Stunning Sun Rise

The sky was just beautiful this morning. Not for very long! But long enough for me to rush back inside and grab my camera. (Yes, l do walk about the place WITHOUT my camera sometimes!!!)

Red in the Morning Shepard's Warning??

Actually now l think of it its all a bit odd! Last night Geoff and l were standing outside just as it was getting dark when all of a sudden the cool wind disappeared and an incredibly warm one came in. We both had fleecy coats on and immediately it became uncomfortable as it was such a temperature difference. What was weirder though was that the air had a slightly unpleasant metallic /iron/blood smell to it! It blew out after a minute or so then in came the cool wind again. Not for long though and the warm 'blood' wind came back again. Now we have a blood red morning sky! Weird? Creepy? An Omen? Or just Nature!!!!!!

 Made the house a rather lovely pinky orange colour though! l like it!

Bargains!

We have a new man who has started at our work who is proving the old adage 'a new broom always sweeps clean'. He's gutting the garden section and selling all sorts of things off for next to nothing! Now alongside my plinth, my garden arch and bird bath l have added today a lovely rusted cast iron metal urn. It was normally $250 and l got it for $49.95! A bargain for our plantless garden!

l also scored this lovely (rusty) hanging thing!!! Not quite sure what you do with it (apart from hanging it on a wall!!) l think you might put plants in the holders perhaps.......or candles? l could do with a new candlestick holder.....................!Anyway this was only $5 reduced from $45.00 so l was quite happy!!

This afternoon after work l had to finally make the concerted effort to clean up the massive mess l had left on the front veranda when l started to decimate the spare bedroom. It looked a bit like a building site with old sheets of melamine ,mattresses and bedheads everywhere!

Geoff was up the top paddock attaching sheep fencing to the back boundary. That particular fence is wire strands only which will be fine once the electric wire is going but as it is at the moment the sheep can simply walk straight through to next door.

The old Ute comes in to her own carting all the gear up there.....he loves it!!!!!!!!!!

And just a photo of my lovely fat chubby rotund little Toggles. So different to the crazy little kid she was! 

And if pictures could talk l think l would wonder what on earth was going on here!!!

Heater arrival!

Today l collected our hew heater!!! Its getting installed on the 28th of March but we collected it earlier so we could work out what sort of hearth to put in first. Its very heavy and I'm not sure how we are going to get it off the back of the Ute

Tinks is now just over 8 weeks old so weaning has begun! Toggles l seem to recall pretty much weaned herself very easily and just stopped wanting the bottle but somehow l think Tink will be more difficult. As l type this l can hear her bleating away outside!

She's eating sheep pellets now which means she doesn't need milk at all...........l will finish the bag of milk replacement then that's it! We will just have to put up with her screaming out for a few days! (groan!!)

Talking of growing big.........................the little ducklings are now enormous full sized boys and girls. The grey and white drake who had his wing chewed is huge. He's a sweet placid thing and loves nothing more then having the hose aimed at his face!

The little female who actually lost her wing is still very small but just as healthy and happy. Its funny watching her running around (pretending to fly)  as she gets unbalanced as one wing is only a few inches long!

l will have to get rid of a few of the drakes as they will start fighting soon but as long as they are all happy to play together they can stay.

The geese are big too now! Snooty,haughty and aloof as only geese can be!

Treeka loves going into the orchard and watching them but she's a little bit nervous of the geese so always keeps a respectful distance!

Reds of Autumn

The Call of Autumn is definitely about!!! Still warm days but the hint of whats to come is in the air! These wild roses out in the paddock are covered in beautiful red rose hips!

The Virginia Creeper around the water tanks is brilliant red already!

Makes a lovely contrast to the yellow grass!

When l went up the back paddock this evening l got the distinct impression that l was being watched!!! After glancing around it wasn't hard to spot the broad white blaze of one of the horses next door lost amongst the blackberries and long grass, peering at the strange entourage of two dogs one human and three goats!

Everywhere is starting to look a little bit brown now.......of course underneath all that long brown grass it is beautiful and green...........so if only we could mow ALL the paddocks and rake up ALL the hay we would have beautiful acres of GREEN grass......sigh.maybe next year!!

Snapped these two rather magnificent Peregrine Falcons on a hay pile today too! They were way up the back paddock and l had to use my mega zoom to the fullest so the photo isn't very clear but it was lovely to watch them. We think they might have been going for the mice that are no doubt in the hay.

 And we have come to the conclusion that Poppy possibly ISN'T pregnant.........................

 And Auntie Jack probably IS ........................

Wardrobes and Cow Poop!

As the days cool off again, its time to get more proactive in the garden. l have begun scooping up the years and years of sheep and cow poo from under the Macracarpa Pines! A never ending source of fertiliser!!! No doubt a few weeds will pop up out of it but that's a small price to pay for the free garden feed!!! Of course l can't do ANYTHING in the paddock without inspection and approval first!

Even Blue was fascinated by the wheelbarrow!

Poppy looked on from afar but wasn't quite game enough to come right up!

It did look sort of freaky when it was filled with big moonstones of dry cow poo!!!Yum!!

Toggles is too old and mature and waaaaayyyy too fat to play' silly wheelbarrow games' anymore!!

She still plays on the Rocks but she doesn't frisk too much as she tends to fall off!! Lizzie and Tink are so much more agile! She would be a Saanen cross breed l would imagine as opposed to Lizzie and Tinks who are Toggenburg crosses. A much smaller daintier goat!!

l have also decided to tackle the hideous melamine cupboard in one of the spare rooms. Its just so ugly and sticks out in the room like a sore thumb......

Mind you ,the room IS a bright purple colour so it doesn't have much going for it anyway!!!

l pulled it out with great gusto. It ended up a bit of a mallet job as it was so tailor made to fit in there l couldn't get it out!!! The light switch had gone on after the wardrobe went in and as l am terrified of electricity l wasn't game to take the switch off hence the hatchet job on the melamine!!

What l found behind was interesting though. The old original wooden boards still with layers of wallpaper and paint on parts of it! And blue paint......and blue carpet............bum!!

Very old .........it will be a shame to cover it all up again! Maybe l should make  a truth window!!!!

Lilli was unimpressed and cuddled up to her new found friend! This Teddy has been on the sofa since Carrie and the kids visited. Lilli loves him and drapes herself and snuggles into to him each day! l don't have the heart to move it now! Snuggled in the morning................

Draped in the afternoon!!!!

The Taste of the Huon!

This weekend was ‘The Taste of the Huon’. It is held every year here over the Labour Day Long Weekend 
The Taste Festival is one of the most popular regional events in Tasmania and draws over 25,000 visitors over the two days. As usual l worked.......we both worked in fact so neither of us can claim to have gone this year. but it's a pretty impressive event to be held and staggering the amount of 'townies' that come down to spend a day in this lovely place that we take totally for granted.
They market it as celebration of fine food, wine, entertainment, arts and crafts from the Huon Valley and Channel region. Its been going now for 20 years and every event gets bigger and better

Its held at the local Showgrounds under the ever imposing Sleeping Beauty. It's at a time of year where it can be torrential pouring rain of absolutely stinking hot! l have been to it during both! This year was perfectly mild so no doubt a great time was had by all.

The Huon Valley where we live produces an abundance of apples and although Tasmania is still recognised as the 'Apple Isle', cherries, mushrooms, salmon, vineyards, berries and truffles are also farmed in the area, along with much more that half the time we never give much thought to!!!

 

Berries galore.

Wine 

And award winning cheese to name a few! Lucky indeed!