The Mystery Blob On The Floor

 The weather has finally turned, there is a chill in the air and we've had over 50 lovely millimetres of rain in the last week.  Steve has lit the fire a couple of times as the house has been getting a bit cold.  Neo has been freezing, he keeps roaming around trying to find warm places to snooze during the day.  He is very happy in this photo, have you spotted him yet?  Silly dag has parked himself in the wood basket!

 

 A decent amount of rain is not before time.  Some of the big peppermint trees down the bottom have been suffering badly.  This huge tree has split off nearly a third of itself, the leaves are very dry and sick looking.  The rest of the tree is okay we hope, and with the soaking rain we hope the dry, parched trees will recover.  It's interesting how one big tree is clinging to life, yet another, only 10 metres away is as happy as Larry.  Anyway, Steve has been busy with his chainsaw today, cutting this big broken section into next season's firewood. 

 It took him a while longer to clear up the fallen tree part, because he had helpers.  Helpers that got in the way.  These marauding chicken helpers!  They roam all parts of our property now, it is bizarre to find them right down at the bottom near the creek bed.  They are slowly turning over every square inch of our place, nary a bug will remain!  They are pretty savvy, they ran for cover the other day when an eagle was circling overhead, and when they were caught in heavy rain they all stuffed themselves inside the hollow base of an old Jarrah to keep dry. 

 

 But with all that intelligence, they still haven't quite got the hang of their Treadle Feeder!  They know food is in there, and if I put my foot ever so slightly on the treadle and they see it open the lid a titch, then they will step on it to make the lid rise and thus begin to eat, but they haven't quite made the connection yet that they can begin the process themselves.  Apparently they will in time, I hope!

 

 The kangaroos are enjoying the spate of succulent, green grass that is poking through after the rain.  Here is Elsa having a munch.

I came staggering out from bed minus glasses this morning, to make a cuppa, and in the dim light of the living room, noticed something little lying on the floor.  As I can't see a thing without glasses, I collected it up onto a piece of paper, found my glasses and looked to see what it was.  This is what it was, alas he was as dead as a doornail and stiff as a board.  A tiny little bat!  To be precise, it's a Chocolate Wattled Bat or Chalinolobus morio.  We know they are around as if we sit outside just before dark we can sometimes hear the faint clicks of their echo location and see the hint of something flying by.  Apparently they are known as a micro bat, and feed on moths and beetles.  We can't work out how this poor little fellow got inside the house, we can only surmise that as he is so tiny, he may have squeezed through a minute gap at the edge of the bird-proof cat netting around Neo's enclosure and then got inside through the open laundry door.  I suspect Neo may have had something to do with his demise in that case, although there isn't a mark on him.  Neo is an indoor cat for precisely that reason, but sometimes even that is not enough.  I'm sorry little bat.

 Another crochet project finished, an earflap beanie for Michelle.

 I ended up making quince paste with the 4 quinces from our tree.  Everyone raves about it with cheese, to be honest I don't understand the fuss about it.  It's okay but to me it doesn't quite go, maybe I need to try it with a stronger cheese?

Until next time.... xx

Of Glistening Webs

It was back to Perth again this week, to help out mum and dad while mum had her other cataract done, so she has two sparkly new eyes now and soon will be able to see better than all of us I reckon.  I made myself busy before heading to Perth harvesting celery and making soup to take with me for mum and dad.

This soup is proving to be a favourite amongst all I have fed it to.  Cream of Celery Soup, you wouldn't think it would be so nice, but it is, and it doesn't really taste like celery, it has an underlying mushroom flavour to it which is rather odd considering the only ingredients are onion, celery, potato, chicken stock and cream.  Anyway, yum!!

 I also made a huge batch of sausage rolls, meat and veg ones and spinach and ricotta ones, nothing nicer than homemade sausage rolls.  The spinach and ricotta ones were better this time, I added an extra egg which stiffened up the mixture so it stayed in shape more rather than oozing out.

 Michelle came to stay with us, she and I crossed over a day so she and Steve had a lovely daughter/father day out which I gather was very nice, would have to be as they lunched at Boston Brewery which is always good.  Neo was very sociable and consented to accompanying Michelle on the red chair.

 We all went to Boston Brewery again for lunch, yum, and we also went to Hybla, a newish place at Middleton Beach.  Very very nice, and very tastefully decorated.  It used to be the family home of the Lee Steere family, and the name Hybla is apparently that of one of Sir Ernest Lee Steere's racehorses.  Well worth a visit.

 We had a big drive around Denmark, visited the Denmark Cheese Factory at Duckett's Mill Winery and bought some delicious cheese.  We drove along the beautiful Mt Shadforth Road, stopping at the scenic lookout (Wilma, the one next to Hazel's parent's place).  As well as lovely scenery there is a paddock with the most beautiful collection of huge bulls, who serenely eyed us while I posed for a photo.

 

Michelle and I wandered around our place with our cameras, here is Michelle under our lovely Magic Faraway Tree.

 We found lots of sparkling spider webs, dew glistening on the silk.

 The kangaroos are enjoying the warmer weather and the sunshine.

 The orchard is exploding into life now that spring has arrived.  This is the early Angel peach, a flat, white fleshed variety.  Yum!

 The Flavortop nectarine is flowering like mad.

 The Sundowner apple is just budding up.

 I am so enjoying the spectacle of my clivea collection, and this year they are all flowering at once instead of sporadically.

 They are so vibrant and cheerful, and the flowers last for weeks.

 In the bush the wildflowers and shrubs and showing their colours.

 I am most pleased, I can announce that I have finished a project, completely finished it and using it!  I crocheted myself a bag, and lined it with some toile print fabric, adding a few little pockets inside.  I love it!

 It feels beautiful, it's made from organic cotton yarn which is tough yet soft.  And where the colour joins were a bit obvious, I crocheted a big flower and sewed it on.  Yay me! :-)

Harlequin Delight

I sit here with a lovely overcast sky outside.  A light drizzle has fallen today, a mere trickle into the water tank, but that's better than nothing hey.  We are crossing our fingers that the heavens may open tonight rather than merely being tantalised with cloud formations that only pretend to hold rain.  In the meantime I shall go and hang out a load of washing, that's bound to make it rain, right? :-)

We have had the pleasure of a visit from our friends Mel and Sheila over the last few days.  Steve and Mel took themselves off fishing a couple of times and Mel hit the jackpot.  Here he is, unable to wipe the smile off his face, with his ripper Harlequin fish.

What a beauty, it weighed nearly 2 kilos and provided about 800 grams of fillets.  Apparently they are a fantastic eating fish.  Look at the teeth on it!  Well done Mel!

This was the rest of the bagful, quite an assortment.  The boys were very happy.

Today we enjoyed the company of Steve's cousin Terry and his partner Heather.  Here we are having a fish, well, trying dismally to have a fish, today was one of those days when the bait fish were bigger than the fish being caught!  Heather is putting on the brave face here, it is quite a steep climb down to this spot and Heather unfortunately rolled her ankle, which puffed up and started turning interesting colours.  Hope it feels better soon Heather!

 

Neo the Magnificent is coming along brilliantly.  He has settled down a lot in the last week and has become a pussy cat that still likes his big day sleep tucked behind our bed in his man cave, but spends the (early!) mornings and evenings doing insane cat things, roaring around the house like a maniac and chasing screwed up pieces of paper around.  He is becoming more and more affectionate too, staying on laps for longer, following me round, and being generous with kitty kisses and cuddles.  :-)

He is using his tower more and more, he likes to watch magpies through the window whilst perched on the top tower and he is starting to scratch on the sisal wrapped pole, and will charge up the pole and claw his way onto the top, lots of fun particularly if I (bravely, very bravely) wiggle my finger from the top of the tower - his pupils dilate, his arse wiggles and he roars up the tower after it!  He has sharp little kitten claws!!

Lucy and Lucky are still staying close by the house, making use of the bird bath water and the patch of greenish grass outside the back door.  They very kindly posed pretty for the camera.  They want it to rain too!

Tomatoes, Potatoes And, Oh Yes, I Have A Kitty Cat!

It's hot, yucky and hot.  Yes Perthies, I know you have had it much worse and I feel very sorry for you, but please allow me my whinge okay :-)  I'm feeling a bit useless as it's too hot to be doing much outside except for early in the morning, then I try and find things to do inside that don't involve playing on the iPad too much ha ha.

I've been peeling shallots and garlic for pickling.

I spent a day peeling and cutting up potatoes.  We have so many and although they keep for ages, eventually they go soft and yucky, so a way of preserving them is always on my mind.  Potatoes don't freeze well, unless perhaps in a casserole or soup, but I wanted to try making chips, par frying them and freezing them, to see how they go.

I ended up par frying them for ten minutes, so they were past mush but not yet coloured.  Then I drained them and froze them in a single layer, before bagging them up.  We tried some and I am fairly pleased with the outcome after refrying them for about five minutes. Some of them are perhaps a tiny bit dry, so next time I will cut them a bit fatter and par fry them for a minute or two less.  The next batch I plan to try as wedges, leaving the skin on.  Again, par frying them then freezing, and shaking some spices into the freezer bag, and probably oven cooking them when we eat them.

I glanced out the kitchen window to see Lucy, the old roo with the long, Lucille Ball eyelashes, drinking out of the birdbath!  She has figured out that there is water and a bit of green grass to be found around the house, so she stays close most of the time during the heat.

Here she is with her child Lucky, having a siesta in the shade.  Note my window sill, we have quite abundance of tomatoes!

Next job was to do some dried tomatoes, sprinkled with herbs and salt, then squashed into a jar and covered with olive oil.  Nice.  The next batch of spare tomatoes I think I'll cook up and freeze in cupfuls, for winter cooking.

Now, for my big news.  We haven't had a cat for three years, what with moving from Perth and living in a shed, and I have really missed it.  After persuading my dear husband that he would once again love a pussy cat in the house, I started to ponder the details.  I love oriental cat breeds as they are very people-oriented cats and they talk, loudly, and that's what I've always had.  But I liked the idea this time of adopting a rescued cat plus there are no Siamese or Burmese cat breeders in Albany, so I started watching the Albany Animal Rescue Team Facebook page.

Then I spied a photo of two 4 month old slate grey kittens, who had been found abandoned two months ago (which I presume was after Christmas, how disgusting), and had both been in rehab ever since with foster carers, to bring them back to health and teach them that not all the world is a terrifying, horrible place.  Anyway, the bigger boy was declared ready to find his forever home, and so I arranged to visit him at the foster carer's house.  And that was that really, he was coming home with me!  I arranged 24 hours grace, then went shopping.  I had forgotten how much stuff one small pussy cat needs!  Cat carrier, cat litter (he's going to be an indoor cat), mushy food, bickies, collar, flea stuff, worming stuff, brush and a couple of toys later, I was ready for him.  Except for a name.  It took me 36 hours of hard thinking to make a decision.

Let me introduce you to Neo.  He is named after the cool dude in the Matrix movies who has quite some acrobatic skill, plus neo means new, it's his chance for a new, happy life. 

He is still a pretty nervous little boy, easily startled, but amazing how quickly he is settling down.  He found himself a couple of man caves where he feels secure. The first was behind our walk-in robe door, amongst the folds of my hanging up dressing gown, where he could hide but peep through the crack between the door and doorframe to see what we were up to.  His new spot is behind our bed, in the tunnel area under the bedhead, so he has an exit each end which obviously pleases him.  He still goes in there to sleep, he seems to still need a lot of security to have a good sleep.  While he was settling in, we got busy making him a magnificent tower to climb, scratch and survey the world through the window.

 We found some spare wood and poles in the shed, gratefully accepted some carpet from a friend (thanks Lesley!), bought 60 metres of sisal rope to wrap the big pole, and got started.  After a bit of brainstorming it all started coming together, a nice sturdy tower.  I had a look at some in the pet shop and was shocked at the cost and also how flimsy some of them were.  Imagining a cat thundering across the room and flinging itself up a tower, I would think it needs to be quite strong!

Anyway, here it is, the kitty tower, sitting proudly in Neo Corner.  I just hope to heck he uses it!!  So far he is reluctant, but it still smells of glue and he is still a scaredy boy so I suspect we need time.  He did however, grace me with ten seconds of scratching on the sisal wrapped pole so that thrilled me no end.  I want to eventually see him sitting on the top, watching the magpies through the window, and generally surveying the world from his 1.2 metre perch.

Now, photo time.  He has been rather difficult to photograph as he tends to sleep hidden away during the day, and then when he is out and about he has a lot of energy to expel, hence it is hard to catch him in a pose!  He has started doing little maddies around the house, and loves chasing little pieces of screwed up paper.  He is so cute.  :-)  He looks very grown up don't you think.  But his age is pretty right, I know this because of those little round things that have just pronounced themselves, sitting there proudly.  They are coming off tout suite!

He is a beautiful slate-grey colour, with just the faintest hint of a stripe on his tail, and a couple on his body.  He is long and sleek, and it has been suggested that he may have some Russian Blue heritage.

 He has beautiful eyes.  At first I thought they were yellow-green, but they also have a copper look to them.  Regardless, the intensity of them against his grey coat is really beautiful.

 Here's a shot of him with his brand new collar, that he has accepted with amazingly good grace.

Hanging out on the bed with his new toy.  He is definitely feeling less stressed here, and has taken to a lot of exploring around the rooms we are currently letting him into.  His latest game is to try and walk around the entire living room without actually touching the floor.  There are paw prints on all my dusty shelves ha ha

Have you fallen asleep yet?  I will try not to overdo the pussycat photos in future, however I think I may fail dismally.  He is such a lovely little boy.  He has a teeny tiny meow that I find amazing, having had only raucously loud oriental cats before, but he makes up for it with his huge motor purr!

I will finish today with something my dear daughter sent me, she is so right ha ha ha