Another week flies by...

What a mad week!  So much has happenned that I am not sure I will remember it all to include here!  No pictures tonight - I will have to add some in later.

The mulberries are doing fantastically well in the hothouse.  It is incredible to see how much of a boost they get by being warm - though when i think about how much I perk up in the warm weather I completely relate to those little sticks!  Just adding photos here - see how these "A" Graders are sprouting, but even the B to Fs are doing well! 

My life has revolved around trees this week!  This photo is of the eastern fenceline - approximately 100 rudis and blackbutt.  Planting, fertilising, mulching, bagging, repotting - the mission to plant as many of the trees from Trish as possible is a big one and possibly not achievable.  But I am out there doing my best - tally to date this week is around the 300 mark - thats a lot of bending, shaking, sprinkling, digging and hammering!   I actually went to the chiro yesterday - my hip, neck and shoulder had got so bad that I couldn't do one more shovel load of mulch if you paid me (now that would be nice!)  What an amazing experience - he took one look at me and then proceeded to identify every ache, strain, knot, misalignment and malfunction in this decrepit old body without me pointing them out!  He was great and I felt a thousand times better today! 
Back to the trees... I started in the house block this week.  Thought I would risk a few with the sheep, especially as I am not really going to be away very long and can do some running maintenance on them when I get back.  For the record - we planted 465 trees this time two years ago with a grand total of 20 surviving the first year with our woolly residents!  And not one of those 20 survived its second year - amounting to a success rate of absolutely 0!  I am hoping to do better this time around.
I have planted Ross and Merideth's fenceline, a little of the laneway, areas around Dam Three and added to the wetlands.  Felicity and I also planted about 100 trees on Rob and Maree's block (then had the yummiest lunch at a vegetarian / health food / indian cafe in Dunsborough!  Am definitely going there again!)
Am trying to re-pot as many trees as possible too - as there is no way i will get them all in the ground this week!  I am putting them into bigger pots so they can grow and be ready for the planting season next year - which of course isn't now (but we have never been ones to follow the rules!)
Enough said of trees!!  My other task of the week has been whippersnippering - yes I got the right bit for it and have been cutting a swathe through knee high grass all over the farm!  Still plenty to do though.
On the business development, things have been moving along nicely.  On the verbal word of approval from the shire, I went ahead and paid the second deposit on our shed, which means it is now being manufactured and is 25 days away from landing in our driveway!  Added a mezzanine floor to the plan - one it will reduce the ceiling height and heating issues and two will be very valuable storage in the future and would be much more expensive to add later.  Have moved away from the idea of using our own wood as lining - think we should just use the cheap pine boards we have used in our current house and stain them ancient chinese teak or whatever colour we want.  Have drawn up a plan for the doors and windows and will take these in to Busselton Aluminium on Monday for quotes.  I also drew up the floor plan with electrics etc, so Ross could get started on the slab the minute there is any downtime on the house.

Which brings me to the next event of the week... on Monday Ross arrived at the door looking very forlorn and when i asked him what was wrong he said that the Shire had just rang and said they have just noticed the original house on the block and that the Building Licence that had been approved (but not sent in writing) was no longer valid - we had to put in a development application for a Rural Worker Residence!  What a pain!  So all week, between Ross and I, we have measured up this old house, drawn plans and elevations, written the DA and prepared a site plan.  The Shire say it will be 6-10 weeks before approval (though I am sure they will fasttrack it as the delay is their fault) and Ross is fuming - he has turned away all work for this period to focus on building our house and showroom!  So will keep you posted on progress!

Chris and Ian popped in - our sheep are staying on holidays a little longer.  It is still very wet in the paddocks and they are apparently very happy where they are!  When they return, we have agreed that all sheep will stay behind the Wallace Line - thus protecting our 100's of new trees and sentencing Rob to a lifetime of slashing, mowing and whippering the front paddock himself!  (Yippee he says - he loves it!)

Lastly (and very exciting!) have decided on a guide for the Kili adventure and have paid deposits, got itineraries and (almost) packed my bags!  Got a prescription for Diamox but will not use prophylactically - I will just carry it in case of need.  I bought a couple of bags of cherry ripes and caramello koalas to take on the trip but unfortunately as happens in these situations, I have eaten the lot and will have to buy replacement stocks to put in my bag!  (Us hardworking farmers need sustenance!)

So once again, thats it from me.  I am sure there is a lot more happenned this week but this blog is long enough and I really need to go to bed!  Bye for now.