The first 6 months, 14th August

We've reached the six month mark and it feels like we've been here forever....but in a good way. Gone are many of those big city stresses and we are settling into some sort of rhythm. The antenna guys came yesterday to attempt to fix our ongoing problem with Austar, the McArthurs are due today to help lay out our new veggie gardens, the craftsman is here on Monday to fit our second wardrobe, as is the power company to replace a pole just outside our gate, and the much-awaited bathroom reno starts in 9 days. Not like I'm excited or anything...Winsor is off to Canada for 3 weeks and I get to stay here with a gutted bathroom and all the joys of a 3 week building project, but IT WILL BE WORTH EVERY MINUTE. We are so grateful the winter has been mild, as the bathroom is a hideously cold and dank room and at 11 cubic metres, a large, cold and dank room with no storage cupboard. All the linen and towels are stacked on metal garage style shelving, a superb decorative feature.... The genuinely most attractive component, is the beautiful claw foot bath. Unfortunately, it has to go as it is too large to fit once the shower is installed - it might be a large room but it is narrow. Mind you, after 6 months of the complete impracticality of showering in a claw foot bath, with all the flooding, the myriad of experiments to find a way to have soap and shampoo nearby, the glorious sensation of the shower curtains sucking around and into my body, gotta say, I'll even be happy to part with that and hopefully get a bit of money towards the floor tiles, I that are waaaayyyyyyyyyyyy over budget!

Once the bathroom is complete, there's a wardrobe and bookshelf to come in the guest bedroom, which may be partly made with Baltic pine from the bathroom walls and then we'll be done. Yipee! Probably need to get a full-time job to pay for it all now though...thought there was something we forgot..

Spring is in the air, the forecast is for 17 degrees today. The yard has blossoms bursting out all over the place and bulbs have sprouted in every corner. It is a joy to wander out to see what has developed today and also a joy to see my fierce hacking away at the rose bushes a few months ago, did not kill them. In fact, I haven't managed to kill any established plant (or weed for that matter!). It has been unseasonably dry except for one day this week when parts of the north of Tassie flooded (the street where we almost bought a house in in Evandale has been closed due to flooding)and we got 2.5 inches in 24 hours here. We needed it but I'm also happy it stopped.

All the critters are doing well. The Spice Girls, our Sussex style bantams, have started to lay small, cute white eggs. We've had a nice, steady stream of egg production when many around here have had almost no eggs during the winter - trust our lot to be contrary! We took Floyd for an adventure into the bike park yesterday where he loves to hunt for rabbits. Apparently, he high tailed after one recently but not surprisingly, the bunny left him for dead! I do worry about him poking his nose into the brush and blackberry bushes in the vain hope of catching a rabbit, as in no time the snakes will be waking from their slumber and he may get more than he bargained for. I have heard that every snake in Tassie is deadly. Don't know if that is true or not, but I'm not keen to test the theory out either! Yesterday, we, but especially he, were bombarded by Plovers. Clearly, they have a nest or chicks nearby. Floyd thought this was the best game and it was most amusing watching him trying to bite a bird that was in turn, trying to peck him. He never seemed that brave and tough when the Indian Miners terrorised him in Sydney parks. There seems to be something intrinsically moronic about the Plovers while Indian Miners, seem evil and cunning to me - that's how I see them, whether that's right or not, I don't know.

Tried the new menu at the RVL (Red Velvet Lounge) last night and it was stunningly good - scallops with leeks and truffles followed by slow-cooked duck with lentils, mash and spinach. I just love this place! Now I'm off to walk the dog and to buy a 2 KG+ bag of fresh Pink Lady apples for $2. We also have new season spuds appearing all over the place - King Edwards, Kennebecs, Dutch Creams - $1 a kilo. If only they knew what Sydneysiders pay for this sort of, nowhere near as fresh produce... Cheers!