Wet and miserable here today, a good day to be inside, what a shame I wasn't!

G'day. It is really cold and wet here today and would you believe that I have spent most of it outside, pruning this and pruning that and generally giving the garden a bit of a tidy up.

We had a friend call in to pick up some poly pipe and he asked why I was doing a garden that doesn't belong to me anymore, why not leave it for the new owner? Even our only neighbour asked the same question. It's because it makes me feel better and that's all there is to it. I will leave here in another eight days knowing the garden it in the best condition possible and if that means a bit of work for me, well so be it.

Yesterday morning friends called and said they were in the area (we are so far out it's not funny !!) and could they call in? "Of course, I replied, but we have the new owner coming for  lunch and there is so much to do"  "We won't stay long", they promised. Ha, I will never believe them again, they would just not go. I don't know what got into them. I even got so exasperated at one point that I went and got the vacuum cleaner out and left it sitting on the floor in the kitchen as a hint. Did they take it you might ask? No, no and no. I am sure they were after a look at the new owner and were just bidding their time until she came, but as luck would have it, she rang and said she was held up and when I gleefully told hubby and friends this, they decided they had better go. I couldn't get them out the door quick enough as there was so much I wanted to do before she came.

We had a great afternoon with her and she even bought lunch, though it was a late lunch by this time, just as well we hadn't eaten. She is coming up again early next Saturday morning and spending the day here and before I knew what I was saying I asked her if she would like to stay the night and she was so delighted and said she would love to. Of course next weekend will be one of our busiest here as it's the one before we move on the Monday and we even have hubby's cousin and his wife staying with us for a few days as well. In for a penny, in for a pound I guess. What the heck, we will survive it. The picture is looking across our back yard and the drive towards our paddocks in the distance. I will so miss this..... Take care. Liz...

Computer problems again. What a pain in the bottom !!!!

G'day. This dash, darn computer is playing up again, so it's off to the workshop again in the morning with it. It's my day off tomorrow and I have to spend it running into town with this pest of a thing. Of course when we move into town in ten days time, the computer shop and everything else will only be five minutes away, but until that happens, we are twenty five minutes out and I am annoyed because it was only recently fixed. So, there may be no blogs from me for a few days at least. I get withdrawal symptoms when the computer is gone, though maybe I will get a bit more packing done and there is always housework just waiting in the wings. The carpet in our new home went down today and we haven't seen it yet, maybe tomorrow I will have a sticky beak at it. Broad, you asked what a Whipper Snipper is, the only other term I can give it is a brush cutter. It cuts grass etc with a very fast rotating nylon cord, our one is petrol powered, though you can get electric ones. The picture is looking across our paddocks from the back yard here at the house. You may just be able to make out a small dot on the hillside, that is one of the bully boys. Hopefully I will be back on line again soon. Take care. Liz...

Roses are done. Woo Hoo.

G'day. I feel as though a weight has been lifted from my shoulders now that all the roses have been pruned. I finished the last of them yesterday, all I can say is Yippee!!! Today, there is a bit of weeding to be done and just a general tidy up. Hubby was on the ride on mower yesterday, a job that used to be mine, but he has for some strange reason, over the last few months taking a liking to doing it. After all the years we have been here and all the mowing I have done with it, hubby now wants to steal my thunder. Though to be honest, I will not fight him for the mower, it takes a couple of hours to do all the mowing here and there are plenty of other things that need my attention at the moment. I just hope that that he will do the whipper snipping as well, that was another of my duties and one that I preferred to do as hubby never managed to get it quite right and yes, that's being picky, but I don't care, this is my blog and I get to choose what I write :)

The carpet in our new home goes in this coming Thursday, so we will be eager to see what it looks like, we are also arranging to meet with a couple of drape and curtain companies over a few days next week to have a look at some samples and hopefully get that all organized as well, so it's all happening here.

The bear in the picture is Niamh. I finished her yesterday afternoon. She is only nine inches high and is one of my favourite bears. This one is for me to keep and I will find a special place for her in our new home.I have made a few as gifts and she always proves to be popular. I think it's the nappie and singlet that add to her charm. Of course, hubby said "not another bear, haven't you made enough of them and where is this one going to go? I hope your giving it away ?" I just smiled and reminded him about a certain classic car we picked up the other weekend and asked him was he going to give that away. That shut him up, lol. Take care. Liz...

I won't have a lemon tree. Oh no !!!

G'day. It dawned on me at some unearthly hour this morning that at the new home, there is no lemon tree. I have always had a lemon tree. The one in the photo is in our backyard here and hubby pruned it severely a year or so ago and it has grown gigantic. Normally hubby and pruners are not a marriage made in heaven, but he has never failed in regards to the lemon tree, though other things have not been so lucky. Bottom line is that I will have to plant a lemon tree. It's 4.50am as I write this, once again sleep has eluded me. This would not worry me if it was not a work day, but it is and I have to be at work at 7.00am and finish at 4.00 pm, so by the end of the day I imagine I will be happy to bundle myself into my car and head home and no doubt it will be an early night and then repeat the whole exercise over again tomorrow, but hopefully with a bit more sleep!!

The rose pruning went well, though we failed in our task and there are still about 10 or 11 roses left to go. I will get them done this coming weekend. It was a pleasure to have my son here helping me, we had so much fun, but the time flew by very quickly and when he left late yesterday afternoon to drive the two hours home, I was sad to see him go.

Last Friday hubby and I went to one of the major shopping towns an hour or so away from us and while there, we decided to organize our phone and Internet service for the new place and the young guy who served us was very hip and cool and all those nice things young twenty something guys want to be these days, with the stubble and blond hair casually draped over one eye so that while talking to him I kept trying to see the other baby blue eye under that mop of hair. Anyway, he explained about the latest deals and what he thought would be best for us etc and talked about the T Box we would get as part of a package and that for the Internet we would need a Wi Fi. Now I had heard of all of these before, but, in honest truth didn't know what they were. We have just plugged our computer in and hooked it up to the satellite connection because we are so far out of town to get any other coverage and all was well, but not so now that we are moving into town where there is good coverage and no need for the small satellite dish. A Wi Fi is essential he told me. Meanwhile hubby who was by this time bored with all this tech talk had wandered off to suss out all the latest phones and gadgets on display and left me to it. When I asked this ever so cool, blue eyed, handsome man what is a WiFi and why we needed it, he looked at me as though I had just jetted in on my broomstick from some far away galaxy and was not wise to the ways of the world. Though to give him credit, he patiently explained it all and by this time, I too was bored and the gadget's and gizmo's that had hubby intrigued seem appealing to me as well and I longed for escape from the blue eyed creature in front of me. Needless to say a contract was signed, we left with the T Box tucked under my arm and the promise to return before we move and purchase the Wi Fi, of course you have to pay for it, it doesn't come as part of the package, that would be too easy, wouldn't it? I can see that at some stage I am the one who will be responsible for setting this all up at the new home and I can guarantee that it will not all come together as easily as my blue eyed man said it will. Take care. Liz...

A pruning we will go........

G'day. It's nearly 6.00am here and I have been up for an hour or so. A rifle shot woke hubby and I up at around 4.00am. It's not unusual to hear rifle shots at night and even sometimes early hours in the morning, but not at 4.00am or thereabouts. The sheep farmer who's property borders ours on one side has a lot of lambs at the moment and the foxes have been out in force this year, no doubt killing some of those lovely lambs and it was probably him that we heard, but still, it gives you a bit of a fright to be woken up by the crack of a high powered rifle at that time. Needless to say, I couldn't go back to sleep, but hubby drifted of quite easily. I am greatly enjoying having my son here visiting me and we had a very productive day yesterday with the rose pruning and will be out again this morning to hopefully finish it all. Because of the frosts that we get here at this time of the year (It's our winter) I don't usually prune the roses until the start of August, but the new owner asked me very nicely could I please do them for her as she is not really up to speed on gardening, but is promising to learn and make sure everything here survives her not so green thumb. I have also left a few bushes and a couple of standard roses for when she pays us a visit next weekend because she wants me to show her what to do and how to do it !!!! She is talking of hiring a gardener once a month or so, if she finds it get beyond her. Once again I am seriously thinking of not having many rose bushes at the new house as yesterday we both got scratches and pricks from the thorns and my son was heard cursing a few times about "these bloody thorns" and "please mum, stay away from growing roses next time". Oh well, it's been fun, we have had lots of laughs and it's just good having him home for a few days. Sadly, he goes back to his own home tomorrow and we both have to go to work on Wednesday. The photo is of Esmeralda. I finished this bear when the computer was on the blink. The knitted vest she wears was made by one of the girls at work for me to put on her and I think it looks great. She sits on the small freezer we have in our laundry and she brightens the area up. Take care. Liz...

Woo Hoo, back on line.

G'day. Yes, it's true. I am excited to have my computer back. I keep my fingers crossed it doesn't abandon me again. I really am lost without it. Though hubby did say that the house has never looked better since it has been gone (he did say he was only kidding !!!). I really have got stuck into the housework and have managed to get some sewing done as well, which has fallen by the wayside lately as most of my sewing stuff is now packed and ready for the move. We have three weeks to go and all is on track. Hubby has been busy in the machinery shed, sorting things out and throwing things out and some of the shelves there are now bare which is a good sign. There are a few more things that I have to pack up here in the house and that's it.  My son is visiting for a few days to help me prune the roses. After breakfast this morning we will be out in force to get the job done and what we don't finish today, tomorrow should see the last of it. It's lovely having such a large garden and all that it entails, but this time, what with other things happening, friends from interstate staying with us for nearly a week and even a friend from the UK over to visit and packing etc and I also work, it has all gotten away from me. Usually I prune the roses over a few weeks on my days off work and weekends etc, but this time it has not happened. So I had to call in reinforcements in the shape of my six foot six inches son, who thankfully has a green thumb and knows how to prune roses and could take a few days off work to help out his poor old mum,but who did say to me yesterday while we were working out our plan of attack "Mum, just as well you won't have the room to plant so many roses in the new garden"  I just smiled....  I console myself with the knowledge that it will be for the last time, though to be honest this is a sad thought. I did make a start on a few last weekend and ended up with so many scratches and thorns in my fingers and a torn shirt to boot, that I was thinking maybe no more roses might be a good idea, but I do so love them and a vase of beautiful blooms looks wonderful. Oh well, I can hear movement about the house, hubby and son will be converging in the kitchen for a hearty breakfast, ready for the tasks ahead. The photo is of our gorgeous little boy "Lucky" I had just bought the pet bed that day from the book (an other things) club that comes to our work and I threw it up on the spare bed after our guests had left to continue their travels and Lucky jumped in it straight away, he seemed to know it was for him, he just loves it. Take care. Liz...

My computer chucked a wobbly the other day and is being repaired. My iPhone sure has come in handy. Hope to be back on the wonderful world wide web soon. At least without the computer, I am getting some housework done :) Take care. Liz ...