House & Garden

[rwrylsin]

Over 6 years here, and the garden continues to surprise us.
Most recently was a plant in the driveway which we have never noticed before. It's currently covered in quite noticeable flowers, and at least 3 meters tall so not a new addition.
Presumably this is the first time it has flowered, possibly the recent rain has agreed with it.

The roses are also doing exceptionally well this year. Some are falling over under the weight of their flowers, and the climber near the window turns out not to be a miniature rose after all. I had to prune back around the mailbox early otherwise the postie would probably just refuse to come near the mailbox.
The area at the front of the house smells amazing, particularly just after rain.

Something has been vigorously digging around the chook house, but it remains impervious. A fox cub ran across the road in front of me one morning after I dropped Mr4 at kinder (cute little pest survived the busy road just fine). Chooks are happy and laying well.

We have finally got the last of the house exterior painted, and it looks very nice. Just need to remember to seal up around the bottom of the balcony posts now that we've replaced them.

Next to the house to-do list is to do something about the patio. It's going to be a long term project, first step is to stabilize the slope so that maybe the patio stops shifting and sinking quite so much. My plan involves terracing with retaining wall blocks.

I've put in some pavers under the washing line. I hadn't realised quite how much soil had been washed away from there until I started looking at the levels with the existing concrete. Turns out to need less digging than expected, and a lot more top soil added. At least the weather has been ideal for growing new grass.
My hope is that between the pavers and the grass growing between them, the soil will actually stick around this time. Sometimes it is hard living at the bottom of the local drainage system.

Speaking of which, Yarra Water workmen turned up out the back gate recently and got stuck into the climbing plant back there. Turns out there is a fence, and big drain opening under there that we never knew about!

Currently, I am working on getting the kids a 2nd hand cubby house on eBay. Apparently this is not the right time of year to get bargain cubby houses. I shall persevere though, there seem to be plenty around.

Inside the house, I've begun getting rid of baby things. A number of large items were successfully sold on eBay. So we now have a bit more storage space back, and a spot in the kitchen to put a little table and chairs for the kids. They approve of the new arrangement and have spent a lot of time happily playing with playdough on there.

This cuts down on the rate of playdough in carpet incidents, but the kids are still doing a pretty good job of trashing the carpet in the lounge. It will definitely need replacing at some point when they're less destructive. I'm campaigning for floorboards, it's a tough sell though.