Come Walk With Me

It was a nice day for a Sunday stroll at Flinder's Lookout Port Augusta

A commemorative plaque marking Matthew Flinders exploration of our area

 Railway bridge in the distance at the top of the gulf

Redbanks cliff face

 Willy Wagtail

 Wildflowers

 Hubby

Vast barren country

Mt Brown

 Cliff edge

Looking back

Shingle Back Lizard on the run

 Tiny daisy wildflower

Getting closer to the railway bridge

 We discovered these were some of our friends walking down below

 Billy Button wildflowers

Billy Buttons

 Native pigface

 We reached the Railway bridge

The Flinder's Ranges

Top of the gulf

Bush track

Redbanks.

 These cliffs show beautiful colours at different times of the day. The morning is the best time, when the sun is shining on them.  We didn't go until the afternoon.  

  

I found this video on Youtube showing an aerial tour of Port Augusta if you want to check it out.  This is where we live, and it shows Redbanks and lots of other attractions :) 

 Heading back

Flinder's Lookout car park 

 Wattle

 Pretty

 Train leaving the junction

Genesee & Wyoming Australia 

I discovered that my camera was on the wrong setting after taking these photos, so some of them appear a little bright J

Spring has arrived!

xTania

A Little Frugal Fun

Joining with Wendy from My Abundant Life and sharing my frugal tasks from last week.

I have been preparing the garden beds for seedlings to go in. So far I have bought some zucchini, cucumber and lettuce seedlings. I gathered together the seeds I am wanting to grow, which include butternut pumpkin and tomatoes. These seeds were saved from our garden pickings last season. I chopped back our capsicums as they are starting to re-shoot with this glorious spring weather we are having. It was 30C (86F) yesterday. 

The chard is growing brilliantly.

 zucchini and cucumber seedlings

 mixed lettuce

 ready for the seeds 

chard or silverbeet

 getting a plot ready

 capsicum shoots

Our chooks are now laying about a dozen eggs a day.  Two new chickens hatched out and another hen went broody. 

We get our grain for free, but we pay for laying pellets and bran. I soak some of the wheat for a couple of days, until it swells and almost sprouts. It is very healthy for the hens and they love it! 

The money we get from selling our eggs helps to cover the costs for the upkeep of our girls.  

 two new chicks

 with mama

 enjoying some greens

another broody girl

 eggs

I picked up some free sourdough bread from the Salvos (Salvation Army), which I sliced up and froze.  It is not the freshest, but okay for toasties, breadcrumbs etc. The Salvos collect various kinds of bread from Cole's every week and it is given away to whoever wants it.

sourdough toasties

I was also lucky enough to find five loaves of raisin bread for 75c each at Woollies, reduced down from $4.99. I gave some away, made bread and butter pudding with half a loaf, then put the rest in the freezer. I spread the raisin bread with homemade apricot jam instead of butter J

bread and butter pudding made with raisin bread

I have been squeezing oranges, mandarins and grapefruit from our trees every morning for breakfast. I mixed the three juices together and it tastes delicious. I even made some mandarin curd J  

oranges

mandarins

grapefruit

citrus

mandarin curd

Our quandongs are ripening by the day, so I have been stewing them up and putting in two cup lots in the freezer.

on the tree

 on the ground

in the bucket

in my tummy 

As always our clothes were line dried.

laundry

 I made some of Wendy's Cranberry Hootie Creek biscuits to enjoy with our cups of tea, and they are yum! I had white chocolate and cashews leftover from last Christmas, so I added them to the mix. 

biscuits

I asked hubby to dye my hair, thus saving money and time by not going to the salon. I cant believe how expensive that has become. I also cut hubby’s hair in return.

I stayed away from the shops as long as possible, therefore not spending as much money. I had three spend-less days, so I am happy with that.

Hubby (with the help of our electrician son) has installed some LED floodlights outside. We had five 100 watt floodlights but now they have been replaced by seven 10 watts and two 20 watt LED's. That means we have gone from 500 watt lights down to 110 watts so that will be a saving on our electricity.  A saving 390 watts, and the lights are way brighter :)

 up the ladder

new lights

What about you? Do you live a frugal/simple life?  If so, what are some of your tips? I would love to hear them J

I am always looking for ways to cut down costs, as things are getting very expensive, especially the essentials, like electricity, water, land-rates and phone etc. My goal is to pay off our mortgage in about two years and be debt free!

If you are interested in some great frugal ideas, please visit Wendy's site at My Abundant Life. If you live in Australia, you may have seen her recently on A Current Affair as Australia's Tightest Family 

xTania

I'm a sucker for old furniture

Recently on a local facebook buy, swap and sell page these items were advertised.  The owners were moving into a new modern house and the furniture wasn't going to suit. Lucky for me I was on facebook at the time of advertising and picked these lovely old pieces up for a good price.

Brown marble top washstand for $20

The marble is broken but hopefully it can be repaired with some granite glue.   We purchased this to restore for our daughter.  She owns a quaint little cottage in the Flinder's Ranges, and this will be perfect for it.

A settlers chair for $40, this is also for our daughter.  Not much restoring to do with this beauty.

And my most favourite of all. 

A leadlight cupboard for $150

 I can't wait to get this one back to its former glory.  I think it may have been originally painted with the green and cream of that era, but I am debating whether to do that or take all the paint off to reveal the beautiful wood.  Probably will do the latter...

The leadlight glass is in perfect order, not loose at all.

This cupboard is a keeper for me J

This cute dresser was $20, I think it will be such a nice piece with all that paint removed.

I don't know where I am going to put this furniture as my house is already full of old pieces, but I will figure that problem out later J

 And the person that was selling asked if we would like this old fan.  It needs a bit of work, but having an apprentice electrician in the family this shouldn't be a problem.  There are a few bare wires showing.

Are you a sucker for old wares or do you prefer the modern alternative?

xTania

Shed Update

Yeah, yeah I know,

two posts in two days, that's a record for me!

But I have to get them done while I can, there is so much busyness around here...

So the shed?

Well, it has been started and is very slowly taking shape.  Hubby only gets to do some work on it on his days off.   He has asked a mate to help him, but to get the right time when they are both free is proving difficult sometimes.  For example next week Hubby has the whole week off and his mate will be away working.  This is not a job that can be done by oneself, especially when it is the first attempt at such a structure.

You can see by the pictures how the shed is progressing J

The beginning...

supports from the main shed, so it will be semi attached.

 Holes have been dug and large pavers placed in the bottom providing a solid base for the post to sit on. Some of the posts have been cemented in the ground.

 Hubby made these two props, I am not sure what to call them.  He used plough discs for the bottoms, scrap pipe for the uprights. The top is made from flat bar, an eight inch bolt, a nut welded to a washer upside down in the piece of pipe for fine adjustment. These will help when they are putting the shed up.

   

Hubby also made this leveler thingy out of a hose and bits and pieces.  Apparently it is called a "Bunyip" or "water leveler."

This was something he found on YouTube, and it works too! 

Up and down the ladders all day, measuring, leveling and making sure everything was going to plan.

And finally it is starting to take shape J

 The props in use...

Stay tuned, I will keep you posted with the progress...

*****

Today is National Day of Mourning as we remember those lost on MH17.

Some of the shed photos were taken on the day that the Malaysian Airliner MH17 was blown out the sky in Ukraine...Such a senseless act, so tragic and distressing.  Lots of families are now grieving including many Australians.  The following events since that day have been horrific and sadly it is still continuing now :(

We flew our flag at half mast for the day as a mark of respect for the 298 innocent crew and passengers...

Such a crazy mixed up world we live in.  

Please give peace a chance.

Oh, I nearly forgot to mention that   

we were able to be Bikies for a day, riding around on a friend's Harley Davidson.  He is selling the bike, so we took it for a ride before it is gone J

Hubby now thinks he wants one!

xTania