Bye 2018!

And here we are already, saying “Bye 2018“…
It’s thoroughly ridiculous, it feels like this year was only a few months long!!

Alas – if you’re waiting to see some snappy photos of our internal wall lining, we’re sorry but you’ll have to wait a bit longer!

The panel did finally arrive at the hardware store, but we decided to leave it stored there – just in case the cyclone did damage to our little home – because at least if it got damaged at the hardware store, their insurance would cover it rather than ours.
Not toooo silly eh..!?!?!

The cyclone ended up being a bit of a non-event thankfully, and we now have the panel at the Farm, we just haven’t got around to installing any of it yet.

We have been watching (admittedly slightly enviously) as our neighbours have been having a pool installed over the last month, as well as adding to their already huge array of solar panels.
Its almost finished so it will be nice that they can get to have it up and running for their families arrivals for the festive season.

FNQ, in general, has been lucky so far, with Cyclone Owen not ramping up to a category 4 prior to crossing the coast, which thankfully took a lot of the anticipated sting out it the system.

We had been planning to get some help from one of our neighbours to drop the tarp on the hoop-house, over the top of everything inside it, and to then lash it all together with ropes, and are glad that it didn’t get to that point.

There is currently yet another cyclone off the coast brewing up again, so its another case of watch and wait to see what it does…

It’s certainly been a month of busy-ness!

Our youngest daughter and her husband were in the area for a family members university graduation and we all got to have lunch together which was wonderful.

Our Eldest daughter had her 31st birthday the same weekend, and we attended one of the Work xmas parties and ended up having quite a late (for us!) night.

We’ve had yet another visit from our tree-snake with it winding itself through the fretwork on the entry gate to our house-yard.
One cat noticed and had a few looks, but was too lazy to do much more.

The other cat walked right underneath it through the gate oblivious to the fact that it was even there, and neither of the dogs twigged to the fact that it was there either!

We’re thinking that relying on our pets to be an early warning system isn’t really a viable option…

Thankfully, Jett (the next door dog) is a little more useful as an early warning system, and gives out a few barks when he spots anything out of the ordinary in the garden!

It has been raining for about 10 days straight and the ground is now totally soaked.
One of our neighbours has even been having to pump out their septic due to it filling with groundwater!

We’re hoping we can get at least a half day without rain, as we desperately need to mow the house-yard, but it’s just too soggy to do right now.
It always gob-smacks us how crazy-fast the grass springs back to life as soon as the rains come…

One of the jobs that has been done during the wet weather, has been the installation of the bath.
There are still a few minor tweaks to be made, but it’s already been trialed with a few showers.

Our Christmas Day was a lovely quiet affair – although we do miss being able to share a meal with our family at this time of the year…
We had ham sandwiches for Christmas lunch and watched a couple of movies afterward instead, with ham, cheese and nibbles for dinner.

We will be heading to our neighbours M&M to have some drinks and nibbles late this afternoon to say ‘Bye 2018’, but it definitely won’t be a late evening – and with the winds and rain that are around at present, it’s looking like a dip in the pool isn’t likely to be on the cards either. lol

All in all – as we look back on 2018 – it has been a bit of a rough year with the death one parent and the deterioration of another, the stressful sale of a much-loved home, settling into a new job, beloved relatives dealing with a myriad of difficulties, to name but a few…

There have also been blessings throughout the year.

New friends whom we get to spend time sharing meals with, a new super-supportive workplace and team, our grandkids starting big-school, treasured times spent with family, the joyous news of more family members yet to come, and some cherished time carved out with each other, to work on strengthening US, as we head toward yet another year of being each others biggest cheer-learders.

A new year doesn’t – in all reality – bring any great change from one day to the next – however it does present us with the opportunity to feel like we get to do a bit of a reset, and to look forward and plan for a bright fresh new year, that if we’re super-lucky, will be filled with 365 new possibilities…

Make ’em count Folks!
Happy New Year xx

The rains are ‘ere!!!

And the run-off begins.

Everything is wet, wet, wet!!

So of course, its time to mow!!!

Christmas Day lunch was yummy!!

As was Christmas Dinner!!!

Bath install happening…

Return of our little snakey visitor.

Blaze, wondering just how he’s going to get out of his latest predicament…

This carry-on from the furr-babies is because they are absofuckinglutely sure that they need to each have a spring roll with chilli sauce, and there’s only one left….!!!!