o0o
Its crazy making that its already most of the way through the first month of 2024.
Only to months until Autumn is upon us for goodness sake!!
That’s pretty wild…
I know its said the the older you get the fast the years fly by, but it seems like last year and this have blurred into one, with barely a breath in between.
My big aim before winter is upon us, is to get all the nursery plants that are being ‘stored’ in the pools at the moment, planted out.
Once Autumn and Winter are here, it will be very busy in the vegetable garden once again.
For the time being with all the wet and heat we’re experiencing, its just a matter of trying to keep on top of the weeding, and looking after the perennials and some of the most robust annuals.
We noticed last night then we were making dinner, that we only have about 3 big jars of tomato soup left, so that will be next on the list of things to can when I have enough produce collected.
I canned some turkey mince last week, and we’ve got at least a good years worth put up, so I won’t need to do any more of that any time soon.
I will need to can some more chicken casserole and beef casserole meals though, so will be keeping my eyes peeled for good meat specials over the coming weeks to get those canned and put up in the pantry.
I also made some lovely blueberry yoghurt this week, so am enjoying it a lot yeah morning for breakfast.
We’ve also decided that three of the raised garden beds we’ve been using for potatoes, are going to be refreshed, repurposed and replanted with blueberry bushes as soon as we dig up the remainder of the potatoes.
Whilst we will still grow a small amount of potatoes, we live in an area where potatoes are large-scale farmed, so we can usually get them for a fair price.
Anyways – on with the diary of what I’ve been up to, and I want to wish you all a Happy, Healthy and Simple 2024.
Monday
– got a few things from Bunnings and collected a parcel from the post office and sent another one.
Came home and cooked dog food, as well as a whole fish that we’ve had in the freezer.
I’ll make fishcakes with it once I shin and bone it.
Set up a fan on a timer in our laundry shipping container as it’s a bit damp in there after the storms and the dryer usage and we don’t want stuff in there going mouldy.
Tuesday
– went to the next town over my friend L to get my Loves Xmas pressie.
Thank goodness I finally worked out what to get!
( a weather station)
Managed to get another couple of towels for the bus too, so was very happy about that.
Mowed another third of the paddock and hope to get it finished tomorrow.
Wednesday
– went to another of the towns close by to the “Over 55s” meetup again.
They were having the Xmas party which was really quite nice.
Another lady turned up that I hadn’t met before, who was very inclusive so that was nice!
I only stayed about an hour and a half as I wanted to get back and finish the mowing before the rain comes back in.
Finished mowing the paddock after I had some lunch, and started to get some of the plants that we’d tucked away when the cyclone was coming, back out into their regular places.
Thursday
– our Son and his family flew up from Adelaide today and we’ll get to see them probably tomorrow as the in-laws are collecting them from the airport.
I had a really nice quiet chilled day today as Ive had such a busy week and just needed some down time.
It was a nice day…
Friday
– our son and his son came and visited for most of the day today so that was lovely.
As it always does, it took our grandson a little while to get used to us again, but then he was back to his usual cuteness self.
Got loads of laundry done today after the dog rolled in a disgusting days-old dead toad – without us realising what it was – and stunk the whole house out including everything she touched or went near.
Gawd it was baaaaad 🤢
Saturday
– an early trip to the supermarket to get some goodies for dinner as our son and daughter-in-law are coming for dinner tonight.
Our son came over for a couple of hours during the day to discuss the bus electrics and give input on design.
He left mid-afternoon and we had some quiet time in front of the tele before they came back for dinner.
Sunday
– Christmas Eve.
We went in to town early to drop off a present to a friend and to get a ham and some croissants.
Our son came around later in the day and helped us with a range of jobs, and I managed to get the house-yard and ½ the paddock mown, and he finished it off for me.
A quiet evening in readiness for breakfast with some of the family tomorrow for Christmas, and then lunch with the in-laws.
Monday
– Christmas Day!
Our son, daughter in law and grandson came over for breakfast which was nice, the. They headed back to the in-laws to help prep for lunch.
We went over to the in-laws and had lunch with everyone over there, and got home about 3pm, right before a huge storm broke, which lasted a couple of hours.
A quiet evening after a busy day.
Tuesday
Tuesday
– Boxing Day
made some laundry detergent first up as I only had just enough to do today’s loads. Made 20 litres.
We dug a hole and cemented in a post out in the paddock for my Love to put the new weather station on.
Our son came over mid-morning and we did a trip to town to get some stuff for the bus so he could work on it.
Another huge storm came through mid-afternoon with thunder, lightening and torrential rain, so our son headed off and we had a quiet afternoon indoors.
Wednesday
– spent the morning working in the vegie garden and getting some of the grounds cleaned up.
My Love helped out by doing some whipper-snipping down in the chook pen, so that was great.
Our son came and did some work on the bus roof getting rid of a pile of rust, but todays storm came is early around 11am, so that put paid to any more work outside…
Thursday
– another big day of working in the garden for me, and another day of our son working on the bus for us.
I got the t-posts put in for the grape archway, which was a bit of a feat as they are 2.4m long so I had to get the t-post driver waaaay over my head to be able to get them in.
I then wired the reo mesh to the posts.
I’m proud of the job I did!
Our son finished putting the awning on the bus today.
I got to help out in a very small way with holding bolts still – but other that that he pretty much did it all solo!
He, our daughter-in-law, and grandson came for dinner, so I cooked one of their favourites. It was a nice day and evening.
Friday
– a huuuuuge day on the bus doing the wiring for the ‘house’ electrics – which really interests me, as I like to know how they work – so I hung around and sucked up as much learning as I could.
Out to dinner this evening with the whole extended family for our daughter-in-law’s birthday which is next week, but we’re celebrating early as they leave very early on Sunday.
Saturday
– did laundry, mowed, cooked chook food.
Our son, daughter-in-law and grandson came over and spent the afternoon with us.
We dragged out a kiddie pool and all sat out in the grass under the shade trees while our grandson enjoyed the pool for a couple of hours.
It was a really lovely time, and one of those days that we will all cherish for years to come.
Once it was time for them to leave, we were all a bit sad and sooky.
We’ve each had some really good chats and time together this trip, and we’ll miss them all.
They fly out at the crack of dawn tomorrow.
Sunday
– it’s one of our Anniversaries today so we took the bus and went out to the lake and got takeaway on the way for lunch.
After lunch my Love had a nap and I read my book.
Was lovely and relaxed after quite a full-on week.
Monday
– New Years Day. Happy 2024!!
A quiet day spent around the Farm doing some tidying up and then my Love watched a movie during the heat of the day, and I did some Life-Admin stuff.
Tuesday
– back to work for my Love, and I took the bus and went to the next town over to get the fortnightly stock-up groceries.
Finished mowing the paddock when I got home, tidied out the fridge, and did some prep work on the vegies for our frittata for dinner.
Wednesday
– installed the microwave in the bus today.
Have managed to tuck it away behind the fridge as its unlikely to be used much so dont need to have it in a super-easily accessible place, but needs to not be a gymnastics effort when we do want it.
I bought three new work shirts this morning and made some ProJellYo and wrote a blog post.
Also did laundry.
Thursday
– nice quiet day pottering about doing a lot of the little fiddly jobs.
Decluttered some cooking stuff I haven’t used in over a year.
We had dinner in the bus up at the lookout tonight.
Takeaway pizza.
I couldn’t eat a whole slice but it was super delicious.
I’m thinking about buying a Cricut (crafting machine), so have been researching them and also talking to a friend who uses one on the daily, and I think maybe the “joy extra” is the one I will get.
Friday
– a huuuuuge day of working out in the paddock.
When I was part way through mowing the house-yard, our GardenGuy turned up to whipper-snip.
After we’d chatted and caught up a bit – he started snipping in the paddock and I finished mowing the house-yard and then moved out into the paddock to start mowing there as well.
We both worked really hard and solidly for about three hours, and by the end of that time we were pretty much done.
It definitely goes so much faster when you’re working with someone else giving help, not just by yourself!
After GardenGuy had gone, I had something to eat and drink and then went back out and poisoned all of the fence lines.
I need to do some more around the garden beds tomorrow, but I was pretty exhausted by the end of that.
In the afternoon I cooked dog food and chicken, and did the folding from the laundry that I had done earlier this morning before starting out in the yard..
Feeling a bit dehydrated from the mornings efforts, so I need to concentrate on getting more fluids into me when it’s as hot and humid as it’s been of late.
Ordered Formulite today also.
Saturday
– Did the rest of the poisoning this morning, and some decluttering in the kitchen.
A fairly quiet afternoon as my Love was home.
Sunday
– I had a really bad sleep last night due to my loyal puppa having to go out with a dodgy tummy every hour or so.
I was also in quite a bit of pain in waking, so my Love decided that today wasn’t going to be a work day, and that she was going to take me for a drive in the bus instead.
We went to the next town over and wandered around the hardware store, then went to Kmart and grocery shopping and rounded it all out by stopping off at the Heritage Museum for lunch.
A quiet afternoon with some tele and reading to finish off the week, and some watering of various gardens.
Monday
– managed an ok sleep last night despite pain from a shoulder injury that I think must have happened when I was mowing or whipper-snipping.
I booked an appointment with my GP for two weeks time, and a Telehealth appointment for a review with my Surgeon for tomorrow afternoon.
I took some flowers to my friend R at the nursery to give her a smile, and spent the rest of the day moving around and cleaning up the inside bathroom.
Tuesday
– went into town to drop off some stuff to the second-hand shop, and found 3 wine glasses while I was there, as I have managed to break most of our other ones.
I haven’t had an alcoholic drink in over 16 months now.
I actually had to count on my fingers to work out how long it has been! 😁
I also did an online order for the circuit machine that I have been researching.
I’m excited to be going to pick it up tomorrow.
Wednesday
– an early start to the day – earlier than intended as I was woken by cramps in my left leg that I had a hard time getting rid of.
I’d planned to get up early anyway as my friend L and I were heading down the hill to the city to pick up my circuit machine and do some other random shopping.
It was a loooong day with lots of looking at recliner chairs for L, and my arm pain has been super bad today, so I’ll be glad to climb into bed tonight.
Thursday
– a very quiet day with considerable pain in my arm.
I opened and unpacked the cricut today but couldn’t use it as I don’t have enough pain free movement in my arm to be able to.
Frustrating!
Had a mid-morning nap to catch up a bit on last nights loss of sleep.
Unusual – but very welcome.
By late afternoon I ended up taking an nsaid – which it’s not recommended that I use any more – but desperate times called for desperate measures and as at the time of writing this in the evening, it has helped break the pain cycle a lot!
I don’t think having ONE will make too much difference to my gut….
Fingers crossed I’ve finally turned to corner to recovering.
Had some rain this afternoon.
Rumour has it that there is another possible cyclone in the making lurking off the northern coast.
Another time of ‘wait and see’.
Friday
– early grocery shop, then home to put them away and watch some cricut videos.
My arm still isn’t mobile enough to play with the machine, but at least I’m getting some idea of the sort of things it can do.
Had to go back into town to the post office mid-afternoon as my Formulite order had arrived.
I’m also marinating some chicken overnight to see if I can make a passable version of the chicken tikka pieces that I have been buying on occasion as a pre-made cold-cut.
Saturday
– woke numerous times in the night to considerable pain in my arm, but just used paracetamol to get through the night.
I picked up my friend C for a trip to the next town over to go for coffee and cake as part of my xmas present from her, so we spent around three hours together talking, looking around shops and such.
Was a really nice way to spend the morning.
When I got home I cooked the chicken tikka pieces that I had marinated over night, and they tasted reallllly good.
I also poached some chicken pieces and made the weekly chook food.
It poured for most of the afternoon, so it was inside chores only.
I took another meloxicam this morning, and have thus been relatively pain free today, so I am hoping once again that todays movement will carry over into tomorrow being a lot better.
Sunday
– another day with loads of rain.
We had a quiet morning at home with me doing a load of graphic design work, and then we headed out to have lunch with ‘the boys’, who we haven’t eaten out with for ages.
We went to one of the country pubs that has been closed for quite a while as they couldn’t get a chef, but they’re back serving meals again, and the food was good.
Once home, my love had a nap and I finished off the rest of the graphic design work.
I ended up doing 130 graphics in total!
Had another lovely asian salad for dinner, with the tikka chicken that I had cooked yesterday.
It was delicious.
I had mine stirred up together in a bowl, and my Love had it in a wrap and said it was really good – so that’s nice to hear. 🙂
Monday
– laundry and ‘clean-up-after-the-weekend’ day.
I also put up the new tibetan prayer flags in the outdoor kitchen / bathroom as the last lot had finally died.
The smoke detector that I found finally got installed as well, but we’ve discussed our concerns about it going off randomly while we’re not home, which would be very stressful for the animals.
Unsure what to do about that as yet…
It’s been raining for most of the day again.
The ground is thoroughly sodden so it’s back to wearing gum-boots.
Hoping to get the chance to try out the cricut a bit tomorrow so I dusted off our old printer which hasn’t been used for a few years, and after lots of reading, restarting the laptop, and an entire new series of ink cartridges, it seems to be working ok-ish.
Tuesday
– grocery shopped first up, then came home and cooked poached chicken, dog food and chook food.
Spent a couple of hours fiddling with the cricut and made a vinyl name logo for my drink bottle as a test run.
I didn’t manage to put it on exactly straight as I didn’t bother with being wildly careful, but that’s ok – it was after all a test drive and I was pretty happy with it!
Wednesday
– a quiet morning then off to town as I had lunch with my ex work colleagues today.
Turned up at the restaurant and it was closed, so had to organise another cafe to go to with them.
There was about seven of us all up.
It wasn’t too bad.
They were all quite surprised with how much weight I have lost as I haven’t seen them for at least two months.
I weighed in this morning for the first time in a whole, and I am now almost 34 kg down on my start weight – not my heaviest weight – but my start weight!
I’m probably about 37 or 38 kg down on my heaviest…
Thursday
– Went down the hill to the optometrist and as expected, I’ve got to get stronger glasses.
I saw a different optometrist than usual, which was a good thing imho, as its a fresh perspective.
Turns out I have been developing cataracts for the last few years, and whilst it is documented on my chart, I have never been told this!
To say I was a little stunned at the news – mostly due to not being told by the other guy – is an understatement.
Went to Bunnings and got a couple of garden beds, and then to Kmart to see if they had another camping mat that we can cut up and use as insulation / blackout on the windows of the bus for when were sleeping, and actually found one.
Got a haircut, but still not as short as I’d really like to go!
I’m a scaredy cat though, as I haven’t had short hair since I was about 5…
Friday
– a day at home catching up on laundry and housework, but in the afternoon I had a play around with the cricut design software and machine, and made some lettering graphics as another test run, for my new laptop table which I got yesterday. I had managed to find a really good one by accident at the anaconda store, and it was only $8 som I got a couple as we can also use them when we go away in the bus as well as at home.
Had a huge downpour this evening.
Gave up trying to watch television as there was just no chance of hearing it, so we read and played iPad games.
Saturday
– I am loaning my cricut machine to my friend C for the weekend, as I don’t really get much time to use it then, as my Love is home for longer periods of time, and we try and do things together.
So I went into town to drop it off, and we also went to the local HarveyNorman store as they had just had a new delivery of more cricut vinyls, and I wanted to get some extra colours.
There are some really lovely colours in their range!
Just as I got home it started to pour raining again.
We ended up having 98mm from yesterday’s storm.
Some rain has come inside today – which it hasn’t done in years, but its to be expected, as we’ve had soooo much, and its unrelenting, and isn’t getting a chance to run off and the ground is at capacity, so it can’t sink in.
There is another cyclone off the coast, so it doesn’t look like it going to let up any time soon.
We had to shut down the roller-doors on our house (shed) to stop too much water coming in, so I’ve put the air-con on just to keep the air moving inside…
Sunday
– put together and test ran the generator this morning in case we need it during the cyclone.
It seems to be quite easy to start so pretty pleased with that!
We then headed to the next town over for a drive in the bus, and did some grocery shopping then went and had lunch at the Museum.
When we got back home my Love watched a movie and napped, and I did some bookwork, and the weekly prep for my cuppas that I have on waking and around 5:30pm.
Instead of my old past faithful of coffee – which I can no longer drink – I now drink a mix of two different types of laksa powder, with a scoop of protein powder and a heaped spoon of fibre powder added to it.
I portion this mixture out into ten small containers which I can then just dump an individual container into a cup, add boiling water, stir and its ready to go, rather than having to measure each ingredient each time I want a cuppa.
Saves a lot of time in the long run, and makes having a cuppa an easy thing, not a fiasco of multiple-container organisation.
Monday
– an early appointment first up with my GP, and apart from low blood pressure (100/65) – which explains my occasional dizzies – my blood results are “perfect” and he’s very happy with me.
We have jointly decided that I am going to take a holiday from one of my medications and see how my breathing is without it.
I’m feeling pretty hopeful, but I’m to go straight back on it if there is any inkling of an issue.
It makes it more risky if I get any respiratory illnesses, but we’ll see how it goes for a bit…
When I got home we’d had a bit of sun, so after having something to eat and putting the laundry on, I got the mower fired up and slowly began the long process of getting the Farm grass under control a bit!
Tuesday
– I promised my mate in the next town over that I would visit her this week, so went over this morning in the bus, which also gave the grass a bit more time to dry out, as it was a gorgeous clear sunny morning.
Spent a couple of hours with her, then went and filled the bus with fuel, and drove back to our home town and did a bit of top-up grocery shopping.
Once home, I unpacked the groceries, had a few crackers and some cheese for lunch, then donned my hat and sunnies and headed out to mow.
There were a couple of places that I still couldn’t mow due to it being too wet, and I couldn’t go tooooo close to one of the groves of trees as I noticed that there is a curlew nesting there, and I dont want to scare her off the nest.
Once done, I messaged one of my older sisters as I have concerns that my brother – who sustained a traumatic brain injury a couple of years ago – has had marked cognitive decline, and as he is executor of our dads estate, I no longer think it prudent that he is making decisions on matters he doesn’t even recall happening.
(eg: he does not remember that the death happened, nor that he attended the funeral!!)
She will contact the solicitor on our joint behalf and voice our concerns so as to find out where we go from here, if the estate isn’t fully ready to finalise.
Wednesday
– moved the cars and finished mowing out where we park, and whipper-snipped there, and the big veg garden.
Cooked Turkey mince and then canned it.
Cleaned out the fridge.
Did a recycles run.
Poached some chicken breasts and made chook food.
Thursday
– garden guy came today and after I got him sorted and working, I did a quick duck in to town to grab some cash for him.
We have another cyclone swirling about the place and while it is due to cross land about 4 hours south, we are already getting some wind and rain from it.
Did laundry, messaged with one of my older sisters, and then talked on the phone for an hour with the eldest sister.
Today I found out via a friend, that the Surgeon who is supposed to be doing my hernia and gallbladder op – the very same Surgeon whom I spoke to last week on a Telehealth call to review how I was going, no longer works at the hospital where I am scheduled to have said operation!!
To say I am supremely pissed is an understatement!!
I don’t give a shit that he won’t be the one doing the op, but I do give a shit that he didn’t have the good grace, decency or the guts to tell me so when we were discussing it over the call!
Friday
– Public holiday today for ‘Australia Day’.
My Love worked this morning for a couple of hours and I did dishes and some yard work, then prepped my soup for the coming week, and ordered 4 bags of protein powder for the next couple of months.
The cyclone crossed the coast last night, and we’ve had not too much damage.
A few branches of pines and gums down, and a few small trees leaned over, but all up not too bad.
Saw a black snake down behind the workshop shipping container this morning, but he was quietly trying to slip away when I spotted him, so very obviously not out to do harm to anyone.
Saturday
– spent most of the morning other than general chores time, writing up a post for our Farm blog, and editing pictures to add to the post.
Overcast and mizzly day.
Sunday
– a day off for my Love and after she had put up the two windmills I got her for her birthday back in November, we went for a drive to all the nurseries in our local area, but they have very little seedling stock in store due to cyclone damage at the wholesale nurseries.
After we’d been back home and let the dogs out to wee, we grabbed the bus and headed to the next town over to grab a large sheet of structural panel, as were going to replace the bench-top in the outdoor kitchen where I do dishes.
After 7+ years of doing dishes there, the old timber benches are about rotted through.
Cutting it into the particular shapes for the bench is going to be fun – but it something that will have to wait until the weather is better and we can wrangle it out on the grass.
What plans do you have for your 2024?
I look forward to hearing from you below 🙂
Some of the ingredients that go into making the chookfood.
Wet weather learning day with my new cricut machine.
From dry weather Farm shoes, to wet weather Farm boots.
Post cyclone flooding near our chook pen.
After the rain, the chooks enjoy some moments of sunshine.
There is no better way to Live…!