Friday 18 May 2018

STILL CLEARING UP

The weather continues to be great with temperatures over 20 degrees and with blue sky and lots of sun.
Sure we've had the odd spot of rain but fortunately no big winds for a while (the deck furniture is safe).

I've continued to cut down small trees and bushes and trim big branches off the bigger trees. I've been using my trusty hand saw and, when I'm out of reach I've used the (now working) Black and Decker battery powered pole cutter. The flax and ferns have been getting a good haircut with my Niwashi tool and the bastard convolvulus and other creepers have been ripped out and disposed of.

I couldn't have done any of this if I hadn't replaced the car for one with a tow-bar and towing capability and bought a cage trailer.



This little sucker has well and truly paid for itself with now more than 10 loads to the dump.
I discovered a local tipping place only a couple of kms from home so getting rid of the garden waste is a doddle (but at $25 a load though). It's better than the 26kms to the council dump though.
This afternoon after taking The Old Girl to the bus station (she's been up here all this week and last weekend) I got stuck in again and filled and disposed of two trailer loads.

Nature fights back though. As I've reported before I've had three wasp stings and had to go to the doctors to get anti-histamine pills. My arms and legs are a criss-cross of scratches and scrapes. This afternoon, when I was half way up a tree and aware of new scratches, I noticed a lot of blood on the leaves of the tree I was trimming. I looked down at my right forearm and there was a big gouge out of it that was bleeding profusely. I had to shower and douse the wound in Dettol before binding it with an improvised bandage.

All good though. The results are starting to be seen and it's always a 'feel-good' frame of mind after doing some physical labour and accomplishing things. Tonight I'll prepare some falafel for dinner. I bought lots of yummy ingredients today - greek yoghurt, hummus, garlic and mint mayonnaise, chick peas and pita bread, a mixed kale and other greens salad plus some other additives. I'll pre-prepare this before going up to the local club for a beer or a glass of wine. I don't often go to the club which is a shame as it's a nice community Cosmopolitan-type club (that allows women members) but on Fridays they have a members draw that accumulates if the winning member isn't present when the draw is made. It starts at $50 and I think it's up to about $500 now. Winning that would top off a great week:


  • Having The Old Girl up here during the week (even if she did beat me at pool)
  • Getting the OK from the orthopaedic surgeon for golf, tennis and coastal walks as long as I'm careful
  • Getting some things done in the garden
  • Getting a result on a community project I've been working on (I'm the local hall custodian)
  • Seeing a sensible budget from the Labour government.

Take care and no doubt I will regale talk to you soon.



3 comments:

THE CURMUDGEON said...

Robert wrote a really good poem on his blog.
I tried to comment but his settings won't allow it. Pity that - just when he meets the high standards set by Richard of Richard's Bass Bag (which is, apparently, the original Bass Bagging blog. Who would have thought).

Richard (of RBB) said...

Question mark at the end? Let's not let standards slip.

THE CURMUDGEON said...

No, it wasn't a question.
Who would have thought. What he would have thought we don't know.
Remember Who?

Here, this might remind you:

https://youtu.be/kTcRRaXV-fg