Still too cold for comfort

 26.9.2025

 

This week the weather has been pretty miserable. The has only been one day when there was enough solar energy to charge up the batteries.  Everyone sensible has gone north on holiday. Josh is catching up with friends north of Cairns.   Al and family are in Darwin and Ollie is off to Greece. 

 

Ti and family have just got back from Qld. They left the cat in their house and I had the job of making sure it had food and water. Last Monday we had horrific winds and a bedroom door blew open. The cat was not meant to have access to the bedrooms but I could not find her anywhere.    I had to leave the door open and just hope she was OK. The comforting thing was that next day all the food had been eaten so she had to be somewhere. I never did find her and she did not come out of hiding until her owners came home!

 

The wind also blew trees down across the road and D’s shed tried to escape the property. We caught it and roped it down even though it was on its side. D is our new tenant and has a bit to learn about winds. He has to move all his stuff here today. His mum, Cher, has been living here and is helping him with the move.  She also helps me with farm work for which I am very grateful.  She travels round Australia in a converted troop carrier Toyota, a sort of grey nomad life style.

 

The two goats we ran with the new buck are heavily in kid and I have moved them back with the main herd and given Merlin two younger does.  Merlin is a Saanen and I think his kids will be white too, but this might not be right.  We must wait and see.

 

I have planted some snow pea seedlings and have plenty of silver beet, kale and lettuce to eat. WE have even had some asparagus and with Cher’s help the gardens around the ruins are coming back under control.  We need the vegies as the shops get ever more expensive

Old goes new arrives

 10.9.2025

 

The oak trees have burst bud and the fruit trees are starting to bloom.  The wattle trees are bending under the weight of golden flowers and the lucerne trees are in full bloom. It is still fairly dry and the grass is not growing fast yet.  We have moved the three Persian sheep and their lambs out of the shed and onto the old drive way. They adapted quickly to their new home and the lambs have enjoyed he extra space.

 

Baby David is now running round and has been trying to throw the ball for Ses (the dog). He has also worked out how to climb the ladder and get on to the trampoline. We all worked hard and took all our stuff out from a third of the storage shed. This allowed Ti to move his stuff away from the donga shed and into the new space. He sorted everything onto shelves so that he can get the drifting car he is rebuilding in as well. We are most impressed with Ti’s car repair skills. He is a thorough and tidy worker and seems happy to work on cars in his holiday times even though it is also his job at work.

 

Once we got the donga sorted new people have moved in. It never stays empty for long.  There is a crisis around affordable housing and people are resorting to camping and couch surfing. Places like our Yarra Valley are very difficult places to find rentals that the average person can afford.

 

We are sad to lose Barrack, our old buck goat, who died this week. We did not really need him because he is the father of most of the female goats, but he was such a pet that we have never considered selling him. We miss him but, the new buck, Merlin is the sire we will use now. He has already got Nerys and Ursula pregnant.

We have had some fun weekends and got together with friends old and new. Now I am working in the garden every day to sort out the vegetables and trim back the creepers covering the ruins of our old house