It's 23:20 and I've spent most of the evening catching up on filing, sorting out my tax stuff and not submiting my overdue BAS because I have no idea where my ATO digital certificate has gone. They obviously sent it to me because I have the password. Nothing for it but to ask them for a new one tomorrow. It's stuff like this that drives me nuts. I've got a filing cabinet and by the end of the week it will have my stuff in it - hopefully organised so I can find what I've filed and avoid some of this frustration.
My filing cabinet and my desk and drawing table are in the marquee which for the last 3 weeks has been lowered so that I can't get into it easily and neither can the wind. As I think I've mentioned previously we've had some ferocious winds of late and I had little desire to find the thing a a tangled and mangled mess so down it came to half mast or a bit less.
I bought some additional tent guys and pegs 2 weeks ago and this morning after two days of calm (excellent weather for burning piles of branches), in a light drizzle I re-erected it. Of course it wasn't raining when I started but that's Winter for you. Just wish some of the water was getting into the tank. The dam is nearly running a banker so we'll have plenty of garden water through summer and beyond.
The question which seems to be on everyone's lips (not sure about that apostrophe) is, "When are you going to start building ?". Don't have an exact date but it will probably be a week or so after we sign the contract. Last Monday Mick the builder & went to meet with the relevant Council officers to discuss some issues they had with the site plan. It was a pretty cordial meeting and we all left satisfied with the outcome and it only took about 20 minutes. The final plans went in on Friday and I expect to hear from Michael in a day or so.
On Friday evening Ros & I went to share a bowl of soup with Barb and Tony a local couple who survived the fires with their house intact after several hours of strenuous firefighting - they also had a plan and followed it! Didn't save the shed and the forty years of tools and memories that it contained but they did a bloody good job of saving the house. The soup and company were great and after a drink or three and several hours of conversation we drove home to be greeted by the snap crackle and pop of the grass as we crunched our way down the glistening white paddock from the drive.
I've been looking at tanks and barns and bricks and more than a few other things on the net and on Saturday morning after the 100 day breakfast, decided to take Ros to see an Austral brick display in Thomastown. Bit of a disappointment and a drama to say the least. None of them really looked like the one's I'd seen online and the people in the office were less than bloody helpful - didn't even offer to let me look online via their screens, just wanted to tell me what I'd done wrong in logging onto their website. They did at least give us a brochure.
I'd been hoping to see a couple of the bricks I'd found online but couldn't and wasn't able to remember their names so that I could show Ros and she'd say "Great" and that would be the bricks done with. The helpfulness of the staff had made me really grumpy and as Ros was "overwhelmed" by the choice we left but not before agreeing on a couple of possible options.
The 100 day breakfast was a celebration put on by our local CFA as an opportunity for people to get together and have a bit of breakfast and share experiences. We met many people including Jan long time friend, who subsequently came up to the farm for dinner and told me about the big round bales that Ian Chivers from Australian Native Seeds had for sale. They are used to cultivate native grasses and still have many seeds in them as well as ready made mulch. I mailed Ian and confirmed their availability as well as ensuring that I could get the Griffin cultivar of microlaena stipoides, which I came across during an assignment for my horticulture course last year. Only problem is that the bales are near Wangaratta which is several hours drive from here. Have to see how many large bales I can get in a tandem trailer or whether Alan from the Stock and Station Agency in town will pick them up for a reasonable rate in his truck.
Planted a few more Grevillea Gaudi Chaudi, Correas and Limoneum (statice) as well as some of the myoporum (groundcover) and a couple of Eremophila (emu bush) which were looking a bit dry and probably won't survive.
And finally for today - more generosity from the Volunteer Fire Brigades Victora. They are an amalgamation of the two unions who used to represent volunteer firefighters and "..were approached by a number of our sister interstate volunteer firefighter organisations who were keen to provide financial assistance to volunteer firefighters and their families specifically, rather than contribute to the state fund." .... "Contributions to the fund have been received from volunteer brigades in all Australian states, as well as from other organisations and individuals...", including the Herald Sun newspaper raised $471,000, ..." from sale of a photograph showing a CFA volunteer giving a distressed koala a drink of water in the Gippsland fires.".
I received a letter from them on Saturday which contained a very generous cheque that will go a long way towards getting the barn built.
Thanks to everyone who has contributed, you have no idea how much this support means.
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