Tag: Rain

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.

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.

Winter is closing in – rain and cold.

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Sunrise over Whyalla JenkinsGoodness, it’s been over a week since I wrote anything. It has been a very busy week, but not in the garden. On Monday and Tuesday I was away at a funeral, on Wednesday we had a thunderstorm at 3:30am – neurotic dog, acute hearing, had to sit up with her until she calmed down. I had a call on Wednesday but I was just too tired to accept. On Wednesday, workmen put a drill through the gas main. No explosion, but the primary school and the university were evacuated. It is now Friday and we are still without gas. Fortunately, I can take care of cooking by using the barbecue, washing and heating are different issues.  It took until Saturday afternoon before gas was restored to the west of the city. It is interesting how much we depend on services and we  have difficulty in coping when they are interrupted. As I said, I used the barbecue, the side burner and the two burner camping stove, so we were ok. Others were not so.

On Thursday I went through to Port Augusta to look for Standard Roses, as well as a few other things, but to no avail. I came back (152 klm round trip) empty handed. I did manage to get some special degreasing stuff that I will use on the driveway. I don’t think it’s been cleaned ever. I hope to be able to do that this coming weekend.

Tuesday:  Over the weekend I was not able to do much. The boys were over most of the weekend and the youngest was back from  OlympicDam – in the far north of the State. and with the gas not returning on Saturday morning, there was consternation on how we would feed everyone. I didn’t think it would be a problem since we had a barbecue, but as I said, the gas returned on Saturday afternoon and all was ok.  I still have not managed to get my Standards but I did buy four new rose bushes which I will plant  over the next day or so.

We have had a lot of rain over the last week and I have not really had an opportunity to do much outside and I really need a dry day to do the driveway. Certainly most of it is covered in but I need dry weather or the driveway itself would never dry – particularly the covered section – which is most of it. For example I took the dogs out for a walk the other morning and it looked like it was going to be a fine day. I was not long back in the house before the dark clouds came over and it was raining again. I think it’s going to be a long, wet, cold and damp winter.

Where has all the weather gone?

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

The way I see planning is when I gt up in the morning and I think, “I will do this today”. Long term planning is as follows: Today Barbecue with family: Sunday, Church:  Monday, Garden: Tuesday. Garden, take herself out to Ladies Group: Wednesday Take herself out to ladies group, work in garden: Thursday, go to Adelaide – and that’s far enough ahead for me. And even then Thursday is not definite because I have a meeting out of town on Saturday. We have the barbecue today and Andrew heads off up north for another ten days.  The place will be quiet again. On Monday I should have all of the edging completed and on  Tuesday I hope to get the decorative  chips delivered.

This is the area I wanted decked/Now here we are on Monday- so let’s see how the planning is getting on. Oh look, it’s chucking it down and since I do not have welly boots and a raincoat, I will not be working outside today. This means that in my attempt to plan working in the garden, I am already a full day behind. Should have stuck to just getting up in the morning and deciding then. But now that I decided to “plan” I will spend the rest of the week feeling guilty that I am behind schedule. From the hottest start to April in 40 years, to heavy and continuous rain in one fell swoop, is about par for this area. And we had a family Barbecue on Saturday evening and I had moved the table and chairs out to the open area (lovely evening) and we had a good night. I didn’t move them yesterday so now my table, the tablecloth and all six chairs are soaking as is the padded seat on my park bench. You just gotta love the weather here at times. I took the dogs out for a walk last night and had a cap and a heavy jacket on.  Crazy weather at the moment. This time of the year  should be warm and pleasant not fluctuating between wet and cold and bursts of mid summer heat.

Unbelievable!

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Now for the cleanup and redoing.For most of the night it has been raining. The sun is out but the ground is soggy. No edging today. By the time I returned from hospital (herself for tests) I thought it best to lave the place to dry out before I start working in the area.. It’s unbelievable but true that Wet Wednesday really lived up to its name. I left  word not to call me this week since I have doctors and hospital appointments for herself. She has not been a well person.  There is more rain forecast for tomorrow and, according to the news tonight, this is the wettest start to Autumn in 30 years. Some places in the State had their monthly rainfall overnight. Thursday and the sun is shining. Once I come back from hospital I’ll hook up the trailer and go over to the hardware store and get the edging. If it stays dry I would get most of it done today. However having said that there appears to be a very large black cloud coming in from the gulf.

It seems I have passed some kind of milestone and have now achieved some 25 posts. Interesting, really since I didn’t expect to last this long. Everything started off well but we seem to have hit a number of hurdles along the way. Clearing the bark from the front was relatively easy ( well I didn’t do it  the bacbhoe did) but it seems to be taking forever to continue on with the project. The washing area has had to take a backseat for the moment although when time permits I continue to worry that cement block and I’m sure I’ll be in China soon – all I have to do is keep on digging. The decking, which I was leaving to a professional, has come to a screaming halt  for the moment – or at least until I can get someone willing to quote for the work and then do it.  This is fairly common here – difficulty in getting people to do work and having to wait a long time to get something done. Something that would take an afternoon to do in Adelaide can take up to three days to do here.