A quick posting to share with you some of the produce growing in my garden :)

Apples

Quince

Logan Berries

Grapes

Fig (not yet producing but i'm proud of the tree so i had to share hehe

Tomatoes

Strawberries


Until next time
What's growing in your garden?
-x-

It's got me wondering, if you don't immunise your child, will you or in this case your child, suffer in the long run?

My DS4 had his 1st years worth of immunization shots but none after that. It's not that i have anything against vaccinating my child, my 2 DD's had everything on offer. I think with my DS i was just not on the ball and the longer i left it the more i thought oh it's too late to have it done, i'll not worry about it. Makes me sound like a bad mum but really i'm not! I know of kids who haven't had any immunization and they are healthy and happy. My boy is healthy and happy too, no set back or side effects from not being immunized except for this past week when he caught the Measles!
I didn't know it was the measles until the rash appeared. He'd been feverish with runny nose and weepy eyes and not eating since the early hours of Saturday morning. We'd kept the fluids up with lots of panadol to ease the fever and closely monitered him and because he had a prearranged Dr's appiontment on Tuesday i felt we'd be ok till then to find out what was making him ill. The fever broke on Monday thankfully. We get to to Dr's, he takes one look at him and says "how long has he had the measles?" I'm like "What!?!?" Lift his tshirt and sure enough, he is covered in measles rash, poor kid, i just wanted to cry! Not that anything different could have been done, there is no particular treatment to speed up the recovery, we did all the right things. It makes me wonder though, if DS had the MMR vaccine would he have contracted the measles? My DD's don't seem to have any symptoms of it yet, i would have thought being in such close contact they would have picked it up. They all share the common cold quite well!
I'm now starting to wonder what else he might pick up :(

In other health related news from this household, DH came inside Saturday night after taking a short stroll around the property and said he thought he'd been bitten by a bull-ant as he'd picked up a couple of pieces of timber to put in the rubbish pile. He applied Stingose (stop itch ointment) to his hand where he belived the bite occured as it was reasonably itchy/stingy. After 10 minutes he was soaking both hands in iced water. Then his feet got itchy and he started feeling light-headed so i took him off to the hospital. It's a 35km drive and in that time he started getting hot and his skin was crawling with itchiness. By the time we got to the hospital he had smallish welts on his back and right side. The nurse gave him an antihistamine which settled everything within the hour and diagnosed a spider bite on the right buttocks! Ever heard of the story titled 'The Redback Spider on the Toilet Seat'? Well Dh had experienced it, wether it was a redback we will never know. Just before he came in he stopped at the bathroom and well you know the rest lol. It was easy to laugh after the event but during, it was a little on the scary side. We are now armed with a few hospital strength anithisamines in case something similar should happen but i know DH will be double checking the toilet seat first!!

Until next time
-x-

Ahhh it's been X amount of days since i last blogged - feels like i'm at a bloggers anonymous lol - So many things have been happening but at the same time nothing overly exciting has happened. I've been reading through many blogs and they always seem a lot more interesting then i could ever write. When i started my blog it was like a diary for me, to look back on and see how my family's life had panned out over the months. I do write in a diary as such that sit's beside my bed but it's a very short version of the days events and sometimes i forget to write. Anyways, reading these other blogs made mine feel inadequate. I know, we are all different, do things differently, see life through our own eyes not others, but i was seeing what i thought were my 'elegant tapestry', lol, of family happenings as just plain old daily activities with the odd thought thrown in. Maybe it's envy? Some people lead fascinating lives, rich and wholesome with a carefree attitude, always doing something exciting, wether it be something as simple as creating garden beds or going on an adventure with an inanimate object ( oh the things people do lol, but it's all in fun). Some of the blogs i've read aren't about family at all, it's about the writers creativeness, something that interests me to no end. I thought about turning my blog around to the creative side of me but failed miserably as i just don't have the time right now to be creative. I will in the future add creative musings here and start to add the odd photo i've taken that corresponds with what i have wrote about for a particular day, but for now i feel i will continue on the blogging path i started out on, a diary, just for me.

So, now i have got that off my chest and back into the groove of blogging, my next entry will be published soonish. I won't say hang around and look forward to it lol

Until next time
Blogging requires Passion
-x-

They went with songs to the battle, they were young.
Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.
We will remember them.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.

Lest we forget
We will remember them.

Please take a minute or two today to remember the brave men and woman who fought in the Wars.

-x-

Once again the weekend has come to a close. DH was home for both days this weekend. We lit the last of the bonfires and the paddocks are looking better now the fallen branches and leaves are gone. They are also looking lush and green! The week of sunshine we had has given them a boost and the cows will be delighted to munch it.

Took a trailer load of rubbish to the tip. Lucky for us the closest tip is still free for dumping, although we are cautious with what we dump, don't want to be adding to the landfill too much.

We got the chemical container out and started attacking the Salvation Jane (Pattersons Curse). This is the only time we use chemicals in the garden/paddocks. Apart from digging SJ up, bagging it then sweltering it for a few weeks, there is no other option but posioning it. In 9 years we have managed to clear half of what was growing, not a bad effort.

The kids made the most of the sunshine and played outdoors for the most of both days. DD9 has taken to riding my bike. Apparently hers isn't big enough for her, i can understand, she's only cm's off being as tall as me! They took the dog for a run and wore him out. Played in the sandpit, annoyed each other as siblings do and generally stayed out of trouble where they could.

Had an unexpected but lovely visit from the SIL. Well, we knew she was coming, we were asked to send out a search party if she hadn't arrived within 3 hours, it only takes an hour to get here lol. I say unexpected though as it's been a few years since she's visited, but that's another story and quite a boring one hehe. It was just nice to have her here and DH's smile said it all :)

Well, this post is not the best, it's all over the place and doesn't flow right so i'll leave it here.

Until next time
-x-

Well, in my mind i wasn't over-reacting, and even now, 2 hours after it's happened i can't say i would have done or said anything different.

I was driving down the track after picking the DD's up from the school bus. My neighbours property starts at the corner and in their paddock was a bonfire that had been going since this morning. It was smoking alot which is nothing unusal as i swear the neighbour doesn't know how to light bonfires properly lol. What caught my eye was flames on the outside of the fence line a fair distance away from the bonfire. There's alot of undergrowth around especially along the fences where the mowers/slashers can't get to and neighbour hasn't completley slashed his paddock so there is still alot of dry bracken/grass in places. I went to see if neighbour was home to let him know, nope, not home. Grabbed a couple of buckets of water and went back up track to put the flames out. They were about knee height and had crept out further. I doused them then went back for more water as the scrub on the inside of the fence had taken off too. I went back a 3rd time to get water and was about to drive into the paddock when neighbour came home. I told him what i was doing, DD9 backed me up with what i said as she had helped me douse the flames. His response may aswell as been Meh, whatever and he walked off to take the buckets back where they came from, didn't go and check the fire! Grrrr i was ropeable then and so was DD9, if looks could kill she certainly would have shot neighbour down lol. I spoke to Neighbour's wife and she just hung her head in shame and said thanks for what we did. I told her, for the millionth time, they shouldn't leave the property if they've got bonfires happening no matter how insignificant they may be. It's been dry here for the past 4 days, the wind had picked up late this afternoon.... i said alot more as the anger was rising but it was only falling on deaf ears so i left.

What really gets me is his attitude to the situation. They were the ones who pushed for the community to have regular fire safety meetings when they moved out to the bush and what he has done just proves he's taken no notice of those meetings. I don't care that they had visitors from America who they took sight-seeing, the fire should never have been lit if they knew they weren't going to be home to tend to it!

Grrrrrrrr, there is nothing more for me to say without wanting to throttle the guy! I still believe i wasn't over-reacting. There is enough dry scrub around to have caused a major fire, had it kept travelling down the fence line it would have met our property which hasn't been slashed yet and has 2 year old haybales scattered around the place!

I think i'm done :P

Until next time
it's better to over-react then do nothing
-x-

The past 2 days have been glorious! The sun has shone brightly and the sky has been a deep blue. It's been awhile since i've seen both. While i appreciate the rain Mother Nature has been freely giving my part of the country, i think it's time she moved on to a more rain needy part of Oz and let my back lawn and paddocks dry out a bit. There is only so much mud i can walk ankle deep in lol.

I gave in and did a majority of Fred's Work yesterday (refer to previous blog if you don't know who Fred is lol). I did a little more today too. It's a huge task but looks great when finished, until it needs to be done again.

I weeded around the roses bushes. They are looking extremely healthy and should be in bloom in the next couple of weeks. I started weeding around the Iris's. They too are ready to pop their buds. I only have 2 different colours, a purple and a maroon. Will have to organise myself to get more varieties.

Hold on, DS4 hears a plane, I'll be back ........................ lol, he has a thing with planes, we often see the crop dusters fly over as they spray the pine trees and one particular plane dips his wings and flashes his lights when passing over if the kids are outside. Just then though, it wasn't the plane, it was a crop dusting helicopter! Not seen one of them over this way before. How excited was DS4, waving like a crazy child lol. I managed to get a photo so we can prove to DH it did come over lol.

Okies, where was i? Ah yes, after the weeding i planted cherry tomato plants, lettuces, capsicums and an eggplant plant. Not in the formal veggie beds though. I have an area along a wall outside the front verandah that has a wallflower bush and lavenders. They have been there for about 3 years and although they haven't died the certainly aren't propspering. Could be not enough sunlight hits the garden bed or the soil is just poor. I tend to look after my veggie plants better then any other plant so hopefully the lavenders will pick up now as i'll be constantly out there willing the tomatoes to grow.

Until next time
how does your garden grow?
-x-