Friday, February 27, 2015

Fridge Removal.

We've got another hot day here yesterday, it's starting to get a bit much for me.  Still it is Summer so only what is expected.  But all the same...it is hot here.

Yesterday morning I was out whippersnippering an area that has been a mess for ages and still is but soon...One day it wont be such a mess.  It is the area where we have all the fridge gardens and what used to be a sweet potato patch.  The grass overtook the SPP, sticks fell from the trees, I used it as a dumping ground...it became an overgrown mess.   The fridges still worked as gardens though and we were/are getting food from them.

We had another overgrown messy area out the back, along the fence.  This was a garden edged with rocks and over the years has had different stuff planted which eventually becomes overgrown with grass.  
One day last week we were saying how messy these areas were and talked about shifting the fridges out and putting them out along the fence.   This would make one area at least easy to keep clear and mown.

Husband has had 2 days home and decided that enough was enough and he started the clean-up.  The rocks were removed from the back fence, the fence-wire was removed, the grass was scraped away and the whole lot was levelled off.  I get home from Vinnies yesterday and he has already started moving the fridges.  It is a big job as each fridge needs to be emptied before it can be moved...but I have food growing in them.  It will be a work in progress and may have to wait until it is cooler. 

He has moved 3 of the fridges though so now it is my job to start clearing where they were and getting rid of all the sticks, grass, crap that should never have been put there.  Fair deal I reckon.

In this area is a Comfrey plant.  I need to find somewhere else to put it before I dig it up.  We have a massive purple pot and husband suggested I use that for the time being so if  can't find a better, in the ground place, that will have to do.

It's still looking messy but will have to stay that way for a bit longer  I will be busy then away until end of March but hopefully the weather will be cooler when I am back home and it will get finished then.  The comfrey is now gone, I put that in a big pot and dumped it in some shade.



This is back fence area.  Soon all the fridges will be along here.

A Passionfruit vine will be planted here in the hope that it will take off, up and over the structure.

We can't move a couple of the fridges until the plants are finished.  this one has beans and tomatoes still growing.  But another is full of strawberries and another chillies, potatoes and tomatoes...

It will look good, or at least tidier, when it's finished but that may be another month or so.  But it's started!

Sunday, February 8, 2015

Twentyfour For Two...Really?


Hot weather is here still with more to come so I am inside, taking it easy, not doing anything much...went to get a cup out and saw something move in the cupboard.   Bugger.  Cockroach!  Big one too.  I have actually noticed a few of these in the bathroom over the last week, unusual after not seeing any for months and thinking the resident skinks were keeping them down.  Seems he/she/they are slacking off.  

This cockroach looks like it has been in this cupboard for awhile so I now have the big job of taking everything out, cleaning the cupboards, cleaning the stuff, putting it all back.   I am not going to put it all back though.  Most of it is not regularly used, some is just being saved for...whatever, whenever...
Two people live here and in this cupboard alone there are 24 glasses and I know I have more in another cupboard.   We don't use glasses.  Maybe sometimes, once or twice a year if we have people here.  I used to use plastic cups but have since gone to using mugs or pewter or SS cups.   




One side of the cupboard emptied onto the top and floor.   So much stuff in there...





I'm thinking that most of these glasses can go.  I have been thinking this since I took them all out of the cupboard 1/2 an hour ago...There are also jars and bottles in there that I haven't used since last Summer so maybe I don't need those either...

Now 2PM...Why is it so bloody hard to get them in a box and out of the house!

It's an hour later, I have finished this 1 cupboard.  There are still too many glasses but I bought them because I like them and the set of 10 is up the back of a shelf, not in the way and this way I didn't cry.  Maybe next time I pull everything out and clean they can go...or the time after that.  I also kept a set of 5 for visitors to use but alas, there is 1 less now because I dropped it.  
The glasses that I like are at he back out of the way so they too don't get broken. 
The shelves are looking OK, they are clean and what is in there now is mostly used on a daily or weekly basis.  The cockroach is squished dead.  There are a couple of big SS bowls that go in here too but they are being used at the moment.


 Pleased that all this is going to the op-shop tomorrow.

I cannot understand why it is so hard for me to get rid of un-needed stuff.   Maybe it will get easier and so quicker as I do more.   There is still so much to do...

So how much stuff do 2 people need?  Not 24 glasses and the 14 that are still in there, too many.  Two people live here, a 7 year old stays quite often, others visit...We have 8 dinner plates, 7 b and b plate, 2 bowls that match them plus 1 other now.  ( I removed 2 others today)  I am looking for more bowls that match the smokey glass plates and this is an ongoing thing for me at op-shops and garage sales.  There are 5 kids cups that I am wanting to get rid of and will soon, 6 metal cups that I use instead of plastic or glass but I don't need this many.  Two cups and 1 saucer in here now, I use the cups as small bowls so I don't have a huge amount of icecream or custard.   We rarely use those metal pie dishes, there are 3 in there and I think I will end up putting them out with the camping stuff.  Two round casserole dishes, 2 glass bowls, 2 rectangle casserole dishes...Two big glass bowls...I use these things but maybe don't need them all.  It will do for now, at least I will be able to see if any more roaches get in there. 

I dread the time when I get to the cupboard with the coffee mugs in...

How many plates, bowls, things, do you have?