Pre Easter 2011 Thursday :Packup

J and M left early, as J wanted to get back and do some work before our drive up to Batemans Bay for Easter.

I stayed a bit longer with Fraser and Alex tidying up a bit and taking photos of the garden etc - all that we had done

swathe cut through geraniums for bee guy

where the box thorn used to be

where a couple of stumps and the cottoneaster used to be

look at those straight edges and the mulch!

very neat!

used to be very high weeds here

my peach tree

where the bobcat was

also where the bobcat was

still have some mulch to spread

and a huge pile of weeds to get rid of

Fraser and I also picked some (tiny) olives which I have now salted - I wonder how they will turn out?

Alex stayed on by himself until Monday night - skimming, sanding painting, what a trooper!

Also - on the way back from Batemans Bay - we decided to detour through the NSW town of Nimmitabel which is where Joseph Tivey came  from. It was a rather pretty town, and we visited the grave yard and took a few photos. 

Pre Easter 2011 Wednesday :- In law lunch

Got the paper at 7am as per normal, and then went to the butcher – James and bought a top side roast on his recommendation for our lunch with Jan & Peter.  ( Frank and Penny were supposed to have come, but didn’t make it)

Then walked across to the Nevins office – to see if Jamie was there – as I’d invited him around for a drink last night – saying we were home – but then we went to the pub....bad form on my part – he didn’t say if he went or not.

Back home for breakfast – and Mark was up having a coffee – so joined him

Gordon and the bobcat bloke – Darren came around 8am

The bobcat was great  – ripping into a dead tree and then pulling the stump out.  Then Darren commenced on the box thorn and made short work of that too. 

He also bulldozed some geraniums near the house in order to cut a 2 metre swathe for the scissor lift to get rid of the bees.  – and lastly flattened out everything that he had ripped up.  Took some hours. At the end of it he asked if he could have a look around the house – so I showed him around.  He told us that people hid money etc behind the 13^th step (I asked whether from the top or the bottom), top of the cupboard, behind the wallpaper etc. We’ll see.  He also told us how he had been cleaning out a well once years ago and that there were old softdrink bottles in it.  Took them to a dealer and got a lot of money for them.

Anyway, whilst he was bobcatting, Mark, Karen and I were doing other stuff in the garden.  I was doing more weeding etc, Karen was moving the mulch and spreading it over where we’d weeded at the front, and Mark was doing more chainsawing etc.

Rachel (from the pub) kindly dropped by at some stage with her 2 kids and gave us a couple of articles from the internet – about one of the workers brought out to work on the house.

1895 :- Carl Gustav Joachim with grandson Rudolf ( father-in law of William Garland who built Nimmitabel)

Unfortunately, it was a bit rainy today – but we worked on regardless... what troopers.

Justin and Alex were inside doing the hallway.  J ended up calling his Mum and Peter to ask them to get some red paint, as he didn’t feel like going back into Bendigo for it ( it had been mixed up wrongly?)

Jan & Peter arrived around 1, (bringing the right red paint with them) and we showed them around.  Jan couldn’t get over how much work we had done in the garden – of course all of the chainsawing and bob-catting had helped.  Peter was also stumped as to what the chimney like projection was in the kitchen – as it doesn’t seem to serve any purpose.  More buried treasure?  He also suggested that the room on the ½ level would have been a servant’s room, as there was no fireplace.

 Karen had gone up to the shop earlier and bought some more supplies-and then made a couple of lovely salads to have with the bbq roast.  Lunched around 1.30 or 2 (had to wait for the potatoes to cook through properly.  Once again had a lovely time – and everyone enjoyed themselves.

Went for a walk around town with Jan and Peter after lunch, and they left mid afternoon.

The scissor lift was dropped off around 4 or so – the bloke spoke to Justin and showed him how to use it in case the bee bloke didn’t know how.  J thought it was quite fun, and he and Mark drove around the garden with it.  The kids then wanted to get in on the act and they climbed up also.  They also extended it upwards (relatively high)

The bee bloke came around 4.30 or so, and was surprised that we had been given such a large scissor lift machine, as expecting one half the size.  This then made it very tricky to manoeuvre into the first bee hive position at the back of the house – having to circumnavigate the 2 x mulberry trees, a tap and the well.  Luckily Mark was there to saw off some branches with his chainsaw, as we would never have got in there otherwise.  It was also very tricky backing out from there too.   

So, he did all 3 hives – and luckily no angry swarms emerged.  He was of course all suited up. 

During lunch Peter had told us a story about a drunk Irishman who had decided to move a hive on his roof after having a few drinks.  Not surprisingly the story hadn’t ended well.

Karen, Mark and Zoe packed up all their tools etc and left during this – they were both fantastically helpful and fun – we were sorry to see them go.

It was dark by the time the bee guy left, so we turned our minds to dinner.

Thought we’d try the road house past the motel – and had some pizza there.  Was quite good.

Home and to bed

Pre Easter 2011 Tuesday :-Huge working bee

Up at 7am and across to the IGA for the paper, and walked back along Brooke Street, to see if anything else was open.  Was surprised to see that Nevins was open and that one of the twins was there.  Went in, and reintroduced myself, and it was Jamie.  Asked him about the Tivey wedding photo, but he said he’d given it to Kevin at the historical society.  He disappeared into the back room and came back with a bottle of white wine which he gave to me as a housewarming present – how nice!  I invited him over for a drink later in the evening.

Back home and J was rather surprised and a little suspicious that I had returned with some wine that early in the morning.  

Cereal for breakfast, and I proceeded to boil up a kettle of water for some coffee.  J asked if it was tap water or the bottled water, as he hadn’t liked a cuppa that I’d made him the other day.  Thought it had tasted strange, and threw it away.  I had told him that all of the other coffees that I had made previously were with tap water, but he was adamant.  Anyway, had to throw away that kettle full of water also and start afresh – I wasn’t overly impressed.

Anyway, got over it, and woke the kids up to have breakfast.  

J & I walked up to David’s store to see if he possibly might sell Dulux Indian red – unfortunately he didn’t – but it was worth a try.  A young boy was waiting before us – he’d come to get some chook feed, and also a chicken, and was then going to ride off on his bike.  I wondered how he was going to manage all of that.  However he did manage, held the chicken upside down  by the feet, the large bag of feed in the other hand, and both hands still somehow gripping the handlebars he rode off – would have made a great photo!

Then I started making phone calls – as I wanted to call garden designers as I had decided that it was a good idea that I didn’t buy a lemon tree yesterday, as I would prefer to have the garden designed properly, and not have to possibly move it later.  Called up quite a few places form the local directory that Jill had given us yesterday.  Two said they were more hard surfaces designers ie paving retraining walls etc, one said he was interested, but was pretty busy, left a message for another, and was told to call back the last one.  Also called a chimney sweep, as we want the chimneys nice , safe and operational for when it gets really cold.  And lastly called Kevin from the historical society re the Tivey wedding photo.  He very nicely said that he would come over around 11. 

 Tidied up a bit, and went out in the garden for more weeding until he came. 

 

He came supplied with the Tivey file including the photo, an extensive article on the suicide of Joesph Tivey and various other general photos, news clippings etc – all very informative.

Karen, Mark and Zoe arrived during his visit, and I made the introductions.  Kevin left soon after, and  the kids disappeared off together.  

Mark had certainly arrived ready for garden combat – with a trailer full of tools – including a lawn mower, whipper snipper, chain saw, and various manual tools – what a champion!  We then went into the front garden, and I recommenced on the weeks in front of the fence.  He attacked with the lawn mower, and then the whipper snipper – and was so fast and efficient that I gave away my manual dilletante ways in defeat, and came back inside the fence and did other more specialised weeding with Karen.  Also took out another stump – which was another old one, but much larger than the previous ones that I had vanquished.

By this stage it was lunchtime, and Karen had very kindly supplied the lunch. A lovely home made onion tart and filled cob loaf with grilled vegies and pressed meats – both delicious.  Alex had arrived by this stage and also joined us for lunch 

Back to the garden for the 3 of us afterwards – while J concentrated on front door and A got back to the plastering/skimming etc in the hallway.  Those 2 then decided to go into Bendigo to buy some paint for the front door – and they were gone for hours.  I’d said to Karen that it was like when Mark and J went off from Casa Lucati to buy some wine on a Sunday (when most shops are closed).  Karen and I had thought that they had disappeared off  to a bar to have a few drinks – but they were really searching and searching for something open.  Similarly today, they had problems finding Dulux Indian Red – and had to go to a number of places.

Meanwhile, K and I weeded and stumped, and Mark went crazy with the chain saw, and cut up a lot of dead wood, stumps that I had pulled up etc – so we will have a bit of firewood for the winter.  The mulch was also delivered out the back.

K and I also went for  a bit of a walk  around the town – had a look at the butcher for tomorrow, showed her the pubs as we had decided to eat out for dinner tonight, went into David’s store to see if he sold lantern wicks etc.  And then drove up to the lookout to show her the view towards Inglewood.  Then back for more weeding...

The chicken boy (Jordan) and a friend were out the front, - so I chatted to them for a little while.  I then called Fraser out to say hello, as these boys were 11 and 10 respectively, and I thought it would be nice if he could make friends with them.  Unfortunately he was a bit embarrassed at my meddling ways and escaped back inside soon afterwards – luckily the boys didn’t seem to mind.

Rested out on the curb a few times – exhausted, a lady that I’d seen the other day stopped to chat.  She’d been helping out in Bridgewater with Blazeaid – rebuilding fences that had been washed away by the floods.   

 J & A finally came back, not amused at having taken so long.  And J started back on the door.

It started clouding up in the afternoon, so it wasn’t as cool tonight – but we wanted a fire.  K had the brainwave to actually check and see if the chimneys were clear, so we stuck our heads up each chimney and were thrilled to see daylight in the upstairs chimneys ( the bottom fireplaces wetn behind the upstairs ones – so you wouldn’t have been able to see daylight from them anyway) K and I set a fire in the dining room fire place. 

And then up to the veranda for G&Ts and some nibbles – lovely!

And then across to the Empire for dinner – and yes Mark was impressed with the Merlot Franc – determined to buy some from Jill tomorrow

Back home to the dining room, where j took out his guitar, we lit the fire and had some more wine and cheese and biscuits.  Was delightful, lovely atmosphere, great friends, - life was good!

Had a late night (for us In Inglewood) – close to midnight 

Strangely felt that I was swinging the mattock as I started to fall asleep – like when I was little, and had been swimming all day, I went to bed and felt as though I was still swimming

Pre Easter 2011 Monday :- Weeding and more weeding

Very cold this morning also, walked down to the IGA for the paper again, and walked back along the main street.  Saw that the butcher was open (7.15am) so went in and looked around.  Had a little chat, he asked if I’d enjoyed my meal the other night at the hotel.  He must have seen us there.   I bought some sausages for tonight, and also some tomato and zucchini chutney and some Italian parmesan and rosemary biscuits that we’ll have with the Hoppers to re-live our Casa Lucati experience.  I’ll go back again tomorrow for dinner supplies with the Hoppers and then again for lunch with the in-laws.

 

Came back and made us all a George Foreman grilled cheese sandwich for breakfast – everyone loved it – in fact J & F had 2.  

Took Fraser up to Becky’s around 10, with an Easter egg for Elise, but she was having a shower – so Fraser came back with me.  Stopped at Nevins to see if it was open – it wasn’t, so came back home. 

 

Walked up to Bendigo bank around the corner, as Gill from Passing Clouds had told us that the Old Loddon Wines person was a lady who worked at the Bendigo  Bank.  So I walked in with Madeleine, and saw 3 people there :- 2 ladies and a man – who looked familiar.  I placed him either at the IGA or the pub – it was the pub – Stewart also worked at the Empire as a barman. I then asked if the lady associated with Old Loddon Wines was there – she was – but was on the phone.  Once she had finished I explained how I had gone searching for her winery yesterday – and asked if she had any of the 2003 Merlot Franc left.  She did – and said she’d deliver it later today –how’s that for service?  Came back and did some weeding – got the kids to come out and help also – weeds outside the front fence- a bit of an eyesore. 

Becky came back with Elise, and also Brian who we showed around the house.  He then took Elise off to Port Fairy for Easter, and Becky returned home.  

More weeding etc and also trimmed dead fronds off the palm tree at the front

, and then we went to Bridgewater for lunch.  Stopped at the Red Couch cafe and F and I had the burgers with the lot, M had a chicken parma, and J had a foccacia – all very good.  Then onto Wheelhouse Garden Supplies where we ordered some mulch.  J always gets cross with me if I weed and then don’t mulch/cover the bare ground – as he thinks it’s a waste of my time.  They said that they would deliver tomorrow afternoon.  We then thought that we would drive onto Dunolly –as Jill from  Passing Clouds had said that there was a very good produce shop there.  Well, Dunolly was  a lovely little town – with a Georgian looking mansion – Bell House.  Unfortunately the Wright on Broadway was closed, so we only really drove through – without stopping.  The kids basically slept right through it.  They really are sleeping a lot here – fresh country air – no noise etc .

Road home from Dunolly

Came home and did a little more work, and went to the IGA to get the kids a promised drink (as they’d slept through Dunolly.  I also wanted to buy a lemon tree and put it in the front where the cottoneaster had been. Unfortunately they didn’t have any regular lemon trees, they had dwarf trees – that didn’t say how tall they would become, and there were limes, oranges, cumquats and grapefruits – but no lemons.  They might get some in later in the week.

Came home and then started up the hot water machine for our 1^st showers here – but first had to scrub down the bath.  Having a shower seems to be a 2 person job – one person manning the machine, and the other wetting themselves down, and then turning off the water (as we don’t have infinite water supplies)  then soaping up, and lastly turning the water back on and rinsing off.  It felt surprisingly good and luxurious to have a warm (not hot) shower – and lovely to be clean – after the dirt and dust of gardening.

Everyone had a shower  - kids kicking and screaming a bit.

Once all scrubbed, J and I retired to the veranda and had a gin and tonic – lovely!  The other lovely thing was that it was quite mild, unlike the previous night where we froze.  

Had the sausages with the chutney, some boiled potatoes and salad for dinner – simple but good.  The kids had also wanted to get a dvd – to watch on the lap top. We relented, as although they had been horrendous in the morning – arguing and being quite rude to J & I – they did knuckle down and became helpful with the weeding.  F and I walked down to the IGA and F chose The Other Guys – a mismatched cop buddy film with Will Ferrrel & Mark Wahlberg..... it was quite funny.  We all lounged  in the  King sized bed and watched together.   Kids went to bed after this, J read and I watched an episode of Tangle, and then read a bit myself.

Pre Easter 2011 Sunday : Cold

Was woken up in the night by a couple of people yelling, not sure where they were, but it woke J up too.  Fell back asleep eventually

Got up around 7 and went to the IGA for the Age and a couple of other supplies.  And yes it was cold in the morning, had my big jumper on. 

Came back and camped on the couch in the dining room, wrote up yesterday.  Unfortunately couldn’t get an internet connection, so I’m writing all of this in Word, and will transfer onto the net (with photos) when we get back to Glen Iris.

J got up after a while, and we had breakfast, cereal with yogurt and a cup of coffee.  The kids slept in till 9.30-10am and only appeared to wake up because one of Madeleine’s friends had called her on her mobile phone.

Gave them some yogurt and they then disappeared outside to play yet more totem tennis.

Took them around to Becky’s around 11 or so – as I had volunteered them to do some work there with the donkeys – told them to come back for lunch if they wanted to.

Meanwhile, J and I worked away (and by this stage it had also warmed up – so back to t-shirt weather) J continued on the front door, gave it an undercoat of white – in preparation of a skim coat to completely smooth out the surface, prior to the painting it properly. 

He also cleaned out the cellar some more, removed the last puddle of stinky water, cleaned out the shelves, and planned how to put the wine racks in.

I set to on the cottoneaster by the front fence, it had to go, this was my hardest stump yet, as it was near the bluestone foundations of the fence, also had to sacrifice a euphorbia (but I’ll give it to Becky, - they seem as tough as old nails) I also whacked myself hard on my right foot with the mattock, really hurt, luckily I was wearing the steeI capped work boots, and luckily I didn’t hit myself with the blade, or it could have been nasty.

 It was tiring work, swinging the mattock, and I stopped for frequent rests, as the stump didn’t seem to be getting any looser, although I had dug all around it, and partly underneath.  J came to inspect my work, and took a few swings, and much to my surprise he quickly despatched that stump.  So I guess we’re the stump king and queen.  I dug out the remnants.

By this stage, the kids had wandered back – and they had already had lunch – Becky had given them some money, and they had bought a pie and drink each.  (found out that they didn’t really do any work for Becky, just played with the donkeys) J and I had a wrap each and a well deserved cold beer.

Then back to our work, I removed the rose bush near the bay window, as it would have become a casualty of the pest exterminator  - as he needed 2 metre clear access to get the scissor lift under the eaves to get up to the bee nest.  Hopefully the rose will survive.  Also found a small one under the cottoneaster, and replanted that one too.

Then took the kids yabbying again, this time went past Maxwell’s  Gold Mine,  and saw the Inglewood water supply reservoir.  Elise said the place that she had been successfully yabbying with her friend was down there.  It was a dirt road, but pretty rough, although her friend’s dad had driven down there.  I elected not to, and the kids thought I was pretty soft for not doing so.  My poor city passat would never have forgiven me.  Anyway, it didn’t take long, and we arrived at a small dam, which Elise confirmed was the one she had been to previously.  In fact, the sticks they had used to tie the string to were still stuck in the mud at the water’s edge.  We started preparing ourselves, and then stalemated as we discovered that the string had been left behind in the car and no one wanted to walk back for it.  Anyway, after much fingerpointing, we all walked back for it.  Set up #2 and waited for those yabbies to start coming in.  I had bought some pet bones from the supermarket with some meat still attached, and Elsie had said that’s what they had used before also. Was the right place, right bait, - it was surely a shoo in, the only thing remained as to how to cook up all of these yabbies, and what to do with all of the leftovers.  Well, despite promising bubbles, we didn’t have one tug on the string, so packed up empty handed after about an hour.  Elise thought that it was maybe too cold, as despite the fact that we were in short sleeves and that it was sunny and warm, the nights were certainly getting colder.

Returned to the house, and got changed to go and see Jill at Passing Clouds.  The girls elected to stay at home and play yet more totem tennis – so J, F and I went.

After a few false starts, deserted winery, wrong house, we made it to Jill’s house and we chatted and had a glass of wine with her.  F had soft drink.  She also showed us around her garden, beautiful pomegranate tree (she invited us back in winter to come and get a small self sown one to plant in our garden , a bountiful vegie garden, quinces, a feature cactus/succulent garden etc.  We left with a pomegranate (which Fraser was enjoying eating) a couple of butternut pumpkins and a couple of quinces. 

Came back and made a one pot tuna pasta dish which the kids all liked.  It was getting pretty cold by this stage, - both inside the house and out.  Becky came by after we’d finished dinner and picked up Elise – more guitar playing in the kitchen (too cold for the veranda)

We went to bed soon after they left – 9ish as it was too cold to stay up...we’d better have the chimneys checked out soon to have open fires.