Look at me now!!

Three years ago today this big fella turned up at Candlestick Farm. How he has changed since that day!! From this...............

To this!

This............

To this..........

From having this bum..........

To this bum!

And from being this gangly thing 

To a barrel with a leg at each corner.........

And from this wide.........

 To this wide!!

Well done big fella! You really have matured into a magnificent boy!

Lilli Killer!

A quick shopping trip into town this week with Lilli as passenger. l called in to our Farm Produce Store to pick up some carrots and chaff for the horses. Lilli is well known in there and always sits on the Counter and enjoys cuddles and pats from the girls. This time she  managed to score a dried piece of Shark Cartilage!!
And oh boy did she love it!!!! She doesn't have many teeth but that didn't stop her and she got right into it! Chewing and gnawing away till it was all soggy and yes it stunk!

A very happy little doglet ......................until!!!!!!!!!!!

A car pulled up alongside and she could hear another dog barking......Maybe it was going to steal her shark cartilage???? She was furious! She had no idea where the barking was coming from and was bounding up and down at every window hackles up trying to protect her treat!

Ah..................there it is!!!! A rather large (massive in fact) German Shepherd!!!! She huffed and puffed away at it! (she doesn't bark much!)  If this picture had sound it would be most humorous to hear her!!!  He didn't even SEE Lilli, he was mournfully barking for his owner who had gone into the shops. He had no idea that in the car next door there was a furious teeny tiny Chihuahua, viciously ( she thought) defending her meal!

Job done though Lilli as the Shepherd started to howl with what she thought was  abject fear!

Back to it. Well defended Lil!

 

A good weekend

Fine if not a little chilly this weekend! It was nice to get out into the garden, give the lawn a mow, rake up a few thousand leaves and give the whole place a bit of a tidy up. It's still looking pretty even though most of the leaves are now gone.

A few jobs done in the bathroom too with some more timber panelling going around the back wall and the new plaster up to hide the awful old cement sheeting! Almost D-Day for the bath to arrive!!  (or should l say B-Day .. or ..........Bidet?? Oh dear...l will shut up now!!) 

Madam here didn't do much at all...........not the same photo as the other day....a different one.......... a different day in fact................she just looks the same!............ If not a little fatter!!!

With some gorgeous sun sets and sun rises this weekend we have been spoilt for choice with the stunning light.

It felt like the sky was on fire this particular evening!!! Quite surreal!

Divine Ducks!

Not many leaves left on the trees now and the house is finally visible through the Silver Birches on the other side of the fence.

The cat has found the perfect cushions to snuggle up on in front of the fire in the evenings. Not that they look very comfortable! She teeters there a bit precariously but this is the second night in a row she has settled down for the evening on them so they must be more comfortable than they look! l personally think she just likes the colours!

And a fabulous Op Shop find today on my lunch time travels. Six gorgeous little napkin ring holder ducks!

All slightly different...........

All hand carved and painted out of single pieces of wood.

No matter which way you look at them they are a gorgeous little crew!!!

An absolute steal at $3!

Bird Feeder

With Winter fast approaching it's that time of year again to start feeding the wild birds. We have a lot here in the garden. Silver Eyes, Wrens, Honey Eaters, Finches to name a few.... and Sparrows.....lots and lots of Sparrows! l see why they get called the Mice of the Sky! Geoff has made about 40 fat balls which have been stored away in the freezer for future use. Lovely big balls of fat from our local butcher, mixed with wild bird seed, a bit of honey to hold it all together and dropped into little mesh pockets made from onion bags. Our tiny little feathered friends just love them and it's always nice to know that on a cold frosty morning, all the little birds at Candlestick Farm have big warm bellies full of lard and dripping!

This lovely feeder l found at the Tip Shop. Not a salvaged item as such ,but made by some clever local soul who recycles old timber into bird feeders and bird houses. He then sells them at the Tip Shop for an absolute fraction of what they are probably worth judging by the amount of work that appears to go into each one.!

A great addition to the garden and judging by the empty onion bag, a popular one too!

More Bathroom action!!

Well our bath is now only weeks away from arriving!! Geoff has done the tiling and l finished off with the grouting over the weekend. Now the floor is finished we can install the rest of the pine lining and then the plasterboard......paint.....trims....cornices......and all the finishing bits! And for everyone wondering why the tiles are not the same colour?? It doesn't matter as the bath will go over the top of them all!!!

l got some more done yesterday which was fun as the walls are not straight and it was hard to get the glue to hold the lining in place! Stretchy bendy bits of wood were needed to try to hold them there until l gave up, got out the drill and screwed the bloody things on!

Then lots and lots of snug insulation to make it cosy as possible!

Finally a quick trip into Hobart today to attend the funeral of an old friend of ours then time to catch up with the beautiful Bethie for a coffee on the Boardwalk in glorious Autumn sunshine.

 

 

 

The Aussie Dunny!

Bit of a good score on the recycling front last week. An outside loo!!!  Not for us to USE as an outside loo of course.........the toilet and the basin will come out and it will make a very nice goose shed or tool shed somewhere on the property! It's from a block of land opposite us up on the road that has recently sold. The new owners are knocking down the old house (sadly) and building a nice shiny new one!! The old fashioned Dunny was definitely surplus to their requirements and they were more then happy for us to have it!! It weighs a ton so absolutely no idea how we are going to get it the short distance home but we will work it out somehow! l am happy it will be saved as well to live on in some shape or form and not be consigned to the scrap heap!! We should preserve and be proud of our unique Aussie Dunny!! 

The rest of my Tip Shop finds  this week  are rather unexciting and unimpressive in comparison!! Although this brass light fitting is quite lovely and its final resting place is yet to be decided. Tree or veranda???

This hilarious jumble of brass and glass is however already assigned to the goat shed as long as l can hang it high enough that they can't pull all the glass baubles off!

And an interesting pair of wrought iron candlesticks. Looking like pieces of car parts , they have settled down quite nicely under two young Silver Birches.

Oh and my little brass collection! $2 for the lot l couldn't resist! All very small l thought they were just gorgeous!

Especially this one. Not sure what it is. An incense holder maybe but the holes are rather large. l loved it until l saw the photo of it head on.......................

Staring at me.............................

With its silly little ears.......it's beady little eyes and big smiley grin.................

Now l can't look at it as anything else!!!!

 

 

Sheep Hut!

The sheep have been kept around the drive and yards these past few days. Mainly to keep them out of the worst of the wild weather and secondly to give their feet their regular check up and trim.  They ARE l must say a bit of a pain being so close to the house! They follow you everywhere!

They get IN to everything

Get stuck!!!

And eat lots of hay!!!

Saturday morning we did their feet then decided to build a small sheep shelter for them out in the big paddock.

We built it under virtually the only tree in the whole place! One lone Wattle!

Of course ,as usual the hut was to be constructed out of old apple crates, scavenged pallets and salvaged wood! Nothing too flash around here!

And their hay rack ingeniously constructed out of an old poster display rack found at yes, you guessed it..........The Tip Shop! Screw a piece of corrugated tin on the top for a roof and it's perfect!

First draft and yep, it looks pretty ramshackle and shabby!!!

But it's secure and stable which is a start!

We have some old fence paling which we will line it all with when they dry out so it becomes a total wind block and hides the horrible red paint of the pallets. It should then nestle into the hillside quite nicely. Now we just have to let the sheep know it's there!

Stay tuned for the next stage!