Back again...

Yes it's been a while!  Seems the pace just stepped up in the last week (realising that i only have a week or so to go before going to Cambodia has put the pressure on!)  Now, where were we....?
These are about half of the 1000 trees given to us by Men of the Trees!   (Where on earth will they all go - and more importantly how many can i get planted in the time i have left? Many will go into bigger pots for planting next May / June.)  Planting over the last week included completing the western and eastern fence lines with more blackbutt, native shrubs and the new eucalyptus rudis (great in wet ground apparently and we have plenty of that!) and a line of rudis along the Wallace Line. Have sorted out the whipper snipper but purchased the wrong head so waiting till Tuesday to go and exchange it - planning to cut around each of the new trees and give them a fighting chance against the grass and weeds going wild in the paddocks!
Men of the Trees also loaned me two pushpotties or whatever they are called - very generous and trusting of them!  It certainly knocks a few hours off the planting time but with 1000 to plant our trees are no longer getting the "private school education" they used to get - more like a good state school - they get pushed into the ground with the pushpottie with a handful of native fertiliser.  A rough splash of beetle powder and they are on their way... some are not even lucky enough to get a bag - we just do not have enough.  They seem to be doing alright without one but Donna says the survivial rates will really shrink. 

Have done a lot of work around the house - this is the freshly mown back lawn where i sat with my coffee to text rob and watch the sunset on the first sunny day of the year!  It really was beautiful and a highlight of my week!  (I HAVE got a life, really I have...)

Small but exciting progress on the new house - the floor joists are in and ready for the MDF which arrived last week. Ross has sought quotes from plumbers and soon as we pick one this week they will be on site!
Was great to see Nic in Perth last Thursday - we met with Kaye in the city (never really done that before!) and went to one of the St Georges Terrace bars for a drink - what a culture shock!  There are actually zillions of people who work in those big office towers and it seems they all do things like go for a drink after work on Thursdays - I have been away too long.  Went back to Kaye and Ted's to eat our take-away Indian and drink too much wine - loved it!

Have been up early and squeezing in a bit of excercise.  Am very consious that i will be attempting to climb Africa's highest mountain in less than a month!  Have done a couple of 8-12km walks (just around the neighbourhood) and cycled to Cowtown on Sunday (what a fantastic way to spend the morning - bruschetta and cappuchino at Udderly Divine and complete the loop home along Bussell Highway - some big hills though!)

Our first (trial) Hot House is up and running in the hope that our 300 or so mulberry cuttings will have extra incentive to take root!  It is so warm inside that I took my morning coffee in there and basked in the tropical (well almost) temperatures instead of the usual stroll around the yard in the misty rain!