Dragged myself off to bed last night at 9, but found I was a little tense so got up at 10:00 and read until 2. Woke again at 4:40ish having a particularly nasty nightmare involving animal cruelty. Hyperventilating... So the rain was rather soothing during the day, though not as productive as I had hoped. The fire has been a welcome companion as well - and the cats and dog have been lapping it up. A phone call from the Bank about the Hall Committee accounts made for an unpleasant interruption to the day, but now they are finally sorted out I can finalise the AGM minutes and leave them to sink or swim under the leadership of their new president. A person who, given the choice of being straight-forward or going around about and sideways in the hope of scoring some advantage, frequently finds he has wasted a lot of time and achieved nothing. Sad little man. As you can see I have been re-jigging the blogs once more - you may remember Wayne who was such a help getting the extension up, the weatherboards on and so forth - he is heading off on a journey of discovery and blogging as he goes. Good luck on the journey Tassie and hope you get home safe (can I suggest you avoid NSW and QLD for a few more weeks ... lol)

Blogspot apparently does not like me, as I found myself viewing the blog as a visitor this afternoon. I have also been thrown out of a couple of forums and had to re-log in. No idea why as it does not affect all forums I visit... Strong winds today, hopefully bringing that heavy rain they promise in the forecast for tomorrow. In anticipation I cut some firewood as Friday is supposed to be chilly. Started at 8:30 but apparently that was too early for Miss Congeniality who shouted - not idea what she said as the fence muffled her words, but she did not continue so I did... Quilting and the girls tried out the ginger beer which seems to have worked well but is not as gingery as I would like. I will finish off the current plant and try a different recipe I have recently found. Home with a bad sinus headache at present. Drugs not having the desired effect. Will try eating dinner and see what happens then. Otherwise I may have to resort to making a curry!

I cleared a spot on the table yesterday preparatory to being more involved in working from home. Smidgen seems to have concluded it was provided for his pleasure so he can watch the world go by (i.e. birds flying past the window) while being more comfortable than on the windowsill. Shadow, for reasons best known to himself, has concluded the bare concrete floor of the kitchen is more appealing than the comfy bed in front of the fire. YOu have to wonder why you bother at times... The fire is lit today as despite a forecast of 19 it barely staggered up to 14 before heading downhill once more. Outdoor activities were limited to tying CDs to the branches of the few remaining fruit trees that they have not completely ravaged (I discovered they are not that fond of cider apples, at least), and getting some shopping done. The dehydrator that I bought with great pleasure is being cleaned up to be taken to the Bargain Centre with a view to selling as it is far too noisy, presumably uses vast quantities of electricity while working for hours on end, and doesn't do that good a job anyway. I will have to look up that design Geir posted on ALS years ago and see if I can build something of that ilk (minus the fan as I am sure we get quite enough drafts around here). Sorted through the stash for some stuff to offer the 70+ lady who was burned out of her home and quilting memorabilia, to take to quilting tomorrow and otherwise just read a book. Last night's intended dinner is presently cooking on the woodburner - it should be rather tasty I hope...

According to the weather forecast it will be 14 on Friday so today I took advantage of the fine weather to cut up a load of wood in case ... Also did some on-line googling for hen runs. If I build something myself it will be so heavy I won't be able to move it around. I can't do metal work to save my life, so something has to be done - most of the options are in the UK and far too expensive (to ship or to buy!!) but i found something more local which, while expensive seems custom made for the job. Now all I need is a similar option for duck keeping and I will be happy. If I can move the ducks around they can keep the grass down as well as fertilising the orchard, so that would have to be a good thing. And if they are enclosed on all six sides her next door can complain to her heart's content - council won't listen to her. I took Shadow in for a play date at the dig this evening but he was less than enthusiastic about the other dogs. You know the scene - well I have sniffed your bum, beaten you in a p***ing comptetition but i don't think we have that much in oommon - this smell over here is more interesting than you... So that was that then. Tonight's dinner is chicken thigh in garlicky tomato paste with capsicums and wilted spinach leaves (though I have to confess to a spoonful of potato salad and the same of coleslaw while at the dig ...)

Another coolish start to the day, though not as chilly as yesterday so no fire was lit (though I went through the motions of setting one before deciding against it). Did lots of housework - vacuuming, you know the drill - and some washing while trying out some recipes from the Stonesoup recipe book - very tasty they are and quick to prepare, but the portion sizes leave something to be desired. Continued the tidying regime and sorted the remainder of the linen closet as well as getting all those cut-out recipes together and inserting them into files and folders so they can be found when wanted - there are at least two there that I have hunted high and low for on several occasions with no luck. The time may yet come when I can try out that tasty meatloaf recipe I cut out several years ago. The other half of the pizza tonight, to top of a day of starvation - eggs and spinach for breakfast, half a cauli with cumin seeds and hummus for lunch ... 6 of the 8 glasses of water you are apparently supposed to drink in a day ... If i keep starving myself perhaps my waistline will reverse direction and let me back into my clothes - it's a bit rich when even the tracky dax don't fit...

Bit chilly this morning with drizzle of the awkward but unproductive sort for much of the morning. Did manage to get to the tip though and while in town picked up some groceries of the marginally healthy variety. So dinner this evening was half a pizza made on a nice base (courtesy of the shop), with tomato paste mixed with olive oil and garlic, topped with some pureed olives, baby romas and spinach leaves - sprinkled with cheese and baked in the woodheater which has been chugging happily all day. Then back to see what I could do to improve my income - I have signed up to sell a product called Herbalife which is a product (or range of products) aimed at health outcomes - so diet shakes, vitamin supplements and the like as far as I can tell. The marketting is done on line, so that means you can do it from here without harassing all and sundry into buying the product. They also send a bunch of their product so you can try it yourself. It will be interesting to see how the diet shakes work on my waistline which is rather large at present. I won't bore or harass you about it, but will occasionally comment on progress from time to time. Apart from that, I am making headway on another book and thinking it would be a good idea to hang some CDs in the trees if I want to save any of my fruit from the flock of rosellas that seem to have moved in for the kill...

Finally bottled the last of the ginger beer at around tennish last night - past my bedtime I am sorry to say. So this morning was a bit of a late start with a 6:30 waking. The night time temperature remains erratic and plunges to the bottom in the mornings, but not quite time to consider the stage one changes preparatory for winter, despite the autumnal hints offered by this nocturnal regime. I went to the dig this morning and after three hours had to come home once more - I am so unfit that every muscle was spasming from squatting in the trench. Fortunately after a prolonged nap they have decided to simply ache. A few ibuprofen tonight should ensure I am still moving in the morning when I go back in to have another go. I have just printed out a recipe book I found on line. It contains mainly quick recipes that do not involve terribly much effort but result in something tasty. Mainly based on pantry food (canned tomatoes, beans etc), so not for everyone unless they fancy adapting them to real food, which is what I will do when the opportunities exist. But very handy when I run out of inspiration and am starving as they can be thrown together in minutes. They come from a blog called stonesoup which has a range of other culinary offers as well. Loud bleating in the back ground as a result of this evening's entertainment. I spotted one of the sheep standing watching something intently. Discovered it was watching its paddock mate at the far side of the run, sizing up the fence. The first sheep hopped over the fence with inches to spare. The second sheep then trotted over and took a couple of run-ups before joining its mate in the recreation ground. The third one seems to be balking at the fence, but keen to go and join its 'flock'. No sign of life next door - I suppose I should phone them.

This is the time of year when things get very confusing regarding the nature of bedding. It was 23 in the bedroom when I went to bed last night, so cotton sheet and not much else - this rapidly progressed to the two lightweight blankets being added and in desperation, the quilt was hauled over around 3ish. Woke at 4:30 wondering if there was anything else I could add to the bed without getting up. Checked the thermometer - zero outside... Somehow a sleeveless nightie just doesnt' cut it at this time of year. Quilting today and I took in the petit point I bought in NZ. Five hours later about a square centimetre has been completed. Glad I did it now - another six months and my eyesight won't be up to it. It should be pretty once it is done, though rather small... Came home to bottle the ginger beer - it is slowly dripping through the strainer at present - at this rate it will be tomorrow before it is all bottled and done as the process is depressingly slow. Not sure what to use in the strainer to get a faster action - at present it is calico. Before that it was paper serviettes (no progress at all) and layers of cheesecloth (too much action and too many holes so the sludge passed straight through... Suggestions welcomed.

Ooops - double post!

I had to head down to Hobart today as I had about run out of prescription diet for the cats. Since this is $80 odd a bag, I have decided to be a bit more scientific about the feeding regime, so they now get one cup per day (which is lifted off the ground if I am going out so the dog does not help himself). This should also assist Smidgen in his efforts to lose weight. Picked up some extra groceries for Dig participants with special dietary needs and dropped them off on my return, then had a bit of a nap after running around all three dig sites to see what was happening. For those of you who are interested I have uploaded the blog for the dig so you can follow it daily. I won't be there every day due to other commitments (and a reluctance to spend all day every day squatting in a trench). Today they are very excited as they believe they have found the footings of the building they are looking for. I think they are right, but also think a number of what they are presently assuming to be walls are in fact bedrock ridges running in roughly the right direction. Apart from anything else they seem too big and too unshapen to be part of the building. Time will tell. From your very own Time Team!! time for an early night!

I guess it will be a bit longer before I get to play with a dumpy level - today's session was less about surveying and more about statutory frameworks and 'interpretation' than anything else. Still, it was fun and I got to meet a few more folk on the dig. As the session was pitched at historical societies with ambitions to become Indiana Jones, much of it was glossed over and we were done by lunchtime. Even had a chance to fill in risk assessments and find out about photo logs. I took this photo of the neighbour's latest attempt to contain their sheep. The foreground is the footpath on the street ...

I would offer to help them with time and materials. Trouble is, I have done this in the past, had my offer accepted, put my time on hold for several days waiting for them to call, and found I had wasted my time - they never did. Just as I once held their bantam hen penned for a week waiting for them to collect her before deciding she was better off rehoused elsewhere. I suspect that there is a large part of these people that likes to be the centre of community disapprobation so they can feel even sorrier for themselves than they do at present ...

Spent the evening at a barbecue to welcome this year's batch of volunteers for our annual archaeological dig here in Oatlands. Guess where I will be during my spare time for the next few weeks. Tomorrow is a basic training in surveying which will be useful as it is a long time since I played with a dumpy level...

Another morning constitutional chasing the sheep out of the back paddock. The fun never ends. As for the weather - ongoing confusion about what it hopes to achieve ... Only half a tank of water left, so I need to go easy for a while...

Was up bright and early this morning to enjoy my day of cooler weather. As I was taking my morning constitutional (chasing the neighbours' sheep out of the yard after a passing driver drove them down my lane) I noticed it was actually surprisingly warm for 6:30 in the morning - I was right, it was 20 degrees - four degrees above the forecast maximum. But never mind, shortly after it fell to 12 and we had another go at staggering back up again. I think we might be fairly close now, but most of the day was grey, overcast and with just enough rain to discourage outdoor activities, but not enough to fill the tank. The cooler weather provoked me to split a bit of wood for the heater, but that effort appears to have been redundant as it is now quite warm, once more. Anyone planning to visit Tassie - when we warn you to dress in layers, remember this sort of thing and make sure you follow the advice!

The neighbour's sheep came back for a return visit last night and took several more mouthfuls from the cabbages before Shadow saw them off. As is usual in this instance, the children were out in force rounding the sheep up, but the parents nowhere in sight. The eldest thanked me for running the sheep up to them. I pointed out that I was not doing them a favour but protecting my vegetable garden which the sheep had destroyed. He said sorry (this is the same almost adult child who I spoke to the other day and told to tell his parents to get rid of the sheep or fix the fences). I told him that sorry is not good enough this time and I would like to see the sheep gone - pronto. They are still there... This morning dawned cool and overcast and remained so until lunch time. Since I was up at five, this meant seven hours to consider lighting the fire which I eventually did, despite the forecast of 27. Good thing too as while the temp has shot up rapidly in the last hour or two, it was not planning to stay that way long. Smidgen continues to recover, though is still coughing (poor pet presumably has the worlds worst case of fur balls) and is resignedly accepting the doses of Kat lax I inflict on him daily. The ginger beer plant is equally accepting of the feeding I give it daily, but is frothing and bubbling nicely in response. It smells wonderful! Since the vege patch required some fairly urgent attention after the visits of the neighbours' sheep, I dug out the two cabbages gone beyond redemption and concluded the others will recover enough to provide me with a feed, though will be unsuitable for selling due to the damage. I piled sheep manure all around them and gave them a good soak and did the same for the rest of the vege patch - that is really all I can do in the circumstances. Hopefully they will recover and go on to produce something for the freezer.

As you can see, I played with the format yesterday in the hope of updating the blog so I could get into a new post from the front page. No such luck Oh well - all those books would be right at home here, and it may yet inspire me to install bookshelves so mine can look so good. Smidgen seems to have take a turn for the better and has eaten vast quantities of food as well as harassing the dog so badly he did not want to come back indoors when I let him out for a run after quilting today. The neighbours' sheep got out once again today and ate my cabbages (two weeks from harvest ...) and lettuce (fortunately cut and come again) and everything else that took their fancy. This time I rang Council, and it would seem they are no longer owners of sheep. I suggested to Council that since they owned the adjoining land on three sides of these fools, that Council should serve a notice under the Boundary Fences Act. If they don't I will start lobbying councillors. Speaking of COuncillors, my former vice president (not sure if you know that I held an AGM for the Hall Committee and stood down as President? Well, my former VP stood for the role and found himself President-without-commitee until he browbeat the most gullible member of the committee into becoming his treasurer - long story)- erm, where was I? Yes, the former vicepresident popped into the Bargain Centre when he spotted me there this morning and announced he would be sending me an agenda for the next meeting. I mildly asked why, given I am not a committee member, and he advised I will find out when I receive the Agenda. In the four months he has been President he has harassed all and sundry into becoming his treasurer and secretary with no takers so has reluctantly assumed the role of Secretary himself. Meanwhile, as Secretary he has comprehensively failed to have any of the mail redirected, so I continue to receive it and drop it off to the relevant parties. The bank account remains under my signature, the bills come to me - you get the picture. He sends his VP around to collect the Minutes of the AGM from me (which I wrote in my role as President and Secretary of the former committee. I have repeated advised these people I need someone to write formally and advise me of the committee structure so I can finalise the minutes. Finally the former VP came himself and was told the same thing ... still waiting. I can but assume this will be the agenda item that I am expected to respond to... If so, I will be formally writing to the committee (CC to COuncil) explaining the process once again. I certainly won't be going to the meeting. (I will ensure the letter goes to someone who can be relied on to ensure it is entered into their records though with the former VP as Secretary, I have no doubt it will be 'lost'. The joys of Country Living...

Smidgen has a cold, or asthma or something similar. However a trip to the vet will require two hours of stress in a hot car. so at present I am keeping an eye on him and monitoring progress. If he stops drinking (eating is optional since he is so fat) then it will be the vet ASAP though lord knows how I will pay for it. Hopefully it will turn out to be fur balls and the Katlax he is being dosed with will sort it out. Otherwise it has been a pretty quiet day on the home front - no sign of the phantom cabbage snatcher. A couple of loads of washing, with the water diverted into buckets for the garden. Disturbing colour in the water - surely my clothes are not that dirty! I have switched to an organic wool wash in the hope that will minimise impacts on the soil...

Many buckets of water were carried to the fruit trees today. I discovered that the 44 gallon drum I rigged up to catch the drainage off the chook-shed roof (which promptly leaked) seems to have self-healed over the last 12 months and now holds water. Not for long once I worked this out! The apple trees all seem to have some fruit on them, as does the prune plum, but everything else is barren this year. Oh well, considering the neglect they have suffered that should not come as a great surprise. Was out and about early with the Roundup spray too as it was a nice still day for a change. Did all the bits and pieces that were apparently missed last time (around bits of stored stuff and such nearer the house) Quite mild still, but downright chilly indoors (14 degrees) so wearing a jumper. I expect there is a rhyme or reason about the weather patterns, but I have yet to work it out. Fiddled a bit with the drystone, but not terribly productively. The ginger beer plant seems to be thriving, with bubbles forming daily on the top as I feed it. I am guessing that the liquid I drain off (before halving the solids and re-starting the new plant) will be the bit I add water, sugar and lemon juice to. It smells luscious - just like ginger beer should smell!

More insane weather here today - high winds, sunshine, not quite the 22 they promised, and now cooling down preparatory for tomorrows low temps. Cut some fire wood and brought it in as we were expecting rain all day, but none eventuated. The dog club had their show down on the rec grounds so poor Shadow was a little over-wrought for a while till he got used to all the yapping and other noises (loud-speakers etc). By the afternoon he was calm enough so we went out to do a spot of gardening. Cut back the outer leaves of the savoy cabbages that had engulfed the broccoli and cauliflower seedlings, gave the seedlings a bit of a water and then harvested the garlic. This is last year's garlic, left in the ground and reproducing under poor conditions. So lots of it but very small bulbs. I think each bulb will be used as a clove in anything I am cooking. Also picked some of the gooseberries until I got sick of my hands being scratched, and these will be served tomorrow with some yoghurt as I will be in town and can pick some up. Not a huge crop this year, but that is not surprising as they are young bushes. Next winter they will be lifted and planted a little further apart, then pruned into something resembling a shape... Smidgen went adventuring today and nearly got himself stuck behind the timber panelling in the loungeroom. The masonite above the panelling was removed some time ago and he likes to stick his head in the gap. This time his body nearly followed, but got stuck half way in and out. He panicked and it was never quite clear whether he was shrieking in pain, panic or temper, since while that was going on Esther tried to run to his rescue (she is under the illusion he is her baby and needs to be cared for - odd, since she is half his size). Shadow, in the mean time, decided Smidgen needed to be protected from Esther so he went into seriously protective mode - with bared teeth, savage barking and other such bluff techniques (never closer than six inches, but very impressive at the time. While I separated those two, smidgen managed to work out how to get his hind legs back under him and out, so it all ended well, but all parties were somewhat ruffled. There has been much peace in the household this afternoon as apparently all parties exhausted themselves with their exertions...

The hydro bill arrived today - it seems that despite living here seven days a week now, I have used less power than for the same period last year when I was in the flat for five days of the week - go figure. They provide a useful little graph on the back of the bill that shows normal power usage for single person households. Mine is less than two thirds that of a single person household. Kind of hard to work out how they come up with these figures really ... Not too many single person households have a chest freezer I would have thought. Oh well - not complaining... Chilly start to what was ultimately a warm day - too much wind about - but the rain at 5 am was welcome - half an inch on the old scale!

Not as hot as they said it would be, so spent the day indoors with the fire I am embarrassed to admit. Couple of good books - a good fire, what more does a girl want from life...? ETA - I can tell you what she doesn't want, and that is to go into the kitchen to fix herself a cuppa and spot the neighbours b@#*?! sheep in her orchard. Discovered Shadow has previously unsuspected sheep-herding skills and they were last seen heading left up the hill. They were out of sight by the time I rejoined Shadow at the front boundary. Put proper shoes on and went to see if I could spot them, but no. So went and told the neighbours what had happened. Suggested they get the owner of the sheep to collect them and not to get any livestock till they fix their fences - I don't think this unreasonable after four years of asking ... If the sheep are still there by the time Council offices open, I am afraid I will be formally complaining .... grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

The wind and weather were not conducive to a signal yesterday, sorry. By late afternoon the temperature had dropped considerably so it was a good thing I sweated it out in the morning cutting up some of the lighter bits of wood into fire wood in anticipation - same again today with the temp at 12 degrees at present - bit of a change from 39 I have to day. Still, never mind it will be hot again tomorrow - welcome to Tasmania The wind is picking up considerably so tomorrow and Friday will be nasty all round. I hope to do a tip run on Friday, but will wait and load at the last minute so I have space to load stuff in case of evacuation instead. Am filling the 20 litre jerry can tonight and popping it in the ute so the animals have something to drink worst case scenario. While the fires are a fair way off, a wind change would have them through here in a flash as all the paddocks are still heavy with grass waiting to be made into hay. The farmer on the hill cut his yesterday which was good to see. Council also cut the grass in the recreation grounds at long last, which is a good thing as that is our 'safe haven' lol. It is just over the back fence from here, so easy to get to whatever the conditions. Quilting today so lots of gossip - Babette was there. Her house is down Murdunna way and still exists (minus its deck) but is currently occupied by her brother's family who lost their house. She is staying with our posty as she is engaged to her son. Getting a first hand (well, secondhand as she is relaying from her family's update) really brings home the conditions down there the other day. Not a good place to be at the time, or even now, I gather as the fires are still active and waiting for encouragement. Dropped off some stuff for the Salvos - bedding towels, toiletries and a packet of nappies I have had on standby in case I get a poddy lamb unexpectedly so hopefully it will come in handy. We launched our raffle today too - a Sunbonnet Sue quilt with lots of stitcheries on it. Dollar a ticket if anyone is interested.

I slept a little late this morning - such a hot night, so it was blankets on, blankets off, fan on, fan off, get up and walk on the cold concrete to cool the feet down, blankets off - you get the picture. As a result I was still out watering plants when the sun cleared the hill and hit the ground like a sledgehammer. So I did a quick walk around the fruit trees and concluded they could last till tomorrow when it will be marginally cooler. Then staggered back indoors to hide. The temp was up over 20 by 8 this morning, so even my window-opening strategy had a limited benefit and I was soon closing them once more (they get shut when the external temp exceeds the internal one). I had a phone call from my uncle and aunt in NSW this morning concerned about the fires. Others too have expressed concern, so I have pinched this image from News.com and 'painted' marks on it. The yellow circle shows my general whereabouts, the red arrows show the locations of the two big fires.

So as you can see they are miles away, but the smoke gets around quite a bit. I just heard a bit of a rumble of thunder and some nimbus clouds seem to be working their way up from the south. Hope they bring rain as a dry thunderstorm would not be good news at present. A big gust of wind, and now it has dropped to a fairly stiff breeze. Today was lunch in town day with the Quilting group. We agreed to auction a quilt to raise funds for the fire victims and I have also found out where in town we are to deliver donations to - so will run through the cupboards and see what to get rid of. Such a pity I had just had my clearout as much of what I gave away would have been useful for others. The neighbours sheep were out this morning. You would think after four years they might have gotten round to mending their fences before getting more livestock, but apparently not. Still, getting out is one thing. The fact they are still out and happily grazing around the recreation ground suggests wanton irresponsibility to me. While clearing space in the spare room I found a mystery box still wrapped in removalists paper and undid the wrapping to see what was inside. It contained my CD collection which was excitement enough, but it also contained all the various embroideries and tapestries I have completed over the years. A real treasure-trove. Here are some for your delectation:

The last one is a bit embarrassing - as you can see it is still not complete. I began it as a gift for my niece when she was born. She is 23 now... perhaps for her 30th? Off to subside in front of the fan now...

So it seems the only way I can get into the blog at present is via an edit of the previous post ... Still, it works. Last night was a fire-fighter's friend with lovely cool temperatures and no wind. As a result they seem to have managed to get the fires in this district under control, though those elsewhere seem to still be busy. Despite that, this was the view from the kitchen window this morning at 5 am

The good news is that this is what it looked like by 11:30

which was when the gardener arrived at last!! So I now have a good wide firebreak between me and the rest of the world, and the yard is finally wrestled back to a point where I can do the fiddly stuff (like digging the hedge out from under the weeds and such like). Spent much of the day indoors doing housework and getting things in order, but did make a start on digging a large hole in the gravel where the shipping container was located so I can fill it with soil and plant the native hops I bought to block views into the house from next door's yard (the close ones at least). Also concluded that Roundup will be my friend for some time to come to keep the orchard under control - and I can then mulch around the fruit trees more effectively than I have been able to do in the past (between the efforts of hens and geese and other such things).Have also decided (finally) on the location of the fence which will define the house yard, in a position where the chances of running into gravel are limited and I should be able to drive the posts in deep enough to make it worth my while. Another thing for the list methinks.

Another fib - today's 34 became 36 and is presently (at 5:30 at night!!) 34.6. Not to mention the rather ghastly reading in the bedroom of 27 degrees. So apart from more watering first thing this morning nothing has been done apart from a quick trip to the library. Hopefully they will be a bit closer to the mark tomorrow with the cooler weather or I may have to move to Queensland for some tolerable weather!! Update: 7 January: No idea why, but the 'new post' button does not appear to be working at the moment - working on it ...

They lied about the temperature today - they said it would be 29. At present it is 31 and rising and so too is the wind. I was out at the crack of dawn watering the plants, and then, once a civilised hour arrived, mowing grass. But I had to stop at 11 as it was getting a bit too warm for such exertion and I am sooo unfit and fat at the moment I decided to stop. Having had a (younger) cousin drop dead recently from a heart attack does tend to make one err toward caution. So instead I took some photos for you

This is the small paved area I created to put the gas bottles on - it will continued downward in the frame to the corner of the house where an English lavender will be planted to stop people on the terrace (a future project) from walking round the corner onto this. I picked up a few shovels full of crusher dust from Barwicks when last down in Hobart to provide a base (the fill is rubble and small rocks I have found around the place while mowing). Once the succulents are established it should look quite nice I think.

These are the cornflowers that have been blooming fairly non-stop for some time. They have been lucky to survive as I thought they were weeds and asked the gardener why he had not pulled them out while he was weeding, lol. I also have volunteers of evening primrose and another plant the name of which I forget, but which promises to be very ornamental - must be all the rain and milder weather we have had this last winter.

The loungeroom looks much the same, and it would appear the dog has not moved since the last photo - the corner in the background is where the cabinet will be intstalled to house the fire wood. It will look suspiciously like the cabinet that was there previously, but will probably have two doors and a shallow shelf at the top for matches, firelighters and flue cleaner. The kindling and paper will be stored in the paled green magazine rack that is beside the plywood box. The plywood box is the cat cage they travelled in from Europe and is there on standby in case of the need to evacuate as it has the bowls for water in the front which would permit watering without accidental escape in strange surroundings.

The mirror on top of the chest of drawers is a freecycle score - the brackets are not screwed into the drawers - all I have to do is put two strips of wood behind to stop it falling off in the event of violent activity in the bedroom (dog playing, not me!! keep it clean!). Apart from clearing out some junk this room is pretty well ready for decorating so am looking into the idea of wallpaper to cover the cracks in the plaster ...

The study is almost there - all I have to do is sort through those huge piles of papers, most of which will be thrown out (old bills, already paid) and the rest filed. Then work out what to do with the various craft bits and pieces that do not currently have a home - the CD collection was unearthed very recently and was a major find! Who knew I had CDs of the Whitlams and the Audreys? The boxed set of gregorian chants is rather nice and restful...

The spare room is still a work in progress and until it is done the table saw will remain a feature of the loungeroom. But not too much more to do - I would like to give it a bit of a scrub as there is a linger odour of mouse pee in here despite the cats' best efforts. It will be good to get this sorted and a window in the hole in the wall before next winter.

No photos today I am sorry - quilting day today! - I darned a hole in my favourite sheet and then moved on to a petit point embroidery, having realised if I leave it much longer I will be unable to see it to do it! Tomorrow and the following five days will be obscenely hot, so I plan to get out early tomorrow morning, finish the mowing, water the garden, spread some sheep poo and retreat indoors. I may even festoon the back windows with a sheet to reduce the radiant heat. We will see. It was nice to catch up with folk, and Caroline called in to collect a side table I thought she might like (she did) and admired my progress in rationalising the house. It's amazingly good to have a place for things to be put - I should have done it years ago. At this rate I might even be able to sustain a tidy house which will be the first time in a lifetime!! lol. I will see what I can manage in the way of pix tomorrow - the front garden (past its best but still going strong) and even (maybe) some internal shots so you can admire my tidying efforts. Mind you, to someone who does not have the 'before' photos to compare, it will still look fairly messy, but at least the mess is generally relevant to the room it occupies, and is on its way to being rehomed. Silence - everywhere - it's lovely!

Well, it's been a while. I finished up the contract with Heritage Tasmania at the end of October. Since then I have been busy scrabbling my world back under control. Amazing how things can start falling apart after 15 months of not being at home except on weekends! The yard remains fairly chaotic, though a good wide fire break has been mown in anticipation of Friday's forecast 35 degrees with high winds, and the front garden is starting to look like a cottage garden (well, a bit more so than it was before). The foxgloves have finished flowering and the pinks are past their best, but an aquilegia I planted a few weeks ago presented its first flower three days ago. Hopefully it will survive the gales that will accompany our extended heatwave. The fruit trees are looking a bit straighter than before - they had mostly fallen over in the face of winds and soggy root systems - now they are all staked once more and tied back with various old stockings (the good thing about working is that you have old stockings, not just a drawer full of ones that have no purpose but which are too good to cut up). The dog is missing spending his weeks in kennels - he had better company there than he has here apparently... And the cats are thrilled to have the run of the entire house instead of being confined to quarters. I let them out for a run in the mornings so they can eat grass, do some hunting and generally get some fresh air, but since they are now accustomed to being confined, they spend most of their time indoors. Much of my energy has been directed at re-organising the house. You will recall that I moved in shortly before starting work, so the post-move sorting was never done. This was compounded by 15 months of coming home, doing the washing and rushing out to spend time with friends or sort out various Hall-related crises. Then I moved the contents of the flat back into the house and well ... you can imagine... So now the bedroom looks like a real bedroom - the study is starting to look like a study and the kitchen has only food-related things in it. The fridge which died has been freecycled and the new fridge has been joined by the rather nice cabinet I bought three years ago at the Spring Fair, and the dining room is starting to be cleared so that I can use it as a workshop over winter, to make a woodbox, prepare the door for hanging on the study entrance, sort out that last window that remains packed with 'stuffing' to reduce the wind factor and so forth. That latter will be the priority methinks. Once that is done I will have double the natural light in there and so find it easier to do other work. The shed is in danger of falling over in the next high wind which would not be a problem (it is insured) if it were not for the half dozen 5 gallon drums on the roof, filled with goodness knows what, which would consequently fall into Miss Congeniality's yard, wrecking our hard-won fence. I need to save some pennies so I can engage someone for the day to help me sort that out as a priority (if it does not fall over in the interim). I would actually quite like to repair it and use it to store bee stuff and gardening stuff, but have yet to find a builder who agrees this is possible. Perhaps I should listen to them - but meanwhile I have asked a local farmer to have a look at it for me - if anyone can make do and mend, it would have to be a farmer. So - Happy New Year, and now I have my life back, hopefully I will be blogging more often - with pix!