Tag: be simple

Oct ’23

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o0o

Monday

– cold rainy blustery day.
Heavy showers overnight.
Early trip to town to drop off my Loves car for a service, so she has my car for the duration.

Did laundry.
Cooked some chicken, and precooked some meatballs to have in the freezer so that we can just use them for ‘heat and eat’ meals.

Spent the majority of the day doing blog posts and web-work, but also got a little bit of pruning done, and some soil shovelled into the barrow ready to plant a frangapani when the weather is a little kinder.

Tuesday

– my birthday.
Started out very underwhelming, and being that it was again cold and rainy, it was generally a lil miserable…

Did some writing to get some disappointment out of my system.

Took my gorgeous dog to the vet to get her annual vaccinations and to have her dew claws cut.
It was too much all at once for the poor love and she got very stresssed.

She recovered quickly, but I have learned my lesson and won’t put so many items on her agenda at future visits.

I mostly had a very quiet day but got a lovely Buddha for the garden bought home for me by my Love.

Wednesday

– trip to town to renew my drivers licence, which included needing to have a new photo taken.

Painted the frame around the fan in the bus.
Mowed the house yard and half the paddock.

Worked out how to use the new budgeting app I’ve downloaded.
I’m liking it a lot!

Thursday

– finally gave in and went to our local lingerie shop as they are nationally renowned for having bras in a vast range of sizes, shapes and brands, and I’ve been having a really hard time finding something to fit me at the local bigw.

It took almost an hour of trying on dozens of bras, but i finally found two that were comfortable – one with wires and one wireless.

I have gone from being a 22-24 DD/E to a 14G!!
#MindBlown

Did a lot of cleaning up inside today, but also got the surround to the fan in the bus finished, and recharged the security camera.

Friday

– went into town to collect the groceries but once there was told that they couldn’t process the order as the internet was down, and that I would get a message when it was ready.

Got another message to the same effect about and hour later, and then yet another one an hour after then.
And then another hour later, got a message saying the order had been cancelled.
Annoying, especially as we’re going away for a couple of days tomorrow morning!

I ended up going in to another supermarket later in the day, so that I could get some extra ingredients to make up snacks for myself for while we’re away.

Hopefully the chicken that I had planned on getting will still be on special when we get back.

Once my Wife got home from work, we went out and reorganised the bus a bit.
We’ll do most of the packing of groceries and such into the fridge in the morning before we go.
We’ll also need to drop off the dogs to the kennels on the way to the coast.

Saturday

– we started out morning with packing up the bus ready for our few days away.
Once breakfast was done and we’d got all the animals ready, we headed off to the kennels with our three dogs on board.

Dogs delivered to the kennels, and next stop was to the supermarket to grab the last few bits of groceries, then we were on our way down the hill and onward to Port Douglas.

We haven’t been to this particular van park before, and we’re very surprised at the tightness of the sites.
The most cramped sites we have ever been in actually!

We initially started to put up our gazebo which we always use, but quickly found that we couldn’t open it up fully without hitting our own van AND the neighbouring van.
This is despite having let the van park know ahead of time what our dimensions were, and at no time did they tell us that we wouldn’t fit!

We folded back up our gazebo, and got out our small lean-to shelter, which whilst it isn’t ideal, at least gives our ‘kitchen’ a bit of cover if it rains.

We spent the afternoon just relaxing, and my Love had a couple of naps, which was lovely for her as she desperately needs some time off.
She been mostly working 7 days a week for the last couple of months, with the only exception being when we went away for the funeral – which isn’t exactly a relaxing holiday!

We’re planning to spend a quiet evening relaxing some more, and tomorrow will go walking and looking around what – at one point – was a regular stomping ground for us.

Sunday

– woke ‘late’ around 7:30.
Been a lot of months since we last slept in that late!

Had our soup/coffee on waking, then breakfast and after changing and tidying up a bit, we headed off for a walk to the markets, about 1.5km away.

Wandered around but didn’t find much we were interested in, tho I did get a couple of bead-chains.
They’re one of my weaknesses…

We then went to the pub we always used to drink at, and my Love got a soft drink, and we sat in the cool sea-breeze and people watched for a while while we cooled down, as the markets has been very hot.

We then wandered up the road to see what the various restaurants were offering – knowing full well we would come back to the pub – being the creatures of habit that we are!

But first I needed some new pj pants, as the ones I was wearing were from when I was 30kg heavier, and they had quite literally fallen off me earlier in the day.
😵‍💫😬

Sure enough, we ended up back at the pub for lunch, and I noticed that they had a $4 slaw side in the menu, so ordered that and it was lovely!
Too much of course – but delicious!

My tummy threw a bit of a fit when we got back to the caravan park – but it was definitely worth it.

Did some clearing out and cleaning up in the bus during the afternoon, and finished off with a nice warm shower, including hair wash and leg-shave.

The new pj pants are great and comfy and don’t fall down, but they’re very long!
Will have to cut a good 6-8” off the bottom.
Ohhh – and they’re a 14!!!

Monday

– a quiet day for the most part spent around camp, reading and just relaxing.

In the afternoon we did a bit of sound-deadening on the roof in the bus, which is a tedious job, but this time was made easier by having my Love to help with pre-cutting the panels for me, prior to me installing them, which makes it much easier than constantly stopping and starting to measure, then cut, then install repeat repeat repeat!

It’s still a bloody neck-breaking job though…

Tuesday

– pack up and head home day.
We were so lucky with the weather the whole time we were away, not overly hot, and no rain!
Feeling very lucky.

We stopped off on the way home to get the animals some food which I cooked up throughout the afternoon.

When we got home our wonderful gardener was whipper-snipping and his wife had come along to help out and was doing some poisoning.
They’re a great pair!

I got all the dishes sorted, made lunch, put away the stuff that came in from the bus including our clothing and then got a start in on doing the laundry.

We had to go and collect the dogs from the kennels, which we did after my Wifes one unavoidable appointment for the day.

Wednesday

– early start in the garden as soon as my Love went to work.

While we were away, our gardeners wife had done a kindness and had spread some more mulch in the vegie garden, but unfortunately she had spread mulch in areas that weren’t already mulched, and areas that I didn’t actually want mulched.

She also hadn’t put any cardboard down before mulching the new areas, so weeds and grass would come through very quickly.

On top of that, the particular mulch that we use for pathways is stupidly expensive, so not something to be tossed about willynilly…

So this morning – before it got too hot – I started scooping back up allllll that mulch into the gorilla cart, whilst I had the laundry washing at the same time.

About 2 hours in it was getting super warm as I was now in the full sunshine and despite drinking often, I could feel I was starting to dehydrate, so had to stop for the day.

Whilst I only got about ⅔ of the mulch that I’ll be able to reclaim pulled back up, that was three overfull 200L gorilla carts!

I have done the poisoning, then began the laying of the cardboard down along the northern fence-line and as each cart is filled, am spreading it around the trees and along the pathway that runs along that fence-line.

I’ve made it around ½ way along already, so it was a very productive morning all round.

The afternoon was spent doing jobs that I would usually have done in the morning like dishes, cleaning out the fridge, tidying, folding and precooking tonight’s dinner.

Thursday

– a trip to town first up to return some shorts that were too big for me, and I finally gave in and went an purchased some new Pilbara work shirts.
They’re my favourite and I’ve worn them for years, but during a recent visit, our son told me I looked like a homeless derelict due to how big my shirts were, and that they were pretty much engulfing me.

Turns out I’ve gone from a mens 4XL to a women’s 16!!
I went for an 18 though, as I like them to be baggy so they don’t cling in the heat and for ease of movement when working in the garden.

My friend LC dropped in for a cuppa late in the afternoon.
Always lovely to see her.

Friday

– huuuuuge day!
Started off with doing an early morning grocery order for pickup mid morning.
After my Love left for work, I started raking and clearing and chopping under the trees near our entry door.

At this time of the year I like to have a good cleared area under the trees so we can spot if any snakes are lurking.

Did the dishes then headed to town to grab the groceries, and grabbed a hoe on the way home to get out some of the more stubborn weeds under the trees.

Finished clearing up under the trees then started on the mowing.
House yard first, then once that was done I started on the paddock.

Speaking of snakes, I was mowing down near the orchard when I spotted a snake-skin on the grass, so I stopped the mower to pick it up.
It was around 6’ long, and very fresh – that morning I would guess as it was still very pliable – and by the look of it, it was a brown.
Not ideal!

Couldn’t spot it around anywhere…

With a few breaks for drinks and something to eat, I managed to get the entire paddock done, so was pretty darn pleased with myself.

Exhausted, but pleased!

I’ve got a couple of small blue raised garden beds that I want to put around a couple of trees, so I put them together, but have decided that I want my Love to put some extra screws into the as I’m not satisfied that they’ll be robust enough without them.

Saturday

– a very quiet day spent mostly inside.
Did a little bit of potting, but just generally a quiet day.

Sunday

– a very cold windy and wet morning.
It fined up later in the day but stayed windy.

Made some spelt waffles which turned out very well and were super-tasty.
Could only eat half a one with some maple syrup on, but it was delicious and didn’t make me feel ick.

Went in to bunnings and got two new kid pools to store yet-to-be-planted trees in, as our old pools are cracking and brittle and are no longer hold any use as mega drip-trays.

I also got a new grey-water hose as the one on the washing machine at the moment means I have to leave the shipping container ajar at all times, and I want to be able to close it up to make sure no lil beasties get in there.

Quiet afternoon.
Watched some tele.

Monday

– another cold rainy day.
Did some garden work first up, but the scuds of rain put paid to that.

Had a lunch date with an old school friend and we spent 2 hours chatting.
It was really nice to spend time catching up.
Drove the bus there as it hadn’t been out since we came home from our weekend away.

Tuesday

– quiet day.
Did some computer work, canned some pickled radish and made a satay.
Vacuumed the house, and did a couple of rounds of dishes.

Wednesday

– planted kale and basil.
Watered the big vegie garden, PdP garden and the pot-plants.

Mowed the houseyard again as the mower is going in for a service tomorrow and I don’t know how long it will be gone.

Thursday

– did an early online grocery order.
The ride-on mower was collected this morning, and I collected the groceries after that.
Also went to the nursery and got an indoor plant and a couple of pots.

Planted some fresh veg seedlings in the big garden.

In the afternoon I did some watering and potting up.

Our friend C is having a really rough time at the moment (still) and is getting ripped off blind by tradies and a co-worker, so we’re taking her out to dinner tonight to give her some extra love.

Friday

– last nights dinner was socially nice, but the calamari was very oily and made me feel a bit ick.

Our landscaper guy came this morning and dropped off some more wood-chip for me.

I finalllly planted and mulched the frangipani that has been sitting next to a hole waiting for me to get around to it for months!

Did laundry.
Potted up a couple of plants.
Watered the big veg garden.

Saturday

– a blah day.
Anticipatory anxiety I think, leaving me feeling very flat.

Went out early with my Love and got some cardboard from the bins at HN who have the nice big fridge boxes that they’re very ok with us taking them away for them. We use them as weed barrier prior to putting down woodchip or mulch, and it works fabulously, and helps keep the soil nice and moist.

Made some protein jellies which are like jelly lollies but with a good hit of protein included.
An easy fix on days when it’s a bit hard to get allllll the protein in.

My love worked in the afternoon and I cleaned the bedroom wall, the ceiling fans and the tippy top of the crockery shelving.

We’re going down to the city for the day tomorrow to see our youngest daughter, son-in-law and granddaughters.

Sunday

– left for the city by 8am, and were at the holiday park where our daughter and fam are staying by 930.

We sat around for a while and chatted, and did some craft with the older granddaughter, while the younger one had a nap.

Once the nap, chats and craft time were done, we took two cars and headed to the water park on the esplanade for lunch.
I tried a couple of chips but they didn’t sit well, so I had a mueslie bar.

Monday

– home duties day today.
Cooked: chook food, dog meat, and poached some chicken breasts.

Did laundry, watered the big veg garden, watered some of the houseyard, and my friend L visited for a cuppa and catch-up.

Tuesday

– a friend that I haven’t seen for a few years, and who is planning to move back to the area was due to come and visit today, but didn’t end up coming.
In theory she will be coming up on Friday – so I guess we’ll see…

Did some planting this morning, and this afternoon I de-taped a lot of cardboard boxes, then chopped them into various sizes so that I could use them as weed barrier along the western fence-line.

Will cover them with wood chip once I have finished laying them all out.
I’ve done most of the northern fence line already, and just have the final bits of cardboard and wood chip to finish off – probably only about 3 meters.

The lawn mower got dropped back this afternoon, so I’ll more than likely do the paddock mowing tomorrow or possibly Thursday if I end up going to the next town over tomorrow instead.

Wednesday

– I got brave today and put myself waaaay out of my comfort zone by going to the next town over and went to my first over 55 meetup to see about meeting some new people.

Not quite sure it’s for me, but I will give it one more try next fortnight to get a bit better feel for it, and see whether there are other people or just the three that I met today.

Once home, I mowed ¾ of the paddock but need my Love to do a stick-pick under the trees down near the chook pen before I can mow that bit, and I need to move my car and the bus to mow in their spots.

My sister is down at my brothers place and is sorting through the shipping container that has stored all the stuff from the parents house which – now that there’s both deceased, needs to finally be gone through.

I had planned to go down to help out with it, but didn’t get there due to not knowing what dates she was going, so I couldn’t manage to make it on short notice.
Not feeling great about that…

Thursday

– early grocery order which was ready for collection at 10.
Checked bigw for shorts.
Still none I’m keen on.

Brought the bus into the houseyard and did some work on the inside of cleaning, rearranging and some sound-deafening ready to do some more carpeting of the roof over the coming week.

Finished the rest of the mowing.

Friday

– laundry, cooked dog food and chicken
Worked on the bus.

Saturday

– meh
Worked on the bus console that we have designed and are planning to make.
Went to town a couple of times to grab bits for it.
Just meh…

Sunday

– still meh.
Feeling disconnected and isolated.
Nothing specific / just meh.

 

 

my trust ride-on all loaded up!

 

mulched pathways and a rogue chicken!

 

newly planted frangipani.

 

my birthday rose given to me by a special friend.

 

more delicious pickled radish.

 

working in the bus before it gets too hot.

 

special bus-dog helper.
my favorite hat and book

Sept ’23

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o0o

Another big update covering close to six weeks – so its gonna be a bit of a long one.
Strap in and buckle up!

Monday

– took Noah in to get the wiring done for the maxxfan.
Sat at a cafe for two hours – read and wrote.
Did laundry.
Went to the GP and he’s arranged for me to get some bloods done.
We had a good chat.
Went for a walk to the end of our street. Felt good and strong.

Our daughter-in-law is up with our grandson so we went out to dinner with them.
Decided not to do dinner at home for now, as the grandson had a bit of a freak out at all the animals last time, so we figured it might be better to ease him back into us gently!
I took some yoghurt and muesli to have, as I’m a lil gun-shy after our last meal out and I ended up in the loo having a vomit!

Tuesday

– quick trip to the next town over to get some stuff we needed to pick up, so I took the bus for a run.
Once I got home I chopped up the cabbages and grated some carrot to make sauerkraut so there’s now two big jars fermenting on the bench.

Our GardenGuy came over and took down the old chook run and cemented in some posts to attach the new wiring to.
He’ll be back later in the week to run the wire.

Wednesday

– a gloriously beautiful sunshiny day, and it made me soooo damn happy to be out there in it!!
My faithful dog was very excited to finally get to come down and spend time in the paddock with me too.

I got to do a couple of hours in the vegie garden weeding and cleaning up the beds, and then after a stop for something to eat, I got the entire paddock mown.
Then it was in to town to collect some compost and some parcels.

Thursday

– we woke up to a lovely cold morning – but unfortunately the next part of the day didn’t start as fabulously…

My Wife went to feed the chooks after we’d had our coffee as usual, and walked through the vegie garden on the way there as she does each morning – and the ground around each of the beds was flooded with water.

I had left the irrigation on since yesterday mid-morning…
It’s the first time I’ve ever done it – and gawd I hope it will be the last!

I had put a timer on my one for on for it – as I always do – but when the timer went off I had thought it was the timer for the dog food I was cooking so went and turned that off instead.
What an idiot…

Around 9am I drove up to my friend Ls place in the bus to collect some gardening stuff that she wanted to palm off on me – and I was very pleased to have.

The bus was pretty full by the time I was ready to head home and the final score was:
~ a plant stand
~ 5 bags of compost
~ 1 bag cow poo
~ 1 bag worm castings
~ 1 bag of blood and bone
~ a couple of pot plants and
~ a wooden garden bed

Once back home I unpacked the bus and cleaned it all out, and also unpacked the plant trolley onto the nursery shelves – which I should have got done weeks ago, but which has been put off because of the rain.

Friday

– Dishes, laundry, and updating a pile of websites was the majority of today.
I did manage to get in about an hour a half of working in the veggie garden, and most of that was spent digging comfrey and cassava out of one of the beds.

I am thinking of adding another (smaller) vegie garden in a secondary location on the Farm, and having one set of beds for the winter, and one for summer – but I want to do some more pondering on that before I fully commit…

Saturday

– had an awesome morning of working in the paddock.

My Love actually wanted to do some yard work which was exciting, I love having help and to have someone to work with.

I shovelled lots of dirt and we filled a new garden bed, and then she went to the raw materials place and got some road-base, and we filled all the holes in the driveway that came about from the rain.

We noticed that the guy next door had a mini excavator in, so my Love went over there to see if he’d come over and move some dirt – and he DID!!!
Yaaaay!!

There are now – sort of – three new paddock beds to be planted out.
I say ‘sort of’ because he didn’t actually do what we asked totally, so we’ll get our usual guys back in to fix it up, when they can next get here.

Sunday

– after getting the dishes done we emptied out the ute of the remaining road-base, and kept some put away in a cart incase we need to top up the holes we filled yesterday.

Last night I messaged our usual landscaping guy, and hopefully he will be here in the next ten days or so to do the remainder of the sorting out of the soil piles that will be the next round of paddock beds.

We went for a drive to all (3) of the nurseries to see what sort of spreading and flowering plants we could find.

Once we’d taken the plants home and let the dogs out for a pee, we took the bus and went for a drive to the Lake for a burger and chips lunch.
Relaxing.

Monday

– took the bus for a spin to one of the next towns over to do some grocery shopping.
When I got home it was freezing cold and overcast – unlike where I’d just been – which was warm and sunny!

Did the laundry, made chook and dog food, menu-planned and vacuumed the house.

Caught up on “The Block” once my Wife got home.

Tuesday

– hugely busy day starting with early fasting blood tests.

Spend the majority of the day pulling everything out of the kitchen shelving, decluttering, cleaning and putting back only the necessities.

GardenGuy and his wife came and finished putting up the fencing wire that was started last week, and thankfully she’s taken the stuff I decluttered, and will go through it and then take anything that’s left over to the Op Shop.

My wife kindly bought home a Carbonara for dinner, alas it didn’t sit well with me and I ended up vomiting numerous times.

Wednesday

– did a recycles and rubbish dump run in the morning, then went and bought some chicken and picked up our new hot water system from the post office.

Spent almost two hours in the vegie garden composting, planting some starts, watering and mulching.
Later in the afternoon I did some more wiping down and decluttering.

When you’re Parentals to 7 kids – even though the youngest is now almost 30 – there is still a lot of ‘just in case’ stuff that we have, and each time we do a decluttering binge, we manage to get rid of more and more of all that sort of old stuff…

The Courier delivered the new little 12v freezer for our bus, so we’re looking forward to tasting that out.
Our current bus fridge is a dual zone one which means we can use it as a fridge and a freezer, but we only require a really small space for frozen goods, so figured it would be better in the long run to have a seperate freezer unit.

Thursday

– a trip to drop off a bag to vinnies and collect a couple of plants and some storage baskets, and then it was back home and straight into the decluttering and deep-cleaning.

I also got some tidying up done in the house-yard and enjoyed listening to an audiobook while I was working both inside and out.

Tomorrow I’ve got lunch with the ex-colleague crew.

Friday

– woke to rain again this morning, so I got the laundry and webwork done early in the day, then off to have lunch with the ex-colleagues crew.

I got a toasted ham and cheese but could only eat a 1/4 of it.

In the afternoon I made some satay and cleaned the windows in and out.

Saturday

– this week is allllllll about the cleaning!

Another rainy cold biting wind day, so it wasn’t a hard decision to work inside!

I managed to get about half an hour during squalls to prune some branches off the lillipillis outside our bedroom window.

Finished cleaning the rest of the windows in and out.
It always lets so much more light in once that thin film of slimy scum algae from the incessant rains is removed!

Attempted to install the new water heater, but we need a larger fitting for the gas bottle hose, and we went into bunnings to get one, but they don’t stock them.
No hot water today!

Sunday

– decided to go to the hardware store in the next town over to see if we could get the part for the water heater, but neither of their two hardware stores had it either. We will have to wait to go to the gas shop tomorrow and hope that they have one!
In the meantime we’ll hook back up the old heater which – whilst it isn’t making the water very hot anymore – is still waaaay better than no heat at all!

Our middle son dropped in for a quick visit this evening as he arrived up from Adelaide today.
Was lovely to be able to hug him.

Monday

– I annoyed myself when I ducked to the dump and into town around 9am, and ended up missing the bobcat guy who had come to do some work.

I saw him on the security cam and messaged him that I was on my way back, but he didn’t get the message in time.
I’d thought he wasn’t coming until the afternoon. He’s now rescheduled for Wednesday morning.

Spent some time during a break in the weather doing the mowing of the houseyard and about ⅓ of the paddock before the cold blustery rain came back in.

Mid-afternoon our son dropped over and spent a couple of hours discussing nutrition and physicality with me.
It was really interesting and not only did I learn a lot, but it gave me much to think on.
I reallllly like that kind of learning!

When my wife got home, we did a test-pack of her carry-on bag as she has a work conference in Brisbane that’s she’s flying off to on Wednesday morning, and she’ll be back on Friday.

Tuesday

– did some more planting this morning, while the laundry was on.

Got a FaceTime call from our youngest daughter and her girls while I was gardening which was a nice surprise.

Our son and daughter-in-law were coming for dinner so I had to duck in and get some cheese for their requested meal, which is fish tacos.

While I was out I collected a parcel of some new pages for my planner, and also ordered the refill of the daily calendar (week at an opening) for next year.

My friend LC came over for a cuppa and a catch-up and I always enjoy that.

Cleaned up inside the bus in the afternoon as it has been becoming a bit of a dumping ground for things that need to be in there but haven’t yet been put away properly, or don’t yet have a proper place to be.

Did some potting-up of indoor plants during the afternoon also.

Had a lovely dinner with our son, daughter-in-law and grandson.

Wednesday

– a pretty big day!
First up I needed to drop my Wife into town to her bosses home as they’ve headed down to Brisbane for the work conference.

When I got home, GardenGuy was here and had started in on the whipper-snipping and I started in on washing our sheets, as it was sheet change day.
Garden Guy will be back on Friday as he has to leave early to take one of his kids to an appointment.

Around 9:30 our regular excavator / landscaping guys arrived, and set to work out in the paddock doing all the cleanup and levelling that was still to be done; and they also filled up a garden bed for me.

While one worked the excavator, the other went and got a nice big load of wood-chip for us.

They did around 3hrs work all up, and the paddock looks bloody amazing now!
Super happy!

Around lunchtime our son came over with his father-in-law and we all went for a wander to have a look at the new earthworks.

Our son is staying overnight and will sleep in our bus, so we just spent the rest of the day hanging out and getting lots of little jobs completed.
It was a nice time…

Thursday

– Early rise and got most of the morning chores done by the time our son came in for breakfast.

Got some computer work done and our son finished making the trim to go around the fan in the bus.

Mid-afternoon I went down to the chook pen and realized one of the hens had died, so I dropped it off at the tip when I dropped our son back to his in-laws.

Quiet night enjoying being alone in silence for the first time in over 2 days – which is a lot of people-ing for me!

Friday

– the morn was spent vacuuming and mopping the floors, as well as chatting to Mr & Mrs GardenGuy who dropped in to pick up some goodies I had saved for them.

Did a bit of reading and computer work through the middle of the day, and spoke to my sister on the phone for quite a while, who is currently still overseas and is looking after her son and his family whilst he has cancer treatments.

Ducked in and got a few groceries and collected my darling Wife who had come back from the Conference, where she won a few Awards, and much acclaim.

Saturday

– took a run in the bus to coles in the next town over, and it was lovely to be driving out in the warm sunshine.
Bliss!

Managed to find an adjustable kettle-bell at Kmart, so I got it as it half the price of the one that our son recommended on Amazon, as I dont want to spend a fortune on it if it isn’t something I am going to use long-term.

Spent most of the afternoon doing some social media posts and just spending some quiet time by myself and reading a bit.
I’m still feeling pretty tapped out by my busy peopley days earlier in the week.

I have started using my new all-in-one Planner, that will hopefully be replacing my previous planner plus daybook.
I’ve got all the birthdays and other recurring date reminders already into next years calendar – which I like to get done by mid-september each year – so I’m actually even a bit ahead of myself!

Sunday

– our youngest grandsons birthday, and fathers day all rolled into one.

Our son came over this morning to help with the installing of the dash cam on the new car, and also with removing the old pallets from the pallet wall, and installing the new ones.
This also meant removing allll the plants that were in pots on the wall so we can transfer over to the new wall.

We also got one of the new small raised beds that we planted out last weekend mulched, and a vertical planter at our entry gate planted out and mulched.

Mid-afternoon we went over to our daughter-in-laws parents home to participate in cake-eating for our grandson, then back home to make a ‘last supper’ (for us) dinner for our son and his wife, as they leave to go back to their home in South Australia on Tuesday.

It was good to spend some time alone with them while we had dinner.

Monday

– did an early online grocery order for collection midafternoon.

My spending has been a little out of hand for the last few months on expenses for the house / yard and for the bus, as well as a few other big-ticket items, so its time to reign it in for a while so that I can get some saving back under my belt.

Through the morning – as well as getting some blankets washed – I emptied the gorilla trolley into the raised garden bed that we started filling last weekend, and it’s now fully topped up.

I also situated an old beaten-up metal garden bed out in the paddock away from everything, so that I can use it as a fire-pit to get rid of a collection of old fallen branches from the gums, that are currently littering the chook-pen.
It will be nice to give it a big clean-out as it’s been rather neglected of late.
(the pen surrounds, not the chickens!!)

Then it was into the big veg garden to weed, compost and mulch the raspberries and loganberries before they start wildly shooting now that spring has sprung, and the warmer weather will be here full-time before we can imagine.

Our son and daughter-in-law came over after my wife got home from work, to say their goodbyes.
Our son ended up staying for dinner.
We’ll miss them…

Tuesday

– got out into the garden and started planting out one of the new beds that the excavator laid down the other day, and the soon-to-be grove is already looking pretty exciting with four citrus trees and some tansy planted out.

We have a pile of trees in pots waiting to be planted, but at least I’ve managed to make a start…

My order from Formulite arrived today.
It will probably be my last one as they’ve increased the price, and the new price means it would be around $300 a month and I just can’t justify (or manage!) that, so I’ll be working out what I can make on my own as a low-cost alternative.

Our young friend asked me to drop her at an appointment today – so I was happy to do that and waited around in town – and did the ‘Containers for Change’ run while I was wasting time – until she was finished then dropped her home.

Wednesday

– quiet day today after yesterday big effort of fruit-tree planting.

Did some housework, unpacked and put away the Formulite supplies, vacuumed the house and dusted.

Cooked up some snags and chicken for the animals, and some meatballs for the Mrs.

Thursday

– took the bus for a drive to the next town over to go to coles and did a big buy-up of all my ‘special foods’ so I shouldn’t have to go back for a couple of weeks now I don’t think.

Friday

– did laundry.
Spent the majority of the day doing various ‘Life Admin’ jobs, including the working out of a revised budget and cancelling a couple of subscription services.

Saturday

– pulled everything out of the main freezer and went through it all and took out the old food.
Cooked the meat up for the dogs and the vegies for the chickens.

Sunday

– worked in the garden in the morning.
Catch-up tv in the afternoon.

Monday

– did an early morning grocery order, which I picked up when I went into town to have a cuppa with my Wife.
A sweet lil sorta date!

Just as I was arriving back home, the truck was dropping off the reinforcing mesh I’d ordered last week.
Looking forward to getting into chopping that up to make archways!!

Cooked up dog food, did the laundry and folding, and cleaned out our junk ‘drawer’ which is actually a big rolling under-bed tub that’s fits under our kitchen bench.
It’s much more organized now!

I also got some rosemary planted down in the big veg garden.

Dietician appointment tomorrow.

Tuesday

– shit nights sleep last night.
Down the hill to the city this morning for a mid-afternoon dietician appointment.

Went to the Northside shopping centre and tried to get some clothes, but didn’t find much – ended up with just a couple of shirts.

What I did do however – was go the the hairdresser and got my hair cut to just above my shoulders!!
Going from below my bum to above my shoulders has been a big leap that’s for sure – but hopefully now that’s it’s had a big lop, it will start to regenerate and will maybe make it back to a decent thickness in time…

The appt with the dietician went well.
She’s pleased with my progress considering how difficult I am finding it to each much, and that some foods just instantly make me throw up.
She was a little concerned that I still don’t have a surgery date for the hiatal hernia repair and gallbladder removal, but knows that the timeline for that is a total unknown unless I end up back in hospital in an emergency capacity.

Wednesday

– grocery trip, life admin, and the cavalier dog to the vet to have her steroid injection and nails cut.

Thursday

– huuuuge day!

Our cavalier dog had to unexpectedly go back to the vet today as they’d had a cancellation and she has to have some more teeth work done.

She’s now only got 4 teeth left, and on top of that her heart murmur is getting worse.
She is heading for 14 so I guess it’s to be expected…

After helping to get the dog ready for dropping off at the Vet, the morning started out with cutting the reinforcing mesh into six strips which took me a couple of hours with the angle grinder.

After that I mowed the paddock for a couple of hours and got most of it done. I’ll have to finish the rest tomorrow.
Whipper-snipped the house yard and  cooked some food for the animals.

In between all that I had a visit from my friend LC, who came over for a cuppa.

We’d prearranged a week or so ago to go out with some male friends to one of the hotels for dinner. Unfortunately there was nothing on the menu – not even soup – that I could eat, so I missed out and got to watch everyone else eat instead – which was rather annoying!

Friday

– had a mid-morning coffee date at home with a lady that I used to work with, and it was really quite lovely to reconnect.
I think we’ll probably do it more often… I hope so.

Got the laundry done, and collected the pop-up bath tub I had ordered online, from the post office.
Looking forward to trying it out once the weather warms a bit more.
I also managed to finish the mowing of the paddock, and the houseyard too.

Saturday

– I had to go for a drive this morning to get some chicken breasts for the animals and for our dinners and to top up the freezer, so I decided to take the bus for a drive as I hadn’t been out in it all week.

Something very out of the ordinary for me, I decided to message friend and see if she wanted to come for a drive – and she did – so we ended up going to the next town over and going for a walk through the markets which we hadn’t known were on; and then going and having a coffee and cake at one of the cafes.

We ended up chatting for almost 2 hours, and were up to 3 hours by the time we both got home!
It was a really nice way to spend what turned out to be a beautiful sunny day.

I’ve been quite the social butterfly this week, and we’re having to duck down to the city tomorrow to see one of our sons who is doing a fly-thru again, so we’ll visit with him at the airport on his layover.

Phewww

I’ll need to take a break from all this peopling next week! lol

Sunday

– drove down to the city to meet our son at the airport, and spent 2.5 hrs with him having cuppas, drinks and snacks then back up the hill home.

Went and got some milk and a few other groceries on our way, and got home late afternoon.

Watched about an hour of tv while we settled from the trip, and then it was into a nice hot shower for each of us.

Unfortunately – the gas ran out while my poor Love was in the shower washing her hair, so it was a quick change of the gas bottle so she could get back to it, and then i got to have my lovely shower.

A quiet night with an easy dinner of soup from our homemade shelf stock.

The end of another week already!
Time goes sooo bloody fast…

Monday

– cold wet rainy miserable day!

Another Anniversary that only I remembered…

Did laundry and general post-weekend cleaning.
Quiet day.

Tuesday

– went to a nearby town in the bus with my friend L, so we could go to coles and have lunch together.
It was a nice trip, and I had half a cheese and ham toastie and bought the other half home for the chooks.

Wednesday

– worked in the garden weeding, tidying and watering.
Garden Guy came and spread some mulch in the veg garden pathways for me.

Thursday

– did an early morning grocery order for a midday pickup, and worked in the garden from mid-morning until it was ready for collection.

Cooked dog food, and poached some chicken breasts.

Did a bunch of computer / web work, and also set up a new time-management app I’ve started using and am really enjoying.

Lovely warm sunny classic Spring day!

Friday

– went into town this morning to exchange a bra that I had bought, and went to the second hand shops looking for some yard-work shirts, but only found one – which was a bit disappointing.
I just can’t afford to buy new right now, but my old shirts are for too big for me so I’ve had to donate them.

Got a FaceTime call from our youngest daughter and her girls while I was doing the dishes, and the eldest one took me for a ‘tour’ of their new house (well, her bedroom anyways lol), so that was lovely!

I then spent most of the rest of the day in the garden doing tidying and repotting.
It’s been another day of gorgeous weather.

Saturday

– my gorgeous (dog) girls 7th birthday!!

My wife brought home my puppas preferred traditional ‘birthday cake’ of a sausage roll, and she very happily scoffed it down.

I spent most of the morning tooling around getting ready for the wedding we had to go to this afternoon, and my Love had some work appointments she needed to attend to.

It poured down rain on the way there, and there were numerous showers and gale-force winds before, during and after the ceremony – but maybe that will bring them luck!

It was bloody freezing in the marquee, and there really wasn’t anything much I could eat on the menu, so that wasn’t fun…
I had taken some snack, but we’d eaten them all earlier in the evening as the dinner component was almost two hours late, and we were both super hungry.
Glad I had thought to take food with us!

We came home “early”, but by that time it’s was after 9pm and we were both done with it 😬

Sunday

– did some garden and general property tidying, watched some tele and got a few inside jobs done.

Got a few groceries when we went into town to get medications from the pharmacy.
A slow day.

====

As I press publish on this, it is the day before my Birthday.

We will be going away in the bus next weekend for a couple of days, but today the cold and rain have settled back in and the sun is hiding, so its quite a dreary day.

I’m looking forward to this week being hopefully a bit more quiet and settled than the last few have been, but I’d really like the weather to be kind enough to allow me to bask in some sunshine while I pull the ever-present weeds…

 

One of our ‘regular’ landscaping guys, getting the excavator off the back of the truck.
One of the new paddock beds that the landscape guys shaped and levelled out for us.
The first planning into our new paddock beds.
Citrus trees and yarrow.
The new fencing along the chook-run for our Rooster and Hens.
The first pieces of reo cut and ready to make archways out of.
Weeding the soil that’s going to be used for some of our raised flower beds.
Pretty little walking irises.
Love these flowers!

Long-winded Update!

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Its coming up for close to a month now since I last updated, and it been a season of busy – so I’ve just been trying to make a few notes at the end of each day to remind me of what’s being going on – so that’s basically what you’ll be getting here… including some filling in of any details that I think might be relevant.

Monday

– In to town to collect parcels from the post office, then back home to do some writing whilst the laundry got done.
The sun came out for a while this morning and gladdened my heart a LOT!
It’s still quite cold and windy though.

We’ve booked our flights to go back down south for my (step)Dads funeral Service.
He died back at the start of July.

My Love will be coming with me this time, and we’ll be taking a couple of days extra to go do something nice for ourselves.

We fly out next Thursday morning, and will be putting our dogs into the kennels that we have been using for almost two decades, and our cats will be looked after at our home by our GardenGuy and his Wife.

Tuesday

– had to go into town again this morning as my Darling forgot to tell me yesterday that we would need more chicken for the animals, so I went in to get that and to pick up a carton of Formulite and another parcel that was waiting at the post office.

Spent some time packing to go away for the night tomorrow as I’ll be leaving early and won’t have time to pack in the morning before I leave.

I am taking our van down to get the maxxfan installed.
It’s such a fiasco when you need to pack all the protein powders, shakers, cups etc and it takes up so much room, so I end up packing a bag twice as big as I really wanted to!

I also need to be mindful that I will be walking from the car drop-off place to the motel, so the weight that I’ll be carrying needs to be considered.

Wednesday

– early trip down the hill to the city to put the bus in to have the fan installed.
The wiring won’t get done today as e isn’t an auto-exec, so I’ll have to book that in another day with our auto-elect back at home.
Got stuck in the morning traffic jam, but made it with only being about 15mins late, and I called them in the way to let them know.

The receptionist was kind enough to drop me to the motel that we’d booked for my overnighter.
Originally they couldn’t find my booking, but then finally found it under “car-lady“.
The room understandably wasn’t ready, and so I waited in the reception area for around an hour, before I could get in – but that was ok.

I unpacked and made it ‘homely’, went to the loo and then headed off for a walk up the street to the huge DFO mall.
Thankfully the room has a microwave, so I could buy something for dinner and be able to heat it up!

I started to have a bit of a walk around, and did my usual handbag / backpack ogling at the luggage shops, but wasn’t really feeling much of a ‘shopping vibe’ (tbh, I’m bloody lousy at shopping without a purpose – its definitely not my idea of a fun time!) so I just went to the grocery store and collected some bits and pieces for me to have for lunch and dinner, got out some cash for the Car Guy, and then headed back to the motel.

A snack and a drink, a bit of a sit and some scrolling, then into the shower.
It was heavenly!

Thursday

– I messaged the car place early and they said that they would pick me up at 8:45am as my car was finished – which was great and super helpful.

Drove back up the hill to home, stopping off at the auto electricians on the way, and he’s happy to do the electrics for it once we get back from down south.

Once home, I did dishes, unpacked, sorted out something for dinner, then mowed and whipper-snipped the house yard and cleaned up the aisle-ways in the big vege garden.

Friday

– cooked dog food early as I was going out for lunch with my friend Louise.
We ended up going to one of the cafes in town, and I got a ham and cheese toastie, but the cheese ended up being cream cheese(!!) – not ideal on a toasty as far as I’m concerned!
We then went to do some shopping for Louise and then she dropped me home.

She re-pierced my ears for me before she left wth some new earrings I had bought especially for the job; which was good and saved me the cost of having to go to one of the local piercing places.

Spent the afternoon, tidying up and doing some chores around the house and repotting an indoor plant, while listening to podcasts.

Saturday

– the power was off from about 830am until around 1pm, so for a while I just sat out in the much-missed sun and read and soaked it alllll in!

After that I pulled everything out of our crockery storage shelves and wiped it all down, removed some stuff, and sorted through what was left and replaced it back on the shelving.

I also cooked some excess eggs for the cats and dogs, and some chicken for them as well.

We go away again next week – back down south for the funeral service – so it will be time to think about packing again soon.

Sunday

– an early start to drive down the hill as our youngest son – whom we haven’t seen for around two years – was flying in and had a two hour layover, so we were going to spend some time with him at the airport.
It was soooo good to see him and hug him, and we all shed a few tears as we put him back in his next plane.

We didn’t get back home til around 3, so took the dogs out, then had a shower and relaxed for a bit before sorting out dinner.

Monday

– busy day.
Grocery shopped, put the mattress back into the bus and made the bed, changed the sheets in our daily bed, and washed the dogs blankets.

Talked to my sister about the details of Friday’s funeral for my (step)Dad, and the ashes scatterings of he and my Mother.

Tuesday

– Our Garden Guy came today and we did a big clean out of the shipping container, and thankfully he took most of the stuff we didn’t want home to his place – as it was still good stuff – just not stuff we required or wanted any more.

He and his wife came back later in the afternoon, so that we could go through what we needed them to do with the cats while we’re away at the funeral.

We went out to dinner at the International Club with our young friend C for dinner, and had some lovely fish.

Wednesday

– we woke up to torrential rain again this morning and some really wild winds, so we’ve decided that we will go down to the city early – and stay overnight prior to our flight – as we don’t want to risk there being a crash on the range due to the weather and us missing our early morning flight.

So I spent most of the day getting the last of the laundry done, house cleaned, car vacuumed, the cats organised, bags packed, and dietary requirements sorted; and once my Love had come home from work, we packed the car up with our suitcases and dogs, and headed off to the kennels.

Once we’d dropped the dogs off, we headed down the hill to the city.
We’re staying at the same place that I stayed at last week when I came down, as I was very happy with the rooms and service.

We got some takeaway from the nearby Thai restaurant for dinner: fish-cakes, spring rolls and some satay chicken.
Underwhelming.

Thursday

– a spectacularly craptastic night of sleep and I was glad when the alarm finally went off just after 5, and more than happy to get up!

After a cuppa and a repack of our bags, we headed off to drop our car at the parking place, and they then dropped us at the airport.

Once we’d bag-checked and gone through security we had breakfast.

Once we’d landed at the other end, we were collected by the rental car company and taken to their offsite dispatch yard, where we then had to wait and hour to get our car – which was bloody annoying(!) – but we finally got is and headed north to my brother and sister-in-laws place, stopping on the way to buy some groceries.

It was around 4 when we arrived.
We unpacked the car, took the groceries upstairs, and made a cuppa.
It wasn’t too long before my other brother arrived, whom we haven’t seen for a couple of years.
Actually – probably close to five!

I cooked ‘Swamp Food’ for dinner as requested – it seems to be a big hit – and after dinner my other brother headed off to his motel, and we headed off to bed.

Friday

– best sleep I’ve had in a week or so.
Funeral day.
Not too many attendees, but the ones who were there it was good to see.
Kindly, Dads doctor friend came for the service, which was appreciated by all.
The service was performed by Dads Baptist Minister friend, who is also the same Rev who did my Mothers service 5 years ago,
It was very lovely and tears were shed a number of times.

After the service and nibbles, a few of us headed off to the Noosa Heads lookout to sprinkles the ashes of both the Parentals, to reunite them together one final time for eternity.
Hopefully a nice rain fell that night, and washed the ashes off the hillside into the ocean…

A quiet night back at my brother and sister-in-law’s place.
We’ll head off in the morning.

Saturday

– woke up to a gorgeous morning with mist spilling into the valley – so picturesque it almost made me weep!
Lots of photos taken.

We left my brother and sister-in-law’s place around 9am and headed off on our drive south to the Gold Coast, arriving about 1:30pm at our motel where we will stay for the next couple of days.

Had a quiet afternoon in our room, catching up on some work and such.
Ordered a pizza to be delivered for dinner.
It arrived an hour late.
We were not pleased about that – when we’d ordered it two hours before we actually wanted it…! 😡

Sunday

– we weren’t sure whether to go to SeaWorld today or tomorrow – but eventually decided to wait until tomorrow, hoping that it will be less busy being that it’s not a weekend.

We went and had a look around Pacific Fair, and then went to Carara Markets.

We got a few things at Typo and Kiki-K, and a pair of pants and a bra for my Love, but nothing else sparked our interest too much.
We’re just not the type of ppl who shop for the sake of shopping / entertainment.

Walked to the surf club for dinner.

Monday

– spent the day at SeaWorld which we both enjoyed, but it wasn’t quite as good as our memory has us believe it was.
A lot of the shows seemed much shorted and less ‘elaborate’.

We dropped the rental car back off to the car company as we leave tomorrow and will just walk or catch a cab to the airport in the morning.

Dinner was Noodle Box from Uber Eats.
Home tomorrow – early flight.

Tuesday

– early rise at 3:45am, a cuppa and then off to the airport in a cab.
Flight was pretty much on time, and once we’d collected our bags we got the bus to the car-park place to collect our car.

After a couple of stops we headed back up the hill to home, stopping at the supermarket on the way to grab some milk and dog food.

We picked up the dogs from the kennels later in the afternoon, as well as getting the bags unpacked, and my Love went and checked in at work.

An easy dinner and we both pulled up pretty well considering we’d been awake since so early.

Wednesday

– another early start as I took a friend down to the city as she was booked in to get an epidural for her back pain issues, and it’s best that she has a driver to come home, as it’s about an 80 minute drive.

Didn’t get home until mid-afternoon, so not much got done around the house today. Managed to get some laundry done at least…

Thursday

– spent a day at home doing laundry and general housework that hasn’t got done in the last few days with us being away etc.

It’s been wildly cold and windy today – and of course the rain is still ongoing – which is a lil beyond the pale by this point…
The ground is back to being so incredibly sodden, and parts of it are even growing a type of slime.

It’s definitely been a day of wearing knee-high mud boots with thick socks to be able to walk around the Farm in comfort.

Friday

– another day of cold wind and incessant rain.
Once again it’s getting me down but I’m trying to push through.

Woke up this morning with a sore throat this morning.
Yesterday evening I felt a little tickle in my right gland and thought that maybe I was starting to get something and sure enough – I have – woke up in the early hours of the morning with my throat like gravel!

Into town around 830am and went to see if bigw had any pants in my ‘new’ current size, but there weren’t any.
I then collected my grocery order that I had booked yesterday afternoon, and went to the nursery and got some vegie seedling in the hope that maybe we’ll get some sunshine soon and can finally get back out into the garden and put some plants in the ground!

It’s been too wet to be able to put seeds in, so I’ve given in and bought some starts.
I also made some dog food.

Finally remembered (after breakfast!) to weigh in and I’m now under 75kg, with a loss of a whisker under 27kg.

Saturday

– My nose is running like a tap, but thankfully my throat isn’t nearly as sore as it was yesterday. I’m very blocked up though, and it was a very broken sleep last night because of the difficulty breathing.

We actually got a few hours of sunshine through the morning, but the wind was still bitterly cold and gusting.
I sat out in the sun with the cats and dogs for a while and just basked in the warming rays.
It truely was delicious!

By mid afternoon the clouds had come over and it was trying to rain again.

We ducked in to town to collect some tissues and lozenges, then we rugged up and watched a few YouTube videos we’d missed seeing while we were away.

Sunday

– went out for breakfast and it was an absolute shit show!
We usually try and share a breakfast these days, but considering that they forgot the bacon – there was barely any breakfast to share, so I just waited till I got home and had a shake.

The rain was in in the afternoon so we watch telly, played a few games, read some, did a bit of work on the computer – just generally bludged around.

Monday

– it’s hard to believe that it was only a week ago that we are at Seaworld!!

The rain is still here, as is the cold and wind, but we’ve had some intermittent blasts of sunshine today which has been very welcome.

Last night I manage to crick my lower back – just as we were going to bed – when I was trying to get the cat to stay off the bed and leave us alone.

When I woke up this morning it was not good, so breakfast consisted of Panadol with my soup.

Managed to do the laundry and a deep clean vacuum, then did some research on small houses, building designs, and any builders in the area that google inferred may do small-house building.

Tuesday

– it’s been a few weeks since the bus was last driven due to us being away and just life getting in the way, and I usually like to try take it for a run at least twice a week.

So this morning I headed off to one of the nearby towns to blow any cobwebs out of the bus, and to have a general change of scenery for me.

I messaged a friend who lives there to see if she wanted to catch up in town for a cuppa, but she called me to explain that she couldn’t that day, as she already had another appointment that she had to go to; but we spent about 30mins yacking on the phone and catching up, so that was nice.

After the call was finished, I went for a wander through one of my favourite hippy shops, then went to a nearby cafe and had a ¼ of a lemon tart.
I took the rest home for my love to have for her afternoon tea.

Made some dog food in the afternoon, and cooked up some chilli beef to go with our garlic smash, and put the first coat of varnish on the new Ganesha artwork I got today, so that I can hang it outside.

Wednesday

– another day of the weather not playing nice.

This morning I finally put together a set of shelves that I bought the other day.
I keep forgetting to do it until it’s too late in the day, but I got it done today and put in to place in the shipping container.
There’s still some more tidying up and rearranging to do in there, but I’m glad that I’ve at least manage to make a start, and its already looking a lot better.

My friend Lou came for a visit today which was unexpected so that was nice – and she bought her four dogs – so they got to come and play with our dogs while we had a cuppa and a catch up.
I’ll be going up to her place next week sometime as she has some stuff she wants me to go pick up as she’s having a bit of a declutter.

I booked the bus in for the auto-electrician on Monday morning so that they can do the wiring for the roof top fan.
That’s a bit exciting!

Mid afternoon, I went into town to get some groceries and got some chicken breasts, which I cooked up for the dogs and cats.

I’ve been making a point each week of trying a different supermarket drink to try and work out what I can and can’t drink, for when the eventuality arises that I get caught short without a drink – when in town – so I’ll know what I can grab.

Trying to find something low sugar but with decent protein is blooody difficult!
(feel free to drop a recommendation if you know of any)
It was soooo much easier when I could just drink water!!!!
Hopefully that day will come again…

Thursday

– we had no internet all day which was super annoying and meant I couldn’t get a load of work done that I’d planned on.

Mowed the houseyard and got about ¼ of the paddock mowed.
The sun even came out for a couple of hours which made for a VERY happy me!

Went out for dinner and I had a bit of my Wifes grilled fish, but ended up having numerous vomits afterwards – side effect of the hiatus hernia.

Friday

– we expected ‘clearing showers’ today, but instead got shitful freezing rain.

Our garden guy came over for a cuppa and a catch-up which was nice.
Did laundry.
Got a few weeds pulled in between the squalls, but not many.
Quiet day for the most part.

Saturday

– some sunshine in the morning which was so well received by humans and animals, but unfortunately it didn’t last too very long and by afternoon the rain and cold came back in.

In the afternoon we put YouTube on the big tele as one of our sons was in the Nationals Weightlifting Competition, which we watched well into the night.

He did himself (and us!) so very very proud – and we’re rapt for him.
He ended up taking out 11 National Records, and 2 World Records.

Sunday

– sun again this morning.
Glory beeeeee – soooo happy.
Did a ton of weeding and pruning in the vegetable garden and in the houseyard.

Harvested two cabbages (one was 3490 grams) and around 20kg of yačon.
I’ll share some of each with our GardenGuy family, and may sell some of the yačon tubers.

=====

I think that that’s way more than enough for this little update, so I’ll stop here…

I guess the takeaway from it in [TLDR] dot point would be:
– we travelled south and had the funeral service
– we did the ashes sprinkling for TnT (the Parentals)
– we went to Seaword
– its been incessantly raining for the majority of the last 2 months
– we’ve had some really cold and windy patches mixed in with the rain
– any sun we’ve seen has been muchly revered
– I got a cold, but am coming through the other side of it now

Taking in some much-needed – but not much seen – SUNSHINE!

 

My motel room when I was away overnight getting some work done on the bus.

 

Funeral flowers – beautiful and simple.

 

The Headlands where the ashes of the Parentals have been spread.

 

Speedy gorgeous little penguins at SeaWorld.

 

Watching the turtles at SeaWorld was so incredibly relaxing.

Hello July!

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o0o

Monday

– I flew to the Gold Coast yesterday, then drove all the way to Gympie and did some grocery shopping, then drove another 35mins or so to get to my Brother and Sister-in-Laws Farm.

I have come down because my StepDad is palliating.
I slept poorly overnight, a combination of a strange bed, different night-time noises, and the knowledge that the coming days are going to be incredibly emotionally draining.

I need to put my ‘big girl pants on’!!

I went into town to the Aged Care Home right after I got up and had some soup for breakfast, and spent around 6hrs by the bedside of my StepDad, then headed back to my Brothers place.

In the afternoon I did some writing, washed dishes, and then just spent time with my brother and his wife in the evening.

Tuesday

– another night of not a lot of sleep…
Back in to the Home early for another 11 hours bedside, reading to, talking to, and playing music for Dad.
He is declining quickly and I’m pretty sure that tonight will be the night…

I know he won’t ‘go’ until he’s by himself – so I came back to my brothers just after dark.
It was a slow drive in the dark and rain and took almost an hour.

I showered and had something to eat and changed my clothes ready to go back in once I’d had a rest, but it wasn’t long before the call came that he had died.

I will wait now – and instead go back in the morning – as I will need to clean out his room, as we’ve already had in place arrangements for his body to be collected by the funeral home.

Rest in Peace AP, may you be back in the arms of the woman you have always loved so very much – my Mamma… 🤍🕊️

Wednesday

– went in to Big W early and got some tubs to put Dads stuff in, and also got a dozen large cups of donut-holes for the Staff at the Home; then went to the Home and spent the next couple of hours packing up what is left of all his ‘worldly goods’ from the last five years since he and my Mother went into care.
(My mother died very soon after.)

I then dropped my Mothers ashes (she was cremated 5 yrs ago) and a photo of she and he off to the funeral home, ready for the Service which will be in about three weeks time.

Once back at my brother and sister in laws place, we unpacked my car and then went for a drive around their farm to move some cows and check on fence-lines.
It was good to get out in the fresh air for a bit, and not have to think too much…

Later in the afternoon I went through a lot of photos and cards to give to my sister when she next comes down, when we have the funeral service.

Thursday

– In to town early to do some grocery shopping so that I can cook my brother and sister-in-law dinner tonight.
Its the least I can do as I have been pretty much using their home as a motel for the past few days.

I noticed on the way to town that I am breathing easier and deeper this morning.
The stress of the week is obviously lessening slowly…

I leave early tomorrow morning – around 4:30am – to drive to Brisbane Airport to fly out at 9:50am.

I’m panicking about getting there in time, returning the car, checking in my luggage, not being late for the plane etc
Ugh!

I’m eager to get back to my own bed though, and hopefully settle into some decent sleep.

Friday

It was a very long day travelling…
I woke at 2:30am and couldn’t go back to sleep with the nerves of getting lost, being late or any other of the numerous catastrophes that I was imagining!

I oc course made it with heaps of time, but I was so anxious by it all, that I ended up bursting into tears when I handed by the keys to my hire-car.
The poor guy was very sweet at coping with my tears…

Once through security, I went to sit at a cafe to pass the time, and ended up sitting right next to my Surgeon!
We chatted for a while, then both moved on.

The flight ended up changing gates twice, and due to an issue with our intended plane, we ended up on another plane, and left 90mins late.

To add insult to injury, the flight-staff didn’t end up serving me my preordered food, and I was still a little too fragile-feeling to make a fuss about it, and wasn’t thoroughly convinced I’d actually remembered to order it – so went without.

My Love picked me up from the airport, and it was wonderful to see her, and to get back home to my wonderful pooch, who was so insanely and cutely surprised to see me!

Saturday

– I  slept like a proverbial log last night and I needed it badly!
I was at about breaking point with exhaustion…
Spent the day doing the usual: Grocery shopped, post office, Big W, laundry, and also put in for a refund with Jetstar, and a complaint that Staff didn’t at any point actually come and see me at all!

Sunday

– We went to Harvey Norman and had a look at toasters but they all so stupidly priced!
Ended up going to BigW and buying a long sunbeam one from there that didn’t break the bank.

The power has been off since around 9am, so a lot of the usual jobs can’t be done while it’s off, and due to the fact that we stream all of our viewing content, we also can’t watch tele or even watch (much) stuff on the laptop – although it’s well charged.

We do have some movies on usb so there is that option if we really feel the need. For now though, writing and reading is sufficient.

If the bloody rain and wind would stop we could do some gardening too, but it’s too wet and cold to be out in it at the moment.

Monday

– Had quite a big day with fuelling up the car, going grocery shopping, collecting a weeks worth of mail and parcels, going to Bunnings to get some potted colour to put along the new fence, and then coming home and cooking chook food and chicken breasts.
Then did dishes, cleaned up the house and just general other duties as well as the laundry and folding.

Well be having Frittata tonight and we have loads of eggs as the chickens are back on the lay.
Will probably cook the cats and dogs some scramblers tomorrow too, to add to their evening meals to top up their protein a bit, as they luuuurve having eggs occasionally!

Tuesday

– It’s a public holiday for Show Day.
Its been raining all day so we won’t be going.
Pretty much a wasted day of getting hot much done at all…

Wednesday

– Got the entire pantry decluttered and wiped out today and feel a lot better for it. It’s a big job that has been niggling at me for a while now.
I try to do it 3monthly, but do tend to procrastinate on it a bit.

Thursday

– Another busy day.
Vacuuming, mopping, moved the freezer and cleaned under it, washed down the sewing machine table, did a run to the dump to take the recycles, then scrubbed the recycle bins in and out.
Repotted one of the house-plants.
Arranged lunch for next week, with my friend LC.
Cleaned the dining room glass doors in and out.

Friday

– An early trip to the grocery store to get mustard seed, as our seems to have disappeared, and I want to process two huge Daikons that I have in the fridge.

Then it was off to the post office and got a nice surprise parcel from our youngest daughter, of an owl graphic.

Once back home, I changed over the laundry and then started to get everything ready to pickle and can the daikon radish.
I was in the midst of that when our garden guy and his wife dropped in for a visit and a wander.

Cooked some mexi-chilli for dinner while I finished off the canning.

Its still bloody raining, and to be honest its really starting to do my head in…
Again / Still!
I need some sunshine dammit!!

Saturday

– Ever since my trip south, my laptop has decided it’s had enough after around 6yrs of faithful service, so I spent the morning researching which one will be my next laptop.
As much as I think I’d like to go the route of moving to an iPad Pro – which would easily cover all my needs and then some – I truely can’t justify the extra added expense at this point, so I’ll stay with the much cheaper MacBook Air.

Otherwise, it’s just been another slow rainy day…

We ended up going to HN late in the afternoon and getting me my new laptop when my Love got in from work, so I spent the evening ogling it’s loveliness, and getting it all set up and working how I like.
She’s speedy that’s for sure!

Sunday

– Took a trip to the next town over to get some sunshine cos I was about ready to lose my shit!

Thank goodness we struck sunshine less than half way there, and got to bask in glorious rays for the next couple of hours.
I can almost feel it topping me up!

Did some grocery shopping for stuff we can’t get in our town, and then went to the Heritage Museum for lunch and I had half a cheese and tomato toastie.
Headed back home and within 15 mins of arriving, it was pouring. [ffs!]

Thankfully we had enough time to unpack the bus and take out the mattress, linen, table and chairs – as I’m taking the bus to the city overnight on Wednesday, to finally get the big fan installed in the roof.

I am now 25.5kg down on my weight-loss / get healthier adventure, and feeling pretty darn good for the most part!
Some days my body decides not to play nice, and while I continue to wait for the Hospital to schedule my hiatal hernia and gallbladder removal surgery, this will be an ongoing problem, but I feel like I am managing the difficulties quite well overall…

The dawn of a new era. Dad died last night… RIP AP.

 

While I was cleaning out Dads stuff, the rain cleared for a short while and the sun came out and shone on his chair…

 

Flying out from Brisbane and going over the Queen St Bridge.

 

A dog that loves me, a new laptop, and my Love by my side. What a great way to spend a Sunday!

 

Canning pickled Daikon Radish, So pretty and delicious.

 

Giving my pj shirt a second life, and adding a reminder to myself…

Late June

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Things I’ve been up to of late…

Monday

– went into town to drop off three books that I had sold online on Marketplace, and also to grab some top-up groceries for the next couple of nights dinners.

Once home, I got out into the garden as it was a glorious sunny day.

I refilled all four potato beds with soil, then planted them out with potato starts, topped the beds with more soil and then mulched with cane mulch.

When it came time to water them, the hose blew off at the tap, snapping a piece of the hose inside the new irrigation pipe, and it took me a couple of hours and quite a bit of swearing to get it fixed.

I have replaced the part that snapped with a brass fitting, so I can at least be pretty sure that that particular piece won’t snap again!

The piece that snapped should never have been reused when the irrigation system was installed, but I hadn’t realised that the guy had done that, or I would have been sure to have said something at the time.

Wasn’t thrilled with that little bit of corner-cutting!

When my Love got home from work, we went out into the paddock and situated one of the new big garden beds that we have made and painted, and we’ll check in on it over the next couple of days to see if its aesthetically in the right place before we fill it up with dirt and plant it out.

Tuesday

– the sun alternately came out and then hid again for the majority of the day, so I spent the morning mostly inside writing blog posts, and then researching kindle samples of books I might want to read.

It was quite cool when we first woke up, and within an hour had become colder,  so I spent all morning in a jumper.

The afternoon was quickly filled up with installing another panel of carpet on the interior ceiling of the bus.
Its quite taxing working upside down, with a huge slab of carpet and spray adhesive!

I am hoping that I can find someone in town who does laser cutting of timber so that I can design some bespoke timber surrounds for the ceiling vents, so I might head off into town tomorrow to see if I can’t find someone…

Wednesday

– I went into town to have a look at what vent covers the hardware stores had, as I figured I might as well see what I can get cheaply and easily first, before moving on to the more expensive alternative.

Even if my eye thinks it would really like to see timber vents, the trust of the matter is that its basically a cover that is just there to give the ceiling a more ‘finished’ look – so what its made out of is really quite irrelevant.
As long as it doesn’t restrict airflow, it will do the job.

I also used a spray bottle to coat Noahs roof with ‘30 second cleaner‘ once the sun had gone behind the clouds for the day.
I’m hoping it will do its job over time to get all the bits of mould in the nooks and crannies.

I emailed the folks who were supposed to install the maxxfan into the bus back in March, but which we had to cancel due to the bus being back down at the mechanics; to see if they could fit us in again sometime soon.
Hopefully they won’t be too busy with it being winter.

Before the rain came in, I managed to get ½ of the paddock mowed.

Tonight we went out to dinner with our friend NW and whilst dinner was a tad tasteless, it was still a nice evening.

Thursday

– back into town today to get some groceries and pick up an order from SuperCheap, and buy an extra vent cover, as the one I tested yesterday fits well.

Once back home, I cooked some dog food and some chicken breasts, then went out to work on the bus installing the vent covers.
I initially tried using heavy duty velcro, but that wasn’t successful, so ended up using a splat of some sells glue on the corner of each cover, and it’s worked well.

Our Garden Guy also came this morning to drop off all the supplies for the new houseyard fence, and to install the posts, so that they have overnight to set before adding the crossbars and palings.

I heard back from the fan installation people, and they have an opening on 1 July, so I will take it down then, and stay overnight.

Managed to get some laundry and repotting done in the afternoon.

Friday

– Our Garden Guy came again this morning to add the crossbars and palings to the new houseyard fence.
Its looking wonderful, but unfortunately sue to my incorrect measurements, we ended up being around 8 palings short of finishing up, so he will do those next week.
I didn’t see any point in him making a special trip to finish it when we can easily cover the gap for a few days with an old gate.

While he was doing that, I got a lot of weeding and pruning done in the house-yard, and took two loads of cuttings down to the chickens for them to eat and scratch through.

In the afternoon I finished mowing the paddock and got the house-yard mowed as well.

My Love picked up her new car today, and excitedly took me for a drive in it when she got home from work.

Saturday

– had a quiet day today for the most part.

Cooked some chicken for the animals, vacuumed and made a Chicken and Green Bean Curry for dinner.
It was delicious!

Sunday

– we went for a drive to Mareeba today to do some shopping for items we can’t get at our stores in town.

On the way home, we went via Lake Tinaroo and got our lunch from the food van out there.
They very kindly made me just a burger patty with sauce, without making a big fuss about it, so that was nice – and it was yummy!

Once home, we picked a big bucket of lemons off our tree, and caught up on some on our YouTube favourites.

After my evening shower, I got my Love to cut the scraggly ends off my hair, which ended up with 15 inches being snipped off.

I can definitely no longer sit on my hair, and it now only reaches my bra-line, but its also looking much healthier already.
I’m glad I finally did it.

So that was it for the week!

 

installation of the new house-yard fence.

 

the vent covers that I finally settled on, installed.

 

My Loves new car. His name is ‘Wally’, so there are lots of “where’s wally‘ photos coming in.

 

Twice a day I have a protein shake to try and “kill two bird with one stone”: keeping up fluids, and keeping up protein. Thankfully, i LOVE them! ($12 kmart cup for the win!)

 

Brain Blips

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I vacillate between feeling confident that our Home and Farm are well stocked and that we are as prepared as we can be for whatever may next come our way – whether it be an unscheduled lockdown, to a cyclone, to not having a working car – and then next minute something tweaks my mildly prepperish brain, and I go into a bit of a panic that maybe I should be more prepared than I already am.

I think the thing that most tweaks this in my brain, is whenever I actually go in to a supermarket – especially in our local area where we have two – and I see that so many of the shelves have huge gaps from low or missing stock, or shelves that are just totally empty.
And it concerns me!

Is it because the Managers aren’t ordering in enough stock?
Is it because there isn’t enough actual stock to go around?

Maybe the doomsayers are right and I’m an oblivious naive twit!!??!!

No, i REALLY don’t think they are – but sheesh – some days that bit of panic sets in, and makes you question your own convictions…

#MorningMusings
#BeKind

Mighty Monsoon

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It been quite the summer – let me just say – and I’m not sorry that Autumn is working its way slowly into the pores of my skin.

It’s at this time of the year that you can see and feel the shift of the sun as it peeks through the trees in the early mornings.

It no longer comes blaring in the bathroom window and immediately heats up the house, but instead creeps in at an angle through the trees, and slowly makes its way around to the kitchen window by about 9am, giving an ethereal feel to the morning with its golden light.

We have had three months of mammoth monsoonal rains – around 1400mm / 50 inches – which has turned our little piece of paradise into an absolute quagmire for most of that time.

The garden has been neglected because it has been so wet, but also because I needed to have major surgery in early February, which not only required some weeks of pre-op preparation, but has then also needed some significant recovery time.

I am not quite six weeks post-op, and am still having difficulty with the nutrition and hydration side of things.
For the most part I think I am finally out the other side as far as the pain is concerned, but I am still finding that whilst I have found that I have amazing boosts of unusual energy, I also tend to suddenly hit a wall and can tire unexpectedly.

Due to my having to step back from the garden – and the Farm in general – we recently decided to hire a garden-helper, and within only about a half hour of putting an ad up online, the wife of the person it turns out that I needed, found the ad and contacted me.

Within a few days he came over for a look around and to meet & greet, and the following Tuesday he worked his first day.
He’s been three or four times now, and it seems to be working really well for all of us.

I know that it has certainly removed a very big ball of stress from my shoulders, as I was becoming quite overwhelmed with the amount of work that was steadily piling up with each successive week of me not being out there doing the things.

My Love is also been encouragingly supportive of having him help around the Farm.
I guess she too can already see the huge amount of help he has been is whipping the place back into some semblance of tidiness and productivity.

Sure makes it easier to take the time I need to recover – in mind, body and spirit…

 


Rain, rain and more rain means we temporarily have wooden walkways everywhere.


Allll the Chillies – they’re hot, hot, HOT!


Trees waiting to be planted out.


Ice-cream beans ripening on the tree.

 

 

food for the soul

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One of the things that makes my soul feel satisfied, gives me a sense of pride, and brings me such JOY, is to be able to provide for my family one of the most very basic of foods:
BREAD
🌻



Mixing up some bread dough


Dough proving in a warm spot


1 loaf done.


and some rolls…


All done for the week!

 

stocktake [oct20]

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-=-

I’m again ripping the bandaid off and posting a simple stocktake of where I’m at right now.

Its been a weird month, and one in which I’ve been doing some soul-searching about the direction that this particular site should take – and even whether or not Continue reading “stocktake [oct20]”

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