652 Done, 58 To Go

Well, it's certainly soggy down here, soggy and cold.  We've had 100 mm of rain in the last week and lots of wind and lots of hail.  Today is drizzly and overcast, but oddly still, we've gotten so used to roaring winds outside that the quiet is strange.

 

The kangaroos are soaked, they just patiently turn their backs to the rain or hide in the bush.  Here's Patience with the every so cute baby Patience peeping out from the pouch.  I should think being a pouch joey would be rather splendid on a cold, wet, winter's day. 

I am still amazed at the amount of flowers in the winter garden.  My camellia is covered in buds and the first flowers are out, they are looking a bit hail battered but I really love this flower.

The back fence area of the back garden is finally starting to thicken up and gain a bit of height.  I absolutely love Diosmas this time of year, they are smothered with either pale pink or white flowers and look so cheerful.  The little birds love them too as it's a very dense plant to dive into for protection.

I shifted the worm farm to just outside the kitchen, much more practical.  Apart from worm castings, the other great thing is worm wee.  See the green container and the bucket?  They are full to brim with worm wee.  I don't know that it actually is 'wee' but regardless, it's a very nourishing liquid that is a by-product of the worms breaking down the food scraps, and the rain dilutes it and washes it through to the bottom level.  Normally you just turn on the tap to get the liquid but my tap broke years ago so I just hang the worm farm over the green container and it drips in.  It's a great liquid fertiliser for the garden.

We had a delivery yesterday, Steve was a bit excited.  We could hear the great big, old 8 ton truck off in the distance, slowly making its way up the hill, weighed down with its soggy load.  What could it be?

Up goes the tip up truck, emptying out our prize into a lovely, squishy pile.

Here we are, a delicious, huge pile of cow poo from the local dairy (Michelle, I know you are thrilled :-P)  Steve is as happy as a pig in shit, literally, ha ha.  We order a truck full of cow poo about every two years, it's wonderful stuff, we grow everything with it.  Steve uses loads of it in the vegie patch, I reckon the soil in there is at least 50% poo by now, considering the amount he has rotary hoed in there over the last five years.  He's revving up to do the spring planting and has just popped out now to plant another load of potatoes, so good timing.

 

Speaking of spring, which it's not, there is always one tree in the orchard that likes to jump the gun and burst into spring blossom when it's still well and truly winter.  Behold the almond tree, the big show-off.

Meanwhile, I've been spending most of my time inside, keeping warm by the fire, in a craft making frenzy.  We have been finding our hands have been getting so cold doing chores outside in the freezing wind, so I made Steve a pair of fingerless gloves.  They are a little bit loose but I'll adjust the pattern with the next pair.

 

Then I started making mine.  One down, one to go.  They are lovely and warm.

 

I chucked out our old wheat hot packs and made new ones.  We cannot live without these, we use them every single night in bed, we both like to sleep with our hot packs nestled in the small of our backs, so comfortable.

 

I also made a couple of channeled hot packs.  These are good if you are sitting in a chair and your back is sore, as they sit flat rather than a big bulgy bag.

I made another iPad cover, Mum, this is yours.  This time I attached the embroidery after doing the fabric cover, much better, it was so much easier to line it up straight!

You may be wondering what my blog title was all about.....652 done, 58 to go.  Well, that is the number of inches of slip stitch joining that is needed to connect all 42 crocheted squares together for my blanket.  Today I shall finish that joining, what a task it has been!  It has covered the entire dining table, which is the easiest place to do it, and I turn on my audio book, see the tiny pink iPad and baby speaker in the background, and slowly work my way through the joining.  The end is in sight, then on to the border.

Til next time... xx