In a further test of our capacity to deal with adversity, the pump on the rainwater tank has also failed. So we are not only home instead of being on holiday, we are home and bucketing water to flush the toilets.
But these are first world problems, aren't they? It could be much worse. We could have broken down in the middle of nowhere and had to be towed (as the lady running the B and B said to console us, as she explained there would be no refund). Or we could have had a crash and all be killed! That one was by Mae, who has been recalibrated about what constitutes a disaster, by her own experience of cancer. And compared to what has happened in Kenya, it's nothing. Heard from our Kenyan friend Nancy this morning that they have just buried her friend's daughter and fiance, in their wedding clothes, following the shopping mall attack. So I'm not going to complain any further.
Now for some good news stories to cheer us all up. This beautiful dragonfly somehow found its way indoors and was lying motionless in the hallway, minus a leg. I picked it up to put it in a bin and it twitched, so I carried it outside and it flew away!
David has been working for days to create a vegie garden. Bought soil, dug it all through, compost, fertiliser, dolomite, manure. Watered it, lovely soft friable beds. Came out in the morning and found this - can you guess what it is?
Yep, a rabbit hole. Despite the fact that nothing had been planted at that stage. Mind you, the gate had been left open. Now, with the wire fencing dug in under the concrete blocks and the gate closed, will that keep them out? I guess if there is enough feed elsewhere perhaps they won't bother. And in turn, that depends on rain. Of which there has been almost none for two months now. Unheard of for this area. Are we drought magnets?
All our plantings are mulched and rabbit guarded. Pleased to say, some are growing out of their protection.
How rural is this shot? The farmer toting hay, beside the dam, going past the water tank.
May I share my delight at this collection of seedling eucalypts. One day, that will be a stand of spotted gums, defining our front boundary.
Also pleased with this little beauty, a common or garden plumbago. This old fashioned favourite was one I tried again and again to grow at Fadden, never with any success. Small pleasures.
But the plumbago and a few other plants will need to stay protected until they get a bit bigger. This is why. Our furry long-eared friends.
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