I sometimes wonder why I got to so much trouble labelling my freezer food when I pop it in the chest freezer. Today I grabbed what I assumed was a steak (but didn't read the label) and ended up having grilled goat chop for dinner instead. Fortunately it turned out to be a very young goat and the result was delicious - but it could have been nasty!

I awoke at four this morning. My deliciously comfortable mattress topper, being polyester fibre-fill, also turns out to be a tad warm. While this will be wonderful come winter, at this time of year it was an unwelcome discovery. Since i had to get up to clean the bank at six, going back to sleep seemed a high risk activity so I got up and fiddled around until it was time to head off.

I then spent much of the morning trying to light the fire. I have run out of my kindling supply that has lasted me all winter, and the bark I collected just didn't do the job the first time. Or the second or third for that matter. I just got it blazing nicely and voila - the clouds cleared and it turned out hot and sunny. So now I have the window open to cool the house down from the efforts of the cast iron heater... You can't win when the weather is doing what it is at present.

Cool and drizzly all day today, so I popped some carrot seeds in the ground. I had hoped that after the last several days the compost-rich soil, at least would be damp, but no - had to apply the watering can with vigour as it was dust dry a couple of mm below the surface. I will have to rush down and do the same for the pumpkins I popped in down the back since that is the case - I had hoped it would be damper :-(

Dropped off some empty cartons at the Hospital. These are to be gift wrapped and placed under a Christmas Tree in the window of a friend's shop. It will be some Occupational Therapy for the residents at the hospital and do a good deed for a friend at the same time.

Then to the local market where I found a lovely Crabtree and Evelyn gift pack that will solve my Christmas present concerns and so home via a friend's place for a cuppa and a chat.

Made up the bed with my new mattress topper today so I am rather looking forward to snuggling down tonight and finding out if it does what I hope it will do.

Busy day in the Garden today! A local nursery donated trays and trays of seedlings to us (they were past their sell-by date and a bit leggy but all healthy plants). So we planted them into the bed we had set aside to grow food for "dining with friends" (a St Vincent de Paul initiative that provides a hot meal once a month to those who are unable to afford decent food) and Second Bite (a charity that provides food parcels for people on low income using donated past-use-by food from supermarkets). Once that bed was full we decided that the school garden bed they will not be using over summer could do with some plants and filled that up too. Still more seedlings went into a third bed that had been rented to someone who has fallen ill and is unable to garden at present - she will be invited to harvest what she needs from the produce. This poor woman arrived in Tassie with hubby in tow only to have him fall ill with a disorder that has affected his vision so he is unable to drive any more. Then they just got over that when she was diagnosed with breast cancer and is presently undergoing chemo. Talk about unlucky. So we are hoping she will be cheered up to know there are some fresh veges in her future after all.

We still had heaps more, so took over another small bed that had been released by its leaser as she decided it was too shady and therefore of no use to her. And still there were more. So some came home with me, some went home with Syche and I sent another couple of punnets home with someone I know is doing it a bit tough at present.

My personal score was a punnet of Rouge de Marmande tomatoes, a punnet each of caulis and savoy cabbages, half a punnet of Jap pumpkins, some zucchini and ... I think that was it.

The toms, pumpkins and zucchinis are all in the garden already and the brassicas will be planted tomorrow. We have a week of cool weather forecast so they should get a good start.

All of this was tucked in under the straw I bought while coming back from Hobart, and another pile of straw that had been mucked out of the chicken run. Fortunately some of the more helpful students came over during a free period so we had some extra hands to shovel soil (the beds needed topping up) and sheep poo and straw around the place. All the beds are now deep in mulch after a good watering to finish off the job the rain had started.

A bit achey after all that work, but it was well worth it to get so much food for free!

Raining all day, roads awash, gutters gushing, and 5 mm in the gauge. I hate weather like this - too wet to do anything useful, but not wet enough to fill the tank. It seems probable there will be more of the same tomorrow, when we are due to be in the garden. We do have some 'must do' stuff like unloading the straw from the back of the ute (the farmer gave me all his loose straw as well as the three bales i bought, so there is at least another bale's worth of loose straw in there). But if it looks like staying around I might call it a rain-day and go home.

Today was more a case of 'oh hell, I forgot  had cottages to clean'! so I had to dash in at noon to sort that lot out. A load of linen had arrived also so a fair bit of putting-away to deal with, and then home to walk the dogs. I decided it was too damp for Shadow so he got to loaf at home while Seb and i went on our trek. Seb was soaked and so was I by the time we were back. Apparently my waterproof is no longer waterproof.

So I am thinking of lighting the fire, or should I simply go to bed early? Time will tell. Mean time I have to cook dinner.

It is almost 12 hours since I left home this morning and I am knackered.

First to clean the bank and just as I was leaving my boss turned up wallet in hand and paid me for my work (phew). Then to the service station for some fuel to head south and a huge range of activities ahead. I heard there was a blockage inbound on the highway so diverted to the Eastern Shore on the off-chance there was a Harris Scarfe at Eastlands (there isn't) where I could get the mattress underlay I had my eye on. Fortunately KMart had something very similar for $30.00 less so I snapped that up and left before the display of stunning Moroccan pottery on the lower level tempted me into doing something rash (some stupendously beautiful bowls there if you happen to be passing - not to mention some lovely hangings and lamps).

Then off to the Uni to discover that the Coop has a set price to buy back text books and despite mine having barely been opened I only got back $73.00 on about $800 of texts. Mind you, two of them have been superseded by more recent editions apparently, so they came home with me. I can now teach myself primary school mathematics which may not be a bad thing!

To Moonah to get the knives sharpened and go to the No-Frills supermarket there where i bought 10 litres of white vinegar for the community garden (to make spray for the weeds), and a couple of bags of nuts (cashews and walnuts - more about these later), and K&D for some UV-resistant tape for the Garden (to repair the polytunnel which has some tears in it thanks to people poking their fingers through the plastic) and on to Glenorchy to the meat man. Also called into ABC to collect some bowl cleaner and spot remover as I had run out of these at the Bank.

Finally to Bridgewater and some more nuts and seeds, a diversion to the Fruit and Veg stall there and home via the IGA for a few other items. The nuts and seeds are to be converted into a granola which is something I enjoyed when I lived in the UK but assumed was something you bought. Basically you mix them together with some oatmeal and honey in the blender, bake them till they are crunchy and then use it for things like on top of yoghurt and fruit (sort of a parfait - yogurt, fruit, granola). I used to buy little tubs of it for breakfast when I was working in London and very nice it was too!

Then two walks with the dogs and large quantities of meat to put into the freezer.

The meat man (Robinsons Wholesale meats) had some goat chops so I have divvied those up into 500g bags for some curries, and lamb shanks at $3.00 each (half the price they were last time i looked at them). A 3kg piece of rump steak was only $29.00!! So that has been sliced into steaks leaving a small roast from the short end and it  has all been bagged, labelled and popped into the freezer.

They are forecasting heavy rain tonight so I am hoping they are right as the tank is right down to the bottom once more.

Getting a bit annoyed with my boss at the cottages. 'Will be up Tuesday with your pay' says he. Message at 2:00 pm to tell me his plans had changed. So the very packed trip to town is deferred to tomorrow on the off chance he bothers to arrive punctually at 8:30 to pay me. Last chance to get a very hectic day in before the Christmas rush descends so I am not happy that i have to leave that late in the day. Had hoped to be in Sandy Bay by 9, but that's not going to happen.

So I cleared out some of the stuff in the spare room/study/sewing room, returned Stuart's text books and notes to him, carefully placed my old text books into the car along with the knives to be sharpened, made a list and generally pottered about before heading into the tip and town (this was before I got my text message) to check on the pay situation.

Dropped off some clean pillow protectors at the cottages and came home once more.

Found a lamb chop in the freezer so will have that with mash, peas and carrots for dinner.

The thunderstorms today delivered a fairly meagre water ration, but better than nothing. It brought the snails out in droves so I liberally sprinkled the ground with snail bait (the non-toxic, animal friendly sort) and have reaped a harvest of corpses as a consequence. I doubt it has even dented the population, but it is satisfying at least.

The bank was clean in a trice and I was off home to whip up some rhubarb and vanilla jam (just pop a vanilla bean in with the rhubarb, sugar and lemon juice and away you go). The deep red rhubarb from the garden makes a rather more appealing rhubarb jam than does the usual stuff - it is a nice ruby hint that gleams at you instead of sludge grey.

Between showers I emptied out the car of my excess rubbish preparatory to a trip to town that was supposed to take place tomorrow, but apparently Brad can't make it up to pay me till tomorrow so that plan has gone down the gurgler. Still it gives me time to make my list (which is growing alarmingly - so many places to go and things to do, and in the middle of the Christmas crowds, woe is me), and prepare a little better for the journey. I will take my uni text books back and trade them in at the Co-Op. It will be great if they give you cash for them, if not I will have some money coming in over the months until they are sold on commission.

Shadow seems quite tired after our walk today which is surprising as he only did half the distance Seb and I did (I let him set his own pace), but i expect he is getting a bit old for all this gallivanting poor lad.