Lucky me! My cousin, Leonie, dropped in today to catch up. I had some photos of her daughter to give her and she gave me a box of mince, some lemons and a huge bag of kiwi fruit!! Going to have to look up a scrumptious recipe for those – Kiwi/pineapple Jam! mmmm
Cousin Jeff had dropped in some more wood on Sunday – then before I had a chance to do anything more about it, he was back today with the second load today
I am going to have to get my skates on and get this stacked, as the third load could possibly arrive Friday!!
Right now its half out in the elements getting severely rained upon!
The yard gets pretty churned up by the heavily loaded ute, but that’s not saying much as I practically bog the wheelbarrow on my way up to the house these days!
I am trying to work my way through the containers of produce in the freezer. I thawed out a 4 litre container of Ruby’s plums with the plan to make more jam.
Ruby’s beautiful plum tree in spring
It took an eon to get the pips out and mooley it into pulp!!
Pips and skins gone
House smelled rather nice during the process
I only cooked half – three pounds worth – I find if I try to cook bigger batches it takes 5 times as long and wont set properly! This lot was fairly speedy – I’ll do the rest tomorrow.
I had some on toast and am pretty happy with it!
The chickens are still laying well – although I wouldn’t blame them if they went on strike! Trying to keep them happy with warm meals every other day.
Potato SmashThey way they run in and snatch you would think they hadn’t been fed for a week!Pretty Girl
Hope everybody else’s day was slightly drier than ours!!
It started off lovely and sunny today… had a minor lapse early afternoon, then fined up again! All in all not too bad!
It was good to get out and do ‘this and that’
Thought the chooks would like some fresh greens
Anticipation
Then they all stood around, clearly asking where the bacon was?
Too healthy
I left them to it and went to collect the eggs, only to turn around and find the whole squadron had followed me to the coop -still looking for bacon or hot mash no doubt!
I hadn’t collected the eggs for a couple of days!
I am pleased to report that when I returned later in the day, all their green snacks had gone! Good girls!
Time to finish mulching the rest of the salvia! It was easier this time as it was drier and whizzed through rather nicely
Its like potpourri
I was also keeping an eye on the weather – the rain was creeping slowly closer
Despite lack of sun, the breeze was helpful
I fed the worms too… some of the peelings that the chickens tend to ignore and eggshells and general grotty bits I put in the Gee Whizzer and put the slop into the compost.
Pretty worm foodSurviving…
The chickens did get into this and now the broccoli looks kinda bedraggled
Doing its very best!
Even a fragment of a rainbow today!
Things are going well in the hothouse for this time of year
I do think it may be time to remove the last tomato plants… (maybe)
Just a few tomatoes left
I even have some accidental celery! I left it in a pot outside the hothouse door and it has rooted into the ground and is looking really quite good!
Having done all my yard tasks, brought up some barrow loads of wood, watered the hothouse plants etc, I took my rake and headed to the beach…
Rake & Me, hanging out at Fossil Bluff
I know – why be normal??
I was doing an elaborate wedding message in time-lapse and figured that taking a rake to smooth the sand would be useful.
I get a lot of weird looks when I go to Fossil Bluff lately!
One of Pip’s rare out of bed moments. He lasted long enough to give the weather a dirty look then go back to sleeping in my Nanna-Knee-Rug !!
I quite like the Tasmanian ‘I can’t make up my mind” weather. Admittedly it has been extra soggy and miserable lately… but it will generally give you little blue sky moments and a fleeting chance to run down the back to see if the chooks are still afloat, or show off with a rainbow or ten just because it can.
The gum trees that loom over our house!
The wind really did kick up there for a while!!
Dancing in the wind
The other half of our front gate set got blown off its hinges… there goes another job on to the ever lengthening yard list!
Damn
I had to re-weight the tarps down a few times before I got it right. The wind blew up in sneaky ways and dislodged the concrete blocks!!
I sorted this out but so far – no floods!
Very pleased with the weather curtain – it shields the barrow of wood and its really nice not literally wading in through the door!
The ground is now so sodden that its hard to push the wheelbarrow of wood up the small slope to the back of the house – the ground literally falls away under my boots!
Its a bit of a quagmire down the back right now!Pretty green but very soggy
Of course there are patches of blue sky every now and again
I see a break in the weather, so grab the camera and head outsideThis lasts for about 20 minutes!Then you watch the clouds roll back in!Grey skies over Norwich House!
We got some hail yesterday morning! This patch lasted all day in the garden!
Frozen strawberries!
The chickens seem to be coping pretty well… I really want to put a roof on their yard so they have more places to shelter…
Nice fat, fluffed up hensA nice big container of warm smash – potato and various other tasty leftovers
I like going down the back to stare at the little cows too! They eventually all come up to stare back at me! They are such a crack up with their serious faces!
Precious little was done today at Norwich House – the torrential rain never really materialised, but it didn’t stop the weather looking like a sulky child!
I did manage to complete the post processing of a set of photos for a young cousin of her at her school formal. I suppose thats a tick of the list! 🙂
The strawberries will need a tidy up soon – but the colours are still pretty in the dying leaves
I eventually extracted myself from the computer to load up on some wood, feed the chickens some scraps, water a few potplants… that kind of thing.
I enjoyed a brief wander around the yard for some fresh air while it wasn’t drizzling
pelargonium
Garden tip for newbies – if you want to feel like a champion, break off a bit of pelargonium or geranium and shove it in a pot or the ground – it will grow a whole new plant with no effort on your behalf – ok – maybe a bit of watering, but they are ridiculously easy to strike!
The winter look is a bit bare and sad
All the pelargoniums on the left side of the photo I grew from bits I snapped off a mature plant (Original from Ruby) I did it to hide the side of the deck and they have grown really quickly. When in flower they are a mass of purple!
I finally emptied the rain gauge again. Tipped 150mm (6inches) out of it. Now if we get that promised rain I can tell exactly how much!
Princess Lily reappearing – I think she likes the breathing space now that the salvia has been tamedLion’s ear cut to the nub is already showing signs of a comebackOnion weed. Pest bulbs that are quite pretty, but will need to get on and dig them out soon. They take over quicklyA small splash of red has popped out on one of the rose bushes!
Hello! No Fridays Footprints today! We went out to the movies tonight (Independence Day 2 because who doesn’t like seeing a war with Aliens??) and we were home preeeeetty late!!
Apparently we are due for torrential rain and wind, so we sorted a few things out today just in case the weather forecast got it right
We picked this up at the tip a few years back for hardly any $$
Jeff dragged the outdoor weather curtain from the shed, we duct-taped the dodgy bits and put it back up
Why walk all the way back to the shed for a hammer, when we have a rock?
We only have one panel, but by putting it here, it stops the wind blowing the rain in the back door. Its nice to have a little dry buffer zone during the wilder days! Also the boots don’t get saturated!!
The wood in the far back corner is ok usually, but we can now pull the wheelbarrow back behind the curtain to keep that mostly dry too.
Done
It really wasn’t that nice of a day. Pip was being annoying. He really wasn’t sure if he wanted in or out! If he was left in he howled. So I finally dragged him out and hooked him up to his lead. He promptly ran to the garden for a wee, then came back, sat at the door with his paw up looking pathetic. Back inside to bed he went!
We were not keen on the possibility of having all those stones and path dirt being washed back down the path, so we made our own slip & slide covered up the path with tarps and tried to make a guide for any water gushing down to head across the path and straight to the tank area.
I cannot tell you how keen I am to make this a water slide in summer!!
I save my bread flour bags and thought they might come in handy as sandbags!
Hopefully all this will keep any more of our path from ending up in the paddock!
Well… its raining quite heavily now as I type. Nothing like what we had a few weeks back. And the wind hasn’t kicked in as promised as yet!
I suspect tomorrow might be an indoor day!
Its 1.30am so its time for me to go to bed and get a start on my sleep in tomorrow!
It wasn’t too bad out there today! Both Jeff and I got out there to get into some tasks before the rain sets in from now! (Yes and even another load of laundry done and dried! I am on a roll)(Lets not talk about the folding ok?)
I finished pruning off another bush while Jeff got into the lawn
Was a bit long
While all the mowing and whipper-snippering is going on, the gates are open and the fences down – its heaven for the chooks as they can free range a little further than normal. Its very exciting for them!
Pip also got dragged out from under the doona to get a little sunshine as well
Although his idea of ‘helping’ is to sit on my shoulders while I am trying to prune – wasn’t what I had in mind!
I got about halfway through the Salvia clippings, putting them through the little mulcher
They actually looked quite pretty all chopped up
I started filling up the second of my new composts with the clippings and chippings!
Note to self – must add worms
I did notice the first bin was warmer and showing condensation on the inside of the lid! I figure this is a good sign
Jeff had moved on from the lawn and was making a dent in all the rocks and gravel that had washed down the backyard in the flood and was starting to reconstruct the path. I was getting chilly, so I left the mulcher and started raking gravel.
Its a bit less of a free fall going down this path now, and starting to look a little tidier down the back
In the hothouse, one of the smallest broccoli plants is actually showing a tiny broccoli starting!
These are looking healthy, but they could still turn out to be cabbages…
Its so nice to look back after a day outside and see things looking markedly better!
Flowerdale put on the blue skies and sunshine for us today – she didn’t even bat an eyelid when I – ever the optimist – put on two loads of washing!
I totally got into that salvia today!
Half way there
There is a reason I am neither hairdresser nor stylist!
Is that called a ‘short, back & sides’ ??
There was afternoon left, so I nipped over to Ruby’s and saw she was taking the same kind of liberties with the weather as well –
Ruby has been suffering for a few months with a really bad foot – well, its her toes really. She told me she had been “Very kind to it” (ie she had sat on her bottom too much resting it) but couldn’t resist the sunshine and was out with Margie making a dent in the weeding
This was the weed we were waging a personal war on today
Ruby went inside to sort out the kettle and some afternoon tea, while I filled up the green bucket a few times with the offending weed
The green wheelie bin was fairly full – something that will please Ruby immensely!! It really annoys her to send that bin out to the curb with space in it. She feels she is not getting her money’s worth if its not chokkas!! 😀
I enjoyed going inside for my cuppa and delicious bit of raspberry slice, made by Margie!
I have no particular stories today, but it was just lovely spending time with Ruby after us both having enjoyed the lovely weather. Its like having your batteries recharged and I am sure we are both solar powered!! 🙂
Have a lovely day wherever you are in the world!
Cheers!
PS – this shot is my favourite! I find Ruby takes a fabulous shot when she thinks I have finished mucking about with the camera and she laughs or smiles naturally!! I took the last shot when she wasn’t expecting it and I practically got a finger shaken at me!!
Well… Screecher was clearly feeling better, because I found her wandering, bold as brass, up near the house! No idea how she got out. All the other girls were where they were meant to be!
Snack timeThe eggs get really mucky in winter!There is one ‘working’ nest, the other two look like this! Little scruffers!
The fire was well overdue for a clean out – so I got my bucket and got to work
Full!
I took the ashes down and threw them in the main compost. I decided against putting them in the new ones, because my best friend told me how she did that and the ashes weren’t quite cold and set her compost bin on fire!! I decided to err on the side of caution!!
This is NOT a job for a windy day!! (Its not so fabulous to step outside and get a face full of ashes!!)
Now our fire is beautiful again
Makes winter worthwhile!
Speaking of composting things, I decided to chuck the extra food scraps that the spoiled chickens ignore into the Gee Whizzer and get them nice and fine to hurry the composting along
So I went and fed the worms
If I am going to be honest, it looks like someone threw up in here….
A lot of my bulbs and rhizomes are coming up already. I feel its a bit early since we only just started the second month of winter!
Found these on top of the soil!! Will relocate to new home
The Day lilies are looking good!
Lots of iris well on their way too
My Protea is looking so nice at the moment. Plenty of big bold flowers!
Bud
The photo below was taken the day after our flood. Its a bit hard to see, but the garden outlined by the driftwood on left has half of the mulch washed away thanks to the flood
Newspaper showing where mulch should be!
I was impressed to see all the dirt smoothed and covered over yesterday. I thought my fabulous husband had done a bit of random gardening for me. Turned out it was the chickens!! On their accidental day out yesterday they must have had a lovely industrious time in that garden!! (Although I suspect all my worms have long gone!!)
A good job done by the chickens!!
I finished off my day by making sausages in pineapple gravy, draped over mashed potato and fresh broccoli for dinner…. and a chocolate self saucing pudding for dessert. 🙂 Yum
If you are not Australian, you may not know we all headed to the polls today to vote on who our next Prime Minister is going to be. (Who really probably has a good chance of being replaced during his or her term anyway, as has been the trend of recent years!!!!)
Nevertheless – my “Rainbow of the Day” shone up over the polling booths which was a lovely distraction from politics!!
I was with my cousin, Fiona (from yesterdays Fridays Footprints post) and we were two happy little tree hugging greenies together! 😀
On the way home we drove past one of those fabulous random country things – a young fellow playing the bagpipes by the highway for his family selling $2 pumpkins!! Fiona insisted we go back for a photo (and a bunch of pumpkins! 😀 )
Fabulous!
Back home I had a little wander through the yard to say hi to the chooks and give them some scrap bread
There are a few of the girls that like to snatch directly from my hand
Apparently I had left the gate open this morning and there were chickens everywhere that they shouldn’t be when Jeff got up! They must have had a wonderful morning!! Ooopsie!
I had gotten up at 5.30am!!!!! Clearly the brain wasn’t up to remembering things like ‘gates’ that early. Jeff should know better than to ask me to do complex tasks before 9am
Foraging for scraps
Our Old Girl Screecher was looking very poorly this afternoon… She wouldn’t have a bar of the bread, which is very unusual. Was quite worried that, at her age, she might be heading down the slope.
She was on the nest rather than the roost when I tucked them in. I thought I would remove the eggs from under her as I hadn’t collected them today and thought she would be more comfy.
Well… I put my hand on a warm, shell-less egg!! Ew.
A really weird wobbly egg!!
I hope she feels better tomorrow!!
Only scraps left on the tomato plantsHothouse broccoli thrivingSo happy with how the garlic is shooting up!! Will have to get some seaweed mulch soon!Barrel of self seeded lettuce… do you think I may need to weed??The outside broccoli! We had a feed of this last night and it was SO good!
Ruby waving her wooden spoons about – since we were talking about baking!
I dropped into Ruby’s early this afternoon to chat about this and that. Her friend Shirley was there and Margie also came in for a cuppa.
The topics skipped over this and that – I shared my news of the photo challenge and how I had bought a creepy ‘anatomically correct’ doll.
Ruby started to smile and then told us a story that my doll reminded her of.
She was five years old and her mother had given both Ruby and her sister, Sylvie, a Kewpie Doll! Very exciting. Dolls and such toys were few and far between. They were little nude dolls and Ruby told us at that age she was just becoming aware of all the body bits she had, eyes, nose ears… and a couple of other holes.
By this time we are all choking into our coffees imagining what was coming next – apparently Kewpie was lacking some vital details, so she got a pin and went to work!!
Her mother was “Not Amused” when she made the discovery!! Ruby was chuckling so hard reminiscing at this point. She said “I thought I’d forgotten all the naughty things I did as a girl!!”
I suppose its no surprise that she made a career in nursing!!
The Rhododendron showing some flowers super early!
We chatted a bit about inoculations (immunisation/vaccinations) as back in Ruby’s early days it was common to be nursing people with polio, TB & diphtheria. Vaccines for diphtheria became available in the early 30’s – Ruby started nursing in 1938.
Diphtheria for most of us is only something we read about in history books. To me it is the name of an illness that we don’t worry about anymore. Ruby see’s it very differently. First there’s the cough, then the sore throat, then the choking. She said it was an extremely cruel disease and the relief was great when they were able to inoculate the children.
A while back she told me to go look for my ancestors in the old graveyard and see the 4 children buried in the family plot. The old graves are in poor condition but I did find a very sombre piece in the local paper dated October 1870 –
The residents of the little township of
Wynyard and it surroundings were very
much startled lately, by the report that a
dangerous and insidious epidemic called
diptheria had found its way to this place
Two boy aged respectively two years and
nine months and eight years, children of
Mr William Peart. were the first suffers
and only lived a week from the time they
were taken ill. Shortly after the death
of the boys, two girls belonging to the
same family died within a week of the
death of their brothers, leaving their
parents childless. They were all buried
in the churchyard at Wynyard. The age
of the eldest girl was 13, the age of the
youngest 6 years.
This was my family! I will get to the council some day and locate their plot.
Ruby went to nurse in Waratah (Small country town which was quite isolated) in 1947/48 and was horrified to find none of the local children had been immunised. Of course she sorted them out pretty quick smart.
The deaths in Australia began dropping off quite rapidly. 4,000 deaths reported in Australia between 1926 – 1935 dropped dramatically to 44 between 1956 and 1965. A great relief to families and the doctors and nurses that had to try to save those affected.
Look at those little winter tomatoes in Ruby’s hothouse!! She is enjoying this experiment!!Self seeded potatoes EVERYWHERE!! Who knows what we might dig up. We haven’t had heavy frosts to kill them yetStill getting a decent feed of her broccoli!
There were whole wards set aside for TB and Polio in Ruby’s early nursing days.
The kids with polio pretty much lived at the hospital… often from areas far away so were without family during their stay. The nurses, staff and other patients became surrogate families.
Polio often attacked the arms and legs but Ruby said getting it in the chest wasn’t unheard of – and sadly very poor prognosis.
Bathing time was extremely busy – bandaging and rebandaging. Lots of kids, usually under the age of 14 years to attend to.
Ruby told us of a gentleman named Mr Record used to organise a team of between 4 and 6 volunteers daily to help at this time of day. They were young people aged between about 16 and 20 and were invaluable to the nurses. Ruby said she never knew how they would have coped without them. The young patients loved the interaction with the young helpers and apparently a good time was had by all – well as good as you can have with polio!
Ruby doesn’t remember anything else about Mr Record, but now, here in this little blog, just a few more people have heard what a kind man with his team of volunteers did to make a real difference in peoples lives.
Thank-fully cases of polio are rare to the point of non existent here in Australia.
I love Ruby’s weather vane!!Small bits of colour in winterThis tree is always a delight!
As we stepped out the back to say goodbye to Ruby we were greeted by this magnificent double rainbow over her yard!
What a treat! The colours were so strong that even Ruby could see and enjoy it!
Fabulous!
I hope you have enjoyed a ramble down memory lane with Ruby!
