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

Sorry to leave you in suspenders. It's still all good here. We took a run into Oatlands yesterday afternoon as it was very smokey and I feel safer in there than here. The animals were a bit more cooperative this time so all three of us made the journey. Poppet was less than impressed and tore up all the newspaper in her box to make an even more tiny cave to hide from the world. At least her feral experience means that when frightened she remains silent so no caterwauling to accompany us. Billy just sat at the front of the box and watched the world with big eyes.

I have left the proper computer in the ute now, so am using the new one which has no storage.

Well according to the pundits armageddon will be unleashed in Tassie tomorrow. I have done what I can to prepare the yard (not as much as I should, but as much as I can), and am progressively packing the ute with things to take with me (and the pets) should evacuation become necessary. Most of the local farmers have prepped but next door has left long dry grass under the pine trees, so if that goes up, so too will all the houses in the row (me first) because of the wind direction. Aerial attack is the most likely source of problems so once the ash starts falling I am piling the dog and cats into the small crevices remaining in the ute, and heading into town. Close to the lake in case all else fails.

The things a spinner knitter sewer packs include spinning wheels, fabric and fibre stashes, button boxes, pattern books, important documents, clothes, boots as well as newer shoes, and technology. A prescription or two will also be added to the handbag once I stop typing. And in case you were wondering about the sewing machine, not only is it inaccessible but I need a new one anyway haha. So far today has been windy but not hot. And the fires are a long way off. Tomorrow .... well who knows? With any luck a cool change will emerge from down south and we will get rain instead (which is why stuff is in plastic bags in case the ute leaks).

Basically the situation is such that the services and volunteers are already stretched to the limit. Mainland help will presumably be withdrawn if they have problems at home, and so it's up to the individual to maintain personal safety. And that is why I have decided to get the hell out at the earliest indication of a threat.

There's also a spinning day scheduled for Saturday so keeping the wheel and relevant floof accessible also has to be a priority so I am glad I have time to do things progressively. I have worked out how to follow ABC on the laptop which is handy as I get updates on emerging situations. The phone is old so the battery takes ages to recharge and drains fairly quickly, so it remains on the charger.