HAPPY NEW YEAR

to everyone!

Celebrating 70 years

This weekend was spent with my mum.
She turned 70 on Saturday.



The three of us...

My mum xx

My Dad has also been chosen as Citizen of the Year for 2009. He will receive this prestigious award on Australia Day. This is Dad's reward for all the hard work that he does for the community. Not bad for an old bloke...(He says he ain't done nothin')

We are so proud...
Mum and Dad

Family and friends visited during the day and the phone didn't stop ringing. We went out for tea (dinner) at the local hotel, that was after we watched the local Christmas Pageant of course.

I have three days left to get my Christmas decorations and tree up and do some last minute shopping for the big day.

I have been kept busy cleaning houses. I had one to clean everyday last week and today I worked for 10 hours, so I am pooped and ready for bed. Why does everyone want their houses cleaned right before Christmas? I will know better next year and be more organised. Famous last words....lol

I want to wish all my blogging friends a very Merry CHRISTmas and Happy 2010.


Take care everyone,

xTania

Where has the time gone?

I can't believe it has been that long since I last posted.

Life has been getting in the way.

Christmas time is near.

My grandson, aged 5 at his breakup Christmas concert.








My vegie garden is slowly coming along, the basil from last year that I cut back is booming and growing nearly out of control, wish the rest of the plants would do the same.




Hubby has constructed a couple of garden beds, but they are yet to be put to good use.

Capsicum from last year is coming along nicely. I pruned the plants back recently and now have a fresh crop forming.

I have planted tomato plants again, although I don't have much success for some reason. My daughter is growing her own vegies and is keeping us supplied with zucchini and mini tomatoes at the moment.

Silverbeet from last year is still producing although some of the plants are struggling and need replacing. I will dig them up soon.

The recent rains have done wonders for the garden after all of the heat.

I have borrowed the following photos of the deluge of rain we had recently. We were away and didn't get to take any photos.

These were taken by members of the local SES (State Emergency Service) which we have recently joined.

The road around the corner from us where all the water came down from Depot Creek.

Our house is the one with the gum tree in the middle of the picture.

You can't see the house very well from the road as it is hidden by Acacia trees growing along the front.

It would take a lot of water to affect us as we are built up high, thank goodness.

One of the neighbours that weren't so lucky. The tractor had to be called in to make a path for the water and apparently it got bogged in the mud.

Another pic of the road that got washed away. A few houses had water rush into their yards for the second time in twelve months.

I have had some exciting news from my very clever second daughter (25yo).

A couple of days ago she was offered a PhD scholarship with a Melbourne University. Woo hoo!! She worked so hard this year to get this and now it has been all worthwhile.

Hope you are all keeping well this busy time of year,

xTania

What about Mother Nature?

Mother Nature has put on a real show these past few weeks, first the heat, throw in some strong winds and lots of rain.

We went away for the weekend to Port Lincoln to get out of this house and it's four walls.
I took some pics of our friend Cindy's garden where we stayed.
I live in awe of people who can such grow pretty things without effort.

When we got back from Port Lincoln on Sunday night, this sign greeted us on our turn-off into our road home.

Well, well, well, had it rained or what??

The water had subsided by the time we arrived. Apparently this road on which we live was a river.

After the floods in December last year, someone in their wisdom thought they might change the water course of a nearby creek and this is the result. Lucky we are built up here but others were not so lucky. Why does man try to out smart Mother Nature, she will win every time unless the job is done properly? grrrr!

Sorry that we missed it.
Here I was telling everybody that it rarely rains here.
We had over 80mls (320 points, 3 inches)

I was pleasantly surprised when I had some lovely flowers delivered to my front door on Monday.

Thank you sweet hubby.

It has started raining here again today, it is quite heavy as I listen to the sound on our tin roof while I type this.

We are expecting quite a bit of rain, hopefully I am able to drive and get our son from school in about an hour.

Hope you are enjoying good weather where you are.

xTania

Update on heat

Tonight's sunset is well and truly indicating another hot day tomorrow.

Today's temperature reached 46C ( 114.1F).

It was the hottest November day ever recorded.

Very hot weather is not unusual for here but never like this in November.

January, February and March are the months for heat.

Tomorrow is expected to be 47C (116.6F).

Another dangerous day tomorrow, here's hoping everyone gets through the day safely, as there is supposed to be lightening strikes later in the day.

And we had our first visit from a Brown Snake today, like everyone else he was probably looking for a cool spot.

Catastrophic conditions

I thought I had better let you all know that we are still battling along. As you can see we are experiencing more hot conditions, the photo above I have took at 11am, and it is sitting on 43 C (1o9.4F) and the one below was at 9.30 this morning when it was already over 40. Monday and Tuesday were a bit cooler in the high 30's so we did have a bit of relief. We needed it after having 45C (113F) on Sunday.

The north west of South Australia are on a (code red day) catastrophic fire danger warning alert for today and tomorrow. This has been brought about by the tragic bushfires in Victoria earlier this year. They are warning people to evacuate their homes unless they are satisfied that they have done enough to be safe from a bushfire. Some schools and the like have been closed and school buses are not running. We have the ABC radio on so we can keep updated with what is happening.

We are experiencing very hot gusty winds...

My poor strawberries ripened just in time for me to pick this morning.

I would like to thank everyone who left a comment on my last post. I really appreciated all of you for taking the time to offer food ideas and well wishes. We survived on easy meals like tuna patties, lasagna, quiche, all served with salad. Tonight we are having chicken and you guessed it salad. Ohhh, I am so over salad...


We can't go in our pool today as there is too much dirt in the air, hopefully we can later if the wind dies down.


A cool change is expected on Friday and they say we may get some rain, so I hope they are right. We will need to get through tomorrow yet which is forecast to be worse than today. The radio just announced that the wind in Port Augusta is gusting at over 50km an hour and a bushfire has started up at Bowmans, South Australia.


Take care,

xTania

Extreme Weather Conditions- Breaking Records

Not much happening in our neck of the woods. Just trying to stay cool the best way we can.

Lucky we have a pool to cool down in. Life at the moment consists of doing a little bit, dip in the pool, doing a bit more, dip in the pool...........

I bought these vegies a couple of days before the heatwave hit and haven't got to plant them yet. Their home for now is in the laundry as I nearly lost them on the first day.


I have decided not to plant too much this year as my daughter is growing a lovely vegie garden and she will have plenty for all.

I bought some cherry tomatoes, apple cucumbers and one Grosse Lisse Tomato plant. I don't have much luck growing tomatoes for some reason.

Not sure when the weather is going to be nice to us so I can plant these......by the long range forecast it is hot until at least next Wednesday.

Some strawberry plants with strawberries, seem to be doing okay so long as I keep them damp.

These came into bloom for one day and then shriveled up, I didn't even get time to enjoy them, just as well I took a photo when I did.

Eremophila in bloom.

Another dust storm hitting us a week ago.

Weather forecast for the next week from the Elders weather site is:

41C today (105.8F)
42C tomorrow (107.6F)
42C Saturday
43C Sunday (109.4F)
35C Monday
37C Tuesday
43C Wednesday

The official all time record for November has been broken. Six straight days over 40 degrees and it's not Summer yet.

The worse thing about having hot weather is thinking and finding easy things to make for dinner.

What do others do for meals in hot weather?
I would be interested to know if you feel like sharing.

Stay cool and safe,

xTania

Our Happenings and a recipe

Isn't this a sad sight?

Hubby had a double hernia operation 3 weeks ago. He is well on the road to recovery but the first couple of weeks he was hardly able to move. He has a scar to match my Caesarian ones and now knows what pain is all about. Mind you he is enjoying being waited on hand and foot. Another three weeks of rest and then it will be light duties back at work.

His appetite is still okay.

Another visitor, I swear the spiders around here are getting bigger. This one had a leg missing.

Underneath our carport we have a new little family, three baby sparrows.
Here they are when I could first see them.

As they were a few days ago...

Now they are flying around and coming home to roost at night.

You must try this Sticky Date Pudding, I made it the other night for dessert, and there was plenty to spare and freeze.

The recipe can be found over at Our Red House.
Thanks Kate, our family thought this pudding was delicious and there was enough to feed an army!

Take care,

xTania