Matchsticks To Keep Eyes Open

We had a challenge to accomplish the week.  Up to now we've not had tv reception here, because we didn't want to spend a lot of money on an aerial for the shed and then again for the house later.  So we decided to rewatch our collection of DVDs instead and do without tellie.  Which has been fine up to now.  But, we are great fans of the Olympics so what to do? $10 of cable later, along with a piece of stormwater pipe, an old wooden picket, some cable ties, an old set of bunny ears and a handy water tank to attach it to, we have television!

Da-ta!  Home-made aerial.  Note there is only one bunny ear, the other one fell off!  Made no difference to the picture either.

And there we have it, we are in the modern era of television.  We've managed to pick up analog stations WIN, GWN and ABC1, snowy and rather unpredictable in the wind, but acceptable.  I am so happy we can now watch the Olympics, although I have to say that I am rather tired, being one of those silly people that likes to see things happen WHEN they happen, none of this sensible replay stuff for me!

 Do you remember all those olives we pickled a couple of months ago?  We've started eating them in the last week and they are very nice!  Still a trace of bitterness in a few but on the whole very good.  They will get better the longer they sit in the brine/vinegar too.  The preserved lemons I made are ready too and I was pleased to see that this time I wasn't left with a hideous jar of multicoloured mould but instead a lovely jar of bright yellow salted lemons.  I thought I would celebrate by cooking Moroccan Chicken which uses both olives and preserved lemons.  Served with fat couscous (thanks Michelle).  It wasn't bad although perhaps the flavours are a bit strong for my liking.  Steve would have liked it except I put chopped coriander in it, which is not his favourite taste, but I wasn't sure if I could get away with not putting it in.  In hindsight I should have put in extra parsley.  Will remember for next time.

Speaking of food, the magenpies have been very demanding this week.  We haven't seen them for a few weeks but suddenly they are turning up a couple of times a day, warbling outside the door.  One in particular is very tame and will eat out of my hand.  He thinks he runs the place, having parked himself on a pole right outside the shed window, watching us doing stuff inside, not quite believing that we haven't rushed out to give him his rolled oats IMMEDIATELY!

 We are eating heaps and heaps of broccolini, which is great as we both love it.  It grows so much better than ordinary broccoli in my humble opinion, we get to pick a good serving every three days.  It seems to have less of a bug issue than broccoli too, I think it's because the small heads are not tightly packed with buds so there are not as many places for bugs to hide.  Anyway, it is yummy! :-)

We planted a gazillion snow pea and sugar snap pea seeds and the plants are growing nicely.  Very pleased to see the first flowers starting to appear.  I love nothing more than wandering in a vegie garden snacking on pea pods straight off the plant.

The broad bean plants have gone mental too, and are covered in flowers.  I'm a bit confused about them though as they don't seem to be forming any pods yet.  Perhaps it's not warm enough. 

I have a gnarled old blueberry plant in a big pot, I think I've grown it for about 6 years now.  It's a funny plant, looks half dead all the time but it certainly spits out a good crop of blueberries for a pot grown plant.  I am looking forward to getting it into the ground this year but not just yet as Steve is going to build an enclosed berry growing area so the little birdies can't scoff them all.  So the blueberry sits in its pot outside the shed and has suddenly decided that it's time to fruit up (bit early, but this is a plant that does whatever it damn well feels like).  I will tempt fate and leave it uncovered and observe what happens re little birdies...

The house is coming along nicely, the team have started putting the roofing sheets up and have also started putting on the Hardie board wall sheets.  Here is a shot of the verandah roof.  Look at those lovely painted beams, don't they look pristine.  We are so grateful we got the chance to get them painted before the roofing sheets went up, can you imagine having to cut in up against all those wavy bits on the roofing!

This is the back corner of the house, where they've put up a lot of the wall sheets.  We still have to paint those but we paid a bit extra and chose ones that were preprimed so we only have two coats to do.  The eaves are exposed and again, very happy to have been able to paint the beams before the roofing went on, much easier.

Here's a shot from down the hill showing the progress.  The builders are hoping to get the rest of the roof on this week and hopefully finish the walls too.  Steve has been busily digging stormwater trenches and attaching downpipes so any rain on the new roof doesn't degrade the sand pad.  He's got all the pipes temporarily connected together and a long pipe going off downhill for any rain to run off.  The plumber will be doing the pipework for water to the house soon so Steve and he will share a trench for the pipes to and from the tank.