Busy days and busy bees

I hope all my friends on the east coast of the US are safe and sound. I've not seen any TV reports yet but the pictures online show some terrible damage. I just received an email from my agent Abby who lives in Brooklyn and works in NYC. She said she can't get in to the city, the subways are under water and the server is down in the office. The good news is that she is safe and dry. I hope everyone in the storm-effected areas stay safe and that there is not too much damage in your homes. Hanno and I are thinking of you.

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I was all over the place yesterday. Hanno has had a terrible run of luck with his health since that chain saw accident. Now he has cellulitis of the foot and gout in the ankle - same leg, so he's been in a wheelchair these past few days and I've driven him around to hospital and doctor and home again. It takes up so much time, not that there is anything else we can do, but going out and driving around in traffic is the last ting I want to do when I have so much to do here at home.

We have visitors coming from Germany at the end of the week. Hanno's neice Martina and her husband Michael, son Jona and another cousin, Sasha, will stay with us. There are great plans to go to Sydney and up north to Longreach and the Whitsundays but it all hinges on one man's foot and ankle at the moment. We're really looking forward to the visit. There'll be a lot of catching up to do as well as many sightseeing drives, I have no doubt.

In preparation for the visit, I'm turning my badly neglected ironing room, formerly Shane's bedroom, into a single guest room. The evidence that I am no saint is above in picture form. As you can see, I'm far from perfect, but that's okay, I know my flaws and accept them. Hopefully, tomorrow, there'll be a photo of a transformed comfortable bedroom suitable for one of our guests.

This is the last bit of planting we did a couple of weeks back.

My day started on time yesterday at 4am when I wrote my blog and then, with the sun creeping up through the clouds, I fed the animals and chickens. The coop needs a good clean out and I'm hoping to get to it on Thursday. Not that the chickens mind at all. They're constantly scratching around in the straw looking for bugs or a stray sunflower seed or piece of corn. After I filled up their water containers, I watered the vegetables and bush house and collected a small basket of tomatoes. Soon, most of the garden will be laid bare. There are still a few things growing but it's nowhere near what it looked like a few weeks back. It hasn't been a good year in the garden but that may be more to do with us not being here much at the beginning of the season rather than any shortfall in the soil or plants.

When I was feeding the chooks, I could hear a constant close buzzing. I looked up and noticed the bees flying through the pendulous male catkins on the pecan tree that shades the chicken run. Walking back to take some photos of the garden, I could see the bees swarming around the Queen Anne's Lace flowers too. They were rolling their bodies over the top of the flowers. I almost expected to hear tiny bee laughter. Queen Anne's Lace are ideal flowers to attract beneficial insects into the garden. Along with the bees, wasps, lady beetles, assassin bugs, lacewings and spiders love lace flowers, and all of them are an asset in a biologically diverse garden.

Before I went grocery shopping, I did a load of washing and hung that out. Then I was out buying groceries and trying to change my phone and internet bundle to better suit our current needs. We had to buy a new phone a couple of weeks ago and when we did that, the woman in the Telstra shop told us that we could change our bundle after the 28th. Well, that, it seems, was wrong and now I have lodged a complaint and I'm waiting for them to call me back. We've never had a problem with Telstra before so I'm hoping that all this will be sorted out too.

There are a lot of very hot chillies on the bush this year. I'll pick these soon and dry them along with some herbs.

While I was down at Caloundra, I decided to shop at Coles. I'm not sure why, curiosity I guess. Never again! I found most of their products overpriced with only one item in the various sections reduced right down. I went down to the cold section and stared at the cheap milk. I think I might have looked a bit demented because no one came to collect any milk while I was there. LOL They had all the cheap and commercial milks in a big section in the middle, then Maleny milk on one side of that, and the other independent Queensland milk at the other end of the store, with the cheese. I guess the independents are happy just to have their milk stocked by a big retailer but I wish there was more support for the independents from the shoppers and more respect for the supply chain from Coles. I won't be lured in their again, it's back to Aldi and the IGA for me. Do you shop at Coles?

Back home again, I unpacked all my groceries washed up, tidied the kitchen, fed the animals again, put up some of the new christmas advertising buttons and started this post. Soon I'll get tea on and if I'm lucky I'll watch Time Team without going to sleep. Somehow, I don't like my chances. So, it's morning now and I've seen the devastation in the USA. I didn't watch Time Team because after dinner I had some work to do on the computer, then I went straight to bed at 7.30. I've just spoken to Hanno and his foot and ankle are still red, swollen and painful. We'll have to go back to the doctor again today and see what else can be done for him.

It will be another busy day here. I hope your day is productive and enjoyable. Stand by for the updated photo of our guest room, I am determined to finished the room off today and to clean the oven. Take care everyone!