Another forecast gone awry - the winds this morning were far from mild, but at least the only washed garment that fell to the ground was a pair of jeans. Spent the day fending off the neighbours' chooks once again as apparently they feel the need to let them run free once more. I will be calling Council in the morning if they are not penned up tonight. They also seem to have been doing odd things with their pigs judging by the squeals that have been emanating from the place. I suspect the sow they had in the shed has been returned to the yard the rest of them are in, and pigs being somewhat territorial, they are giving her a hard time.

At least the washing got done, but it was far too windy to contemplate outdoor activity other than that, and walking the dogs. Once the bank is cleaned I will be home for dinner and hopefully some response from the UK.

It seems the letting agents have once again demonstrated their commitment to working for the tenant not the land lady. In response to my enquiry as to what my rights of access are they phoned the tenant, not me, and negotiated a deal with her, on my behalf, which basically lets the tenant do precisely what she wants to do - with at any time attempting to find out what I wanted her to do (i.e permit two inspections, while she is at work, during the next week).

Needless to say I was ropeable, so I decided to clean the cottage before drafting my response (which was icily politely scathing). We do, at least have clarity as to what access will be possible next week, if not this week, so I suppose that is a step forward. I did point out to the letting agent that the tenant's refusal to play the game had cost us two months of marketting time and that I was not happy at all.

I will await her response with interest.

So the cottages were cleaned and then I went to visit a friend who offered me a soothing beer. So soothing in fact that I bought a six-pack on my way home and am presently enjoying my second beer of the day. I will soak it up with leftover pork and mash to avoid ill effects.

The sunny mild day seems to have deteriorated to cloudy overcast and threatening (but inevitably not falling) rain and a chilly breeze - despite this it is apparently 14 degrees out there - who knew. It is warm enough inside to not have to bother with a fire which is good. And with only 9 degrees expected overnight it is unlikely to get much cooler inside the house.

The situation with the tenant is complicated by the fact that if the agent enters the house prior to the final inspection I will have no leg to stand on if the inspection finds problems with the way the house has been left (who is responsible for what, and all that). I have emailed the tenant and pointed out that she can have no reasonable objection to inspections being carried out when she is at work as this will not impact on her preparations or time with her child - after all, it is she who has set herself this unreasonable deadline, not me. I await a response.

Meanwhile back at the ranch I very much enjoyed my pork in cider, cream and mushroom sauce, and will be having it for dinner again tonight. The three cottages I had to clean today were relatively easy, though one had a missing tap handle (now fixed) and a pile of dirty dishes left for my delectation. This was eased somewhat by watching Antique Roadshow on the telly as I worked. Three more tomorrow as apparently her next door is otherwise occupied. It must be nice to have sufficient money to forego work for social commitments, sigh.

There is to be a function down at the recreation ground this evening and they are busy setting up at present. Fortunately nothing for me to do as they obtained their key from their father and the place was left in good condition by the last users.

Time to put my feet up, once the dogs have their final walk for the day.

So totally over being a nice landlady - the tenant has informed me she just doesn't have the time to make herself available for house inspections (frankly I would rather she was not present during them) and that since she will be removing her possessions by 5 December (lease ends 12 December) she will 'let the agent know' when the house is available after that date. This is particularly annoying as apparently there has been a strong response of interested buyers, but they will all go elsewhere if they are unable to go look at the place properly.

So I have referred her latest email to the agent for his advice on strategy. She has apparently not been returning their calls in the mean time. Cow!

It was another chilly day here today, though no snow!! a total of 3mm out of all the various forms of precipitation. I lit the fire then regretted doing so as it warmed up. So I let it go out whereupon it became cold once more. At least the pork shoulder is thawing nicely, so I will pop the casserole on before heading in to clean the bank, and dinner will be ready on my return.

The forecast was mildly optimistic with 9.7 being briefly achieved around noon. Mid afternoon it was 0.3 which is pretty chilly by most people's standards. The fire was lit as soon as I got home from cleaning the cottages and has stayed on all afternoon - a condition that will continue till bedtime methinks!

I decided the dogs would have to make do on the local dogfood for another week as a trip to Hobart seemed a bit extravagant when that was all that was required. I will get some of their preferred food next week when I am solvent. Meanwhile, I am hoping tomorrow warms up a bit as it is our day in the Garden. Not looking forward to that one bit!

I bought the ingredients for pork in cider casserole, but have not put it on as I had rather a large dinner. It will go on either tomorrow or Saturday depending on my schedule. I may also save the luscious chops I was planning to use and get out a boned shoulder from the freezer so that I use up some of my longer-term stored food. Basically it is pork, mushrooms, cider and a bit of cream with various herbs added in the cooking process. Sounds pretty nice and the Bulmers' cider was on special at $3.99 for 500ml, which means there should be a glass left over for the cook! Tonight I will reprise lamb chops and mash with peas as that was pretty tasty and is easy to cook on top of the wood burner.

Lots of howling gales today but not much in the way of rain, sadly. The neighbour's paddock seems to be migrating to Orford at present with lots of dust in the air. With ten degrees forecast for tomorrow I have to assume this wind will be bringing up said weather as it is quite warm outside at present.

I had only one cottage to deal with today, and that unexpected, so went into sewing and dissected the sleeve seams of a new nightgown to make it a little more comfy. It had a bound edge which was quite tight - so much so that pulling my hand out resulted in the sleeve turning inside out. It now has a placket on each seam so should be more comfy.

Cut some firewood in anticipation of tomorrow, though since i will be cleaning two more cottages and also taking a run to Hobart to get some dog food (the locally available stuff does not seem to agree with their digestive systems), I will not be needing the fire much before late afternoon anyway.

A bank to clean tonight then home to bake one of those yummy pork chops for dinner - the lamb chops are wonderfully tender and I had two of them with mash and peas for dinner last night which was very tasty!

The house in the UK is finally on the market - what with stroppy tenants, ridiculous proof I am who I am requirements and a sales agent going on parental leave it has taken a while, but here you go:

https://www.your-move.co.uk/property/house-for-sale-st-leonards-avenue-chatham-me4-id-528427722/search

Anyone moving over there to work, the house is 12 minutes from the Station, fast train to London and two corner stores depending on which way you walk home from the station. Bus to Maidstone is one street over and there are several greenspaces within strolling distance! Tescos and a fruit market down the hill, Aldi up the hill, and Waitrose delivers. How could you resist?

I made little progress on the room today as I was knackered this morning. I loaded the chairs onto the ute to go to the tip (and loaded quite a bit more onto the ute as well), shifted the spare shelving into the spare room, placed the second new chair in its proper place and then Heather and I set off for Campbell Town for an afternoon out. Lots of window-shopping, and the only purchases were some second hand clothes and some meat from the butcher there. As it was a hot day and I had anticipated this, I had taken my chilly bag to get it home safely. It is now in the fridge and will be in the freezer before bedtime I hope. I will keep some out however as we are anticipating snow to 400 metres now on Thursday and I will presumably be needing a hot meal to keep me going. Meanwhile I clearly have firewood to cut before bedtime tomorrow.

Busy day here today. It started with me deciding to proceed further with the kitchen cleanout - removing contents from cupboards, cleaning said cupboards, putting back what belonged there and getting rid of superfluous stuff that has been kept 'just in case' etc. Stopped for a cuppa and discovered I had a text from Heather saying she had changed her mind and did not want her chair - did I? Of course I said yes, but that left me with a bit of a predicament because - where would it go? I had intended to have them either side of a coffee table flanking the window, but discovered that put one of them far too close to the heat of the fire and in direct sunlight when the blind was up, but then I realised I could put the coffee table in the corner (where the bookshelves were) and move the bookshelves around, and the sofa around and ... so it went on. The sofa has been in bubble wrap since i arrived to protect it from the horrors of camping in a partly renovated house - it has now emerged, as has the coffee table I made some years ago. The latter has been waxed again also, and I found a timber trivet in one of the drawers that is currently serving as a coaster as I suspect I threw out the coasters under the impression I didn't need them (sigh).

 The end result is a room with the carpet going the wrong way (I will need to rotate it, but not tonight or I might collapse, lol), and a piece of furniture that no longer has a home (the shelves). It will come in handy in the shed when it is built so will not get thrown out - the challenge will be finding somewhere to park it in the mean time.

The great pile of building materials is occupying the wall to the right so it can not go there as the wall is already 18 inches out of sight, so I am thinking the spare room if I can find a spot.

The cushions on the sofa looked pretty grim compared to the pristine surface of the sofa, so they went into the washing machine and I have put a  throw over the back to protect it in the mean time. The spare chair will go to the right of the one under its stripey protective blanket, facing toward the shelves that need a new home.
After all that I really needed a long hot soak in a tub, but I had to go clean the bank instead. But I am now home, and planning to put up my feet for the rest of the evening, have a shower and go to bed. Phew!

Esther is unsure if she approves of the new arrangements.

 Before I embark on today's tales - here is the set of bellows that I picked up yesterday while rummaging through the boxes Heather was given. They will look a little more stylish when the fireplace has an actual mantel piece of course!

I had next to no sleep last night due to the weather - too hot to have the bedding on, not hot enough to have it off. I finally nodded off around two this morning after several false starts.

So you can imagine how I felt when the alarm went of at six to start my day at the Garage Sales.

Still I managed to get a load of washing done (the shirts and nightgowns of yesterday's score) an on the line as well as walking the dogs before Heather arrived twenty minutes early (argh! No breakfast!) just the weetbix were soaking up the milk, sigh.

 One of my purchases today was one of those dog beds that consists of a metal frame with a hessian bag over it to make a hammock. Shadow had one when he was a wee fellow but it fell apart as he got bigger. This one is sturdier, but actually purchased with Seb in mind as Seb is, of course a smaller dog. Shadow didn't care and climbed aboard anyway, even if he did spill over the edges somewhat. (You will note that they had fun tearing up a cardboard pizza base in my absence).

 This delightful object set me back five dollars - no idea of its original intention - it looks like a work basket for a keen knitter - certainly not one for someone who sews.

It is lined blue satin with a rouched overlay of hailstone muslin. There is a handle missing on the bottom drawer, but that is easily fixed, and a coat of paint will make it look a little prettier I think.

 Here it is with the bottom drawer open - also lined as you can see. Pity the lining is stained in parts, but you can't help bad luck.

 This mysterious object is a tool bag. It is placed over a bucket, as you can see, and your smaller tools and tape measures etc sit in the pockets around the outside. Larger tools, boxes of fixings etc go inside for ease of carrying around a selection of what you will as you are working. I spotted one of my tradies using one and have looked for them everywhere, so I was rather pleased to pick this one up for seven dollars!

The tins of paint were a total of one dollar, and as you can see from the dribbles are in two shades of blue - they will be good for the cane basket I think!

This beautiful chair is very well made indeed with a timber frame and sprung upholstery - it will be an elegant addition to the loungeroom once the loungeroom is no longer a storage shed for building materials, and that hole in the wall is fixed! The front feet are cabriole in three parts - so the middle curvy bit and a wing to each side. Some of the wings are broken or missing, but I have enough there to model new ones one if I spend a day at the Mens Shed (I will need to work out what the timber is and see if I can source some bits).

Rather disconcertingly it has rather a large quantity of cat fur in the corners (you would think they would vacuum it before putting it up for sale). It was part of a suite that consisted of two chairs and a very petite two-seater couch. Since Heather also wanted a chair we talked the vendor into selling us the chairs separately at ten dollars each. Once the legs are fixed and I get it steam cleaned (which is on the list for my sofa as well) it will look rather nice in the loungeroom. Meanwhile I have covered it with a rug to protect it from further depredations.

I am, of course, quite exhausted by all this running around - I cooked some chow mein for dinner which was nice, and brought in the last of the loads of washing I got done this afternoon after settling my purchases in their temporary homes and I think I can be pretty sure of an early night tonight!

The rain was but a passing fancy - totalling one mm in all. Oh well - it is all gone now as the wind today has been rather strong.

I headed into town to clean the cottages and spotted  a sign for  a Garage Sale - we are having a Whole Town garage sale tomorrow, but this one started a day early as they have lots to get rid of, having been clearing out sheds.

After finishing work I wandered in thinking I would have a poke around - I was pleased to find a rather nice gravy boat - white with a dark cobalt blue band and a thinner one in gold. The handle has some raised ornament on the crest so it is interesting even if not valuable. As I was leaving I spotted  a large plastic tool box for $40.00 which sounded a lot for just the box, but rather ridiculously cheap if it included the tools in it. It did include the tools, so that came home too. It is a rather eclectic collection of tools - some utterly useless, but many of them very useful indeed - clearly the owner was a bit of a home fixit man - a reel of solder, various sorts of pliers and pincers of the more unusual variety, a mixed lot of screwdrivers - two Stanley shifters (10"), a variety of socket wrenches and spanners, a set of jewellers screw drivers (very handy as I have lost mine somewhere) and so forth. Not to mention three 7and a quarter (or is it a half?) disc blades for a circular saw (though unfortunately not for my circular saw which takes 6" blades).

So I was feeling rather chuffed as I fought my way into the house past greeting dogs while grappling for my phone that was ringing at the same time. Turned out Heather had got even luckier as she was supposed to be running a stall for her occasional boss, but said boss had decided not to bother after all due to the wind. So she gave Heather the lot for the Bargain Centre.

Heather duly brought it all home in her ute (good thing she has a ute!) and we loaded it all into her dining room before rummaging with gay abandon. Good thing we did as some of the stuff is way too good for the Bargain Centre - being collectible retro china, art glass etc. The real find in all the boxes was a selection of very elegant night attire - remember those sheer nylon nighties - the ones with a layer of printed fabric overlaid by sheet nylon - with frilly bits etc? You have no idea how many we found - some with negligees to go with them. Lots of housecoats as well - I pinched one set in cotton, but the rest, along with the stylish '60s high fashion wear will be going to a market stall elsewhere for selling to people who will appreciate them for their retro style. I also scored some nice cotton shirts, a wrap skirt (full length, African print), a set of wall-mounted scales, a spatula (the flexible sort you can no longer get anywhere) and so forth. Wrapt! Unfortunately the two sets of swimwear, despite being marked my size, are clearly designed for someone with either a shorter body length or thinner waist - oh well.

Also a set of bellows for the fireplace - purely ornamental since it is a wood-burner, but since they actually work they may yet come in handy when the 'office' is set up, as there is an open fire in there.

We are both getting up at the crack of dawn to go into the remaining Garage sales tomorrow morning - best to get in early in case we spot something worth having.

There was a most unusual sound on the roof up until five minutes ago - I think they call it rain. It was nice while it lasted, but seems to have decided not to stick around. Still - better some than none.

The extra 8 gig of download is now installed so I can be reasonably coherent once more - now if I could only sort out the erratic signal so easily.

Day in the garden and Syche actually put in an appearance - we got through a fair bit with me hard at work on the whipper snipper and her trailing along behind with rake and broom - we also managed to weed several garden beds and when the students arrived we made them weed their gardens also, while adding some new seedlings. So it was looking pretty good by the time we left.

I will post the link when I get it, for the house, so you can have a look for yourselves and decide if you want to invest in the  UK property market, lol. Hope someone does, but I doubt there will be any offers before Christmas - fingers crossed it goes well.

The whole idea of afternoon naps seems to have escaped Seb. Granted I rarely take one so I guess he does not have much experience with these ideas, but surely seeing me in bed every night gives him a bit of an idea of what my purpose is when I lie down on the bed at any time. Apparently not.

The nap became essential as it has been hot, humid and windy today - that combined with seasonal hay fever has reduced my energy levels somewhat, and this has been compounded by the slow internet speeds which are frustrating my efforts to communicate with England. So much so I have bought an extra 8Gig of download for the month (my usual usage allowance is 8gig, so this will double it), as things are getting fraught in the UK.

The tenant has given notice for early December and I am trying to respond to her, the letting agent (who are pursuing her to repaint the wall she painted red, but which turned out a lot more attractive than it sounded - and which I would rather stayed red than half-assed overpainted magnolia), and send paperwork to the sales agent. All of these are presently constipated in my out-box of the email and there seems little chance that will improve when I look at the weather forecast (I know, but around here weather, download speed and internet service are intimately inter-related).

So the frustration levels being what they were, I decided to take the dogs for a walk. We got as far as the gate at the bottom of the lane and Seb found a snake - not a big one, but big enough. So we came home and I sat and twitched for a while before having a cup of Calming Tea and trying to have a lie-down. Which is where we came in.

Seb's feelings are that if I am lying on my side on the bed in the middle of the day this is an invitation to play. So any protruding part (nose, hand, arm etc) can be licked with enthusiasm, nudged with the nose and then held in an awkward position by clamping it between two front feet (he uses them as hands). Or a combination of the three. He doesn't care.

The attempt at a nap lasted half and hour. Now I want Icecream.....

I had decided to avoid sewing today to ensure I did not get engaged in any shouting matches with anyone who thought it was a good idea to send ground troops to Syria, or to ban all Syrian refugees. But then I realised that one of us was hosting another of those cooking demonstrations and that perhaps I should go since I had promised to buy something. So I compromised. I had to go in to make up an envelope at the cottages (though it turned out Annie had already done this), so I popped my head in the door as they arrived, asked for an order form, placed my order and left again, heading home for a day in the garden

Then I received a message from the boss telling me we were to get a linen delivery so I headed back in once more to unpack the linen onto the shelves and returned to sewing since it was about time the food would be cooked - it was and it was rather tasty. They had porcupines for first course and date pudding for dessert - all very nice. Then I snuck off once more before the conversation turned to more general subjects and headed home to walk the dogs again.

Cleaning the bank tonight was pretty straight forward as they had had the carpet cleaned and so most of the floors were pretty well clear of clutter (saves on vacuuming time), and now I am home once more.

Be warned that my internet service has been slowed once more - I have no  idea how I did it but I have managed to get through the month's allocation in less than two weeks. There must have been some very sizeable updates in the system or something  - who knows. It will not be back to normal till 6 December, so my presence here may well be erratic if the weather is patchy.

Oh look at that - it's Tuesday and I forgot to post yesterday - sorry. I had three cottages to deal with, including the one the Misery was occupying. Apparently it met with their satisfaction -they took two towels as souvenirs - that's gonna cost them!

It was  a lovely warm day yesterday so getting the work done was no trial, and it was nice to get home and put my feet up for a couple of hours before heading in to clean the bank. I was glad to get home after all that lot, so it was good to have a wee sleepin this morning.

The dogs, cats and I spent much of today loafing as the weather was cool and overcast and breezy - so much so I lit the fire with the predictable result that the 22 degrees that they had promised us turned up at three in the afternoon - oh well.

Two cottages to clean today also - a surprise as I do not normally clean on Sundays. I don't normally clean on Mondays either, but apparently I am doing three tomorrow.

I was just finishing up (eating an icecream I had found in the freezer of one of the fridges) when some incoming guests arrived somewhat early. She was wandering along in a miasma of disgruntledness - utterly committed to having the worst possible time.

I greeted them and directed them to the checkin area, apologising for having a mouthful of icecream that had to be attended to before it melted down my arm - her response - we had a terrible time finding the place (it is on the high street, clearly marked with the street number and beside another building which also has a clearly marked number). Then - so how do we check in. I licked the melting icecream up and showed them to the area I had already directed them to, explained the need to open the envelope for their code and then open the key safe for their key. They tried to open the clearly marked Key Return box, so I then showed them the key safe (again, clearly marked, immediately above the key return box). They struggled with the idea of rolling the numbers over, so I did that for them then left it open so they could at least get the key out for themselves. 'where can we park the car?' (they were standing beside the car park.), should we move the car before we unpack? So I pointed out the merits of both options...... After further directions to their accommodation (they were standing in front of the site plan) I took advantage of their turned backs and fled the scene. One getting home I texted the boss to let him know he was sure to be getting complaints from them, but they had already been in touch. The accommodation had a terrible 'vibe' and they wanted a refund. He referred them to the booking agent's policy on 'vibes'.... Then they said it was haunted and they wanted another room. It was too small for them (triple the size of a normal hotel room). He upgraded them to the main house for an additional fee. Then they said they had paid less for accommodation in Hobart (they must have stayed in a caravan park!) and so on and so forth. Apparently the Main House is not haunted, and their only complaint was a small mark on the hand towel in the bathroom (they must have gone through the place with a fine toothcomb, so it was a good thing I did a good job). To be frank, if any part of the place is haunted it would be the main house - I get uneasy in the loungeroom sometimes - so I am rather hoping some ghosties and ghoulies do their worst tonight.

So no washing done today as I was busy and probably none done tomorrow either, sigh. Hope it is fine and sunny (and light winds) on Tuesday but I suspect it won't be.

Two cottages to clean today - it was a mizzly overcast, not-quite-rainy day so not much fun really. I was done fairly early thanks to two early checkouts, which was a good thing as those coming into one of the cottages wanted an early checkin and I was away before they got there.

Apart from that, not terribly much has been done around the place as I have been following the terrible events in Paris on and off, and praying for those involved.

So the grand total was 9.5mm which laid the dust but did little more. One can but hope we get some more - a nice follow-up rain within the week would be good, especially if we can manage to avoid the dry hot winds that usually follow rain at this time of year.

It was supposed to be 17 today but it was a lot chillier than that for most of the day - as a consequence I finally cracked and lit the fire this afternoon with predictable results. It is now rather cosy indoors....

A large owl was being mobbed by ravens in the tree next door this morning - it kept me occupied for some time, but I finally managed to drive off the ravens - the owl was as big as they were, but two against one (and ravens are firm believers in team work) was just not fair - I presume the owl was out and about in daylight and that bothered the  ravens.

A few items acquired at the Bargain Centre (for a total outlay of $1.50) means I now have two new blouses and a cotton knitted jumper in a lovely deep gold colour (the jumper, not the blouses - they were black and grey/gold and blue-and-white-striped).

It rained! Well, it was wet all day at any rate - about 7 mm in total last time I checked. It will bring on my lawn just when I had hoped it would not grow again this summer, but will not do the farmers any good. One of them at least has started culling stock to the scandalised horror of some of the more citified of my neighbours. At least he isn't leaving them to become skin and bones like the horrors we used to see in the '70s down Carlton way.

After cleaning the two cottages I brought home some ingredients and started cooking the various layers of the lasagne - it has just come out of the oven and looks rather tasty, so I am looking forward to eating it tonight. I made a very large one (90cm pan) so it will be cut into squares and popped in the freezer for future use.

The potato and Kale soup was divine, and I am going to be cooking it again tomorrow night for a filling dinner (well, filling once I add a bread roll to the mix).

Well I must have been tired (or the cooler weather has made it easier to sleep) as it was 7:45 when I opened my eyes this morning. I have found a recipe for a potato and kale soup which will help me dispatch some of the leftovers - it has a couple of eggs poached in it which adds even more nutrition! Parmesan and olive oil on top - sounds good. Hope it tastes good.

I was, of necessity, a little late arriving at sewing and had not even got in the door when I was waylaid to go to the local medical centre to push wheelchairs up to the memorial service. I ended up with Vera who used to live up the road and make my life hell when she was the Secretary of the hall committee. Clearly living in the aged care facility has softened her edges as we had a nice chat on the way over and back. All the carers parked their patients and went to sit elsewhere, but I was a bit nervous about how effective the brakes might be and stayed with them. I am glad I did as many of the carers took the time to mix and mingle socially after the service, leaving their poor patients like stranded fish waiting to be taken home for lunch. Easy to fall into the assumption they are just a wheelchair, but they are humans too! It was a nice service, if a little overcrowded with Liberal politicians - I had a quiet chuckle to myself when I noticed Will Hodgeman in a red tie (to coordinate with his poppy). He must have borrowed it from one of the Labor pollies.

Had chats with various local Councillors and such like, then back to sewing where I did nothing but chat all afternoon. Then an early departure and back to walk the dogs, read my book and gird up my loins to go clean the bank.

Cleaning the bank took rather longer than anticipated last night as I ran into the boss of the cottages when I arrived and we had a powwow about the linen situation. The company that has been supplying us seemed to have a monopoly but he has finally found an alternate source. The question was - how do we transition from one company to another without getting confused about whose linen belonged to whom. I suggested that since the Bothwell cottages are only newly set up and the cleaners have no idea what they are doing, he should simply remove all the old linen from there and bring it down here for us to use, leaving them with a single source of linen. Then the more experienced cleaners (i.e. us) can sort something out, such a making up each cottage with all one set of linen until we are running low on the older supplies, then marking off each cottage as being fully the new linen company from there on in, till we have only the one, single bed cottage left to use up the spares in. All very complex and took some working out as, while we were doing that, he was loading up his car with linen for the Bothwell cottages and I was rifling through the bags for stuff we needed here and stacking it away. We also agreed that since the new company will only deliver once a week I should place our orders on a Wednesday and stack it on the Thursday since I work those two consecutive days, and it then gives me a bit more work to compensate for Annie getting four days to my three. Then on to the bank and, (phew) to the Roxy in time to get my bottle of milk.

We had the Twilight Fair at the School today where we had a stall for the Garden. This required us to be in at two to pick and bundle veges and set up our table for a four thirty opening. Two cabbages, a bag of silver beet, multiple bundles of spinach and kale as well as rhubarb and bags of broad beans were our offerings. I have leftover kale, spinach and rhubarb to deal with now. I am thinking kale and bean soup, lasagne and frozen rhubarb should help to get through it all.

Feeling rather weary, but then I hate having to talk endless natter to semi-strangers and persuade them to buy stuff. I was relatively restrained myself, buying four stamps (santa claus butterflies and a dragonfly) to make cards with, and some muffins, two dvds that look vaguely interesting and that's about it.

By bedtime last night poor Shadow was really hobbling, and I went to sleep having conversations with myself about vet visits. Fortunately this morning he was back on track, though still a little tender. I suspect he hurt his shoulder somehow yesterday and it is still a bit painful.

Twenty eight degrees and sweltering. Our internet signal disappeared for several hours - it was showing as present but refused to allow access, either on the phone or the computer. Very strange and rather annoying.

I had another email from Dulux and they have given up on trying to fob me off - they now want the contact details of my contractor. I will ask Gavin if he minds me giving them his number and then leave it to them to sort out a visit by their technician (which is their motive for asking for his contact info).

I will be cleaning the bank tonight - hoping the Roxy has fresh milk as I don't want to buy two litres of milk that will be off in three days (their current batch). If not I will get a smaller carton to get me through breakfast tomorrow and get some real stuff tomorrow when they resupply.

The potato bake last night was .... interesting. Unfortunately I don't have any very tasty cheese. And the white sauce I had intended to make ended up being two eggs whipped through some milk as I couldn't be fagged using more utensils than were entirely necessary.

Three cottages to deal with today, but since there was no-one checking in tonight I was able to do some of the chores that tend to get overlooked - like a really detailed clean in the nooks and crannies of things, lifting the seats on the sofa and vacuuming underneath - you know the drill. With only three hours between checkout and checkin there is a limit to what can be achieved if all beds have been slept in and you run into problems with taps falling off (I fixed two today).

I was looking at the hearth as I cleaned one of the rooms and thought - I really like those tiles. The hearth in three of my rooms are in a state of disrepair - one totally disintegrated which will require considerable thought, another just breaking up and the one in the bedroom breaking up and partially missing. Unfortunately it also has some fairly large rocks immediately under the thin layer of cement (the thinness causing the breakup), and so working out how to deal with it has taxed me for some time. But the nice deep green 6x3 inch tiles on the hearth in the cottage made me realise this does not have to be a problem - so a sheet of cement board and some tiles will be the fix for that hearth at least! Probably not on a hearth where the fire will be used for fear of breaking them when I drop logs, but in the bedroom where the fire is not intended for use they will be very nice. Another thing to add to the list.

Late home and a visit from Heather and a long chat so the dogs were crossing their legs rather tightly by the time we got out for a walk. We went further afield to compensate, but poor Shadow found it a bit taxing and was hobbling on the way home. Both are not comatose which is good as I am not sure I could cope with a bouncy dog tonight.

Sheesh - the people at Dulux are presumably familiar with dealing with complete morons - either that or they are trying to wriggle out of their responsibilities (now why would I think that?).

Here is part of their response to my complaint: If there is moisture beneath the old paint this can lead to flaking and peeling, along with the application of paint to powdery or friable surfaces and to previous coatings.  Other causes are dirt on the surface impairing adhesion.  If  there  is excessive movement of the surfaces (such as at the joints in woodwork), this imposes stresses on the paint film resulting in cracking and ultimately flaking and peeling.
Small areas of flaking or peeling can be dealt with by removing the loose material back to a firm edge, priming with a Dulux 1 step primer sealer oil based and re-coating.  Where peeling is extensive or the overall adhesion is doubtful, the surface should be stripped completely before repainting.

 I have sent them photos as requested and also provided them with details as to the date and place of purchase, bar codes, batch codes etc. not to mention prevailing weather conditions at the time the paint was applied (ah the blessings of maintaining a blog!).


Today's morning showers failed to eventuate so I plucked up the courage and did several loads of washing. The first two were on the line and the third in the machine when the showers arrived, but as they were very light and left fairly soon everything was dry before I brought it in eventually. More progress on my way around the kitchen - I unhomed an alarmingly large and hairy spider - the size of a huntsman but hairier and more muscular. It hid under the microwave, and as far as I am concerned, it can stay there. I am not lifting the microwave up to dislodge it! Fortunately I had already cleaned under there, so it can be safe for another six months! lol.


We are having seesaw weather for much of this week - today 13 - tomorrow 22 and 27 the following day. Then 15 on Tuesday followed by a more gradual rise in temperature. I know Tassie has variable Springs, but this is ridiculous!

Tomorrow's work has been cancelled. Sort of. Apparently the guest is no longer planning to come, but since there are tradies at work today it is deemed desirable to go in and check they have not left the place looking like a tip. So that is what I will do.

Today has been another overcast day with imminent rain that never falls - hot humid and oppressive. I spent it at the Community Garden. This morning we packaged a lot of seeds in anticipation of the school market next Tuesday evening where we intend to have a stall. We will also be picking rhubarb to sell and anything else we can find (broad beans seem a pretty safe bet), and we have also made up numerous toilet roll tubes so passing infants can plant a seed and take it home to grow. We have decided peas and broad beans are the best options being large and pretty tough despite the abuse they are likely to receive.

I came home with a box full of potatoes from a plant that volunteered in the polytunnel. It was a very leggy plant and seemed to be all plant, no potatoes, but when we pulled it up a quantity of rather large spuds came with it - I expect it will be potato salad for lunch tomorrow. Not sure what variety (if any) they are, but they have red skin.

Dulux Australia has responded very promptly to my email to them, but not to its content which they clearly failed to read. But if you have any pre-primed weatherboards apparently Dulux expects you to sand off the priming before applying their paint - which seems an unusual (and  not entirely intuitive) approach. They have suggested I phone them if I have any further enquiries. I have emailed back and indicated written communication is preferred.

Meanwhile, since the tenant is no longer moving out and the sales agent is going on parental leave at any tick of the clock I have told him not to bother starting marketting till he gets back to avoid the potential chaos that would inevitably arise if he leaves part way through the process. Sigh.

 The bad news is that the tenant was unable to secure the house she wanted so we are back to square one in that department. Dulux has emailed back and told me it is all my fault, and by the way I need to talk to Dulux Australia who can be contacted here:   [large blank space].

Sigh.

It has been overcast all day so the indoors is quite chilly, but the outdoors has been pretty warm for much of the day. The 70% chance of showers has failed to perform (three spits in the eye while walking the dog does not count) so we are still waiting, waiting, waiting for something resembling water.

An echidna has taken up residence under a pile of wood in the back yard which has Seb vastly entertained - especially when it goes for wanders across the back yard in his sight.

So apart from further purging of the house, not much has happened here today.

My download has been slowed and will remain so for the next three days - terribly frustrating!

Things are not going smoothly in relation to the sale of the house. My doctor's refusal to provide his passport number means his forms are unacceptable, but fortunately I remembered my best friend's daughter not only has a passport but also is one of the acceptable professions - phew. So I have emailed the forms to her to sign and fill in and send back to me. Meanwhile the tenant delayed providing access to the property for three weeks, then presented it in a messy state and gave the photographer grief while he was working there. Now she has emailed saying she has found somewhere else and wants to waive the 'notice' period. In the circumstances I am probably going to agree with conditions regarding access and condition of the house in the mean time (and also after checking with the letting agents to see if her rent is up to date). I feel I have been more than fair to her, but she is not reciprocating - but I will be glad to have her out when they start showing the place as a hostile tenant is hardly conducive to feeling at home in the place. Since it is midwinter I will have to ask them to leave the central heating on low to keep the chill out of the place and reduce the risk of mildew forming - sigh.

Two cottages to clean today but both in reasonable condition - I will be putting out the rubbish tonight when I call in to clean the bank. I will also be dropping off some removal cartons to a friend who is moving house as she will need as many as she can lay her hands on - being even more cluttered than I am!

Then on to sewing where not much sewing was done but we had several nice chats - and my shopping arrived from the cooking demonstration - I am now the proud owner of a rather nice knife and some Australian Dukkah which is seasoned with various native plants.

I also found a nice pair of cords at the Bargain Centre and a particularly beautiful scarf which I bought less for wearing than for draping elegantly when the bedroom is finished and decorated.

Some nice men in a large truck parked out the front with the most amazing bit of kit on the back - it is basically a long fibreglass pole with a circular saw on the end for trimming high branches. I rushed out to get a quote from them to get rid of the overhanging branches from the neighbours' pine trees (which are across the lane and overhanging my guttering at this stage). Unfortunately they do not do private work, being under contract to Aurora, but they gave me the card of another company that might be able to help. I had no idea such things existed and had expected to have to hire a cherry picker and a bloke with a chainsaw to deal with the branches so I am rather thrilled!

It was supposed to be marginally warmer today but turned out to be one degree cooler instead - at nine degrees it was definitely fire-lighting time and so on my return from the deep south that is what i did.

This morning, however, I headed down to the northern suburbs to get some cat food - you will recall that Show day inhibited my access to the area the last time I went down. So now the cats and the dogs are well equipped to last a little longer and since they are currently comatose in front of the fire one has to assume they are content.

Managed to keep warm chasing the neighbours' chooks out of the yard several times during the course of the day - I guess another call to council will be required. I keep putting it off on the off-chance they show some social responsibility, but apparently not. The chickens that used to accompany their mother into the yard are now coming in by themselves - and since some of them are roosters also I have to assume that the concept of culling roosters has yet to sink in.

Apart from transcribing the roster for the next two weeks into my diary and getting marginally organised for sewing tomorrow I am afraid that nothing else has happened here. Too cold by half!

Well they said it would be chilly today and they didn't lie. I lit the fire at lunchtime, having kept warm earlier in the day with some activity in the kitchen (tidying cupboards, getting rid of excess jam jars, cleaning the stove top thoroughly and the range hood as well)

This afternoon Heather and I went to see a house that was 'for sale by owner' in Oatlands. I am a little annoyed that she told the vendor I was on the market for a house, but as it turned out he is a friend of mine so it was interesting and congenial. It is a sweet little 1840s cottage that was renovated to become a school in the 1870s and then reverted back to being a house. The previous owner had lived there 67 years and raised nine children in it, so it must have been jampacked when they were all at home.

Basically it is one long room at the back with a coved board and batten ceiling and baltic pine lining. The room has been roughly subdivided into three with very obvious partition walls, and there are two rooms at the front. Bathroom is out the back in a lean to that is actually detached, but connected with a laserlight ceiling (brrr). It is in a shed that comprises bathroom, laundry and workshop, each with its own door. A rather fantastical and but very functional chook shed provides a number of doors for egg collection as well as a human door for cleaning it out, and the back yard is largish but not too large. On a corner block that backs onto Council's Depot it is nice and private, the neighbouring house having a large shed down the boundary that is built right up to the fence line. Since most of the serious work (repointing brickwork, installation of french drain to address rising damp etc) is done it would require some titivating, a kitchen and bathroom and a complete rebuild of the back wall (which is timber, rotted out at the base and needs some french doors into the rear courtyard once you knock through the partitions).

I am not looking forward to going out to clean the bank tonight as it has come down very chilly indeed right now, but at least they have got rid of the endless piles of pamphlets that were a cleaner's nightmare as each had to be picked up, straightened, dusted under and replaced.

The price is very reasonable - albeit beyond my budget. $168,000 if anyone is interested.

The twenty five degrees was somewhat ameliorated by the wind that seems to be from somewhere relatively cool - good thing too as I hate being hot, and hot and windy is too horrible to bear. As it was it was tolerable apart from a short period around lunchtime when the thought of a fan crossed my mind, but was not acted upon as by the time I got up next it was no longer necessary.

I popped into the Market this morning and picked up a jar of raspberry jam which will be nice on toast, and that was the sum total of my purchases due to lack of temptation.

Home once more I transfered my activities to the laundry, once again going through cluttered cupboards, removing clutter from benchtops and shelves and floor, and generally finding my way back to the back door. Once it has a new handle it will now be possible to use it for its intended purpose.

I did not bother cutting any more firewood as there seems to be sufficient for my needs indoors already, though I collected some bark from the oval so I have some kindling - I used the last of my supplies last time I lit the fire. I suppose I could have cut some lighter wood, but frankly, there is not enough incentive to do so.

The little rain we enjoyed overnight is long since gone, thanks to the wind, but I expect the plants were grateful for what they received.

I have just finished PD James 'The Children of Men' which, unlike her usual stuff is an interesting fiction about a world in which all childbirth ceased in the 1990s and the population is simply aging without replenishment. A very interesting exploration, but the ending is a bit of a disappointment for all that.