Wet Weather = Mozzies +++

Those mozzies (mosquitoes) have had a very successful season with all this rain but I had never thought of a frog being bitten by them. Check out the photo of what was a very noisy frog on my herb garden toilet feature. If you enlarge the picture you will clearly see a mosquito on the lower back attached to its skin. I was unaware of it until I saw the photo on my computer screen.

Christmas Presence

Aah yes another Christmas season over. Another season of over-indulgence and this time, too much rain. It rained before, during and after Christmas. We had a nice day though. The Lovely Husband worked long hours on Christmas eve and had to work again on Boxing Day so the 25th was a quiet and relaxing day.

Now to the important things, my presents. The Young Negotiator bought me this lovely solar light - the snail. Its pattern at night is beautiful.




The Dynamic Daughter bought me the Michael Jackson DVD "This Is It". Absolutely love it.



The Lovely Husband bought me this little Buddhist boy for the garden. I adore him. I joked about calling him Kevin but he will not need a name. The undies on his head belong to the Dynamic Daughter. They will not be in the garden on his head.



For a household with no small children Santa was very generous. He brought all four of us something. We all got the usual undies supply. The Dynamic Daughter received the book "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies". The original story with zombie action added. Apparently quite funny. The Young Negotiator received the book "Scar Tissue" by Anthony Kiedis (lead singer of Red Hot Chili Peppers). I am reading it at the moment and it is a hard slog. It has pretty heavy sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll and I am a bit unsure of Santa's choice but it apparently has a good ending. Not exactly uplifting at the moment.




The most important gift from Santa to us all are the water pistols. The little water pistols, which look suspiciously like the ones from our shed, were given to the teens. The big, macho looking water cannons were given to the adults of the house - as is proper. The reaction on the faces of the teens was priceless and brought great joy to the parents and recipients of the water blasters. Oh happiness. Good ol' Santa.

Being a very wet day the traditional yet epic Christmas Water Fight did not occur. The Dynamic Daughter and I had a semi-epic water fight in the rain on the cement that was slippery from so much wet weather and I went down like a sack of potatoes. I bruised my left hip/buttock which made my body more symmetric since I had a matching bruise on my right hip/buttock from my fainting spell before Christmas. And so the semi-epic water fight was over with the Dynamic Daughter the victor.

The symmetry of the hip/buttock bruises did present me with a unique problem for a few days following the semi-epic water fight. When alighting the delicate toosh onto the throne of bodily functions it was hard to know which side was best for support on the seat of power as pressure on either side caused significant discomfort and the legs are too lazy for the squat of common sense.

I Don't Faint, really

It's true. I am not a fainter. Never in my life have I fainted. I have felt faint, I have been dizzy and I have been knocked in the head a couple of times; one with loss of consciousness, but I never faint. Until now. I fainted the week leading up to Christmas. Whoa it was weird.

I woke in the middle of the night, just to go to the loo and next minute I am feeling mighty unwell. I decide to go to the kitchen for a suitable receptacle for my stomach contents and the next thing I remember is the Lovely Husband calling my name. He heard the crash bang of my demise and was naturally alarmed. Strangely I was on the kitchen floor not the bathroom floor. I don't remember the dance down the hall and into the kitchen and cannot explain it. The Lovely Husband started to pick me up off the pristine and polished kitchen floor (sarcasm at its most sarcastic) and the first thing to come out of my mouth is "I don't feel very well". Hearing the obvious the Lovely Husband replies "No kidding!".

I spent the rest of the night feeling bloody awful and was taken to the doctor when they opened in the morning. After extensive questioning and examination I am deemed to have a virus with fever. I do happen to have low blood pressure and it must have plummeted which in turn caused me to meet with that pristine and polished floor.

I don't care to repeat the experience and was a little nervous when getting out of bed for a couple of days afterwards. If I get up too fast from crouching or lying down I can get a bit wobbly but that is normal for me and my low blood pressure.

I am obviously into trying out new experiences; good, bad or indifferent and I would definitely class this one as bad.

Froggy Kisses

Can you see the love?

Bit o' Fencin'

Yeah, I just went out onto the spread one day and decided to fence the crop so as to keep the stock out mate! Yeah, we farmers have to do that sometimes. Got meself some fence posts and fencin' wire and went to work with me tools. Yeah, it was a hot day and stuff but you know, it has to get done. Growin' herbs see and the geese have taken a likin' to 'em and the bloody dog seems to think it makes a great poo factory. Yep, gotta' handle these situations on acreage you know.

Home with Character

A very rustic looking bit of fencing yes? Just bristling with character. But there is more to this fence post then meets the eye.




Every year in this particular post there is a clutch of eggs from a pair of eastern rosellas. We saw these on the way up the hill to get the Christmas Tree From Hell. I hope they are viable eggs. I will check them again for chicks and hopefully photograph them.

The Christmas Tree From Hell....apparently

I knew to take my camera with us when going to chop down the Christmas tree from our paddock. The Lovely Husband was at work and it was down to the teens and me! I could not find a saw in the shed. What I did find was a blunt axe, a rusty cane cutter and a long handled tree lopper. None of which were suitable for the job but I just like to think that ingenuity will win.




We had to approach the trees from our neighbours paddock (because our grass is as tall as us) and climb through the barbed wire fence. So far so good. One reluctant 17 year old male teen and a happy go lucky 14 year old teen female and myself climb through the fence with aforementioned tools and argue over which tree to pick. I, of course, want the tallest one but the teens want a medium sized one. Yeah right. I win argument as is appropriate.




The Young Negotiator (17yo) has a wallop with the blunt axe first. These majestic yet weed classified pine trees are a soft wood and should cut down easily. The blunt axe chips the bark. I advise we change tools but the Young Negotiator and the Dynamic Daughter must have some unresolved issues with pine trees and continue to hack at the poor thing and only achieving a scarring of the bark.





When their energy is spent I begin with the long handled tree lopper which does cut it but you have to stand back to allow for the handle. We take turns and then it is time to drag the ancient pine (probably 4 years old) up the hill to barbed wire fence. Holy Cow this is one heavy bugger!




Comically we manage the tree and tools through the fence when I decide to go back for a smaller tree for the Old Cheeses (my parents). Groans all round but I do it anyway. The three of us take turns dragging this huge and ravaged tree down the hill again and into the lounge room only to have it fall over as it is too tall for our 10ft ceiling.




To a chorus of "I told you so" the teens complain (17yo) and laugh (14yo) and I send them back outside to hack off the bottom quarter of the tree. Now it fits but is precariously top heavy in our tree stand. It has been decorated with care and I am sure a few complaints.