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

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

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

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

And find the time to do it all ...

What's missing from this picture? Yes! The caravan is finally gone!!!! It is rather nice to not have my view to the back yard obstructed quite so effectively any more. Now all I have to do it work out a fate for that large rainwater tank sitting there ...

Unfortunately, during the removal process, the inevitable happened, so despite no caravan, I am back to caravan-style plumbing while i wait for the plumber to arrive and repair the pipe that was broken in the process ...
Before you get all squeamish though, that brown sludge with finger prints in it, is actually just mud - i.e. sandy soil dampened down by the fluids in the pipe. I have decided (until someone tells me I can not do this) that sending greywater down the pipe will be fine, so will still be using the taps and the shower, but will defer the washing up for a bit. And back to the bucket and cat litter till Jonno gets here. I have sent him a phone message this morning and followed up with an email and photo letting him know the parts required as well, so hopefully he can fit me in soonish.

The actual tow was relatively free of dramas. The caravan tracks really well, but the van brake was not working so when I stopped at lights etc the van stopped shortly after me and gave me a bump in the rear end. Disconcerting the first time, but fine once you knew to expect it. The new owners were very hospitable and provided a hot lunch of rissoles with rice pudding to follow, so I will have the sandwiches I had bought for lunch as a light supper.

There was another frost this morning so the tomatoes are starting to look a little ragged, and will become chutney on Friday which I suspect is the first day this week I will have a chance to stop. Tomorrow is the dentist (and associated errands while in Hobart), Tuesday and Wednesday are quilting and Thursday will be bee-day - all busy activities to keep me off the streets. At least today was warm, as will be tonight, so no running around with frost blankets or lighting of fires required. In fact i am presently in a teeshirt as my flanny proved too warm.

Minus 3 degrees last night was a bit brutal for the tomato plants, despite the presence of a frost blanket. As you can see all the tips are well and truly pruned and blackened Still, the core of the plants seems fine so it will be a matter of waiting and seeing what longterm impact the frost has had.

At least the garage man turned up last night with the air pump and it was good to know that the tyres were still holding 27psi. I realised when i picked up the paperwork for towing that is exactly a year on Monday coming since the poor thing was parked in its present location, so the tyres have held up well.

The plumber turned up but was unable to fit the new pump as it is the wrong size, so I am no further forward in that department. I have emailed the suppliers and will return the replacement pump on Monday when I am down in Hobart visiting ... the dentist. As another tooth has started to fall apart, sigh. Still, at least it had the decency to wait till I had some money to pay for treatment. The plumber was sent off with Alan's tapestry, a dozen eggs and a belly full of chocolate cake to make up for his wasted journey, and then I shifted some rocks that are in the way of manoeuvring space for the caravan. And did some washing, and ruefully inspected my veges, and gleefully inspected the hives as it seems the weak hive has recovered in a major way - a whole mob of bees coming and going in similar quanties to those in the neighbouring hive. So that is good news. It will be interesting to see inside come Thursday.

Forgot to mention: I gave the chainsaw a workout and cut up the remaining larger lumps of wood and dropped in to order some wood to be delivered some time in the next couple of weeks, phew. It will be nice to have a goodly supply laid up for winter.

Well, the caravan is finally sold so all I have to do now is get the tyres seen to and the thing towed to Snug. They called up again today and started talking about another van they had seen advertised in Launceston which had me worried, but we shook on the deal before they left and I now have temporary registration sorted for Sunday. The weather forecast seems good - sun with only very light winds - and I have looked up the street directory and all seems good in terms of navigation and steering. No sharp corners to worry about and good roads by the looks - down the highway, the brooker, the southern outlet and then straight ahead through Kingston. I can do that - I hope ...

Also called into Eleanor's and raided her vege patch so I have lots of butter beans and green beans in the freezer, the new owners of the caravan went home with a cabbage and some other bits and pieces and I have a basket of stuff to take up to Jean when I give up waiting for the guy from the service station who is supposed to be bringing the compressor out.. I figure if he is not here by 6 he is probably not coming, and if he does, well, the caravan is fairly self-explanatory...

One of the geese got out of their yard last evening - wandering back and forth looking for a way back in. So I wandered down and rehoused her pretty promptly. I will put them into the shed tonight and clip their wings. With the breeding season apparently coming early this year i am not prepared to take any risks of untoward behaviour.

And my chainsaw has been returned. Apparently I have been doing a fair job at my ham-fisted attempts to sharpen it, he has seen a lot worse. But in future i am instructed to take it straight to him when it needs work (and who am I to complain?).

Well there is still no sign of the plumber and the other two people who were supposed to turn up today have not turned up either ... Still, I got on and cleared out the bathroom floor, scrubbed it and vacuumed it and generally prepped it for spraying and ditto the laundry floor though it has yet to be scrubbed. It will not dry in time for me to do any spraying tonight but that is fine. I also carried out a bit more gapfilling around the windows at the front as water has driven in from the rain and saturated the plaster. This was happening with the old weatherboards also, but I have used silastic at the ends of the weatherboards and puttied up anything that looks like an opportunity for rain penetration and now I have to wait for the plaster to dry so I can spot any new penetrations ... If the problem is not around the windows I suppose there is a chance it is rain falling on a gap in the roof where the cover strip blew off in a gale ...

While doing all of this I got tangled up in the ladder and now have a lovely long graze down the front of my left shin. It proved a bit of a challenge for any of the dressings i had to hand, so I went into town and bought some continuous bandaid which you cut to length. That is now all sorted, but will undoubtedly produce a rather spectacular bruise as the area was all swollen either side of the graze.

Also primed the architraves on the inside of the window ready for painting and installing a blind over it before winter to reduce heat loss and to give some privacy when I am doing things in that room.

Graham called and will be around on Thursday to help with the bees. I will be glad to see him as being deprived of a smoker means I am totally dependant on him at present and that is never a good feeling. Also the people have called back about the caravan, but when I returned their call he had gone out so I am a bit in the dark about the purpose of the call. Presumably some house-keeping issues to do with the relocation, so I am not worried too much.

I have had another email from Eleanor about veges, so will call around to collect some tomorrow then drop them off to Jean and Caroline when I go over to Carolines to deliver the tapestry frame she loaned me. I forgot to post any pictures of the tapestry yesterday, so have stuck some in today. It does not all show at once on the frame, so it is in two parts, then a closeup of one of the more detailed sections ...

The phone rang last evening and it was finally the plumber.He has a good excuse. He was in Sydney. He has said he will be here today or tomorrow. At this stage, it rather looks like tomorrow methinks. This will be excellent timing as I can send the tapestry back with him for Alan his business partner. Yes! I finally finished the darn thing. Today was a series of disappointments. 'Now, once i have finished this section I will be done ... oh wait, there is that bit there ...' But finally it was all done and I even got two flowers blanket stitched on the teatowel I had taken as a backup project to be getting on with.

Today was lovely and mild, so was a pleasant change from yesterday. But not from tomorrow methinks, with 12 degrees forecast as the maximum. I suspect we will all be coming down with colds with the way the weather is chopping and changing on a daily basis.

I also had a quote from a painter to get the weather boards done ... I think I will do them myself if it is going to cost over $3000 not including paint!! I ran into these painters at Eleanor's when I called in to relieve Barry of all the vegetable excess in the garden. He was out, so no veges, but the painters were in, hence the quote.

The caravan buyers are organising their social schedule to fit in a trip to Oatlands, but it does not look like it will be any time this week, and the man from the garage is bringing out a portable compressor to check the tyre pressure and top them up as required (and check they are not so badly perished they will fall apart en route). And the insurance man says I just need to let him know when I am travelling. So that's all good and I will just sit back and wait for a phone call Sunday afternoon to see when it is all happening.

Tomorrow's forecast being inclement I will try to get something done indoors.

I had to pop into town this morning before heading in the opposite direction for quilting. As I passed my place I noticed that the mail had been delivered, so pulled into the drive. Imagine my surprise when I spotted this little family group wandering around my yard ... Not mine, by a long shot - the hens are bantams and the rooster is black. So I picked up my mail (which turned out to be a letter for next door misdelivered to me) and then headed up the hill for quilting. Am all but finished the tapestry. If I was keen I could finish it off tonight. But i am not that keen and so will take it in with me tomorrow to do the last long-stitching and the backstitching required around some of the forms. Then I will be on the phone sharpish to Allan to let him know he can come get it and take it away - a looooooong way away if it were me.

The nice people called back about the caravan and are interested to buy it but ....... they were concerned about the amount of water leakage and the damage it had done to the electricals etc so have offered 1500 less than the asking price, delivered to Snug. If I consider this in relation to the potential cost of rental over the 14 months I was stuck in the van, that is still a pretty reasonable offer and I think I will take it. I will, however, ask them to accompany me towing it to Snug and ask that they do the backing and filling necessary to get it off the block, since they seemed to feel it would not be a problem. I will call the insurance company tomorrow to see that provisions need to be made to cover the journey and also check where the air pump is at the local garage as I will want to be sure the tyres are filled before departure. At least the electrical plugs on the ute match the ones on the van, so lights for the journey should be OK.

Bit of a chilly one today with the predicted maximum of 13 turning out to be optimistic. Ten was all we managed, with a bit of rain and hail (about 2 mm in the gauge so far) and three degrees for tonight. Glad I dredged out the between-seasons PJs last night. Despite this, and me not having lit the fire this morning, it was still nice and snug indoors when I got home. The combination of a sunny morning and the added gap fillings seems to have had the desired effect. My ploy to get the wood cut, however, proved futile as Caroline's husband was ill. So one of the other girls' husband has been volunteered to sharpen the chain for me and i am dropping the chainsaw off tomorrow to have it done. In the meantime I have enough wood to keep me going - just not big enough to keep the fire going overnight.