Ah what pleasure! It was cool enough last night to have the quilt as well as the doona! Since spare bedding gets piled on the other side of the bed and limits my capacity to stretch out, such moments are wonderful. I even got to have a more restful morning this morning with a bit of a sleep in and a relaxing start to the day.

It turns out the new horse is actually being agisted, not a permanent resident. It belongs to them over the road (who I would have thought had more sense than to leave any animal in the care of them next door, but they left all of them with them while they went away a few weeks back). She is an ex-polo pony who suffered an injury to her back, has had chiropracty and a year's rest and is now apparently fit to ride. She is remarkably tall for a polo pony being over 15 hh, but seems to have a nice nature, and be more human-oriented than the others. She comes over to the fence whenever she sees me. I cut up and apple to take to her. She took on piece politely, spat out the skin and declined further offerings, lol.

Three cottages, and luckily I had cleaned the smallest one first as those guests decided to avail themselves of an early check-in. Apart from that I have done very little other than take Seb on his long walk and debate with myself as to whether a fire is necessary. So far the jury is out on that one.

The chilly weather was boosted further by galeforce winds that howled around the house for much of the night. The power cut before bedtime, I managed. The one during the night of course foiled my alarm-setting and the clock was merrily flashing at me when I awoke to full daylight. The reason I had the alarm on was that I had planned to be up and about by six and with a nice cool night that was not a safe bet as I fell deeply asleep.

So the start of the day was a bit hurried, but i was only half an hour late into the garden and could have been there earlier if I had been willing to rush. We rebuilt the compost heap and harvested the rich deposit at the bottom of the bin, using it to fill up another garden bed ready for planting. This one will be some winter root veges. The harvest was mainly tomatoes today but there are some broccoli heads ready to pick so I plan to collect those tomorrow when I go to clean the cottages. I will make a nice broccoli and blue cheese flan for tomorrow night's dinner. I think I will also pinch off the flower heads that are still optimistically forming on the tomatoes, so that the already abundant crop gets the best growth opportunity, but when I am in there with Syche I find that I am not comfortable spending time on my own plants.

Home to witness the arrival of yet another horse next door (that makes five, including the mare who alleged to be pregnant but I suspect she isn't) who is settling in with no fuss in the paddock immediately adjacent the stallion. She seems a nice creature but looks more like a thoroughbred than a quarterhorse to me.

The dogs and cats have had their exercise for the day and Shadow is fast asleep on the floor beside me (Seb is on the bed). With a full moon tonight I suspect this will not last long.

BOM got the forecast right today. Blooming freezing. Fortunately the rain cleared early in the morning so I was able to give the chainsaw some exercise. It started first time this time - who knows what goes on with these machines?

It is even chillier now, and I am enjoying having the fire lit (and some wood to put on it). As a consequence I spent much of the day indoors, and had fun trolling my local member who, as usual, has responded to my quite reasonable questions first with the assertion it is a lie perpetrated by the Greens, then, when faced with evidence to support my position, to back around and to assure me (with a figurative pat on the head) that in no way would the person in question do anything to harm Australia. Since he has said much the same of their leader, and of a certain former Minister for Immigration, I remain unconvinced. Particularly when the person under discussion has used the excuse 'well if Labor did it, why can't I?'

That aside, Seb had his worming tablet today. It was the first time I have tried to give him a tablet so I was expecting a bit of a battle. Instead, he took great interest in the package being opened, so I tried offering it to him as a treat. He gobbled it straight down - even cleaning up the crumbs he spilled when I pointed them out to him on the floor. Several liver treats were provided to wash away any nasty lingering after taste.

Getting back to the chainsaw - it is amazing the difference a new file and the filing jig makes to its cutting power! Straight cuts (usually they are a bit curved as I have been filing the wrong way) and straight through the wood as if it were butter - this will make life much easier this winter!

Living near a level crossing, as I do, I become accustomed to having the odd journey interrupted by flashing red lights and a need to pause and wait for the train to go by. At dusk and night it can be more disconcerting as the trains have a light on the front that is visible for some distance. Sometimes the trains stop at the station to allow a southbound train to pass them. Tonight, on my way back from cleaning the bank (yes! I remembered!), I spotted a train light over by the station as I approached Parattah. The red lights were not flashing. Huge mental debate - is it stationary or moving? Decided it was stationary and to go across the crossing when I looked again and noticed it was quite alarmingly close. So I stopped, backed up behind the white line and had just got myself organised as the lights started flashing and the train passed. It was not a long wait between the two. I wonder if the train is supposed to get that close before the lights come on? Given the prevalence of boy racers who stall their hotrods in the middle of the road I am amazed we have not had an accident yet.

Earthworks continued till 7:30 last night and were still going at 6:30 when I left to clean the bank this evening. No idea what would require two heavy earthmovers for three days over there. And I am dying of curiosity and have no means of getting a good look without being obvious - sigh.

I will have to arrange for Sebastian to take off along the railway line, lol.

I obtained a replacement file for the chainsaw today as well as a jig that helps me to ensure I am sharpening it in the right direction/angle. It comes with a video that I sat and watched, the contents of which were quite forgotten by the time I got the stuff out to play with it. The plan had been to cut some wood for tomorrow (when we are expecting 12 degrees), but I could not get the machine working and I think I flooded it. So I will have to hope the rain holds off until I can have another go tomorrow morning.

This whole 'cleaning the bank in the evenings' sucks. Last night I was so focussed on wondering when the back hoe next door would finish work (7:30) that I forgot I was supposed to be cleaning the bank. So come ten o'clock (an hour after my usual bedtime) when I decided to wend my way to bed at last, I had this sudden ghastly realisation that it was Monday and I had forgotten something. So I hied me to the bank and cleaned it (conscious all the while that there are people with small children renting the residence that is attached and the bedroom end is closest to the bank), and staggered home at 11, only to find I was a) hungry again) and b) did not feel in the least bit sleepy, so did not get to sleep until well after midnight.

Since I was heading into town this morning and had to be up at 6 to make my first scheduled stop, you can imagine how i am feeling right now. Let's just say no-one is getting a long walk tonight.

I had originally planned to leave at 8:30 but then realised that, as I was going to Kingston, I had to allow at least another half an hour. Then there were roadworks on the highway. And I concluded the Ute was not up  to the loooooong slow climb that is the Southern Outlet so went down the old road via Taroona, then I got lost and finally turned up at my friend's place at the latter end of the one hour window she had assigned for my arrival. This is one of my old class mates that I have resumed contact with of late, so we had a lot of catching up to do, including meeting her husband (who is 20 years her senior and not long for this world). He is a charming chap who used to design for Tiffany's of London and has an interesting outlook on life. I can see why she married him - they make a lovely couple. We took their 16 year old dog for a walk along some of the beach paths that are at Kingston, and I finally dragged myself away after a couple of hours, and decided on lunch at Sandy Bay Beach.

Found a place I have been to before and had a lovely Salade Nicoise (or Salad Nishwahs) as the girl pronounced it), then bumped into another class mate coming out of the toilet. She had been having lunch with yet another class mate who was on her way to the airport, so we had a hurried hello/goodbye before setting off into the distance.

From there I went to where I know there was once a solar hot water place but it is no longer there (I am checking out a replacement thingy that turns the pump on and off at appropriate times, which will be more useful than the manual approach I am presently adopting), then on to the Telstra Shop in the hopes they would sort out the problem with the phone. Naturally enough, the warranty on the phone expired three days after my previous trip and so they were no help at all, other than to suggest there might be something wrong with the battery (I am rather glad of this as their 'help' would have involved taking the phone off me for an unspecified length of time while they sorted out the problem), and directed me to Battery World just along the road a ways.

He opened the back of the phone and, on recovering the battery, expressed great surprise it was still working at all as apparently they usually die after six months. Sold me a replacement that has a 12 month warranty and told me to plug it in for 15 hours before using it. So I will not be placing any phone calls just yet. He also told me that I was quite correct in assuming that it might be a loose connection as this is apparently a common problem with my kind of phone (the things you get to hear from people who are not trying to sell you a phone), and that if the replacement battery does not do the trick they have a wireless charging platform that you just sit the phone on without having to worry about using the plug at all. So that may be the next trip to town - we will see.

Then to the vets to collect more prescription cat food (I thought I might as well since I was down there anyway) and home to take the dogs for a brisk walk around the oval and give them a feed. I will be having an early night tonight methinks, as I am absolutely shattered with exhaustion.

It didn't quite make it down to one degree last night, but came awfully close by morning. And today was not the balmy 21 they promised. It was, however, very pleasant gardening weather if you were out of the wind, and so I have finally managed  to get in my seedlings. I now have red and brown onions, spring onions and beetroot in the ground for a winter crop. I will be adding parsnip and carrots later in the week if the three days of rain actually eventuate. Though since one of those days is supposed to go down to 12 degrees, I am not sure how happy the seeds will be. Fingers crossed.

I also ordered a load of firewood to be delivered, which should arrive soonish (no definite delivery date provided), and have stashed the necessary cash away so I can pay for it. I will get another load at the end of next month.

I noticed that it is probably 2 years since I obtained my smart phone so the phone bill will presumably be going down soon, since the payment component will no longer apply. I am taking it to town tomorrow to complain as it does not recharge properly and the last 'fix' they did has not actually addressed the problem at all. Since I rely on it to be available when I am out and about, it is simply not acceptable and I will be telling them this. I will also be visiting a friend at Kingston, so it should be a nice day out!

The plan was that i would get the washing done first thing, but first thing it was cold, overcast and drizzly, so that was delayed somewhat. Since it was also hardly conducive to gardening I gave the beds a good soaking where I planned to put in seedlings, but that was as far as I got.

The washing was finally done and the bed remade, complete with electric blanket (remember I took it off to wash it), mattress topper and a pair of sheets that somehow never seem to get used. I suspect, if memory services, they are polycotton and they feel nasty, but I expect I will find out soon.

The tartes tatin were finally made, but as is my wont, the caramelising was more on the burnt side, so while they are edible, they are hardly worth mentioning. The remaining sheets of pastry (I just bought a 3-slice pack) were cut into circles, laid in a tray and then tiny toms were sliced in two and laid on top. A few pinches of shredded cheddar, sea salt and cracked pepper, plus a wipe with olive oil, and i have some nice little savoury flans for dinner.

With one degree forecast for overnight, I might whip out the frost cloth and pop it over the two beds that have tomatoes in them. But since the wind has just picked up, perhaps I won't.