One of those Days.

Finding this on the back patio this morning was only the beginning of not a particularly good day!

It wasn't just the mere fact of finding at the back door half a disemboweled rabbit (and a big one at that!) It was more of 'who did it"?
Is Treeka sneaking off in the middle of the night? Butter wouldn't melt when l quizzed her but you never can tell.

Possum admittedly looked particularly evil this morning, but maybe that's the way she looks every morning until she has her breakfast and maybe it was only me trying to read 'vicious slayer of rabbits ' into those yellow eyes?

Lilli l think we can safely say is innocent. l know where she is at night and it definitely isn't gutting bunnies!

So anyway, we moved on, all that drama aside and with gusto l attacked the house. l decided to get stuck into the bathroom. l ripped out all the old silicone around the bath. Stood up on the ladder and scraped the flaky paint off the ceiling. Paint was flying everywhere but who cares as l am painting the floor..............later. Its actually amazing how much mess you can make renovating. Then l hear a text message on my phone. Its about 3pm.Its the Real Estate Agent...... Someone wants to come around tomorrow  to look at the house at Midday........Hooray............but........
The bath looks like this..............................

This is a good shot of the bathroom itself.

This isn't even mentioning the kitchen with its big dirty unpainted gap on the wall where we pulled off the cupboard last night................

So anyway its now 10pm and l still have to second coat the ENTIRE kitchen. Luckily Geoff painted the bathroom ceiling for me, but the place still is a hideous mess............................yes, l guess its just been one of those days! ! (and nights!!!)

Winters Back?

Our beautiful Spring weather ended with a vengeance last night and today with 120kph winds, wild rain and freezing cold!
Woke up to a feathering of snow on the hills around the Valley. Now is about the time we often get our heaviest falls. Here are a few photos of snow taken from the house and at the top of our road last year.
This is taken from the back garden looking up towards the hills.

This particular snow fall l headed up early in the morning to the paddock just to the right of the line of trees. It was a stunning beautiful different world. The snow was falling quite heavily and really deep in some places.

l came across these old pickers huts which looked quite imposing on the hillside! From an era when all these hills were covered in apple orchards.

l then headed back towards the treeline and shelter from the raging wind! l was only 1.7 ks from home but it felt like l was out in the middle of Siberia!

l also came across these beautiful geese! They are Sebastopols and l used to own one in W.A.  They are covered in these long curly flowing feathers. They get nicknamed The Pantomime Geese and its easy to see why........................OK so l didn't COME across these! You can't get them in Tasmania and they are even hard to come by on the mainland. l am determined to track some down somehow as l dearly would love to have them wandering around the orchard on the farm.

A few Randoms

One thing l wont miss when we leave Glen Huon is this!!!

Having three sheep on just under an acre is hard work! This amount of sheep poo is a few days worth! Great for the garden but a time consuming chore that has to be done rain or shine! 25 acres....... Yeehaa!
And here is little Pushka , just making sure that if any of these packed bags are going anywhere that she is going too?? She spent most of the day there enjoying the sun.

A lovely shot of our back veranda. The Farm doesn't have such a wide one as this so we have the measurements and plan to duplicate it as closely as possible. Complete with our favourite rug on the floor!

This is the Farm's only veranda at the moment. A semi wrap around in the old style but much narrower (but whose complaining with that view and its all ours!!) Also it's as yet unadorned by the Dixon paraphernalia! Look out!!

A Happy Birthday

An evening spent with my beautiful Mum on her Special Day.
Happy Birthday Ma xxx

Couldn't decide which photo l loved best so thought l would put them both on!

Dressed for a special day out?

Mr and Mrs Plover

Today was a rather stressful one for Mr and Mrs Plover ! And for me as l worry about them and now somehow even feel responsible for them, not just for my own sake but by letting their plight be known the world over!!
Out on the Oval today it was all happening. There l was happily painting away on the deck when l heard a truck arriving. Imagine my horror (and Mr Plover's)  when l saw them unload THIS!!!

The driver drove round and round and round with his circle slowly getting bigger and bigger. It was agonising to watch!! Mr Plover interestingly enough was nowhere to be seen at this stage. Maybe he thought this big loud monster was too big even for him!
Mrs Plover had no such qualms and sat tight flattening herself to the ground every time he went past!

Imagine my absolute relief when he finally was on track to run her down he  slowed  to an absolute crawl and very carefully maneuvered his way around her. Bless him!!!

So that was OK! Drama over with a happy result thank goodness. Off l went about my chores again,painting tidying making a massive mess and tidying etc etc.(and so it seems to go on!)
3.30pm. More noise, cars, slamming doors, lots of voices. Soccer training!!!!!!!! Aggghhhhh!!!!!
Poor Mrs Plover sat tight yet again as Pele's and Beckham's hot footed around her!

After half and hour or so (in the absolute torrential rain l might add!) they all went home and Mrs Plover breathed an enormous sigh of relief (as did l) and settled down for what hopefully will be a peaceful night!!

Hoarders!

Geoff and l are both hoarders! Both compulsive collectors! This becomes very apparent as l fill box after box of the same things!!
Geoff, as most people are by now very aware collects books!

He can't go past a book shop /op shop or second hand store without buying one (or two or three!). We have a fully fledged library and l am not brave enough to start counting exactly how many we have!

l on the other hand collect useless daft outdoor junk!

Like this stirrup made into a bell ridiculous thing! l saw it yesterday and just had to have it! It makes a rather lovely deep cow bell clanging noise and l can imagine rattling it to announce dinner time !!

Or these silly ducks!

And this wonderful rusty spider in it's web that hangs on the side of the house!

Geoff''s collecting obsession doesn't end with books though!

He loves seeds!

We have hundreds  of them! l don't mean bought ones in pretty decorative packets that tell you where to plant and when! We have jars of sunflower seeds, envelopes of tomato seeds, containers full of weird little round spiky things , matchboxes full of maple seeds! Bean seeds, poppy seeds (enough to give Afghanistan a run for its money l think!!!) Collected from the garden, other peoples gardens ,beside  the road.... everywhere!

Some of them eventuate into pots..............................we have a lot of seedlings in pots .......................but most of them l think will stay in bundles.. jars.......envelopes.................matchboxes............................!

Oh and candle sticks......................we have a lot.......... l can't help it.................. just one more never hurts....!

Three Seasons in one day!

Another beautiful 'almost Spring' day today in Tasmania. When l walked out this morning to feed the sheep it struck me that this is such a varied time of year. Our Liquid Amber still has red Autumn leaves on it.

The Apple trees are bare as wintry bare without even a hit of buds ready to burst.

But the Almond tree is a mass of beautiful white blossom! Is our Garden confused?

And as the sheep tried so hard to get in every picture, here is a photo of them having breakfast!

Getting There!

Packing is happening in earnest now. The house is looking so bare! We are so used to every single available inch of space taken up with pictures , things hanging from the ceilings and colourful throw rugs and cushions everywhere. Down to the basics is very glum indeed!
Thank goodness for the Shop though! She is slowly filling up with boxes and boxes.......and boxes!

We are of course very lucky to have the luxury of being able to cart all our stuff down there bit by bit each night!

Then there are always the inevitable boxes that you wish would just disappear as you figure out as the weeks go by that you really really don't need them and your life would be decidedly simplified if even HALF of your 'collectables' just vanished!!

And then there are the books.................last count 58 boxes and still packing...........................

Churches old and new

We have two Churches in the centre of Glen Huon. One being very very old one being fairly new.

This church is right next door to us. Perfect neighbours! They only use it on Sundays. The garden is always beautifully maintained. They don't have loud parties ,in fact the only noise we hear is the singing from the choir! Oh and they provide a nice night light to illuminate the shadier parts of our garden in the dark! Better neighbours you couldn't wish for!

The second church couldn't be more different! But only in looks that is! 

l love the hand painted sign! Not sure how many people use this little church  anymore.

Oh and by the way. Here's another Plover picture! Nice choice! Faithful father is sitting  out of the shot on the verge. He was just about to launch his first air offensive as l returned to my car.

Grape Vine

This morning.Lying in bed .Cold grey wintry day.Staring out of the window at our grape vine on the front veranda.. Today it looked so bleak, stark and bare. All black and grey lines with no colour whatsoever.

Then l started thinking of the seasons we have been through with this grape vine.
The beautiful shades of yellow and gold as Autumn creeps up on us.

Then the stunning splashes of red as the cold weather really hits

The magnificent harvest of grapes we have picked from it.(and made wine from!)

This yield gave us our first 9 bottles of Pinot Noir!

The beautiful summer evenings and late afternoons sitting under the shade of the green leaves with books, guitars, wine and beer.

And the lovely dinners and long lunches we have had out here and the friends and family who have sat with us under this grapevine that looked so bleak this morning.

We will miss this vine!!!!