Nearly there...

The river pebbles need to go down near the retaining wall... The edges need concrete barriers...

Just about there... Found a great 7 piece outdoor setting today. Getting it in and picking that up next Monday. We will move the BBQ up from the shed too... Needs using ;)

Our parent retreat is nearly finished!!! Yay...

Cheers

Another step closer...

More shoveling has been done by the boys... We are close now to arranging the hiring of the compactor... Getting a little bit exciting :)

Cheers

Another step closer...

Yesterday was more time spent on the patio area :) More weed pulling was done and even Floppy came to investigate and see if there were any interesting bits to peck at :)

The willy wagtail is having fun picking through what we've disturbed :) Such a cutie, always hanging around :) Both the boys did a great job yesterday, I must say! Was good to put the tools away. Over one hurdle... Few more to go.

Now to wait for the weather to fine up and then get going on the rest of the job... Loads of filling to be done...

Cheers Damaris

160 pavers...

Family project on the go... Hopefully we will get it started these holidays but we will see. It is for the paving outside Russell's and my back door. It is to be the parent retreat area. Can't wait for it to get done... Then I can set up plants there properly :)

Cheers Damaris

Plants getting out into the garden...

Now that we had bought so many of the darn things, off course they can't just stay in the shade house the whole time. They have to be planted out... So we ended up with 200l drums and had cut them into three or four surrounds so that we could build up the soil. Our ground is hard as concrete at the moment but with all the healthy manures, blood and bone, mushroom compost we are putting into the soil this should break up the soil underneath and eventually let the roots of the trees grow downwards... This is what we are praying for anyway... We will see I guess. Next door has had no luck with allot of his trees but then he did none of what we have done. He just plonked them in... So here is hoping that what we have done will make a difference. :)

Cheers Damaris

Tim at the Dental Van...

Yes, he had to have a filling fixed... He loves the girls... Don't get me wrong but just can't stand the smell... They know him and know what he is like. They are truly treasures... Am so lucky that we have them here in Warwick...

Cheers Damaris

Herb Garden...

Russell has always had this dream of having a HUGE herb garden... He has had that dream since I have know him. 20 years is a long time for that dream to simmer there in the back ground. Well now it is coming true and I could not be happier for him... :)

Cheers Damaris

Our new weather station...

Base concreted into the ground for stability :)

It came through the mail off course as allot of our stuff does... Russell has set it all up and it is all installed ready to go. It feeds information and readings every two minutes back to a website which means that anytime that I am away from home I can still find out what the readings are at home. Pretty neat :) It is very accurate with the rain readings as well and wind and humidity. What I love most about it is that all this information that it is sending to the computer is not via electricity. It is doing it via solar energy :) :) :) There is a battery backup for night time but that's it other than that. Very cool... Am loving our new weather station...

Cheers Damaris

Russell's Support for lugging wood...

Russell's invention... Don't ask me how it works, it just does :)

We are in allot of need of wood these days. We are busy building allot of things around here now that Russell is home and the boys are after some ramps as well for their jumps for the skateboards and scooters... It never ends another words... So he has made himself a support for that he can carry more in the trailer...

Clever little munchkin :)

Cheers Damaris

Josh's Garden...

Finished product of his labours...

Josh putting down the mulch, soil on top and mulch again :)

Since Russell has been home we have been getting stuck into the garden big time... This bug seems to have caught our youngest as well. Lovely to see in my opinion... So now he has his own garden bed with his own little statue that I bought for him as a gift. It's a worm and he rather likes it :)

He is growing Sunflowers, chives, parsley, Jerusalem Artichokes, carrots, lettuce just to name a few :)

Cheers Damaris

Water... You say Water???

It is here :)

Yep, even though we are on tank water only, Russell likes to have it filtered just in case one of our many green and brown frogs poop into the water and he has to then drink that. What a wuss...

So anyway he order one with twin filters on eBay which came really quickly. Order two lots of more cartridges as well so that we had plenty of spares. So now we have our new under the sink water filter and all is hunky dory in this house lol

Cheers Damaris

On with it...

Somewhere to hang the hose as well as wash veggies :)

New chairs for the new dining table :)

Russell has left his Brisbane job now about five weeks ago... This has meant that he has spent allot more time at home. All of it in fact. This has taken some time to get used to but seeing I am gone two nights a week it is not too much of a drama. He is there when I am not and he works at Maryvale State School in the office 1.5 days a week... Totally sweet... Am loving the change and am very happy and content...

With Russell being home it is amazing how much has gotten done around the place lately. All those little jobs that need doing have finally started getting done. :) Woohoo... Now to keep that momentum going. lol

Cheers Damaris

Community Input...

The lovely Pam Burley came out on Seniors day with her friend Bette Bonney and after the celebrations a group of about 25 of us went back to the local Maryvale School of Arts Community Hall to see what sort of things we could brainstorm...

What did we want to see in our little community by 2030... It was a very interesting process and we were put into two groups. I was also amazed just how many times both groups overlapped in what we wanted to see in our community. So many like minded people. It was lovely to see... So glad I went and had given my two cents worth.

So glad that we have people like Pam around that do care for outer lying communities such as Maryvale. We are only 20 odd minutes from Warwick but still very much on the outer... Thanks Pam for coming and seeing us :) Really appreciate it :)

Cheers Damaris

Shelves, shelves and more shelves...

New table for the Shed...

Lots of room for storage :)

Didn't take long to fill this one...

Russell and Joshua have been very busy over the last few weekends that I have been working... They have made two massive shelves for the shed. We also made another two shelve table last Saturday before I left for work for the night. :)

The shed is looking better... Soon it will be organised. I realise that it is Russell's shed and that he is by no means as worried about clutter as I am but... You know... I just can't stand it...

Anyway he is well and truly on his way to having a tidy shed. Yay!!!

Cheers Damaris

The door is on :)

The cubby now has the door on it. It has since been oiled too. :) Getting there, getting there :)

Cheers Damaris

Sausage is Sausage, amongst other stuff...

About 60kg's of meat. :)

Well Sausage went to the slaughter house last month and we have been enjoying ourselves on the bounty for about three weeks now. :) I ended up with 10kg failsafe sausages, 20kg mince, 12 rolled roasts, 10 silver sides, countless T bones, Y bones and chuck steak. There was also allot of Fillets too. Just so much meat... Amazing... We got the offal for the dogs and have cut them up into treat portions as well as bones for them. :) I have ended up with the full upright freezer and full deep chest full of Sausage...

Thanks mate, you have done well. :)

Cheers Damaris

Square foot gardening...

Here are the sides all painted with decking oil so that they will survive better in the weather... Now we just have to put them together and fill them. :) Hope that happens this weekend. :)

Cheers Damaris

Cubby update...

Well here is the latest photo from yesterday... Got rather burnt doing the roof. More sunscreen next time... The boys are really impressed with it too...

Only have the fascia on the roof left now and the door and windows... :) Nearly done :)

Cheers Damaris

Back on the Tractor...

Getting more confident :)

I have been wanting to get a bit more confident with our tractor for a while but every time I go to get Russell to talk me through it again it ends up raining... Well last Friday I got my wish and I ended up doing two hours on it. Was great to get a good run with it... Felt good...

Am much more confident now that I can do it without him here. :) Maybe after a couple more goes. :)

Cheers Damaris

Verandah Roof is on :)

Getting there...

We have come far... The verandah is on and the roof is attached. Now all that is left is the window frames, the door and the main roof :)

Cheers Damaris