Edgar's Page

Once herself rises I am going to head off to Port Augusta – about 48 miles east of here. I  want to visit a particular shop then nip into their Garden Centre on the way out of the city. I don’t expect to find much, but it’s a different place to go and look at. I have increased the herb garden by adding Radishes and Oregano, so we’ll see what happens there. All the flowers in the shade house are alive and well, so perhaps the black thumb is not quite as black as it once was. One can only hope. On the other hand, my Poinsettia is not well. I don’t rightly know what’s going on there but I will keep trying.

I didn’t get what I wanted in Port Augusta and I  did visit the Augusta Garden Centre on the way back out. I didn’t get anything there either but  I liked the idea they have  of selling the red chips in bags as well as in bulk.  I suppose some would say it was a wasted trip but I don’t see it like that – it was a lovely day for a drive, 34c, the roads were clear an I had  a good drive there and back and an enjoyable few hours away from Whyalla – that has to be good. At the moment I am stuck until I get assistance to move the rocks from the front so I can get the trailer in and get the black bark lifted. I would do some digging, but at 41c. it’s a tad warm too warm to be swinging a socking great sledgehammer..

Over the weekend my son and I drove to Adelaide (478 klms) and went out to Ikea and Bunnings. John bought  some nice chests of drawers and I bought a walnut bench for my office. From Ikea we drove to Bunnings and I bought the 12 meters of green outdoor carpet that I wanted for the washing line area as well as a new timber doghouse. I also discovered that the new clothes line will not fit into the old system so it looks as if I am going to have to dig the old  section out of the ground and cement a new one in its place. This could take a while. Anyway  driving to Adelaide was not  an indulgence and I had to go to Adelaide  for a conference on Saturday morning, so we thought we might as well take the trailer and  kill two birds with one stone – so to speak. There is a service station and food place about halfway between Whyalla and Adelaide. It’s called  The Tin Man and it’s sort of an unofficial meeting place. On Saturday as John and I drove home we stopped at the Tin Man for fuel.  I was just paying for the fuel when my other son walked in. He and his friends were going down to Adelaide for a concert and the friends wanted to know if this was an arranged family reunion :o) Yes, all round it was an interesting weekend. I built the new house for Chienna last night and she seems to be accepting that although I think the little man has his eyes on it.

Ali had his ditty “Dance like a butterfly – sting like a bee”  Dance like a butterfly is to constantly move around – to flirt from space to space – and that’s really what I am doing. I cannot start the washing area until such time as I go to Adelaide and get the 12 meters of synthetic grass. That being so, the washing line area has come to a halt for the moment. I decided that, since I didn’t really have a lot to do,  I would not hire a backhoe but would clear the front garden myself. Three hours after I started it I decided to go inside, search the telephone directory and find the nearest  mental hospital so I could book myself in. What was I thinking? Ah well, it’s started now. This “ground cover” (weed) has had ages to get established and getting rid of it will not be easy. I think I sort of realised that, which is why I thought of the backhoe – not back break. I have partly cleared about one third and will start again today. Why am I doing this? I think if the so called ground cover had been at all nice and colourful I would most probably have tidied it up and left it, but it’s not and underneath it is the dirty bark that I hate. It has to go. Once – in the distant past – it was new and blonde. Now it’s just old, tired and dirty black and needs to be replaced. Kind of like a lot of things at the moment. Now I have come to a halt again until I get the trailer to the local dump.

There are three projects that are part of the upgrade. The shade house was the first, the crazy paving is the second and the front garden is the third. The reasons for the crazy paving area being next is to return the Hills Hoist to where it originally was. I moved it to the back of the house to give herself a better surface to walk on. However, as I said it really is too far away from the laundry door and difficult for her to carry the washing that distance. “Well, buy her a trolly, silly”  Actually, I did but she only uses it to rest the washing basket on once she has carried it out there or to leave it there for me lift the washing off and bring it in for her to sort. It is too light for her to have confidence in – if it should move away from her and she fell, it could be a disaster. Something with the weight and stability of a big shopping trolly would probably help.  Better I give her a flatter surface to walk on and one that is closer to where she needs it. And don’t blame me, I never built the original area.  In the photograph it might look flat and even, but believe me, it’s not. A glass or three of a good red and one could very easily trip.  The front garden project will be much easier – get a backhoe and driver and flatten the area to get rid of all that  awful bark stuff. Then I will take my time and rebuild that as I want it. I have already decided what I would like to do there and I will work on the plan I have in my mind.

For the last two years I have been writing a blog of sorts on  My Space. However, although I didn’t have any followers or readers – not so, I had one – I continued to write and post. Like a famous author (Robert Benchley) I discovered that I really had no talent for writing but after two years I was enjoying it to much to stop. I am semi retired and do not really have a lot to talk about. I have two dogs that I love dearly and I have a garden that I am in the process of rebuilding. Our house is right on the western edge of the (small) city of Whyalla in northern South Australia. It is summer here and our average summer temperature is around 35c with the winter temperature being from 9c – 12c. Because we are not too far from desert our temperatures tend to fluctuate  quite a bit. One day it can be 38c and the following day be around 24c. Makes life interesting. Two things drew me to this house, a) it had a large shed that had been used as a sleep out. This I redecorated, had an electrician rewire it and put in new lights and converted it to an office. Also b) it had a shade-house which was badly in need of repair. This I have now done and have started to put new plants in. I lost three, but I can live with that. I am also building a small(ish) herb garden.

I have no idea why I started this. I have been writing a sort of diary blog in My Space for a couple of years and struggled with it – never knowing what to write about and having found a topic being restricted in what I could do. I really don’t know if things will be better on here but I’m willing to give it a try.

It’s just over a year since we moved into this house and I am in in the process of renewing the gardens, front and back, so it seems to me that I can write and post pictures of what I am doing and how I tackle the tasks.  There are two doors at the back both of which lead out into a closed in area. One door is, of course, the laundry door and the other being a set of french doors that lead into the lounge. These have never been used. The outside closed in area has an alysnite roof and is covered in Shade-cloth. Protected from wind and weather I generally have breakfast out there with my dogs.