Despite the fact it is grey and raining today it is not all that cold, so I have deferred lighting the fire till I need to. Wood is at a premium at present as the phone has been out of order for two days (and continuing) and my message to the wood man has not hit a window of vague signal to be transmitted.

The actual Treasurer of the Hall committee called around this morning to make plans for how we organise the raffle as the information has been being relayed to her via the President who tends to get things muddled. We sorted that out and agreed to catch up later this afternoon to finalise the bits we needed to.

On her way out I checked the letter box and found a parcel notification - astonishingly enough Spotlight, who I had phoned at lunch time yesterday re the machine, had managed to get it delivered today! Now all I need to do is find a flat surface so I can unpack it.

That's next on the list.

This afternoon the Treasurer turned up again and we counted money (which she is banking along with the contents of the Float Tin), screwed up raffle tickets for the draw, all at a suitable distance from each other and were spotted parting company outside the Hall by the local police, haha.

I am keen to get on and cook some chow mein now, so that I can freeze it too, and then I can sort through my fabric stash for the makings of masks.

My $750 economic booster arrived today. It didn't last long - $550 to the woodman, $99.00 to Spotlight for a sewing machine to make masks and toilet squares, and $100 at the supermarket (but I now own 24 new rolls of toilet paper!). The woodman has been advised I am solvent so I await his advice as to when he will be delivering.  The Sewing Machine is somewhere in transit with Australia Post, but should be here in a week or so. It will be good if I can find time to settle down and do some more precise quilting in the days to come.

It was a day of getting used to not being able to get in the car and set off into town as I willed, so the shopping was done on line or as part of my trip to clean the bank. I was going to do a bit more gardening but there was a chook roaming my yard, so I decided against it. It comes from across the road and there's no chance that bozo will keep it under control.

Ran into Josie who runs the post office and she has sold all the raffle tickets so I will collect them tomorrow.

So, some knitting done, some messing around arguing with people on FB and generally gathering my scattered thoughts as I adjust to this new and exciting world. Hope you are all well where you are.

Well extreme times call for extreme measures, so I am resuscitating this blog to see me through the rigours of social isolation. Actually I am rather enjoying it as I have the time to be at home long enough to get something done. I am the sort of person who takes time to disengage from whatever it was I was doing, before I can move on to the next thing I want to do, so rather than being bored, I am taking the time to increase my fibre skills, tidy up the house, whatever. Possibly even manage to finish off some of the work that remains undone, and generally regather my thoughts.

My voluntary driving is slowing down as patients' appointments are cancelled as non-critical, so I have put up my hand to continue driving by volunteering with CTST. This is going to increasingly be more a case of home deliveries rather than carting people around.

I hope some of you are still out there, but if not I will happily burble away to myself and keep you updated on progress here at the mad house.

Meanwhile a quick and sad update - Sebastian had to be euthanised on Christmas Eve due to a sudden onset paralysis which appears to have been the result of losing his footing as he leapt of the bed to bark at something. I have not replaced him, but am a bit torn at present as the presence of a dog in the house would be reassuring if things get a bit nastier. I have the offer of a greyhound, but need to take the time to work out what is happening first.

I did not plant a vege patch but have just turned over the garden and acquired some seeds for root veges and brassicas. I suspect that, like last  year, the winter will be relatively mild and I have a portable plastic tunnel that can go over things if it gets too chilly. At least I have plenty of water.

The steady depletion of assets next door continues. I hope for her sake she is keeping track of the materials being removed in case he comes back and has a go at obtaining half the house. But I remain uninvolved.

The dog' obedience lesson didn't go quite as planned. I turned up with him only to find the instructor had double booked us (ie forgotten it was his wedding anniversary and he was supposed to be pampering his wife), so was not there. I returned home and was pursued by a phone call and an offer to come up to Oatlands which I accepted gleefully. It all seems to easy when it's done by an expert but once you try to implement it yourself you realise you have to undo a whole lot of your own bad habits before you can undo the ones the dog displays. After nine days we are at the point where he is obedient but clearly uncommitted to remaining so, which means many more weeks of vigilance. As for being able to have him off-leash a the instructor suggests will be possible - well perhaps we need to pay for another lesson first!

The weather here has been fairly wildly unpredictable. The temperature yesterday morning was minus .07 degrees, and it opened out to a lovely Autumn day. Tomorrow it will be 33 degrees. Today I will be doing some cooking to top up the meal supplies in the freezer and struggling to get BMW to accept my order before they sell out of the items currently on special!

It seems all is forgiven now, so Seb lives to continue his life of dissipation, which is a huge relief. But in the theme of the 'never a dull moment' it seems the household next door is minus its second husband. I notice the other day that the horse population in Oatlands was halved, and saw them selling the tractor a few days back and various other odd activities (eg the horse float parked outside my place across the drive way for some time as he entered the property on foot), but having become accustomed to fire sales of assets to pay bills, I was not that concerned. But today my faithful lads called in to drop off something they had borrowed and told me all about it.

I hope this does not mean that the chooks will once again be roaming the neighbourhood and the dogs ditto, but I will have to wait and see. Meanwhile it's knitting day tomorrow, the Farmer's Market on Sunday is featuring some organically grown pork meat and I have a freezer full of beef and potato curry, lamb tagine with couscous and curried sausages as a result of a day of cooking yesterday.

Still no response from the owner of the chooks, but I am disconcerted by the sudden severing of the relaxed, friendly relationship I had with the owner's father who is a regular stop on Seb's walk. He is harnessed into body harness (with a lead) and collar (with a second lead) so it should be apparent I am making an effort to avoid a repetition.

Yesterday I took off down to Old Beach to visit with a friend and en route called into Mangalore kennels to book him in for obedience training (so we can work on come-when-called in a confined space. The first lesson is booked for Monday week. Tomorrow being a public holiday and the rest of the week being fairly fully booked for both of us, that was the earliest opportunity.

Having visited my friend, sorted out the colour choices for the son's vest and her preferred patterns, I headed home, walked the dog and prepared to go out once more. It was an obscure invitation that I had originally ignored as Spam, coming via messenger and referring to the Supreme Court House by a different name. But as it turned out it was an invitation to an eclectic group of Oatlanders to music, dancing and soup. Despite our various backgrounds and ages and interests, it was a fun night. The music was good and while I forewent the dancing it was fun watching the pairs working out the complexities of the various dances.

Yay for cooler weather. Yesterday was downright blissful with a light mizzle for much of the day and temperatures barely exceeding 11. Today was a touch warmer and sunnier and drier, but apparently some rain may fall tonight. It's still all happening elsewhere but here is relatively safe.

Today was a little too dramatic for my taste, with Seb slipping his collar on our morning walk and taking off up the side road at a rate of knots. I chased him in and out of various yards and down the road and back up the road and back down the road then, realising I was wearing out (and so were my shoes) I headed home for the ute, since I had to take a patient to Hobart also.

After heading back down the road and up it again and seeing no sign of him, I posted an ad on the local Buy/sell and headed into Oatlands, receiving a reminder phone call en route. Only to discover it was a new car I had to drive and so I needed lessons. Still managed to get the patient to his appointment barely on time, and got a wee bit of shopping done at Eastlands before heading home once more.
On arrival I noted that Seb's collar and leash had disappeared from the back door (I have mentioned they were there is someone found him). So I checked FB and also 'other' messages to no avail. Then heard the dogs up the road barking in an unfamiliar way so headed up to the house on the corner. Seb had been found inside his daughter's henhouse, surrounded by corpses.

Fortunately they seem to be taking it well so far. I await the arrival of the man of the house, but the  girl was OK, and the chap up the road has offered her as many chooks as she wants, so hopefully I will get out of it for a box of chocolates and some beer.

So a day at home tomorrow, perhaps some washing done depending on wind speeds, and sorting out the poultry situation. Seb will be exercised on a leash with a spare choker loosely on his neck and two leashes for a bit. No idea how it happened - I was just walking over to pop his poo in the bin, no sign of resistance, just ... wooops