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28 May 2017




Above and below: burn-off smoke


Above and below: Airbnb bedrooms tidied up prior to more guests arriving. Mini-fridge
and TV added.


Next series of photos: Alum Cliffs walk from Kingston Beach to Taroona. Turns out that no-one wanted to walk all the way there and then back again. So poor old Mum got sent back to fetch the car and meet them at the Taroona Shot Tower tea-rooms. Turns out we were almost at the end, so I ended up doing most of the walk twice and when I got to Taroona they'd already eaten cake and were ready to go home!







This sums up the state of the debate regarding the change of Australia Day. Currently, Australia Day -
a day in which we are meant to celebrate all things Australian (smacks of nationalism to me) - is on the day
that the Brits landed to set up a colony. Clearly the Aborigines feel this should be called 'Invasion Day' and
I'm inclined to agree.

One of my autumnal flower arrangements.

Below: last vestiges of autumn colour on Tupelo, Maple and Silver Birch.



Cherry tree leaves.

I was given a batch of duck eggs that had been abandoned by the Mum for some unknown
reason. The few babies that hatched were very weak and all died within a few days. This was the last -
it was such a shame.

Two last huge turkeys.

A huge blackwood branch came down on Mitchells Road, from an almost dead tree
on our boundary, close to our gate. I tried to handle the resulting chaos but me and chainsaw
weren't up to the challenge, so I had to call in help from the Council, who arrived promptly
and sawed it all up. We've since carted the lot back to the tractor shed to dry for firewood.



Me, Luke and Baz, one of our new kittens. Luke and I had just had a short sharp haircut
courtesy of me and my scissors.We lost our darling Murphy-Cat and adopted these three little
rascals to help with our recovery! 

Little Baz snoozing.

Cardboard cat box (interlinked) mark 1

Above and below: the three new kittens: Baz, Scorch and Ed. 


Ed chilling on my shoulder.





Very proud of myself. I managed to replace all of the lights on the stairs that had gone -
around 6 in total. I removed lights from the series in the downstairs corridor and used them
to replace the stair ones. I have still got to sort the ones downstairs however - currently
just holes with wire poking out that the cats are fascinated with.

Guava and blackberry being filtered to make jelly. I made many pots of this delicious
spread.

Blackberry liqueur on soak. I added a tea-bag to give it a bit of a tannin flavour.

Carrots grown in my veggie bed and pulled by Luke. The tops will be fed
to the rabbits. 

Sugar-snap peas grown by Luke on the deck upstairs. We had a massive
haul of these, most of which Luke ate raw before I could use them in any recipe.

Bluey and babies.

Above and below: Last handsome bunny to be sold.


Weird silvery little babies - born to white Mum and black Dad.







Just before we sold the second of our plots of land, following our boundary change, I
retrieved 2 gates which were forming part of the boundary fence and fixed up the fence. I
plan to use them in my new goat paddock.

Above and below: second veggie bed under construction. I put heaps of compost,
old hay, branches etc down first, then covered it in top soil, well-rotted hay and manure,
and finally weed mat.


Veggies growing in my first veggie bed.

Huge cricket.

Dusky robin that fell down the flue.


Above and below: Naughty quolls I kept catching on successive nights
in my trap alongside the veggies. Something was eating my greens and I'm quite sure it
wasn't these quolls. Have created yet more defences to stop possums climbing in.



Netting strung above the garage roller doors to try and stop the sparros getting in all the time.
They make such a mess pooping everywhere and stealing my animal food. Hoping this will do the trick.

Rosie is certain something is living in the hay, so I set the trap in hope - no luck so far!

Had to get on the roof and clean the windows on the skylight. Great view from up there!