Summer really isn't working out well at the moment. A full day of veils of rain wafting across the landscape and chilly temperatures (we were aiming for 13 but have only achieved 11.4 so far). The fire was lit at around 11 and has been chugging away at a relatively low setting all day, but the hassle of keeping it fed, wondering if the wood will last that I cut, and so forth has had me googling heating alternatives.

My first thought was a pellet fire - after all there is nothing like the glow of a wood heater on a chilly day/night, but while i was reading a discussion about them on a forum, someone mentioned Lava Glass which seems to be the flat panels that K&D were selling last year that the local pancake parlour installed and extolled.

I have to say they do seem very attractive both in terms of efficiency and looks - just flat panels of opaque glass that sit against the wall and emit heat. One in the bathroom could be fitted behind the towel rail and one in the lounge room would be good too, as would one in the kitchen. Apparently the more advanced models also have heat settings (which are lacking on the ones that they have at the Pancake Parlour) so you could reduce costs even further. And not needing a chain saw is attractive too, as is the reduced dust, maintenance etc. Even with the Pellet Fires you still have to cart bags of pellets around and I suppose I do have to consider that in the not too distant future that may no longer be an option. Running costs are apparently very low as well. I will investigate further.

The ones at K&D were very cheap too - only $99.00 each. Hmmmmm, getting the thinking cap on here. Perhaps if I were to buy one for the sewing room cum office as a trial.





Between the less than summery weather and the recent purchase of two bunches of carrots and beetroot, I opted for a roast tonight. So at present I have carrots, beetroot, parsnip (from my own garden), garlic and potatoes roasting in the oven under a rump roast (actually the heel end of the rump I got for $30.00 a few weeks ago). The veges have been drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled with sea salt and then topped with some fresh sprigs of thyme. The lot has been covered with foil to speed up cooking and i will be taking that off when I am confident they are softish, so that they can crisp up and the roast can brown.

Another grey mizzly day today so we headed down to Hobart to get plants for the garden rather than hang around and get wet. We bought a self-pollinating pear tree to replace the cherry tree that was supposed to be growing in the food forest until someone rubbed off all its growing shoots during the winter, and a selection of herbs and berries to fill up the herb garden and replace those berries that did not take too kindly to our local climate. I think this time we will plant them directly into the soil rather than risk those paper cups again as the last lot simply got blown over, being top heavy and with no roots far enough into the ground to hold them. The paper cups seem to work well enough for seedlings, but are clearly not useful for root veges or larger plants as we are not there often enough to keep the paper moist and suitable for the roots to get through them.

Our local Deputy Mayor has just died. It was expected, and many of us were very surprised he ran for office last time, but apparently it was part of his 'planning for the future' approach to fighting the cancer that killed him. Presumably his replacement will be the chap who got the second most votes for Deputy Mayor, which will leave an ordinary councillor seat available. That will go to the person with the next highest votes I imagine, even though he failed to make the quota. If the quota counts, then presumably there will be a bye-election. Hope not - not sure i have recovered from the last one yet!

The Dog Trials are apparently on tomorrow and Sunday as they are busy setting up the oval for the occasion as we speak. I will have to re-route our walks once more to accommodate the disruption. I may try taking Seb down once again as he was moderately well behaved last year and may have improved. At least he no longer tries to lunge at sheep on sight as he did when he first arrived, so may be a bit calmer than he was. If not I can always bring him home again in disgrace.

Two more bleak sorts of days and a couple more to go according to the forecast. I went to quilting yesterday and had a horrible time as it was so noisy and argumentative and divisive. I did at least get four more blocks completed and four additional ones prepared for sewing next time I have a chance to get there.

The whole tenor of the group has changed in the time I have been absent and frankly if it does not change back again I will not be bothered to go for much longer. I have a few very good friends who go but the rest of them can go hang. When I win lotto (hah!) I will buy a house with a large sewing room that I can invite the quieter and more reasonable ones to go to - the ones who understand that a conversation is about exchanging views - not about shouting down anyone who dares to differ.

Grumble grump.

Sebastian has been giving Smidgen a hard time for the last couple of nights - not that Smidgen minds, if he did, he would get up and leave. They seem to have a game whereby Seb climbs onto his (smidgen's) chair, chews his head and paws at him, while Smidge endures, but paws at him to come back if he backs off. So I presume they are enjoying it mutually - it just looks barbaric.

Scored a packet of Weet Bix in the cottage I cleaned today which was useful. Then popped in to see one of my friends on my way home.

Funny old summer we are having - right now it is 13 degrees and raining, and tomorrow it will climb to a magnificent 14 degrees with six overnight. Three days of 14 degrees to be endured before the temp starts to climb once more. Sigh.

Still today while not exactly summery was warm enough to dry a few loads of washing and leave them in the sun for a bit to get some whiteness into the sheets. And a general cleanup in the kitchen was also in order so that was organised and now the fire is lit and the dogs and I are settling in for the evening.

We started our walk but had barely got onto the street when the rain came down and Seb decided that was not what he had in mind, so we did a quick gallop around the railway station (he was so concerned about the rain he forgot to do a poo so we will have to venture out in a break between showers) and home once more.

Called in to see a friend and chatted (or rather she chatted - someone who does not demand conversation but provides it, and always interesting), admired the bulb catalogue and home once more.

A good morning at the awards ceremony with lots of very worth local recipients.  I even got to have my photo taken with one of those giant cheques! Unbeknownst to us we not only received the certificate, but Council wanted to brag about the grants they had given to various community groups - hence the giant cheque. We didn't get to take it home with us, but they gave us a plaque that we will display in the Garden, along with the framed certificate.

What they didn't tell us was that we were required to give mini-speeches for each presentation - a task that Eleanor unkindly deferred to me. Fortunately I had some warning as we were somewhere down the list, and was able to remind myself of the four key contributors that I had to publicly acknowledge. The cheque was a bit more impromptu, but I was able to remember some of the things we said the grant was for, so as to sound vaguely convincing!

I would normally find this sort of presentation boring to the point of self-destruction, but I appear to have been here long enough for most of the recipients to be familiar faces, if not friends. Either that, or there is a very small community of volunteers doing pretty much everything around these parts. I suspect the latter.

And speaking of volunteers, the Hospital Auxilliary turned on a fabulous feast for afterwards - cream puffs, sponge cakes, home made sausage rolls - you name it!

Home again, I took the dog for a walk and was just pouring a cuppa when someone called in to have a look at the table saw. I have decided to sell it as it is taking up space in the spare room and is unlikely to have much future use - I can always use the one at the Men's Shed if I need one.

Since I have no idea how much to ask for it, and he will need to think how much he wants to spend, nothing actually happened about the transaction and it is still there. Meanwhile the mitre saw got a work out cutting a bit more wood in case I need to light the fire shortly (I think I will) thanks to the cold snap we are having at present. Fortunately I was not obliged to attend the pool party they had at the Oatlands Pool to celebrate Australia Day.

Tried to have a nap this afternoon but Seb was relentlessly enthusiastic about a walk, so I gave up after half and hour and we did a lap of the oval. By the time we got back I was awake, so we popped Shadow indoors and took off on our long walk.

Not so long today as it was heavy showers from time to time which rather dampened our enthusiasm.

The fire is lit in preparation for the four degrees we are expecting overnight and the dogs are now relaxing in front of it (as am I).

Tonight's dinner was tomatoes on toast to use up the rest of the ones I had picked last week, in anticipation of more coming ripe in the very near future.

The zucchinis are also starting to threaten me with vast quantities of fruit so I will have to look out my zucchini recipe file. The ones in the garden had produced two over the last week, and the ones at home have vast quantities on them as well. Both yellow and a patchy white and green variety. And the golden nugget pumpkin also has fruit forming. The field tomatoes are flowering well but have yet to set any fruit, which is the good thing as the ones in the polytunnel are becoming quite prolific.

I may even get an extended season of toms at the rate we are going.

The sixth pig has re-appeared so I have no idea where he got to. They seem to be assimilating with the first four now, though they still sleep separately in an alternate shelter.

I seem to have caught up with my sleep now, but tomorrow will be 15 degrees for a change, after an overnighter  of 10. It's a wonder half of Tasmania doesn't have a summer cold by now!

I took Seb for the long walk at lunchtime today as he was driving me crazy with restlessness. We went past the turnoff and another kilometer toward Oatlands - so about 6k all up.

A couple of times lately we have passed her next door striding along on our afternoon walks. Fortunately usually heading in the opposite direction. Apparently she has decided that late afternoon walks are no longer an option if she is going to run into me, so we ran into her on our way back today, lol.

There is a strong wind right now and it will apparently be going on for some time, and then slowing down once more.

Between the heat and Sebastian there was not much sleep had last night. Seb got hiccups which lasted for ages. It sounded like the preliminaries to throwing up, so I popped him on his leash and took him outside where he ravenously consumed vast quantities of grass. This exercise was repeated several times, and the last time i looked at the clock it was almost 2 am. Strangely, no evidence of grass was to be found in his droppings this morning, or indeed all day, so no idea where it got to.

He eventually settled down and I gratefully turned to sleep but was awake by 5:30 with no hope of returning to the land of Nod. So I got up and snuck over to have a look at the pigs next door. The two newcomers, having been shunned by their paddock-mates, were fast asleep alongside the fence, looking very cute as they did their impression of the babes in the woods.

They are apparently parented by a sow who was a cross between a large white and a landrace pig, and the father was a Wessex Saddleback (it seems unlikely to me that such a rare breed would exist in Parattah but I am assured he does). The one on the right is the gilt and the one on the left is the boy. I am informed they will both be kept - him to impregnate one of the Large White gilts that they have, and she to be sent to a large white boar who apparently lives up the road.

I have to wonder if they realise that this may mean they have up to 20 pigs on the place at a time, when they are struggling to feed the four (soon to be five) horses they already have. In fact the horses seem to have been all but forgotten about - getting their food delivered and ignored for the rest of the day while he sits in a comfy chair in the run with the pigs and scratches their backs.

I have reminded him of the dangers of becoming too attached to pigs that one intends to eat......

He has finally connected the electric fencing to mains power, so there should be a sufficient charge in it to persuade even the most determined pigs to stay on the correct side of the wire. Fingers crossed.

And now it is six once more as the missing piglets have apparently been returned to the fold. The boy one is definitely entire as he is mounting the poor girl one frequently. So not only is she being harrassed by the four established pigs, she is also being harrassed by her companion. I will have to mention the fact that keeping him entire will taint the meat.

I set of this morning in scattered showers and coolish weather so took a windcheater and weather-proof jacket with me. Soon had to shed both of those though as it was quite warm even by the time i had finished the bank. By the time i had finished the cottage I was quite hot under the collar.

Did manage to get to quilting today which was nice, and made  up three more blocks as well as prepping three more before I decided it was all too hard and hot and so went and sat with Jean (who was doing some hand-sewing) and drank several glasses of cold water.

The pigs were a little surprise for me when I got home.....

Ooops - back to four pigs again - the newcomers, having been made unwelcome by the resident four, decided they had had enough and wandered off under the electric fence (which had not been lowered sufficiently for their smaller size) and have not been seen since. I expect they are off down the railway track keeping company with the three sheep that strayed off down there a couple of weeks ago. At least they seemed to be a hardier breed than the ones that remain so have a fair chance of surviving until they meet a bullet.

I wandered into town to pick lavender from the cottages to dry it. I now have four big bunches hanging on the laundry door. The flower heads will be popped into a paper bag once the first moisture has gone off, and then when they fall off they will be loose lavender to put into dishes in the cottages. At present Brad uses those nasty chemical smelly things to alleviate the lingering odours of previous occupants. Lavender will be more appealing and more relevant to the cottages as well. He has some cream tealight candle holders with perforated lids that we can pop it into and give it a shake when we are cleaning to release the perfume.

It seems that this is not to be a busy week at the cottages so I may get to go to quilting tomorrow (fingers crossed) and do a few more blocks for that quilt!

And then there were six....... Poked my head over the fence today to find out what the squealing was about - seems there are now two more slips in the yard - smaller than the first four and a different breed. Clearly the rate of growth of the first four has not yet alerted them to the fact they are already overstocked, and two more is now four too many pigs on the property. I can but assume they feel they are not working hard enough to get the job done for which they have been acquired.

The new piglets are more closely related to wild boars than the first four (which are large white crosses). Both have black spots - one on a white background, the other on a red background. And one of them is a boy (possibly neutered). Longer and a leaner build than the large whites - no idea what they are, but they have the redeeming feature of being ultra-cute.

I didn't sleep well last night what with having not eaten dinner (suddenly my tummy was complaining at 11pm), extra cold (down to 2 degrees last night) and a late cup of coffee before I left the reunion. So I cleaned the bank in zombie state this morning with eyes that felt as if they were surrounded by bloated stretched skin, and a tendency to clumsiness that was not good.

Nevertheless I managed to get four loads of washing done and the sheets changed on the bed, as well as a visit to a friend all sorted before heading home to walk the dogs for their long walk that they missed out on yesterday. I will, however, be heading to bed early tonight, and will undoubtedly not sleep well tonight either as I have put the doona back on the bed and  now it will be a warmer night. Sigh.

It was so cold indoors for much of the day I was rather looking forward to lighting the fire once more tonight, but it is now so warm I have had to shed a couple of layers - you just can't win really.

Well I didn't want to go, but I am glad I did. We had our joint 60th birthday party for my former school class today and it was amazing the people they had managed to track down. There was a solid core of about 10 of us who were there from Kindergarten to Year 12, but others came and went over the years. Some people who I never expected to see again in this lifetime were there, and those who I was dreading being there did not turn up (and a good thing too!).

I am lurking over to the right of the photo with the solid core of old friends, including the girl for whom I was bridesmaid many years ago. Someone was there who I have thought of on and off for some time and who I never expected to see again - we had a good old talk about old times and visits to her home (which I had thought burned down in the Fires in '67 but apparently that was a false memory).

We had so much food that my cheese platter came back untouched, though the potato salad went down well apparently (good thing too as I discovered I had no seeded mustard and had to ad lib with some English mustard I found in the fridge).

En route I went via Bothwell and called in to the nursery there where i found some plants that I figure should survive my garden since they survive in Bothwell. they are in the car still as we are expecting 2 degrees and I have just had to rush out and put frost cloth over the cucurbits (how ridiculous is that in mid January!). There was a bit of snow on the high peaks too which is somehow not surprising given the chill of the last couple of days.

The fire is lit, though more as a precautionary measure as the house seems warmish, but my ears are rather chilly, suggesting it  is not as warm as I think it is ....


Fortunately the dogs were happy with a short run this evening as frankly I am knackered after all that driving and talking and spending time with people I have not seen for over 40 years.

Only one cottage to clean today and that was a real treat - such lovely clean tidy people. It was further enhanced by the huge bundle of fruit and veg they left behind. A big bag of mixed lettuce leaves, lemon, apple, radishes, sweet corn, avocado, tomatoes - you name it! So no prizes for guessing I had salad for dinner tonight. There was even fennel! I should have lobbed in there at dinner time last night!

The down side was they commented there was no sound on the video. Since I have no clue about that sort of technology I concluded the easiest solution was to remove the machine and the videos so tonight's guest does not realise there is supposed to be a video available.

The chilly weather prompted me to cut some firewood and light the fire this afternoon. It is now a little too snug indoors, and I will need to have some for tomorrow so I will let the fire go out now it is close to bedtime.

Tomorrow is the joint 60th birthday of my old class at school so I had to whip up something to take as my 'plate'. Fortunately the big bag of groceries included a selection of pinkeyes, so i have friend up some bacon bits, boiled up and egg, chopped up some chives and with put it all together with some mayo tomorrow as a potato salad. Sprinkled with parsley from my garden - should pass I expect.

I also bought a selection of cheeses and some olives and quince jelly to go with them so we have a cheese platter as well, which I will dress with some lettuce leaves for the cheese to sit on.

Not sure where the quince jelly has got to though - it must be somewhere on the floor of the ute I suspect. Will have to go rummage for it before it is dark.

The tomatoes looked too good to leave on the vine, so they came home with me today and were eaten for dinner (on toast with cracked black pepper and ground salt).

The vines themselves are taking over the polytunnel and have engulfed the basil plants entirely. There is a cos lettuce gone to seed in there somewhere, so I am hoping to still be able to find it so I can harvest the seeds when they are ripe.

The tomatoes to the left (the orange ones) are some sort of heirloom variety. The tree in the middle of the planting is a red one and the one furthest from the camera is a black russian.

I had quite forgotten, when I agreed to clean cottages today, that I was supposed to be in the garden, but we managed to get the weeding out of the way in short order and I left Syche to finish the job while I pottered off to earn my keep.

There was, of course, the bank to do also so that was sorted out first of all.
 The wind has picked up now, and will apparently be even stronger tomorrow. Hope the roof holds good. I have written the number of the SES on the fridge door just in case!

we had two more showers this afternoon that delivered another couple of mm. which was nice.

Have spent some time leaning on the fence watching the pigs next door - they are quite amazing to watch. You would think those little squidgey noses would be too sensitive to plunge into the ground as they do, but no. They thrust them deep into the ground then plough up whatever is in their path before moving on to the next bit. Astonishing. I have never watched pigs in natural surroundings before (the ones at college were in a piggery and the one down the road is in a pen and let out to graze from time to time on grass pasture), and they are quite remarkable animals in action. They are also keen to get to know everything in their environment. A sheet of bright yellow plastic caught on a post of their pen had them all in a row watching it, and when it blew loose, they scampered off then converged on it again when it lay still. Obviously very curious creatures.

Another 14 mm yesterday and overnight - so a total of 44 mm. Pity the first lot fell so fast as it has mostly just run off, and very little went into the soil. Still there is a bit more promised over the weekend, so hopefully it will do the trick. At least by turning over the mulch I managed to get that all wet through. The zucchini clearly got some benefit as it has suddenly produced about 8 small fruits that should be ready to pick in short order. I had no idea I had planted a yellow zucchini, so there you go!

Two cottages and a visit to a friend today. And on our walk Seb and I found a nice hat which came home with me. It is one of those cotton 'fisherman's" hats but has the added advantage of a throat strap with toggle to reduce the chances of it blowing off my head (though apparently it has blown off someone's head). It will go through the washing machine before use.

The rain started just before bedtime and (apparently) kept going all night. I say 'apparently' as I slept through what must have been a bit of a deluge, if the loungeroom floor is anything to go by! Thirty one mm at 6 this morning and a further 12 or so to date today. So many things I could have done with that $135.00...... Oh well. This will at least mean I don't have to water the garden for a couple of days. But with the wind picking up, this benefit will not last long.

The piglets next door made a break for it this morning and were wandering at liberty around their back yard. They have only one strand of electric wire at chest height and of course the piggies jump over it, being very agile at that age. Two strands would be better, but I guess they will work that out eventually. They made an arc for them which is just big enough to house all four. That should be useful for about a week as they grow very rapidly at this point in their lives.

I was called back into the bank this morning which was alarming. But apparently I was supposed to have been changing my alarm code every three months and this has not been happening. They have changed the system so I now need a five digit number (previously it was six) so I had to delve back into memory and use the phone number we had up till I was six years old. It was drummed into our heads as children so we could phone home if we were stuck somewhere, or give it to the police if we were lost.

I will use the number for our place at Granton as the alternate one and hopefully be able to swap them about. I will be in strife if they want a third one as the next time we got a phone number it had six digits. Since i have no chance of remembering a new number I will have to see what we can do.

Only one cottage to clean which was soon done then I popped into quilting for lunch and wandered home - took the dogs for their long walk (well, took Seb as I didn't want Shadow to get wet if it started to rain), and we are  now all tucked in and dry for the evening.

I spotted them next door out on the street this morning as I was heading out so stopped and told them I was a bit concerned about having the pigs so close to the house. The explanation is that they are being used to clear the weeds and uproot the rubbish (of which there is a plenitude) buried in the ground so they can clear the pastures for the horses. Evidently it is intended they will be eaten, all bar one, who will be housed at some distance from me and used to breed piglets for eating (and selling on to cover costs). The stated intention is that they will be shifted from their present abode in about a month (sooner if they do a good job) and moved progressively around the property. It remains to be seen as to whether this actually happens (remember they have yet to start picking up horse poo in the paddocks where the horses are kept), but I will take it on good faith. He did say he didn't envisage running into any problems, which provided me with the necessary opening to let him know that pigs in built up areas are a no-no, but I did it as part of the conversation, not as a threat.

I asked if I could have a bucket of blood when they slaughter so I can have a go at making black pudding (still on my list) and that has been agreed, as also the proposition of a side of pork should the funds be available for such extravagance.

Since it was mild and overcast today I took the hoe down the bottom paddock and hacked out the scotch thistles that were starting to show heads (and all the rest of them as well) and found that what I had assumed was a willow starting up in the bottom paddock appears to be two trees of different species - no idea where they came from (or what they are) , but anything is better than nothing I guess.

The promised rain (100% certainty) has not so far eventuated. A light drizzle is all on offer at present. Looking at the radar, the wall of rain that is coming across the State splits as it gets to Oatlands and passes either side of my place - wouldn't you know it! I suspect we need more trees planted to provide the necessary stimulus.

The last three days have been fairly busy what with one thing and another, so sorry for the absence. Over the weekend we had the Southern Midlands Kennel Club twice yearly show in the oval. As a consequence our dogwalking routine was thrown out badly and we resorted to walking over at the railway station park for our shorter strolls. I also felt the dogs were a bit stirred up so I left Shadow at home and took Seb into Oatlands for a change of scenery. We had a lovely walk and ran into some friends so stayed for a chat (at which Seb got bored and wandered around at the full extent of his leash for much of the time). Then home we came and did the same the next day with the variation that instead of cleaning three cottages during the day I did several loads of washing.

Today was bank cleaning day, and on my return home I did a bit of housework then popped out to visit a friend. During my absence the neighbours came down the lane and fixed the four palings onto the fence that had fallen off some time ago which was nice. But then I discovered this was because they have just aquired four pigs. Only just past weaning by the look of them, but they will grow. Quite a bit. And pigs are escape artists. And the gate of the pen they are in is a good 40cm above ground level at one end (because of the slope of the land). And the paddock is bare, having already been grazed by the horses. And it is seven metres from my kitchen. What is more, it seems they intend to keep them there permanently as they have invested in a large water trough (which they should have got for the horses months ago) which is being plumbed into position. I despair at times.

A few hot days with warm nights - last night was so much so that I had difficulty getting to sleep. And it will be the same tonight. A foggy start to the day tricked me into thinking it was cooler than it actually was, so I was quite hot and bothered by the time i got home from the bank. But a change of shirt soon sorted that out. I really love having some short-sleeved cotton shirts in the wardrobe for a change!

There was a little fracas with the horses next door last night. One of them appears to have caught her halter on the metal crate full of rubbish they left in the paddock with them. Whether or not she then got a buzz off the electric fence (a horsewidth away from the crate), I don't know. But she startled away, pulling the crate into several smaller pieces and all three of them galloped off to the opposite corner, cannoning into the gate and then back again. Two of them seemed OK  but the third one was favouring a hind leg and on closer inspection, had the halter down around her withers.

So I toddled over to let them next door know (they had the telly on and had heard nothing) and finally convinced them they needed to go check on her (it was touch and go there for a while). We went down and the halter was not only down around her withers, she had somehow managed to get her front leg through the rest of it and it was tucked in under her elbow, completely hobbling her.

Luckily she escaped with some skin missing from various parts and one deeper cut inside her front leg which will require attention. I suggested bathing it with salty water as I doubt they will call in a vet.

I left them to it after they assured me they could get back to the house without a torch.

This morning they have been moved to new pastures - two of them together and the injured mare in a separate paddock - some distance from my boundary, lol.

After cleaning the bank I headed into the Community Garden where we weeded and whippersnipped till it was all restored to its former glory. Eleanor popped in and, as a result, I am now attending the presentation whether I want to or not. Personally I am not keen, but I guess I see her point.

Dug some spuds which will be boiled up with some mint for dinner tonight (in their jackets, they are Dutch Creams), then came home and popped dinner on. Apricot Chicken which I have not cooked for about forty years and which I am fairly sure involves dried apricots. My version involves fresh apricots, some fried onions, a dash of chicken stock in the flour I dusted the drummies with, and that's about it. It should be ready for consumption around 8pm as I have it on a low setting in the oven.

It seems we may have a dog show happening tomorrow as there are various stakes erected in the oval that were not there this morning and I saw one of the organisers driving back into town as I headed home. The dogs and I will take our exercise in the grounds of the railway station while it is on, as it will be too exhausting taking Seb down there with so many distractions.

The 26 degrees followed by late thunderstorms failed to eventuate, though it was rather muggy and warm this morning while i was cleaning out the cottages. Fortunately a friend dropped by so we took a breather and gossipped for a bit before i finished them off.

The rain brought Smidgen in pretty punctually this morning which was a good thing - don't want him to get into the habit of staying out all day!

Light rain for much of the day, though nothing to brag about - around 8 mm in all, so it's a good thing I bought the water as that would have barely cleared the pump intake in the tank.

It's getting darker earlier these days which is nice - I do like early evenings. But still pretty bright and sunny in the mornings.

I called in to see another friend who has been away and did not escape again until after 3, so there was barely time to walk the dogs, cook dinner and now it is bedtime! The days fly away when you stop and chat!!

First day back in the community garden tomorrow and fortunately they have revised the forecast so the rain will fall overnight and we will be able to get stuck into the weeds that have accumulated while we took our break. I will pack the whipper snipper in the ute in the morning so I can clear the paths as the salt and vinegar spray had no effect whatsoever.  I will have to resort to roundup I suspect!
Shhhhh, don't tell anyone will you!

Took advantage of all that water and gave the garden a good soaking today - filled up the reservoirs of the asparagus bed and the gooseberry bed, as well as planting the bean seedlings with a good soaking to water them in.

This was after cleaning the bank and two of the cottages which, fortunately, got done before the real heat arrived. Currently sweltering with 26 degrees, down three from the day's maximum.

Smidgen decided it was cooler outside than in and spent the day in the shed down the back. He deigned to sit up so I could see where he was, but did not come in until about half an hour ago.

The dogs have not had a long walk as I am in a sunfrock and sandals and this does not strike me as snake-appropriate wear. Anything heavier and I would die of heatstroke during the walk. So we have wandered around the oval several times and retreated back indoors.

Apparently tomorrow is to be much the same, but with storms in the afternoon and a high chance of rain. Another good reason to get some water onto the garden - so a) the beds can benefit from the rain as they will not be water repellent and b) I will not have to watch all that water gushing out of the tank overflow and getting depressed. Only one cottage to clean so that will be OK.

I received an invitation today from Council to attend their Australia Day presentations - for a minute there I thought I had been awarded something. But no. Tony just wants to hand Eleanor and I our certificate of appreciation from the Keep Australia Beautiful people for our work in the Garden. Since it has been available for collection at the school for some weeks now and apparently neither of us has collected it, I can not say I am in a rush to get dollied up for a formal presentation......

The thing I forgot, when I did all that washing, was that I was low on water. Yesterday I was sitting having my breakfast when I heard a thin line of bubbles rattling along the pipe under the influence of the pump. Panic stations - and a conundrum. I usually buy 4000 litres from the man up the road who delivers it at his convenience and only charges me $50.00. But if I demanded he came the same day he would quite reasonably expect payment and I was not to have any money until today (the cleaning job deferred payment as they had the fortnight off over Christmas). And if I did get him to come and accept payment today there was the difficulty that them next door have set themselves up in the water carting business and so, would they be offended? And did I want to spend $135.00 to get water (they deliver 10,000 litres at a load)? And was there space for that much water (well, clearly there was since the pump was sucking air). The complexity of the situation froze me into immobility - it was something I had to sleep on.

So for the last twentyfour hours I have been functioning on cat washes and composting toilets (so glad I know how to do that!) and not doing anything at all that required dishes that would need to be washed.

So that put jam-making on hold also as sterilising the bottles, washing out the jam pan between batches, etc was clearly not an option.

This morning i finally called the neighbours (one the principle they would see the other man for sure, but he probably wouldn't spot them) and had a load delivered this afternoon. They got a bit carried away so it was overflowing from the back of the tank even after they left and I was carting water to thirsty trees and plants for some time before the excess drained away. I am planning a very long hot shower tomorrow morning - none of this skimpy two minute dash!

I did manage a batch of cherry jelly, which, despite me adding a couple of apples as it was cooking, still failed to set, so I bottled it in bottles instead of jars and am calling it cherry syrup. I am still using last years's failed jelly as an icecream topping (shows how rarely I eat icecream), so this lot will probably come in handy as gifts.

The apricots, meanwhile, have gone past the stage of being suitable for bottling so they will be converted into jam and stewed fruit and perhaps some fruit leather as an experiment.

It was a bit more temperate today, and pleasantly cool this morning, so I took advantage to let some cool air into the house (that's the problem with insulation - once the heat is in it stays there). Since I had no commitments I took advantage of the clearing showers (yes, we had a drop of rain last night, but not the heavy rain they promised), and did a few loads of washing as well as a couple of loads in the dishwasher. I had planned to jam and bottle today but realised I had no sugar so that was deferred until tomorrow.

I picked up some sugar on the tip run so I am ready to get stuck in when I get home from cleaning the bank.

In the cool of the morning I pulled out all my failed cabbage crop (this is the one i planted last autumn which sat there all winter, then put on growth and started hearting up before being slaughtered by the snail invasion). I had left them there to see if they would recover from the snail attack but instead they burst into flower. So they are now making the pigs down the road very happy, having been delivered by wheel barrow.

The water from the washing was duly distributed across various garden beds and several bags of sheep poo distributed on top of the damp soil. Tomorrow I will plant out the butter beans that I bought while in Hobart on Friday. They are rather leggy and one of them has sprouted  a flower but hopefully they will do OK given a good start tomorrow.

The rest of this week will be progressively hotter until Wednesday, then cooling slightly on Thursday before heading down to 15 on Friday - so confusing! I will have to call into the Community Garden to see how things survived the heat the other day, but I did check them before heading home and they seemed OK. Fingers crossed.

I hate hot weather. Thirty five degrees today with hot winds to make it even nastier. Smidgen took himself off for the day (presumably he found a cool spot and stayed there. The dogs decided long walks were for mugs and even Seb has been less than demanding all day.

I had two cottages to clean so went in and sorted them out. One I left the blinds closed as it would otherwise simply be an oven when the guest checks in. I left him a note explaining why I had done so in case he is not smart about that sort of thing (amazing the number of people who aren't).

My friend's mother died last night. I find it a little disconcerting to be notified of this by text message, but I guess these are the times we live in. I have asked her to let me know the arrangements so I can go to the funeral for her.

Meanwhile they are forecasting heavy rain tonight which is quite exciting if it happens. And the pump has worked a miracle on the hot water system, not a single banging pipe all day!

Today has been a day of fun and excitement which started with cleaning the Bank. The plan had been to go from there to Hobart, but I remembered that a) I had left my chilly bag at home, and b) it is stonefruit season, so I backtracked to collect the chilly bag (and take the dogs for another stroll) and headed down the Coal River Valley toward the orchards. Unfortunately none of them was ready for sales, but my favourite one nevertheless sold me 5 kg of apricots (not Moore Parks, these are called orange and red which aptly describes them). The are smaller than my preference but very tasty and now are rather ripe as they sat in the back seat of the ute all day as I went about my other errands.

First up was meeting my old class mate for coffee. She is the one whose mother I tried to visit in Hospital on Christmas Day but she had done a runner. Unfortunately it does not look good, so Lynne is staying on for a few weeks to see her out. She has talked me into going to the reunion/combined 60th birthday party (sigh) later this month as she assures me there will be more people there than the ones I was aware were going.

From there I went off to buy a pump for the hot water system as I doubt the pipes would have survived tomorrow's forecast heat. That set me back a fair whack, but it is the right size to fit the gap in the pipes where the other one has come out. And from there to various other destinations to get cat food and litter, some groceries (including provisions for surviving  a hot day) and a kilogram of cherries to go with the apricots.

The homeward journey was rather hot (glad it is not tomorrow yet!) so I stopped en route and had a bottle of coke (I know!), before continuing up the highway. Home, I unpacked the pump and discovered it did not have a cord - you have to supply your own. So I thought 'I can do this - just follow the instructions!' but when I opened it up the place where you attach the various wires did not look at all like anything I had seen before so I threw my hands in the air and phoned the husband of a friend. He suggested I come up in an hour so I sat and read for a bit, then realised I needed to remove the first pump. Was in the middle of doing that when I glanced out the window and saw three sheep happily grazing in the back yard. I would have left them there but they discovered the currant bushes, so they had to go. Which they did. Around the house, back down the other side and into the back yard once more!!  Chased them out onto the street and went back to what i was doing.

Finally got the wiring sorted and came back to discover they were still there, so I wandered up to the local farmer who assured me they were not his and had been reported wandering down the railway reserve from Stonor. So I left them to their own devices and started re-installing the pump. This was not as simple as it looked as the new washers meant it did not quite fit. But i worked it out eventually and turned on the isolation taps and water gushed everywhere. So I did it again and this time it worked. So I now have a pump happily purring away on a permanent basis (unfortunately the regulator also seems to have died, so I will have to get another one of those - and that will involve a plumber as it has sensors that go into various locations that remain a mystery to me. Sigh. But at least the pipes won't sound as if they are about to explode when the heat gets up tomorrow.

The disruptions came from an unexpected quarter last night. Them next door decided to have a New Years Eve spit roast in the one part of their five acres closest to my bedroom. Odd how some people's minds work, if indeed they work at all. Still it was all good fun and the kids seemed to be enjoying themselves. It seems to have kept other more riotous revelers at home as well as there are no new painted figures adorning the streets and streetsigns, and no empty cans anywhere either. Quite remarkable actually.

So I got up at 7:30 having stayed up latish to make sure I was tired enough to sleep and let the cats our for their morning run. Smidgen discovered something enthralling in the long grass of the orchard so had to be persuaded home. He finally agreed to come and we were walking up the grass together having a chat when the neighbour's dog leapt through one of the many holes in their fence and chased him. Smidgen dodged through the other fence and was nowhere to be seen for some time. Eventually he started calling me and I walked up my side of the fence to provide him with company as he came up toward the house, dodged through the large gap under the 'rabbit-proof and therefore poultry proof' fence and came home for breakfast. What a fuss!

Then in to clean one of the cottages which showed signs of a private party and so home. This afternoon I have been whipper snippering in preparation for Saturday's heat wave (now predicting 34!) and got the grass down to an acceptable level so that anything that starts in the orchard will run out of fuel before it reaches the house, and am now quite weary. The whipper snipper is not really designed for this level of work so it requires frequent stops to untangle the cord and refuel.

Took the dogs for a short walk tonight (only up to the gate of the goat farm) as Shadow was once again falling behind considerably and besides, I had a curry in the oven. It has not reduced to the extent required though so it is back in there with the lid off in the hope it will do so. Beef Korma, so no chilis in it, just a nice combination of spices.