The trip to the dentist resulted in yet another lecture about the need to have the preventative treatment that I have signally failed to address since list time. I did feel inclined to point out that, had I paid for the preventative treatment, I would not have had the funds to pay for the emergency treatment on a quite different tooth, but I bit my tongue (hard to avoid when it is still numb hours after the event). I ran a few errands in Eastlands while i was in the neighbourhood and also popped into the vet for some Katalax (Smidgen has been coughing quite a lot of late, so probably has a bellyful of feathers and fur from his various prey). Then off into town.

Called in at EcoTasmania to return the replacement pump which does not fit the available space and they are ordering in another cheap Chinese replacement pump. I am getting the plumber to give me costings on two options and will put it to them that paying for a good german pump that fits is cheaper than giving me a cheap Chinese model that fits, in lieu of the good German model that does not fit (if you follow that ...).

Then I ventured in Derwent Park and obtained a pair of work boots (the others really are beyond repair at this point) and a box of jars for honey and a tray of jars for the vast quantities of green tomato pickles I am going to have to make later this week. Then home to my caravan-free back yard, feeding the animals, going to the library and so forth before settling down to work out how to rig a net which will allow me to drive the geese into an enclosure to clip their wings, without getting them so het up they fly out of the yard ... This is still a work in progress ... in the mean time i am laying a trail of feed into the shed so they start feeling more positive about it as a space ...

On the way home I called into Council to clarify their rules about sheds and have discovered to my great delight that I can build a 9sq metre shed, not a 3 square metre shed without having to get planning permission. So am now working out what sheds I need and where they can go so as to optimise their usefulness. I am thinking one workshop in the corner by the tank when the container goes (this can also have a low lean-to on the side wall to provide shelter for the pump), a woodshed that forms part of the boundary over by the lane and which has its body outside the back yard, and a third smaller potting, bee-kit and garden tool shed down the back where the rickety shed is now slowly disintegrating. The workshop will increase privacy in that corner as well, so seems a good idea. Now all I have to do is work out what sort of floorplan will get the best results in terms of functionality.

And find the time to do it all ...