Ange was keen to beef up while she was here so she spent time digging a trench to connect the new tanks located further up the hill to the old line. We now have 10,000 gallons (about 22,500L) gravity-feeding the house, which will also be the main water for the 2 houses we have yet to build. Before Ange left we had a trip toTimbertown – kind of like Pioneer Village used to be in Armadale in WA. The kids had the life scared out of them when our quiet little horse and carriage ride was held up by a bushranger. Not well thought out… Many ear-piercing screams and tears later we managed to calm them down and I snuck off for a quiet bike ride.
Since Ange and Sophie have gone (much to Noah’s concern – “But I need a little friend to play with”) we’ve also been visited by Kate and Jeremy Wilson, as well as Rob’s mum Jean and her man Ern. They were all here at the same time and it was the strangest afternoon down at the dairy when most of them turned up to help. My quiet, meditative, predominantly solo project was suddenly transformed into a hive of activity. What to do with 6 workers?!?! The answer turned out to be ‘quite a lot’. Windows went in, as well as insulation, bracing, weatherboard was de-nailed, even the floor was swept. My load of wood finally arrived last week so I’m really excited about being able to finally get on with some serious building.
Rob and I have spent every second weekend for the last 6 weeks training to be Bush Firefighters. Whilst there was all the usual motivations of helping the community and getting prepared for the worst, the big drawcard in the end was that we would get to ride around in big red trucks. Last weekend we passed our assessment and now we’ve got big boots and fluro suits and we’re ready to go if we get the call.
The weather is getting slowly colder and less wet. It’s actually really nice – not so many huge downpours that force you inside for a week, flooding everything and bringing out the leeches; not so hot during the middle of the day; and the only trade off is that it’s cold enough to have to put on a light jumper at night. To make way for the new chooks we ate some of the old ones and moved the rest down to the dairy into a new chook tractor I made from the old water tank on Sue & Rob’s house. They seem to be happy and are slowly preparing the soil underneath - clearing the grass and fertilising it as they go.
We had our second garden club day on Sunday. It was at Bryony’s place, where we half-buried logs around the perimeter of their new to-be-enclosed orchard. It will act as something to attach the wire on to, as well as serving as bandicoot-proofing. I would have thought they would burrow underneath but apparently they don’t. It was really good work, nice and physical, and everyone pitched in. Every now and then it poured with rain and we would head inside for cups of tea and yummy treats. I’d do a lot for a yummy treat. The kids love Garden Club too. There’s a real tribe of them when they all get together, about 7 kids ranging in age from 1-4, spread across 6 families.
About a month ago, when Ange was still here I found some eggs buried in the ground under a tap in the paddock. They were smaller than a chook egg, about half the size, and very spongy. We dug them up (8 in total) and put them in an icecream container on the fridge. After about a month I thought we must have killed them by digging them up, but then the other day we could hear some noises coming from within. Inside was a baby water dragon that was very cute and just wanted to charge up my arm and take off. A few of the other eggs were starting to hatch so we returned them to where they came from so they would be able to find some tasty water dragon food when they hatched – whatever it is that baby water dragons eat.
In renovating the dairy, and in replacing Sue and Rob’s roof, we’ve managed to make 2 possums homeless. Last week I made a couple of possum boxes so that they’d have somewhere new to move into. After making so many for Joe in Freo it was nice to be making them again, albeit without all the swanky custom built bits, and a lot more improvisation. Instead of the nice muted eucalypt green paint job I just used what was lying around in the shed – a kind of bright sky blue. I think they’re quite funky and I think I may have accidentally found a new line for Joe to branch into – custom colours.
