Out with the old and in with the new

 It was time to break through today and finally remove the temporary window/wall.

And the plasterers kept plastering.

And the builders kept sawing and nailing and measuring all those fiddly bits .....

And the shed builders kept hammering and shed building....
And the spouting men came to finish the spouting...
and they all had their radios on different stations!

Morning tea was a huge affair. Two batches of scones were needed this time.

Trap update...
I googled how to get rid of white flies in the garden. They talked about them being attracted to yellow. I cut an old manila folder into three and smeared vaseline  on the surface ( for them to get stuck on) and with great anticipation, pegged them to the hollyhocks.

Not one whitefly !!!

I also rolled wet newspaper and put that out to catch the earwigs.

Not one earwig!!
The strange thing is, there were earwigs hiding in the folded yellow manila folder . Go figure!
( I have put them back out there tonight.)

Off to the nursery today and came home with these....

Not that I want to catch every insect out there but there are enough to feed the birds as well I can assure you.
 There are ten sticky traps. 
 That should do the trick surely.

Out with the old
Time to take out the tulip bulbs and put in some potted colour around the bird bath.

These are called portulaca. I haven't grown them before but they are very pretty.

I am loving these primrose foxgloves. How exquisite are those little splotches.

And I'm so glad that Abraham Darby is still Abraham Darby..... no root stock there thank goodness.

We finished mulching the new tree plantings. 
Just in time I think.
 We are hoping that will save some watering.

Have a lovely weekend everyone.

More concoctions and Peace

Early Monday morning and the storm clouds were rolling in.

Amy had stayed here for the night and took three hours to drive to work in Camberwell !!
She needed coffee and chocolate by then!

Our inside workers were able to continue.
The ceiling batts went in.

They are made from 80% recycled glass and wool and are fire resistant ( that's always good to know!)

The electricians were here too. 

We only had 8mm of rain on Monday morning but  all the new plantings had also been watered on Sunday, so today was the perfect day to put some mulch around them to try to keep some moisture in the ground........my job.
 I only got about a third of the way around so will keep going tomorrow.

It 's been heartening to see all the new shoots coming from those trees that had been cut back. Many of them were back to ground level.
 They may not grow as abundantly as before but at least it will be some greenery. 

And the burnt bark is staring to peel away from the trees that were burnt but remained alive.

Nature truly is quite remarkable.


Today was back to all hands on deck.

We have another new foal in the mothers and babies paddock.
 Peanut and Chips and their Mums are still there. We must find out who their new friends are.

Three baby willy wagtails.
 I have no idea how there can be enough room for them all in their little egg cup sized nest.
Bill used his camera for this photo. Mum and Dad were not happy.

The earwig experiment hasn't completely solved the problem on my beloved hollyhocks.
They may be making the large holes but I think the white flies are another big problem out there. I have noticed clouds of them around the plants especially on warmish days.

Tonight I am going to make up a concoction using garlic, chilli , ginger, grated soap and water.
 I will spray it on a few of the plants first and wait for 24 hours to see what happens before I spray all the holly hocks.( just in case I kill the lot!)

And I will roll up some newspaper houses for the earwigs to hide in during the day.( I wonder if it should be damp?)

This beautiful Peace rose bush is blooming it's head off.

I have been watching keenly to see which of our roses are unchanged and which have reverted to the root stock.
Amazingly, it's looking pretty good so far.

Success times two

Some success at last!

Definitely worth a few more tries.

Water with linseed oil and lid off. Forget about the holes!

It was teeming with tradies on Friday. 

We even had the painter here yesterday ( Saturday ) varnishing the interior around the timber windows. They are cedar and look amazing. 
 We were originally going to paint everything but changed our minds. Talk about making it up as you go along........we have been in and out of the room all weekend just looking and smelling and marveling at how nice it all feels. I know it looks like a mess in there but it feels so calm and restful.

And to be honest I just wanted to keep touching these handles and smelling the varnish!!!

We have decided to do the same on the exterior  around the windows too. Only came to that decision yesterday.

Remember Bertie??

Bertie is Amy's camper van purchased at the end of last year.

Somehow Bertie survived the fire unscathed. It remains a complete mystery to us as to how that could possibly have happened!

Poor Bertie is yet to complete a successful road trip....anywhere!!

Expedition 1....destination Barwon Heads.....made it to Sunbury.

Expedition 2....destination Echuca....made it to Rochester.

Amy has now started to toy with the idea of selling Bertie ( and who could blame her ), so Expedition 3......destination Torquay was being considered as the last hurrah so to speak.

You will be pleased to know that Bertie has just arrived home safely....mission accomplished. 

Flynn with his wash and wear hair....

And Flynn with his new haircut !!!

This has been my 100th blog post.

If you are one of those people still reading along after all this time......thank you. xx