Dual Flush

Yesterday found me answering the door to Sydney Water, i was to get a flash new dual flush toilet, very exciting.
you may ask yourself whats so exciting about getting a new toilet, well for me its all about how much water we will be saving & also the first step to turning the purple throne room into something much nicer.
so with out further ado, before & after



She is all ceramic Australian Made by Caroma, with the highest water rating of 4 stars {the only toilet to have the 6 star rating are urinals} 4.5lt full flush & 3lt half flush. $330 spread over the next 4 water bills. just too easy. took away the old toilet to be crushed & used in road base.

Gardening Australia

Saturday found A & i at the Gardening Australia Show, we went last year for the first time & were a little disappointed, but it could have been an off year so we thought we would give it another go.
i came home with 2 shopping baskets, 2 books & 2 plants but saying that it was crap, these items i could have purchased from the internet. there was even less there than last year, its a pity as it could have been soo much more.
there were a lot of food & skin products & that's all great but some of the things we were after there was no sign of. on our list we had worms, canning supplies, dehydrator, solar ovens just to name a few.
it was a waste of $34 & our morning, i don't think we will be going next year.

Changing Seasons

it seems like i can only manage to post once a month
well i was on a wireless & everyone else in the house had cables, mine dropped out every 5 mis or so . impossible to get anything done, now i have a cable so yeah ha no more drop outs.

looks like its time for an up date

on National Tree day we went up to Blackheath Market & picked up 2 Hazelnut Trees that i had ordered, an Ennis & a Halls Giant, also 6 bails of straw for $10 a bail.
planted out my two new trees down the side near a fig & 4 other miscellaneous fruit trees.

i spent an afternoon taking the sides, floor & roof of the green chook house & the 2 boys & i had a hard time moving it from the driveway down to the chook yard, when i say hard time we had to lift the frame over the side gate {the gate is just over shoulder height} swear words & bruises all round, even tho it was just the frame it was still quite heavy. into the chook yard it went. now it is home to the straw bails.

we have lots of fruit trees some of them we know what they are & others we will have to wait till leaves & fruit appear, these 2 photos below were taken 2 weeks ago, bare winter branches



now my yard is full of beautiful pink & white flowers

these 2 large trees are Blood plums, full of white flowers & thousands of busy bees

last Sunday afternoon we hung the hammock between the 2 plums, where Sally & i spent a good couple of hours whiling away the afternoon

Concrete Laundry Tub

Down beside the shed we found a single concrete laundry tub &
the legs were under the house.
we have been renovating our laundry {before & after pics to come later}
& i was going to use it in there but thought it would look great out in the yard.
we have put it down at the bottom tap near the chook yard
very convenient for washing out water & food bowls.

the legs are buried part of the way so the sink
would fit under the tap & to give it stability

sink on, perfect height
dont ya just lov the Green inside the tub

next we layed stand stone pavers
i have been carrying these around for years,
it is great to see some have found a home
i also planted some violets in between the stone.

Finished :o)
today i will pick up some pipe so i can run the water from the waste
to the large Daphne bush pictured behind the tub

In the Chook Yard

Miss Black, Brown Betty Twins & Miss Grey

a new fence with mesh concreted in the trench
& Miss Sally walking the line

Back filled,
we will be joining another lot of chook wire on top

New Gate Posts
we reused the old gate
looking back toward the house

Miss Sally standing guard
waiting for me to come out of the chook yard

Last Saturday i came home with these 3 baby girls
the baby grey is a blue Wyandotte
the white is a white Wyandotte
& the silver grey is a columbian

all three are still in the shed on their own during the day
Miss Black is pretty mean,
all she wants to do is chase them & peck.
hopefully next Friday i will let them out
in the yard for a bit,
in a separate yard & see how they go.

Our Town

A photographic tour

Our Street

Rail Line across the road
{Freight Train}

Controversial Community Hall
{as seen from my front yard}

Library
{of which i am now a member}

Rick Rutherfords Country Store

Antique Store

Lawson Bowling Club
{of which we are now members of}

Old Girls School
{whats left of it}

Path to the Station

Station Tunnel

Platform

Bubbler
{something you dont see much of any more out side of schools}

War Memorial

Memorial Walk
{lined with Soldier plaques}

The Shops they won't be tearing down
{such a pity}

The Hotel
{pub}
under renovations to restore it to its former beauty

Road Works

Something New

Community Centre & School Hall

Vet Surgery

New Road
{for all the new shops}

Our New Adventure

this is looking out the sunroom/dinning/family room window on the Friday we got the keys to our new home, this is only a small part of our yard it goes a fair way past that big pine tree in the middle of the photo

mmm where to begin, its been more than a month since i last posted
crazy busy with packing, cleaning, moving, unpacking & not to forget work, boy am i tired
we moved into our new Blue Mountains Home last Saturday. with a lot of help from friends & family it all went pretty smooth.
i spent the whole day at our Linden House packing cars\trucks/trailers & cleaning
our brother in law came up with a car trailer & all the boys lifted the chicken house up onto it & off the girls went up the highway to our new home. i think it would have been a pretty funny sight driving past a chook house. {if anyone saw my Green & Red Chook House traveling along the highway id love to hear about it}
by about 3.30 i was up at our new home, { not to far from Jacqui at Life In The Dome} it was very overwhelming. stuff everywhere
A's sister & mum came up & they directed the furniture & boxes to the right rooms, helped J & S put up the beds & did some unpacking. everyone asking {where do you want this, is this in the right spot} grrr i was drop dead tired, i just didn't care where anything went, as long as i could fall into bed it was all good.
Sunday i layed a brick floor in the existing chook shed { the girls new home} & by later that afternoon they were happily scratching around in their new shed.


with all the lifting & the brick laying i have hurt my left elbow & fore arm, thank goodness i took Monday off. i have been on light duties at work no lifting at all, it was starting to feel a lot better by Thursday but today i have been using it too much & its aching pretty bad tonight, tomorrow i am only on foreman duties no using my arm at all.

today we put in a 4 bay compost, did some mulching & the boys mowed some of the lawn. tomorrow we will finish off the chook yard fence & maybe mark out the fence line for the veggie garden.
there are just so many things to do its unreal.

Miss Sally is very happy with her new yard, she wears her self out running around all day then spends the night asleep on her bed in front of the fire or on the lounge in the sunroom. she thinks she's good because she can come in & out when ever she wants.
since coming back from training she now sleeps in our room, well until the sunroom is cleaned up that is. she came home with kennel cough & was pretty sick for a week or so, on antibiotics & BBQ chickens for a week. thank goodness she's all better.

until next time at ............
looking for a name for our new place, any ideas?