19 years!

27th April 2009

This is a very special day to Johnny and I. Today we celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary. Being a Monday it was routine as usual with getting the kids off to school and general chores around the house. My “to do” list never get any shorter. The moment I cross one item off - at least two more are added. The morning passed without any eventful news and then mid morning Johnny arrived home to surprise me.

Our weed eater is finally working again after Johnny tried to start it according to the instructions. Never in my life have I seen such a lengthy start up. We have to turn the lever to 2, pull five times, turn the lever back to where it was and then pull the chain. It started. Now the strange part is that up until two weeks ago, Johnny was starting it with one pull of the chain? Strange, but none the less I am ecstatic that we do not need another one for awhile. Who says you’re too old to learn new things?


I finally worked out that my car can fit into the garage and is not too high as I anticipated. I guess it’s taken me awhile to get around to this part – it just wasn’t that important a few weeks ago and if it wasn’t for Johnny’s accurate eye, she would still be outside. It’s a tight squeeze but will suffice for the meantime. I’m glad that the girl is out of the elements at long last.

Going back to my anniversary meal, I decided to set a table and cook a home cooked meal. My table came out really nice. I made sosaties, chips and farm fresh eggs. Okay, I know that’s not too romantic but convenience is nice. I would have liked to had prawns and a fantastic desert but hey I settled for being at home with the rest of our family. We opened a bottle of bubbly and celebrated 19 years watching the sun go down. Ah, the good life.

My anniversary dinner table.

26th April 2009

“People with goals succeed because

they know where they're going" - Earl Nightingale

Johnny didn’t work today and being Saturday this was awesome. With the above inspiration we decided that the projects on the cards for this weekend were two fold. We decided to work on the duck pond and eradicate the pile of pruning which has been lying on the side for so long now I’m sure the cuttings have grown roots! Thank goodness for the tractor. It was used to build up the walls of the pond. Johnny dug in to use some soil and he hit clay. The children and I sat on the side lines making clay objects with the bits that were tossed out which was fun. They didn’t last too long as Johnny rode over them with the tractor pretty soon after we left them out to dry. What a pity as I didn’t get to take a photo. I suppose the clay in the ground is good as not much water will get through. Johnny got busy with the backbreaking work of hoeing the ground in the pond, as there was grass growing in it. After that we laid some plastic on the bottom of the dam, which proved useless as we were to discover later on. After that my clever husband remembered that Paul (previous owner) had mentioned that he thought there was a pump and pipe at the top dam which would feed the pond now. Now to find the pipe was going to be a challenge. Johnny sorted the pump out first and by sheer luck located the pipe which led all the way down past the pond site. Hooray! We were in business. It wasn’t long before the pond was filled to the brim.

Now the next thing I’m about to tell you will make your hair probably stand on end. My beautiful children decided they would like to snorkel in the pond! Out came the snorkeling equipment and flippers too! My first thoughts were “oh no you’re not” but after whining and wearing me down which seemed like forever, I confess I gave in. After all it would create a funny memory and as Laura Ingall writes and I quote

“It is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all.” – Laura Ingall

What’s more simple fun than a swim in a newly laid pond on a crisp autumn morning!

Sunday morning we had our first double yoked egg. I was so pleased. After breakfast, the men in my life went off to complete the pond. They discovered the plastic had lifted and water had gotten underneath. It wasn’t doing much good so we decided to lift it out, fold it up and hope for the best with the water. The ducks swam in the pond most of the day and enjoyed every minute of it. They sure appreciate having there own water hole after all. We are still to put a gate up and clear out the chicken hutch which is currently storing what must be a hundred logs of wood.

The pile of cuttings was burnt to a cinder and at long last the ground is clear of pruning in that spot. It sure does look good. We made so much smoke that I thought Iris would call the fire brigade at one point. But she didn’t and this afternoon she waved vigorously at me. She’s obviously very please that the eyesore is gone too and was quite willing to put up with the smoke. Bless her heart!

Just look at Michaela's expression.... How could I say no to that! -26/04/2009

26/04/09 -Seperating the pile of tree cuttings!

24th April 2009

The animals are amazing to watch. They all have what I would call them own pecking order. You can distinguish the main hen from the rest immediately and then the duck even though they are almost as big as the hens now are bitterly afraid of the hens. They won’t come near the food if the hens are about. Even the pup knows its place. I’ve been taking him with me each morning as I tend to the animals. He’s rather comfortable with the hens and ducks by now. He gives them a run for their money but seems to understand he mustn’t hurt them. He chases them around and even got a peck on the back of his neck from the one black hen once when he wasn’t watching. It didn’t bother him in the least. He just has to charge the hens and they scatter. Yesterday I introduced him to the cows. It was a magical moment. He knew instinctively that the cows could hurt him. It was a classical photo moment but I was unprepared. I’ll have to explain it the best I can. We were standing on the one side of the gate and the black cow was on the other. The cow was looking intensely at the pup with his head down to the ground and the pup was gingerly reaching up to smell the cows’ nose.

I’ve started working on my rose beds clearing the weeds and ground cover. Each day in the late afternoon the pup and I spend a quarter of an hour or so gardening. It’s a wonderfully quiet time of the day and a good opportunity for Spot to romp around in the garden. He loves it and isn’t too eager to come inside after this. I’m horrified to find my roses being eaten by something. So I’ve done what I know best to do. I’ve pruned them right back and treated them each day with soapy dishwashing water. On the weekend I will ask the nursery what she can advise too. The one rosebud was covered with a web of sorts which was so sad.

22 April 2009

The last few days have passed peacefully. The pup has settled at last (in the laundry) and not crying all night. I think it had something to do with the big fluffy blanket I relinquished in the hope he would think this it’s the bed! The chickens are well and they’re all just going about their chicken business, doing chicken things.

The children have happily gone back to school after a very quiet holiday. We spent the last few days visiting friend back in the old neighborhood and was nice. Yesterday Jonathan decided to take the ducks into the big dam for a swim. Michaela eagerly joined him. Unbeknown to me they planned on taking the tinny out and then release the ducks in the middle away from the dangerous reeds. Jonathan however forgot to check the plugs were in place in the boat. If he had he would have seen one was not there. Oblivious to what was about to transpire, he pulled the tinny into the water and they proceeded to climb into the boat. You can imagine that it didn’t take too long before the boat started to fill. Michaela had realized by this point what had happened and in typical girl fashion started to yell on top of her voice. I’m sure the whole farming community heard her voice.

I raced down to the dam fearing the worse and I must add didn’t have time to put on the boots. I found Jonathan drenched, with Michaela crying her eyes out. “Mom” she yells, we’re sinking and I have a wet bottom! I can see the funny side of this scenario now but at the time though I was fuming at their ignorance. My feet had got so sore from running down there and I was not impressed! Well Jonathan managed to get the boat out – don’t know where the missing plug got too! After chasing the ducks around the dam he finally retrieved them and came back up to the house sulking and sopping wet. The ducks were none the wiser to the commotion.

The past few nights we have been painting the kitchen. It looks wonderful! I’ve decided to change the splash backs to difference tiles and will go looking for tiles soon. The kitchen is slowly coming on.

This morning the garden looked like an aviary. I must have had about 15 cockatoos and lorikeets flying around in the garden and in the surrounding trees. It was so beautiful.