Hmm. Let's see. How to put this tactfully: Wind and snotty weather continue. Artie - who used to run the airport and has weather for 40 years, and a good memory of a fair bit beyond that, says this is the coldest spring we've had. Fishing and diving do not happen. Water looks vile.

The first strawberry that I was preparing to celebrate... got nailed by a rat on the night before the day I had planned to pick it. A rat-trap is now in place, but it won't bring the strawberry back. The only one of the long list of things I have planted that is growing is 4 Zucchini plants. No watermelon, no melon, no pumpkin, no squash, no peppers.

However we are on our 3rd artichoke.

I now know what pink onion weed looks like having been employed to root it out. It's a bit embarrassing when weeding pays so much better than writing. Perhaps I have missed my metier.

I went and had a look at Jamie's amazing bandsaw log mill yesterday, and I must say it does fill me with envy. I also got lessons in the use of a chainsaw as a construction tool (he's modifying his stable) and I think it takes more precision of eye than I have.

Today was hot and humid, and I planted out the first two planted on the kitchen windowsill zucchini. I have various other pumpkin/squash/peppers seeds in pots, but no germination yet. I'm getting a bit worried. tomatoes - we have some fruit on the overwintered plants, and start of flowers on the early red, and a lot of volunteer plants up. I'm a bit behindwith planting more maincrop ones. but we will have early salad tomtoes. I collected some scrap wire and shade cloth to try and fence another area as anothe veg patch (that will make 3 tanks, 2 gardens, and the old chicken run And a lot of 20 liter pots). The size makes up for my lack of ept (I can make 2 plants grow badly where 6 flourished wild - it's why I hate disturbing food-type volunteers. I also have an area which will be devoted to pumpkins again. I just need to go and fetch another wheelbarrow of sheep manure for it.

The wind was such that I could possibly have gone to sea today. So maybe things are improving, weatherwise.

Bipod trial

Well, I took the bipod, attached to the rifle, for a walk last night, and it was awesome. And yes, that's the right way to deal with meat... except NEXT time I will do it somewhere where the walk back with 3 wallaby and a rifle without a strap, is just a little shorter. Okay so I'd only walked 400 yards or so, stalking. But that was one big buck, perhaps 27kg, a doe of maybe 18, and red of another 8 (I wanted a small one for roasting whole - that was actually a bit bigger than I wanted. I only weigh 67kg because I'm as fat as a pig at the moment. Rock-climbers work on low mass to power ratio, and right now I could lose 4 kg and smile about it. Long winter, not enough exercise with the chainsaw and spade. So that was 20 kg short of my body weight, and I only had one hand (the other full of rifle) Long walk, with a fair number of hand-swap stops. Of course when I get maybe 25 yards form the ute, there are a bunch of 'roo just there, just come out of the bushes.

My gutting and skinning time is still stuck on 11 minutes (which is about 9 too long), but I am a lot more confident about what I am doing now, which does make it easier, anyway. I think it'll get better with practice, and I am confident that it's a nice clean piece of meat after.

I've planted some more volunteer leeks out. The leeks have been a great thing, this spring, as we're out of onions. I've cared the first two barrows of sheep poo to try and do some fertility enhancement along. And I cut some grass. And did some writing. Life... wouldn't mind getting in the water sometime, although the cray season is closed.

Fly in, die in.

A fly in, fly out flyman came to spray today. (Yes, we spray for flies, with long lasting pyrethrin. Deal. There are a lot of flies in summer, this way there are many less in and around the house. When you live here you can tell me how toxins are bad. In the meanwhile, I suggest you consider that the pollution level in most cities makes the stuff straight out of the sprayer nozzle look good, let alone our normal air. The blowlflies are a summer problem, largely due to the huge amount of dinners (aka roadkill and livestock - roadkill because we have very high numbers of wild animals, and livestock because this is an extensive farming area. Animals die, sheep get fly-struck.) You can screen most of them out, but my wife decided the kitty door could not have a flap, they would never learn to use that. So one hole, in come the blowies.

Anyway, because you're supposed to leave the windows alone for a month after I did a window-washing this morning... I think I should start offering my services, because it gives me a chance to sing George Formby songs. And besides it's work I'd gladly pay to have done, so therefore others would probably feel the same way.

And for the discovery channel - inox (spray lubricant, good for rifles) makes not a bad aerostart substitute if a small squirt is applied inside the air intake of a brush-cutter. (400 pulls later we find this out).

Hardegg

Sometimes writing novels has its small rewards (other than the financial ones, which, trust me, are smaller still. I think the best part is the friends I have made through it.) I get to find out important facts such as that there really is a place called Hardegg, and another called Marchegg. Perhaps that is where the march hare come from, to go and deliver Easter eggs...

Jamie and I fixed the petrol pump a few days ago, and then of course I needed it for Barbs this morning and it was once again jammed. So I took it apart and fixed it. I think it may come under the list of 'bad buys'. It's a pity, I like having fuel out here, it avoids the need for expensive trips to town, just for fuel with the ute, and saves a bit on the fuel (about 20 cents a liter. On 200 liters that's a fair bit, and it all helps). Anyway, we'll deal with it somehow.

We've plucked and drawn a rooster that got bolshy with some friends of ours so... chicken on the menu. That's rather unusual with us. I've also got my new cheapo bipod for the rifle. It's not great, but will hopefully make a difference when I don't have a nice dead-rest. I'm not much of a great marksman. I shoot purely for the pot and have no interest in being 'sporting'. Not that I have a problem with other people being so, or spending loving hours on their firearms. You're welcome to it. For me it is a tool to do what I must. If I had a zappo-matic I could be sure of quick clean (and cheap) kills with, every time, no chance for the wallaby, I'd be a keen customer.

My first Zucchini plant has its head up. That's a relief, they're a major standby (as well as quite overwhelming at times)

At least the sun is shining today, but the wind continueth. My constructive deed for the day was taking out three small poplar trees which had decided their roots would benefit from the new veggie patch. That is going to need fencing, wind-screening, more clearing and fertilizing, but I have started planting there, basically to add a bit more potato-space.

I've grown a lot of salsify over the last season, and am actually not very good at using it. Suggestions?

Well, we'd better have a corker of a summer because spring is being outright miserable. The wind and rain have continued nearly uninterrupted, and it is rather cold. Still, we've eaten our first artichoke for the year. Barbs says to me "It's been ages since we had an artichoke! I said yes. A year...

storm

We had 40 year storm yesterday afternoon - had two trees and quite a few large branches come down, and the power off until 10 this morning (the Island had half an hour, Melrose road, got the long one) So this morning was largely spent in cutting up trees and fixing things. Still, we came through the lack of power without much difficulty (we have a jenny, but didn't bother) We have a gas stove, wood heater, and plenty of torches. Water we had to get by the bucket from the tank. One day, when I have a place I own, I will set up a header tank system. That doesn't seem common in Oz - everyone just has pressure pumps. They work well, but when you have no power, there's no water. Anyway, lots of firewood for next year, and lots of debris to clear up. If that's the worst, well, we got off lightly. The hanger for the Post planes blew down - they did manage to rescue the planes, but still....