TEA ROOM # 105

Good morning everyone. Well lots going on here. The old tank has gone and plans for the new SH is in the pipeline. Don't know how long that pipeline is though. Had a lovely BBQ with my sons and grandkids on the weekend. Beautiful weather and then last night had the biggest thunder and lightening and RAIN storm. Don't know how much rain we had but it went on for a few hours so the tanks will be bulging soon if this keeps up. Everything is quiet this morning and crisp and clear. John has gone home now. He brought me up 2 large boxes of brom Mummas and pups. Only ordinary ones but still lovely. Got the parcel from my brother, still have some brom pups and zygos to pot up. Will get that done today. The lizard tank has been made and now is waiting for a couple of sleepy lizards. The other half of the tank has been put in place but still haven't decided whether to plant it up with vegies or put the bigger cacti in there. Plenty of time as it will take a while to fill with dirt. Well musty get moving. Hope everyone is well and I'll be back later. Colleen

Hello to you all.

Our weather is wet and warm here... 5 inches on the weekend and another 2 inches Tuesday night. Temps in the 80's....Guess Spring is springing here.

Hope you all have a lovely day.

Karen and Elaine...good thoughts for rapid healing to you both. Hope you feel better as the day goes on.

Pollens are flying and my allergies are in full gear....sometimes I fear there won't be enough tissues in the house to staunch my runny eyes and nose. I think this season's round of antihistamines and decongestants are helping.

This is the busiest time for yard and garden, so glad things are well watered and I am drying up...grin

A few things are in bloom here also.

had more physio on the ankle & it is now strapped up so I can walk more easily.
Took Sugar out to the Groynes dog park & gave her a run before the Southerly change brought rain our way.
Not sure how much rain we're in for but so far it has drizzled a little & dropped in temperature.
Had a phone call from EQR about them coming out to fix our flue so we can use out pellet burner to heat the house over winter.
Yay, that will be so nice!
Wonder how long it will really take?
time line was for a couple of weeks...
but that is what they told us last June.

Dalfyre,I hope your ankle is better soon .It can be such an inconvenience can't it? I have to wait 2 months for a specialist appointment for mine to be looked at again ! UGH

Dawnsong I can relate to the shoulder too! Hope yours is better soon I feel for you. I fell when I was working in Saudi and did my shoulder and ankle and neither is much good now.

Thanks Ridesredmule. I love chooks so they had to go on the labels .LOL I took some preserves into the shop today and the owner immediately opened a jar of passionfruit butter and stuck his finger in- lick lick! LOL Now he wants some for pie fillings as well. I told him he couldn't sell that one and to take it home. LOL

Not much rain here either Jean , lots of thunder and enough to wet the ground is all.Just had a hail warning come through on the sms for our area, so will see if that brings any rain with it. The sky looks threatening but moving fast.

These are the apples off one tree - I don't know the variety but the base shape looks like a Five Crown to me. Not a Gravenstein - too big, too hard and too much "crown' I think.The birds have been having a feast! I had to pick the ones I could reach or lose the lot.

They look like they will taste good and be very Crisp. Yummy.
Love the blooms. Hope all are well.

Morning all.

I hope Karen, Teresa and Elaine are feeling better this morning and Moon and Charleen are hay fever free.
Colleen, that was kind of John to bring you those Broms and pups, you will be busy...
Plant some Broad Beans in that spot, so easy to grow.

Chookie, you might have some really old varieties in your orchard....lucky you....it will be interesting identifying
them...
Maybe Petty's Orchard could id them for you, they have their festival soon...there is another on our side of town
but the name escapes me for the minute....I know that Werribee mansion is setting up an heritage orchard...
When you think about it, there is so much wonderful stuff going on re the conservation of varieties of fruit.

Jean, we are probably crossing so I will put the kettle on...it's very humid here and storms are forecast again.
I love the leaves on these Tree Begonias.
Have a great day everyone....
Dianne.

Good morning everyone. Lovely and cool here this morning. Very overcast so hopefully it may decide to rain later.
Lots of green things sticking their heads up in the garden. Hard to pick which are weeds as yet. The nerines are popping up too.

Teresa, keep resting that ankle as much as you can.
Sounds like Sugar is giving you pleanty of exercise anyway. I bet Copper enjoys the time alone for a while when you walk Sugar.

Charleen, that little bird is so pretty. Love your spring flowers too. Charley isnt making a meal of them I hope.

Chookie, nice looking apples. You are lucky to get them before the birds. Anything on our trees is beyond use with beak holes whether ripe or not with our birds. I think they send out scouts to test every piece of fruit .

Karen, be careful with that shoulder. I know exactly how you feel as mine was bad enough before I had to go and fall on it.
Getting older is no fun is it ?
I keep remembering my poor mum and how we made a bit of a joke of her ailments. ( nicely of course )
Now it has come around to me.
Dont you just love the doctors who say , get out and do more exercise . I am sure they dont yet have any arthritis or other pain themselves.

Moon, such a pretty flower in your first pic. What type of orchid is it ?
Hope you are enjoying lots of spring sunshine there but not so much pollen.
It can really be bad in some places.
Here, luckily, our pine trees seem to be too old to have pollen now. We do get the haymaking which kicks up lots of grass pollen and dust. Doesnt worry me too much but some people suffer badly.

Anthony, how are you doing with that new computer ?
Dont let it beat you. We would miss your lovely pics of the liliums.
How is Cocky ?

Colleen, you wont know yourself with another shadehouse. What is going on with a lizard house. You arent going to confine the little fellows are you ?

Dianne, watching your garden with interest. The brugs will be enjoying the cool weather there too.
What else have you got coming up for autumn / winter ?

Hello Chrissy, Hope you are able to get out and about now. Your garden will have missed you during all the rain.

Bet\teetr get moving and go talk to my plants.
I'll leave something nice out for morning tea. .....delicious Chocolate Cake..

Happy day
Jean.

had an early start this morning, had to go for blood tests - cholesterol & thyroid.
Quite handy not being at work I was able to sit & wait without stressing about being late.
Home for breakfast & released the hounds, I made them stuffed kongs & it has been so peaceful since then.
I think they may have finished winkling out the goodies inside as there is a bit of a bark now & then & Sugar banging on the door...
she knows what doors & gates are, when we are at the dog park & she wants to go visit the next run she heads to the gate & tries to pull it open.
It really is an amazing area, huge space broken up into different fenced sections.
One for small dogs has chicken wire around the bottom to stop them getting out through the deer fencing that is used everywhere else.
The water section is bigger than I realised - we took her for a swim the other night as it was 26C.
Two areas have agility obstacles set up, different sized tyre jumps, dog walks & concrete pipes of various sizes too.
Sugar is happy to run through the tunnels but wont go up the narrow ramps.
No rush there, if I do agility training we will start with walking on a plank on the ground before trying to go up a ramp.
The garden is crying out for attention but my excursion had my ankle throbbing so it is up with an ice pack now.
See how I go later, I really would like to cut back a few roses that are getting out of hand.
http://www.infonews.co.nz/news.cfm?id=9922

That orchid is the species Phaius tankervilleae...Nun's orchid. They are just starting to open.

The oaks and pines are spreading pollen right now like this is their last chance ever...my white truck is green with it.

Hope everyone is up to snuff and reasonably happy...

moon

That is a brilliant idea, Teresa....my dog would love that....
I hope our councils have a look at it....though they would want an all expenses paid trip to try out the obstacles
and pipes...lol

Good morning all. A clear bright day so far but the clouds are gathering in the distance. Rain is predicted later this afternoon.

I am feeling a lot better now. My shoulder was aggravated by a heart condition. I was lucky that this time the medications I have worked and things have settled down again.

Haven't done much for the last couple of days but have been doing a bit of research on the computer about health related stuff. Some eye opening information out there if one only knew where to find it. The cover ups and lies we are being force fed makes me wonder if people who get some of these diseases have a right to organize a group action against those responsible, including the companies selling us pure poison, and the government bodies who know about it but won't change the laws as it would be cost too much. What price a life??? So I'm all fired up today, but not about gardening I'm afraid.

I am expected to fill out a local government survey with question like is social welfarre a. Too Generous, b. Not generous enough, c. about right, d. don't know. Well, doesn't that depend whether you are a. an illegal migrant or similar, or b. an Australian citizen?

Sorry, off my soap box and back to doing the survey. I really do need a soap box!!!

Karen

Karen ,those darn questionairres never have the right questions anyway. No grey areas or maybes allowed. What if one person doesn't fit the box they want them in - they are out in the cold.
Yes I will join you on that soapbox.Maybe we should make it a bit higher and shout? LOL

My daughter has just this week been admitted to hospital in Fremantle owing to Drs overprescribing her after a car accident. Her pancreas has collapsed. Now she is suffering depression, allergies, swelling, plus the pain from the back/neck injury and being prescribed two drugs that were contra indicated for each other and caused no end of problems for her- the specialist she saw was horrified she was taking them. I may be off to Perth next week.She will be in for at least two weeks they say. I will try and bring her home with me for a rest, the two kids are with my other daughter for now.Toby is doing HSC so needs to focus and not be messed around too much just now.Laura is 13 - and Oh Boy is she 13! LOL I am just checking flights now but can't go yet as my youngest daughter has no room for the minute with the two extras, and they want to stabilise her before she has too many visitors. So it's a waiting game right now - waiting for messages and news.

No much rain yesterday or today so far Jean. Just a heavy shower or two then wind drying it all out again - did you get much up there in Merino?.

I just had a phone call from our local Garden club president looking for volunteers for a stall - tomorrow!.I have only been to one meeting since I moved here as they didn't meet in January and I didn't know about the stall, I haven't even officialy become a member yet - that happens at the next Annual meeting laterin the month. The stall must have been discussed at an earlier meeting I guess.

Nothing important on for me so no problem - I was only going blackberry picking but can do that Sunday. I will take some Mandevilla Laxa seedlings I have potted and a couple of Loquat tree seedlings that are growing well in their pots for the stall. I am on duty between 11 and 2.

The Camperdown Festival tomorrow ( and monthly market) is held in the middle of the main highway between the two roads under 100 year old Elm trees - lovely trees. Anyone coming along the highway tomorrow do stop and say hi.

Pic. My trees tower over my little cottage. I am having a lopper come in and take some branches that lean over the house in case they fall. Hopefully it will also stop the possums dancing on the roof in the middle of the night! How far can a possum jump? LOL

mmmmmmmmmph!!! still very unimpressed

Good Morning. Hope you are all having a lovely weekend.

Anthony...for what are you still unimpressed?...your computer?

Good Day to you all

Moon

Poor Anthony...having problems. Learning new equipment is a pain.
Won't let Charley out of pasture so plants are safe. Wish he had all the grass growing in my yard. He would be a very happy mule.
Love the Tree Begonia. I may have one, got to re pot it. Will take pictures when I do. The leaves are a Pinkish color. No blooms yet.
I know opossums could climb but didn't know they Jumped. Maybe they just fall from the limb.
Pretty here and temps in 70's. Charley and the donkey kids are shedding.

Good morning everyone. Quite overcast here again. I am hoping for similar to yesterday with lots of lovely showers and the sun out between them. The plants are loving it .
I am sure my brug buds grew another inch overnight..

Teresa, what an amazing place for dogs. Be wonderful if all councils adopted the same idea. Maybe it couldnt always be as large, but great for dogs & their owners to exercise.

Moon, I can just imagine what your truck looks like. One year here, I had a whole garden of pollen covered yellow plants. Looked like they all had some weird disease with all the pollen on them.

Karen , hope you are feeling better.
I had to laugh when you mentioned filling out forms. They just dont think when they put all those boxes with silly questions .
We dont fit in boxes . We are all different. Isnt it so annoying when you cant find a box that fits you ?
I usually got to box that says other or not known.

Chookie, enjoy your time at the festival. Hope all your things sell.
I love those large trees around your cottage. Lots of places for birds.

Hello Anthony, keep persevering , you will win in the end. We are smarter than computers, it just takes us a bit longer to realise it.

Charleen, I bet Charley is eyeing off your grass over the fence. Maybe you could just walk him around while he eats it for you.
He would not like being in the paddock here at the moment. Its just wisps of dead grass and dust. Soon there will be a lovely green after the rain.

Hello Colleen, Dianne and Chrissy. Hope all is well with you all.

I am off to finish my cuppa , then go see how much all my plants grew overnight.

Enjoy the weekend and this....Chocolate Marble Cake.
Happy gardening
Jean

Good morning everyone. And a fine beautiful Autumn morning it is, to be sure. So far anyway. There are clouds gathering.

As for the questionaire, I can't stop myself, I have to write bits in where ever I can fit them. I do get a bit carried away, and could find the mental health services on my doorstep when they receive it. After all, citizens are just good little sheep and should just tick the boxes, shouldn't they?

I did some repotting yesterday. I have a couple of alcantareas that were still in their baby pots from when I bought them, and one pup had another huge pup on it already.

Barry will be here later, and we'll be off to do shoppy sorts of things. Hope everyone has a great day.

Karen

Tecoma Smithii...

Morning all.
The things we do for love....It's a good song too.
This morning at 5, I was out in the garden exterminating snails.
Now you might think that this is a little eccentric, but we live on the corner of a roundabout and with 4 large street lights nearby it is very bright....the snails don't realize this, so they stroll along all over the brick paving
thinking that they are safe.
Wrong......I have a pair of long BBQ tongs, a strong bag and big feet...42 less snails to eat my flowers.

Have a great day all....
Dianne.

Dianne. come and do my sluggies.....eewwwwww
I dont get snails but they are easier to get rid of than slimy sluggies.
My first nerines are nearly out . I love autumn flowers.
This year ( as I say I will do every year ...lol) I am going to mark which color nerines are which and where they are in the garden.
Once they go dormant, I can never find them again.
There are so many, I forget where they are and sure enough, if i go to dig a hole, I find a clump of bulbs.
The sun is out and its a wonderful autumn day.
Just sprayed a nice mix of foliar feed over everything. Lots of molasses, epsom salts etc , along with a bottle of hubbys home brew stout.
The plants like it just as much as beer.
Lots of tipsy plants out there now.
Jean.

well we have a cracker day here - don't know how warm but must be mid to high 20's, better than 90% of summer!
It was so calm & still that I mixed up the weed killer & sprayed the entire drive way - it is lookinbg very green right now but a few weeks should see an end to that :)
Then my roses finally got the trim & dead heading they badly needed.
Should have taken before & after but again didn't think of that until after...
I completely denuded one rose & then made up a mix of dish washing liquid & water & gave it a jolly good scrub with the old dish scrubber I use on the dog's bowls.
Hubby already thinks I am mad so good thing he didn't see me at it.
The poor rose was covered in some kind of scale insect, in places it was totally white.
I think I need to spray with an oil but have to find out which one.
There are other roses affected but that one was the worst & I wanted to see how effective the scrubbing would be.
Looks heaps better & gives me hope that I can get this nasty under control with a bit of time & effort.
My ankle has been pretty good but am resting with it up just to make sure it keeps recovering, have to go back to work Monday so need it to be strong.

Things are not that bad with it i suppose,.,.still cant make the printer work correctly though,.,.have joined 3 footy tipping sites[slowly]-6 ton of firewood coming tomorrow morn, had to make some room.,.,about to go and view a 'snake orchid'-'sounds interesting',i'll call in on the way back with cocky -Anthony

This message was edited Mar 17, 2012 10:00 AM

Godd morning everyone. Quite overcast here this morning but I think a lot of that is from one of the burnoffs in some bushland yesterday.
It is supposed to get back up to around 30C during the week but then cooling right down again. I love this autumn weather .

Teresa, you made me laugh when you said you scrubbed the rose. I had hubby looking at me very oddly a few years ago here.
There was a small camellia that had been hidden by the lower branches of the cypress and it had not seen much light for years.
Once the cypress was cut back I was so sorry for the poor camellia. I got a bucket of soapy water and washed every leaf to get all the green gunk off.
That camellia rewarded me with so many flowers for years before it finally gave up and died. Hubby still tells people how I washed a plant.
You keep washing yours, they will love you.

Anthony, keep trying, you will soon be a whiz with the new computer and wonder what was so hard.
I was so terrified the first time I ever tried a computer. I thought if I press the wrong button , I could cause some awful problem ?
Its all from not growing up with the darn things.
Say hello to Cocky. My Formosa lilies are opening, both in the garden & in the shadehouse.

Hello Colleen, Dianne, Chookie, Chrissy , Karen , Charleen and Moon.and all others peeping in.

Enjoy this Cranberry Cheesecake with your morning cuppa.
Happy day
Jean

Good morning everyone. It's a cool morning here after a beautiful day yesterday. The brugs and broms and cacti oh everything are really enjoying the rain that we've had and now the cooler and sunny weather. Hope everyone is well. Branden is going to Adelaide with the school tomorrow to see the olympic swimmers. He's leaving at 6am and should be back about 4.30. It's going to be a big day for him. The boys are having a sleep in this morning. It's lovely and quiet. I enjoy this time of the morning.I wander around and do nothing for a while. Look at the garden and talk to the animals. I don't know what we're doing today yet. Maybe they can get some friends over but have to do a bit of shopping first. Well I'm going to take my cuppa outside so I'll see you all later. Colleen

Just popping in to say hello. I must be late, as Barry is hovering, waiting for the computer. He can wait until I've finished. My turn.

I am going to have to have a war on snails too, if the rains ever stop. Going to try the beer thing. I think every plant I own is harbouring a family of baby snails, even the tillandsias which are up high.

Theresa, I hope your ankle recovers quickly. Don't aggravate it, give it the healing time it needs.

Can't think with someone standing over my shoulder. Will try to catch up later.

Karen

Losing the war on snails here ...grrrrr
Never have I seen so many high up in the plants (guess they don't want to drown ).

Looks like everyone is in the wars with sore bits and pieces ...I hope everyone feels better very soon.

Anthony hang in there mate, it will be ok, you will be pleased once you get used to it.

It was brisk earlier in the garden but a lovely gentle sun has made it's appearance, the ground is mud but it may harden if the sun remains.

Well make hay while the sun shines as they say.
Enjoy your lovely Autumn Day everyone ^_^

chrissy

Good morning everyone. A beautiful day yesterday after a cool start. Warmer today .
Very quiet here, you must all be very busy in your autumn gardens.

Hello Karen, and Chrissy . Hope things are not so wet now.

Hello Colleen , Dianne, chookie and Anthony. This nice weather should be making your gardens look lovely fresh.

Teresa, hope you are feeling better now and that Sugar is learning a few more manners.

Moon and Charleen, are you getting lots of spring sunshine ?
Cookies are out for Charley.

I am off outside to start getting rid of all the old growth on my shrubs . Time I tidied up ready for spring .
I know, spring is a bit far away, but I like to get some things done before winter sets in.

Have a great day and enjoy this delicious Strawberry topped Cake.
Jean




This message was edited Mar 19, 2012 8:14 AM

Oh what a flurry of Excitement over there in our Aussie Brug thread, Dianne and Shaun have outdone themselves !
I will be excited all day !

Yes the days are a bit drier now, and the mud is a little less squishy but it's still mud ^_^, it was once again quite cool outside, good idea to clean up before it gets really cold Jean. I am itching to get outside for longer than a few minutes, sitting here like a goose waiting for the tradies to turn up ...maybe they will and maybe they won't, depending on the weather, they cancel if it rains because they can't fix the ramp in the rain. If they can't fix the ramp then they can't finish the kitchen and so it drags on ...I do like the new tap thingy, it is levers instead of handles.

I did find some fruit survived the big storm after all, they were under the canopy of the trees, that makes me happy, I do love my Pink Lady Apples, my favourite next to Granny Smith.

Better go and watch out for the Tradies Truck ...I hope everyone has a lovely day.
Hard to believe we are almost into the 4th month of 2012 ...wow !!!

chrissy

Hello all. Hope things are not to wet for you. More rain expected so I've been to the library and got a few books to keep me going. I'm actually feeling quite chilly this morning too.

This little fellow was caught taking a nap in my back yard yesterday. I keep a good size pile of dirt, grass clippings and dead stick down there, and the Blue Tongue lizards use it to burrow right into and breed. I hadn't seen one around for a while, but obviously they are still around. They are so prone to dog and cat attacks.

Chrissy, you are so right about the snails being high up. Between them and the ants, I am wondering what is coming. But they've misled me before.

Off to have a warming up cuppa, then round up the birds and put them out. They are getting extra flight time this morning because its cold. But they are prone to mischief when left by themselves so need to get them settled.

Have a lovely day, despite weather, aches and pains.
Karen

Love it!!!!
Charley will lean over the fence and grab a bit of grass when he can Jean.
Sorry to be so long getting back but my computer has it's pwn mind and won't let me even send a note.
but I'll try to keep up..
spring is almost summer, in the 80's
No air on yet!!☺
Hugs and nuzzles
Charleen and Charley...

Good morning everyone, Lovely day here.I do love Autumn.

Our Garden Club stall went well and we made enough money to pay for a bus trip to a notable garden for a one day visit for all members so that was nice. My preserves and Mandevilla Laxa seedlings all sold well and all my apples went too, so that was good for the club. Overall it was almost a sell out with only some unpotted Bignonia cuttings and a few succulent donations left at the end.

I brought two ferns for the new pond from another plant stall at the market, and a lovely standard Fuchsia in Mauve and white (double) - just lovely - now to find a place to put it.I was tempted by a Brugmansia ( orange yellow in flower) after all the chat and wonderful images on the Brug site, but not sure where I could put it, so left it for someone else - so much to learn ! LOL

From the club I brought a flowering quince which I have planted by the woodshed so it can fill the space between the chookpen and the woodshed on the south fence. Also a nice mauve hibiscus which I planted on the North side in the sun beside a tree begonia, not sure how the frost will affect it but worth trying.

It seems we all have snails or slugs Dawnsong & Seachanger- I wonder they don't come up with something to deal with them - someone would make a fortune if an effective organic remedy could be found- I rely on the magpies and feed them to the chooks. The rain sure does bring them out in droves and they say squashing them can make eggs hatch but not sure I believe that one! LOL

Busy day here...
Sounds as though you had a great weekend, chookie...

Charleen, you and Anthony should compare notes....both with computer probs...

I bought a new mobile phone...no not an iPhone.....ooh headaches..nothings easy anymore and I have a husband who can't turn on the dvd, but he becomes a genius if I get stuck...lol
Oh well, back to the &*^%$&^ thing.

Have a pleasant night wherever you are..

A little better-- the lad from the computer shop[with the personality of a toothbrush] came back today and made it a bit more user friendly and now i have my contact emails back.,- printer still has a mind of its own!!,.,Telstra has been sending bills for 100s of dollars for internet mobile use[ive never ever used it]even now, i have the battery out of it and am using the truck mobile,.,.and just turn it on at night to see if anyone has rang,.'How great it is to ring the accounts line [o-seas] and speak to' Bill-the Pakistani'-my god what a joke!!!1 hr /20 mins later and 5 transfers, still none the wiser!!,..,i think i'll go back to the 2 baked bean tins and a piece of string system-it worked for me as a kid!!-Anthony

Yes, it is so aggravating to write a bunch of words, then try to send it and I find "I've timed out"
Now that is stupid....

Good morning everyone. The sky was pinkish earlier and looking a bit ominous. Hubby says some rain is forecast but I'll believe it when it happens.
Very warm yesterday so I hope all my brugs hang onto their buds .
We had a wallaby in the paddock garden again. Cute things and they seem to like all the hiding places out in that part of the garden.
Koala was still around on Monday, but havent seen him again. They are so hard to spot even when you are looking at where they are.
I will be making sure everything is well watered today as we will be out tomorrow. Off to Mt Gambier for the day. Nothing special to do , just a nice day out.

Anthony, glad you are getting the hang of the computer slowly. We are very lucky in getting our various appliances from our Harvey Norman shop in Hamilton. They are very helpful and always answer my questions so I understand.
I too, have had dealings with the "experts" sitting in a chair in India or somewhere when I needed Telstras help. They do not know how to speak slowly and in plain English instead of tech talk. Very frustrating. Hubby always gets me to deal with them as he cant hear properly and gets impatient.
Bring back friendly, helpful people on the phone. There must be lots out there in this country.

Dianne, we have to stick with our land line because of hubby needing it for the fax machine etc for CFA and we need it for the computer.
Do mobiles actually make phone calls these days ?? They seem to be programmed to do everything else....lol

Charleen, I hate that 'timed out ' thing. I get it when I am in our bank site. Very annoying when you are in the middle of something .
I dont see why we have to pushed out after a certain time. Sometimes one needs to think about something before proceeding or look up info then whammo, timed out again.
Hope your weather is beautiful for you there. I threw some grain out for little Kaitlin but I think Charley ate it.

Chookie, lovely that your club stall went well..
You live in a nice area of the state.
I havent been down that way since I was a child. My parents had friends who lived there and we used to visit.

Karen, cute friend you have there. Dont you just love those lizards. We have so many little skinks around here. They make me laugh as they hurry to get out of your way. There are a few who like to sit on the front veranda in the sun and are reluctant to move.
Last year I saw a mother with lots of little babies coming out for the warmth. We do get the larger blue tongues but not many.

Chrissy, lucky you found some apples still okay after all your bad weather. We only grow fruit here for the birds...lol. At least thats what it seems like.
Hubby has just told me that Townsville was hit my a mini tornado with lots of damage.
I hope all our friends are okay up north.

Hello Colleen, Teresa, Moon and anyone else popping in. I am off to water before the sun gets too hot.

Heres a treat for today... Banana Muffins.

Enjoy the day.
Jean.

Are all the computors going on strike? Sounds terrible. Anythony, good luck with Telstra. They shoot first and don't even bother with questions later. Things have fallen apart in this country since everything was privatised. Telstra, Australia Post, Electricity, the list goes on and is still growing. This country scares me, more for our kids than myself. I hope not to be around when it all turns to s*%t.

We have to vote Saturday, and my postal vote application didn't turn up, though I applied for it a while ago, plenty of time. But now time has run out. No time to get an application, post it in, get the form posted out then post it back in. Just not gonna happen. Stupid system anyway. It means Barry has to go over the other end of town to take his mother to vote, then go vote himself, then get down here and take me to vote. They don't care. I could not go to vote and do a stat dec. to say the forms didn't arrive, but I feel I'm being forced to go to a lot of trouble for people I have no faith in anyway and wouldn't vote in even if they had guns aimed at me.

Looks like the rain is going to stop me doing much again today. We got some heavy stuff overnight, but they say the real bad stuff is coming Thursday. Something to look forward to. No flooding locally though, so that's good.

Better go get some brekky and put the birds out and get on with the day. Hope everyone has a good one.

Karen

Good morning everyone, I don't have a mobile and like the dinosaur that I am, I don't want one.
They are designed to make the makers rich and us poor lol, besides who can figure them out besides the kids.
I personally know of teens who have racked up hundreds of dollars in bills their parents can't jump over. It's trickery to link it up to the net.
Yes I know ...I should go live in a cave ^_^

Must go and do some work for hubby ...enjoy your day everyone (or night Charleen and Moon )

Hello everyone. It is clouding over a bit but there is still some blue sky. I'm doing as much brisk walking as I can, even if it means walking to the shopping centre and back when we are out of things. the cars sit there unless I have heavy stuff or further to go. Walking in the rain is quite pleasant, especially around the cemetery. Seems to add to it. I go over the Green Bridge and around the uni lake as well, so it can be quite pleasant. There are heaps of Golden rain trees along the streets, all with yellow blooms and those lovely pink seed cases Karen photographed a while back. The Buckinghamia around the streets (Ivory Curl Flower) have been magnificent this year.

There are no street plantings in this street as there are no footpaths etc, or even a verge..it's narrow road then fencelines..in fact, the steep cliff down to the road is part of our property as the street only recently gained a gutter which is its edge. The road would have originally just been an access track for horses and people so the people opposite are actually well below road level so have no car access. But it was like a jungle, except for the two, you-know-who--who have scarified their blocks in case a weed or bug or snake should wander in there. Shame they live so close to Jumanji! Lol! and the sometimes stream at the bottom of the big gully behind is flowing so when you walk over the footbridge, there is water underneath and a waterfall from the other side of the gully. My late neighbour on the downside, and I, replanted our sections of the gully with rainforest trees and palms years ago so it is quite magnificent now..shame he didn't get to see how wonderful it has become..he passed away from melanoma about six or seven years ago..only fifties but awesome bloke and neighbour... had doctorates in a few fields but was humble and ordinary but his friends were some of the best brains around also so it was always a hub of activity and great minds but no airs of pomposity. They all met as country boys going to uni and staying in the same uni college. His house was just a renovated worker's cottage built long after this one. This would have been one of three original homes. I miss that neighbour but the two houses were left to his brother, also a State Coroner, and he keeps it the same and has interesting alterrnative young tenants.,artists, musicians etc..

Sorry, got a bit deviated there.There has been a large waterdragon out with the chooks,, it seems to hang around Dunlayin Castle ( which is actually a very large chook tractor but I don't move it around as there is no grass anyway..and it has to be set up so snakes down't get in underneath. I have moved all the bricks and pavers from the sides as the chooks and turkeys had dug the soil and buried the bottom few inches and I don't want it to rust. Back to the waterdragon..I think he/she must have been washed down in last year's floods..we used to have heaps of wildlife,,bandicoots, echidnas etc..but so much of the wildlife corridor has been destroyed and the bloke over the road totally cleared his land to the river, even below the riparian line, and built terraced levels right down.. so rents them out to international students..cash cows..and the council allowed peole a good 18 months warning that they weren't going to allow pontoons so everyone rushed and put them in. There is a strip that is still council land along there but it is not traversible, and now not much of a wildlife corridor. The critters that move into and through the gully, one of about three or four along the river, need that corridor to access other places. I do think the Green Bridge allowed all the turkeys and snakes and possums we previously relocated over the years to UQ to just walk back home. I mean, when there was only the ferry, they were gone!!!

Anyway, I'm procrastinating.. Cheers all.

I love my iPhone4..and can't wait to get an iPad3..been waiting for the new version..ah..connectivity!!! and at that last school I was at, I used to show them how to do things..which made some of the things that happened at the end quite ironic. All boiled down to croneyism and the fact that they hadn't selected the new kid on the block from their friends. A newly appointed English HoD and a newly appointed Maths HoD also got..er..silently pushed out in their first year there too...the maths HoD was a friend of mine from a previous school..all above reproach..so school admins and principals can be quite corrupt and giving them more power to hire and fire is going to increase the problem. BUT that is past now.....move on....

This message was edited Mar 19, 2012 8:36 PM

Couldn't do without the landline Jean....I use my fax a fair bit, it's very handy...I have a big old Canon printer, that does everything and gives me great prints of pics....can't go wireless with this old relic..but I love it.
I have my first computer which is 9 yr old and runs XP that I gave to my granddaughter to practise on..when she got her laptop, the old one came back...and the one that I bought to replace the old one, was running Vista, but then the laptop came along with Windows 7 so now the Vista PC is Windows 7 too...I'm keeping the XP on the old boy..
I have some good old games on there too.....I love both of these computers and can't part with them and
they smile when they see me coming and say " Choose me, choose me" and the teddy bears sitting on the shelf above take bets on which one will do some work today..the small teddy with the green foot has been with me since I was 4...his name is John...all the others are my kids teddies that we can't part with..
Our grandaughter's teddy is too big for the shelf, so he sits on a chair...

I would have loved the iPhone 4 too kat....but it's expensive and I can barely see the text..so I thought what's the point..If it was a few years ago when I was still working and could see without glasses, I would have loved it..now I need BIG screens and BIG keyboards....and a magnifying glass in the garden..lol

I thought that I would show you where I sit at night....I know it's messy...that's me..

I can't resist Dianne looking at those fluffy friends, my mind won't stop the song *slap* *slap* slap*

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0emLj0d66DQ&feature=endscreen&NR=1

sometimes my soundtrack drives me nuts ...your little puter nest looks very cosy and la la la la *slapping my ears.*