16 & 17 July 2011 :- Orchard

It's been a while since we were here last - kid's sport commitments, holiday on the Gold Coast, Flissy's wedding etc

Anyway, it's cold!! And especially cold in the house, curiously quite a bit colder in the kitchen/back of the house, than in the front rooms.  J even opened up the kitchen door to let the "warmer' outside air in.

I had spoken to Ken a few days ago about the windows - and he'd said it was (almost) literally freezing there, had been lucky to break into double digits - and advised us to bring our warm clothes.  Anyway, Saturday morning was very cold in Melbourne, and we were told was even colder in Inglewood - blanket of frost over everything, water frozen in the horse troughs etc.

We got there around 1pm (so it was "warmer" by then) after a detour to Castlemaine to pick up a door pull for the front door. 

Checked out the windows that Ken had fixed ie by the front door, the dining room, our "bedroom" upstairs and the sash window leading out to the verandah which had been open to the elements for quite some time, and kept propped open by a large piece of wood. He'll come back and do the mezzanine floor windows in a week or so

Also assessed the damage from the high winds that had ripped through while the kids and I were up in Qld

A section of the side fence had blown over - as had our little lopsided laundry - which was literally reduced to rubble - chimney and washing copper pedestal knocked down.  J ended up calling the insurance company to see what they'd say - obviously the fence was pretty bad, and the laundry wasn't that great either.  However we were going to use it as a wood shed  - so maybe they'll replace them without putting up our premiums too much - we'll see

blown down fence and newly planted pear trees



demolished laundry #1



demolished laundry #2



Gordon dropped by after lunch and then we got down to work.  J with more sanding/painting etc in the hallway, and also attached the door pull - and me out in the garden.  We'd brought up 2 x pear trees and an olive tree.  I planted the pears in the "orchard" behind the figs that J had planted last time.  In fact you can see the twiggy looking pears in the 1st photo - with the blown down fence behind.  I also vigorously pruned the large rose on the other side of the garden - still had rose hips on it - I think I'll transplant it next time.  Next job was more pruning of various shrubs, and pulling insiduous creepers from around the bases of other plants ie sad looking apricot, plums etc.  I then transplanted a smaller rose from under the mulberry to the front garden,

transplanted pruned back rose

and my last job of the day was transplanting an almond that was also too close to one of the Mulberry trees - that took a bit of effort with both the spade and the mattock.  Hopefully it will survive! 
J and I relaxed on the verandah after this  - at least the days are getting slightly longer again - and then off to the pub for dinner with Elise and Becky.  Mad had also announced that she was a vegan - hopefully it won't last too long...And coincidentally Elise said that she was now a vegetarian.  So Mad had chips and salad (not too nutritious) and Elise had the prawns  - didn't really eat them - ate the side dishes...

Once home again J and I watched the 1st episode of Monarch of the Glen on my computer - much grander house - but similar structural defects and challenges I'm sure!

The next day was rather wet, not pouring - more a steady sort of drizzle - which was good for the newly planted trees/roses etc.  So I decided to stay indoors and do some general tidying up  - as always there was a lot of dust/dirt on the floors - so swept that up as best I could.  Also organised the scullery, the kitchen cupboards and the upstairs rooms  - although not huge jobs - everything looked a lot better afterwards and was more functional also.  J continued with the painting in the hallway. 

Also got J & M to shake out the light curtains which we'd pulled down a while ago and were full of dust.  Want to put them back up at least in the front room - so the kids can have more privacy.

M making a face

Left around 3 - and unfortunately not sure when we'll be back - maybe I'll come by myself in a couple of weeks - kid's sports commitments etc