this time was school holidays and springtime - although it felt more like winter. again, the area has received much rainfall and it was even muddier than before. we were glad we'd dug little gutters across the road and pathways to divert a bit of the water.
the good news was two-fold: the newly installed watertank next to the cottage was more than half full, and that's with only one gutter installed. second, was that the citrus orchard area we trialled with a dozen or so plants on the slope below to the east of the cottage seems to be a good spot. the trees have really come on well, with blossoms on the limes and lemons.
bad and good news was that somehow cattle are on the property again and trampling all over stuff and compacting the soft earth with their wretched hoofs! BUT they do massive and luscious poohs everywhere. so i gathered heaps and worked them into the garden around the watertank.
the pooh came in handy for planting the 20 grevillea and callistemon plants we took up. they (the plants that it) are on the hillside above the cottage.
With help from josh we managed to drain the shed tank down in the bottom paddock, tip the tank over and rebuild the sagging tank stand. the whole thing was looking so precarious and we were worried it might collapse. so now it is really strong and will last for years.
and our neighbour keith came over with his chainsaw, expertise, entertaining stories and an esky of beer to cut the tree down that was directly in front of the cottage. we were sad to see it come down, but knew it was inevitable. keith first got pete up the tree to loop a sturdy rope about the upper trunk. this was attached to our tractor. pete idled the tractor and i waited for keith's signal.
a diagonal cut first and then a straight cut below it to form a wedge, and then from the other side a horizontal cut in. pete moved the tractor to gently pull the tree in the right direction and it gracefully toppled. the wedge itself formed a hinge. it didn't take long at all and now the view from the deck is even better.
so that was about it. not much music. no painting. a bit of reading. the usual amount of eating.
and here are a few random pics:
moss on a rock
more rocks
creepers on a tree by the creek
the bottom paddock
the raging creek
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