A nice but chilly  day today. We had a meeting with the school about the Garden (and their tendency to come in and start doing something directly on top of things that are already being done). It went well I hope, and the teacher who is most active in the garden came over with us so we could show her how things are done - point out which tools are useful for her projects etc. We have also assigned responsibility for the herb garden to her. This means that I will be going over with her and her students to discuss the layout, the concept of lasagne gardening etc to help them get a focus. She asked where she might find some hay bales - I pointed out her kids lived on farms '0h, yes' said she. She is new to the teaching game and talks so much that getting new ideas into her can be a challenge. The more so when Eleanor is there interrupting me every time a start a sentence -

Me: We have some trugs in the shed that ..........
E: Oh there are no trugs they are all full of (goes on to enumerate what they are full of)
Me: We have some trugs in the shed that will come in handy
E: Oh, but they are full of ..........
Me: Eleanor if I might be allowed to finish what I am saying................
E: goes off in a sulk.

There are, by the way, three trugs in the shed (which I later pointed out while we were doing the tour, to a resounding silence from E).

There are times .................

So we should be able to get some work progressing for all that the bloke in charge of the Workskills gang appears to have thrown a sulk and has not been there for four weeks because I dared to pursue him about the paper work he was due to submit almost 12 months ago.

Still, progress is being made, so we shall see.

Had just staggered out of bed and boiled the kettle for a cuppa when the lights went out. Then on. Then out. Repeat four times, then out. Permanently. I thought someone was mucking about with the switchboard (unlikely at 6:30 but you never know) but no. It was the entire district that was out. Oatlands to Levendale and all parts between.

I sat in the dark for a bit waiting for it to come back on again, but it didn't. So I lit the candles and wondered how to heat up my porridge. It did not seem a good time to be splitting kindling, so the fire was not an option, so eventually I lit the gas cooker and heated it up with a bit of milk to stop it sticking. Naturally a shower was completely out of the question since my water is delivered by pump, so I had a scratch wash and dressed in time for sunrise (which was spectacularly red this morning) and walked the dogs.

Wondered if the electrical failure would impact on the Bank's security and if so if I should actually go inside, but it turned out that parts of Oatlands are on a different circuit to the rest of us, so the bank was all electric. This lulled me into a state of false security, but I visited a friend for a bit just in case after running into a local at the shop who told me it was still out. Got home at 11 - still out. Rang Aurora again, was told to call back in 3 hours .............

The power came back on again at 1:30 which was a huge relief. There was a bit more of a pause in supply about half an hour later, but it is back on (hopefully) for the rest of the evening at least, and I have filled kettles, made sure the toilet is flushed and generally set myself up in case it goes off again. There seemed no obvious reason for the failure as we have not had the strong winds they threatened us with. Huh. Who knows.

Last night's meeting turned out to be much more complex than I expected as Council blithely announced they have condemned the grandstand. This is the only attractive building in the grouping, so I am bit peeved. But with years of neglect and vandalism by local kids I can see their point. Sigh. We hope to replace it with a less ambitious building with some tiered seating on a scale more appropriate to modern day 'crowds' (the five of us who sit and watch the sheep dog trials). Unfortunately they also decided to keep the concrete dunny block for a wood shed. This is the ugliest building down there and right in my line of sight. I will see if I can lobby for support to get rid of it too and build a woodshed into the new grandstand building instead. I won't hold my breath though.

So a far from dull day, and now to work out what is for dinner.....

More wild weather on its way for tomorrow apparently. It is beginning to get tedious, lol. And tonight the sunset was in the East - or at least all the pretty colours were - so I am not sure what that was all about.

I will need to get the chainsaw out tomorrow since i only found out about the bad weather half an hour ago and it seemed bit late to get stuck in.

A meeting down at the oval tonight, no idea what is on the agenda, just that we apparently have to talk. I suspect it will be about what to claim from Council whose small grants program is in the offing in the near future.

Once again the boys from Workskills failed to put in an appearance at the Garden. At this rate we will not have it laid out for our Open Day in October. I do hope they get their van fixed soon. So I got to go home for a couple of hours while waiting till 12.30 as there was no reason for hanging around in town.

When I went back in again to meet up with the kids from the Leadership group who came over to help us mix up the Complete Organic Fertiliser and bag it. We have 1.5 kg bags for sale at $5.00 each if you are interested. The recipe, for those who don't know, comes from Steve Solomon's book, Growing Vegetables South of Australia, and it is specially proportioned to compensate for any mineral deficiencies in Tassie's more depleted soils. You only use it in minute quantities, so a bag should see a vege bed out for the season I hope.

Not much else happening here at present, so that's your lot for the day!

Ice and fog to start a remarkably lovely sunny day. All the washing has been done and most of it is dry (including, remarkably enough, the quilt from the bed which was washed as smidgen has apparently sworn of vomitting at present). It was jolly cold last night so there was a Seb on the bed as well as a Smidgen, but there were apparently no dramas as a result as they seem to get along fairly well.

Last night's patties were delicious and will be repeated tonight as well. The dogs got the heel of the corned beef as part of their dinner and seem to be feeling replete as they are both curled up in front of the fire snoring. The fire has only been on since around 3 as it was quite warm until then. I did get some more wood cut in case, but doubt I will be needing it. I will be out for most of tomorrow anyway with stuff at the Garden to attend to, and bank cleaning and whatever.

It was quite icy this morning. The puddles caused by the rain had pretty rings of ice formed (presumably) as they soaked into the ground. Regular concentric rings of thicker then thinner ice. Very effective until the dog trod in them.

Over the road the roofers turned up complete with wives and children for the day. I found my neighbour cowering in Oatlands to escape the bedlam. What sort of nit brings their wives and children (one as young as two) to a building site? Between sharp nails and broken glass I a amazed they all survived. But apparently they did as they all departed shouting goodbyes just a few minutes ago.

It has been pretty icy all day actually. Despite temperatures allegedly up to 8 degrees, the 'feels like' has hovered around 3 all day and the fog from my breath testifies to this.

I did get a bit of sewing done and now the patches are all the right size to sew back together into 12 inch patches. So that is something to be pleased about.

This morning's porridge was made up with a packet of mixed fruit sprinkled into it (not the entire packet! Just around a tablespoon or two). The orange peel made an interesting addition to the flavour and the over-all result was surprisingly good.

Tonight's dinner will be mince patties with mash and gravy. The patties will be rolled in the fine crushed leftovers of the last of the weetbix (the stuff that is left at the bottom of the bag when you pull out the last weetbix).

I did get a load of washing all but dry today which amazed me. The promised snow flurries failed to put in an appearance but it was still quite dank, so I was very surprised. Must have been the odd galeforce gust that did it!

They promised us snow and they delivered. Albeit in a niggardly way. There was a lumpy spread of snow over the grass this morning which had obviously been rained on and then frozen. This was followed shortly after the sun came up by another sprinkling that covered things nicely but not for long. Then sunshine for some time, followed by a few more snow showers and that seems to be it for the day.

Only a few gusts of strong wind which was a good thing as them over the road were replacing their roof. Fortunately not all of the roof, just a section which they managed to get covered before the afternoon showers arrived. Health and safety is clearly not something the people doing the work are concerned about as the chap was happily strolling up and down the steep pitch without a safety rope or even special shoes as far as I could tell. It was quite unnerving when the showers started and he was still up there.

I have been having a Facebook free day (Faceoff - it's an annual thing) and have spent my time unpicking those quilt blocks that are not square or of the appropriate desired end measurement with a view to sewing them back together again and hopefully achieving a square. Since it is far too cold to leave the loungeroom they are neatly pressed, put back in their ziplock bag and will await a more congenial day for me to sew them back together again.

The neighbours appear to have acquired two new horses to match their double horse float. Despite them not having terribly well developed winter coats they have been out in the weather with no horse rug to keep them warm. You really have to wonder why they keep doing this. Their last horses were taken off them.

I bought two of the pizzas they make up at the Roxy. Raw bases with toppings fresh from the deli. One will be frozen, half of the other will be dinner tonight, if Seb stops whinging about whatever it is that is bothering him right now. We have just come back from a walk, so I have no idea what his problem is, unless he was so distracted  by the horses he forgot to do something he was supposed to  be doing.