New Trees for Underhill

Last Saturday Evelyn, Greg and I drove down to Underhill to meet up with Geoff and family to plant lots of fruit trees that had been on agistment at mine for a number of years and were well beyond their pot sizes.

When Geoff arrived his car thermometer said it was 5C at around 10am and it did not get much warmer.

Our first job was to boil the kettle for a cuppa and have our morning tea.

Geoff had arranged a delivery of straw bales to add to the fence line in the centre orchard both to deter rabbits and wombats and to catch water and hold it from disappearing down the hill.

Once the straw bales were in place we got to and planted 6 trees.

Each tree had to be surrounded by a mesh guard. It was a two person job to create these with weldmesh.

The girls had a lovely time painting their tea set and also some leaves they had found.

Of course Ponyo knew she had missed out on the scraps from the table.

In the afternoon Ivy and Heather were guided through the damper making activity by Geoff. I don't know how it turned out because Ev, Greg and I had to leave in the early afternoon to get home before dark.

Geoff and family stayed the night and from all reports were snug and warm in the shed which had been heated with the pot-belly. Ivy slept on the top bunk which had been Geoff's bed from about the same age.

In all a very cold weekend with a gusty wind. The girls learned that when you heard the wind coming through the trees you held onto your hats or hoods and closed your eyes to keep the dust out.

Underhill in May

This month we were joined by Greg and Ev who gave me a lift down. Nathan and Karita came as well and Geoff, Jen, Ivy and Ponyo were there. We went down Friday this time and while I returned Saturday, Geoff et al returned Sunday morning. All the photos were taken by Greg or on his camera anyway.

Burning off was the main task for the weekend. When we left on Saturday the sky was thick with smoke out on the highway as every man and his dog had decided to burn off and the firies were doing backburns.

Another major task was to level the container Geoff had delivered a few weeks ago. If you know our soil you'll know it is hard as hard and full of rocks. It seems the container front is on the hard stuff and the back is on the only bit of soft soil in the place. Geoff was able to jack it up and put sleepers under the back but it continues to sink into the soil. A long-term project I think.

Ivy just loves the independance and space Underhill offers so someone has to be near her all the time to avoid fires and falling logs. There are also barriers appearing everywhere with chairs as the main fencing material at the moment.

Another long term project is the new stove but meanwhile  the chimnea is wonderful.

Ev, Greg and I kept feeding the fires and succeeded in clearing a lot of the fire prone rubbish left from various tree felling effors as well as household bits and pieces that have rotted over the years.

Tony and Mick from the block south of us are replacing the fence. Half of it is done and it looks fabulous.

Visitors

I've had lots of visitors lately including Trish and Leigha, Rauri and Janice, and just last night I had Zoe and her two very large dogs Blake and Ness (siblings - great dane, lab crosses) for a sleep over. When Ponyo visited this afternoon she had a great time reading the doggie news on the lawn.

The two dogs were very well behaved but large and excited to be in a new home. I think they will be glad to be home in Brewarrina tonight though.

Keeping me busy in April

This March-April has been a family month. Apart from my singing practise which is about an hour a day, I have had lots of family time.

Visiting Mum in hospital is a daily activity - chatting, dealing with washing, paying bills, and troubleshooting technology issues. She is to stay in rehab for another week then to go home.

On Saturday night I had Jen, Ivy and Ponyo for a sleep over while Geoff attended a wedding. It was great fun to just be together and I didn't really get woken during the night. What a beautiful baby, a wonderfully calm mum and Ponyo is so chilled out about it all.

These photos were taken at 10 days old by Chalk and Cheese Photography.

For three days of the school holidays I've had my boys and one of the fun activities was getting to 500 on a 1000 dot dot-to-dot puzzle each. It takes so much concentration we did it in stages and will finish the rest when the boys are next over.

We also walked to Carss Park for a play on the equipment and a paddle in the water. Last week we did sewing but this week we did not have time. There were things to do in the garden, movies to watch and games to play inside. When we left Luke said "but we did have not done any sewing yet." Next time I'm sure we'll need to sew.

My scores for Chorus Oz in June have arrived so apart from St Stephens practice I now have to learn:

Orff - Carmina Burana: O Fortuna
Handel - Zadok the Priest 
Mozart - Requiem in D: Introitus, Dies Irae, Confutatis, Lacrimosa
Rachmaninoff - All Night Vigil: Bogoroditse Devo
Haydn - The Creation: The Heaven’s are telling
Brahms - Ein Deutsches Requiem: Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen
Mendelssohn - Elijah: O Lord, thou hast overthrown, Thanks be to God
Sculthorpe - Requiem: V Canticle
Verdi - Missa da Requiem: Libera Me
Beethoven - Symphony no. 9 in D minor: Finale
Encore: Handel - Messiah: Hallelujah Chorus

If you'd like tickets then let me know as I can get a discount. The performance is in the Sydney Opera House at 5pm on Sunday 7 June. No tickets are available at the Opera House.

What a month I've had. I havn't had time to do anything in the garden except fill the green bin.

January at Underhill

I actually had a free Sunday so was able to spend overnight at Underhill with Geoff and our friends.

It's a dog's life at Underhill!

 We spent lots of time moving dirt to level behind the stove area and the paths either side of the caravan for easier access to the caravan and around to the toilet.

We've even cleared a lot of mess from the old dog yard and also now have the small dog yard with a kennel and lockable.

We spent lots of time harvesting ripe fruit - plums of various sorts and desert limes (for the first time ever). Neighbour Tony also gave us a bag of Angelina Plums from his very productive trees. I am still enjoying them at home.

Cal came down with his big yellow machine and felled the last remaining trees outside the toilet shed. They were too close for comfort both for falling and for bushfires. It was all so much easier with the big yellow machine. Now Geoff wants one. I said NO!

This process left Nathan with lots of logs for his woodwork. Now he has made a few blue mountains of logs drying slowly.

The rest of the clearing of logs will have to wait until winter when we can burn off the tops and need a fire to keep warm by.

Thanks to Nathan, Elaine, Terry, Ellie, Greg, Evelyn and of course Cal for all the hard work from both Geoff and I. Oh and thanks to Ponyo for being so good and helping to move lots of sticks.

The Year Begins at Gerroa

I had a week of holiday at Gerroa with family and friends to start the year.

There was lots of swimming, shopping, visiting, visits from friends and rellies. In all a great beach holiday.

Ponyo was very well behaved at our fish and chips picnic on the way down.

The boys had a chance to catch some of the toad fish from the river just at our front door.

Ponyo loved her early morning beach runs and the bone that followed.

Leah came to visit with Al.

Geoff set up a network to play computer games. It did work sometimes but the wifi, phone and internet was very frustratingly bad.

The view of the beach from just along the road.

Our last lunch incorporated the annual beach holiday for Rauri and Janice so we celebrated with two seafood platters at the fisherman's club at the top of the hill.

Downpipes ready for rain

What a fabulous and productive day we had at Underhill this month! Greg and Ev came to help Geoff and I attach downpipes to the eastern slope of the new roof (the highest and most difficult side).

There was lots of ladder climbing, pulley systems with rope, wire ties and blue glue.

At each stage there was testing to be done so more ladder climbing with buckets of water.

We even remembered to let the first run bypass the tank inlet.

It works and looks quite elegant!

We did so well we decided to remove the makeshift diagonal pipe and complete the third pop hole downpipe. Removing the makeshift pipe was awkward to say the least.

Ponyo supervised the whole process of course. As we did not have enough new pipe for the final hole we used an old bit so it does not look quite as elegant as the other downpipes. But it works and is feeding the tank used to drip irrigate the new fruit trees.

Now all we need is a bit of rain to start the system working. It is amazing the relief both Geoff and I felt on our way home that now there would be water to drink from the top tank and to irrigate from the bottom tank and middle tank.

Thank you Greg and Ev.