Next Year Tomorrow.

It's nearly 9:30pm, last day of December, 2018.  I'll be going to bed soon and when I wake up it will be next year.  How exciting is that!

2018 wasn't a bad year for us, in fact it was pretty darn good.  We didn't do much, didn't go anywhere, didn't achieve much at all but we are all reasonably healthy and reasonably happy and that is enough.

Next year though, 2019, I'd like to do more, go places, achieve stuff...still be happy and healthy but just add that little bit extra to life.   I wonder if we/I will.

I miss blogging and wonder why I don't.  My memory isn't much chop any more and blogging was a way of being able to see what I did do, where I went...haha,  maybe I did go exploring, had wonderful days out and achieved great things.  Maybe I did it all but just don't remember because I didn't blog about it all.  You think?  haha.  No, it didn't happen like that. 

The gardens aren't doing much, chooks keep getting out and scratching them up.  Grass keeps growing up and through them all.  We still have too many slaters.  I am still too lazy to get out there and fix it all.   I'm still volunteering down at Vinnies.  Still too scared to go on any adventures.  And next year it may all stay the same but I think there will be a few changes, we'll see.

Now though, it's bedtime.  How many reading will stay up to see the New Year in?  How will you spend the 1st day of 2019?   I hope you all have a great night and next year is good for you.

Raining. Snakes.

Well it's still raining here, the cat is still staying inside where it is warm and the dog went home for a bit but then came back for a few days.   He was here today, the yard is still ankle deep in water and he was still outside in the wet and cold. 

I had a friend visit today and as she was leaving she says to me "is that a snake?"  I doubted it, middle of Winter, cold, wet, not snake season...But yeah, it was, it was a small, 12inch maybe, tiger snake, laying on the wet grass on the driveway.  And alive.  With the dog sniffing around.  I grabbed the dog, friend grabbed a shovel and snake was relocated.

Friend said there may be more around as they may be coming out of hiding places because of all the water and that does make sense.  And there is so many hiding places as the grass is long and weedy as it hasn't been cut for a month or so because of the rain.   But I never thought that we'd have to look out for snakes in this weather.

Dog was picked up this afternoon and has gone home for a bit.  He will be back here sometime next week.  I hope no more snakes come out.

As soon as we get some sun and the grass dries out enough I am going to be out there mowing it all down!

Raining. Cats and Dogs

It's been raining, lots and lots of raining.  Our yard is ankle deep in water.  But hopefully all the dams in the area are filling up so there will be plenty of water come Summer. 

And I am dog-sitting again and feel bad when it is cold and wet and he is outside.  But he is an outside dog and I have been told by the owners not to let him in.  He used to be able to come into the sunroom but then Billie came.  Billie is a cat and Booker doesn't like cats.  Well, Billie doesn't like dogs either and as the sunroom is now a part of Billies area...poor Booker.  But last night there was thunder and lots and lots of rain so I locked the cat inside and put the dog in the sunroom.  Today, the cat needs access to sunroom so dog will need to be outside.  Where there is a back patio roof he can be under, on the mat where it is dry, or there are sheds he can go in.   If he wants to, though I think I want him under cover more for me than him as he sleeps out in the weather a lot when he is here and his owners say he does the same up there. 

Today, I'd rather be the cat, home and inside under cover where it is dry and warmish.   Not the dog who is outside where it is wet and not warmish at all.   But I won't be here, I am at Vinnies again.  And I have no gas for a hot shower when I get home and the fire went out so I too will be cold when I get home.  More like the dog than the cat. 

I Got Lazy.

Two more days and it will be July.  That is half a year gone already and so far I have achieved precisely nothing in the backyard.   I was picking capsicum and had heaps ready to pick but someone left a gate open.  Again.

So since the sheep got into the backyard I don't have anything growing, nothing to pick anyway though the capsicum stalks that they ate all the leaves and fruit off may grow leaves back.  Though it's been a few weeks now and they haven't yet.
And I say nothing but mean vegies.  I have no vegies to eat.  We do have oranges falling off the trees and there are a few chokos left on the vine but apart from that, nothing.

Husband has cabbages and caulies though so I will eat those when they are ready.  Luckily I found the sheep before they had time to find those too or he might have been a bit cranky.  He has set up his own garden beds towards the front of the yard as he was sick of *my* gardens being over run with grass and weeds.  And his do look good and they were the only ones that fed us with cucumbers and tomatoes during Summer.  Mind you, he does get out there and spend time working on them too, so maybe that is what I have to do.   But, if I did have a fantastic vegie crop and the sheep ate it all I would have been a lot more upset with them and the person (me!) that left the gate open. 

I am getting lazy, should say got, I have gotten lazy and it is much easier to go down the shop and buy stuff.  I don't like not being able to go outside and pick what I want but evidently not enough to get out there and do something about it!

But I will, when it starts to get warmer and not so wet.  Until then, I will be lazy.

Honey. Garlic. Unite!

We have just made a batch of honey infused garlic.  Or garlic infused honey...Not sure which but it smells great and after 20 minutes the honey already has a slight garlic taste.  I need to leave it out for a few days then will keep it in the fridge and use it to ward off colds and other Winter ailments.

Picture to come. 

Oh Dear!

Oh dear.  Really?!  29th March and I haven't been here for months.  I always intend too, but don't.  But will...

I have been busy, not sure what with but I'm pretty sure it's been productive stuff.  Or Facebook, I do waste too much time on FB now.  And I am still volunteering at Vinnies and do seem to be there a lot more than my rostered 2 days.  But I like it and it gets me off the computer.

We are now into Autumn, the heat is over for another year so I should be able to get outside more often.  Though it is dark now when I get up, not that that has been the reason for the last 5 months...Hmm, maybe I am getting lazier in my old age.

I haven't much in the gardens, we have tomatoes, capsicums, pumpkins, chillies ready to be picked and eaten but not much else.

There are potatoes out there if we want to dig for them, sweet potatoes too. 

Most fruit is finished but we now have Mangoes!  Picked 6 fresh off the tree last week.  The house smells of mango and they taste really mangoey,  yep, that's now a word.  This is our first year of getting these so pretty pleased about that.  They are husbands trees, he wanted them, he bought them, he planted them, he picks them...Sadly, he doesn't eat them, not many anyway.  He had 1 last week, then went away to work and has had none since.  I have had 2, gave a couple to the daughter and have 3 left...hmmm, my maths is not working, maybe he picked more than 6.  I am sure there will be more out there too so luckily family will be here over the weekend and they may like them.

I am due at Vinnies soon and have heaps to do before I leave, see, I am busy, so better get a move on.  Hopefully I'll be back here in a day or two.