Weekend Work

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After spending my weekdays in the office there is nothing I enjoy more than spending time in the garden on the weekend.  I will start with what we actually did last weekend.

We finally finished building this raised garden bed.  There are now 4 beds complete and we eventually plan to have 9 of them.  The cardboard is a large carton that was the packaging from the refrigerator we bought last year.  We always keep any large pieces of cardboard as it makes a great base for the beds and is very effective at smothering the underlying grass before eventually breaking down.  I will cover the remainder of the base with some more cardboard before gradually filling the bed with a combination of fallen leaves, mulch, compost and grass clippings which will, over time, become rich soil.  It will all be sourced from our block.

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We also created a bed for the asparagus.  Since asparagus grows very vigorously and spreads, we wanted to make sure that we are able to contain it.  The Duke dug a trench and buried some offcuts of Colorbond steel to a depth of 320mm to form the border of the asparagus bed.  Here is the work in progress.

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This is what it looked like once we had finished and planted the asparagus.

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The lettuce seeds I planted a couple of weeks ago have not put in an appearance so yesterday I bought some seedlings and planted them in between the corn which is growing nicely.

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The other thing we did today was to start to tidy up around the citrus trees.  Here is the lime tree with a new border of rocks and some mulch.  You can the orange tree behind it and grapefruit to the far right which have been bordered with rocks and now I just need to finish weeding them and put the mulch down.

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We decided to border the other orange tree and the lemon tree in one large area.  The Duke collected up the rocks from down the back near the water tanks.  We have an abundance of volcanic rocks on the property so it is good to be able to use them.

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I have planted more seeds – most expired by several years – so will see how they go.  Lettuce, radish, chilli, tomato and bok choy all went in today.  I am determined to grow more of our own food and am hopeful of greater success now that the vegetable patch is completely fenced.

This Time Last Year………….

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……….well almost.  It was actually 15th October 2013 that I published  this post which was the beginning of a series based on Francine Jay’s book, “The Joy of Less”.

I re-discovered it recently when I was working on adding back the photos to my earlier blog posts.  The series is now complete with photos and I would encourage you to take the time to read all of the posts.  I think there are about a dozen of them.  Even though I wrote them, there were some revelations which have inspired me to keep going on my journey to let go of more ‘stuff’.

The original catalyst for the series was the purchase of a new refrigerator and the fact that it required me to open the door of the overhead cupboard every time I needed to access the refrigerator.  We did have the doors re-modelled and this is what it looks like now.

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Mini Moments

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My focus has been on the real world rather than blogging over the past week.

We have had a long weekend here and a house-guest which was lovely.

Much of the time was spent chatting and being social so not too much housework was done.  However it is interesting to look around and see that there was not too much that needed doing.  I think that the trick is to do a little bit frequently.

It only takes a moment to get a few small jobs done.  As you know, we do not arrive home from work until after 7pm.  Last night I made salad while The Duke cooked the salmon on the BBQ. After dinner I hung out a load of washing that I had done before I went to work and brought in the dry clothes from the line and folded them.  I also cleaned the vanity and mirror in the bathroom and re-made the guest bed.

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This morning I unloaded the dishwasher and tonight will bring in the washing plus finish the ironing.  There are only about 5 items as I did most of it on the weekend.

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I simply do not have the time or inclination to spend huge chunks of time on housework so this method works best for me.  It also means that my weekends are kept reasonably clear for spending time in the garden or more time-consuming jobs like preparing several meals.

The Garden Grows

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After being away for six weeks, the vegetable garden was in need of some attention.

I cleared out the remains of the broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower which had been harvested while we were away.  There are now corn, lettuce, radish and cucumber seeds planted in the spaces available.

The area inside the fence that I had earmarked for a herb garden is now sporting a couple of very healthy  parsley plants as well as several basil seedlings.  I planted these on the weekend as they were kindly left for us by the house sitters.  They commented that it was cheaper to buy a pot of seedlings than a bunch of parsley or basil.

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I have previously shown you here the netting that we bought at the Garden Show and we intended to ask the house sitters to put it on the peach tree as I felt it would need to be done while we were away.  That did not happen so now all of our small, green peaches are enclosed.  If this is successful, in a few months we will be harvesting luscious peaches that have not been stung by fruit fly. I can only hope!

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Before we went away we planted the asparagus and rhubarb in styrofoam boxes until I could prepare the areas where we wanted to plant them.  On the weekend we dug a trench and set the concrete blocks into the ground to form a border for the rhubarb.  I hope to plant some flowers in the small soil-filled pockets of the blocks.

I hope to prepare the bed for the asparagus in the coming weeks.

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We have a long weekend coming up and I am hoping to get some more done in the garden.

Maintenance and Mr Bunnings

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Home maintenance is an ongoing issue and one with which we have varying degrees of success.

On Saturday evening The Duke announced that he would need to go to Bunnings the next day.  Bunnings is a chain of large, supermarket-style hardware stores and the nearest one is about a 60km round trip so it is not a matter of jumping in the car and going around the corner.  Therefore, we tend to make sure that we get everything we need in one go.  We also took the opportunity to go to the fish shop and buy some more salmon.

Anyway, off we went to Bunnings and bought a new garden sprayer (the initial reason for the trip), new blades for the Stanley knife, a new garden tap, plumber’s tape and new rollers for the sliding door.

The outdoor tap had been leaking for some time and changing the washer made no difference so The Duke decided it was time for a new tap which proved to be successful.

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The next project was to install the new roller on the sliding door in the bathroom.  We  had to remove the timber pelmet which covers the track mechanism.

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I did not take a photo of the actual tracks but we had to replace one of the rollers as it had broken.  The door could still be used but it did not run smoothly and it was evident that there was a problem.  We took the broken piece with us to ensure that we bought the correct sized replacement.  They did come as a single item but we decided to buy 2 so that we would have a spare.  At $4.00 each it is not a huge investment and we have another in case it is required in the future.

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Two out of two jobs successfully completed!  The Duke and Mr Bunnings worked well together.

I think the trick is to know wat jobs are within your capability and what are not.  Do you reglarly undertake home maintenance jobs to keep things in working order?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorting the Photos & Myself

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Some of you will remember this blog post from last year when I shared the awful realisation that I had deleted all the photos from my blog posts.  While I have put that experience behind me and moved on, I am aware that many of the older blog posts really do not make a lot of sense without the photos.

I am forever trying to sort out all of my digital photos and naturally my recent focus has been on getting all of the ones we took during our holiday into order.  However, I have been looking at many of the others and have found that most (if not all) of the ones that I deleted are still in various folders.  It will be a huge job but I am going to attempt to reinstate them in the relevant blog posts.

As with any big project it is best to do a little bit at a time so I have set myself the goal of fixing at least one blog post every day.  There will be no particular sequence but one day it will all be fixed, I hope.

It is now almost a week since we arrived home from overseas and I have worked 4 full days and am exhausted.  I am definitely looking forward to the weekend and the family coming to visit tomorrow.  We are looking forward to showing them the photos and giving them the small gifts we bought.

A Laundry Gadget

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Several months ago I was searching for clips that would hook onto the clothesline to hold shirts or dresses on a hanger.  I have some old ones that came from my mother-in-law but I had not seen in any the shops recently.  Naturally, I turned to that guru, Mr Google and found this site.  The Hook-Ups which are about halfway down the page were a better version of what I was looking for.

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However, it is a UK site so I decided to wait until we went there on holidays.  Now I am home with my packet of Hook-Ups that I bought at Lakeland in Glasgow.

Once they are clipped on the line it is a simple matter of slipping the hanger through the hole.  I have about 5 clipped on the line and the rest are in the peg bag on the end of the laundry trolley.

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It is quick and easy to get the clothes off the line and I can hang them on the rack in the spare room ready for ironing.  Even better, there are no peg marks.

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What gadgets or tips do you have to make it simpler to get the washing and ironing done?

Carpet Cleaning

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We have carpet in the three bedrooms and I generally keep it clean by vacuuming regularly and a sprinkle of bicarb soda on any grubby marks.  However, I get it cleaned every 2 – 3 years and today was the day.

We removed everything from the 3 rooms apart from the cast-iron bed frame in the main bedroom. The other rooms are completely bare.

Empty bedroom
Moving everything out of 3 rooms makes you realise how much stuff you have.  Here is some of it stacked in the study.

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The two chests of drawers fitted in the hallway just past the bedroom.

Furniture in hallway
The mattress and base were in the bathroom and more stuff in the living room as well.  Smaller items found temporary homes in the wardrobes.

It was a sunny day and I took the opportunity to wash and air all of the bedding.

The  carpet is still a bit damp underfoot so we have re-assembled and made our bed and plugged in the alarm clock but other than that the rest of the furniture and effects will not be returned to their rightful homes until tomorrow evening.

I have cleaned all of the louvres in the living room (79 of them) and The Duke washed down the outside of the house and cleaned all of the outdoor furniture.

Blog posts may be a bit hit and miss for the next couple of weeks as we are really busy.  In between full-time work, preparations for our overseas trip in 11 days ( who’s counting?), a milestone birthday celebration for The Duke, guests arriving on Thursday and preparing the house for the housesitters who will be here while we are away there is not a lot of time for blogging.

What’s happening at your place?

A Different Giveaway

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This is not a regular blog giveaway.  This is a personal advertisement to any reader who may be interested.  If you are interested please contact me either via the comments or email listed the ‘About Me’ page.

Details: Handmade christening gown and petticoat. I made this from the fabric offcuts of my wedding dress and it was worn by both my daughters and granddaughter but no longer required. Perfect condition. Fits baby approximately 3kg – 7kg (newborn to 6 months).

Pick-Up: I can post this anywhere worldwide. Postage is payable by the recipient.