I bundled Pip up in my Nanna-Knee-Rug and there he stayed!!!
I am starting to feel more cooped up than the chickens!!
Outside is pure misery and the idea of bundling up, as per Pip photo and watching movies all day is really quite attractive!
I did get out briefly to go foraging at the supermarket.
While I was gone Jeff washed all the eggs
4 dozen!!
The soggy chickens are still laying really well, considering the time of year. Our chickens have always laid eggs right through winter. They slow down slightly but most other chicken owners I talk to say their chooks don’t lay any!
I reckon its something to do with the warm mash, variety of food and being able to free range. (And love??)
Or we are just lucky!! 🙂
New rug
Jeff said he would use a rug if I made it for him! So I abandoned the other couple of knitting/crocheting projects I am working on to start on a rug. He wants it black and white. Easy peasy… It covers a whole knee already!
That’s all from today’s rather boring household.
The rain is coming down heavily – I will be interested to sneak a peak at the rain gauge tomorrow. (and I better go upstairs for a look and make sure the buckets are in the right place to catch all the drips from the leak)
Jeff will be sleeping tomorrow in preparation for starting nights again, so I plan to nip down to see Ruby and see how that foot of hers is getting along!
Well, that’s Sunday been and done for us! The rain has started in earnest now – the wind is blowing it in from both sides and there is only a small space on the veranda (happily by the back door) that isn’t soggy.
I eventually stirred myself and got into a few kitchen projects.
First up, I figured 6 months or however long it was, was enough time for my plum liqueur to be ready, so after finally having remembered to pick up some material (muslin) I got to and strained the pulp
The smell that wafted up from this was a bit good! 😀Twisting all juice outTrying to get the light behind to show the colour
Three and a half bottles – well slightly less now as I just had a small tipple. 😀
Spelling and grammar may take a nose dive from this point!
There is something quite nice about sipping a liqueur in front of a fire in winter!
My brother in law has suggested using the pulp in a baked cheesecake! I am a bit tempted I can tell you!! I need to find something to do with it – too good to give to the chickens, not to mention might make them a bit wobbly! 😀
I also baked a cake (recipe here if you are keen)(Scroll to bottom of that post)
This has now been iced and taste tested. Nice to have some comfort food on a rainy day
Oh yes, also popped in a loaf of bread to bake
Warm crusty loaf!
I’ll add the plum liqueur recipe soon in case some of you are interested in trying it. Its not hard – just a little expensive when it comes to adding in the vodka!
I would like to try something similar with my strawberries next season to see what happens!!
Off to bed early tonight to read and listen to the rain!
Precious little was done today at Norwich House – the torrential rain never really materialised, but it didn’t stop the weather looking like a sulky child!
I did manage to complete the post processing of a set of photos for a young cousin of her at her school formal. I suppose thats a tick of the list! 🙂
The strawberries will need a tidy up soon – but the colours are still pretty in the dying leaves
I eventually extracted myself from the computer to load up on some wood, feed the chickens some scraps, water a few potplants… that kind of thing.
I enjoyed a brief wander around the yard for some fresh air while it wasn’t drizzling
pelargonium
Garden tip for newbies – if you want to feel like a champion, break off a bit of pelargonium or geranium and shove it in a pot or the ground – it will grow a whole new plant with no effort on your behalf – ok – maybe a bit of watering, but they are ridiculously easy to strike!
The winter look is a bit bare and sad
All the pelargoniums on the left side of the photo I grew from  bits I snapped off a mature plant (Original from Ruby) I did it to hide the side of the deck and they have grown really quickly. When in flower they are a mass of purple!
I finally emptied the rain gauge again. Tipped 150mm (6inches) out of it. Now if we get that promised rain I can tell exactly how much!
Princess Lily reappearing – I think she likes the breathing space now that the salvia has been tamedLion’s ear cut to the nub is already showing signs of a comebackOnion weed. Pest bulbs that are quite pretty, but will need to get on and dig them out soon. They take over quicklyA small splash of red has popped out on one of the rose bushes!
Hello! No Fridays Footprints today! We went out to the movies tonight (Independence Day 2 because who doesn’t like seeing a war with Aliens??) and we were home preeeeetty late!!
Apparently we are due for torrential rain and wind, so we sorted a few things out today just in case the weather forecast got it right
We picked this up at the tip a few years back for hardly any $$
Jeff dragged the outdoor weather curtain from the shed, we duct-taped the dodgy bits and put it back up
Why walk all the way back to the shed for a hammer, when we have a rock?
We only have one panel, but by putting it here, it stops the wind blowing the rain in the back door. Its nice to have a little dry buffer zone during the wilder days! Also the boots don’t get saturated!!
The wood in the far back corner is ok usually, but we can now pull the wheelbarrow back behind the curtain to keep that mostly dry too.
Done
It really wasn’t that nice of a day. Pip was being annoying. He really wasn’t sure if he wanted in or out! If he was left in he howled. So I finally dragged him out and hooked him up to his lead. He promptly ran to the garden for a wee, then came back, sat at the door with his paw up looking pathetic. Back inside to bed he went!
We were not keen on the possibility of having all those stones and path dirt being washed back down the path, so we made our own slip & slide  covered up the path with tarps and tried to make a guide for any water gushing down to head across the path and straight to the tank area.
I cannot tell you how keen I am to make this a water slide in summer!!
I save my bread flour bags and thought they might come in handy as sandbags!
Hopefully all this will keep any more of our path from ending up in the paddock!
Well… its raining quite heavily now as I type. Nothing like what we had a few weeks back. And the wind hasn’t kicked in as promised as yet!
I suspect tomorrow might be an indoor day!
Its 1.30am so its time for me to go to bed and get a start on my sleep in tomorrow!
It wasn’t too bad out there today! Both Jeff and I got out there to get into some tasks before the rain sets in from now! (Yes and even another load of laundry done and dried! I am on a roll)(Lets not talk about the folding ok?)
I finished pruning off another bush while Jeff got into the lawn
Was a bit long
While all the mowing and whipper-snippering is going on, the gates are open and the fences down – its heaven for the chooks as they can free range a little further than normal. Its very exciting for them!
Pip also got dragged out from under the doona to get a little sunshine as well
Although his idea of ‘helping’ is to sit on my shoulders while I am trying to prune – wasn’t what I had in mind!
I got about halfway through the Salvia clippings, putting them through the little mulcher
They actually looked quite pretty all chopped up
I started filling up the second of my new composts with the clippings and chippings!
Note to self – must add worms
I did notice the first bin was warmer and showing condensation on the inside of the lid! I figure this is a good sign
Jeff had moved on from the lawn and was making a dent in all the rocks and gravel that had washed down the backyard in the flood and was starting to reconstruct the path. I was getting chilly, so I left the mulcher and started raking gravel.
Its a bit less of a free fall going down this path now, and starting to look a little tidier down the back
In the hothouse, one of the smallest broccoli plants is actually showing a tiny broccoli starting!
These are looking healthy, but they could still turn out to be cabbages…
Its so nice to look back after a day outside and see things looking markedly better!
Flowerdale put on the blue skies and sunshine for us today – she didn’t even bat an eyelid when I Â – ever the optimist – put on two loads of washing!
I totally got into that salvia today!
Half way there
There is a reason I am neither hairdresser nor stylist!
Is that called a ‘short, back & sides’ ??
There was afternoon left, so I nipped over to Ruby’s and saw she was taking the same kind of liberties with the weather as well –
Ruby has been suffering for a few months with a really bad foot – well, its her toes really. She told me she had been “Very kind to it” (ie she had sat on her bottom too much resting it) but couldn’t resist the sunshine and was out with Margie making a dent in the weeding
This was the weed we were waging a personal war on today
Ruby went inside to sort out the kettle and some afternoon tea, while I filled up the green bucket a few times with the offending weed
The green wheelie bin was fairly full – something that will please Ruby immensely!! It really annoys her to send that bin out to the curb with space in it. She feels she is not getting her money’s worth if its not chokkas!! 😀
I enjoyed going inside for my cuppa and delicious bit of raspberry slice, made by Margie!
I have no particular stories today, but it was just lovely spending time with Ruby after us both having enjoyed the lovely weather. Its like having your batteries recharged and I am sure we are both solar powered!! 🙂
Have a lovely day wherever you are in the world!
Cheers!
PS – this shot is my favourite! I find Ruby takes a fabulous shot when she thinks I have finished mucking about with the camera and she laughs or smiles naturally!! I took the last shot when she wasn’t expecting it and I practically got a finger shaken at me!!
I got a bit caught up today and didn’t get over to see Ruby for a cuppa, so that will have to wait until tomorrow!
Tonight I uploaded the last album for the photo – challenge I have been running on facebook these past ten days – so I thought I would share with you the entries I put in.
Day one was “ORANGE” This whole album looks great when you glance at all the photos and varying shades of orange together!
I found a bright orange fungi down at Dip Falls
Day two was “HOMESCAPE” My made up name for landscape around your home  – house or town or area!  This was a really surprisingly great album – we have a number of members scattered literally all over the world and it was so fabulous to see where they all called home!
My photo was a rare early morning for me in the fog in our yard!
Day three was “SQUARES” I was running out of time and still nothing really grabbed my attention so I grabbed some sugar cubes in the supermarket and set up my tripod with my macro lens.
BTW disappointingly sugar cubes are not even close to being a cube these days!!
Happily group members had no shortage of amazing squares of their own – ranging from chocolate, to shadows and cleverly set up scrabble boards!!
Day four was “OLD FASHIONED” and you already know in depth how I got my shot. Again the variety of interpretations from group members was fabulous – from beautiful old clunky classic typewriters, to heirlooms and LP’s!!
Day five was “BUBBLES” Oh my what a fun album that is!! Although a distressing amount of bubbles from washing the dishes featured!! Some people had suds, some had amazing free-floating bubbles all nicely lined up (jealous) others had bubbles in drinks.
I settled on a single floating bubble for mine!
Day six was “FROM THE GRAVEYARD”
I find graveyards fascinating! There are some really interesting headstones and descriptions. Its like a small history of people to wander through. Group members have come up with some fabulous shots – some spooky night shots, other poignant glimpses into a past life all quite different and wonderful!
I somehow avoided all the powerlines to get this shot in our run down neglected little old graveyard
Day seven was “WINDOWS” Again – totally enjoyed the variety that people put forward.
Mine was more ‘space for a window’
Day eight was “FEAR” which scared quite a few people. Working out how to go about it!! We have everything from bathroom scales to spiders!!! lol
I was clueless until the night I had to post it and came up with acrophobia! (with my ‘boxmen’)
Do their expressions say “Fear” ?? lol
Day 9 was “BICYCLES” So far some really great shots coming in. Rusted tricycles to sleek new machines!!
Jeff is miffed I only used the shadow of his bike – she is called Betty (Or sometimes “The Other Woman” 😀
And lastly tomorrow, day ten, I have asked for “EVERYDAY OBJECT/S IN AN UNUSUAL PLACE” Â I am expecting some fun stuff in this one.
Jeff and I spent some quality time at Fossil Bluff taking photos of a portable clothesline! Did we get weird looks?? Oh yes we did!!
I captioned this something like “Laundry day in the country – once I have beaten my clothes with a rock, I hang them out to dry!”
Two ladies that read this blog, Lyra and Amanda, have also joined in contributing photos and it was really wonderful to have a couple of new additions to the challenge. They have put in some wonderful images and we are enjoying some sights from a different part of the world!
This is the sixth time I have run one of these. Usually around 30 people join in, give or take a few. Some group members have been in every single one too, which is lovely!
Its all quite relaxed and people seem to have a really good time.
We are voting on each album, and in a few days we shall see who comes out on top this time! oooooo – the suspense! 😀
Actually – the surprising thing is to most people, but the hardest thing about the challenge is choosing where to put your votes!!
Hope you have enjoyed this odd collection of photos!
Well… Screecher was clearly feeling better, because I found her wandering, bold as brass, up near the house! No idea how she got out. All the other girls were where they were meant to be!
Snack timeThe eggs get really mucky in winter!There is one ‘working’ nest, the other two look like this! Little scruffers!
The fire was well overdue for a clean out – so I got my bucket and got to work
Full!
I took the ashes down and threw them in the main compost. I decided against putting them in the new ones, because my best friend told me how she did that and the ashes weren’t quite cold and set her compost bin on fire!! I decided to err on the side of caution!!
This is NOT a job for a windy day!! (Its not so fabulous to step outside and get a face full of ashes!!)
Now our fire is beautiful again
Makes winter worthwhile!
Speaking of composting things, I decided to chuck the extra food scraps that the spoiled chickens ignore into the Gee Whizzer and get them nice and fine to hurry the composting along
So I went and fed the worms
If I am going to be honest, it looks like someone threw up in here….
A lot of my bulbs and rhizomes are coming up already. I feel its a bit early since we only just started the second month of winter!
Found these on top of the soil!! Will relocate to new home
The Day lilies are looking good!
Lots of iris well on their way too
My Protea is looking so nice at the moment. Plenty of big bold flowers!
Bud
The photo below was taken the day after our flood. Its a bit hard to see, but the garden outlined by the driftwood on left has half of the mulch washed away thanks to the flood
Newspaper showing where mulch should be!
I was impressed to see all the dirt smoothed and covered over yesterday. I thought my fabulous husband had done a bit of random gardening for me. Turned out it was the chickens!! On their accidental day out yesterday they must have had a lovely industrious time in that garden!! (Although I suspect all my worms have long gone!!)
A good job done by the chickens!!
I finished off my day by making sausages in pineapple gravy, draped over mashed potato and fresh broccoli for dinner…. and a chocolate self saucing pudding for dessert. 🙂 Yum
If you are not Australian, you may not know we all headed to the polls today to vote on who our next Prime Minister is going to be. (Who really probably has a good chance of being replaced during his or her term anyway, as has been the trend of recent years!!!!)
Nevertheless – my “Rainbow of the Day” shone up over the polling booths which was a lovely distraction from politics!!
I was with my cousin, Fiona (from yesterdays Fridays Footprints post) and we were two happy little tree hugging greenies together! 😀
On the way home we drove past one of those fabulous random country things – a young fellow playing the bagpipes by the highway for his family selling $2 pumpkins!!  Fiona insisted we go back for a photo (and a bunch of pumpkins! 😀 )
Fabulous!
Back home I had a little wander through the yard to say hi to the chooks and give them some scrap bread
There are a few of the girls that like to snatch directly from my hand
Apparently I had left the gate open this morning and there were chickens everywhere that they shouldn’t be when Jeff got up! They must have had a wonderful morning!! Ooopsie!
I had gotten up at 5.30am!!!!! Clearly the brain wasn’t up to remembering things like ‘gates’ that early. Jeff should know better than to ask me to do complex tasks before 9am
Foraging for scraps
Our Old Girl Screecher was looking very poorly this afternoon… She wouldn’t have a bar of the bread, which is very unusual. Was quite worried that, at her age, she might be heading down the slope.
She was on the nest rather than the roost when I tucked them in. I thought I would remove the eggs from under her as I hadn’t collected them today and thought she would be more comfy.
Well… I put my hand on a warm, shell-less egg!! Ew.
A really weird wobbly egg!!
I hope she feels better tomorrow!!
Only scraps left on the tomato plantsHothouse broccoli thrivingSo happy with how the garlic is shooting up!! Will have to get some seaweed mulch soon!Barrel of self seeded lettuce… do you think I may need to weed??The outside broccoli! We had a feed of this last night and it was SO good!
