have asked for two ute loads of two layers each. These should be sufficient, together with the slabs of sandstone I have, to pave the back terrace. So that is a bit of a bonus really!

Today I decided to succumb to temptation and go to Hobart ostensibly to get some hardware, but we all know my main motivation was to go to Pontville Quilters group and see Deb, my favourite shopkeeper.

So I set off fairly early (not having a clue when this group meets, but knowing it was a very short period of time compared to our lot) and went down the back way as my destination was K&D and Supercheap Autos, both of which are at Cambridge Park. Naturally there were still bags of fruit on sale down that road so I called in and collected another box of cherries (which may not last long enough to be brandied), then continued on my merry way. I was saved from more extravagence by the fact I didn't have any cash on me.

Why Supercheap Autos? Because i needed a battery charger. Not for the ute, but for the bees. You clip it onto the wire in the frames and it heats up the wires so the wax foundation sticks to them. It works too - that is what I have been doing this evening, along with scraping old wax off old frames and collecting it to melt down at some later date.

K&D was going well until someone came to serve me. They are elusive as heck when you don't want them, but this guy was so helpful and friendly that by the time I got rid of him, I had forgotten a vital item on my list. I picked up some punnets of seedlings while i was there as well. Not the savoy cabbages I was looking for, but some broccoli and some leek and brown onion sets. Luckily I had to go to Lindisfarne to drop off some stuff Barbara had left behind, so instead of calling in at her's I went to the local hardware, where Lucas works, and dropped the stuff off there, and purchased my last item as well.

Then I hied me to Pontville where Deb lived up to her infamous reputation and parted me with from my money with grace and charm as always. A layer cake of some nice old-fashioned fabrics and a set of four fat quarters of blues and whites for that blue and white quilt I will make some day when the place is not covered in sawdust (I refuse to start on it until I have a clean environment in which to work, but am collecting fabric as I go along so when I am ready to start I have the right sorts of lights, mediums and darks).

Homeward bound I called into the local newsagents for two spiral bound hard-cover notebooks - one for a bee diary the other for a garden diary) and went over to the Bargain Centre for a peek around. I found four lovely Fowlers bottles there, as well as a wire-framed lampshade. I am collecting these with a view to re-covering them to suit the decor of each room as I go along. In fact Jean gave me one the other day which is nice enough to hang in the hall, which I have done. While in town I was greeted with the news we are expecting snow. This seems highly unlikely, and the weather forecasters seem to have overlooked it on the forecast I have read, but you never know. We are certainly in for a cool spell which is a good thing for the seedlings i planted this evening.

Peter Cundall, on this morning's radio, was extolling the virtues of picking your tomatoes green and ripening them indoors. I may give it a go as I doubt any will ripen on the vines at the rate they are going.

I may even have to light the fire in the morning as it is already cooling off tonight. So much for summer then. And my wood merchant is still not back from his holiday where-ever he is, so I will need to keep a close eye on his place to make sure I get my wood in, in time.

So it sounds like tomorrow will be indoor activities. I may even make some progress on the woodbox, or at least get the doors hung on the cabinet I hung several weeks ago (or is it months?) Remember that one? - the doors had to be trimmed, which I did last time i had the tablesaw in action, but they then needed some iron-on cover strip which I have now bought. Along with a pack of those thingies that plug into holes and you rest the shelf on them (the last one of those from the flatpack had gone awol).

Still haven't seen hide nor hair of the plasterers and given their propensity to knock off at between 3 and 4 while working here i have to assume that their definition of 'after work' would suggest they are not coming today either. I do hope they don't imagine I will be meekly sitting around every evening on the off-chance they turn up.

The internet service today is beyond useless, so not sure when I will be able to post this. Still, at least I can get it typed...

So - today - I had a huge sleep in - like till after 8, so was only just out of the shower and dressed when Mick called in with some marmalade from Jean. This was an exchange, but he did not realise this so I had to make sure he stuck around long enough for me to extract some of the brandied cherries. He was glad he did though and seemed quite thrilled when he saw what he had been waiting for.

Then I headed down to the orchard to water the trees. I seem to have lost one, despite all the rain we have had, as the soil seems to retain moisture in patches, rather than all over. Still the rest of them seem fairly healthy. They have now had their summer haircut too, but I have yet to make up the blood and bone bags to hang off them. The apples seem to be developing nicely and I should get about a dozen if they manage to hang in there for long enough. The tomatoes persist in staying green, but i have tried the squeeze test to check if they are green varieties and no such luck.

While pulling up weeds I got pinged by a bee on the throat, so it's a good thing I am not allergic. Was just dealing with that when someone wandered down the lane to introduce himself. It was John Molyneaux the mythical painter of Parattah who I have been trying to find for some time now. I gave his wife a message at the dog trials and it seems to have paid off. He will come back with a ladder to have a look at the boards in question before preparing me for the shock of his quote, lol. I gather he is quite meticulous but rather eccentric in his approach so it may yet be Spring before any paint goes on, but fingers crossed.

Final visitor for the day was Jonno come to collect his trestles and scaffolding - a bit of a relief I have to say as I was very aware of their value and vulnerability to theft. They can be returned when we go to paint the rest of the weatherboards so that is OK. I sent him off with some apricot and ginger conserve and chutney, so he will be a happy little camper when he gets home.

So, sitting here eating cheese and chives dip on water crackers and contemplating the latest missive from next door. Not even sure it requires a response, but will check it out fully before filing it.

Still haven't seen hide nor hair of the plasterers and given their propensity to knock off at between 3 and 4 while working here i have to assume that their definition of 'after work' would suggest they are not coming today either. I do hope they don't imagine I will be meekly sitting around every evening on the off-chance they turn up.

The internet service today is beyond useless, so not sure when I will be able to post this. Still, at least I can get it typed...

So - today - I had a huge sleep in - like till after 8, so was only just out of the shower and dressed when Mick called in with some marmalade from Jean. This was an exchange, but he did not realise this so I had to make sure he stuck around long enough for me to extract some of the brandied cherries. He was glad he did though and seemed quite thrilled when he saw what he had been waiting for.

Then I headed down to the orchard to water the trees. I seem to have lost one, despite all the rain we have had, as the soil seems to retain moisture in patches, rather than all over. Still the rest of them seem fairly healthy. They have now had their summer haircut too, but I have yet to make up the blood and bone bags to hang off them. The apples seem to be developing nicely and I should get about a dozen if they manage to hang in there for long enough. The tomatoes persist in staying green, but i have tried the squeeze test to check if they are green varieties and no such luck.

While pulling up weeds I got pinged by a bee on the throat, so it's a good thing I am not allergic. Was just dealing with that when someone wandered down the lane to introduce himself. It was John Molyneaux the mythical painter of Parattah who I have been trying to find for some time now. I gave his wife a message at the dog trials and it seems to have paid off. He will come back with a ladder to have a look at the boards in question before preparing me for the shock of his quote, lol. I gather he is quite meticulous but rather eccentric in his approach so it may yet be Spring before any paint goes on, but fingers crossed.

Final visitor for the day was Jonno come to collect his trestles and scaffolding - a bit of a relief I have to say as I was very aware of their value and vulnerability to theft. They can be returned when we go to paint the rest of the weatherboards so that is OK. I sent him off with some apricot and ginger conserve and chutney, so he will be a happy little camper when he gets home.

So, sitting here eating cheese and chives dip on water crackers and contemplating the latest missive from next door. Not even sure it requires a response, but will check it out fully before filing it.

One of the major obstacles to keeping the chaos under some semblance of control around here is that two of the rooms serve as depositories for things that don't have a home. For example the front room has the dining table and chairs in it, along with things like bags of insulation, strips of various sorts of mouldings, a sheet of perspex and so forth, and these have been added, usually in a hurry, as the need arises. So today, the front room was purged and is now (relatively) dirt-free. Two vacuum cleaner bags required to achieve the result, but it is done. Similarly, the plaster mess left behind last time the boys were here tends to chip off and descend into dust once trodden on in passing. So the front door and top light have been chipped free of plaster and given a good scrub. And the bedroom has been purged once again. Now all I have to deal with is the loungeroom, some of the contents of which will now move to the front room (but not too much as the plasters will need access to the walls if they decided to repair the cracks for free) and some more of which needs to go outside somewhere - but i am not sure where ...

I had a nasty start this morning when I went down to the chook run. One of the hens was missing and there was a pile of feathers up against the middle fence which suggested she had fallen prey to a passing raptor. But she was back in circulation this afternoon, so presumably got a nasty fright and hid under the shed while I was looking for her. Her comb is a bit bloody but she seems otherwise fine.

Shadow got to play with his fit-ball today. It was part of the score from the last freecycling exercise but needed to be inflated. I huffed and puffed and it now looks like a ball. But it needs more air in it before i can let him play with it unsupervised. He is prone to trying to bite a ball, and I would prefer this to last for a bit longer than the first bite. He loves it, however, and had a wonderful time scrambling along and falling over the top of it. Definitely a winner on the games stakes from his perspective.

Glad I don't live in queensland - what a horror of a cyclone that is. Have you seen it on Google Earth? Its diameter extends from the tip of Cape York down to just above Brisbane - huge!!!

We spent much of our day at quilting listening to updates on the radio - hope you are going to be OK RTB!!

Apart from that, I have done little all day but embroidery. Decided to give the longstitch a miss today as I am still a bit fuddled. But whatever I was coming down with yesterday seems to have decided to slope off and find some easier prey. The embroidery is on a teatowel for the function in April. Will try to get a picture of it once it is finished, which it almost is.

Tomorrow I will be doing some pretty intensive housework prior to the arrival of the plasterers - so I can give them a stern lecture about not being such pigs as they were last time they worked here.

Jonno also called and will be taking back his scaffolding on Friday, but will return it once I have a date for Wayne to come paint in March. That will be a relief as I really don't like to have the responsibility of having it in my yard in case it is damaged or stolen.

So after another day of inconsistent weather, ranging from mists to full sun and back again, I am planning a quiet night tonight, which is more than those poor blighters in Queensland will be getting.

Signal strength is becoming the bane of my existence. I have no idea what Telstra has been up to but my computer signal is rather more unreliable than it usually is which is saying a great deal! Anyway, here I am (for today) and moaning comprehensively I guess.

I suspect I am coming down with some sort of cold or other at present as I have a sore throat, slightly sore ears, am weary beyond reason and generally feeling a bit mumpsy. A nip of scotch before bedtime is in order I feel. Nevertheless I was off to quilting today and spent the day merrily working on the long-stitch - just backstitching around various images, and filling in the larger blocks of colour as I found it hard to concentrate. As it was, I did find one block of colour that is allegedly 37a. Since there are only 30 colours on the a-card that is a bit too much of a puzzle for me. I have decided to work the whole thing, and use whatever green (fairly sure it should be a green) is left over since clearly I have more wool than is required.

Marie from the Quilting guild was there today and she was advertising a do in early April which sounds like a nice day out at Brighton. There will be a competition for a decorated teatowel. So I got home and hunted out the iron-on transfers that Eleanor gave me ages ago and found a crinoline lady in the garden with a basket of flowers which I am working on a 1930s type of teatowel like your gran had in her kitchen. I suspect the transfer is more 1950s vintage, but it will do. So far so good. And I am sticking to those slightly muddier colours from the era rather than the really bright clear colours of modern threads (thanks to having inherited the thread collections from both grandmothers).

Weatherwise it has been all over the shop today - hot and steamy, cold and foggy, rainy, sunny - you name it. I came home expecting to have to light the fire, but inside it is nice and cosy still, so will stick it out tonight and see what happens. It is supposed to be quite cool tonight (at least last time i checked) so will probably be glad I saved some wood for a morning warmer.