No phone!

Our home phone has decided to give up the ghost. What a pain. We don't use it that much anyway BUT internet computers!!!! eck!how can we survive?

We have this little device that we bought to take when we go away in the caravan, not cheap but much cheaper than park fees for wifi. It was $29 and that included 1 gb of data, $30 a month after that. When Les was in hospital, Warren would take it and the laptop when he visited him and he paid $50 for two months, we also used it for two trips away. Then we decided to pay $200 for a full year and the data was 2GB and it rolls over. In hindsight it was a very good thing to do as that is what we are using now.

Phone we can do without but internet is a bit more difficult to be without, just thinking of all those emails to wade through after ten days if we couldn't check them every day.

Yep, its going to be ten days before a techie from Telstra can get here.

Warren thought that he would give me a night off cooking an suggested fish and chips for dinner. He asked me to ring and order and he would walk down and pick it up. I searched for the magnet on the fridge and got the phone before I realized that I could ring, reached for the mobile which is a bit hit and miss in the house. Too much hassle so we drove to Maccas instead.

Cows

We went to the farm to see the cows.

Millie is the token cow that is milked and patted by the visitors. The tour guide showed everyone how to milk her by hand and then asked anyone if they wanted a taste, those who did taste were surprised how warm the milk was. We then moved on to feeding a two week old calf, there were two of them but one was not interested at all.

Lily and Tina sharing feeding the calf.

Lucy was scared of the animals and would only come into the yard with me, she ended up holding the bottle for the calf but that was all.

Two friendly goats were there as well and there was pellets for them to feed from hands, the girls were that keen on that as they nibbled

Collecting eggs and feeding chooks

The cows go into two rows with the workers in a trough, after we saw the milking, it was back to wash up and then taste their wares. Chocolate milk, yoghurts and custard, very very yummy!

Hot Cross Buns

I know lots of people complain about these being available very soon after Christmas. I am not one of them as hot cross buns are one of my favorite snacks. I am pleased that they aren't around all year.

I went to the shops yesterday for our groceries and spent a grand total of $10.19, a packet of muesli, a pack of Hot Cross buns and some broccoli (the buns were not on the list!)

My pantry seems to be full and so is my freezer so this month I am doing cheap shopping by only buying what I really need. Warren has muesli for breakfast and I have gone back to just plain oats and his cereal was empty. We are still getting the organic fruit and vegetables each fortnight and I think it is good value so I won't stop that but greens were a bit light on so I picked up some broccoli.

The buns were out the front of the store and I figured that afternoon teas for the week was done with them. I did put them in the freezer so they last the week.

I think it is the cinnamon and the fruit, I also like the fact that there is no icing on them.

Of course they are probably not good for us but a warmed bun with a touch of butter with a coffee is my idea of bliss.

Autumn

First of March was yesterday and therefore it is Autumn. We were enjoying our afternoon coffee on the back patio and I noticed this.

One lonely flower bud on Max's tree. We call it Max's tree as she is buried under there. Max was our little dog that we found abandoned, cold, starving and scared. (Max spent the next fifteen years living with us) The tree was a bit like her when we put it in with no name, hence Max's tree.

I did find a couple more flowers and it will continue to flower and in a few days we will have hoards of parrots visiting to get the nectar.

Another tree in our back yard which loves the rain and sun that we have been having. Two branches are almost touching the ground and we will need to do something about soon. It does make a nice canopy over the trailer though for the moment.

The excess water and then hot sun has put paid to one of my egg plants though, it was the younger one and has turned up its toes. The older more established one is still doing strong and producing three or four fruits a week.I use it like mushrooms.

A strange request

Last week I rang a friend of mine and asked to borrow something of theirs. She laughed and said that it was the strangest request she had heard for some time but said yes.

One of the first things the girls (our young visitors) asked us was did we have a dog. We said no and they were so disappointed as they thought everybody in Australia had a pet dog. I told them that I could probably get a dog to visit hence my phone call. Warren went and picked up Pokey (the dog)

This is Tina sitting and Lilly and Pokey. Lucy the youngest girl did not want anything to do with the dog. Pokey stayed for about half an hour and demonstrated the doggie door that we have in our screen door. The girls couldn't believe that there is such a thing. I drove him back home and he sits down in the foot well while being driven and doesnt look to move until his door is opened for him. They do have a seat belt for him for long trips.

Second Best

Exotic hotel in India. The first movie came out while ago and we really enjoyed and now the second movie opened last Thursday. We knew that we wanted to see it and we usually go on Tuesdays as its cheaper then but the TV was woeful last night so I checked the movie guide and went along at 6.45pm.

The movie was different from the first of course but many of the same actors were there with the addition of Richard Gere.

Two big party scenes with lots of colour and dance a real Bollywood sense about it. About a week ago the the first one was on TV so we had watched that and so it was fresh in our minds.

The theatre is always cold  and we remembered this, Warren wore jeans rather than shorts and I took one of my shawls and I just used it around my shoulders.

My "nothing soup"

Last week I bought a ready cooked chicken as the girls wanted chicken sandwiches which I made and we took for a picnic lunch. The bones and stuffing of the chook, I wrapped it and put it into the freezer.

Yesterday while cleaning the fridge, there were some pieces of vegetables that needed using or binning so out came the chicken and the slow cooker. It was a hot day so I prepped it and then put it outside to cook, therefore it didn't heat up the kitchen.

Come dinner time, I grilled some cheese on toast to have with the soup, brilliant! "Free" meal and easy. Now we have lunch for today as well as one pot for the freezer.

I have set myself another challenge for the month as my pantry is like walking into a minefield and the freezer is pretty full. I belong to a forum and they talk a lot about having $21 weeks. This is only feeding the family on $21. Of course this is not long term but more to think outside the box and use what is on hand.

I hope to have all $21 weeks in March, I will have the fruit and Vegetables delivered as usual each fortnight.  So far the only thing on the shopping list is Warren's muesli.