Rainfall this week : 28mm

Rainfall for May : 74mm

Temperatures have plummeted and the fierce westerly’s have arrived. Winter has officially begun. After an amazing blue moon on Sunday night we awoke to a brisk winters morning on Monday. Donning beanies, gloves and ski socks we braved the cooler temperatures with a coffee in hand to take our regular morning stroll down to the creek with the dogs.🐶

With big blue skies above, the property is starting to look a greener shade of brown. The macropods are certainly enjoying it, we’ve never seen so many on the property before, eagerly filling up their bellies before the frost arrives. We were extremely excited and very grateful to receive another 28mm of rain last Thursday and Friday. Not nearly enough to fill the dams but at least the creeks are looking better and we actually have some grass.👏 The monthly total also isn’t drought breaking. Whilst there is new green pick in the paddocks and more water in the creeks, the farmers still need to keep feeding their stock with dry food. I recently learnt that fresh green pick can often contain up to 90 per cent water, which can cause potential issues such as pulpy kidney, bloat and metabolic disorders when livestock transition suddenly from dry feed onto green feed. Therefore the farmers are still supplementary feeding with dry food which of course will continue through the winter ( which is normal due to the frost) until the drought breaks. (This is not a cheap endeavour) You just don’t realise how much work and money goes into farming so that the end product for everyone to enjoy lands on the supermarket shelves ready for your weekly shop. Something to consider before commenting about the price of meat.

A little bit of trivia for you, in case you didn’t know. Sunday’s Full Moon was a Blue Moon, not because it was blue but due to there being two full moons in the same calendar month. And as usual out here in the country it was spectacular.🌝

With two and half rain days ( yay ) we still managed to make great progress with the shed. The frame is now complete, the cross bracing is done and we are ready for doors. There has certainly been a lot more in it than we had anticipated, but it is coming along nicely. We also decided to add in two pedestrian doors which weren’t part of the kit, so that has added extra time and a trip to Stanthorpe for some extra C Channel. All in all between rain days, big westerly winds and bloody cold mornings, I think we have progressed quite well indeed.

We are still eagerly awaiting our Construction Certificate for the house from the council. Good old paperwork, it does always seems to take forever and a day. Meanwhile the champagne is chilling in the fridge in anticipation. 🍾 We have locked in the concreter, tentatively for early August which gives us ample time to get all the groundwork’s and drainage ready. We have chosen our tiles for the entire house. Some would argue that it is a little early to be thinking of tiles, but when you find something you love it’s best to buy it don’t you think. Doors and Windows are chosen also (Trend in Woodland Grey to match the exterior colourbond walls), as are the frame and truss supplier. Next will be scrolling through pages of lights and switches etc so decisions can be finalised. I’m exhausted thinking about it🤪

After many, many design changes we are building a very simple three bedroom, two bathroom house on the flat looking out over what we call Reg Rock (Reg our neighbor owns all the land behind us). Not that big but big enough for us and the crazy hounds. What will essentially look like a fancy shed in Colourbond Woodland Grey so it blends into the landscape surrounding us.

Another week has very quickly disappeared and to be fair we are just slightly knackered from working in the wild wind. Jason’s bionic elbow has certainly been feeling it and all I can think is thank god we aren’t building a steel frame house😳

Winter is here🧤🧣❄️🧦👏