winter woes

9.6.2010

This is the school class that moved the sheep for us last week

I think what I really want to do is hibernate. It would suit me to get into a comfy warm bed and sleep until winter is over. The thing that really mystifies me is how on earth I survived last winter. We are so much better off this year. We have the goats in a better place where we can milk them without slopping around in mud, we have a toilet close by, even if it is still bucket flushed and we have the shed roof over the cars so that one can drive out of here without sinking ankle deep in mud trying to get into the car.

Perhaps the relative lack daily survival struggles are responsible for the hibernation desire. Last month Josh was struggling to complete his assignments and worked long hours in the donga. It was all very cramped with three of us living and working in such a small space. Luckily, Josh is now back in Perth because this week Edd has had to dominate the space to get his reports finished for school. It would be awful if they had both had to compete for working space.

Actually, I am really worried about Josh. He is doing exams this week and I do not think he is getting any allowance for being dyslexic, which can be a recipe for failure. If he gets through enough to go on with his course it will be a miracle. I just hope he will be OK. He has worked so hard and is actually pretty good at understanding the concepts. Seems so crazy to me. Australia is short of audiologists and instead of setting up a really good training system and supporting people to get qualified they seem to be making it into some sort of academic competition. Of course, the same thing is happening with doctors. They train lots of brilliant academics but end up with no country doctors at all!

There is not much I can do about this, or anything else at present. I have organised everything I can for the new house but we have to wait for engineering comps and then get it through planning. We have been stuck at this stage for ages but Al says that this week some work has been started. The next problem is that with the weather this bad it is not an ideal time to start building. However, the shortest day is only a couple of weeks away and then things will work there way round to better times.

The leaves are finally starting to fall off the deciduous trees. A mangy wombat is systematically destroying my vegetable garden and the goats are finally drying up as their pregnancies move on. The chooks continue to trickle enough eggs in for us to have all we need and the wonderful high school kids moved the sheep into the new area we fenced off ready for lambing. I take them a bucket of feed each morning so I can check them. I thought I might have to retrain them to come up for food but on their first morning in the new paddock they were all up at the gate waiting for me. Bright sheep, with good memories?

David H is still helping me recover the garden. As well as working like a Trojan he keeps me sane. We had a good day yesterday digging out weeds and humping mulch in the area by the cellar. I have replaced the lost macadamia nut tree and plan to add two orange trees on the lower slopes. The wicking bed has grown reasonable sized lettuces and is above wombat height. I have added more seedlings to use the space as we consume the lettuces.