Reclaiming the bathroom

When we moved into our new house last September, I had my first bath in our new tub. Given the bathroom is where the litter tray is, I haven’t used the bathtub since.  Having the litter tray outside is just one of the many perks of having a cat park but we haven’t put one up at this house as yet. The one we had at the old place doesn’t quite suit where we would like to put it here and unfortunately the company we went with last time no longer operates as an installer within Queensland.  They do have modular kits available on their website but to use them without extensive modification, we would need a lot more room in our backyard.

So we looked at a few other options but so far, we are yet to come across one which is worth it to avoid DIY activities reasonably competitive and will give the cats the amount of space we would like them to have. We’ve investigated using aviaries, DIY kits and netting but none of them seem to fit the bill. So it looks like it will be the DIY route if we are going to do it at all. It should be easy enough to do but fairly labour intensive. By my best calculation, it’ll be a good weekend’s worth of work. And that’s assuming we have the faintest idea of what we are doing once it comes to doing it.

I’ve put in a very dodgy concept drawing below. The idea is to put in a cat flap in our dining room window, use some of the existing tunnels from the old cat park to create a walk way into a bigger timber frame enclosure which will be about 4m long x 5m wide x 2m high. Whack in a couple of timber ramps around the edge, some hammocks, encase the whole thing in chicken wire and voila, DIY cat park. There’s even enough room in there to put a small garden setting in there and perhaps a few plants. The only thing I haven’t quite figured out yet is how to protect their litter from rain. Maybe a small dog kennel?

It’s still just a concept but it’s a bit more of an idea of what we can do than we’ve had previously. :P

Very bad concept drawing

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Old Melbourne Town

There’s nothing more I love than getting on a plane and going somewhere, even if it is for a whirlwind 24hrs. I flew in one day and flew out the next, almost 24hrs after I arrived down there. Unfortunately I was travelling particularly light so I was limited to the Powershot but I continue to be surprised by what I can achieve with that little camera. It might not be the sharpest night shot I’ve ever taken but it is certainly not horrible. It’s the first time that I’ve used the manual settings on the Powershot so I am amazed it even turned out. :lol:

It was simply beautiful wandering along the banks of the Yarra, listening to the work crowd winding down at the pubs and cafes. I almost got run over a couple of time by cyclists until I got used to the fact that providing you didn’t try to alter your course to avoid them, they would whip past you quite safely. There was a lone rower on the river but he’d long passed by the time I took this shot.

It’s a lovely memory of a very whirlwind 24hrs. Always nice to visit – hope to make it back again soon.

At night on the Yarra River

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Noice-ities: enjoying the winter sun

Some noice….

Winter is probably my favourite time of year, despite the coughs and colds that go around. It certainly helps when there is less rain than during the warmer months. I guess there’s something dreary about the day when it is cold and wet but when the sun comes out, it really is a beautiful time of the year.  Last weekend I spent an hour or two watching the kite surfers making the best of the gusty weather. Despite the wind, plenty of people were having a BBQ, walking their dogs or just enjoying the sunshine. I don’t usually shoot directly into the sun but I thought that my NSW friends might appreciate it. Yes it’s still in the sky – I hope the rain eases up soon for you and you get to enjoy some pleasant sunny winter days yourself.

Winter sunshine

And for some not noice….

I remember people telling me when I got my indoor pot plants that it probably wouldn’t be long before the cats started having a crack at them. Well it seems that they must have thought they were fake for around six months because for at least that long, they remained unscathed. The last few weeks they have finally realised that they are real and very very tasty. We spent about a week cleaning up puddles of greenery infused cat yak before enough was enough. They are now on our outdoor table and look just as nice out there – not before the cats did a little bit of damage to the foliage though.

The indoor plants

Posted in Home & Lifestyle, I read it on the internet, Noice-ities | 3 Comments

Noice-ities: Wivenhoe Dam on Labour Day

It’s Friday afternoon and it’s time for another Noice-ities and share with you all what was noice about my week.  For starters, it was a short working week so that in itself made it quite noice. With Labour Day weekend just past, it was even more noice (or should that be noice-er) for the fact that we had absolutely gorgeous weather in SE Queensland to go along with it. The sun was shining, a couple of clouds in the sky and just perfect for a bit of a road trip – especially when we had no idea where we were going to end up. There is a certain element of freedom in having a full tank of petrol and no time constraints.

Without intending to, we ended up at Wivenhoe Dam. The last time I’d been there was as a child and my memories of that visit were tarnished by a heap of damn bees that just didn’t want to leave me alone. They chased me incessantly and a few even ended up in my can of Pasito. That is how much the day traumatised me – I can remember that I was drinking a can of Pasito when I cannot remember even how old I was at the time I was there.

For the longest time, it didn’t matter that Wivenhoe was the camp of the pesky bee because I had no desire to go there anyway – given the distinct lack of water in the dam. But now that we have had so much rain, it is a beautiful place to visit once again. And even more noice? No bees to be seen. ;)

Wivenhoe Dam

Posted in I read it on the internet, Noice-ities | 2 Comments

Wordless Wednesday

Mojo

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Noice-ities: My favourite winter recipe

As part of the Noice-ities theme week, Leigh and Laura are asking about your favourite winter recipe. Generally speaking, I tend to eat the same foods in winter that I would in summer. This is probably because I lack any kind of repertoire which extends to seasonal cooking as much as it has to do with a lack of a proper winter like they have down south. I have about 10-20 things that I can cook with any degree of success and fortunately, none of them seem to be any less edible in winter than they do in summer. So this makes it a bit challenging for me to pick a favourite that is more wintry than the rest. Not to mention, Rah already stole corned beef – my all time favourite comfort food that I can actually make.

So, inspired by my dinner for tonight and that it could probably suffice as a winter recipe – I vote for Chilli Con Carne. I didn’t come up with the recipe myself – it was sent to me by email and was vouched as being tried and tested many times. An email which I have stored somewhere on my computer. For reasons unknown to me, I can’t find it right now so I’ll have to make do with what’s in my memory and hope that it is right. I hope it’s right – it’s that particular memory which I’m using to make tonight’s dinner. :lol:

Cherie’s Chilli Con Carne

1-2 packets of taco seasoning (to taste)
1/2 kilo of lean beef mince
1 can Mexe-beans (or similar)
4 tbs tomato paste (or pizza sauce)
1 can corn kernels
1 beef stock cube
1 can of diced/crushed tomatoes
1 cup water.
1 large onion.
Splash of olive oil for the pan

Method.
Brown mince and onion in a saucepan with a little bit of olive oil
Rinse and drain the beans, corn and tomatoes then add it to the browned meat and onion.
Mix the water, taco seasoning and beef stock cube together and pour into the saucepan.
Add anything else in the ingredients list that I forgot to mention and stir well.
Leave simmer on the stove for a while until the liquid content reduces.
Serve with rice or mashed potato.

Chilli con carne

Posted in Home & Lifestyle, I read it on the internet, Nowhere Near Nigella | 2 Comments

Have kitty, will travel

Personally the only thing I consider a bit of a downer about going on holidays is leaving the cats behind. I would never consider taking them with me on a holiday that involved more than going from this house to another house and just hanging about there for a few weeks. And let’s face it, if you are just going to go and hang out in another house, you might as well stay home.

I’m in the midst of looking at different destinations for an overseas holiday in a few years time and I was surprised to find this story about a couple who travelled some 15 000km with their kitten. They are French, so the entire website is in French. My knowledge of the language from my high school years is now fairly residual….I know enough to be a bit dangerous with it. But from what I gather, kitty travelled with them from Miami US to some place way down the bottom of South America, Ushuaia.

I think this is one of my favourite photos that they have shared from their trip. Cuteness!! There are plenty more in the Portfolio section of their website Turn of the World.

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Revegetation

This weekend has been perfect weather – not too cold but not too hot in the sun either. Our fruit trees have been suffering in tiny pots for far too long so we’ve finally given them a new home in the ground. They are meant to be balcony size fruit trees so it will be interesting to see how they go now that they are in the soil and have room to grow. I only hope they don’t perish now they are not root bound.

If they are anything like the frangipanis, they will do a lot better. They seem to be kicking along okay, even with the clay base soil we have. If anything, they seem to like it because their leaves have stopped dropping and they are even getting new growth. The three frangipanis should form a nice bit of screening foliage at the front of the house and although I did plan on putting mainly natives in the ground here, I do have a soft spot for the fragrance of a frangipani tree in full bloom. I saw a lovely teddy bear magnolia at the garden expo, so it has a home in my front garden too.

The plants between the two are a mixture of grevilleas and banksias, all in their juvenile state. Tomorrow I plan to add in a dwarf variety of callistemon that I got from the nursery. I’ve also got a heap of plants to put in that sandstone rockwall, mostly small bushy plants and ground covers. It may not look like much now but I’m hoping that in another six months, there will be a fair bit of progress.

Our long suffering fruit trees Front garden bed

After all, look how much my woollie bush has grown in six months! All I can say is it must be really happy where it is….I sure haven’t had do too much for it to grow as much as it has in such a short period of time. :D

The woollie bush - 6 months later

Posted in Home & Lifestyle | 1 Comment

Lest We Forget

Australian War Memorial

“They shall not grow 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.”

Posted in Special occasions | 1 Comment

Got my herbs planted, now where’s the roast?

This weekend, in an effort to avoid doing some much needed domestic work, we headed off to the ABC Garden Show at the Brisbane Convention Centre. I have mixed success with plants – the majority of exotic plants (excepting frangipanis) tend to fade away in my care. As does anything that requires an extensive regime of watering, fertilising and pruning. I guess that’s why native plants have become my best friends in the plant world. They seem to take all forms of abuse and while they may not thrive, they certainly have a fair bit of survival instinct, particularly if they are chosen for the soil they are planted in.

The only herbs I’ve ever managed to grow are rosemary and oregano in the kind of soil I have. I don’t know why I have an obsession with herbs because I rarely cook anything that I can put them in. But I like the way they look and I love the way they smell. Plus when I do get that urge to make a roast of some sort, nothing quite beats having the fresh herbs at your fingertips.

So when I saw this nifty little stacking set of tubs, I figured I had to give it a go. They are called Stack-a-Tubs and they can be used indoors or outdoors for anything with a relatively shallow root system. I have herbs in mine mostly, with some lavender and strawberry plants in the bottom. I imagine annuals would go nicely in them as well. Just place your water loving plants up the top and the ones that tolerate more dry soil down the bottom and away you go. When you give your plants a drink, all you need water is the top tier because any water unable to be stored in the bottom of each tier simply drips through to the next one.

Now I just have to remember to water them and I should have a thriving little herb garden on my patio. ;)

Tiered herb garden

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