Fireys, fireground and a fiery horse

Yesterday I went to watch my sister, Jen and her boy, Eddie, do a jumping lesson.  I'm really proud of Jen and how she has worked with this horse.  He's a lovely trustworthy guy but he's a bit of a hothead when it comes to jumping.  He used to refuse at times too, lacking confidence.  Nowadays he jumps much higher and I don't think he ever refuses any more.  This trick now is just keeping him from rushing and getting unbalanced.   

Jen had a really good round at a higher level, but I videoed that for her and don't think she'd like it put on my blog.  :)  She was happy with it, anyway, and knocked off for the day to reward Eddie for a job well done.

I haven't been up to the club to watch for ages. It was my club too. I felt ok. I used to get washes of grief when I went there, but I think I'm over that now.  I didn't really want to be out there riding at all.  Life changes.

I did get the vegie garden planted up at last this week, when we had a few cooler days, so the seedlings could get a head start.

I didn't go for many tomatoes this year, just two cherry tomatoes.  We don't eat much tomato any more and I was just wasting them.  On the right there is my garlic. I do love homegrown garlic!

It's weird. For years now we've had a plague of slaters (also known as woodlice) that ate the seedlings voraciously. Since I won't use sprays, I had to resort to putting potato peels in the garden because they liked those better, and placing damp newspaper out for them to hide under so I could collect them all up and give them to the chooks.  This year, suddenly, hardly any.  I guess something that eats them has multiplied to match?

Hmm, see these paint cans?

They've been waiting over a year there for us to build a shed on the site of the crappy old we one we pulled down.  Acreage is lovely but there is always a lot of work.  Hope none of their bottoms have rusted out when I try to lift them!

This is the work we do a lot of at this time of year. Sticks, branches, and more sticks.

Amazing what we can get in the old single horse float if we jump up and down on the pile as we go.  Then we take the full load off to the tip to be composted, and start piling the sticks up all over again.  It's not good to have too much dead fuel on the ground or in the trees with fire season fast approaching.

Speaking of which, am very proud of Andrew, who finished fire school yesterday. He is now a fully-fledged active volunteer firefighter. Yay Andrew!

  
The dogs and I had an early morning walk down in bush by the bridle path the other day.  It was burned off this time last year, and I personally think it was done a little too hotly.  The fire went right up the trees in some places, but as you can see, the ground that was nothing but black ash is now recovering.

It was a nice walk for the dogs.  They love it out there.  

These pretty bell shaped flowers seem to have really enjoyed the burnt ground, along with the iconic blue Leschenaultia, which was coming up everywhere.

My weekend was vastly improved by the purchase of this:

Seven years back in the cottage, and all that time we have been restricted in our outside time by the large number of Mozzies that are here day and night now that we have a sewerage treatment plant in the bush across the road.  (State of the art, supposedly, ha!)

It was quite funny.  I was out there in the screened area, but it took me a while to stop twitching my legs, because I'm so used to moving all the time trying to keep the mozzies off!  They especially like it if you play a musical instrument, because you are concentrating and keeping so still.  They'll eve get you on the back of your chord hand as you play.  Too bad mozzies!  No more of my blood for you!

I did quite a bit of this on the weekend too.  Treating Jarrah trees for Dieback on the verge across the road.  The phosphite goes down the trees into the roots and kills the fungus where it attacks them.  The Dieback is really bad over there at the school.  Too many trees there are now stark skeletons. They don't call it "Nature's Bulldozer" for nothing.  Hopefully I can save some of these guys though!