Chicken Chasey 2 & 3 June 2012

Who ever knew that chickens could run so fast?

There we were sitting in the garden on a cool Saturday afternoon - Myself, Justin, Fraser and Claudia (J's sister from America) having some lunch

Claudia exclaimed that there was a chicken scratching around behind us - we turned and there it was....

Justin took this photo (I took many more, but couldn't get anywhere closer)

a nice self portrait between the numerous chicken shots

We assumed that it was David's from next door -  as he has about 60 chickens.  We were curious as to how it would have arrived at our place though

Transpired that someone had helped Becky move and borrowed David's truck - and left the gate open.  Yes, there were a  few escapees....

He came over a bit later with a long broom like stick and some wire hooked around the end - a proven chicken catcher

We had to chase the chicken around the garden, try and herd it towards the open gate and back into his place

And it was then that we discovered that chickens are fast and wily... even faster and wilier than a 13 year old boy.

Eventually we had it trapped between the back fence and the brick pile.  David reached in and got it - and let it flutter down the other side of fence back home

David with chicken about to be released back home over the fence

After all of this fun and excitement, some rousing hockey was also played

Claudia waiting for the ball, and Fraser in the
background rolling around on the ground

Justin about to strike the ball

But it wasn't all beer and skittles - or more accurately chickens and hockey, there was some rather serious and rather dusty work done.  Yes, sanding the plaster in one of the top rooms.  J went to the IGA and bought some shower caps, and I ended up wearing goggles for some of the time, as when working above my head, plaster dust would fall into my eyes.

2 x little teapots

either we weren't ready for a smile, or didn't feel like smiling.. 

Here we go - I'm smiling, J forgot to

Anyway, we finished up sanding in here after some hours??  Certainly felt like it, awful dusty. choking work, - I guess we should have worn masks also - as the air was certainly thick with dust - especially when we were trying to sweep it up afterwards

plaster dust falling like snow?

couldn't quite capture the dust particles in the air

I also harvested the last of my tomatoes - the plants are looking rather forlorn - as the frost must have got them - but the tomatoes are still tasty

selection of my gourmet tomatoes

An early dinner at the pub, and luckily J had asked Claudia and Fraser to go down and book, as it was all reserved/taken when we got there.

And yes, it was cold, back home and the fire lit (we didn't want it alight  while we were out)  My one match record is still intact, and we eventually took off our coats, scarves and gloves....

More wine, chocolate and music

Claudia serenading us

Justin fiddling with MY fire

Fraser with his favourite past time

Claudia told us that Flissy will probably want to ship back this couch and chairs, as they have sentimental value having belonged to her granny.  So, we may be in the market for a replacement set one of these days.  Just add it to the list.

Given the cold morning (no frost though) I re-started the fire in the dining room.  Didn't do the kitchen stove, as I had done some repairs on it last night and it couldn't be used for 48 hours

Went for a brisk walk with Claudia before breakfast -and advsied J that I had bought the paper and that the fire was roaring.  Unfortunately he was still in bed by the time we came home - so the fire roared away in splendid isolation. (was safe though as I had the screen in front)

As per somewhat of a tradition I made up a big fry up breakfast  - bacon, hash browns, eggs, some of my tomatoes, and some fresh bread that I'd made.  Ate this in the dining room - the warmest room in the house - and enjoyed the fire, read the paper etc

Justin had some work to do, Claudia and Fraser tried to fix the bike tyre - unfortunately the inner tube that I had bought didn't seem to stay inflated - mores' the pity.  Will either have to get another one - or work out what we're doing wrong.

My job today was to move the wood pile from the shelves under the veranda to into the "laundry" in preparation for the back veranda being fixed in a couple of weeks

needed to move this wood

I also moved some of the smaller bits of wood from the lean too, and piled them on the other side of the chimney

2 very neat piles of wood 

Planted 2 more roses out the front that I had bought from Camberwell market, and picked all of my pumpkins and stored them in the cellar.  Also started to rip up the vines as they were dying. And I gave a pumpkin to Gordon and one to Grant next door

unfortunately I don't have anything  to show the scale of these huge pumpkins!

And for once - no real weeding... well until next time.  And hopefully next time we'll start with the painting of that upstairs room, or organise the automatic watering of the vegie patch from the side water tank

Weekend with Al :- 18 & 19 May 2012

Had an early start and got to Inglewood around 11.  Got some supplies from the IGA and from Diane's fruit shop, and did a bit of weeding in the front waiting for Alison

It wasn't going to be a "working" weekend so got changed back out of my overalls when she arrived around 12.30

Showed her and her well behaved dog Wally around the house and garden

The charming Wally

Was pleased to see that the spinach is still going well

looks smaller than it is

Then some lunch, a bottle of white, and the newspapers - out under the portico in the sun.

Went for a wander around the town and bumped into Jamie Nevins - who gave me a letter from a NSW farmer  who had visited the house.  He was a descendant of Samuel Tivey and offered us further information if we'd like some.  We'll certainly take him up on that

Letter from John Witt

Thought we'd go and visit some wineries - either in Bridgewater or Kingower.  Checked out the brochures, and thought we'd try a few in "Bridigie" - as Jamie had recommended Pondalowie wines and according to the brochure it was on the main street, next to the post office.

Well, we tried Jill first with Old Loddon, - but it looked closed, so we tried Pondalowie.  And that was long gone -as the new Bridgwater Bakery is there now.

Bridegwater Bakery - photo from the internet

Well, at least Water Wheel was open, and we had a nice chat with Rosemary and Peter. - not to mention a few tastings

Water Wheel Winery - photo from the internet 

 I started telling Peter that we were going to go into (limited) competition with him - and asked how many vines we'd need in order to produce a dozen bottles of wine.  I don't think he was worried.  He did however know that I was on the market....and told me to come back in September when they would be pulling up the cuttings.  Small town hey!

Al bought a shiraz, and I bought a quaffing white dozen of Sauvigon Blanc- couldn't go past the bargain basement price

Back at home with my dozen whites

Went for walk along the Loddon river bank afterwards...

Stock photo of Loddon River bank from the internet

...and the now defunct Inglewood lookout past the Botanical Gardens.  It's defunct because there used to be a sign and a structure there - but both are now gone. I'm still amazed at how little of Inglewood that you see - just the town hall top (even less than in the below photo)

view from the lookout - once again photo from the internet

By this stage it would have been after 5.30 pm and the sky was starting to colour, lovely red and yellows.  Al took some photos

Back to the house, and I prepared the fire in the dining room, and also turned the solar lights on upstairs  in the bathroom, and in Alison's room

Given that this was an eating and drinking weekend - we had some nibbles (dip, pate, olives etc) and a red that Alison had brought up before dinner

pre dinner nibbles

Off to the Empire for dinner around 7.30 - with Alison's half drunk bottle of red.  I figured I'd ask Enzo if we could drink it there.  If yes - great, if not well too bad, we'd take it back home again and just have a glass of something else there

As it was - Ros said it was fine - so we had the customary parmas (which came very quickly - I think it's probably better to go later and get served more quickly) and the rest of the bottle.  I must say, it was lovely and warm in there, as we had to get rugged up to walk there from home.  Obviously had to rug up again on leaving and yes it was cold - another clear starry night

Lit the fire in the dining room and bunkered down in there - very pleasant.  I did notice some dark sticky stuff on the side of the hearth under the chimney - had soot on it, but I wondered if it was honey... as there were also dribbles of it on the vertical wall of the chimney.

dark stuff in left corner - honey?

Now obviously I wasn't going to taste it, because for one,  it had soot on it, and for two - if it was honey it would probably be poisoned from the exterminator all those months ago.

I checked it out more closely the next morning  - and yes I do reckon it's honey. 




scraped chimney honey

 As to how it got there is more mysterious - yes the bees were in the wall behind the chimney - but did they also set up in the chimney?  if so surely there would be lots of dead bees in the fireplace? there were none?  I guess Justin can investigate when he comes up next time.


Well, I have already said that it was cold, that was confimed on Sunday morning when I went out to buy the paper

frost on my car roof

and frost on my wind shield

The dining room looked quite nice with soft morning light coming through

As per my normal routine, I started up the wood fire stove in the kitchen in the morning - to make it a little warmer in there.  However it was smoking a bit, so had to open the back door to let the smoke out - pretty much neutralised warming up the kitchen - although if you sat in front of the stove with the little door open - you could warm up....


Alison didn't feel like a big bacon and egg breakfast, so we had toast, juice and coffee.  Al is a most sophisticated guest and brought her own travel coffee maker - just perfect for 2  people (good thing Justin wasn't there)

After breakfast and the paper, I watered the garden a bit - wanted to make sure that my new plants survive

And then some sightseeing, and yes more wineries. 

Went to Melvilles Caves and had a wander around - as usual the views were lovely.  I commented that it was good that we'd seen the Inglewood lookout 1st, as it would have been a comparative letdown otherwise



granite outcrop - Melvilles caves (photo from the internet)



lookout at Melvilles caves (photo from the internet)

Then onto the Kingwoer wineries, first, Kangderaar Vineyard where we admired a lovely autumnal bush.  We were told that it was a smoke bush - which was coincidental because I'd heard this bush discussed on the radio on the way up yesterday - and how lovely it is during all seasons.

smoke bush

Kangderaar vintner (photo from the internet)

The couple  was very friendly, we liked the wine, so I bought a bottle of sparkling and a bottle of port

Next stop was the Blanch Barkly winery. 



I realise now that our neighbour Barclay was named after this Barkly - as the winery was named after the nugget that was found there - and so was my neighbour (not sure of the spelling of her name though)

They built this stone building in the 1980's?

As we walked up to the building, they told us that they had just finished bottling , and were cleaning out the huge vat (for want of a more technical name)

David & wine vat #1





David and wine vat #2



door for old Kingower jail - very heavy!

amusing poster on the wall at Blanch Barkly

Went in and had a nice chat with David, while of course sampling some of his wines.  He apparently knew who I was also - as he said that he had been going to come and drop off a bottle of wine to us - as a welcome to the neighborhood.  And to my surprise said that we had the Tivey House.  He also asked how the garden was going - and  that he had seen me out the front weeding etc

He also told us how he plans to open up a small eating area - would be great - as the set up is lovely with the stone buildings

Had a wander around - they've got lots of fruit and nut trees there also, and they use the pressings as mulch

wheel barrow full of pressings

 I bought a couple of bottles here too, the Hut label and the vintage label - both reds. 

Then back home for lunch, and rekindled the kitchen fire which just had a few live embers.  Warmed up the pizza which she'd brought yesterday from home.  Worked reasonably well except we burnt the bottom - should have kept a closer watch on it.

So, once again a successful  weekend, had a lovely time with Alison, she enoyed it, and we'll do it again  

Mothers Day 12 & 13 May 2012

Well, it was just Mum and I for a special mother and daughter weekend


Did the customary tour of the house and garden, and was pleased to see that the "laundry" was finally finished, - the bricks for the floor had been laid, and the outside painted  - looks good

completed laundry

Those funny blobby self seeded holly hock type plants had finally flowered - teeny tiny little purple flowers - certainly not worth the wait

holly hock wannabees on the left

Single teeny holly hock wannabee flower

I ended up pulling these out - to give my citrus more room

And, speaking of citrus I had bought yet another type - this type a blood orange - planted it near the pumpkin patch.  And Mum harvested 2 of the pumpkins from out the front - as the vine was looking decidedly scrappy and so had to go....

I also planted 4 x bare rooted roses 2 x icebergs, and 2 x blue moons

one of the icebergs

Had a delicious George Foreman lunch - of turkish bread, smoked chicken, cheese and my fabulous fejoa chutney.  Mum actually commented on how good the chutney was - and that was before I had told her it was the one I had made.  She was so impressed...

And to spoil Mum even more - made up an antipasto platter before dinner which we had in the dining room - offered her a G&T also - but she didn't feel like it, might have been a cold for one actually

Given that I had left the solar bud lights outside on the veranda the last time we came, they were good and charged up now, so I attached 2 lots to the railing on the veranda, looped one around the bed head in Mum's room, and another back in the bathroom

solar bud lights on veranda

solar bud lights on Mum's bed head

Of course the pub for dinner - quite busy, as the takeaway is still closed.  We did see that the Royal had its lights on and a couple of people were in there vacuuming - good sign.  I suppose that means that Bruce has gone, at least he gave us back our window blinds

Had a chat with Enzo as usual,  and he said he'd have us around for dinner at some stage - which was rather nice

Home by 8.30 or 9, and a game of scrabble by the fire in the dining room, very cosy, and we just read the newspapers afterwards.  I had suggested watching High Society on dvd given that we were going to the Grace Kelly exhibition on Sunday - but she thought it was too late

But not too late to make some of my fab bread maker bread - which I did, and programmed to have it ready by 7am

Made Mum a special Mother's day breakfast on Sunday morning - juice, coffee, free range eggs from David, hash browns, bacon and of course my bread.  What a feast !  And did it all on my wood fired stove

Mum enjoying her breakfast

And because it was quite cold outside and at times blustery and wet, we stayed inside a while keeping warm in front of the fire - reading the Sunday papers

opened up the door - to let more heat out

I had to re-stock the wood quite a few times- as I was using small pieces that Gordon the roofer had cut up for us.  I found one piece that still had a bit of slate nailed on it

bit of slat wood from the roof with some slate left nailed on it

However, it didn't rain that much - so I gave the new plants a good watering (had also watered them yesterday) - as it is very apparent with the calendulas that those that didn't get any water near the roof line are small and stunted, while those in the open are comparatively huge .  And I don't want my lovely ew plants to die.  In fact, I'm wondering which of my many citrus will give me the first of much fruit...

huge calendulas in foreground, stunted ones near palm

Mum also wanted to do a bit of scrumping - so went back to the apple tree in the paddock, not so laden now, but we still managed to get a large bag full.  That will be the last haul for this season.  Mum will stew them or make apple cake etc

Now, given our large breakfast, we just had a relatively light lunch of a sandwich and some fruit - and then off to Bendigo for the Grace Kelly exhibition - which we had to book in advance.  we both enjoyed it very much, and then back home to Melbourne for a Mother's Day family dinner