The engagement party was fun. The two had failed to take into consideration the possibility that guests might bring presents and so were totally unprepared to deal with them. So by the end of the evening the edge of the stage was piled with pressies. I say the end of the evening. What i mean is by the time i left which was quite early given the mizzly rain and mist on the highway. So I hope they liked their pressie. I printed out some background info on the manufacturer and the history of the firm so that they have a rough idea of what it is.

I hope they like it.

I had a day of catching up with census stuff that was no longer going to work the way I had planned. So delivered an envelope to the family who were planning to drop their form off to me on Wednesday morning, and dropped some ecensus forms into a friend's place where I stopped for a cuppa, admired her latest hand work, and the cute calf that had arrived this morning, then home. Then later in the day off to Carolines to collect the quilt (now all I have to do is attach the binding and it is ready to use) and to catch up with gossip since i have not been around much lately. And then home once more, via the tip. Tonight's dinner is a moisture-infused pork roast with baked potatoes and the works. Hope it tastes as good as it looks. May have to whip up some apple puree before it is done I think.

A bit more garden dug over and more seeds sown in containers in the new mini-cold frames made from plastic storage boxes. Then a mild panic in reponse to an email from the area coordinator about the census, but that is all sorted in a manner suited to our circumstances. And now I am off to Hobart for an engagement party. Fortunately a relatively dry one if I am lucky. I will hope to be there only a couple of hours and then get home as I don't really fancy driving the highway after midnight ...

Long day today. Was up much of the night unable to sleep because of the warm weather. Had used lighter weight PJs but this was apparently not enough to get me through, so was wide awake at 4:30 when I gave up all hope of sleep.

The plus side of this was that the jeans i washed yesterday were dry enough to wear today when I went up to Launceston. The mission today was to get to Your Habitat early enough to get what I assumed was a 'loss leader' in their sale - kitchen trolleys that were $399 marked down to $99. Unfortunately, on examination, I concluded that even $99 was too much to ask for them so they stayed in the shop. There were two other missions (plus calling in at Heritage Tas to check out this job opportunity). They were to buy an engagement present for my friend's son's engagement, and to call into BUnnings to get the mini polytunnels, a plunger and the baskets that Jonno keeps banging on about.

The intention engagement present-wise, was to get something for the house - preferably for the kitchen. But then I realised i have no idea what Beth's taste is like, or what her house looks like. So that was not a good idea really. So I wandered around vacantly, but then happened upon an antique shop. Now Lucas is rather fond of matters historical so this seemed a possibility. But again, how excited can you get about glass or crockery. Then. Just as I was about to leave, I raised my eyes and spotted the perfect gift. So it came home with me and will be wrapped tonight, for presentation tomorrow. Sorry, I will post a photo (probably on Sunday) but I don't know if one or other of them might be following this blog, so can not reveal all until they have seen it in the flesh. If they hate it, it will always be welcome at my place, lol.

Bunnings proved interesting. Those nice green baskets were stacked neatly at the end of every aisle in the shop. No idea how jonno gets them to sell them to him as they are provided as carry baskets for shoppers, not for sale... So that was no good. The mini-polytunnels? They had three, which was exactly how many I wanted. I then spotted some plastic storage boxes - three for $20.00 so they came home and will serve, in the short term, as mini-greenhouses for raising seedlings for the vege patch. Once they are in the ground, they can revert to the design intent and be used to store stuff around the house.

The good news is that I don't start work till Wednesday so will have time to catch up with myself and to sort out the plantings as well. So that will be great. They will also give me a couple of days off to sort out the census stuff. Angie, my supervisor is aware of the development and we have agreed a mutually satisfactory strategy. So it's all good.

Well I got nothing done that was on the list today at all. The plan was i would spend the day doing paperwork as it was going to be raining and horrid. Instead it was sunny and breezy and the rain arrived in isolated splodges so was not a problem at all.

I had recently rediscovered a plastic bag containing three unidentified large bulbs and some roots of ornamental ginger that my sister had given me ages ago and which I had put in a cool dark spot and completely forgotten about. The bulbs have all sent up large groups of leaves (still unidentifiable) and the ginger had started to look a little wizened. So I plonked the bulbs into pots to await an identification before deciding on a permanent home. The ginger I have cut up into smaller pieces, all of which are quite juicy inside still, and also put into pots as flower gardening is still fairly low on the priority list (though I will be trying for a spring display this year).

So having sorted through the plant pots to identify suitable ones for the bulbs, I then started filling some with soil for other purposes. First a whole bunch has been planted up with seeds of clove pinks. Then the ones that had the basil in them (now long defunct) are filled with cornflower seeds (that may change if I manage to get the other side of the path dug tomorrow, as I can then plant some of them in situ so to speak, which is apparently their preferred option). Then I ran out of potting soil which was the perfect excuse to go into town and get some more (and some chocolate to maintain my strength). And of course while i was getting that I found some packets of seed for holly hocks, sweet peas and foxgloves so they came home too.

Then I cut up some of the billions of milk bottles i have lying around in case they come in handy and so made more seedling trays which are planted up with stocks.

All that made me realise I would need a bed to plant all this out in. So I went round the front where the beds either side of the path had reverted to lawn, and carefully dug over one of them, and widened it to about 500mm to provide a bit of extra planting room once the seedlings are ready for transplanting. Will dig over the other side tomorrow, if my muscles agree to that approach. The second bed has a few random iris corms in it, so I can redistribute these and the gladdies across both sides of the path now. Then dig an enlargement to the bed to encompass the crab apple trees. Then I can erect a trellis for the sweet peas behind the crabs, which will work with the crabs to provide some minor wind protection for the taller plants (though I expect I will have to stake them as well).

Then Jean popped in with an armload of Avocados that she swears she purchased for three for a dollar. Not sure I believe her, but am about to embark on an avocado feast in a couple of days. Then Jane (a fellow census person) called in for a chat as well. So it has been a fairly social day today.

Then to top it all off, I have had an email inviting me to start work with the heritage office ASAP. That will have to be from Monday week as I have census-type stuff to deal with next week. How nice though. I should now be able to pay for the other outside side of the roof now which will give me guttering all round. Yay. Maybe even an extra tank ....

Slight change of pace today with me up a ladder passing tools to the plumber. Still no guttering (who knew one bit of roof could take so looooong!!) but the chimney has preliminary flashing in place (the rest to go on once he has the materials) and a bit of lead whacked along the back where the chimney meets the ridge so as to ensure that there are no leaks there. We also have a roof ladder now - decided I was terrified watching Johnathan scrambling around with out a harness so a roof ladder became essential. It even had a space to hold one of those green shopping baskets you get at Bunnings for holding your tools as you wander around the yard.

Apart from that, the dishwasher is now finally fully installed. Yes, it leaks slightly but i think I know where from and can fix that. But it is in, works and has now done its first load of dishes (albeit badly - which is probably my fault as I stopped it half-way through and then changed the cycle as well ...) Hence it did not do a rinse cycle. But hey, it beats doing it myself.

Another early night for this little black duck as I am quite weary after today's exertions. And since it will be raining for the rest of the week, I guess not much more will be done for a while ...

Some more eye candy for you from my trip today. Whatever was wrong with me yesterday seems to have sorted itself out by me sleeping most of the day and drinking lots of chicken broth.

Today was the last day of deliveries, though I have to check and see if there is anything I have missed on google earth, as I am supposed to have 118 dwellings and have found only 114 (of course, I have also found a lot of empty houses, so that may account for the missing numbers as some of those houses are habitable dwellings).

Also ran into the owner of the rather large Greyhound i met yesterday (easily recognisable as she was being taken for a walk by four more greyhounds). She runs a greyhound rescue and trains them to be cat-friendly. Now the only possible reason for not having a greyhound is if you own a cat. They are the loveliest, most affectionate and gentle dogs you can imagine. So I have told her I will be in touch when Shadow's time comes. I would really like to own a greyhound and to give a retired one a home seems a good thing to do.

Found but ten houses today then gave up and came home to bed with a recurrence of my tummy wog (or something similar). Suspect I have a temp but since I have no thermometer that will have to remain a moot point. So once I have some chicken broth and dry crackers it will be back in front of the fire and an early night methinks. Still, apparently I am doing better than some collectors. Score so far is 4 dog bites, one emu assault, one house full of 'pet' snakes on the loose and one resignation (unsure on that one).