Month: February 2021

A sea of lettuce!

Poor Pip. He has been in a bit of a bad way. Suddenly while washing his nether regions he is howling/crying! No idea what has brought that on. He hasn’t been sitting down properly on his butt either.

We got an appointment at the vets, but I dashed down early to get some happy pills for him so things wouldn’t be quite so traumatic.
He was seriously stoned

He had to sit his back half down to manage to eat (he totally had the munchies) and spread food everywhere

Oh he was NOT happy at the vet. It was like he was swollen up because I couldn’t get him out of the carrier!
I did finally, sat him on his towel and had him by the scruff of the neck and patting his head and saying soothing things while the vet prodded his manly bits and Pip growled and yowled! (Understandably)

On the good side, no sign of the usual/possible issues. I know he has done a few wee’s no problems with no crying or difficulty. So rule out kidney stones or UTI’s. No redness or swelling.

Could he have over washed his tender boy bits? Lets face it. Cat tongues are like sandpaper…
I got sent home with some pain meds in syringes (oral), a cat collar and one really unimpressed but still stoned cat.

He was dopey pretty much right up until bedtime – I put the fire on last night and left him on the couch since his motor skills for jumping into his usual bed were still iffy.

Today he is a bit better. Collar has been off and on. A couple of washes has brought about a growl
I think he just might need to leave things alone for a bit!
Right now he is up under my windcheater curled in a ball sleeping! (Nawww)

Anyway, enough about my cats private parts haha

Spare bed… really needed to get more lettuce up and coming, so gave this a quick dig and added some good compost stuff in.

I grabbed a punnet of mixed lettuce seedlings the other day -soaking them so I can pull them apart more easily.
I decided to put both seedlings and seeds in

And a row of spinach – I like the baby spinach leaves

Seedlings separated and spaced out

And in! yay.
I’ve also stretched out the netting to cover this plot as well.

Its actually getting cool/cold at night already.
I’ve got a million tomatoes and a plot of corn that needs more hot weather. Wish the tomatoes would ripen faster! They seem so far behind this season again

Still… was able to forage for a decent lot of food for dinner

I get enough tomatoes to put in the nightly salads… those strawberries. I plan to eat them later. They smell so good. (Yes a few got eaten while at the patch)

The cucumber plants have been slow but reasonably steady. They’ve struggled with some bug I can’t get on top of but we’ve had enough to put in the salads as well, so thats ok… and another lone capsicum (so sweet!)

And of course some potatoes!

In other news, I am attempting to hike regularly again…!! Sigh. Not done so well over summer in this regard
Anyway, did a double lap of the river track the day before yesterday. (12kms)
Spent yesterday in ‘Fretting About Pip’ mode, but managed a lap today – just one as I was developing a good sized blister (which sadly tells you how much hiking I have NOT been doing) so thought best to finish up and tomorrow plaster it up before heading out!

Anyway, thats about all the recent stuff around here!
Hope you are all having a really lovely weekend!!
Cheers!

I tried out a new fragrance… lemongrass and exotic lime! So fresh and beautiful.
I decided to try another ‘shimmy’ design and saved the cutting for the soap workshop yesterday!

The pattern made for a fun ‘reveal’

I did a Taiwan Swirl pattern demonstration after all the group members had finished making their batches of soap

By this stage of the day the table is in quite a mess

Such a pretty design!

An attentive audience haha

The leftover mixture I blend together and then pour into a separate mould
(Thanks to Sharon for getting some action shots!)

While on the soap stories, update on my facewasher and scrubby collection

I ran out of yellow so edged it in pink!

I think I have enough cotton to make 3-4 more

Still a little bit of tail tucking to be done

In exciting garden news, the corn has FINALLY popped out with fluffy tops and silky bits!

The crop is still looking happy and healthy so fingers crossed for some corn!

The carrot flowers blooming!

Dinner!

We had a decent clean up in the yard the day before yesterday…

Not that I got any actual photos of the cleaned up bits but you see we’ve got a lot of work here to do

Jeff spent a lot of time in the paddock cutting up leftovers from the milling as well and we moved and stacked a fair bit.

After a fairly busy day, we managed to get the kayaks in the car and down to the river for a paddle!!
So nice to get back on the water!
Hope you’ve had a wonderful weekend!
Cheers

Hi… Really don’t know where the days are slipping away to.
Halfway through February already!

Today, Sharon’s husband, Paul and his friend, Ed, spent the day getting through heaps of the timber in the paddock
Jeff cut and split ‘smaller’ pieces while the others milled a fabulous lot of the wood

There are some fantastic pieces in there and my brain is a bit giddy thinking of all the possible projects

Beautiful slabs and sleepers.
Paul took most of this back today. We are doing a bit of a barter for all their hard work – ie they get lots of timber to use!!
Below is a good number of slabs they did last week. I am hoping to revamp the hothouse with it and create raised beds around the edge of the structure… (Looks amazing in my head!)

We drove our car into the paddock and filled it a couple of times with the wood that Jeff was splitting, then drove it back so we could stack more – trying to clear the paddock as fast as we can for the VERY patient neighbour

Still harvesting food as needed for the dinner table

Actually today was pretty good… Sharon dropped in with Lottie and we all came up to the house for lunch. I picked fresh lettuce, added our cucumber, tomatoes, capsicum and grated carrot.
I baked a tray of potato bits (in olive oil and my garlic salt), hard boiled some eggs and put out a bowl of the pickled beetroot and a jar of homemade relish!

All soooooo local !!! (Bit proud)

Yum

Did a bit of a pick and sent home Paul with extra veggies
They brought us over some fresh onions too!!

The carrot patch is so lush

Funnily enough there are several plants going to seed… really strange as they usually take over 12 months before even thinking about it

I spent a fair bit of time tying up the crazy tomatoes

Snipped off lots of the big leaves and tried to wrestle them back under control
I still have more to do.
But then I got distracted and FINALLY weeded the corn and mulched it.
Still no sign of cobs but surely they can’t be too far off making an appearance?

Most of the celery survived despite being dug up by Flea.

I keep thinking I want to remove the shelters off the apple cucumbers but…it keeps turning cold at night

I did get in there and weed and they’ve grown a bit since the photo … maybe I will just leave them alone if they are happy.

I Spy… baby butternuts!

I put in some late potatoes… because?? Because I could basically. Will be interested to see how they go at this time of the season.
Our other patch is a scant few weeks off full harvest

Soap… Did the embeds.
I was hoping to have a few more bunny soaps for Easter

I made the embed, which is basically filling a silicone tube with the soap mix. The first one I took apart didn’t come apart cleanly (Bunny’s foot got a bit mangled.) These ones stayed in the mould for a week while I was sick… so came out better because they’d set a lot more.
Key tip… Be Patient!

The extra ones I cut down and poked into some heart moulds

Check out my lovely vase, designed and created by my sister Rosemary!
I do need to put it somewhere else to photograph it so its not competing with the table cloth.
Not too many flowers happening in the garden but the oregano flowers were perfect

Well… I am feeling a few aches and pains from spending a day moving wood about so I am going to call it quits for the night!

Hope you’ve all had a splendid weekend!
Cheers

I finally got around to cutting the slab of soap I made a week back. The nature of the slab mould makes creating the swirls a bit more…controlled?
Anyway, lots of fun!
I’ll have to increase the mixture for this mould as most of what I cut was a bit thinner than what I wanted.
The two pictured above are the end pieces that I didn’t slice in two.

I do really love the results of the swirls

Of course, I put a couple together to get that mirror image effect

Pretty cool

A few more photo challenge photos…
Day 4 was ‘Fruit’

(I threaded some yarn through the peel to dangle it up, then did a little bit of photoshop to remove the yarn)

Day 5 was Black and White… Took me ages to get something.
In the end I settled on a chook

So funny when they are just going to bed…they just stare at you.

Day 6 was hat or hats.
Mind you, we’ve got a house full of so many different hats, but I decided to torture Pip with a tinfoil hat.
The resultant photo was pleasingly full of Cosmic Woo…

In the photo below I am sure he is plotting to kill me..

And this one kinda shows off his new shiny bonnet haha

And day 7’s subject was Falling Water… I didn’t get creative with setups… I just stood at the back door!

Anyway, thats my Saturday done… its 10pm and I think I am feeling better because I really really want some chocolate cake and am debating with myself about going to bake one!!
I’ll try to resist!
Cheers!

Wow… we are getting hit with quite the storms today. The rain has been pelting down and we’ve even had thunder and lightning!
I had to get in all my wet weather gear just to go lock up the chooks tonight!

Its Friday night and I am feeling a lot better than I have most of the week.
Still haven’t done much though!!

Standing at the back door while the thunder rips across the sky and the rain blows right in the door!!

We have a few guttering issues!

Earlier I ventured out, cleared the filter for the tanks (water is pouring in!! Yay)

Also picked some beetroot

Yesterday or the day before (can’t remember now) I took a few snaps of garden ‘stuff’

Corn still has a long way to go!! At least its getting a good drink today/tonight

Lebanese zucchini! Suddenly I have a million. (And no appetite haha darn)

A sea of tomato plants

Excited to see a few ripe ones happening on the outside plants!

Despite losing a couple of branches and lots of pears in the wind… enough are hanging on.
Will go inspect damage tomorrow if this weather calms down

Plenty of rhubarb
Huge leaves!

I found some stuff in the hothouse too!

I was playing about with the camera yesterday as I was trying to get some photos for the current challenge.

Trying to get Flea to pose…

Nope!

She’s a funny chook!

This chicken really looks like she is about to ask to see the manager!!

Anyway, nothing much else to report from my part of the world!
Hope you are all doing great!

Cheers

Hi…
Gosh. I ate something Sunday night that firmly disagreed with me.
Firmly and emphatically.
The results were not pretty!!
Lucky I have my own personal nurse who set up a pillow on the bathroom floor and kept me company with cool facewashers to my forehead!

In the end I slept on the couch in the sunroom as its quite a hike from our bedroom to the bathroom.
My body said nope… you are not keeping anything inside for a while!!!
Monday was a right-off… today I was vertical off and on but mostly rested. (weird)
Just trying to rehydrate etc.

So nothing noteworthy really happening here… but I did start a new photo challenge. Thought I might share my first three images.
Top one, the subject was ‘Green’
I put a drop of food colouring on the oil layer and waited… This image I thought of the number I did was the most effective.
Its really mesmerising to watch the colour drop and expand!

The next subject was ‘Weather’

Of course… summer in Tasmania can be… changeable! I thought this one encompassed the feel of it!

And the third day was ‘Geometric Shapes’
I found a discarded coffee cup today – with the remains of a hot chocolate from before the ‘I had to live in the bathroom for the night’ incident.

Happily the dried chocolate at the bottom provided me with a shot!

So… anyway. Thats about all for now.
Pip has been an especially happy kitty as he has been able to nap with me for about two whole days now!

I sincerely hope everyone is feeling better than me!
Cheers 🙂