Red Gums and Lorikeets: A belated Happy New Year!

And so the heat of our Aussie summer continues with the occasional relatively cool day thrown in every now and then. All in total contrast to the opposite side of the planet, it would be lovely to swap for a day or so. So far here it has been the hottest summer for a long while and every now and then we can smell rain... some where... but until today probably only about 6 drops seem to have landed on the block. We've seen the most spectacular lightening storms and seen huge rain clouds which always seem to be in a hurry to go else where. Today we celebrated with 3ml in the rain gauge. Now if I could remember the equation I could tell you just about how much that was in our rain tanks....

The house is doing well as long as we remember to close all windows when it starts to get really hot it is quite comfortable inside. The top temperature so far in the sitting room has occasionally reached 30c, not bad considering it was blowing a hoolie outside and about 43c.

When the cool of the evening starts we whizz around opening all windows, ceiling fans on to help move the air and it is quite amazing how fast the house cools back down again. Having the main bedroom on the East side of the house means it is protected from the sun at the hottest part of the day and with the window open gets a lovely cool eastern breeze. The eastern breeze was something we didn't know about until we moved here, how lucky is that.

The wind seems to get up in the afternoons and it gets hot enough to cook the poor old veggies before they've even made it into the kitchen! I am slowly learning at times like this they need more water (fairly obvious), best time for that is in the evening when it starts to get cool. This I am told helps them get over the shock of the day... hmmm not unlike humans in that respect then. And mulching really helps, keep the roots cool and the rest of the plant may look a it tatty but at least won't die.

I've not got a lot planted at the moment, beans (other than broad) really don't like this side of town. It was a great relief to hear a neighbour say she didn't know anyone in this area who could grow beans. Not just me then. We've 3 tomato plants, all producing fruit, a tad to slowly for Rick but they're working on it. Loads of sweetcorn at various stages, 2 courgettes (zucchinis) and several Golden Nugget pumpkins apparently each pumpkin is one serve, hope they survive.

The blackberry was doing so well and produced some gorgeous large berries.... which I wasn't fast enough to pick before the birds got them. We are now considering investing in fruit nets if we're going to be able to eat any of our fruit in the future. Shortly after that the poor old blackberry really suffered in the hot winds and got a bit toasted, now I just hoping for it to survive for another season.

Every evening Rick has been putting on the sprinklers, initially to encourage a bit of green around the house. Surprising how green grass makes you feel cooler. We soon realised how much the birds love it too. They obviously prefer a shower to a bath in the cattle trough and give us a great deal of entertainment. At times watching their antics is far funnier than watching the TV.

Whilst clearing out/tidying up the shed Rick came across some wood and using some old cattle trough supports and a Mt Gambier stone or two made himself a very comfy bench in the shade of the birds favourite nesting gum.

I'm still getting my head around giant spiders and huge limbs falling off the gum trees to relax completely there.... In this weather even if you keep water up to the gum trees they can throw off huge branches, sometimes when there is not even a breath of wind and without warning. Which is why it is never wise to set up camp under a gum tree.

Just last week we were relaxing in the evening, windows wide open and heard a crack and a heavy thud. We did have a quick check on the trees but it wasn't till our neighbour knocked to tell us did we know it was one of our trees. The branch was too big to lift being full of water. Rick made short work of it with the chainsaw so now we have the start of a wood pile for winter, though it may not have dried out in time for this coming winter.

We've been talking about getting a wood store for quite a while now but until now have not got around to doing anything. And then Rick came up with a brilliant idea to utilise the small grain silo we had on the block. We needed to tip it on it's side and take the silo off it's stand. With the aid of a rope tied around a tree branch and Herbies bumper I was able to help control the fall of the silo. Rick pushed it to balance point with the tractor, I balanced it while he shot around to the other side and together we slowly lowered to to the ground. Once unbolted from the stand and with Rick back on the tractor and me on the rope we stood it back up again on the concrete. When the fire ban is lifted he'll cut a door out and voila we'll have our wood store.

The cone which was attached to the bottom may be used as a chimney for the fire ring and at the moment we have no jobs for the stand. I'm sure that will happen in the fullness of time.

In the mean while Deb has retired the ISA Brown chooks to wander carefree in a fox free paddock and has invested in some less 'garden destructive' ones. We will watch these wee fluffies with interest to see if they really are garden friendly. If nothing else they are really cute and never fail to make me smile...