Cats Exploring

I let Brandy and Whiskey back out into the backyard on Sunday evening.  They are getting braver out there, though still not showing any interest in scaling the fences and escaping.

Brandy Cat 
in amongst the zucchini and tomatoes

On Monday I put their harnesses back on.  They were still not impressed but Brandy is beginning to realise that the harness means a chance to explore out the front. He's a bit braver than Whiskey, or perhaps less perturbed by the harness.  Whiskey just lies down and sort of shuffles around.  Brandy was keen to explore.

I think, though, that if I keep putting the harness on and taking them outside they will get used to the harnesses and perhaps we can go a bit further than the front lawn!

A good weekend

Covid restrictions in Victoria have been considerably rolled back.  We can now have up to 100 people in our homes in the course of a day and up to 200 in a gathering in a public place. Mask wearing is no longer mandatory except for on public transport and in a few specific other places. Apart from travel overseas, I don't think there is anything that I would be likely to want to do that I can't do.

It is extremely unlikely that I would want to have 100 people in our house. I most definitely don't have enough chairs. I don't have enough room.  And I don't think that I actually know 100 people, or not well enough to have them all in the house at the same time!

Anyway, I don't like crowds and it would definitely be crowded at our place.

And just as it looked as though Australia was on top of the Covid outbreak and we could all relax a bit - up Covid popped in Brisbane. Keeping us all on our toes!

It may yet make its way back into Victoria - people had been moving around before anyone tested positive in Brisbane. But it's not here yet and so our weekend plans could go ahead.

Lindsey and I went to the Zoo Drive market, then the Mushroom Farm and on to the Elaine Farmgate Shop.

I dropped out to the Buninyong Autumn Market on Saturday afternoon. It was all a bit crowded for me. I have never much like crowds but Covid Physical Distancing has trained me to like them even less. It was a craft market more than anything so wasn't of particular interest. I did get fish and chips from the Mr Squidgy van. It is usually parked in Warrenheip on Friday evenings when Lindsey and I pass through on our way back from work. I had noticed that it was due at the autumn market and thought I would give it a go. I'm not convinced by the freshness of the flathead I bought, but the chips and potato cakes were good.

A bustling afternoon in little Buninyong

Sunday brought Chris, John, Irene, Gillie and Flora to our place for lunch. Flora was a bit confused by the presence of Whiskey in our lounge room when she arrived. Whiskey didn't seem particularly perturbed by Flora (Brandy was asleep on our bed so didn't notice Flora). We don't, of course, know what interactions Brandy and Whiskey had had with dogs in the past, but Whiskey's reaction suggests that they haven't had bad experiences.

In order that that should continue, I shut both cats in the bedroom and Flora had a lovely time playing with the cat toys and snoozing on the cat beds.  The cat beds are really too small for her, but she did her best

The rest of us had tomato soup followed by roast beef with all the usual accompaniments and finished with an apple and rhubarb crumble.  As traditional an English Sunday Roast as I could manage. It was a good afternoon, culminating a good weekend.

Excitements!

I had gone to bed, slightly later than normal, on Friday night and had just drifted off to sleep when I was woken by the sound of one of the cats yowling, accompanied by a slight noise.

I listened. More yowling, followed by silence, followed by yowling.  

I got up and called them, just in case one of them was injured.  No response.

I finally found them, looking out the spare room window, tails fluffed up, ears pricked, yowling. Then Brandy ran into our room and tried to look out our window.  I pulled the blind up a bit for him. Then both of them ran down into the lounge room and stared out the windows.

They were clearly agitated, running ups and down the various windows in various rooms. There was obviously something outside that was agitating them.

I turned the outside light on and went out through the front door.  I didn't see what was out there, but I heard it pit, pat, pattering down the driveway.

I don't know what it was.  A possum or fox or perhaps another cat, I assume. Not human. The cats don't react like that to people. And a human would probably have gone away when I turned lights on inside and then outside the house. Anyway, whatever it was sounded to have four paws, not two feet.

Brandy and Whiskey were not convinced that it had actually gone away!

Peace finally restored I went back to bed and, eventually, back to sleep.

Jim slept through all of this!

Meanwhile, up on the hill, Lindsey was woken at around 5:30 by Hugo and then Rupert growling and barking. She got up and looked around but couldn't see anything to be excited about so went back to bed and told the dogs to be quiet.

They remained disturbed, growling and barking until around 6:30 when Hugo began growling and barking in earnest.  Lindsey got up and investigated more closely. This time she went to the kitchen end of the house, looked out the window and saw this:

Photo by Lindsey, from the house

Ian slept through all of this!

Until Lindsey woke him up and told him all about it and he went down to investigate

Photo by Ian, from the road

No wonder Rupert and Hugo were agitated. They don't get that level of activity on the road all that often, and never at that time of the day.

After all that excitement, I remembered that I had bought harnesses for Brandy and Whiskey. I fished them out and put them on the cats.  Once again they reacted with horror. This time I picked them up and took them outside the front door, where the "intruder" had been over night.They decided that I wasn't trying to kill them and had a good sniff around. 

We didn't go far. It was raining and I was in my dressing gown. But they spend 10 minutes or so pottering around the front lawn and around the front of the house.  Next time I'll get dressed first and see about going down the driveway. I let them out into the back garden as well. I've roughly blocked off the weak point up by the garage. It needs doing properly but it would be hard for them to get through the boxes I've built up to block the gap. So now the only way out of the garden is over the fence. So far they've shown no interest in jumping the fence. I wouldn't trust them outside unsupervised, but I might take them out with me more often.

Oh - and in other exciting news, on Wednesday I had my first Covid-19 vaccination. I had no obvious side effects, except that my damaged hand started being Very Grumpy Indeed about half an hour later. It only lasted for a short while and I don't know if it was connected or just coincidence. It doesn't usually behave like that, though. Others who had their jabs last week reported that they had no effects, or mild flu-type symptoms. One or two said that 24 hours later it was like being hit by a bus. So far we have all survived 😆

On the move over the weekend

 Lindsey and Ian needed to be in Melbourne for babysitting duties on Saturday night.

Jim and I were due to be in Mount Martha.

Dilemma! Who will look after Rupert and Hugo?

Freyja and Simon rode to the rescue.

They came up on Friday evening. Jim was already at Hill House, having been on Rupert and Hugo duty during the day. Lindsey and I came back from the surgery. Ian was in the kitchen preparing a mighty feast. Jim and I stayed for dinner. And very delicious it was too. Ian had prepared lobster along with salmon for the omnivores and non-meat offerings for the vegan/vegetarians. I am always pleased to feast on unexpected lobster!

Saturday morning saw Lindsey and me head out for our usual Saturday morning visits to the mushroom farm and the Elaine Farmgate shop.  No market on the third Saturday of the month. Freyja and Simon came too. Their inaugural visit to both places. Then Lindsey and Ian headed to Melbourne and Jim and I left for Mount Martha, leaving Freyja and Simon in the care of Rupert and Hugo.  Brandy and Whiskey were left to fend for themselves, although I had left extra biscuits for them.

Stella was looking much better. The huge, big lump on her head has decreased to a much less alarming size and she seemed to be in good humour. She had requested stuffed omelettes for dinner. I often make omelettes for Jim, Lindsey and me for lunch on Wednesdays or Fridays and stuff them with combinations of things like prawns, mushrooms, bacon, green things, feta. They make a filling and tasty lunch and can easily be reheated in the microwave without losing their omeletty quality. I had mentioned this to Stella and she thought it sounded like a tasty dinner option. And so it was. I stuffed them with mushrooms, bacon and feta and we had them with sourdough toast and sliced green vegetables on the side. Quick to prepare and tasty to eat.

I was preparing lunch on Sunday, after a lovely, quiet morning, when Jim suddenly said: "Look, there's Matthew.  Matthew's coming.  Matthew's here!"  Stella and I were just wondering who Matthew was and why Jim would know him, when the front door opened and in walked my brother. He had been visiting a friend further down the peninsula and had called in on his way home. We weren't expecting him and didn't know he had been on the peninsula, which explained our mystification when Jim spotted him walking down the road toward's Stella's place. A nice surprise. 

In the meantime, Freyja and Simon had been having a good time playing with Rupert and Hugo, and then dropped down to our place to play with Brandy and Whiskey, before heading home. Lindsey and Ian had survived their babysitting gig on Saturday evening and by Sunday evening everyone was back in their usual places.

It rained with enthusiasm all the way from Langwarrin to our place on our way home. The rain gauge was almost full when I checked it yesterday morning. This would have been noteworthy had it not been for the fact that Sydney had almost been washed away. Fortunately, none of the people we know in Sydney had actually been washed away but they were all very soggy. Lots of NSW remains under water and the rain has not finished yet. I know the rain was needed, but you can have far too much of a good thing. Our rainfall was much more moderate

Markets, Farm shops and Pick Your Own

Once again I faced a market day on my own. Lindsey was involved with an online conference so not available to come out to play on Saturday morning. And once again it was very busy around the top part of the lake. I don't know about the other side - I didn't venture down there.

I don't think that absolutely everyone who was out and about at the lake was at the market, but the market was pleasingly busy, especially since it was overcast and slightly on the cool side. Fortunately, it didn't rain. At least not while I was there. There were lots of stalls and the market had a definite buzz. It's evolved into an interesting and inviting event since it moved to Zoo Drive.

It was pleasingly busy out at the Mushroom Farm as well. That too has evolved into an interesting and varied enterprise since the Covid Lockdowns. The addition of Spring Creek Organics vegetables and fruit from various places has been a bonus. I didn't notice the pineapples hiding among the watermelons and apples until I heard a small girl expressing her disappointment the her parents wouldn't buy her one! I don't eat pineapple. It's the food of the devil as far as I am concerned. But Jim is very partial to it and they had some smaller ones available.  Now that I had noticed them ... I bought him a sticky date pudding as well.  Dates hold their place along with pineapples at the devil's dining table in my world.  Jim, strangely, quite likes them, especially when combined with caramel and pudding.

A successful visit then, as far as Jim was concerned.

By the time I had reached the Mushroom Farm it has started to rain. It rained with enthusiasm for the rest of the afternoon. I had been vaguely thinking of sorting out some space for some autumn seed sowing. I changed my mind and stayed inside.

Yesterday was a much better day. Lindsey's online conference finished late morning so we headed out to Elaine to the Farmgate shop, where we were reminded that Spring Creek was having a Pick Your Own corn day. Spring Creek hasn't done as well out of the Covid lockdowns as some other businesses.  It was very busy during the actual lockdowns, particularly during the early one when the markets were closed and the supermarkets were believed to be short of the essentials. I don't think they were, really, but people were heading to Spring Creek to pick up their vegetables, fruit and milk. Once the markets came back, Spring Creek became quieter and they returned to selling at the markets. They also sell their produce at the Mushroom Farm and at the Elaine Farmgate shop and reduced their  farm opening hours to Sunday and Monday. We don't have reason to head out there all that often. We buy their veg in other places.  But we were tempted by a Pick Your own event, especially since the sun was shining.

In the event we didn't pick our own. They had baskets of corn at the same price sitting there, waiting for us just to pick them up. So we did. Along with other veg. I now have a kitchen bench groaning with vegetables, plus some rhubarb and that pineapple. My freezers are full. We are simply going to have to eat lots and lots and lots of vegetables this week.  And perhaps borrow some space in the spare freezer at Hill House. And I need some apples to go with the rhubarb. Should have got some over the weekend. There lots on offer in all the places I went.

Neither cat will sit on our knees
but Brandy snuggles up as closely as
he can when I am sitting on
my couch

Brandy and Whiskey's Friday Adventure

 Brandy and Whiskey are indoor cats.

They don't often show much interest in going outside.  Brandy pottered out into the front garden once, as I was going out, and had a quiet sniff around.  Apart from that, they seem content to sit and watch if we are in either the front or back garden.

The garage is an entirely different matter. They have a deep and abiding fascination with what is behind the garage door.  I can't tell you why. The garage doesn't deeply excite me.  But whenever anyone goes near the door into the garage, they gallop down the hallway with every evidence of excitement and a determination to get in there and explore. Sometimes, when the car isn't in there, I let them in under supervision to have a sniff around.

On Friday I decided to let them out into the back garden, under close supervision, to have a sniff. They are not big jumpers so I wasn't too worried about them getting over the fence and disappearing - but I certainly wouldn't trust them not to try if there was no-one to convince them not to!

They both showed cautious curiosity about the back cat sculpture that sits by the patio

All went well.  They didn't try to jump up over the fence. It drew my attention to one place where they could easily escape (there's a VERY narrow gap between the backs of the garages and the fence which would allow them into next door's yard. I must block it off.) They seemed to enjoy their adventure. Until some people went down the walkway over the fence, laughing and chattering, whereupon Brandy shot back inside and Whiskey went to bolt up along the back fence - towards the weak point by the garage. He was not particularly impressed when I grabbed him and brought him back to the patio door. But it was their dinner time so he didn't stay cross for long 😋

Thursday

Early Thursday morning:

You may remember our friend Sandy. She, Lindsey and I went to Japan for nearly three weeks in October 2018. Sandy lives in Perth and has a 7 month old granddaughter who lives in Melbourne.  Because of the various state border closures and lockdowns and sundry other Covid related reasons, Sandy has only now been able to come and meet her first grandchild in person.

Yesterday she came to lunch with us.  Lindsey tried to find a cafe, pub or restaurant which would do lunch on a Thursday with decent vegan options.  There didn't seem to be anywhere in Ballarat. The places with decent vegan options only do evening meals on Thursdays.

We gave up and decided it would be as easy (and definitely cheaper!) to make lunch ourselves.

And here it is, courtesy of the local IGA, Shannon Martinez, Jack Monroe, George Calombaris and my kitchen:

Chips and dips to start

Main course:
bean and vegetable casserole
lemon and thyme potatoes
noodles with sliced green vegetables

Dessert:
Chocolate pudding (I didn't make that, it came from the IGA)
with raspberries, blueberries and mango

And here is Sandy. It was her first visit to our place. She's been to Lindsey's before, but hasn't had the opportunity to come to ours

Sandy and Lindsey went up to Hill House so Sandy could admire the new flooring. And the sunny, bright morning turned into a cloudy, gloomy late afternoon which threatened rain which never eventuated.

Jim and I had toast, marmalade and wine for supper.

And that was Thursday. Gone, just like that!

Labour Day Weekend

It was a long weekend. As in, Monday was a public holiday, not that the weekend seemed interminable.

We didn't do anything very exciting.  Lindsey and I went to the Bridge Mall market and out to the mushroom farm and the Elaine Farmgate shop. It was very, very busy in town on Saturday morning, and strangely busy in little Buninyong as we passed through. It was busy out at the mushroom farm as well.

Mind you, in addition to being the long weekend, it was the Begonia festival in Ballarat  and the Chill Out Pride festival in Daylesford so there were a lot of extra people in the neighbourhood.

Fortunately, the weather was fine.  Not hot, but fine.

Well, until yesterday when it started raining.  We do need rain. After an unusually wet January it was very dry in February. I bought a new rain gauge and the rain disappeared :- D But I rather think that the local tourist, visitor and hospitality venues might have preferred the rain to hold off until today. Fortunately, damp and misty weather didn't impede my plans for yesterday, largely because I didn't really have any, and none that required that I be outside.

It has been cool enough on and off over the past couple of days for us to think that it would be nice to have the heating on. I didn't really want to put the central heating on. Our heating is ducted heating which blows hot air through vents in the ceiling. I don't really like having hot air blown at me and I don't find it particularly effective. Also, I didn't want to heat the entire house just because we were a bit chilly in the lounge room. We do, though, have a small, portable radiator which is enough to take the chill or damp feeling off the lounge room.  I hauled that out of the spare room where it had been over-summering and moved the fan, which we hardly used over the summer, into its place in the spare room.

It took Brandy all of 10 seconds to realise that a lovely heat source had arrived.  Whiskey was not far behind!

Whiskey couldn't possibly get any closer!

A productive Sunday

And yesterday did prove to be a beautiful day. It was warm and sunny, still and bright. And productive :-)

Lindsey and I went out to Elaine.

I shifted all the easily moveable furniture out of the dining room and thoroughly cleaned the floor.

I decided that something must be done about the little front gravel bed.  There is a small grate that I had tried to keep clear when I put the gravel down.  This was not working very well and gravel was falling into the drain. It somewhat belatedly occurred to me that I could cover it with the weed mat, which is water permeable, and put gravel over the top which would look better and which should stop the gravel falling in.  There is still a small pile of gravel and plenty of weed mat. So I did that.

I whipper snipped the grass, which has been growing with an enthusiasm which is unusual in February. Jim keeps the tiny front lawn under control with a small push mower. It's harder to use the mower out the back now that we have the hexagonal vegetable beds out there. So I tend to keep it down with the whipper snipper.  I haven't done it for quite some time and the grass was almost knee high in some places.  It isn't now!

I swept the patio and rewarded myself for a productive afternoon by sitting outside with a glass of wine as evening settled.

So summer officially ended with a perfect summer's day.

Today has not been a perfect autumn day. It has been cold and cloudy and damp. No rain, as such, just damp. I have dug out my winter track suit bottoms. I am not ready yet to put my summer clothes away - I am hopeful that there will still be some warm, autumn days to come. But today I am glad of warmer clothes.

Sleepy boys at Tani and at Hill House: