Koala Rescued

Victims of the bushfires are also the wildlife, livestock and pets. Up to a million animals have been killed or injured. Here is a video of a koala being rescued by one of our firefighters click on the link below.



Koala Rescued

Please keep the Victorian people in your thoughts and prayers as well as all of the injured animals and the people helping and caring for them.

What a crazy night!

After a hot stinking day in the shop with all the machinery outside digging and pounding the earth I was packing up to go home and I felt the shop building shaking so I went out side to see what machine was doing what. One of the workers on a big roller came over to me, he must have seen the look on my face and he told me that if I feel any vibrations to let them know, well I told him the building is shaking in its boots and he said he will let his supervisor know. A few days earlier a young man came in and took photos of the walls and any apparent cracks in the building just in case more cracks appeared while they are working.

Anyway I left to go home and had to pull off to the side of the road because I was been pelted with hail stones the size of walnuts along with leaves and small branches. This lasted a good ten minutes and I notices a number of cars had also pulled over. So once the hail stones stopped I was off again on my 45 minute drive home and notice further down the road smoke in the air , a bushfire was over on one of the ridges. My thoughts went straight to the Victoria fires but this was no way in comparison to that but as I drove through one of the small suburbs I noticed the fire trucks were all out. When I got home the wind was picking up and a storm was moving in with thunder and lightening, it eventually came and dumped on us 10mm of rain which was very refreshing.

Not long in the evening a neighbour came up and told us he seen a horse running full bolt down the main street, not knowing if it was my horse Buddy who should be safely up in the back paddock I was not going to take any chances so I grabbed a lead and Dave and I went out looking for this crazed horse. By this time some of the people where congregating around the fire sheds talking about the two fires burning in the area, we waved and went on in pursuit of the horse but as it was dark and the weather was a bit wild we were unable to see it . On the way home we stopped at the next door neighbours and seen his pig out and pulled over then noticed the neighbour pulling up behind us. He told us that it was his horse that had been chased out of the gate by one of his dogs and he was out looking for it as well. Well we decided to wait till morning as the conditions were not good and left to go home for a good cup of tea.

Lovely Lisa from Laughing Orca Ranch has sent my way the Earth Angel Award which is very kind of her and I also feel honoured as this is the second one I have recieved. This award is for blogging friends that are angels on earth and as I think of all the blogs I have read and the friendships I have made there is not one blog that I know of that does not deserve this award. You know a thoughtful written word is so powerful and does so much good to people that I want to pass this award on to everyone that passes through and reads my blog and encourage you to leave a comment for me and to all the other blogs that you visit, think it as a pay it forward gift :)

Renovations

Well renovations are still happening and we have accomplished a lot so far on as little money as possible. When you can do the manual labour yourself you can save heaps. Here Dave is doing the plumbing for the sink and also for the bathroom. He has cut a hole in the floor to make access easier and because he has arthritis so crawling under the house and the thought of running into a snake was a bit to daunting. We will be putting a floating timber floor in this area any way because the original timber floor wasn't any good in this section of the house.

The plumbing was fairly simple and straight forward, thank goodness.

Next we or should I say Dave looked to the old kitchen and started demolishing it with such glee. The tiles around the sink and bench top there are actually bathroom tiles and were a pain to keep clean, but with a few good hits with the hammer and pinch bar the cupboards and tiles come away with no problem.

The bottom shelf of the cupboard was actually the floor, not really good to keep out creepy crawlies.

Look! All gone :) Oh and the drain pipe didn't have an S bend but when straight down and angled out to the pit so all the smell would sometimes come right back at you (phew). We used to keep the plug in the sink for this reason.

Next! Was the stove which was where the old fuel stove used to sit but they built a little white box for it to sit in. It was ok but all the steam and splattering from the pots would hit the top of the cupboard because there was no exhaust fan. If you look at the picture above you can see all that black stuff at the top,well that is burnt sap because the people before us used to burn green timber. Dave said this is the cause of many houses burning down because the chimneys would catch on fire.

This is Sarabie, she is like my shadow and building supervisor, if anything is going on she has to be two inches from it. We will be knocking this brick work out and putting a door way in which will take you out to the laundry, bathroom and backdoor. At present we have to go out of one door to go around to the back of the house to go to the bathroom, which makes shower time pleasant as you do a bit of star gazing on the way through.

This is the new cavity for the stove Dave built (sounds a bit like " this is the house that Jack built" hehehe)

NOW! We are moving onto the bathroom, see the window on the left...that is the kitchen. The reason you can see Dave is that he pulled the wall down, he got a bit carried away with the demolition, just kidding. The outside wall was not straight and it would have cause a lot of headache for him with the tiling and moving the shower etc so he decided it would be easier to straighten this wall.

Here Dave is removing the shower so that he can turn it around to face the other way and make the bathroom bigger. The bathroom ceiling was really low so we raised it a little and it has made a big difference.

The shower was out and it was my job to clean it up and take all the glue off it.

The room was empty so Dave could now finish lining the walls and floor and move the plumbing. It all sounds so easy but we were doing this on those really stinking hot days of 45 degrees.

This is Sarabie doing a bit of surveying of the situation, just look at all that rubble out there.

The shower is finally back in and the plumbing is completed and all that is left to do is put the wall up.

Finished this stage, some time later I will show you how we will do the tiling, moving the toilet, building the vanity and finishing touches. We are lucky to have some nice marble for the floor that a friend gave us, very nice :)

Devastation!

There is no other word than devastation as our country is coming to terms with the loss of 108 people in Australias worst fires in history. There have been over 750 homes destroyed, whole towns destroyed and there are still fires burning in Victoria and NSW and the threat is still there. We ask for your thoughts and prayers be with the Australian people that are living this nightmare and for the task ahead of them to rebuild there shattered lives.

Some of the stories that are coming through the news are horrific and just thinking what these people went through makes you feel sick and your heart ache. I can't write about these as they are horrific but there are some stories of survival like a mother her son and dog as well another neighbour huddled in a wombat hole and put a canopy of wet sheets and curtains over themselves and hid in the burrow for protection until the fire past, this had saved their lives. Another story of fire fighters putting woman and children in the safety of the fire house and putting themselves between the fire and the building, their incredible courage had saved them all.

We have also been devastateded with floods with two thirds of Queensland flooded and more heavy rains forecasted. Some areas the water has receded but in other areas people might be isolated for another month. Some people are missing and a young boy might have been taken by a crocodile.

In my own town the temperatures have been in the high 30's and the last few days in the mid 40's and we have had no relief of rain this year so the ground is drying and the dams are evaporating. This week has been forcasts as a lot milder and the possibility of rain so please prayer for some relief and for the Australia people.

Blogging Buddies

My lovely friend Lisa at Laughing Orca Range has graciously given me an award and I would like to pass this award onto great blogs that I love to read and encourgage you to go and check them out

Outback

COPD-Caregiving is NOT for wimps

A Vision Splendid

Living off grid at Eclectric Culture Farm

The Empty Nester

Another gracious award given to me was from Ernie from The Empty Nester

She has overcome difficult times in her life and is full of encouragement and inspiration to others. She has gain may friendships through this blogging world, people that have shared words of affection and encouragdment to her and she has passed this love and generosity onto others.

I would like to pass this award onto those who come through this blog the ones that leave comments and to the ones that don't and to encourage you to speak up and to tell the people that are in your life how much you appreciate them and that you value their friendship and encourage them with words of love and respect.

Zucchini Cake and a New Kitchen Sink

We have an update on our kitchen rennovations. I mention earlier at the start of our rennovations that we are doing as much as we can on a tight budget and only at times when we can afford to spend on these plus we are sourcing out specials and items that meet our budget. So the latest happenings is a new kitchen sink which we found on special at our local hardware store complete with tap for only $149.


It didn't take Dave long to install it once he got his hands on it. The kitchen is looking more like a kitchen now, mind you I do have a sink on the other side of the wall which is the old kitchen that will be pulled out in the next 2 weeks. Dave just LOVES demolishing and he tidys up the mess as well and something even better is that it has hardly cost much and all that is to be done is flooring and painting.

Doesn't it look good, I feel silly ranting and raving over a sink but if you could see what the other sink area looks like you might understand why.

This is my view I will have while I do my dishes, it looks out to the paddock and dam. The breeze comes through and the wind chimes make a noise and it is so peacefull. Oh by the way there will be fronts put on those drawers on the right hand side of the kitchen below.

These are the handles that will be on the doors and drawers they have an antique look and the skirting, top moulding and architraves around window and doors will be painted a cream same as the handle.

Well! At long last I have been able to get my photos on here:)

And! I managed to get to my veggie patch maybe a little to late for my zucchinis and squashes because they have grown to an unbelieveable size. Some of the zucchinis are the size of baseball bats and squashes the size of bowls, anyway I'm dicing, grating, chopping, pureeing, baking, pickling and everything else possible with these monsters.

Now for the most delicious I have ever tasted and made is right here on this blog. So grab a pen and write it down, if you were closer I'd give you some these zucchinis as well.

Zucchini Cake

500 grams zucchini, grated

1 cup oil

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 eggs, beaten

2 1/2 cups plain flour

1 1/2 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon Bi-Carbonate soda

1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup chopped walnuts

Combine zuchini, oil, sugar and eggs.

Sift dry ingredients except walnuts and add to mixture.

Add walnuts, mix well

Spoon mixture into greased and lined loaf tin

Bake in 180'c oven for about 1 1/4 hours

Allow to cool in tin about 15 minutes before turning out of tin

Now go enjoy this YUMMY cake I'm off to pickle those monster before the tomatoes start to take over :)