Getting back into things

Good morning to my fellow southern hemispherians!

I'm home again and have been for about a week now. I do so love Melbourne though. My last days there I made the most if but now back to reality. Except for another coat of paint I've finished the main back wall and wow does it look better than it did. 

Only thing is now you can really tell how badly the ceiling is flaking. That's the next job, then the other walls then the carpet comes up, because hiding under there are some quality cedar boards. I've pulled up the lino in the kitchen and it already looks better. It might take a while but if you pulls it all out/down and start again (depending on quality) it is definitely worth doing the right way.

We've had our bore water tested too. We have rain water for drinking but the bore is plumbed and leaves red scale everywhere. I've cleaned it with some success with CLR but have decided why not hit the problem at the source. Results found all levels to be within normal parameters except for the iron, which is 8 times the recommended maximum. This answers our query on the red scale. Unfortunately our bore is shared so it's not so easy a fix as buy a treatment, attach. It's shared with vegetable farmers across the road and owned by the Forests so is essentially their issue. I don't want to become unpopular by demanding upgrades to do with something that's been left untouched for years with no issue, especially at the cost involved with removing the iron (one of the most difficult minerals to remove). So I'll be thinking on how to approach this in the meantime.

Otherwise, the garden is coming along swimmingly with some good showers and equally hot days to get the summer veggies fruiting. 

Here's an quick shot before it all took off and I had to mow the middle section, with my trusty garden help. 

Concerning summer fire work we've been told not to get complacent because it's times like these a fire can creep up and our season could potentially get going. So here's to remaining vigilant and somehow retaining what energy I have for the rest of our hot summer days.

Oh and the other half is finishing his classes of his first term of engineering this week, and has only two exams next week! The excitement :)