Gardening

We've been preparing to dig the new herb garden for G & L this week, as well as getting some more beds dug and planted in the vege garden so they have some fresh veg when they get back.

We've planted Rockmelon, Watermelon and Corn in one patch where beans were. There are also mixed greens (lettuce, cabbage etc) to take advantage of the Nitrogen that the beans would have fixed into the soil. We've also created a small circular bed and planted it out with Broccoli, Chinese Broccoli, Beetroot and Celery. Once the Celery gets to the right size, we'll place tubes over the top. This will help the Celery to grow longer stems and will also prevent them from turning bitter from too much chlorophyl (the stuff that makes plants green).

Here are a couple of photos of the vege patch so far:


The 1000 litre pod in the foreground will be used to store water from the dam once we get some fuel to run the pump. We have a basic watering system set up so far, but will improve on that as we find things around the yard. This should provide plenty of water to keep the garden healthy, as we are applying plenty of mulch to improve the water retention capacity of the soil. If the soil is healthy, the plants will thrive and it should also attract Earthworms into the patch to further help breakdown the hard crust below the garden soil.


I took the above shot before digging the circular bed and building the Pea stand.

Another couple of photos taken after clearing one patch of beans and after digging the circular garden and assembling the Pea stand.

The circular garden is small, but will produce plenty of Broccoli etc for two people.
This is the Pea stand. If you look closely you can see the Pea seedlings that Phoenix raised before I got here. There are also some Roma Tomato seedlings inside the frame that should thrive as well. Just in front of the stand is a patch with Zucchini, and closer still is a small patch of Potato eyes that will start growing soon.

The herb garden should be good. It's a horse shoe shape so that access will be easy. We started with the intention of digging down about 60 to 90 cm and using the waste from the Rota-Loo in the bottom of the hole, then building it up with soil etc to create a raised bed. I started a small 30 x 30 test hole to see what the ground was like. About 15cm down I started finding clay...damn. I got down about 50cm and it was all clay. Ah well, I figured that would be OK because the waste would help to break up the clay.
That night it rained (around 40mm). In the morning I had a look at the herb garden site and we had a little pond where I'd dug the test hole. A day later and the hole is still full of water.
That has led me to scrap plans for depositing the Rota-Loo waste there. There could be some health risks having half-composted poo soup underneath the herb garden methinks.

Yesterday we went over to J's place (he's the local fix-all man). We collected half a tray of firewood and half a tray of saw dust from around his portable timber mill. I'll head up there again soon for more sawdust and some fire ash from his old waste timber spots. It's all good for the soil.
As you can see in the photos below, we've started to incorporate the sawdust into thew new herb garden site . We'll collect the fire ash and charcoal and add that as well. One problem with sawdust is that as it breaks down, it draws Nitrogen from the soil. So, to counteract that, we'll also mix in the last of the Dynamic Lifter once it has dried out a little (it's wet and full of grubs at the moment). G & L have plenty of herb seeds that we'll use once the bed has settled and is ready to plant. First though, we'll have to scavange around the yard to make a temporary fence to keep the three chooks out. We had their hutch on the herb site to make use of their poo in the bed (it'll also help break down the sawdust).

Anyway, here's the photos of the herb patch in progress:








Once the herb garden is ready to go, we'll be starting around the other side of the house. We want to clean up the view from the bedroom window so that G & L have something nice to look at when they wake up in the morning. A shrub/flower bed is one idea we've discussed.

Last but not least and on a completely different subject, Jack is learning that stirring Sabrina to get her to chase him and play is not a smart idea. Sabrina plays when she's in the mood. If she's not, she burrs up, then chases him down and smacks him around. Jack, being the friendly, non-violent dog that he is, usually gets a bum or back full of claws if he's not quick enough. It's not all bad for him though. When she's in the mood, she rubs up to him and will even play chaseys with him. She also likes the back-up when she's chasing mice. They work well together rounding them up:

Phoenix took the photo above. When the flash fired, Jack sh** himself and ran away. He must have thought the monster under the plastic was attacking. Sabrina on the other hand just stayed there, looking at the dog as if to say "chicken!"

Letters from G and L... part 4.

Got another update from G and L this morning. And as I was reading, I wondered about the places that they are seeing. "I'll have to look it up on Google Earth," I thought. Then I had a wonderful idea. "I'll link the place names to the corresponding co-ordinates so that everyone else can see too," I thought. So I loaded Google Earth up. I checked out all the places and plotted the route that G and L have taken so far (well, I think so at least). Then I tried to find a way to link all of that to the blog. Problem is, I don't know how. I'm not a supreme super geek and Gryph's not here to tell me what to do. So anyway... I've spent most of the day playing and mapping and marking. And at the end of it all, I could only email myself a screenshot of their path. Nonetheless, I'm quite impressed with what I've achieved...

(Click on the photo and it'll get big.)

Oh, and speaking of Google Earth... By the end of the month you should be able to check out some of our photos there. So far we've submitted some pics of the Caves area, Yeppoon, Emu Park, Keppel Sands, Emerald, Gladstone, and more. I'll be looking through some more photos over the next couple of days and will try to come up with a few of the Rockhampton area too. Once they've been accepted and loaded onto Google Earth, we'll let you know to have a look.

Now, back to the subject... today's installment of The Great Walk around Spain...



The No-mattress Mattress, Gale Force Winds and Rocky Footpaths.

Okay guys it is not all happy going in Spain. We have reached the half way mark and yes we are still having fun. Let me tell you of some of the not so great stuff. When you're walking all day long all you long for is the hot shower (which as you know already is not always hot) and a nice comfortable bed. Well we have met up with the no matress matress. It looks good and inviting and you think this is a wondeful place, until it is time to go to bed and you lie down and hit the springs or wooden board underneath it. Well with a sore body that just needs to rest you end up twisting and turning all night long as your body starts to hurt even more. You certainly get an early start this way as we are very keen to get out of this bed as it is just too much to take.

We have been walking the last 4 days over acres and acres of open grassland in gale force winds. We have done quite a few extra miles as we have been tossed and blown to any direction except the right one. Coming from Logrono to Burgos, with each step we were getting closer to Burgos, but it's 2 steps back and 1 forward. Whilst walking in this landscape the Spaniards also seem to enjoy giving us rocky footpaths to walk on to cause more pain in the feet department. We have decided to walk on the road today as G's feet are very sore from this type of walking.

Anyway there is always a good side to the story. We have treated ourselves with 2 nights in a hotel. Pure luxery our own bed, hot showers at all times (we have wasted quite a lot of hot water there) and a blissful matress. Another bad point, the spaniards are an extremely rowdy lot and they do not stop because we are sleeping. No they do not even try to be quiet.

Anyway, yes everyone is getting my e-mails including M.

Lots of love from G and L.

PS. We are at the moment in Sahagun.

Donkeys

Donkeys have...

beautiful eyes with long eyelashes

soft, velvety noses with long, stiff whiskers...

sharp little hooves, smaller than horses'...

big voices...

and enough love to go around for everyone.

Here's just a quick entry to show you some random pics that I've taken since Gryph has arrived. I can't tell you how good it is to be using a good camera again (no offence, Big Sis). This is a shot I took down at the dam. Just one of those weird things that I look at.



The moon hiding behind some light clouds. Such pretty patterns.



Baby beans growing on the trellis. We'll get around to showing you what we did in the garden yesterday... once we're getting sick of playing out there.




And this cute little girl and her puppies were hiding in the grass near the vege patch. I've liked it ever since I got here. So, as soon as I got my hands on the camera I had to take her photo.





Ok, now I'm going to make some lunch for the hungry ones, and then I'm going to have a play with my Gryph... IN THE GARDEN!
;O)

Showers With Frogs

There was a meme (a kind of internet game of 'tiggy') going around a while back... quite a while... that these guys have reminded me of. The whole idea was to decide what your (American) Indian name would be if you could choose (eg, Sitting Bull, Standing Elk, etc). I decided that my name would be Showers With Frogs. We've always allowed the local frogs to live in the house, and naturally they would congregate in the bathroom/shower area. When we lived in the shed at the Caves we had dozens of Green Tree Frogs. Some lived in the drainpipes, some were happy to live in the pot plants, and quite a few of them regularly visited with us as we showered.

Here, there's about 4 of these White's Tree Frogs that live in the bathroom (I could only find two last night). The kids have named them and play with them often. As a result they are very quiet and patient, and seem to enjoy the company. I thought this one was Whiskas (so named because we first found him in the cat bowl), but according to Lara the Frog Wrangler, he was a darker green. She tells me that this one is Spotty.



And this guy is the newcomer. Spaz found him outside and decided that he needed to come inside to live with the others. She was worried that the snake would find him and eat him. He's pretty big, and as he was attempting to climb up the wet tiles in the bathroom he kept slipping down. "Slip slidin' awa-a-a-ay," I was thinking. Hence, he ended up with the name Mr Simon.


There are quite a few species of frogs here, so we'll be keeping an eye out. Any new ones will quickly be documented. They're welcome to stay, but any Cane Toads will quickly be dispatched.
We definitely don't want to see any like this one I found on the net. Maybe THAT explains that rather large thump from the other side of the roller door the other night. Bleeaaarrrggghhh....

On The Hop

It seems that I've managed to start a bit of a theme (with the help of some amphibian mates).

This little bloke was hiding amongst the spuds that came home today. He/She is a Bumpy Rocket Frog

Expect to see some more frog piccies from Phoenix soon.

G'day

Hi folks

Well, I finally got here. I've spent some time at the in-laws and had a wander and played in the garden and stuff. I've also done the same here. I tell ya, it's good to see my Phoenix again :o)

OK, I won't carry on too much. We found this Ornate Burrowing Frog under some Chilli bush cuttings I'd laid out to dry for seed.



There are a few different species of burrowing frog in Australia, including Spencer's Burrowing Frog from Central and Western Australia.
Tiddalik, the frog of Dreamtime stories is a Water Holding Frog, similar to the Burrowing Frog, but a different species. However, we're taking poetic license on this and have named this bloke Tiddalik anyway.

That's your edjamukashun for today.

Letters from G and L... part 3.

Santo Domingo and the 2 chickens

Hi we have arrived in Ages today and it has been a long walk once again. 28 kilometres is more than I care to do on a regular basis but not impossible. Well we were in Santo Domingo and there we bumped into a rather odd scenerio. We went to visit the local church and just above the altar they keep 2 chickens in a large cage. Well that got my interest up as why keep chickens in a church. We had met up with an englishman who had been living in Spain since 26 years and I asked him about the chickens above the altar. This is the story of Santo Domingo and the chickens.

This is naturally a legend. The story goes like this.

There was a boy who had been accused of having his way with a young woman. I am not sure if he raped her or not. There was not enough evidence to prosecute this boy anyway. Santo Domingo at this stage had not been recognised as a santo as he had not performed any miracles as yet. Santo Domingo felt sorry for this boy as this crime was punished with death. The prosecutor and Santo Domingo were about to have a meal of roasted chicken (a rooster) and the prosecutor said that if Santo Domingo could bring the rooster back to live and make it crow, he would release the boy and set him free. Well you can just imagine Santo Domingo brought the rooster back to live and made him crow. And now 2 chickens must be in the cage at the cathedral in Santo Domingo to protect the church from bad luck and in memory of Santo Domingo.

One more thing about the chickens, if you make a donation to the church and the rooster crows your money will be multiplies threefold. (that is your entire income by the way).

I also asked him why the 2 chickens, as only 1 is being mentioned in the legend. His reply was to keep the rooster company. The other chook is a hen.

Just for all of you who believe we are freezing, it has not been all that bad as we brought plenty of clothing to keep warm. We have only had 4 cold days the rest have been absolutely lovely. I am not burned for no reason. The only problem coming this early on in the season is that not all alberques are open yet but we are having the best time ever.

Anyway lots of love from L and G.



I only have one thing to say, and I know that I've said it before... I'm jealous.

:o)
Phoenix.

Letters from G and L... part 2.

Sorry for falling off the face of the earth there for a couple of days. Gryph's down, and what with catching up, showing him the place, discussing all the things we can do... and setting up our computer.... well, our time has just seemed to slip away.

Gryph's out in the garden at the moment. We're going to sort out the water supply for the vege garden today. We're using one of the big 1000 litre plastic tanks and......

Oh no, I can't get carried away. I have to go back out and give him a hand later. He's quite alright by himself at the mo, but I promised that I would keep this short. I just want to put in these updates from G and L. There will be more photos to check out... count on that... and Gryph will start blogging again soon as well. (God, it's good to see him again). :o) He'll just have to get out of play mode for a bit first.

Anyway, this is the reply that L sent in regard to the questions I asked last time. And I have received another update since that I'll post as well.


THE WALK SO FAR... part II

Hi Phoenix.

Hope you start to feel better soon. It is a long time to be seperated from the people you love and yes I do not think it would be easy to be seperated from your own children.

Now the mower. It has not been started for a very long time and when it was it was extremely difficult. No we do not have a whipper snipper. The snake is a red belly black and so a venomous one. We have decided to allow it to stay as they are also called the farmers friend. They keep the brown snakes away. (they eat the babies of the brown snake). A red bellied black is better than a brown snake. It has a variety of hiding places in the yard. I would tell the girls to leave it alone and it will not bother you. Flower garden (yes where we had the outdoor setting and bbq area). I was going to do a scented garden there somewhere. The caravan will stay where it is at the present time as we like it to be out of sight.

Lovely to see my babies once again and good to hear Beannie and Jack are getting along famously. She does the same with Jasmine our dog. I do miss them I have to say but I am not worried about them.

Will catch up with another story next week.
Lots of love from L and G.

Coolies.

Gryph's going to have a look at the mower and see if he can magic something together. I'd really like to get some of the long grass down around the house, at least. We'll probably clean up some of the stuff out the side too and organise everything in a slightly more compact area. Besides, if the snake's going to stay it's better to have a smaller area for him to live in, so that you have a fairly good idea of where it's going to be. I don't imagine that we should really have any problems with the snake though. So far I haven't seen any sign of it, not even tracks. I imagine that because it's been cooling off lately, it's likely that the snake's gone into hibernation. And the kids know quite a bit about snakes, so they know not to go near it if they see it. I WAS imagining a carpet snake or tree snake though.

We'll start the scented garden soon too. Probably the vege garden first, but we have some ideas about putting some flowers and herbs in that bbq area. We'll feed water to it from the kitchen grey water. If you have any preferences for herbs, etc, let me know and we'll see what we can find. Big Sis has already said that we can take some cuttings, etc from her garden. (Photos of Big Sis' garden coming up too)

K. Have fun
Phoenix.

Some animal shots.

This is the donkeys, Jack (left) and Bonnie. Have I mentioned how friendly they are? Bonnie is definately the boss, and as such she likes the attention more than Jack. But he's sweet too, just in a less pushy kind of way.


And he's the only one that will put up with this kind of thing. I don't really think that either of them likes to be ridden, but Jack is gracious enough to stand still, at least. Getting him to move is another story. We have to lead him if we actually want him to go anywhere. He doesn't mind little Lara sitting on his back, but Spaz must be a bit big. When she hops on he drops his head and refuses to move... at all.


Jack and Sabrina, discussing the happenings of the day. Maybe they were making plans for tomorrow. Perhaps they're plotting to catch the one that got away. You see... Big Sis and Big Bro-in-law came over for dinner tonight. We were sitting outside having after-dinner coffee when we heard Sabrina's bells and saw Jack's white form jumping around in the dim light. Despite Jack's sweet nature, Big Sis was a little worried about Sabrina, I think... until they ran into the light of the kitchen window. It was then that we realised that they had ganged up to try and catch a mouse. Unfortunately, many cooks spoil the broth, and the mouse escaped under the wood pile. Sorry about the quality of the pic. I tried for another one, but the batteries refused to work again after this. So I had to content myself with this one. Good mates already.


And then when I was getting ready to add this post, Sabrina decided to join me at the computer. Not content with my bony old lap, she found somewhere more comfortable... perched on the back of the chair. She certainly has some character, this cat. I thought it was so funny that I had to try for one more shot. Luckily the break had fooled the camera into thinking that it had a bit more energy. Let's just see if I can squeeze a few more pics out of it tomorrow.

Letters from G and L... part 1.

Well, I've been quite lax in the posting department of late, which L has politely pointed out to me. It was agreed that I would start this blog in order for G and L to keep an eye on the happenings at home, as well as for friends and family to see what we're up to. But I have been rather depressed of late and haven't been keeping up my end of the bargain. I shall remedy that though, and will make more of a concerted effort to post about our mundane every day life. So if I haven't been posting enough, someone please hit me over the head and remind me.

I'll do some more posts later, but for now I'm going to put up the email that I just received from L, and my reply to her. Any identifying names have been removed and replaced for the sake of respecting the privacy of all concerned.


THE WALK SO FAR... from L.

Hi everyone, we are very good. We have so far walked from St Jean Pied de Port to Najera (200 kms) and we have experieced many things along the way. To start off with we were being hampered by loads and loads of snow. We have had the Pyrenees closed on us and ended up having to walk most of the way on the road. This still was not very easy as we had to climb a good 4000 meters of mountain in order to drop off in Spain. In Spain as well we have had lots of snow initially.

We have also been to a pilgrims mass. Here we received a special blessing from the catholic priest in Roncesvalles. This has been an interesting moment. When you are doing the Camino you have to tell the catholic church that you are at the very least doing it for spirtual reasons in order to get a big certificate at the end to say you have walked the Camino.

The refugios have all been great. Some of them have hot water and others do not. I will be a lot tougher at the end of all this, as showering in cold water is not great under the best of circumstances but especially not in winter time. We are meeting some wonderful people along the way and most of us have developed a special bond.

The Camino is certainly not an easy walk and most of us have had to cope with sore feet, knees and blisters. They call this the curse of the pilgrims. I am currently struggling with 1 sore knee ( as in very sore) G has had to buy other shoes as his KT26 are just not up to the job. This somehow does not surprise me. KT26 shoes are very cheap and I believe you get what you pay for at times. Now he has very good shoes and no more feet problems at this stage anyway.

We are having a few pilgrim meals along the way or cook something to share with everyone. I have no problems with imsomnia anymore as by the time you arrive at the refugio you are definitely stuffed. We seem to be sleeping longer and longer instead. The weather has luckily for G improved incredibly ( I am now very sunburned and have had to buy sunscreen to prevent any further sunburn. My face is close to blistering up in the Spanish winter.

Anyway how are my animals going? I would love to hear of their time at the moment. Phoenix, could you send some more photos of Jack, Bonnie and Sabrina please. Good to hear Jack the dog has joined you at the present time.
Anyway that is it for now. I hope normal life is making you all very happy. My not so normal life is just fantastic and it is hard to believe it is going to end at some stage. (luckily not too soon)

Lots of love from the newly weds.
G and L W..... Married life is just bliss.


Hi guys
The trip sounds amazing, I must admit I'm jealous. Not about the sore knee or feet though. I hope they get much better so that you can enjoy this trip of a lifetime better. As for the sunburn, I have some too. I got carried away while sitting in the sun with a book yesterday and my legs are now nicely burnt. Not so much as you though, L. Ouch! And I'm so glad, Mr and Mrs W, that married life is so wonderful. L, have you forgotten your new name yet? I must have signed my maiden name a dozen times before I remembered my new name when I got married. It makes you feel quite silly, believe me. :o)

My apologies... I will indeed post some more photos of the animals, and write a bit about how they've been going. Don't worry though, they are all good. Missing you guys, I think, but that's natural. I have been very lazy as far as the blog is concerned. I've been a bit depressed over the fact that Gryph still hasn't arrived yet. Add to that the fact that I'm missing the kids who aren't here, and it's a bit hard to get motivated. That's not really a very good excuse though. I know that if I were in your position I would expect more. I will make sure that I make some more entries now.

Jack the dog and Sabrina have become friends, which I fully expected. Jack is a very gentle dog and has lived with cats all his life, so he has the utmost respect for them. He knows that cats rule, and Beanie likes that fact, I think. When he first arrived she wasn't so sure and would hiss at him whenever he came near. But his patience has won through. He would just lie very still on the floor and let her smell him all over. At first he was a little worried but now he doesn't even open his eyes. Now she rubs up against him as she walks past, but she gets a bit offended when he sniffs her bum. :o) When he's outside, she follows him around to keep an eye on him. The only time she gets a little worried is when he's leaping around while chasing a stick. He brings it over to her as if to say "Do you want a go, this is fun". She usually jumps up on top of something when he's playing so that she's higher than him, but that's just a cat thing, I think. As soon as he stops and lays down she comes over to check him out again. I'll have to try and get a photo of them together, but the batteries in the camera that I borrowed from Big Sis are going flat and I couldn't afford to buy more last week when we went into town. When Gryph gets here with his camera we won't have that problem as it's got a rechargeable battery pack. The photos will be much better too, as it's a lot better than this little hand camera.

The donkeys are good and have developed a bond with Spaz. Sometimes when I go out and call them they don't come for ages, but if they hear Spaz's voice they come running right away. We ran out of carrots a couple of days ago, so they had their noses out of joint a little but we'll fix that when we go into town again. As you thought, they don't like Jack very much. Bonnie stomps her foot at him if he gets too close to the fence, but they are getting used to seeing him around. We don't let him go out of the yard just in case, but he doesn't want to go too far from one of us anyway. We haven't taken him on a walk to explore the property yet, but when we do we've decided that we will put the donkeys in the little holding yard temporarily before we go. That way we won't have to worry about whether they will sneak up on him and do some damage. He wouldn't worry them at all, but he might not understand that they'll try to hurt him, so it's just a preventative measure.

Now, Gryph will be down either this weekend or Monday. He was very sick with a stomach virus last week, to the point where he couldn't even get out of bed. He was so sick that the cleaning and packing got put off until he got better, and that's why he didn't make it down. Now he's organised, and as we speak he's just finishing off the cleaning. He has a friend coming over with their trailer to help move a few furniture items to our daughter's place. There are some people who have bought stuff but not paid for it yet that he has to see as well. It's terribly inconvenient, and if he can't get the money we might just have to let it slide. It will mean less for us though, which is not nice, but we don't have a choice at the moment. He's given notice at the park, so he has to go today regardless. I'm finding myself starting to feel very excited again. It's been three weeks on Sunday since we've seen each other. That's the longest time that we've spent apart since we got together, and I miss him soooooo much.

I do have a couple of questions for you though. Firstly, does the push mower out the side work? I haven't wanted to try it because I'm not mechanically minded and I'm always afraid that I'll break something. Or, do you have a whipper snipper somewhere?

Also, the kids wanted me to ask you about the snake. One of the ladies from Stitch and Bitch told them to be careful of the big snake in the tool shed, thinking that it might scare them. They both want to own a snake though, and now they want to see it. I haven't wanted to look through all of your stuff though, so I thought that I'd ask you about it. What type of snake is it?... how big?... and do you have any idea where it might be hiding?

I also wanted to know if you wanted some flower gardens, and where would you prefer them to be? Do you plan on moving the caravan from out the back? If so, I'll leave room to get it out, and leave a driveway so that you can get down there. Otherwise, the best place would be somewhere the grey water runs. The plants would soak it up and stop the smell that is sometimes associated with washing water.

Anyway, I'll let you go so that you can read some more mail. No doubt there are lots more for you to look at. I'm sure that all of your friends will want to reply. I'll post some more on the blog, I promise. I'll show you some photos of the garden too. Big Sis came over the other day and helped me to plant some plants that we took from her garden. Lara and I have started some seedlings too, which are just starting to come up. When you get back you should have a wonderful vege/fruit/herb garden.

Now off you go and have lots of fun. Don't worry about home, and say hi to G for me.
Phoenix.

Starlight, starbright.

I was just outside, looking at the stars. G and L have expressed a wish for us not to smoke inside, so I go out to do that. Given that I've taken to chain-smoking lately I'm out there a lot. It's getting cooler now, but I don't mind. I like the fresh air and I love looking up at the night sky.

Tonight there's not a cloud in the sky, so the only thing that limits my view are the leaves of the trees above me. The stars are shining so brightly that I almost feel that I could count every single one of them if I had the time. I was thinking that I could almost reach out and grab one. Then my mind wandered to what I'd do with it. I could keep it by my bed as a beautiful night light... I could set it into an amazing piece of jewellery and wear it around my neck... If I collected a handful I could give them to all of the special people in my life so that they could look at them any time that they needed to remember how brightly my love for them burns.

You forget, when you live in a city, how beautiful the stars truly are. Just as you forget the sounds of nature... Just as you forget how good fresh air tastes. You forget about how wonderful lots of things are when you see them everyday. It takes missing out on them for a while to help you appreciate them.

Like the people who mean the world to you... The world AND every single star in the night sky.

I miss you, guys.

Jack's back.

Bindy and Nate brought him down for us. A small concession, at least.

And he's found a comfortable spot already... right next to my computer chair.

Some flowers for my poor, sick baby.

I collected these shots the other day... I just haven't gotten around to posting them yet. I suppose Gryph's upset tummy gives me as good a reason as any. There are some lovely little wildflowers here (half of them are probably weeds, but they're pretty). I have no idea what most of them are, but have a look at the little wild orchids. These flowers are all tiny, some only a few millimeters across. It's amazing, the things you miss until you look really close. I think (if I did it right) you should be able to click on the pics to get a closer view.

Bad News

It looks like Gryph won't be joining us this weekend after all.
:'o(


He's been sick and hasn't been able to organise everything he had to. But I suppose that will just make it better when he does get here.

Get better soon, baby.

A spot of shopping and some good news.

Tuesday 4th March 2008
Tuesdays are shopping days... well, they are for Big Sis and Big Bro-in-law, so they are for us now too, since we're relying on them for lifts. They travel into Kingaroy to pay bills, shop at the one and only shopping centre (I think) in the town, and then usually do a little visiting too. This week Big Sis had a doctor's appointment to attend, so the girls and I took the chance to have a bit of a look around town. 'Town' is relatively small, with most of the businesses being concentrated within a few blocks near the shopping centre. We wandered around and checked out a few of the quaint little shops before heading up to the shopping centre to meet up with Big Sis and Big Bro-in-law. Spaz sent off the disposable camera that she'd bought last week and filled with photos for her 'homies', and we had a hotdog (chips and gravy for Lara) from Wendy's... the first real 'junkfood' that we'd had for over a week. Once the shopping was done we made a couple more stops... vege shop, butcher... and of course, Big Sis wanted to stop at the beer shop for the six-pack and bourbon that we would consume together after dinner.

After all the excitement of shopping we made the five minute trip to Bindy and Nate's house. Bindy is the mother of a couple of Big Sis' grandkids. She's my nephew's ex, remarried now and with a couple more kids who have adopted Big Sis as their Granny too. Bindy is a lovely girl (I can still call her that, even though she's not all that far behind me in the Age Stakes ;op) and I've always enjoyed her company. She and Big Sis have always been quite close and continue to be so now as well.

Anyway, we received a couple of bits of good news from these good people. Firstly, they've just received news about Nate's oldest daughter... namely that they have finally been granted custody of her and will be travelling to Rocky this weekend to collect her. She has been living in a foster home for some time now, as her mother abandoned her. She did come to stay with Nate and Bindy for a while... until child services, in all of their wisdom, decided that she should go into foster care. Their reasoning? They decided that because Nate had lived so far away from her for most of her life it would be too hard on her to live there permanently. So they took her and shoved her into someone else's home instead. Makes sense, eh? Anyway, after a long battle, they've finally been given permission to bring her home.

And the other piece of good news? While they're in Rocky they are going to pick up Gryph, Jack and the cats (if he can't re-house them by then) and bring them down. I'm so excited. We weren't sure when or how he was going to get here because we no longer have a car and we had no idea how we were going to transport the animals. He was thinking of hitching down after the weekend anyway, but now he won't have to. I'm beyond excited. Before I received this news my little heart sunk whenever I thought of him sitting up there by himself. Now it turns somersaults, and the butterflies are going crazy. I feel a bit silly in a way... kind of like a kid waiting for christmas.

And to Gryph... I miss you more than I can express with words, my baby. I can't wait to see your face and hold you in my arms again. Please don't miss the boat.

Stitch and Bitch

Monday 3rd March 2008
Big Sis came and picked the girls and I up this morning to go to her craft group. You might remember that I didn't go last week. I don't usually make friends very easily these days, due to a couple of things that have happened in the last year or so. I tend to have a bit of a panic attack when I think of getting to know other people... but that's another story and I don't want to get into that here. Anyway, I've been feeling a lot more relaxed since we've been here, and I'm quite comfortable with Big Sis, so this week we agreed to go.

Stitch and Bitch is a bunch of ladies of all ages and social standings who have found a similar interest... craft. Each week they decide on a different project and they help each other , both with their favoured craft and inspiration. This week they were making patchwork bags, but since I can't sew very well and don't have a lot of interest in it anyway, I decided to just sit and watch. Quilting is one of Big Sis' 'things', so she was constantly on the go, helping the other ladies with instructions and help when they made a mistake.

Some of the ladies were also knitting. The group participates in the 'hope bear' project, which supplies hand-made bears for children who have been through some major trauma... be it a medical condition, physical abuse or the loss of a loved one, etc. It's a lovely way to let them know that someone else cares. Lara has two of these bears... Ambi she received from the ambulance when she broke her leg and Brownie came into her life when she had her appendix removed. I'd recommend to anyone who can knit to contact their nearest organisation and take part. It's wonderfully satisfying to know that you're helping someone, even though you may never see the comfort and smiles that your bears conjure up. I know from personal experience that these bears offer much comfort to the child. They shared Lara's own personal trauma with her every step of the way, and she loves them both so much.

The ladies also bring along a plate to share for lunch... and there was plenty of good stuff there, from cakes to pasta and pumpkin soup to watermelon slices. Something for everyone and all home-made or home-grown. That's the thing about communities like this one... country communities, that is. There's usually plenty of fresh produce in everyone's backyard, and people take good advantage of it. And besides, homemade foods usually taste a million percent better than the pre-packaged frozen cardboard that you find on the supermarket shelves. It was a lovely lunch, punctuated by a few stories, some good advice and a lot of laughter. I think I had a good time, and I'm kinda looking forward to meeting up with them again next week. That's a little unusual for me, but it feels good.

Some photos

Well, even though they aren't wonderful photos, I have had a request. So this is just a quick entry... a few photos to look at. Believe it or not, I don't have too many just yet. I'll have to make a point of collecting a few more.

First of all, these are the chooks that we borrowed from Big Sis. The white silky is the rooster. We named him Elvis II, because of his little white jumpsuit. The brownish silky is Wasabi and the kids have named the other pullet Henny Penny. However, we're not real sure if he is a she or not. We might have to re-name her/him Henry Penny.

The vege garden. See? It's not full enough.

And this is the view as you walk out the front door. The wattle is in bloom and it smells heavenly.

Some more pics soon, I promise.

One Week In

by phoenix

I can't believe that we've been here for almost a week. It even seems a bit strange to me that I haven't blogged yet. But, I guess we've been busy checking things out, exploring... and just basically relaxing and enjoying the surroundings. Plus, there's the fact that this computer is quite slow. Perhaps Gryph has just spoilt me with ours. I can't wait to start using it again, but I'll just have to be patient until he arrives. I miss him like crazy too, I'm finding it really hard to keep my mind on anything for too long. But, oh well... back to the task at hand...

Gryph's still in Rockhampton, sorting out our stuff. We couldn't afford to keep our cabin, so all of our stuff will be either sold or stored at my eldest daughter's house. We only had a week to get down here, as the property-owners' (let's just call them G and L for now) arranged house-sitter had to cancel. They are friends/neighbours of my Big Sis, and they were desperate to find someone. We almost said no for a number of reasons... finances and family members who couldn't come with us being our main concerns. But in the end we figured that it'd be good for us. For those of you who know us, you'll know that we both love being outdoors. We've been stuck in town for too long lately and we're both starting to go a little stir-crazy. At the very least it'll be a free holiday... but we're also intending to use this time to do some computer-related work. Anyway, there's a lot to do when you want to pick up and move house, and we just didn't have enough time to do it all. So, Gryph stayed behind while Lara (9), Spaz (15) and I travelled down to meet the owners and take over the shed.

Well... the trip was good, a bit boring but ok. We left Rocky last Sunday morning. We traveled 5 hours by Tilt Train to Gympie, the closest stop we could get to our destination. The trip was punctuated by small excitements, such as a breakfast of chipolatta sausages, potatos and a bacon quiche. We weren't all that impressed, considering it cost us five dollars and we were still hungry when we finished. After that we found out that we could have gone to the dining car and bought sandwiches for two dollars each. Oh well, you get that. Then we watched a movie... Hairspray (it sucked, I'm not much of a musical girl)... and Spaz and I kept ourselves amused by playing 'Spot the Hottie'. I must say that there wasn't too much in the talent department on that particular train. I did manage to walk in on a young lad who had forgotten to lock the toilet door, though. I'm not sure which one of us was more embarrassed.

Big Sis and Big Brother-in-law drove the extra two hours or so to come and collect us from the station. It was good to see them again. I'm not even sure just how long it's been... years anyway. They've both changed a bit, but not really all that much... they're both a bit older and greyer... but then, aren't we all? We stopped at a pretty little town called Kilkivan and ate lunch in the park, chicken and salad rolls, provided by Big Sis. The kids had a quick play and we stopped in at the shop for some vital supplies (lollies, that is). Then we drove back to Big Sis' place for a cuppa and a freshen up before we came to meet G & L and have a look at the place. They showed us around, introduced us to the animals and explained all of the important stuff (how to fill the header tank, how to empty the composting toilet, etc). L let the girls have a little ride on one of the donkeys and they were rapt. All I'd heard from Spaz before we got here was "I'm going to ride donkeys!"

We stayed at Big Sis' the first night because there wouldn't have been enough room for us all at the shed... there's only two bedrooms. The girls and I slept in their old caravan and I slept all night, which is a little unusual, but understandable. I'd slept even less than usual in the week prior to arriving. It must have been a mixture of the fresh air and knowing that there wasn't anything else to do for the time being. Whatever it was, it was the best night's sleep I'd had for quite a while.

Big Sis drove us back over to the shed early the next morning. G & L wanted to get an early start, and left pretty much straight away, so we had all day to explore and check things out. Big Sis invited us to go along to her craft group (which meets each Monday), but I was too buggered and just wanted to put my feet up and take a few deep breaths. I might go along tomorrow, we'll see.

In the ensuing week, we've been for a few walks, played with the animals, and just explored. We bummed a lift into Kingaroy with Big Sis on Thursday to do a little shopping. She took us to a cool little op shop first and we picked up a few extra things, jumpers and long pants, etc.
While we were in town we went to visit Big Sis' grandkids too. It was good to see them all again... once again, it's been too long. Other than that, we haven't really done much. I commandeered a few chooks from Big Sis as I was getting a little sick of throwing out our food scraps. Jack (the dog) usually eats all of our left-overs, but he had to stay in Rocky with Gryph. (Did you know that you can't transport pets on the train any more? Well, I didn't). I also went through her garden and did some plant shopping... mostly herbs and veges. We'll plant them and get them going nicely, so that G & L have a bit more in their garden by the time they return. We'll also build a proper run for the chooks, as L said that she'd like to get some when they get home. A few more things on the agenda... expand on the vege garden and get rid of some bugs... put in a good herb garden... plant some flowers and perhaps some fruit trees... make a proper compost heap... etc. But I'm leaving most of that for Gryph to do, because I know that he's missed getting his hands dirty. The garden's a bit overgrown with grass at the moment, but he'll fix that up quick smart, I dare say. There's beans, cucumbers, zucchinis, lettuce, capsicum, chillis and egg-plant on at the moment. And then there's stuff that's nearly ready... corn, leeks, celery, watermelon, rockmelon... mmmm. We'll definately have to expand on that, that's for sure.

Now, to the shed... I should start with the gym. It's not huge, as in size, but it has a walking machine, a weight bench, a tricep machine, a rowing machine and a cross-country skiing type one. Lara was a bit disappointed to find that there's no punching bag, though. I think she was looking forward to releasing a bit of steam. The computer is in the office/gym too. They do have a flash big laptop, but the bloody thing broke down so they left me with a little Hewlett Packard. It's very slow, and if you open multiple pages it crashes, so to be on the safe side I'm not going to open more than one page at a time. The office/gym also contains a printer/scanner/photo-copier type thing and a sewing machine.

There's two bedrooms, both with queen size beds. Our room also has an x-box. The girls wanted that room, but I commandeered it, since the other one doesn't have doors. The kitchen is fully stocked with food that we can use... and they have healthy food. Lots of rye stuff and wholemeal stuff, and not a bickie or a tub of ice-cream to be seen... mmmm. There's a bread-maker, a deep fryer, an electric frypan, electric oven, steam cooker, sandwich maker, yoghurt maker, ... etc. In the lounge is a wood and leather lounge suite, which faces a wall that contains a four-foot plasma screen tv, but it only gets austar. We can watch four movie channels, two music channels, the cartoon channel, the weather channel, two national geographic channels, the fashion channel, cnn and bbc... but we can't watch normal tv with local news and stuff like that. The girls are quite upset that they're going to miss Supernatural on Monday nights, but the cartoons and Jackass specials on mtv should keep them happy. There's also probably a couple of hundred movies here to choose from if that all gets too boring.

The bathroom is pretty flash, only a shower but it's big (you can actually turn around in it without damaging your elbows). The hot water is controlled by a unit on the wall so that you only have to use one tap. You set the temperature and hop in. The water is all rain water, and we have two big tanks (about 5000 gallons each, I think) with a small 1000 litre header tank for the shower and toilet... or one of them, at least. There are two toilets, the first is a composting toilet, which uses no water but you have to add organic matter when you do the business, and then you have to empty it out when it gets full. Good for the environment, but a bit gross to maintain. The other is a normal toilet for those who might be a bit fragile.

There's also a kick-ass shed with all of the tools that you could imagine, including circular saws, a band saw, a drill press, grinder, planers and stuff like that. And I think G must have every possible conceivable size and shape of screws, nails, bolts, and everything else too. There's also a beach buggy, but it's got a flat tyre and doesn't run very smooth, apparently. And a quad bike too. Gryph might like to play with those... as well as the vege garden.

And what else... the donkeys are pretty cool. Bonnie and Jack. You can ride Jack, but Bonnie doesn't like it. She is a very friendly donkey though, and has developed a bit of a fondness for Spaz. She's the one who's been feeding and grooming them the most. They wait near the gate in the morning until she comes out and sees them. If she takes too long or if she doesn't go straight out to see them, Bonnie starts braying, and she's quite loud. I think she's kind of spoiling them a bit, but I don't think they'll be complaining about that too much.

The cat is a big fat black one and she's already as spoilt as. She'll only eat her dried food and 'Fussy Cat' food. This is basically just meat in little single-serve packets (it looks good enough for us to eat). But she won't eat anything else. How's this... I tried to give her some steak off-cuts the other night and she even turned her nose up at that. She's pretty cool though, and I feel privelleged because she likes me... Big Sis says she doesn't like many people. She slept on my bed for the first couple of nights, but then she found the kids. She seems to have a real fondness for them too, so I don't mind. She's a bit tricky though. She's not allowed out at night, but she tries. The other night I caught her hiding next to the curtain (it's black so I couldn't see her at first), crouching down ready to make a run for it when I opened the door. And with that dastardly plan foiled, she jumped up onto the arm of the lounge and glared at me for the rest of the night. What can I say, I'm a party-pooper.

Well, that's about all the news for the moment. Big Sis lent me her camera so I'll take some pics and post them sometime. For now though, I've probably wasted enough time. So, I'm out of here.

Stay tuned.