recovery week

Ella

June 27. 2015

This week has mostly been taken up with recovering from last week. Food and scraps left over from the party had to be frozen or fed to chooks and the bones were cooked up for dog food. The table clothes had to be washed and all the extra crockery cleaned and put away. During this process I found the missing glasses. They were our best set that Beni gave us and I had put them away so carefully even I could not find them!

Edd has done a bit more tiling in the bathroom. He has worked on the tricky bits that curl round the walls that make up the shower door way. It has involved a lot of cutting and measuring and we still have the top of the arch to do. We still have the second coat on the shower walls to put up and as Al is off to the UK next week I doubt it will be done soon with out a huge effort.

Edd goes into hospital to deal with his knees on the11th of July and he expects to be out of action for a few weeks after that at least. The young goats are all trained now and one of them called Olga is usually the first in the queue when we let them in for milking. They all learnt to jump up onto the bale in three days and have not looked back. It makes life much easier when we get a group like this.

The new chooks have also settled in and are laying well. They have now got to love eating their greens but I have not started them on household scraps yet. The older chooks devour all of them very quickly.  In the vegetable garden everything is growing well. We have kale of all types; silver beet, parsley, lettuce and celery ready to eat. The broccoli and cauliflower are still too young.

This year our old orange tree that survived the fires is full of fruit and the lemons and limes are also starting to ripen. We ran out of lemons last year but have traded firewood and manure with friends to keep up the supply. I use lemon juice in large quantities when I make soft cheese and I use lots of the soft cheese to make cheesecake.

I try not to think about what is going on in the world. All the records indicate that the earth is warming in a way that will affect life dramatically and Australia is still in denial. I wish I knew what to do. We show as many people as possible round the house so they can see for them selves how it remains a great temperature with out the need for cooling or much heating. We have reed beds, tank water and solar panels but I think we all need to do more.

One amazing thing is that the company who do the work on the power lines sent someone up to put right the mess they made on the grass. We did not even have to fill in a form which is highly unusual.

A new grandchild arrives at the solstice

June 23. 2015

Everything happened on Sunday. Wayne’s baby arrived mid morning whilst I was busy cooking and cleaning for the mid winter feast. Edd had worked in the bathroom finishing off the tiling round the basins so that we could have all the building gear cleaned up and put away before the party. Putting the mosaic fish onto the wall proved to be much easier than I expected. I did the mosaic design on a board and then covered it with clear contact paper. We separated the two fish and then just stuck them up with waterproof grout.

For the feast we cooked a turkey, a joint of lamb and some venison from Indi and Ben. I made a cheesecake and lots of vegetables and we found plenty of salad in the garden. Beni brought a plate of entrees and Bo brought cheese, bread and a crumble.  Her mother in law cooked a Pavlova and Al brought corn chips. Everyone brought wine so it really was a feast. I put tables in the sunroom in alcoves made by the pot plants and once it got dark and I lit the candles it looked great.  Like dining in a tropical garden.

We had the stove on and the fire all day so it was really very warm even in the sunroom. In fact Al, as usual, complained of the heat. No one else minded. It has been minus 4 degree C over night recently and most peoples’ houses are very bad at retaining heat. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and a huge amount of food was consumed. One of our guests remarked on how rare it was for people to have a party at their house these days. Mostly everyone meets at a restaurant.

We had to wait until next day to drive into Melbourne to see our new Grand daughter. She had been moved from the hospital to the Park Hyatt hotel where they have a newborn program with a nurse checking them at intervals but otherwise it is like being in a very up market hotel room. When we entered the hotel we found ourselves in a massive foyer with a red marble floor inlaid with modern patterns in gold marble and huge marble pillars. The centre of the foyer was a mezzanine over a similar lower hall. Shiny decorative silver rails and modern artwork made a dramatic Hollywood type feeling.

Edd and I thought it was a very impressive way to start life! Wayne’s room was very comfortable and we got to hold the new, and still nameless, baby. She was asleep all the time we were there but we are told she has greenish colour eyes. She has long silky very dark hair and long fingers. Dani looked very glamorous for someone who has just given birth and Wayne was still very emotional. We are so happy for them.

Winter sun

Goats enjoy the winter sun

Ini and Donna

June 15. 2015

We are still waiting for the birth of Wayne’s first child. Every time the phone rings we dash to answer it but so far it is always some poor Indian person trying to sell us solar power. They all accept it when we tell them it is already installed but the call still comes again next day.

On the farm we have sold five of the older goats and have started the process of training the five youngsters from last year. On Saturday we put them in with the main herd and let them come into the milking parlour where they ate their food from bins on the floor. Yesterday we began training them to jump up on the bale for their food; they seem to be getting the idea quickly, which is helpful as these kids are large and heavy!  Edd has now put collars with labels on them so we can now refer to them by their name rather than as a group.

Over the weekend we had nights with frost followed by days that were actually hot and sunny. I worked outside in a T-shirt cleaning and oiling the wood on the house windows. We had brought a small scaffold on wheels that made this job really easy until the fumes from the varnish started making me feel sick and giddy. Then I went indoors to help Edd who has started to tile the bathroom. It feels good to get some of these jobs tackled at last.

Our old chooks are now all together in the front croft but they are in their moult period and we only get just over one dozen eggs a week. This is not enough and our customers are complaining so last week I cleaned and disinfected the large chook shed opposite the dairy and on Tuesday I brought home twelve new point of lay pullets. They are getting used to shed living and scratching in the straw and some are laying already. Yesterday I gave them their first greens in the form of chopped kale leaves. They were not very pleased; it will take time to get them converted to free-range living.

Next Sunday we are having our midwinter feast to celebrate the passing of the shortest day. Getting everything repaired will be the main work for the week. Today Edd left home early to see the consultant about his knees. We are not sure what he will say so it is hard to make plans. This business of body parts wearing out is the down side of life at our age. There are plenty of good bits to compensate. I have so much enjoyed the friends that visit us now they have retired. Friends from the UK are especially a treat. There is something different about relaxing with people you have known since childhood who all share a similar cultural setting.

Brisbane and back

The swimming hole at Alum Creek

Gum trees at Alum creek

Edd at the Bamboo garden Brisbane

June 6. 2015

Edd and I arrived home on Monday evening after a long drive back from Brisbane where we had been visiting Josh and his partner. We were just in time to experience the coldest morning in our area for 40 years. This translates as our coldest morning since we moved here 36 years ago!  In world terms it was not very cold but after the blissful warm weather in Queensland it felt terrible. Our house had dropped down to somewhere between nineteen and twenty degrees whilst we were away so the first job was to light fires. Luckily it got back to twenty-two degrees over night.

Indi and Bo had done a great job caring for all the plants and animals and the yield of milk and eggs had even gone up. (We need to  look for calves to consume our excess milk now that the goat kids are weaned, but first I need to prepare a place for them to live.) The only problem was that the electricity line people had come in to do something and had got bogged on the lawn by the dairy and made a terrible mess. They keep doing this and I am somehow going to get it stopped. Large rocks, a strategic fence and official complaints are things I am considering.

There is still an over whelming amount of work to be done, but we feel better able to tackle things after 10 days holiday. On our first night away we stayed at a motel in Cooma. It was very warm which was essential as the temperature went down to minus 9 degrees! We woke to heavy frost and clear sunny skies: typical mountain weather.  Sadly the car spent the night out in the cold and was not so happy, the battery was totally dead when we tried to leave. Luckily it was an easy walk into town and a kind garage man drove us back to the motel with a new battery. Edd had been worried about the old one so we felt glad it had given up in such a convenient setting.

We then talked to an estate agent because we are considering selling our block at Alum Creek. In the afternoon we went out to the block, which was sad because it might be saying goodbye. The land had never looked more beautiful. The creek was flowing clear, and its gentle sound was the only thing we could hear in the totally peaceful surroundings. The sun shone, the gum trees glistened and we knew that we still loved the place as much as ever. Some one had drawn a heart on the little beach by the swimming hole and it seemed very appropriate.

We left with mixed feelings and drove on beyond Canberra to find a new motel for the night. The following night was better because by then we arrived at Moree and stayed at a motel that had artesian bore spa pools. It also had a very nice restaurant so we were glad that we were staying two nights. The hottest of the pools was pure luxury. The water was like a hot bath and the minerals in the water made our skin feel soft and silky. Next day we explored Moree and decided we liked the town. It had interesting shops but visits to the pecan nut farm and cotton mills were not possible in the short time we were there, so we had a good excuse just to relax.

Josh had been in hospital having an operation on his sinuses so he was feeling pretty low when we arrived at his apartment. We had filled the back of the ute with his books and scientific stuff.  Indi and Pip had sent up honey from their bees too, so at least we arrived with something for him to think about. We found a really good place to stay fairly close with a kitchenette and a garden on the second floor.

Three days later when we had to start the trip home Josh was well on the way to recovery. This was a great relief. He felt well enough to organise us to pick up a new fish tank in the back of the ute. They do not have much in the way of furniture but they have a room for their rats and the fish tank on the table. The lizard in his tank is about the only thing in their living room. They explained that the lease on the apartment is only for seven months so they are trying not to get things that are difficult to move.

Once again it was sad to say goodbye. We really miss Josh and his partner who are such good company. At least we all went out for evening meals and spent the time together. The first night we ate at a Mexican restaurant and rather to my surprise I loved the food. The next night they took us to “the Hogs Breath” where the staff were all dressed as Disney characters. We were greeted by a very tall, slender man dressed as the beast, (from beauty and the beast) with a hairy mask covering all his face. I felt like I had landed in the alien bar in the first star wars movie.

The final night we visited the city beach. On the escarpment above the river they have constructed an artificial beach and pool that twists along forming a huge water play area. It was a warm enough evening for some people to be actually swimming. The landscaping was fantastic and all along South bank there were restaurants. Josh took us for Turkish food that brought back all our memories from turkey. We left early next morning and this did not feel too bad because we were heading back to Moree and another soak in the hot pools.