We decided it was Sunday today and the sun shone beautifully. We had a long breakfast in front of the fire this morning. Hung around until 10-ish. Mick did the dishes and Jen tidied the house. Then we had some morning coffee/tea in the sun. After that we made a yummy Thai lunch on chicken, leek, ginger, capsicum, squash and coconut milk with rice. After it was time for after lunch coffee in the sun. Then Mick painted the old school desk -turned -sink stand –now turned bathroom vanity. Away with all old rust and now it is silver coloured. Jen baked Lime-raisin-macadamia cupcakes. Turned out sooo yummy. After that we raked about seven x two metres of the Pecan square and searched for Pecans among the leaves. Got quite a few! Time for coffee again and some internet browsing and no more work since it´s dark. Shower, fire and soon time for dinner which will be pork and Uluru stew with pepper fried onions.
All posts by aussiebarons
Photos for In front of the fire
In front of the fire.
Yellow Guavas strewn on the lawn like apples in Sweden
On the way home from Coffs we drove by this one in Macksville! Puts a picture to the song:
https://www.google.com.au/search?q=The+pub+with+no+beer&oq=The+pub+with+no+beer&aqs=chrome..69i57.2479j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
In front of the fire
We have some rainy days. They were supposed to come in March April. Two days we are spending in front of the fire not doing much. The Yellow Guavas are falling on the ground like apples in October. We have picked our share and the Honeyeaters and possum are munching on the rest. The Small Leaved Lillypilly fruit fell off the tree, hard and green and useless. Now we are picking small Mandarins. They are like eating candy! The mice are now squeezing in through some gap in the storage room and started nibbling on the seed packets. Another Kooka baby on the block, still together with a grown up.
Oh it´s soo beautiful out here it´s incredible. Today with the morning mist and some of the trees changing colour. The Red Cedar has a light green canopy now instead of deep green.
Coffs
20160531 Tuesday. No frost. Left early. The fan went totally dead after a while on the road. Good thing maybe? Dropped off the books at the library in case we will not have time later. Mick went to his doctors appointment. He got medicin for his stomach/throat problems which we picked up at the chemists. He got no reason from the doc as to why he might have these problems. But Jen thinks it´s food related. Went to the bank to cash ATO refund checks. Still missing one of the checks. Gotta call when we get home. But it´s such a pain calling them. Have to stand in the corner of the dunny and all of a sudden the phone can go dead. They also want voice id but the machine can never hear the voice correctly. Forgot Jen’s wallet at home but all went well at the bank since we had taken our passports. Sent a letter to Marianne and two Swedish authorities. Borrowed some films and books at the library. Had a cuppa´ at Liberty petrol station. Then we drove to Coffs Harbour. Found a Subway and had lunch there. In Coffs we found a car wash to wash off our dirty, dirty ute. Then we turned in the car at Jax for new tyres. While they worked on the tyres we went to the mall across the street and had a cuppa’ and ice cream. Back at Jax they told us our front brakes were worn down totally and they could fix it. The guy said several times he did not believe it since we had not much mileage and had to check himself. We said we had service tomorrow and the guy said to tell them to fix it and if they did not we were welcome back. We went to shop at the mall again for the evening. Got a giant chocolate box, since we are celebrating our anniversary, some food to eat at the hotel because were very tired and then some sprits and searched some stores for things we needed. After that went to our hotel. That mall across from Jax was very badly planned. We had to walk around the whole tarnation to get in from the parking lot. Nice quiet and warm hotel with good wi-fi. Jen was not feeling well and had two Lemsips and went to bed. But after a while we had a bit of celebration pizza and updating of our apparatuses.
Wednesday. Up pretty early and had breakfast in our room. Then we took Atlas to Mitsubishi and told them about both the fan problem and what Jax had said about the brakes. We were driven to the mall where we spent the time shopping for things we have not found in Kemp, until we were picked up and taken back. We had tea and mini donuts and lunch and tea again. We bought earphones, batteries, got a new spring and the armband put back into Jen’s watch for free (sometimes people are very nice for no reason!), HDMI cords, socks, underware and more. At Mitsubishi they said Jax was wrong. They also took pictures of the mouse nest that had wreaked havok with our fan. We got the fan job for free!! Believe it or not. After paying for the service we went back to the hotel. After some updating we went to a restaurant and had babyback ribs and it started to rain. The restaurant was family owned and the young son was serving us and was a very very cute, good worker. Then back to the hotel to do more updating and TV. Phew! This updating business is driving Jen nuts!
Thursday. Breakfast in the suit and packed everything and checked out. Did some more shopping at Super cheap auto and bought some fuel stabilizer liquid for the machines at the house and a lamp you can carry and hang, that has a cord. Bunnings for kitchen counter backsplash and magnetlock and small drill bits. Then we did the food shopping at Woolies and BWS. Drove a bit outside town to have a sandwich lunch. This in Urunga by the river outlet. Filled the red petrol cannister at BP and on home. We had a bit of light rain on the way home but when we got home there were puddles everywhere. So a good trip on the whole but also quite stressful as usual. The celebration part always feels like a chore says Jen. We gotta think this one over better next time.
Sometimes you have to untangle stuff
Ibland hittar man riktigt intrasslade el -rep -metall och annat grejs, runt om och ner i jorden, lite taggtråd också som grädde på moset.
The composts
Vi har 4 komposter. Vi kallar dem ettan tvåan osv.
Här är alla fyra. Ettan, tvåan, trean och fyran.
Nummer ett är den som vi använder till vardags. Där hamnar köksavfallet. Vi varvar med aska, ko-bajs mm.
Nummer två är rensningshögen. Där hamnar smågrenar och allt möjligt när vi rensar upp ett nytt område.
Nummer tre är också en hög där allting hamnar. Det kan bli mycket. Långa klängväxter och stenar och bitar av metall som man inte ser eftersom det handlar om att rensa upp. Efter några regn och varmt väder faller högarna ihop.
Ibland lägger vi små träd där som får ligga tills löven faller av.
Nummer fyra är som nummer ett men ligger i vila just nu. Den är varvad och perfekt och ligger och myser. Vi har vänt på den och det var då vi plockade ur en massa jättelarver.
Vår jord är mest lerjord och behöver blandas upp med kompost och sand för att bli lite luckrare.
I botten på rensningskomposterna har det blivit jättefin kompostjord.
Vi måste gå igenom den med finkammen för att ta bort stenar och skräp.
Sedan kör vi över alltihop med gräsklipparen som då är inställd på finhack – mulch.
Sen iväg ner till sandhögen och lite gammalt torrt gräsklipp.
Blanda.
Här är planerna på grönsakslanden.
Dela ut blandningen på de olika rutorna och sedan blanda ner.
Nästa frösådd kommer att ge fin utdelning hoppas vi.
Leaches / iglar
Yup, leaches. They come in a lot of sizes. Some are tiny tiny. You cannot feel them. They suck your blood and it feels like nothing. So now and then you have to check your body. You go out aty night and pee. There is dew. Boom you´ve got a leach crawling up your leg:
Maten
Mat, Food
Denna bild är tagen en dag innan vi åker och handlar mat.
Frysen är praktiskt taget tom, vilket är bra i det här fallet eftersom vi var tvungna att fylla den med hackad Gul Guava. Vi har slut på socker så vi måste frysa Guavan tills vi har köpt mer socker.
This is the day before we go food shopping.
The freezer is practically empty, which is good in this case since we needed to fill it with chopped up Yellow Guava.
We ran out of sugar so we have to freeze the Guavas until we have bought some more sugar.
Detta är kylskåpet innan vi fyllt det med 3 veckors livsmedel som behöver vara i kylskåpet.
Vi har också kryddor och pasta, ris osv i en plastbunke med lock.
This is the fridge before we fill it with 3 weeks of food that needs to go in the fridge.
We also have condiments and pasta, rice a.s.o. that we have in plastic lided tubs.
Beroende på vilken tid vi kommer hem och hur trötta vi är registrerar vi antingen maten samma kväll eller nästa dag på datorn. Vi skriver dit sista användningsdagen och vad det är och hur många måltider det borde bli. Sen lagar vi till, äter och fryser maten enligt det.
Depending on at what time we get home and how tired we are we either register perishable food on the computer, the same evening or the next day. We note the expiration date, what it is and how many meals it should render. Then we eat and process the food accordingly.
Fullt kylskåp. Full refrigerator.
När vi handlar försöker vi lista ut hur många måltider en bit kött kommer att utgöra. En fläskstek kan ge 4 – 5 måltider t.ex. Om vi kan få ihop till 15 måltider är det bra. Vi har också scones, pannkakor, varma smörgåsar, pumpasoppa och andra köttlösa rätter på dagordningen.
Vi har vanligtvis cirka 4 dagars mat kvar när vi går och handlar.
Det är bra eftersom vi kan ha en översvämning eller något annat naturhinder på gång.
When in the store shopping we try to figure out how many meals a piece of meat will make. A pork leg steak will be about 4 –5 meals. If we can buy 15 meals in meat it is good. We also have scones, pancakes, hot sandwiches, pumpkin soup and other meatless food on the agenda.
We usually have about 4 days food left when we go shopping.
That is good since we might have a flooding or some other nature thing going.
Vi lagar en massa grytor. Man kan variera en gryta på många sätt. Om vi tar kött för 2 personer, ca 100 gram vardera, blir det ofta mat för 4 eller 6 personer. Så en lunch / middag kan generera 3 luncher / kvällsmåltider. Maten multipliceras. Vi försöker också att göra klyftpotatis i gasugn, men det har inte lyckats väl. Snart kommer vi att prova vår egen pizza.
På senare tid vi försöker göra ett par måltider från kokböcker men eftersom vi köper billiga grejer eller använder vad som växer i trädgården så får fantasin råda. Det visar sig rutinmässigt att bli mycket aptitretande.
Idag har vi gjort linser med indiska kryddor. Supergott.
We cook a lot of stews. You can vary a stew in many ways. If you take meat for 2 people, that is ca 100 grammes each, it usually ends up being food for 4 or 6 people. So 1 lunch/dinner generates 3. The food is proliferating. We also dabble in trying to make potato wedges in the gas oven but it has not panned out well. Soon we shall try out our own pizza. Lately we try to make a couple of meals from cookbooks but since we buy the cheap stuff or use what grows in the garden we mostly use our imagination. It routinely turns out very very appetizing.
Today we made lentils in an Indie fashion – so good.
Händelsevis vi kan ha bara popcorn och vin / te till kvällsmat.
Happenstance we may have only popcorn and wine/tea for din.
Gardening chores
Ingen översättning. Prova google översättning. Lycka till.
Got the mower back. But then it rained and rained and the grass never dried up but it grew and grew and so did the weeds. Now it has been dry a couple of days so we have started raking fallen leaves and mowing. Doing some clearing too. A piece of corrugated roofing was fastened to one of the fences. Why? Who knows. We have stopped asking why. We are just glad there are some fruit trees. Took off another piece of metal stuff. A bit of squared fencing was tied onto the ordinary fence by the grapes. Starting to look nice again.
So there were no Lilly Pilly this year. A handful. But after we took down the giagantic Liquid Ambar that kept the house moist and in shade and shaded a lot of trees so who knew what they were, They have come out and shown their face. One is an orange tree, one is a Banksia, now with 9 flowers in different stages, one is a Yellow guava!, one looks like a white Lilly Pilly but has not ripened. We have of course fed them also but sunshine is very important.
Well we have a l o t of yellow guavas this year. They will end up as jelly and cordial. We ran out of sugar so the freezer is full of chopped up guavas now.
The new nutseason has started and we are picking some nuts every day. The Pecans are a bit bigger than last year. We have fed it a bit more this year so we´ll se next year if it was right. The Kumquats are coming nicely allthough we have not done anything for them. The big citrus grove is still on the to do list. The lemons are ripening but the rest have some time to go.
So the toilet has had to wait a bi. But we will get that done soon. We had to build a rickety temporary shower meanwhile. The creek has become too cold.
Autumn has set in. Time to chop wood too. There is always a lot of things to do.
Raking on the agenda
Should be ok w translate.
Krattade halva närmaste trädgården.
Lät trädgårdsslangen bestämma gränsen.
Mick klippte gräset övre delen som vi använder utanför grinden.
Vi plockar lite nya nötter varje dag nu. Pecannötterna är lite större än förra året. Jag matade dem med gräsklipp. Få sen nästa år då jag denna gång matat dem med både kompost och komocka.
Vi har börjat skriva ihop lite historia om vårt hus.
Kylen och frysen börjar tömmas på mat. Frysen börjar fyllas av gul Guava. Vi har slut på sockret. Dags att handla snart.