My plan was to get a few things done
then relax with a book. But this is what happened.
First up was to get all the garden beds
watered in advance of the hot weather with the automated overhead
watering system. While that was in progress the dogs and I went down
to the dam and started the pumps to replenish the holding tanks. Got back to find
Jean was ready to leave and I held the gate open and took the opportunity
to move the cattle into a new paddock as is the Friday routine. Then
back to the house to chop up a couple of cucumbers into a fine dice
for the Ferdies (Indian Runner Ducks). They liked this meal so much
it was repeated 4 more times during the day. A good way to use up the
surplus of oversized cucumbers.
Some of the citrus were looking a bit
limp from the hot days and a fine spray nozzle under each for an hour
or so fixed the problem. Since the Mangos had some good fruit they
received a similar treatment.
There was a small stand of Carrots that
needed weeding which turned out to be a simple and speedy task. Being
in the vicinity it was an ideal opportunity to work through the
garden beds and harvest any Onions that were ready for drying which
led onto harvesting a few Potatoes as well.
As it was still reasonably cool and
not 10am the whipper snipper got some exercise trimming around the
Tomato and vine beds. A useful task to complete to make it easier to
spot snakes and not have Paspalam seed heads poking in your face
while harvesting. The whipper snipper head was on its last legs with
a big section missing and it was replaced before putting away. Seeing
as how there were some Cucumbers ready they were collected and sorted
into us and Ferdie piles.
I was curious how the bees were
travelling after the robbing a couple of weeks ago and took the time
to inspect the hive. Since it was a quick look only no smoke was
used. They seemed happy with me poking about and just as well they
were inspected as the combs are nearly full again. While working the
hive the SHB trap was swapped out with a fresh load of diatamaceous
earth and the dead SHB transferred to a container stored in the
freezer. These are destined for use in a BD pepper to see if that
will aid in reducing the numbers.
Made an entry on the calendar to rob
next week. Bugger, what am I going to do with the excess honey? And
what about jars. There were a few spare small clip lock jars and some
time was spent scrapping off the old labels and loading them into the
dishwasher for sterilisation. With those and the remaining few honey
jars there might be enough. It will all be creamed as this seems the best way for long term storage and we like the mouth feel and taste of creamed honey.
Getting hot and sweaty by this time the
next task was appropriate. Pull out the last of the weeds in three
different parts of the garden and fork in a barrow of compost into
each. Two of the beds will go towards Lettuce, Beetroot, Carrot and
Radish next week and the third bed will be for a late planting of
cucumber and Zuchinni. The last of the compost went onto the Sweet
Potato bed which was shooting off again. That provided an empty
compost bin which went on the task list for sometime in the next
couple of weeks. Still only early afternoon and feeling not so tired
the Asparagus bed received a weed. Not a big task as this is one of
the beds we do keep on top of. And it is in need of a feed which will happen tomorrow.
By now it was after 2 pm and with spare
time still hovering a shower to freshen up and then onto do the
monthly paperwork. Finish the invoicing, pay some bills and complete
the BAS statement.
Wrote out a menu for tonight’s meal
and started the prep work for that.
Finally at 3.30pm poured a beer and sat
down with the current book Endgame by David Stafford a look at the
last days of WWII from the eyes of different characters. That lasted
all of ten minutes as Jean arrived home to fill me in on her travels and update on her colleagues.
I can't understand how time can pass so
slowly and often wonder if this happens to other people.
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