We figured out a couple of years ago that Easters are always glorious in Bagshot. We haven’t had a bad one yet, so it seems logical to add an extra 3 days of holidays to Easter and make it into a week in the bush. Per usual, my list of items to be achieved was long and impossible. Replant the garden, do some serious birdwatching, pump water, clear weeds, fix xyz problems with the house and read some books and do a jigsaw puzzle. As Michael Dart might say, I’m happy to say that I did a fair whack of those this time around. Early on, after my a fast 6k run down lonely dirt roads, I developed shin pain that effectively derailed months of careful training. I can’t remember being so angry and frustrated, especially when Kim casually went for a few jogs A COUPLE OF DAYS IN A ROW. Arghh.
This time around, the major job was the bedroom ceiling – a large chunk of plaster was hopelessly bowed and rotted from the leaking hot water service which I fixed last month. The amount of rat shit and mushy insulation bats I ripped out of that ceiling nearly made me sick – and it all came down over my head as I sawed piece after piece out over an afternoon. Pretty soon I realised I had the wrong screws to hold the replacement piece up, so I rally-drove the Subaru at high speeds to Huntly Plaster Supplies 5 minutes before they closed and asked for a bag – to which they replied I could buy a box of 1000. I needed 8. They gave me a dozen for naught (some poor other bugger is only going to get 988 in their box) and I’m giving them high praise right now. Go buy some cornice there! They’re top blokes! When we left this afternoon, the ceiling just needed a couple of coats of paint, and hopefully no-one will see the joins too obviously. Even dad said that ceilings are the hardest.
What else? Well, I started a new jigsaw, we went to the Bendigo Easter festival and saw the parade. We went to the Art Gallery, and ate at Typhoon one night. We had a fantastic antipasto platter for lunch at the Balgownie Estate winery (out near Marong). The dogs were good and did not seek out the supposed sheep and llama’s in the adjoining paddock. We drank a bottle of wine every night and slept in every day. Sauvignon Blanc from Marylborough (NZ) is a yummy passionfruit treat in such summery weather. The garden got horse manured, newspapered and mulched with lucerne bales. The stuck door got planed, I got precious little of my book read due to aforesaid wine issues. The fire got a brief workout one cool morning, which led to an all day fire and a 30 degree evening which we both agreed was “a bit much”. I found a small quandong seedling in amongst the trees. We found mice in the compost bin. And did I say the weather was awesome?
The mess before: 
Whoops – better fix it now: 
The family out jogging: 