The Library

It's getting there! We don't hurry things around here. And again yes l know.....we  should have painted the walls first! It will be a challenge to paint them now as the ceilings are very high! It's all in the very first stage with several bookcases on the other walls still to be made. ..............and still half the books in the barn! But the house is still standing and hasn't collapsed on one side so that is a good thing!!!

My day off was spent dodging rain showers,putting up more pickets ( l wont bore you with yet ANOTHER photo of my lovely fence until it's finished!) and then armed with shears and loppers l spent some time hacking down brambles, bracken and broom to clear it away from the latest stretch of fence line to go electric. Geoff came home and we did a bit more together until the cold wet weather got the better of us and in we came. We  cooked up some chicken on the top of the wood heater. Worked a treat and it was delicious!

And a big thank you to my lovely Mum who bought us 3 metres of pickets today as a surprise and a special treat!! The fence will be finished in no time now!..............well... definitely before Christmas anyway! Thanks Ma ! xx

Fickle Spring

Back to Winter for us today!!! Rain ,wind and the fire cranked up again! It was actually quite nice to get all the animals fed and put away early in the pouring rain then come inside WHILE IT WAS STILL DAYLIGHT, have showers and an early dinner! A rarity indeed!
l painted the few pickets l have and they look fab! I'm loving the white colonial look!

My next challenge is this corner! The horrid palings will come off to be replaced with post and rail. It will give a much better view into the garden and look lovely once the Silver Birches l planted a few weeks ago get a bit bigger!

And Clips is getting fat at last. He almost has cellulite on his bottom!!!

 It's taken a while!!!

 

 

 

Blossom and Pickets

I'ts lovely waking up this time of year and looking out of the window to this! It's a very old tree and fairly rotten and we are not sure just quite how many more seasons it will last for but, as long as it does, we appreciate and enjoy the stunning blossom display it gives us in the meantime!

On the other hand......one of the most unattractive parts of the house and garden for me has always been this hideous fence! l feel like l am behind some sort of zoo enclosure or something!

Late this afternoon when l got home from work we finally started the great conversion to a pretty picket fence! We need a fence to keep the wallabies at bay. We toyed with moving it but there are so many rocks under the ground it would need a jack hammer to reposition the posts! We then decided to keep it simple and simply replace the ugly boards with Colonial pickets. We are only buying a few each week so it will take a while to complete!

And l KNOW l should have painted them first (but l haven't decided on what colour yet!)..................but it will be worth it when it's all done! Can't wait!

Goodbye Blue Tarp!

Walking to work yesterday l passed a stall run by a couple of lovely old ladies who raise money for the Chihuahua Welfare Rescue Society (!!!)  l saw these gorgeous red matching hand painted glass vases!!! They were only a dollar for the pair...... l just HAD to have them! Geoff thinks they are ghastly!!! Never mind!!

We also discovered on a ramble about the place yesterday, nestled amongst the blackberries in the paddock...some of my favourite flowers.... Granny's Bonnets!  l dug them out this morning before work and was happy to see them still looking hale and hearty and no worse for wear when l came home this afternoon. l shall leave them for a while then transplant them into the garden somewhere. Looking  forward to seeing what colour they come out as!

Not that l mind.....  l love them all!

When l came home this evening l found Geoff had got stuck into putting up the wall at the end of the car port for our hay shed.

l grabbed a hammer and away we both went. Didn't take us long and by 7pm we had it all up! It was great to be able to pull down that awful flappy old blue tarp which has been tied onto the end of the shed for a year!

It just needs a coat of  paint the same colour as the shed and a bit of a tidy up and it will look great!!! Stay tuned!

A big 'weekend'

Again l had a stunning weekend. Beautiful sunshine and glorious weather. l actually feel a bit mean as my days off have all been great whereas Geoff's last 3 or 4 have all been freezing wet and cold!
Daylight Savings is upon us which is wonderful.! Again we now find ourselves coming inside at about 8pm and eating our dinner about 9pm! Not very good for the digestion l suppose!!
This photo below shows why its NOT  a good idea to burn pallets in a Hay Paddock.....................nails!!! Luckily we have a big magnet on a stick and only 15 minutes work this morning yielded me this big bucket full of them! They are actually in fact lying in an area we don't hay but l will still go out there several more times and try and collect as many as possible.

l then spent an hour or so cutting broom and bracken out of the River Paddock. Assisted by four very large fat lambs!

Then l tackled a job l have been delaying for weeks!!! All the turf l happily threw OVER the fence into the paddock when l was cutting out the garden paths HAD to be moved! No one..... (i.e a little turf fairy) was going to do it for me so l knuckled down in the sunshine (with Treek watching me from the back of the Ute) and got it all done.

 Luckily we have a big hole in one of the paddocks so l could 'turf' it (arf arf!!) in there!

l noticed this morning most of the flowers in the garden are blue!!!! Interestingly enough we seem to have way more bulbs and surprises popping up this year then l remember last year!

This afternoon l spent a bit of time with the calves and whilst giving the little one on the right a scratch (she is still nameless!!!) l discovered she has horn buds growing which is a bit annoying as we presumed they were a polled line. l will ring the breeder tomorrow and see what he says.Horned goats are bad enough!!!

Finally to end the day when Geoff got home we planted some more trees. These two are Golden Elms and should give some lovely shade and colour to our driveway (one day!!!) These were bare rooted trees which were going very cheap at work! It's a bit late to put them in now but fingers crossed with lots of water, TLC and cow poo they will take off!

A great weekend but l would like a day off tomorrow!!!!...................

Burning Willow

Yesterday afternoon we managed to finally burn one of the big heaps of Crack Willow we have had  piled up in the paddock. Not a moment too soon either as each and every piece of branch and twig had grown roots and was vigorously sprouting away!

With a couple of friends around to witness the occasion we had a lovely evening and we were surprised how quickly it all burnt away to nothing. l was also very glad to see the back of all the pallets Geoff brought home many months ago. We had put all them around the base of the bonfire to make sure it well and truly lit up (which it did!)

Toggles as usual was there. All the goats were of course but its old Fatty Boomba who loves watching the flames!

Geoff was in his' pyromanical' element of course and long after dark armed with his little bottle of drip torch fuel he was wandering up and down the reeds lighting them all up!!

Wild Day!

l had such a lovely day off yesterday. l finished my paths and pottered around in the garden. Played my guitar in the glorious sunshine.........

 Admired this cute little visitor to our fish bowl

And was remarkably 'calm' when Geoff turned up with one of his famous "its a free bargain babe" truck loads!!!!! These are weatherboards.............. not real wooden ones. They are made of some sort of cement sheeting which when painted look like the real thing but they last a lot longer.

l watched in sort of semi dismay as they came off the truck and into the yard. But l concede..... They WILL come in useful like for example we can use them to fill in the end where you can see that blue tarp which protects all the hay from the rain................... Useful indeed!!!!

Glad he didn't off load it all today as the whole State has been buffeted by massive gusty wind blasts causing damage and chaos everywhere. It's always a bit nerve wracking coming home after such a dramatic day to see what has happened when you have been away. We didn't escape unscathed unfortunately as you can see by the photo below................ .