How exciting is that!

When we lived in New Zealand it rained often. When you washed the car it rained. When you washed the windows it rained. When you did the washing you consulted the weather forecast like a witch doctor consults the gods to see if it would be dry all day or maybe it would rain on your washing too. That is why the country has it's ‘clean and green’ label, which it richly deserves.

From time to time there are droughts in New Zealand, but generally they only last for a few months, and then the rain comes back, sometimes enough to flood some rivers, but usually  just enough to bring back the green.

But here, at the moment, about 60% of Queensland is in drought, and I mean drought. No rain for months and months, little feed left for the stock, selling off the stock, which means no income for next year, and generally throwing up their hands, and sometimes throwing in the towel.

Well, yesterday it rained here. The first decent rain we have seen for 8 to 10 weeks, or maybe more. It wasn’t heavy rain, but it was enough to wet the grass, water the pot plants, and hear a few dribbles going into the tank.  We had some storms go over during the afternoon and evening too. Some areas got around 50ml, but we just got a little tease.

However, more is forecast, and in the next couple of days I hope to stand on the deck here, see the storms coming and enjoy the rain. Who would think you could get so excited by a bit of rain?

We even had a rainbow to prove it!

 

 

 

This house sit is in a great neighbourhood.

You know, neighbourhoods have lost their closeness over the years. So often we never really know who our neighbours are, don’t know them by name and never really get to talk to them at all.  This house sit is different.

Our previous house sit was on acreage, so by nature we did not see the neighbours. We got to know one of them, but we could not see their house from the inside of the house and we didn’t really get to talk to any of them much either. Distance was the culprit mostly I guess. But this house sit is right in the Brisbane suburbs, on a piece of land that may be about one eight of an acre, so the neighbours are all around.

 It is quite a well-established area, and we have been told by the house owners that many of the neighbours are retired and they all know each other. I find it really nice to be able to stand on the deck and say hi to Sue over the back fence, or Denis over the side fence. From the little I have seen so far it’s not a ‘nosey’ sort of neighbourhood, but one that just keeps an eye on things, and that’s a good thing.

Sue, over the back feeds the kookaburras. About 4 pm each afternoon 3 or 4 of them fly in and sit on the clothes line. One will go and sit on a rail right beside her back door. She comes out with little bits of mince and hand feeds the one by the back door and throws titbits to the others. Sue says she can not only hand feed this bird but the bird allows her to pat it too. That’s terrific!

Listen to the kookaburra here. For a small bird they can certainly make a lot of noise. They are related to the kingfisher and usually call at dawn and dusk.

I remember my own childhood, living in a small town, the entire neighbourhood knew each other by name. It was not an intrusive thing, but we all knew who was who, where they worked, and all the children knew each other and played together after school. Well, I guess we all went to school together too, so quite a close community grew over the years. It gave a safety that is not apparent in most neighbourhoods today. Rather sad isn’t it?

 

We have a new baby.

It’s a sort of adoptive role, and it’s a four legged baby, named Allie. This house sit is primarily to care for the pooch that lives here, a middle aged dog, silver and black, with a good temperament.

You never really know what you are going to get with it comes to caring for dogs. Some can be boisterous barking balls of fire and others are sedate little duchesses who sit on their pillows and are fed bite sized morsels of steamed chicken. However, Allie is good. She is probably pining a bit for her mum and dad, she didn’t eat much the first night, but she seems to have settled down well and is now woofing down her food in normal doggy fashion.

She is not one of these dogs that needs regular walking. She is arthritic in the back end, so a sedate little wander is all she needs. She can’t jump either, we have noticed that she tries sometimes, but it doesn’t work, so jumping for a ball is not on the list of requirements either.

A little play on the back lawn keeps her happy.

Ellie, so far a good pooch to care for.

 I must say she is well behaved. She barks when there is a strange car in the driveway, and she barks when there are people close to the house, but otherwise she is not a barker. But for house protection, I reckon she will do a good job. I think her hearing must be top notch, she whines when she hears sirens, and we are told will howl for the moon when fire engines are close by.

She has the normal pleading doggy eyes that say ‘I am starving, I have not been fed for years and gimme food now!’.  She sits by us at the table silently pleading for morsels, but we are under strict instructions not to feed her extra stuff, so she sits there unfulfilled.

Anyway, she is good, and we are happy to care for her. I understand she hates storms, runs under the bed during a storm, so we will have to watch her in the days to come, I think there are storms in the next few days. If only it would rain!

How to wash a cat

 This is simply too much of a time saver not to share it with you.

1. Put both lids of the toilet up and add 1/8 cup of pet shampoo to the water in the bowl...

2. Pick up the cat and soothe him while you carry him towards the bathroom. 

3. In one smooth movement put the cat in the toilet and close the lid. You may need to stand on the lid.

4. At this point the cat will self agitate and make ample suds. Never mind the noises that come from the toilet, the cat is actually enjoying this! 

5. Flush the toilet three or four times. This provides a 'Power-Wash' and 'Rinse'.

6.. Have someone open the front door of your home. Be sure that there are no people between the bathroom and the front door.

7. Stand well back, behind the toilet as far as you can, and quickly lift the lid.

8. The cat will rocket out of the toilet, streak through the bathroom, and run outside where he will dry himself off.

9. Both the toilet and the cat will be sparkling clean.

 

Yours Sincerely, 

The Dog 

A noisy noise annoys an oyster!

Well we are not oysters, and we are not annoyed, but its surprising how every house has its own particular sounds and noises. It’s strange how each one is different. Of course, when we live in a place for a while we get used to all the noises and they don’t make any impression on us.

Today we moved into our next house sit. The owners have left for holiday and we were here in plenty of time to sort out the technicalities of things. They have some unusual light switches in the living area, and we have found out that the toilet has a nifty little blue light that comes on in the night when you walk into the dark bathroom.  

This house has been renovated, and the owners have done a really nice job. Most of the houses in this area are older, maybe built in the 1950’s or 60’s. They are built on small sections but with nice gardens, its a nice quiet area. It looks like they were all built as Queenslanders, meaning they are built up high off the ground. They were built like this to keep the homes cooler in summer. Here in Queensland, everything is built to keep a house cool.  In New Zealand everything was built to keep a house warm.  The homes in this street have been modernised though, many with lovely large verandas around them or large decks coming off the living area. This makes for a home that is very convenient and generally has some cool spots at any time of the day. This house is no exception.

I asked my mate Google and found some sample Queenslander houses to show you........

 

This is a typical Queenslander house. Built up off the ground, with quite unusual stairs and small windows.

 

Some are modernised and beautifully painted. They have lots of woodwork around the verandas.

 

Look at the woodwork and screen work around this house. Many Queenslanders are renovated like this, with garaging
underneath and sometimes other rooms built underneath too.

When doing the renovations here in this home, they have put down some beautiful flooring. I don’t know much about flooring, so I am not sure if it is real wood that has been highly polished or if it is some sort of veneer. I think it is real wood. It is beautiful flooring, but it squeaks! Coming from a tiled floor on a concrete base, the noise is quite distinctive.  There is a small flat underneath too, with a tenant, so I don’t know if they can hear us walking around up here. . . I would think it sounds a bit noisy.

Another very distinctive sound is a clock. I’m not sure if this is what you call a ‘grandmother’ clock. A grandfather clock is a tall one that sits on the floor and is about six feet high, and a ‘grandmother’ clock is one that hangs on the wall but is only about three feet high. It chimes on the hour, but not on the quarter or half hour. It has a bit of a tick and sounds the hours off as time passes. It’s not a loud chime so won’t be a problem in the night, but still, we have not had a housesit before with a chiming clock.  Just another noise to tune our ears to.

You need to get it right!

If you are going to have an online affair and send fake photos and details, you might want to think again. Check this link if you want more, but here you can see what happened to one threesome….

"A Chinese man who arranged a hotel rendezvous with a woman he met online was shocked to discover that she was actually his son's wife.

Wang, 57, whose first name is not known, made the awkward discovery when he met with Lili at a hotel in Muling City in the Heilongjang province, the Heilongjang Morning Post reported.

"How could the person who gets a room with me be my son's wife?" he said.
Lili's husband of eight years, Da Jun, a long-haul trucker, had followed his wife to the scene after discovering her online liaison and was equally as surprised to find his father waiting for her.

In a fit of rage, he allegedly beat Wang and Lili, knocking out three of her teeth.

Wang, who goes by the online alias "Good at understanding others", had retired two years earlier and had become addicted to chatting online.

He had told the woman that he was a director of a company and that he was single after his wife died two years earlier.

Stay-at-home mum Lili, or "Lonely flowers and plants", said her husband was in prison.

The pair had agreed to exchange pictures of themselves; Wang sending one of a friend from his army days and Lili sending one of an attractive friend.

During the melee, hotel staff called police, who arrested the three for questioning.

Da Jun was put under detention for five days for assaulting his father."

Our travels begin.

We have left our house sit on the Gold Coast. The owners have returned from Europe and will be there for some months over the summer. It was nice to see them again, and hand over the house and land all ship shape and Bristol fashion. All being well, we will return for next winter. In the meantime we have new pastures to visit.

Our first stop has been only a few kms away. Our daughter and her family are having a few days away, so we are at their house now looking after their two little dogs.

Their dogs have been part of the family for some years now, Pippa having had several litters of Hudsons babies. You would think that a dog with a name like Hudson would be refined. Well he aint! He is a small dog, furry, black and white and with a good nature. But he is a barker! If it moves he barks at it. When someone walks past he lets the world know. When the rubbish truck comes, well you have to shut him up, he gives the poor truck a rapturous welcome, and tries to befriend the tyres as they amble down the road. When someone comes to the door the whole world knows it. Now this is a good thing when you think of security, but it can be a pain in the neck at times.

 

 

He has also been a wanderer. Lils had to get him fixed because he would wander the neighbourhood looking for love. If there was no love on offer, then lust would suffice, and if neither was available, well the nearest leg would do.

Anyway, we are here til tomorrow and then we are off to our eldest son for one night. Then onto the next real house sit. I’ll keep you posted.

By the way, I saw this flower vase at the Helensvale Mall. Inventive eh?

I scream you scream we all scream for icecream!

 

Ah well, summer is here and it’s ice-cream weather and I’m rather partial to a bit of the cold stuff from time to time. You can buy quite cheap ice-cream, but the good stuff is getting quite expensive, and it all seems to have additives in it, numbers, colours and flavours from chemicals rather than fruit that came from a tree or vine, preservatives, softeners so you can scoop it out, hardeners, so it stays the same consistency, you know what I mean.

For a long time I've looked at ice-cream makers so I could make it at home. There are some quite cheap ones out there, but I have found from experience, that with these cheap things, you get what you pay for, and the day after the 12 month warranty is over the thing throws in the towel and gives up the ghost, thereby needing another trip to the shop, more decisions about what brand to buy, and general frustration.

So I decided to buy an expensive one. I went back to the online shop, Kitchenware Direct, where I bought a pan recently. They have a chat facility where you can talk to someone there. So I did this and asked the lady about ice-cream makers. She has one, a fairly expensive one and says it churns out good ice-cream every time. So I ordered it and I have experimented a few times.

It makes yummy stuff. Not quite as thick as bought ice-cream, but pricewise probably on a par or cheaper than the good ice-cream, it is quick to make, and I know what is in it. Not much. Milk, cream, sugar, vanilla and fruit.

 

Everything is churning away. It only takes about 30 minutes per batch.

This is the machine. So far so good.

 I bought this one…..a Cuisinart. It is a solid machine, has a good warranty, a solid metal body and makes 2 litres at a time. I have used frozen fruit so far, mixed berries and raspberries. I still need to experiment with the juice that the berries make, I think I have put in too much of the juice and it is a tad thinner than I think it should be. You thaw out the berries and add half a cup of sugar to bring the juice out of the fruit. 

I don’t like chocolate ice-cream so won’t make that one. I do want to try hokey pokey ice-cream. Growing up in New Zealand, we had the best ice-cream in the world.

 

I find that even my favorite is full of 'stuff'.  These are the ingredients of hokey pokey ice-cream.

ICE CREAM [CREAM, MILK, LIQUID SUGAR, WATER, GLUCOSE SYRUP (FROM MAIZE), MILK SOLIDS NON FAT, EMULSIFIERS (477, 471), VEGETABLE GUMS (412, 410, 407, 401), NATURAL FLAVOURS, NATURAL COLOUR (160a)], HOKEY POKEY PIECES (6%) [SUGAR, GLUCOSE SYRUP (FROM MAIZE), BUTTER (CREAM, SALT), COCOA BUTTER, MINERAL SALT (500), GELATINE, NATURAL FLAVOUR, SALT].

 

 

 Tip Top is the best ice-cream you will every buy, (If you have never eaten Tip Top Hokey Pokey Ice-cream, you have not lived.) so I don’t expect to equal that, but my homemade stuff is pretty good. Fancy a scoop or two?

Sydney bush fires.

The bush fires around Sydney are a problem. We are having 24 hour coverage on television here and tomorrow seems to be the worrying day. They are expecting high winds maybe up to 100km an hour and very high temperatures.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/in-depth/bushfires/fears-grow-nsw-blue-mountains-bushfires-will-merge-and-form-a-mega-fire/story-fngw0i02-1226743664238

The newspaper says…….

“TWO major NSW bushfires have flared up again as firefighters brace for worsening conditions and try to halt the formation of a "mega-fire".

The blaze in the Springwood area of the Blue Mountains which last week destroyed 200 homes was this afternoon upgraded to emergency status.

And in the NSW Southern Highlands, a major fire that has been burning for days near Wollondilly was again upgraded and residents in the village of Wilton warned burning embers were blowing their way.

The new emergencies came as hundreds of firefighters resorted to “high-risk” back-burning strategies against the biggest of the bushfires, the State Mine blaze near Lithgow in the Blue Mountains.

The great fear is that at least three major fires in the Blue Mountains will merge and head toward's Sydney's western suburbs amid worsening conditions on Wednesday.”

Here are few pictures. The link will take you to a gallery of pictures. I think the real worry is that if the winds are strong enough it will take the fires right to the edge of Sydney city itself.

This is a great picture, the smoke coming over the city and harbour bridge.

I remember in years gone by when large fires were experienced in Australia the smoke took a few days to come right across to New Zealand. No doubt it will do the same with these fires. They expect them to burn for a long time even once they are under control.

The main problem has been lack of rain over the winter. It has been so dry. And it is the same here where we are house sitting. If a fire was to get out of hand here we would be in the same boat. It would engulf the area around where we are house sitting, and maybe go up Mount Tamborine where it is well populated. Care is needed.

On yer bike!

The Gold Coast has been having a bit of bother with bikies. They have been setting up home and shop in the area and bringing some angst to the local people.  So the Queensland government has brought in some new laws….to be ‘tough’ on them and hope they will go somewhere else.

There are new laws now that if there are three or more bikie looking people riding together they can be stopped and searched. This has not pleased those other folks who like to get on their bike gear and ride round on weekends, generally causing no harm except to give their Harleys a bit of a work out.

The problem seems to be that under the surface of things, and a surface that people like me never get beneath, there is crime, drugs and other nasty stuff. Having this activity is not wanted here by the locals, especially the law enforcement people. How successful this will be of course remains to be seen.

It was reported that the Bandido gang have hung up their colours and gone home.

The local media reports indicated that they couldn’t hack the pace, and gave up without a fight and disbanded the gang. If this is the case, well done to them.  I guess if they were so easily intimidated they weren’t much of a threat anyway. As for the others, well maybe it will be a bit more tricky to get rid of the others, especially if they are involved in criminal activities.

To make it even more scary, the idea is to get them off the streets and into the local jails. And even worse, not only in jail, but to force them to wear pink uniforms in jail, something that will make them feel powerless and girly.

 

 

 I wonder if that will work. Of course, the fact that our prisons are almost chocka anyway adds to the problem.

The Gold Coast is touted as a highly desirable holiday destination, and people come from all over the world to the lovely beaches here, so it’s easy to see why a ‘family friendly’ reputation is important.

We leave this 'family friendly' place in ten days for other climes for a while. Fortunately for us, the location of this house sit is removed from the centre of surfers and we don't come into contact with any of that stuff.  Our main problem here is keeping enough water going for the birds, lizards, bunnies and other wildlife.