Freezing :- Fri 22 June -Sunday 24 June 2012

My car made an unusual beeping noise as I was driving over the Great Dividing Range on Friday night. It normally beeps if something is wrong ie low oil, boot open, needs a service  etc - but  it wasn't any of these.  I had however noticed that the outside temperature was steadily declining - and then I realised that that was the cause of the beeping ie a snow alarm had been activated at 4 degrees - and it showed a snowflake type symbol




The temperature went as low as 2 degrees, but climbed up a little by the time I reached Inglewood around 10pm

Gave Justin a call to let him know that I arrived safely and pretty much went to bed - and read a while - and yes the town hall clock chimes are working again - every 15 minutes....At least after 11pm they seemed softer - so they weren't a problem for me to get to sleep

Wasn't that thrilled about getting up on Saturday morning as it was still relatively gloomy at 7am.  Eventually ventured out of bed around 7.30 and it was Freezing - literally

There was a huge frost - the mulch was covered with frost and looked like a light covering of snow

Frost out the front #1

Frost out the front #2

frost in dappled sunlight across the road

Got the paper and hurried back to light a fire in the kitchen.  Got, and then stayed warm, had breakfast, some coffee and and  leisurely read the paper.  It was just too cold to even think about doing anything else

Gordon dropped by around 11, and I gave him a cuppa, and then I went to the butchers to see about provisioning our Christmas in July with Karen & Mark.  I initially asked about turkey, and they said they could order one in for me, but that it would be frozen etc.  They then recommended a pork loin with lots of crackle, and then gave me a pork cutlet to trial the meat.  They said it was delicious (they inject them with apple juice and wine), and you just couldn't go wrong with it.

It was and I didn't!

I re-fired up the stove after doing a bit of gardening etc - and fried up an onion first, put some potatoes in foil in the ashes, and then fried up the steak in olive oil.  It really was delicious.  Had a glass of wine with it too, well why not, it was a great meal, and so deserved it.  I had also harvested some tiny radishes from the vegie patch.  You can see them on the bottom right of the plate

my late Saturday lunch

Another reason for me coming up this weekend was to check out how the back veranda looked.  Justin wanted me to email him photos from Fraser's mobile

Back veranda #1

Back veranda #2

Back veranda from Garden room

Anyway - Wayne did a great job - so now we just have to fix up the floor underneath.  Daniel the plumber had pulled them up to put in the new pipes for the kitchen, and we hadn't replaced them as yet. We should probably do them all - as the ground is a bit uneven.  And we want to strip off the white paint from the bricks on the house.  Not sure how we're going to do that as yet...

After lunch I planted the roses that I'd brought up, and also some vegies that I'd bought at the IGA.  The seeds that I'd sown a while back hadn't come up (apart from some tiny radishes & a smallish spinach that Mum had sown a while back

Anyway, I planted some more raspberry canes, 2 x rhubarb crowns, and some brocolli & silverbeet seedlings.  Also harvested the last of my mostly green tomatoes.  Will make a relish or something out of it.  I must admit that I'm  surprised that there are still tomatoes around especiallyy given the fierce frosts....

rhubrab, raspberry canes & seedlings

look really closely and you'll see the new seedlings

and look closley here too to see the new raspberry canes

However, the sun disappeared after a while, it started to rain a bit, and suddenly it wasn't that pleasant outside anymore.  And yes it was cold

So, as per Justin's instructions to take it easy, I snuggled up in bed, with 5 layers of tops, tracky pants, socks, under the doona, woollen gloves,  and napped, and read my Wolf Hall - it was very relaxing, but my hands were still cold, and I could also see my breath.... I didn't want to start a fire and then leave it unattended when I went out to get my dinner.

About 6.15 I thought it might be nice to get some sherry for before dinner or port for after dinner, so ventured out of bed (I was warm by then) and walked down to the IGA.  Imagine my dismay that it had closed at 6pm.  I thought it was open until 7pm.  Anyway back to bed empty handed and read some more.

Went to GGs around 7.30, and was told more about the incident at Enzo's pub on Friday night.  Some guy had punched Enzo and had a go at some others at the Empire - and then ran off.  Police were called, the dog squad came etc - but he got away.  And now he was currently holed up in Bridgewater in  a siege with a shotgun and hostages!!

Below are some newspaper articles I got off the internet...

Bridgewater stand-off ends in mystery

EMMA SARTORI AND BRETT WORTHINGTON

25 Jun, 2012 08:13 AM

Update

A 47-YEAR-OLD Bridgewater man has been arrested overnight after a mysterious 10-hour stand-off on Saturday night.
A Victoria Police spokeswoman confirmed this morning a man had been arrested near the Loddon River at Bridgewater about 9pm last night.
She said the man was arrested on a number of alleged assault and criminal damages charges.
The investigation is ongoing and the man is assisting police with their enquiries.

Gallery: Bridgewater siege

Earlier

A SUSPECTED siege at Bridgewater ended with an empty house and police looking for a 46-year-old man.
Police yesterday confirmed they were looking for a Bridgewater man after the mysterious 10-hour stand-off on Saturday.
Police locked down Camp Street after receiving reports a man was making threats to kill at 2.20pm.
Officers evacuated the street and asked people to stay indoors until the incident was over.
The Melbourne-based critical incident response team entered the house after midnight only to find it empty.
“We still want to catch up with a 46-year-old man from Bridgewater as we are trying to figure out what was going on,” a spokesman said.
Before entering the house on Saturday, a police spokeswoman told the Bendigo Advertiser the critical incident response team had hoped to negotiate with the man.
Reports suggest police suspected the man had a shotgun.
A witness, who did not wish to be named, told the Bendigo Advertiser the main street was blocked during the incident.
Residents said they saw police enter the house but were unsure what had happened.
The incident unfolded near the Bridgewater football oval as Bridgewater played YCW.
Bridgewater Football Club secretary Bryan Ryan said the senior football match had just finished when they were asked to leave the ground.
“We had to evacuate the grounds at the end of the game,” he said.
“As we went into the rooms we got a request from the local policeman to evacuate as quickly as possible.”

Bridgewater siege accused set to face court today

ELISE SNASHALL-WOODHAMS

26 Jun, 2012 04:00 AM

A Dingee man allegedly at the centre of police siege in Bridgewater at the weekend has been charged with 22 offences including assault, burglary, theft and criminal damage. The 47-year-old will appear in the Bendigo Magistrates Court today after being remanded by a bail justice in an out-of-session hearing at the Bendigo police station last night.
Acting Sergeant Damon Saunders said the man had been arrested on Sunday night after allegedly committing a string of offences in the Bridgewater, Kingower and Inglewood areas.
“He was arrested last night in Bridgewater after a successful search involving a number of police units including canine units and police from Melbourne, Bendigo and Maryborough,” Acting Sergeant Saunders said yesterday.
“He was located and arrested without incident.”
Acting Sergeant Saunders said the man was found alone at a campsite in rough terrain in a secluded area a few kilometres out of Bridgewater. He was unarmed.
Acting Sergeant Saunders said it was alleged the man was involved in a 10-hour stand-off with police at Bridgewater on Saturday.
Police locked down Camp Street after receiving reports a man was making threats to kill at 2.20pm.
Officers evacuated the street and asked people to stay indoors until the incident was over.

Anyway, chatted to the gals in GGs, warmed up, and ate my parma & chips (not bad), and then back home, this time to a fire....

I'd already set the fire in my bedroom, so only had to light it....

Ahh - warmth - and the romance of an open fire- just lovely,. And to spoil myself even more, I had some chocolates, red wine and a mandarin while snuggling under the doona and watching the whimisical Midnight in Paris on the the little dvd player. 


Stayed in bed later again on Sunday morning - and for once I didn't go and buy the Age, just finished off the Saturday one with breakfast

My self assigned tasks today were to move the small palm under the "rare" palm in the front

pre digging

So I started digging...

look at those spikes.....

However, I was a bit concerned at potentially skewering my eyes on the palm spikes - so went and put some safety goggles on too ( no photos of that!)

Anyway, it was just too hard, so I felt like an "easier"  win and thought I'd move some fruit trees to the "orchard"

plum tree in the wrong spot

peach/nectarine in the wrong spot

another plum in the wrong spot

Compared to the palm these were really quite easy to move.  The last plum also had lots of jonquil bulbs underneath it - so I transplanted these also...

Now our orchard is looking pretty good.  Hopefully I'll harvest more than 6 cherries this year...

I put this plum in the failed almond spot



new trees along the fence line

 Had wraps for lunch under the portico as it was sunny at this stage.  However, the sun went in, the wind came up and I got cold...so went back inside 

Packed and tidied up, and thought I would shout myself a coffee at the new Bubbletoes cafe in the Royal Hotel. 



Walked up there, but they were closed, so went up to the Empire instead and caught up with Enzo

Sat at the bar and had a nice chat with Enzo who told me how the siege bloke had thrown a can of bundy at him and then punched him also.   Enzo returned a couple also and called 000

Anyway, warmed up nicely at the Bar, and Enzo ended up shouting me the coffee which was very nice - said I could fix him up next time.  Asked if I wanted a traveller stubby, but poiltely declined - saying I needed to keep alert, and that was why I had the coffee. 

Red Room Queens birthday weekend 9-11 June 2012

Thought I'd teach the kids about 80s music on the drive down to Inglewood (captive audience in the car!) Took the Police - Outlandos D'Amour with Roxanne, So Lonely etc and Billy Joel's Glass Houses, also had a Mucho Mambo and a Cat Empire cd to mix it up a bit

Good old Police (actually a 1978 album)

I still know all of the words....

Anyway, they surprisingly liked it all - we all sang along to Roxanne, (easy chorus) and they recognised quite a few of the other songs also

Got to Inglewood around 10pm on Friday night - the others - Justin, Claudia, Nin & Clare were relaxing in the dining room in front of a roaring fire.  The other kids were in bed

Prime seats were in front of the fire, while another popular spot was on the couch with the laptops.  Nin was quite interested in what the boys were up to

electronic entertainment

some rare vacant seats in front of the fire

Justin hamming it up - and Mad uncharacteristically
hiding from the camera

Fraser and Hamish (Fraser's friend from school) wanted to make sure that they were warm when they went to bed, so of course wore balaclavas and beanies - looked quite funny

they look a little strange - Fraser chilling in his balaclava

Rory and Charlie were also in this room - but both elected to sleep on the floor rather than a fold up bed ...

boys sleeping on the floor

Saturday morning was cold, but sunny and blue - in fact it was like this all weekend

Went to the IGA with Justin & Nin to pick paint colours for the upstairs room.  J had initially wanted a rich pumpkiny colour (must have been influenced by all of my home grown pumpkins!) but we didn't see any suitable Dulux colours in this hue.  Looked at a few brochures, and saw a nice looking red room with white trim - so thought we'd have that.  Unfortunately they didn't sell the base paint for the red paint in 10L tins, however given Nin was dropping Claudia off at the Bendigo train station, we asked if he could go to Bunnings there - and buy a tin for us.  Unfortunately they didn't have any 10L tins there either (do they actuuly make it in 10L tins?) - so he bought 2 x 4 L

Did a bit of work in the garden in the morning with a willing volunteer - Cesky (Mad came out and asked if I was forcing Cesky to help me - as she couldn't fathom any kid actually volunterring to help - oh what a sad state of affairs!)

Anyway, my 1st self assigned task was picking a bunch of flowers for the hallway.  Cesky every ably assisted me with this, and then arranged them in a vase

making the final touches

My 2nd self assigned task was to get rid of the spiny plants that had resurfaced near the Storm Lane fence (the bloke with the bob cat last year had seemingly bulldozed this plant into oblivion, but the roots must have still been there - Gordon had subesequently poisioned them)

I dug and mattocked them out - Cesky filled the trailer...

A key development was that Wayne had arrived early in the morning to commence work on the back veranda.

Wayne poking his head through the top, various children below 

Wayne hard at work #1

Wayne hard at work #2

Wayne hard at work #3

A, P & A arrived before lunch, and we sat down outside to a picnic salad/wrap /cheeses type lunch - all very pleasant

Over lunch Clare couldn't believe that we could decide on paint colours so quickly - and quizzed us - or more Justin as to how he decided - what was the decision hierarchy etc

Saturday lunch

Pottered around a bit after lunch - the boys running around like savages hurling sticks at each other in a good natured way - at least that's what they said.  And luckily no eyes were put out! Fraser had also brought his gillie suit - and they had a lot of fun hiding in that also

Visited the Blanche Barkly Winery (again for me) - and chatted with Arleen this time.  Bought some more wine - including a box of clean skins - which were excellent ! Nin & Clare had to leave soon afterwards - as they had further plans for the weekend in Woodend

Dinner at the pub - it was crowded, and we had to wait a while - especially A, it suspiciously appeared as if they had forgotten her order.

Back home to a roaring fire again and a relatively early night

First up again on Sunday, and I thought we'd have bacon and eggs.  I had lit the fire in the kitchen stove to make it nice and cosy, bought the paper, set the table and was waiting for the rest of the household to emerge so that I could make bacon and eggs to have along with my home made bread.  

expectant table

But I had to wait "hours" and I was "starving" before the 1st person came, around 8.45am, and that was Justin.  At this stage I was ready to eat by myself, but he said that he would go and rouse the rest of the house (to be fair I hadn't said anything about bacon and eggs to the others last night - so they had no idea I was waiting)

Justin was pleased to be able to use the gong that Karen & Mark had given us.  The below picture is actually staged (no really!) -as  I had wanted to capture the "essence" for the blog.   

summoning the guests

  

So anyway, they did come down, I made the breakfast, and all was good with the world.

I also prepared dinner.  I had bought some meat from James on Saturday - as I wanted to make a goulash in the slow cooker.  Did so, but had to keep turning it off when Wayne used his power drills - as I didn't want to short out the electrics.  I didn't.

I also got the boys to give Wayne a hand - by moving some bricks away from under the veranda

Hamish with a wheel barrow full of bricks

And then we painted....I  was even allowed to paint (usually I'm not)  - but given that it was acrylic undercoat it was deemed not that important, and not that critical if I botched it up.  I reckon I did a pretty good job actually and I'm quick! and I wash the brushes very thoroughly - as Justin gets rather cross if the brushes are wrecked due to poor washing!  So Alex & I did the skirting, and Justin did the window.  He'd painted the door yesterday

look at those brush strokes!

Justin painting the much harder window

After lunch we started on the red paint - I cut in above the skirting etc and Justin did the top

now cutting in

have to be careful

Alex covering the fire place

Alex painting

more cutting in by Justin

it's rather bright!

nearly finished

pretty much done - but it needs another coat!

So we were pretty pleased with ourselves - as we had done months of preparation work - filling/sanding etc etc - so it was pretty much transformed in one day by the painting.  Yes, I know we still have to do the final coats and the ceiling, but it makes a big difference already.

Dinner turned out well and we ate in the dining room, with a bottle or 2 of the clean skins and the wine that Hamish's Mum had given us also

Once again a roaring fire - and less competition for seats by the dining room fire, as I had also prepared a fire in the boys room, so that they could retire in there

laptops by fire light in the boy's room

And J got out his guitar again....

guitar by candlelight

Monday morning I went for a walk bright and early.  Wore gloves and 2 x jackets as it was freezing - frost on the wind shields etc But once again a lovely blue sky day.  Whilst walking I thought it would be lovely to have breakfast outside in the new Laundry with a fire

So I did just that when I returned, and Justin joined me

While I was sitting there reading the paper, I became aware of a type of screaming noise - pigs?  Did any of our neighbours have pigs?  As it turned out no they didn't, but a large truck was parked out the front with distressed sounding pigs, or maybe they were just "talkative"

pig truck

And speaking of neighbours and animals, the kids had wanted me to go and find out where Monty/Trixie was - as we hadn't seen him/her for ages.

So I went and knocked on the door and made my enquiries and was told that she had just disappeared, and they hadn't seen her either for ages.  The kids were made rather sad by this news - as Monty was a very affectionate little cat, and even I had warmed to him/her.  The reason for the gender confusion is that Fraser had christened "him" Monty and then we found out that "she" was Trixie.  We still preferred to call him Monty though

Of course I did some general weeding around the front (no more painting today as Justin had to do his real work) and P & A did some gardening also

However during this time the boys were getting up to no good....Fire is obviously fascinating, and they had been refuelling my fire in the laundry and also poking sticks into it, and then poking those sticks into the wood piles on either side of the chimney.  Luckily Alex saw them and told them off, then Justin told them off and finally I told them off right royally!.  What was infuriating was that Fraser shrugged off the offence as trivial, of course it wouldn't have burnt the shed down etc - what's so dangerous about that etc .  But I was furious - and made them do some chores as recompense

Of course they chose something potentially injurious to themselves.  Wildly swinging the mattock (maybe some creative licence here by me) at a stubborn stump.  I let them do this for a little while under my close supervision, but then I couldn't stand it any more, and got them to stop  - once again with all extremities and limbs intact

stump princelings

Had a late lunch, packed up and left around 4pm - but by this stage Fraser was grumbling quite a lot about leaving so late, which in effect made us leave even later ...