New Family Member

I wanted a rescue dog, I tried and failed … my ego wouldn't cope with another rejection from the adoption society so I thumbed my nose at them and now we had Ted. He is a cross breed, standard poodle and golden retriever. Lordy what was I thinking … he is mad, really crazy boy tail bitten finger chomping woofing mad. Worth noting he is only week one. He has however, been fabulous with his sisters, the cats.

They are being driven balmy by a mix of curiosity and fear. We on the other hand are being entertained by the girl's irregular incursions into Ted's space while he sleeps! The bitch cat from hell slinks in and runs wildly from high plane to nextest highest plane, couch, bench, chair, ahhhhhhhhh!!! We conclude she is an adrenaline junky who loves the risk.

We built a sand pit for Ted which we had hoped would be his poop box. Well it has sort-of worked but I think it will be his digging spot in the longer term. At the moment he loves it. He bites the sand and barks at the small stones beneath the beachy top layer. For a little while he is distracted from biting our toes!

The Battle Rages On

That ivy knot was three times round the post head and had completely absorbed the wire. It took over an hour just to remove this one knot. There are dozens of them … just as well I have four weeks off.

Still Weeding

See here for a few earlier images. (It wasn't possible to take a photo from this position two weeks ago.)

70s Loot from our Trip

This is the 70s loot we unpacked when we got back from Sydney.

The three original 70s macrame plant hangers (front) are from our lovely 70s family home in Sydney. The three Australian House and Garden magazines from 1974 (middle) were a present from my lovely sister and her husband; as was the amber glass fruit salad bowl set and the Maw and Co "Real Ceramic Drink Mats" in their original box (behind the Australian House and Garden magazines).

We picked up the Australian Home Journal magazines from 1978 (left), along with four other magazines from a bookshop in Holbrook on the way home. The titles are Exciting Ways with Floors and Walls (n.d.), New Ideas for Luxury Look Bathrooms (n.d.), 25 New Bedroom Designs (1972) and Room Decoration, 25 New Schemes (1972).

The Biscuit canister and the salt and pepper set (right) are pieces from the Hornsea Heirloom series. We have been collecting this series for ages and these were two of the very few items we were still missing (and have just joined The Hornsea Pottery Collectors and Research Society—there is only one other HPC&RS member in Oz!). They came from a great antique centre in Blackheath called Victory Theatre Antique Centre, which we visited with my sister. It was one of many we sped through in a one-day whirl-wind tour of antique shops in the Blue Mountains.

We will do a series of posts on the Hornsea Heirloom series very soon. After all, this blog is called "Our Seventies House" not "Our Weed-Infested Garden"—though, that might be a more accurate description right now …

Puppy-Proof Fence, no. 1

A 1.8m fence is probably overkill for a six-week-old puppy, which we are collecting next weekend, but the last one grew to over 70kgs, so it seems like a good idea to be prepared!

Most of the palings leaning up against the wall were salvaged from a large crate that M. and I dismantled (it was huge, built for some sort of motor; and was left outside a factory with a "free crate" sign on it)—the rest of the crate will supply all the palings for Puppy Fence 2.

The upright on the right is fixed to a stirrup pin, keeping it off the ground and away from termites. As you can see below, we had to create an angled edge and then sew the existing chain-link fence to our new wooden fence with bailing wire! It isn't pretty, but it is effective.

Since the whole fence is bolted into place, it can be removed to let water-tanks and big things like that up the side of the house later on. And when we are not so pressed for time we will paint it. (Really, we have the paint already!)

After three days working on this I just want to return to the weeding, but we have another fence to build by Friday in a much more difficult position.

The Axis of Evil: Ivy, Blackberries and Agapanthus

A long phone conversation to the environmental officer in our local council (who runs their weed-control initiative) convinced me that the sort of crap we are digging out of our garden should go to the tip as green waste. (Said environmental officer has a wonderful name: Bindy Woodland. An example of nominative determinism if ever there was one!)

So, shortly before heading north to Sydney for a very pleasant xmas we dropped into a transfer station (aka the tip) and discovered we could empty a boot load of green waste for $10. So I did a few calculations. One 240 litre green bin, emptied 26 times per year, disposes of 6.24 cubic meters of green waste in a year at a cost of about $100.

Thirteen 76 litre garden waste bags fill my boot, which is 0.98 cubic meters of green waste, which means that the same 6.24 cubic meters of green waste that costs about $100 to put out bit-by-bit over the course of a year in a green bin, can be disposed of for $70, and disposed as fast as you like. Actually, I can get slightly more than thirteen bags in the car, so it probably costs $60 instead of $100.

With these calculations in mind, we returned from a holiday in Sydney to spend a week in the garden dealing with that axis of evil: ivy, blackberries and agapanthus. The Cherry Laurels also made an appearance but they hardly rate in the scheme of things: heaving up ivy always does my back in, blackberries always leave my hands feeling like they have been used as a pin-cushion for poisoned pins—even through heavy leather gloves—and agapanthus I have already waxed lyrical about.

We have exhausted ourselves attacking the weed wonderland on the terrace(s) closest to the road. This area was so overgrown it was not clear at first if there was a terrace, how many terraces there were, what was/is growing on them: anything at all really, because we couldn't see the land and were not stupid enough to jump neck-deep into a jungle of blackberries etc to explore it. Also, a very, very large "branch" (half a tree actually) which had been destroyed by ivy had long since fallen across the terrace(s), blocking any access to part of terrace, and concealing a large area under a curtain of leg-thick vines.

Facing this sort of jungle, only a methodical campaign would do, and so that is what we have embarked on. We have been to the tip five times, and will need to do the same again at least, possibly double that again. I bought a new bush saw and chopped up the tree trunk, and cleared as far as the fence line just in front of (what turned out to be) a lovely stone retaining wall. We are now pressing on in the other direction, but those pictures will have to wait for another day.