And our busy life continues .......

It has been a really busy time here on the farm.... it seems to just happen that way, all is quiet for a while then everything happens at once.
We decided that the time was right to  start the  groundwork out the back for our new covered area that are hoping to have up before the summer.

Brian started to do it all by hand, and soon realized that it was  really going to be a lot bigger job than he had  thought. We went for a drive down to the central coast  and inspected a tractor with a bucket and backhoe that was for sale on bay , but we felt it was way over priced  and the owner was not prepared to negotiate, so we came home empty handed.

So, that  job went on hold for a short while, and  he got on with building a fence  around a covered area  near the shed, so that we could put the caravan under there and the sheep wouldn't be able to get in and cause damage like they have done in the past, and it would be protected from the weather.

We hope to add some shade cloth as well and a small access gate from the house yard  on the other side  and it will now have a semi permanent home when we aren't using it.
We have attended some meetings this fortnight  and had some  visitors for a meal or two so I did some baking, pumpkin scones,  apricot clofutus, and a sticky date pudding... we also attended a wake for a local man and friend who  died suddenly and unexpectedly, so I baked mini quiches for that.

Brian then decided that he could ask his brother who lives next door to help him with the excavation work and he arrived over very soon with his little Kuboto tractor

and  together they got the job done, while the site supervisor looked on.

 The next day, Brian and  another friend  and nearby neighbour  got together and started  shoveling  dirt and crushed metal to obtain a level surface,

So we are at this point,all boxed up and ready to go, we  had contact with our concreter today and he is unable to  come here to do our concrete slab  for at least two to three weeks as he has had to  go away  for personal reasons.
That means at least we will get a few other jobs done  that we thought we would have to be put on the back burner.
Winter has finally arrived, and we are starting to have a few good frosts  and  have just had a very chilly week.

The cold weather  has been lovely, I hate the heat, and the  winter garden seems to  thrive in it too, the cabbages and cauliflowers  have   matured beautifully.

The cold weather has also had a boost on our social life as we have had a few nights  of drinks and nibbles up at a friends who have this great fire pit, It used to be a piece of mining equipment that  they were lucky enough to acquire.

The other day I was busy in the house and Brian had gone off to help a friend do a job and I suddenly  I could hear an almighty amount of banging  up the back.   I went out to investigate  and found these naughty  sheep  all trying to pack into the  chicken coop stealing the  grain out of the automatic Grandpa feeders... they nearly  wrecked the coop,  the rotten  things, they are so sneaky...

As if  we didn't have enough happening,  Brian  last week decided to order  some more batteries for our  house. We had been  having some issues with  the old second hand batteries  and they have not been reliable and we made the decision to bite the bullet  and buy a second set of  deep cycle lead acid batteries.
They are due to arrive tomorrow , so we have been working  madly up in the shed cleaning it up. The new batteries will  have to go outside the shed in their own  little shed as it is not advisable to have lead acid batteries inside. We have ordered some new shed shelving and it arrived early this morning and that is why we are clearing the shed. It had been a huge mess up there, but it is already looking much  better this afternoon.

Hopefully By the time I next post, both  the shed will be organized and the new batteries up and running.
Life here keeps us on our toes, but we are hoping for some "down" time soon as we are having  our gorgeous grandkids here for a week which we are really looking forward to.
So, until we meet again a little further down the track,
Take care of yourselves  and each other,
Cheers,
Jane.