I'm not entirely sure how it was that I came to be treasurer of the Community Garden. Those who know me know that i fall into a complete panic when faced with anything mathematical and that I am congenitally incapable of doing basic maths. It should come as no surprise then that when adding up the receipts and cheque stubs to see what we had left in our balance that I came to a rather odd sum. Since that sum, plus what remains in the account according to the statement I received today, was less than the total of the grant, and suggested we had only spent $700, I was in a bit of a panic. So I walked away from it and went into town to pay for the dogs' registration (also due today) and en route i realised that two sums alone, added to more than $700. I mean, a cheque for 671.00 and a cheque for 399.00 must surely add up to more than 700.00 right?

So I came home and did the sums again and came up with a rather more satisfactory figure, though I am still not confident it is the right one, sigh.

The dogs' tags this year are in black, so match their coats beautifully and will be completely invisible to the dog catcher until they are more intimately acquainted. Still they are now on their collars and we are all legal for another 12 months.

Tomorrow was supposed to be sewing but I am now cleaning two cottages instead. Since I only cut a barrow load of wood today, and they are forecasting snow for Thursday I guess i will have to squeeze in another cutting session before I leave home to clean. Today was positively balmy weather with sunshine and light breezes - just what you want in early Spring, so a little surprising in midwinter. But all this will apparently change tomorrow afternoon with another set of strong winds to tear away leaves and try to destroy everything in its path.

So much washing got done today I will be squeaky clean for some time to come. Very pleased the weather (which looked less than encouraging) at least did the job for me with occasional bouts of sunshine and breezes to get it dry and smelling nice.

I have found a place for my newly acquired books to live while i work my way through them and decide which to keep and which to pass on. The Arthur Upfield I read last night is a keeper, even though I did work out who did it before the end. It was such a wonderful insight into station life during the 1950s that we rarely see these days. Though the acceptance of the 'half-caste' detective into the social milieu of the owners seemed unlikely when you think about it.

I am now reading the Mary Stewart which appears to be a fourth book in her Merlin Trilogy and is shaping up nicely. It focusses on Mordred and begins with Merlin's death so I guess that is why.

I also cleaned the glass in the woodheater, so have a lovely view of the coal castles that are formed as the wood burns, as if there was no glass there at all. I keep forgetting how lovely that is as the grime builds up over time.

FB has at last toned down its approach and has assigned me my normal name, rather than my preferred nom de plume, so I guess that is what I am stuck with. I have nevertheless emailed them (again) and asked that the matter be referred to a higher authority than the drone with whom I am dealing at present.

It was glorious weather this morning, and relatively calm, so I got the sheets out on the line as quickly as possible since they are forecasting winds for tomorrow. They are now nicely dry and in the cupboard, unlike the rest of my wash which remains to be done.

A friend popped around with some food for the chooks and a slice of jelly cake for me (that cake with bright red jelly above a layer of bright yellow 'custard' above a layer of cakey substance. It is a variation on a lovely cake that i make myself from time to time, but commercially produced. It was a kind thought and I did eat it, though I would never buy one myself.

Then another friend, who is moving, posted that they were going through their books to cull some before their move. I did rather well out of this, as this is only the first of two rows of stacked books.

They include a Mary Stewart I have not yet read, what appears to be the entire collected works of Ngaio Marsh (whose house i visited while living in NZ), Some PD James, and various other authors, some of whom I have yet to be introduced to. So it will keep me off the streets for some time to come. Where to put them is a challenge as I do not have all that much shelfspace for them, but I am sure i will find a way, lol. They certainly can't remain on top of the chest freezer which is where they are presently parked.

In the interests of my online security Facebook has changed the name of my account to my full legal name! I have altered my DOB to avoid identity theft, but as someone had already logged into my account from Victoria before I was able to do that, I am not too sure how successful my efforts were. Naturally I have appealed, not only to FB but to the Online Hate Prevention Institute as they seem to have access to FB that us mere mortals do not have.

The pork was delicious last night, and tonight I am baking two potatoes to accompany it when I have dinner They are sizzling away in the woodheater as I go. Yum.

With the bank to clean this evening that will be me done for the week, which is a good thing. Syche and I decided that since there was nothing to do in the Garden at this time of year, we would go home and loaf until the students arrived. But they arrived early with their little buddies so we had to scurry into action and sort that lot out before having a breather in preparation for the larger kids. It's all go this 'working with the little darlings' business.

It's been a rather tedious day today as FaceBook decided it did not like me using a pseudonym and demanded identification documentation. So after scanning the relevant information and sending it to them, I sat around waiting for them to do something about it. I have also sent them 'reasons for acting as I have' which I hope they will consider. One of the problems of being online when you live in a community as small as Tassie is that you are exposed to the potential of harassment if someone disagrees with your opinion (and some of mine can be inflammatory for crazed right wingers who are going on the band wagon of all this hate and divisiveness our government seems to foster). So I prefer to very thinly disguise myself by using my first name and a surname derived from my ancestry.

Anyway, that aside, I have a large pork roast in the slow-cooker which is being cooked with chicken stock, balsamic vinegar, rosemary, garlic and olives, so it should be a tasty dinner here when it is done.

Tomorrow is looking positively tropical so it should be a constructive day in the Garden.

For reasons best known to themselves, Telstra seems to be causing difficulties with the signal which keeps dropping in and out. As a result anything on the computer is a major pain right now.

The Mercury's coverage of the letter was pitiful. Half a column on page nine. At least it was right hand page outside column I guess. I have printed the letter out and will be providing it, with commentary to people who may be able to affect some change, but do not hold out much hope.

The result of getting the information so late in the evening was that I did not get to sleep until after two as my mind was running over the potential implications - hearings, investigations, sackings, new job vacancies, could i afford a house in Hobart if I were successful in obtaining a permanent position. Did I want a permanent position? Maybe the house in Oatlands might be more affordable. Perhaps a four day a week job would be manageable if i had Wednesdays off - you know the sort of thing.

Eventually I went off to sleep but then woke once more at six so it has been a longish day. I went to sewing and a staunch Liberal voter came in and started extolling the virtues of TA. Sadly many there agreed with her till she started getting stuck into Gillard and she found herself outnumbered considerably so the tone of the conversation became a little robust, before it wandered off into gunslayings and women's experience of violence. She seemed quite astonished to hear how many women had been killed as a result of violence since January. Hopefully it will give her food for thought.

The conversation also confirmed that someone has a contract on the cottage anyway so that little pipe dream went out the window as well, lol

Late update - watch the ABC, read the newspaper:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-23/heritage-tasmania-david-scott-resigns-political-interference/6567500

The rain kept up much of the night but cleared again this morning. I say cleared, but actually the entire day the sky had that 'about to rain' look to it - grey and dreary. And the dampness in the air meant it felt a lot cooler than it actually was. I did get some wood cut this afternoon so the coolness has stayed outside which is a good thing, and tonight's dinner (slow-cooked lamb shanks in red wine with thyme seasoning) should keep it at bay a little longer.

Seb was remarkably good about the bed thing last night and gave up after two attempts (in quick succession). He did sneak in around five o'clock and try his luck once more, but a quick kick and he went back to his bedding. He seems to be slowly catching onto how things are done around here. He even backs off close inspection of passing poultry with a voice command (well, most of the time). Since there is a fair bit of poultry traffic from next door this is a good thing.

My boss has just bought a new B&B in Bothwell, and is making plans to expand his business. I have suggested that, given its location, a hose-down trout-dressing-out area might save the cleaners some work trying to dislodge scales from the kitchen counters. Fortunately he ran with the idea.

No further updates on the political scandal of the day - I will report when and if I am able.

I spoke too soon. Woke to a snow-white world (all frost, by the way) and frozen pipes again. Sigh. At least this time they thawed in time for my shower which was a good start.

Then the wind came up and despite warmer temperatures, the chill factor made wearing a beanie a necessity when outdoors, so outdoors didn't happen much.

I have been spending a fair bit of time on FB chatting with my local MP. Apparently he finds my facts and figures frustrating. You might like to join the chat if you are a local and see what you can contribute, lol.

The "breaking news" about my former workplace gets even more interesting as the information supplied to Parliament is being withheld from those in opposition, and I have yet to get my hands on a copy of the letter. I have to wonder just what it says, as the person who wrote it is the one who was charged with delivering on the 'promise' to reduce the Heritage Register by 2000 places. Interesting times we live in.

It is raining now which means tonights temperatures will be in positive degrees for a change. Now all I have to do is retrain Seb into remembering beds are by invitation only.

Another chilly start, and one forecast for tomorrow as well. Strangely the pipes have stopped freezing on me, which I guess is a good thing. I did three loads of washing and got two out. While the third one was washing I wandered up the street with the chocolate cream cake hoping to persuade Heather to share it with me. This became such a focus that I forgot the washing and, finding Heather was not at home, set off into town to find someone else to share it with. Finally found someone at home and was given lunch with the cake as dessert which was a nice trade. Settled down for a good natter about redesigning her kitchen and bathroom (another one of these superlarge bathrooms that waste space while the kitchen is small and cramped with insufficient cupboard space), and it was not till I got home, walked the dogs, fed the dogs, walked the again and brought in the washing that I remembered the last load. It is out on the line tonight and will no doubt benefit from freezing in the minus three they have forecast.

Meanwhile, the delayed return home meant that most of the washing had collected a bit of the damp that comes in the evenings here, and so is now festooned around the loungeroom with Esther fast asleep on the doona cover I had rewashed as she lay on it while it was drying last time. Sigh.

They say that goodness is its own reward and I have to assume that is the case when you hand in $100.00 that you find when cleaning. Not a skerrick of acknowledgement on behalf of the bank.... sigh. But what can you expect from people who don't even leave you a tiny chocolate egg for easter.

Tonight was the auction to raise funds for the new bathrooms at the hospital. Not that we raised much - we would be lucky to have raised more than $1500. But it was a fun night and bidding became a little crazy toward the ends (pity, as that was when the hand-woven shawl I rather fancied came up). The last two items were $50.00 vouchers for our local service station which went for $100.00 each which will give you the flavour of the latter part of the evening.

Having been held at the local RSL come Community Club it was a well-lubricated evening, and by half way through when various garments were on offer from our local clothing maker, a particularly pretty frock (not my size) went to a single gentleman. Then someone bid a sum of money to see him in the dress, which he did! All a little riotous.

I came home only $21.00 poorer as both the items I particularly wanted were not within my assigned budget, but I did get a pretty summer swing top (thin straps, full skirted) in blues and greens - which are not at all my colours, but hey, what do I care?, and a dish and spoon in a retro design, which will clutter up my shelves with no particular purpose. The guys who did the catering handed me a double-layer, cream-filled chocolate sponge as I left, so now I have to hide it from Seb (who is very interested in it) and take their plate back tomorrow, which I guess means I will be forced to eat it between now and then. I have had one slice, but that will be about my limit tonight I think, lol.

It was only minus 3.7 last night, but this was more than enough to freeze every pipe in the house until after ten this morning. Since dogs need to be walked before then, I found it necessary to get dressed without a shower. Since we seem to have a run of these freezing nights (minus five forecast for tonight) I will be breaking the habits of a lifetime and having an evening shower for a few days, since I have a better chance of getting water at that time.

The frost was so thick it was still there hours after the sun was shining on it, and when I went to get some wood in at eleven I found it was all frozen together!! Hard times - glad I got a good load of wood delivered this year!

Despite the cold (it was still only five in mid-afternoon), I went into the garden and restrained the little darlings from drowning their plants with excessive watering, and hurried home to stoke up the fire. Cleaning the bank is not looking at all attractive tonight I have to say.

Well OK, so five degrees was optimistic. Four point five is almost there, right? And minus four tonight (and the next two nights), well it's winter isn't it.....

There were a few flurries of snow around, but mainly fine hail and rain, and not terribly much of that. Occasional sunshine even managed to clear a space for me to cut some more wood (which is increasingly becoming rather damp). But mainly I cleaned a cottage, walked the dogs and stayed warm. Seemed the only sensible thing to do.

Forgot to mention that while I was down in town I finally gave in to the urge to visit one of my former residences. It is presently being used as a base for a camper van hire company which seems a good solution as it was rather heavily haunted by someone who resented sharing her home with strangers. I only had it for 12 months and subsequent owners continued to sell it on at 12 monthly intervals till the present owners acquired it, so I have to assume they had similar problems. It was a lovely little Edwardian cottage on the Tasman Highway en route to the airport - a rather isolated stretch in those days but now infested with big-box stores and light industry. Surrounded by a market garden with a cemetery next door where the previous owners were buried. Amazingly, apart from them having painted some of the stained woodwork white, it is still in much the same condition as when I owned it. The only thing missing is the large fireplace that housed a woodstove as that room has now been knocked through to the front room to make more room for the business. And a large sun room has been added to the back. All the lovely sheds are long gone and the front garden is under bitumen, but it still has the same feel as when I was there.

I lost my argument for adaptive re-use of the grandstand, but I have at least got Council shaken up a bit so they will be arranging to have their building inspector come out with me to talk through my proposal. The Committee is, however very confident I will get nowhere so we will be meeting on Sunday to design the new facilities. Sigh.

It rained for most of last night - a good 18 mm in the gauge, and we had more rain today which, judging by the wheelbarrow should add up to much the same gain. So the tank will hopefully be ful once more. Since it was raining still this morning i had a good long hot shower which is always a pleasure.

Then off to sewing where we had a lovely day of chattering and sewing and eating, then home to cut a bit more wood between showers as it will be minus two tonight and only five with snow and rain tomorrow!! Eeek. I will need more wood to get through that, but I have enough to keep me going and to have the fire well alight before I have to start burning damper wood.

The trip to town was reasonably successful. I managed to find some cheap pavers for the community Garden at Uptons, and have purchased $400.00 worth of them and now only have to arrange for collection by a local freight company. That won't be happening tonight as I have other responsibilities to attend to, like the Public Meeting about the Grandstand.

The trip to K&D was also a little more expensive than I had planned, so it is a good thing there is still plenty of money in the slush fund. I wasn't able to get everything on the list simply because they didn't have it in stock. They will have to up their game if they want to compete with the new super-sized Bunnings at the Show Grounds.

The search for a replacement recoil leash for Seb took up a lot of time as, while many shops carry such items they are either not the right brand, or too flimsy for a strong dog like him, or they have these newfangled tapes in replacement of the cord. I feel they are an invitation to tangling and overcomplicate the recoil mechanism so was particularly keen not to get one of them.

Since I was on the Eastern Shore I tried Animal Tuckerbox (which had other brands, all with tapes and only one option that suited my ideas) and then the Eastlands pet store (which had some also, but still not what I wanted). Animal Tuckerbox told me about a shop in Elizabeth Street in Hobart so off I went there, and voila, lurking on the back of a hook was just what I wanted! Right brand, cord operation, and suitable for dogs up to 40 kg. (Seb only weighs 25kg but is such a ball of muscle I felt it necessary to over-engineer on the leash.)

While on the Eastern Shore I also remembered I still had two bales of straw in the tray of the ute which was going to restrict my storage options, so I dropped them into the RSPCA to use for bedding for any small animals. They were happy enough once they worked out that I was trying to give them something, but it took a lot of assumptions at cross-purposes before we got there.

Then spent out and full up I headed up the highway in rain and incipient fog, only to discover that my wiper blades had seen better days. So I called into the servo on the way home and had Andrew replace them for me - amazing the difference it makes, lol.

A bit more dampness discouraged outdoor activities here. Esther, however, thinks the current drying arrangements are ideal for making a comfy dog-free bed that captures the warmth from the fire while providing a view out the window. I guess I can always de-fur the washing as I fold it.

I did get some wood cut, and have finally pulled together information for the acquittal of our grant for the Community Garden. I was a bit worried we had failed miserably, but it looks as if we are on track with what was expected of us, and since we have a bit of money left over I am off to Hobart tomorrow for a shopping spree of sorts (a relatively minor one, but nevertheless necessary).

The recoil dog lead has broken which is a bit of a disaster as Seb does not like going potty when I am too close to him. But we managed to get over this obstacle with the long rope that I occasionally use (but not often as it gives him ideas). I have emailed the manufacturers to see if it is covered by warranty, but since the lead is as old as Shadow is, I seriously doubt it. My problem lies in the fact that modern ones have a tape rather than a cord for the extension, which seems to invite greater issues of tanglement than were possible with the earlier version. But as it is a pretty essential bit of kit, I will get another one anyway.

The weather forecast was, shall we say, misleading. Foggy morning followed by a sunny day then a slight chance of showers in the evening they said. So I popped on the load of washing that included a doona cover and went off to work (more of that later). Came home and it was almost dry so I left it out a bit longer. Then it started raining by stealth (silent rain) which only came to my attention when I heard a car sluicing past on the road. Brought in the now damp washing and festooned the lounge with it. Meanwhile, having not bothered to light the fire the loungeroom was solid ice, so the fire went on and has now started to heat things up a bit.

Work was also misleading. Only two guests (so how come all four beds were slept in?). And they had a party. One that involved helium balloons, smoking dope and shooting up if the evidence was anything to go by. The smoke detector had been taped back up to the ceiling as they had broken it while disarming it so they could smoke indoors and went off as soon as I put on the heat pump to keep warm. After removing the battery I discovered it was taped up due to the catch having been broken. What is more they were supposed to have left cash payment but failed to do so, stole a blanket and generally made merry with the place. The TV remote is missing in action and my boss is not pleased. Hoping he has their correct credit card details as they will be getting the bill.

It's hard to type when a dog is leaning against your calf shoving his face into the keyboard seeking attention. I suspect this is because he has no cat to chew. Smidgen decided he needed an afternoon stroll and snuck out when we came back from our last walk. So far he has not returned. I expect, since it is now getting distinctly chilly, it will not be long before he returns to the fold.

It was one of those winter days out of the box today - although the first few hours of daylight did not look promising what with the fog and all.

Since it was going to be such a glorious day, the plan was to cut some firewood, do some whipper snippering and generally get moving, but since the fog didn't clear till after ten things kind of got hijacked. I took a load to the tip and then went into town to get some groceries. On the way back I called into visit a friend (by this time it was around 11) and found her and her husband wandering around in their pyjamas as the fog had also put paid to their day's plans. A cup of tea and a longish chat later and I was home, but by that time the edge had gone off my ambitions, so after cutting a load of firewood I took Seb for a nice long walk instead. Not that it shows as he is still as energetic as ever, sigh.

Once Smidgen comes back in, all will be well, one hopes.

At the tip I crossed paths with the local newsagent who was dropping off a big pile of unsold newspapers, so I persuaded him they should come home with me, and they are now folded (sans advertising material) in the box ready to keep the fire lit for the rest of winter. Always useful to have a supply on hand and mine was down to the last few sheets.

Winter in the community garden can be pretty slow at times. This morning we got there and looked at each other and thought - there's nothing to do! Since it was still icy cold, albeit sunny, we retired into the hydroponics shed and decided to pot up some seeds to sell at next month's market (or possibly the one after that, depending on how they go). So we put up several trays of peas, beans, onions, chillis, capsicums etc. While we were doing that we had to get into the other shed where we discovered that ten bales of straw had finally been delivered. We have been waiting some time for this delivery so that gave us something to do until lunch time. First we spread out the loose straw that Brady had mucked out of the chicken runs, then threw on some blood and bone, added biscuits of straw and watered the lot in. Both the food forest and the herb garden were given this treatment.

Then the children descended on us once more, and we were busy keeping them herded into the area they are supposed to be working in (as opposed to scattering around having water fights, flirting wildly and generally being un-engaged). Once they were doing what they should be doing (sort of) I chatted to their teacher about things they can be doing that do not involve actual gardening, so they will now be recording the height of their plants and the weather conditions prevailing during the week. It will be interesting to see their results.

Today's forecast was for a sunny day with winds from 14-25 kph. Perfect drying weather - yes? Well who-ever wrote the numbers down got them back to front as we had gusts from 40-50kph in the morning. Still I managed to get four loads done and mainly dried without losing anything to the bottom paddock, and I now have clothes to wear tomorrow (what a relief!).

The chicken dinner was lovely - well the breast meat was. The rest of the chicken was still raw when I tried to carve off a drumstick. So the whole lot went into the slowcooker today until it was falling apart and will hopefully not give me food poisoning when I eat some of it tonight. I plan to reheat it in gravy with some more baked veges as last night's potatoes were superb. No idea what variety they were, but they were fluffy and light and crunchy on the outside, so just right!

Apart from getting the washing done, the bed made up with clean sheets (I know, middle of the week, but what can a girl do?), there was little progress on anything else. Eric Newby is a seductive author, particularly when his subject matter is the Eastern Mediterranean.

Today was a lovely day for doing the washing - which desperately needs to be done. Unfortunately it was also a day when I had two cottages to clean, then, since it was noon, decided it was pointless doing washing that late in the day so I went to sewing instead.

The second cottage was left in total chaos - towels and bedding everywhere, and they lost a teeshirt in the pile of linen. This, together with the rather more expensive clothing I found hanging in the wardrobe has been folded neatly and placed in a pillow case pending recovery by the owners. If they don't I am now the proud owner of a rather nice quilted sleeveless top, a short-sleeved cotton shirt with a thin white pattern on a black background and a pair of black trousers. All my size :-). The teeshirt was not quite to my taste so can go into the Bargain Centre after a wash.

I managed to complete all but a few stitches in the wheat ear (four different shades of gold) so am feeling quite chuffed about that. Then I got home and dropped up the fire dogs I had promised Heather and suggested a way to use the fireplace that does not involve demolishing the brickwork and potentially causing more problems than are solved (place metal rods across between the fire dogs and use it as a grill, and a short section of railway track across the opening at the bottom to reduce the draft and so make the wood last longer).

Having finally got home, I discovered that the very dense piece of wood I placed on the fire this morning was still smouldering, so getting it going once more was the work of a moment. The chicken has had vast quantities of butter flavoured with garlic and thyme rubbed under the skin of its chest, the wings tied back and a lemon inserted in its belly and the lot placed in the baking dish along with some veges. The oven is heating and the lot will go into it as I set off for the bank to get that cleaned also. Hopefully when I get home I will have a nice baked dinner with some crispy chicken skin waiting to be served for dinner.

Sunshine and showers and the occasional flurry of snow was one the menu today. In the brief periods of sunshine I got out and cut some more wood - heavier pieces as yesterday I mainly cut up branch wood to provide the additional airflow necessary for a hot fire.

More cross stitch was achieved and I called up to the home of a friend with my patterns for the seasonal cross stitches. She wants to photocopy them with a view to making them herself. Her thread collection is more than likely up to the job of matching the requirements for the pattern, if she wants to do that. I suggested that instead of using the 16 gauge aida cloth she might consider the next size up to avoid going cross-eyed.

I have discovered that my pattern contains vast acreages of pale yellow, sewn with a single thread and only a half stitch, so I think I will leave that for sunnier weather when I can see what I am doing Meanwhile I am concentrating on an ear of wheat that will probably be finished some time in 2020.

The chicken has not defrosted yet. I have taken it out of the fridge and just put it out in the kitchen covered with a damp teatowel as the temperature in there is around 10 degrees. Hopefully it will be a baked dinner, if not tomorrow night (which is a bank-cleaning night) then the night after.

Tonight, instead, it will be cumberland sausages with mash and gravy

After fourteen degrees today we are expecting 7 tomorrow - no wonder people get flu at this time of year! I cut a barrow of smaller wood up today in anticipation but will need to cut some bigger bits tomorrow between snow showers. The galeforce winds that are bringing the cold change up from the Antarctic seem to be dropping a bit now, but we are still getting some very powerful gusts.

I tried to track down the mothers of the girls today as they both work in the same place, but it being a public holiday they were both at home. So I messaged them on FB and they got straight back to me. Talk about different parenting styles. One has instructed her daughter to block me (I hope she simply means 'unfriend' but who knows) while the other is perfectly happy to let her daughters remain on my list and communicate with them. Apparently they have only had FB for a few months and their mother is monitoring their use closely. Anyway, my conscience is now clear and both mothers seem pleased that I let them know.

My friend moved in up the road today, so I popped up at lunchtime with a thermos of hot water, tea bags, sugar and milk (as well as some spare mugs) so that she had the option of a cuppa. We sat and drank it while discussing the next step in the process. I will be rummaging around to see if I can find some old sheets as she does not want to put curtains up till she has painted the walls (and who can blame her). So I told her to make the bed before she does anything so she can collapse into it when she finds herself in need, checked she had firewood of the right size available to her, and left her to it. All the heavy lifting was already under control so it was really just a case of sorting through the boxes and working out what to put where - something that is best done solo, I find.

Apart from that I did very little other than a bit of cross-stitch. I will be reheating some pork Hung Shao for dinner (I ate both chops last night - how naughty is that!), and giving the chicken in the fridge a bit of a stir along to get it defrosted for cooking tomorrow. I think I will have a roast, but will need to get some veges in.  Then the leftovers can be shredded into a mornay or some such thing, and the bones reserved for stock.

Turns out the birthday party was actually for someone turning ninety. The guests were her descendents...... They breed prolifically in these parts. Must be a rocking granny as there was evidence of excessive alcohol consumption strewn around the recreation area this morning!

It was damp on and off today and the rain has just started once more. As a result I spent much of the day indoors and have made considerable progress on the counted cross stitch (about a square centimetre.....). I also finally got around to cooking the baked Hungarian Pork Chops which are flavoured with caraway seeds, paprika and cayenne pepper and topped with sour cream for the last 15 minutes of cooking. This is the one I have not eaten yet - the first one was carved up and consumed straight from the oven and tasted delicious.

They were cooked in the two parts of my other le Creuset dish - which is a sort of fry pan/cum/casserole dish with lid. This is the frypan/lid portion of it.

I have also rescued a frozen chook from the freezer and am planning what to do with it once it defrosts. Not sure yet, but I am sure it will be delicious - it will have to be as it is quite  a huge chook and it will provide several meals.

Tomorrow is a public holiday so no bank to clean, and since it will be raining again I will probably do some more sewing to pass the time. I have finished Swallows and Amazons and am now starting on Eric Newby's collection of stories 'On the Shores of the Mediterranean' which will be entertaining as he is a great travel writer.

When next I start to talk yearningly about a glass of red, will someone please remind me that it makes me wake up at three in the morning in a very bad mood? I keep forgetting. It's not as if the red I treated myself to was worth it either - not even good enough to cook with, on reflection. Oh well - good thing I rarely have a bottle.

I woke once more at around 7:30 to a grey drizzly day that really didn't get much better. It did clear for long enough to top up the wood supply a bit, but since it is actually only necessary to have a fire because it is wet, rather than because it is cold, I expect I will not get to sleep easily tonight either.

One of the down-the-road neighbours is celebrating his sixtieth birthday down at the recreation shed tonight. The grounds are crammed with vehicles (most people around here have very extended families who all live locally - and no smart remarks about Tasmanians, thank you very much!) and has been filling up since mid morning. Walking the dogs has, as a consequence required a little planning, and we have explored parts of the recreation ground that we don't normally go to unless i am chasing Seb when he gets off leash. We did go for a longer walk along the track down the side of the road in mid-afternoon during a brief spell of sunshine, but otherwise it has been 'confined to quarters' for all of us given the weather.

Well the cold tap in the kitchen gave up this morning and refused to work, but the rest of them were fine. I am not sure it got as cold last night as they forecast - must check (nope it was still more than minus three - must be the goosedown doona). Since it was supposed to be minus four, I invited Seb onto the bed, but he gave me up at around three and went back to sleeping on the sofa - apparently I take up too much space .....

We had the community garden today and I set off only a few minutes late, only to arrive and find that Syche was not coming after all. So I watered my plants in the polytunnel and wandered around checking things and was about to leave when four of the year seven/eight students turned up to tell me that they (and a few of their classmates) would be bringing their buddies from prep over to plant some seedlings. The buddies are around five years old and had planted some seeds in containers in the class room. Spent some time sorting their clumps of five million carrot seedlings into rows and chatting to them, then they went back to class and were replaced by more hordes.

While re-arranging the rubbish tins someone found a dead chook in a plastic shopping bag (must talk to Brady about biological waste disposal, this is becoming a habit), so I took that to the tip between onslaughts and returned in time for the other classes that we usually have. They also came over in smaller groups, and only to weed and water their individual plots so it was not as full-on as it has been for the last few weeks. The four original students however seem to have told their teacher they wanted to spend the afternoon in the garden (they do seem to tell the teachers what they want to do and get permission to do it, which seems a little odd), and so we had to keep them amused weeding a bed. After we finally drove them off, we recovered the plants that were uprooted and replanted them (they should be fine as the soil is moist and they were only out for a short period of time), so the student whose garden they weeded will not notice they were disturbed.

Then home to light the fire and hopefully warm the place up before it gets too chilly. At least tonight we are aiming for plus three, not minus three, which is a blessing.

Despite being minus five overnight I was pleased to find that the taps were running this morning when I went to fill the kettle. You can imagine my surprise when, having completed my morning shower, walked the dogs, pottered around, etc, I went to turn on a tap at ten this morning (by which time the temperature had staggered up to one degree), and discovered the pipes had frozen - almost. I managed to get them running again by some judicious turning on of the taps in sequence (the laundry tap is the last to freeze, for some odd reason).

They have revised tonight's forecast down to minus four (previously minus three), so I am expecting I won't have running water in the morning - two consecutive frosts seem to do the trick. So in preparation for the day I will be filling the odd receptacle so I can heat water on the fire etc to have something like some ablutions in the morning.

Cleaning a cottage and cutting some firewood were the priorities today, and both were completed successfully. So glad I don't have to go clean the bank tonight though!! I was supposed to be paid today also, but it seems Brad was a little delayed so it was not there for me to collect. I am debating whether to run into town to see if it is there before dark, which will allow me to call into our new bottle shop and collect a bottle of red (for the hare, you understand).

I also dug out my goosedown doona and aired it on the line for a couple of hours, then brought it in and aired it in front of the fire to dry it out (very moist cold air today), and it is now on the bed, along with the winter quilt which will be lovely tonight. Not so lovely in three nights time when they are forecasting an overnight temperature of 8 degrees, which is a bit tropical for this time of year.

Another chilly night to look forward to tonight. I did manage to get two loads of washing done and  most of it is dry, though there is a clothes horse festooned with slightly damp jeans in the loungeroom at present. I also cut a smallish bit of wood as supplies were running low.

This morning I went to have a look at a cottage on Oatlands that is on the market for $149,000, but since it is a deceased estate it would probably go for less if you were able to make a good offer. It had a skillion built on the back in the 1960s which is rather low (the roof of the porch is below chin level when you stand out the back). Since it contains the bathroom and kitchen and both need work in a fairly major way, it would be tricky to get building approval for the necessary alterations. The original cottage was a two room Georgian cottage whose owners extended it when funds (and family) extended, so the rear wall of that extension contains two beautiful little windows with really deep sills. One of the windows remains (but presumably faces into the back of the lining in the bathroom), and the other has been removed to make a hatch from the kitchen into the dining room - all lined out in that nasty boarding stuff that was popular in the 1960s. The window beside the fireplace in the loungeroom has clearly not been opened for a very long time (the cord for the television aerial passes though a hole drilled into the bottom of the lower sash) and the window itself is about three inches shorter than the opening it occupies (the gap is stuffed with insulation batting). A bit more work than I could face with limited funds - but a nice fantasy. It has several sheds also, and the large back yard faces onto another street so could be subdivided off if you could pay for the surveying and planning approvals. Sigh.

I had planned to convert to the goose-down doona today, but that didn't get done for various reasons, and will have to wait for tomorrow now.

Last week at Quilting we were talking about the fact that the Tuesday group is temporarily meeting at the home of another friend while Caroline (their usual hostess) is away. We thought it would be a great idea to go out there en masse to check out her new girl-shed and spend a happy few hours sewing. Due to one of us having commitments that would keep her busy till lunchtime, we were going to go for the afternoon only - perhaps three hours. The bit of the conversation I missed (or rather failed to factor into these plans) was that Tuesday group was meeting on Mondays to suit her appointment schedule. So you can imagine my surprise when a few friends turned up at the back door ready to carry me off today. 'Isn't it Monday?' blinks me, having horrors I might have missed a day somewhere. Once we had that sorted out, I picked up my counted cross stitch and away we went.

The weather has continued cold, though this morning was so sunny I was nearly lulled into doing a load or two of washing (which would not have been a good outcome given the way the day panned out), but by the time we got to our destination it was more cloudy and a few flurries of snow put in brief appearances. Then some of that gorgeous miniature hail we get here in Tassie. The three hours dragged into around five hours, however - and would have gone on longer when our first drop-off suggested we all go in for a drink -  so by the time I got home I barely had time to re-light the fire, take the poor dogs for a quick gallop around the oval and off to clean the bank. The fire is now chugging away nicely, and hopefully tonight will not be quite so chilly as last night. I will, however, lay in water supplies before bedtime as the windscreen of the ute was already freezing by the time i came home.


The dead vacuum cleaner has been replaced by one that would suck a hole in the carpet if you left it still for too long. Takes a bit of getting used to I have to say as the last one was rather leisurely. But the carpet has not looked this good in some time. The down side is it has replaceable bags (the other one had a cloth bag you just emptied from time to time), and they neglected to leave a supply of replacements. I expect the current one will last some time since it at least has an open mouth for easy emptying, but give the quantity of paperclips, staples and other sharp objects I pick up each evening, I will be needing a replacement at some time in the future so will place an order now.