The Strez Track

Last week I went on a trip for work, along the Oodnadata Track and the Strzelecki Track, for some work I'll be doing out there in about a month or so, just thought I would share some pics of one spot we stopped on the Strez (we thought we had a flat tyre, thankfully we were wrong, but it is a common occurrence, hence why all our vehicles that go out bush carry at least 2 spare tyres, some have 2 on the back and 2 on the roof rack)

This is in the other direction, where we had just come from......
We stayed at the Maree depot and this was the view from my bedroom window when we arrived for the night....Enjoy...

The joys of chooks

Well the garden isnt really doing too much, well I have let the veggie patch die, the tomatoes were just not earning their keep, I stripped the corn plants and got a few ears of corn, so that was good, and I have given up on the pumpkins after I had only seen male flowers (serves me right for trying to save seed from bought butternut).

So seeing I dont have any good news from the veggie patch I thought I would share some pics of my chooks. This arvo when I went to collect the eggs one escaped out of their house then another, usually I would chase them and put them back in, but tonight I couldn't be bothered and let them go, the hadn't been out for a while (they had to be "supervised" to make sure they didnt sneak off to the veggie patch). Off they went to the lawn (which is slowly recovering, with the help of all the water from the washing machine)........


and this dirt must be special, because they all want to be in the same little bit.....

I was going to put another video in but that one took forever to upload, so maybe next time. (This is my first time of posting a video, so let me know if there are any issues with it)

and this is that patch of lawn after they had finished with it.....

Sandflies, Argh!!!

Saturday afternoon at around 4:30pm we were blessed with a lovely constant, drizzling, ground soaking rain which lasted until after it was dark. It was wonderful, and much appreciated by the ground and plants I'm sure, I know the chooks liked drinking it off the top of their food container.

Being such a rare occasion these days we decided to enjoy the moment and took chairs out on the back veranda and relaxed, with a few glasses of red wine, enjoying the coolness the rain brought with it as well as its wonderful smell, and lovely pitter patter sound on the tin roof, and knowing how much it would be appreciated by the garden. All in all a lovely evening.

Only the next morning I found I had been feasted on by Sandflies. Give me mosquitoes any day compared to these buggers, sandfly bites come up the day after your bitten (if not longer) and are what I would describe as violently itchy, the bites I get end up being at least the size of a 5c piece and turn into a horrible red welt, that takes forever to heal (probably not helped by my constant scratching). The best remedy I have found so far is a mix of lavender and patchouli essential oils in jojoba oil, but even this had me waking up every couple of hours, scratching like mad before I was even aware I was doing it.

This is the first time I have been attacked by sandflies at home, mosquitoes lots, but not sandflies, so will be looking into what attracts them and at least trying to discourage them from calling my blood tea, maybe next door's digging and trenching all weekend disturbed them and they came out to get revenge.

Progress of my list

Ok, well not all of my list was going to get done over the weekend but heres what I did manage to get done, keeping in mind that our weather at the moment is in the mid 30's I think it is not a bad effort.

Here's what my list looks like now

In the Garden:

1. Do the Caltrop patrol (wander around the yard with bucket and hand shovel and remove any which can be found) This has become a weekly ongoing job.
   
2. Move the compost bin to the veggie patch (it is in full sun where it is and gets too dry, and forgotten about)
   
3. Water the front garden either Saturday morning or evening Didnt have to we had several hours from around 4:30pm saturday afternoon of lovely steady drizzling rain.
   
4. Do a Clatrop patrol out the front, remove a rather large plant from the edge of the road (growing in the bitumen)
   
5. Water the fruit trees It rained
   
6. Fix up the "dams" around the fruit trees to contain the maximum amount of water possible
7. Fill in the chooks dust bath, which they have dug right in the doorway and cover with some spare paver's
8. "Prune" some of the weeds
9. Collect some of the carob seed pods and collect the seeds
10. Take Green waste bin around the back and fill up with palm fronds which have fallen off and are creating a nice habitat for snakes to move in to (be sure to wear long pants, and boots) done, well the bin is full so the rest will have to wait until next fortnight
    
11. Tidy up leaves under the carob tree
    
12. Plant Giant Russian Sunflowers to get started on my privacy screen
13. Plant out other native tubestock which I have bought and has been sitting there for "too long"
    

Inside the House:

1. Sort out the spare room so that it looks like a room not a whole lot of boxes and stuff everywhere
2. Fold up washing which was brought inside this morning before heading off to work
3. Do washing (bathroom towels, tea towels, clothes) some of it got done
   
4. Clean up Laundry (another room where "things" seem to accumulate, to be tripped over) it got started
   
5. Sweep floors
6. Wash floors
7. Clean up lounge room by the front door (more "things" accumulated)
   
8. Vacuum lounge and bedrooms
9. General clean up and put away

And heres some other things I got done which weren't on the list:

1. Cleaned the bedroom, amazingly there was a floor under all the clothes
2. Clean up of the kitchen benchtops (inspired by Ali at Our Patch)
   
3. Took kitchen tap back to Mitre 10 because it was the wrong size, got a new one that is the right size for only $4 extra at Stratco
   
4. Looked at new locks for the front and back screen doors (keyed alike) because we never got keys for them when we moved in (we can lock them from the inside but not from the outside)
5. Looked at shade cloth to tie to the chook run to make more shade decided that I have heaps of old stuff in the shed that I can salvage, the chooks wont mind.
6. Replaced kitchen tap, (lengthy process involving a trip into town (after mid-day) so most "plumbing" places were closed, after we had started and discovered the hoses which came with the pack were to short, and we had to destroy the cold water hose to get it out) It now turns on and off smoothly without creaking and groaning

So there we have it, that's what I got up to on the weekend, I had to leave some things on the list for future weekends :-) what did you guys get up to?

This weekends jobs

Ok, time to get motivated and get some jobs done around the house. For the last I dont know how many weekends I have said to myself that I will get jobs done around the house, and they havent got done.

Here's my list

In the Garden:

1. Do the Caltrop patrol (wander around the yard with bucket and hand shovel and remove any which can be found) This has become a weekly ongoing job.
   
2. Move the compost bin to the veggie patch (it is in full sun where it is and gets too dry, and forgotten about)
3. Water the front garden either Saturday morning or evening
4. Do a Clatrop patrol out the front, remove a rather large plant from the edge of the road (growing in the bitumen)
   
5. Water the fruit trees
6. Fix up the "dams" around the fruit trees to contain the maximum amount of water possible
7. Fill in the chooks dust bath, which they have dug right in the doorway and cover with some spare paver's
8. "Prune" some of the weeds
9. Collect some of the carob seed pods and collect the seeds
10. Take Green waste bin around the back and fill up with palm fronds which have fallen off and are creating a nice habitat for snakes to move in to (be sure to wear long pants, and boots)
    
11. Tidy up leaves under the carob tree
    
12. Plant Giant Russian Sunflowers to get started on my privacy screen
13. Plant out other native tubestock which I have bought and has been sitting there for "too long"
    

Inside the House:

1. Sort out the spare room so that it looks like a room not a whole lot of boxes and stuff everywhere
2. Fold up washing which was brought inside this morning before heading off to work
3. Do washing (bathroom towels, tea towels, clothes)
4. Clean up Laundry (another room where "things" seem to accumulate, to be tripped over)
5. Sweep floors
6. Wash floors
7. Clean up lounge room by the front door (more "things" accumulated)
   
8. Vacuum lounge and bedrooms
9. General clean up and put away

I'm pretty sure that not all these jobs will get done this weekend but at least it gives me something to work on.