Saturday, July 16, 2011

My last blog, but just for a little while.

G'day. This is my last blog for a little while.  We change Internet providers when we move, as we no longer need the satellite dish for coverage at the new home, I will not have the computer up and running until sometime next week and hopefully if all the connections work as good as they should and the assurances from the  providers that I will have no problems setting up the WiFi etc, I will be back on track late next week. But of course this remains to be seen. I never seem to be able to get these things right the first time around!!

We have all survived our busy day yesterday, everyone is still in bed, except of course me. I had  restless night despite a few glasses of bubbly. Amid utter chaos here, more packing managed to get done, the new owner got a handle on how to work the pumps, cousin and wife amused themselves by making lunch, hanging out and then when dry bringing in washing. Friends called in to say a last goodbye to our beautiful farm here, you would have thought it was them leaving and not us. A member of the car club we are in also called in unannounced, as they were on their way home from visiting relatives a good sixty or so klms  away from us, and thought they would take they chance we were here. "Oh sorry", they said, we forgot you were moving, but that didn't deter them from staying and chatting and after a few cups of coffee and a look by the men here at the classic car hubby picked up some weeks ago and much discussion over how it would be restored, blah, blah, blah, they were on their way and mighty pleased I was to see their car go down the drive. We had friends call in like this not long ago and they would just not leave, at least these ones didn't stay that long. Surprisingly I didn't have a headache by the end of the day, but I was more than ready to tumble into bed last night. Today will be just as hectic and chaos will reign no doubt, but it is our very last full day here and maybe it is good that there is a new friend (the new owner) and hubby's family here to have this day with us. Tomorrow will be hard, of that I have no doubt, but we are leaving the home and farm we have had for many years in very good hands and we look forward now to another chapter in our lives and of course the chance to create another garden, though on a very, very small scale. Oh, what fun we will have. The pictures are all that I have shown before. In my next blog, whenever that is I will have new ones to show. Take care. Liz...

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Three days to go.

G'day. Our time here in our beautiful piece of paradise is now running out. Three days to go and we say goodbye to a place that we thought we would never leave. The promise of a quieter life, the chance to travel, relax and kick back is now just around the corner. I am not ashamed to admit that I am now in tears as I type this. But on another note, I will tell you about our drama with the new carpet in our soon to be new home.It was laid last Thursday and we didn't get to see it until the Friday and can you imagine our shock at seeing that the guy had joined two sections together in the lounge room and the seam ran right across the centre and stood out something shocking. Not only that, but the join was raised from the rest of the carpet and believe me, it was a shocker. Needless to say, I rang and complained only to be told the main store owner wouldn't be back until Monday morning. I then had all weekend to plan what I was going to say to him and first thing Monday I fronted up and told him how displeased we were and for the amount of money we paid we expected better than that. He promised to go and have a look and rang me several hours later and said there was nothing wrong with it and he couldn't have done a better job himself and there was nothing he could do and it would be just fine. Well, when hubby got home that day from helping out with some plumbing on a neighbouring property, he was furious and promised me he would sort it out the next day. I had to go to work and of course didn't know what the outcome would be and was eager to speak to hubby and find out how he went and wouldn't you know, he went into the store, saw the manager in the office and barged right in and told him that if it wasn't ripped up and a new complete piece laid down, he would cause as much trouble as he possibly could and would make it known to many people not to deal with this store in future etc, etc. Just let me say, the new piece is being laid today.!!!! I am going around there this morning to do some  cleaning and to oversee the carpet. That should be fun.

Thank you to everyone who has commented on my last blog. Yes, I have copped a fair amount of ribbing from my workmates as well when I told them I invited the new owner to stay on Saturday night as well as having hubby's cousin and wife here. Sometimes my mouth opens before my brain (obviously not a very bright one sometimes) gets into gear. It has landed me in trouble before and I still haven't learned to think first before I speak. We will survive the onslaught of visitors and I will work around them one way or another. I assume they can amuse themselves and the new owner will be too busy with hubby learning the ropes so to speak and that no doubt everyone will have a good sized headache by the end of the day. Hubby came home one day through the week with a few bottles of bubbly, so we might wake up on Sunday morning with a headache of another kind as well. The photo is looking up our drive from the front gate. Not much in the way of color apart from a lot of greenery when this shot was taken,but when the roses are out, it is a mass of vibrant color. Just beautiful. Take care. Liz...

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Wet and miserable here today, a good day to be inside, what a shame I wasn't!

G'day. It is really cold and wet here today and would you believe that I have spent most of it outside, pruning this and pruning that and generally giving the garden a bit of a tidy up.
We had a friend call in to pick up some poly pipe and he asked why I was doing a garden that doesn't belong to me anymore, why not leave it for the new owner? Even our only neighbour asked the same question. It's because it makes me feel better and that's all there is to it. I will leave here in another eight days knowing the garden it in the best condition possible and if that means a bit of work for me, well so be it.

Yesterday morning friends called and said they were in the area (we are so far out it's not funny !!) and could they call in? "Of course, I replied, but we have the new owner coming for  lunch and there is so much to do"  "We won't stay long", they promised. Ha, I will never believe them again, they would just not go. I don't know what got into them. I even got so exasperated at one point that I went and got the vacuum cleaner out and left it sitting on the floor in the kitchen as a hint. Did they take it you might ask? No, no and no. I am sure they were after a look at the new owner and were just bidding their time until she came, but as luck would have it, she rang and said she was held up and when I gleefully told hubby and friends this, they decided they had better go. I couldn't get them out the door quick enough as there was so much I wanted to do before she came.

We had a great afternoon with her and she even bought lunch, though it was a late lunch by this time, just as well we hadn't eaten. She is coming up again early next Saturday morning and spending the day here and before I knew what I was saying I asked her if she would like to stay the night and she was so delighted and said she would love to. Of course next weekend will be one of our busiest here as it's the one before we move on the Monday and we even have hubby's cousin and his wife staying with us for a few days as well. In for a penny, in for a pound I guess. What the heck, we will survive it. The picture is looking across our back yard and the drive towards our paddocks in the distance. I will so miss this..... Take care. Liz...

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Computer problems again. What a pain in the bottom !!!!

G'day. This dash, darn computer is playing up again, so it's off to the workshop again in the morning with it. It's my day off tomorrow and I have to spend it running into town with this pest of a thing. Of course when we move into town in ten days time, the computer shop and everything else will only be five minutes away, but until that happens, we are twenty five minutes out and I am annoyed because it was only recently fixed. So, there may be no blogs from me for a few days at least. I get withdrawal symptoms when the computer is gone, though maybe I will get a bit more packing done and there is always housework just waiting in the wings. The carpet in our new home went down today and we haven't seen it yet, maybe tomorrow I will have a sticky beak at it. Broad, you asked what a Whipper Snipper is, the only other term I can give it is a brush cutter. It cuts grass etc with a very fast rotating nylon cord, our one is petrol powered, though you can get electric ones. The picture is looking across our paddocks from the back yard here at the house. You may just be able to make out a small dot on the hillside, that is one of the bully boys. Hopefully I will be back on line again soon. Take care. Liz...

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Roses are done. Woo Hoo.

G'day. I feel as though a weight has been lifted from my shoulders now that all the roses have been pruned. I finished the last of them yesterday, all I can say is Yippee!!! Today, there is a bit of weeding to be done and just a general tidy up. Hubby was on the ride on mower yesterday, a job that used to be mine, but he has for some strange reason, over the last few months taking a liking to doing it. After all the years we have been here and all the mowing I have done with it, hubby now wants to steal my thunder. Though to be honest, I will not fight him for the mower, it takes a couple of hours to do all the mowing here and there are plenty of other things that need my attention at the moment. I just hope that that he will do the whipper snipping as well, that was another of my duties and one that I preferred to do as hubby never managed to get it quite right and yes, that's being picky, but I don't care, this is my blog and I get to choose what I write :)

The carpet in our new home goes in this coming Thursday, so we will be eager to see what it looks like, we are also arranging to meet with a couple of drape and curtain companies over a few days next week to have a look at some samples and hopefully get that all organized as well, so it's all happening here.

The bear in the picture is Niamh. I finished her yesterday afternoon. She is only nine inches high and is one of my favourite bears. This one is for me to keep and I will find a special place for her in our new home.I have made a few as gifts and she always proves to be popular. I think it's the nappie and singlet that add to her charm. Of course, hubby said "not another bear, haven't you made enough of them and where is this one going to go? I hope your giving it away ?" I just smiled and reminded him about a certain classic car we picked up the other weekend and asked him was he going to give that away. That shut him up, lol. Take care. Liz...