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.