more to worry about

29.6.20

The news is not good this week. There has been a surge in virus case numbers here in Victoria whereas other states are OK.  We are waiting for test results for Silkie and Al who both have flu symptoms.  This means that for now at least Al’s Bo’s and our households should be in self isolation.  Our friend Benie and our tenant Citybeth are also in lock down as they have both been in hotspots where cases are concentrated.

All hope of us getting a winter holiday are now gone so we have ordered Edd a new shed instead. His machinery shed is so full of stuff he can ‘t get vehicles in to work on them. The idea is to move all the stuff into the new shed and then put a top floor in the old shed to make a usable loft and keep the birds out.  The birds come in and make a terrible mess which makers keeping the place tidy an impossibility.

It has actually stopped raining for the last two days, but the land is still saturated and impossible to work on.  Edd and I took a large round bale down to the horses today and the tractor left deep muddy grooves in the paddock.  The goats are not even attempting to go off and just hang around by the shed for most of the day.

We have moved the sheep into the house site because the neighbour’s dog was chasing them, and they are pregnant.  They are keeping all the grass down for us whilst it is too wet to mow.  The sheep markets are still closed so if new lambs start to arrive, we will have a big problem with numbers.  We give them barley every night, but they could do with more grass.

The good thing about the bad weather is that I have been able to stay indoors and work on the accounts.  I always feel a lot happier about life when I have dealt with all the receipts and other scraps of paper and organised them into a form I can deal with.  It is not even the end of the financial year yet, but I am well ahead.

We were looking forward to visiting Wayne and family when they moved into their new house, but it looks as if we won’t be going anywhere.  I am so glad we have the internet and we can see pictures of the grand kids.  They are all growing up so fast and we are missing the early stages of their lives.

winter solstice

22.6.2020

We celebrated the shortest day at Bo’s house last night.  Simon cooked a fabulous meal and the wine flowed.  Today we are all back in lockdown regulations as the cases of coVid 19 in Victoria continue to grow.  We are told that large family gatherings have caused the main problem but over 1000 contacts have been traced so things look bad.

I am glad we were able to get out and do the things we needed to whilst restrictions were reduced.  Last week we had some lovely days that were actually hot and sunny.  However, we are back to rain and mud today.  I have lit the first day time fire of the winter and have been sitting by it doing accounts.

Edd is busy trying to mend the cracks in the old water tank. He borrowed a pressure sprayer from Simon and cleaned it out so that he could see the damage. The next step is getting it to dry out.  Edd has also made beer traps for the vegetable garden and we are now catching loads of the slugs who took over from the rabbits to destroy our crops.

When the sun shines, I work in the garden.  I have weeded under the raspberries and move logs of wood and fallen timber into piles where they can be dealt with.  I even managed to get the grass mowed between rainfalls.  The ground is so saturated that it takes days to dry out enough to do anything.

The goats are still giving a lot of milk, so I am making cheese about three times a week this winter. We have never done this before. Luckily, I can store the hard cheese a long time now that we use the vacuum packer.  

Indi came last week in a borrowed bee suit and sorted out the beehives. Rather to our surprise they are doing very well, and she had to move several frames. She got stung through the suit a few times, but this does not seem to bother her too much.  She and Bo have been into town and brought gear so that they can go hiking together. They planned a 15 k walk at Kinglake for Sunday, but the weather was too bad, so they cleaned up after the honey mess instead. Nothing is worse than spilled raw honey on the floors. I had to deal with them in the donga a bit ago, so I know from experience.

We have a new tenant in the donga now as cityB has stayed on.  It felt a bit empty here when Ben and Indi left, so I am happy to have her here. She plays Irish music with her friend too, which is nice.  

winter solstice

Yarra Glen winter photos by Bo

22.6.2020

We celebrated the shortest day at Bo’s house last night.  Simon cooked a fabulous meal and the wine flowed. It is no good trying to have our usual mid winter feast this year because of restrictions.  Today we are all back in lockdown regulations as the cases of coVid 19 in Victoria continue to grow.  We are told that large family gatherings have caused the main problem but over 1000 contacts have been traced so things look bad.

I am glad we were able to get out and do the things we needed to whilst restrictions were reduced.  Last week we had some lovely days that were actually hot and sunny.  However, we are back to rain and mud today.  I have lit the first day time fire of the winter and have been sitting by it doing accounts.

Edd is busy trying to mend the cracks in the old water tank. He borrowed a pressure sprayer from Simon and cleaned it out so that he could see the damage. The next step is getting it to dry out.  Edd has also made beer traps for the vegetable garden and we are now catching loads of the slugs who took over from the rabbits to destroy our crops.

When the sun shines, I work in the garden.  I have weeded under the raspberries and move logs of wood and fallen timber into piles where they can be dealt with.  I even managed to get the grass mowed between rainfalls.  The ground is so saturated that it takes days to dry out enough to do anything.

The goats are still giving a lot of milk, so I am making cheese about three times a week this winter. We have never done this before. Luckily, I can store the hard cheese a long time now that we use the vacuum packer.  

Indi came last week in a borrowed bee suit and sorted out the beehives. Rather to our surprise they are doing very well, and she had to move several frames. She got stung through the suit a few times, but this does not seem to bother her too much.  She and Bo have been into town and brought gear so that they can go hiking together. They planned a 15 k walk at Kinglake for Sunday, but the weather was too bad, so they cleaned up after the honey mess instead. Nothing is worse than spilled raw honey on the floors. I had to deal with them in the donga a bit ago, so I know from experience.

We have a new tenant in the donga now as cityB has stayed on.  It felt a bit empty here when Ben and Indi left, so I am happy to have her here. She plays Irish music with her friend too, which is nice.  

moving house

6.6.2020

Another week has passed really quickly as we work our way through winter. This week we have been able to get off on errands that involved driving. We picked up the milking machine that was being serviced and went into the city to get material to mend the water tank and seedlings from Ceres community garden. (They have a very good range of plants there that are superior to the average garden store).

Due to the rabbit raiders we have a gap in our vegetable supplies, and I have actually had to buy some from a shop!  Now that Edd and Steve have raised the walls on the beds we seem a lot safer and I have been replanting everything. Now all we need is time for things to grow. At least we have a good collection of pumpkins, lettuce, some silver beat and frozen beans and sweet corn, but I do like more variety.

On Friday Ben and workers arrived to move the cabins that Ben and Indi lived in. Ben had employed a crane to lift them to the hard part of the drive and then they had to be transported on a low loader to their new home.  This all sounds straight forward, but we have had lots and lots of rain and the clay under the thin topsoil is hydrated and slimy.  Even walking round the vegetable bed is a treacherous venture so moving very large heavy cabins was never going to be easy.

They eventually got one cabin on the way, but this involved taking out both gate posts and one was straining up our fence. Luckily, we found this out before we let the goats out to graze, or we would have had them all out on the road.   Ben had to cut down all the over- head branches down our road as they drove out and the truck driver who had arrived in a bad temper got more and more angry.

Even when he got to the highway his troubles were not over. A log truck had tipped and lost its load, so the main road was closed for the day with traffic sent on long detours. I am also told they got bogged where they had to unload too. I am glad I missed this bit; I think furious truck drivers are best avoided. They are planning to come back for the second cabin next week, if the truck driver co-operates.  It is sad to see all the hopes Indi had of a happy family life in the country being sold off but at least we can now move on.

Bo’s eldest son has now got his driving licence and the four-wheel drive he rebuilt registered and on the road. We have all been transporting him to and from his work at the airport, so we are very happy about this, especially Bo who had to get him to work by 6am every morning. Her other kids are back in school and can travel on the bus all of which makes Bo’s life less stressful.  She is such a wonderful support person for everyone. She did all our shopping for us during the lockdown period.  I have now organised to get monthly supplies delivered so I can still avoid shopping centres.   I think it wise at the moment.

This week protests are organised for “Black Lives matter”. Virus laws do not allow for mass protests, but we all feel that we should support this cause.  Basically, I think all lives matter so we will not be part of the mass protest, but I feel we should be. Looking at a list of sixty deaths in custody I found the name of a friend and a friend’s grandson, so sad.