Dogs, rain and Weather Presenters.

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs
The Maltese Terrorist

Some time go I remember reading a page in which Wednesday was always referred to as ” Wet Wednesday” and I stared to look at a Wednesday here. I was  amused to find that it generally  is not the best day of the week as regards to weather. For us it means that by Wednesday the rotten weather off the West Australian coast has made its way across country and is now here. In essence, we look at Perth and that gives some kind of idea what our weather will be like in a couple of days. Anyway, it’s Wednesday and it’s raining. Was a nice day yesterday too but unfortunately, I was working.

I was asked if I was interested in a Kindle Fire and at first I was but having looked into it, I believe I will stick with my Kindle Touch manly because it is not tiring on the eyes even if you have been reading for a while – which I do.

One of the pages I follow said that she had her first harvest despite the fact that half of her garden has been under water for a bit.  Her area in England has just had so much rain. We have not been quite that bad  but we too had had more than our fair share. I would be more than happy to give  one part of our rain share to Ethiopia, or some place like that, yet on the news last night they said that we can “look forward” to about 50mm over the next few days “”and we certainly need the rain””. I  have always had doubts about the sanity of the Channel 7  presenters.

The dogs have been in early these last few nights. I  think it’s been as cold for them as it has been for us and there is still a full month of winter yet to go. My little man could do with a bath but it’s too cold at the moment so I  will leave him for the time being. Because of the rain and the dampness we have not been out walking as often as I would like so I guess, like humans, they put on a bit of weight over the winter. Both of the dogs have been with me for ten years now and I still get surprised with their antics at times, but I think that’s what living with dogs is all about.

Do you have to point that thing at me?

Slow week.

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Likes a nice bed!I have been trying to tackle the weed problem as best as I can at the moment, but with the rain we have been having, it’s not so easy. I did say the other day that they seem to just spring up overnight and the daily dose of rain is not really helping. Oddly enough our weather seems to be  somewhat European at the moment in that  much of the UK is cold and wet. For us here in South Australia we seem to have had a very ordinary summer and an early start to winter with more rain than we generally get at this time of year. But I take heart from the fact that I am not an orphan when it comes to weed problems since the grounds at the church  are starting to show an influx of weeds.

We were invited to a 60th Wedding Anniversary last night and on show was a very elaborate photograph album which contained  letters from : The Governor General,  The Prime Minister,  The State Premier, The State Governor; The Federal MP for the area, the State MP for the area and the Leader of the Federal Opposition – very impressive. And no, there was no letter from the Queen. In this day and age, this is quite an achievement, but then, they are pre-boomers so it’s really not that unusual for that generation and the generation that followed  even although the boomers sometimes get a bad name.

Because it’s cold at night I have been letting the dogs into the laundry earlier than usual. Once they bed down, that’s generally them until about 6:30 am. I give them their breakfast treat and let them out.  They are quite comfortable in their houses and their padded beds and  the houses are under the pergola out of the wind and rain. Actually, I think they are  more comfortable in their houses than in the laundry, but sleeping on a padded bed in the laundry is now a habit and by 10 pm they are generally at the door anyway. We are expecting more rain over the next few days.

Weeds and yet more weeds.

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

It had been forecast to rain all this week. Monday I was out at a meeting and we had a serious storm. The lightening was so intense that at times it was  daylight. My wife brought the dogs inside to the laundry and set  the bed  up for them. The Maltese just went back to sleep but poor Chienna  was going gaga. With her sensitive hearing the thunder really frightened her.  She was so terrified that she attacked the ironing board – we have no idea why she did this since she has never done anything like that before. Annabell gave her half a tablet to try and calm her down. I think I will have to go back and see the Vet because we have had these tablets – from him – for a while now and she still gets seriously stressed out. The rain, by the way, was fairly heavy at times and I believe we received some 35mm overnight. It had been calm today – dull and overcast but no rain, although rain was part of the forecast.

I think the thing that is annoying me most at the moment is the aftermath of the rain – weeds – lots of weeds!! They seem to just appear out of nowhere and they are everywhere, growing almost overnight.  There’s no point in using weed killer because it needs  few dry days to do its work and at the moment we are not getting that. It looked clear so I went out for a rid on the bike. Was only halfway through the circuit when it started to rain. No point in turning back – just as quick to finish, so I did, and came home all nice and  dripping wet and I swear even the dogs looked at me as if I was an idiot.

It’s not even halfway through winter and I’m over it.

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs
The Christmas Plant.
One of my Plants – this one was given to me as a gift.

Australia, like Florida, is generally associated with  sun, sea and sand and fairly laid back lifestyle. Much of the time this is generally the case but these last few years have been a trial and our weather has been very strange. We had some hot weather for a couple of days last “summer” and the same the “summer” before that but we have not really had what Australia would call a “summer”.  It wasn’t so long ago that I was saying that I was not too fussed about the heat and looked forward to weekends and barbecues. My barbecue  has cobwebs on it at the moment. I only used to a few weeks ago when we had a gas failure and no gas for four days so I cooked everything on there barbecue. The long warm, sunny evenings sitting outside with the laptop and a glass of wine- seem like something from another time and place  We have unprecedented rain and flooding and only last week two mini-tornadoes struck Adelaide causing a fair bit of damage.  Cold, wild and wet and this is global warming??? I think we should re-write the Song ” I come from a land down under, the place of rain and snow and thunder”  Raining Monday and a good part of Tuesday. It’s Wednesday and thus far it’s dry.

I  have to head off down to Adelaide this week. Normally I would call the Dog Rescue and see if there is any dogs requiring transportation and take them down with me, but this time, it’s not my car so I won’t be able to. I might try and organise a trip to Adelaide the following week – at least an overnight trip. Tomorrow I will get the Standard Roses and  plant them as soon as I get back from Adelaide.

Rain, snow, ice and frost – and that’s the good parts!

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

This was when it was almost at its best.It’s been raining  since about 11pm last night. I have not really had a lot of sleep because I have a crazy Foxy Lady with very sensitive hearing and the loud rain on the pergola roof convinced her that “The Sky is Falling!”. The Maltese Terrorist did , as any good terrorist should, just pretend it wasn’t happening and go to sleep. But Chienna cried for most of the night. She would calm down for a bit and I would start to doze off, then she would start up again as the rain increased. Noise and darkness – not a good combination. At the moment she is calm.  I don’t know why I even bother to mention the rain since it seems to be happening quite often. I think we are having so much rain of late because someone “Up There” has confused us with Austria. According to the news tonight it has been the coldest and wettest start to winter in 24 years. Adelaide had a month of rain in two days and Mount Remarkable – thirty miles from here – had snow. That’s just scary.. I did go out on the bike this morning but even with extra clothing, it was just too cold for me. After one tour of the area, I gave up and came home.  The frost on the roof of the cars I went past did little to warm me up. I went to the travel agent and said that I wanted to go to Scotland for the Summer. She said ” that was last Wednesday and you’ve missed it” Oh well. On the garden front, nothing much has been done. I did plant a number of rose bushes and the Standards should be in this week sometime.   Given the cold and wet weather, that’s about as much as I’ve managed to do between showers and frost.

Cold with a slight frost in the mornings.

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

The Wet Driveway and front gardenOn either side of the driveway is an area about two feet wide. When I did the garden I did not attend to this mainly because I wanted to get  the granite and the wood chips finished first. I had intended to get to it soon, but the weather put paid to that idea for a while.  However, the last days have been fairly dry – cold but  no rain – so I started work on getting these two areas cleared, One is completed but the other side  will have to be dug out, the old edging dug up and replaced. Provided I don’t get called in over the next couple of days I should manage to get most of it done – at least to the stage where I am ready to replace the edging. Once I have both sides clear and the edging in place I’ll get another load of granite and get that down. That should be that finished and I can then think about getting stared on the next project, which will be getting Annabell’s clothes line area completed. The decking, which is yet another project has been put on the middle burner for the moment – it’s not  too far away and  if the weather becomes too inclement, I can easily bring that forward. For the moment it is not raining so much but the mornings and evenings are cold with the mornings having a light frost. And I have been called into work where I would have preferred to be at home. Still, only two weeks and everything is on holiday and I  can relax knowing that there will be no phone calls in the morning.  I have used this photograph before to show it raining but it also shows the area between the driveway and the edging. This is what I am cleaning out. There is another section on the other side of where the photograph was taken and that will also have to be done. I had hoped to do it this week but being called to work has put that on hold at least until the weekend.

The dogs have been well and although I have not been able to take them out in the mornings I do take them out for a good long walk each night. The little man still gets tired and needs a bit of a break so I still lift him and carry him for a little while – until he gets his second wind and takes off again. Both dogs are over ten years old but the little one had a very difficult life before we adopted him.

Still raining

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Be glad when he gets back from holidayI wonder if the weather forecaster will comment about the average June rainfall because we seem to have had more of our fair share – and june is only four days old. The same is happening across the border in the state of Victoria where that had a month’s rainfall in two days.  Part of  Victoria is now flooded. We don’t do floods here, but it does get wet. At the moment we have all three, wet, cold and miserable. Herself has had a washing out for three days now in the hope that we will get one  unwept day to dry it off. If not, I will have to take it to the  laundry for her. Why does she not use the drier? Well simple, we don’t have one. This is Australia, we are only a stone throw from the desert – we are not supposed to have this much rain – Adelaide yes, but not up here.  I offered to buy her one years ago and she refused. So, given the weather no bike rides, no dogs out and no work outside for a little while. But it can’t rain forever, can it??  At least I should think not – and the forecast is for cold mornings and nights but reasonable during the day about 14c dropping to -1 overnight.

It had been my intention to post this but a telephone call and a dash to Adelaide to attend a meeting put paid to that idea. The venue had been changed from a country area to the city of Adelaide a mere 370 kilometres away (800 k for the round trip, including driving in Adelaide). Can’t say I was very impressed but had to go. The weather, however, has not improved any – still cold, damp and generally  not great and Adelaide was no better. On Saturday morning it was freezing cold at the meeting- and the temperature was not all that great either :o) However at least the temperature improved as the day went on and it was a pleasant drive back home, getting in just before it started to get dark.

Today (Monday) I am happy to say that it is not raining. No not a drop of rain – although it is -2 and freezing cold. I went out for a bike ride as soon as it got light. Generally I do two tours of the area, which takes me about an hour or so. This morning I did one tour, decided I was being a masochist and came home for a hot drink. I think the frost on the grass and on the tops of parked cars was the deciding factor here. I just thought I would include a clip-art of the Sun. He’s away on holiday at the moment. Look forward to him coming back..

Winter Rains Continue

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

The Computer NerdIt has not been raining too much – mostly during the night and early mornings, then dull and overcast for much of the day. Apart from planting roses, I have not had a lot of time to do much in the garden. Other things have made demands on my time this week – over and above work.

I took the dogs out for a walk last night. It had been raining so the ground was a bit wet and there were a few puddles. I am not making any comments other than to say she delicately jumped over the puddles, he,  on the other hand, just walked right through them.

It is starting to get a bit on the cold side so I decided it was jacket time. I brought their jackets out and put them on. I saw that the little one was shivering a little – then again it could have been just his Shaker Syndrome – he has that, sadly, but not too badly. With him it is only light and, according to the vet, it is unlikely to increase. But we still keep an eye on him.

One of my roses is dead already – at least I think it is. It is one of the very first I planted out the front. I am not sure since the other two seem to be ok, so I will watch it. I don’t mind too much since there is still time to replace it and I had expected to lose some, but not the front ones. I took particular care with them. Still it might be ok, but time will tell. I will give it three weeks until the Standards arrive then if it still looks dead, I will remove it and replace it.  There is one out back that I am not too sure about but I have had that one for a while and decided to replant it from a pot to the ground, so there might be a little bit of trauma there. Hopefully it will recover. Others seem to be going along although it is difficult to tell at this stage.

A Rose by any other name…

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

The Wet Driveway and front gardenSince I am not working today and since it is dry for a change there are two things that I need to do. I need to get the unit cemented in place so that I can start work on the Washing line area as soon as it is practical to do so.  The crazy paving is just crazy and would take too much to fix it. I  would like to have it concreted over and if time permits tomorrow I might just see about that and how much it would cost. It may well be that the cost of cementing it would be less than the cost of what I wanted to do. We had a lot of visitors  yesterday and there were a number of little people. The dogs were not used to little people and were a bit wary at first but then they enjoyed the attention that they were getting. Chienna even allowed a little one to give her food – it’s food, why ever not?? Just as I was starting to relax and working out plans for the day – the telephone rang and I ended up working for the whole day. Oh well, tomorrow’s another day. And I was working that day too, and the day after that. I bought a  few roses and I have been planting them. I am planting them in bulk wherever I can on the  concept that some of them have to survive – I can’t kill them all off. I’m good but I’m not that good.  I still have not got the Standard Roses for the front and I was told by the garden  centre that it will be at least three weeks before them get them in – somewhere around the 20th June. There is also another place but same there nothing for a few weeks yet. The New Season Rose Bushes and Climbing Roses are in but not the standards.  Patience…..

Today is the first day of winter and to celebrate it rained for most of the morning. I think it’s going to be a long, cold and wet winter..

A Big Post.

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Had a very busy three days – Thursday the AirConditioner packed up and we called the technicians. They came out and very kindly told us that the compressor had burned out and  when they make their report to their office, they will send us a quote for repair and replacement although he did indicate that it would probably cost as much to repair and replace as it would to buy  and install a new split system unit. My computer sort of crashed – well the program I was using to write the magazine (Publisher) crashed (again) and I lost all the work I had done. I can re-create it – I think.. I  went out in the pouring rain and bought a new heater for the lounge. Herself (Annabell, my wife) was really feeling the cold. It is winter here.

Friday I spent the day in town – the City of Adelaide  – some 300 miles and four hour’s drive away. It was raining when I left, rained much of the way down. When I telephoned herself later in the day she said it had been dry for most of the day and the dogs were outside. It rained off and on in Adelaide and for a good deal of the way home. I think it might be me – perhaps I attract the rain!  Sort of like ” Home Cooking” – When I go out the sun comes in, the rain comes down and it soaks my skin. – If you know the song you will know the rest.

Saturday and it rained again for most of the day and  the church ladies had organised  the “Biggest Morning Cuppa” which is a nation wide charity event to raise funds for the Cancer Council. It was well attended and the ladies did well , which is more than can be said for my diet. However, it is truthful to ay that although the event was a success, it was not as well attended as it had been in previous years. It really was a cold, wet and miserable day.  In the afternoon I closed the house up and turned on the heaters for herself. I vanished into the office and started work on re-creating the magazine. I discovered that I can load anything I want on to Publisher – except the magazine. As soon as I try to do that, Published crashes. I’ll sort something out..

The dogs have been very good these last few days as if they sense that not everything is well with the family.  When I came home from Adelaide I went into the laundry, sat down on the floor and played with them for a while.

Sometime this week we should get the quote on the AC and then decide what we want to do and how much Insurance will contribute towards repair or replacement. The system is fairly old(er) and  perhaps a new system is what we need and I think that’s about the way I am heading.

I have written nothing about the garden because there is nothing to write. It has been too wet to be able to do anything outside.  This is a big post. For that I am sorry but it has been an eventful week.