Floods

First the fires.  Now the floods. 

I have dear friends - isolated and marooned in their homes - unable to escape by themselves, waiting for the State Emergency Services to rescue them.  Depending on a rescue, when all the time -not knowing if this is possible due to continuing weather conditions.

Such devastation puts everything into perspective.


Our thoughts and prayers are with you, Miller-Carters, those of the Murray Cod stock...xxx

Aquatic Drones: Good Guys Really

One of the toilets at the Shop wasn't flushing with as much passion as it usually flushes.  On inspection, the Machinist discovered that the submersible pump in Number Two Septic Tank wasn't working and grey water was building up and not seeping away quick enough - therefore, causing a sort of septic regurgitation. 

He came into the kitchen to tell us that he had fixed the problem. "...and Doll, you should see the creatures we have in the septic tanks..."

The three of us looked up, waiting for more information.

"What?"

"The tanks"

"The pumps are  fixed"

"No, the creatures...."

"You don't wanna be lookin'...."

The Kitchen procession began - out of the back door across to the septic tanks. 

Rattailed Maggots and lest you think the tail is - well - the tail.  It's not.  It's their breathing tube.

A Bloke's Best Friend

The front lawn had grown beyond recognition. It needed whipper snipper action before a conventional mower could have any effect. Even the path between the lawn and the house had lanky dandelions and grass roots emerging from the soft soil. Time was sparse and the Machinist moved swiftly, swinging his arms from left to right with skill, ravaging the rogue greenery - now bulbous and (almost) bursting with new life. Prolific seeds, waiting anxiously for their marching orders.
Suddenly, a pebble, lifted by the green chord shot up and hit the tall window. A crack, then another. Within seconds, the whole pane fragmented, but held in place.

That night, I heard crackling sounds. They woke me. By morning time, the Machinist had had enough of my ramblings about how the glass in the sliding door might "...suddenly burst and like shrapnel, disperse through our unsuspecting bodies...". He marched outside with bucket and broom, and 'relieved' the heaving pane. Not having enough time to clear up thousands of pieces of glass, the remains lay just outside our bedroom door.... waiting to be swept up 'later on'.

It's quite a few weeks later and the window has not been fixed. Instead, a huge piece of laminated cardboard protects us from the 'elements' (loud birdsong, loud cat crying and loud possum scrapping). On cooler nights, the wind almost whistles as the board flaps.

"Would you check that it's still in place? It sounds as if it's loose..."

The Machinist lifts the curtains to check his handiwork.

"It's fine. I'll get the glass man over tomorrow...Anyway, the Duct Tape's still in place..."

Thunderstorms and Flooding

We were up at 4am two Friday nights ago - sweeping water out of the Workshop.  Then again last Friday.  This time, though, it was more than the average flooding; brown rainwater came in from both ends of the property.  The creek at the bottom of our garden had risen so high, there was exactly three inches between the water level and the Workshop's concrete floor.  The Machinist's brand new 'thousands of dollars' new machinery sat 10 metres away from facing the dreaded 'wet feet'. 

The Machinist, the girls and I had spent the afternoon packing hundreds of sandbags in preparation of what was looming in the late afternoon sky.  We were still filling, lifting, carting and dragging the heavy, (already)wet sacks when the storm began. 

Equipped with several pumps, we attempted to suck the water away from the Workshop and pump it back into the creek.  We'd made calls to the State Emergency Services, as well as our local Fire Brigade, to no avail. 

"It's not just a back-yard shed," I pleaded "It's our bread and butter..."

I was so proud of my family that night.  Our girls were real troopers, lugging sand bags on their shoulders, placing them around the perimeter of our property, through the trees, orchard, chicken coop and barn, bitten by bugs, treading on slugs (and having slugs stuck on their skin....yeowww).

You never know what you can do until you have to do it...

**On a sad note - we haven't seen Rognon since the storms.  We can only presume she and her kittens were marooned someplace along the creek**

Where the Sun Shines

When life gets hectic, and work piles up and the to-do list is overwhelming, it is a luxury and a comfort to gaze through the trees into the paddocks beyond.  Grassy fields that could tell stories (if they could talk) of vagabonds and bushrangers, as well as immigrants who strived to make a new home on them.

How fortunate to own this view - directly across from the Shop!

Paperwork

It's not easy running two businesses and a household.  When I wrote out my profile on the sidebar of this blog, it was prior to establishing the pie shop, but I'm truly - truly - living it out now.  We're always looking for ways to work smarter, not harder.  We even own a book with the same title! Everything, simply EVERYTHING can be improved upon, but this takes time.  For workable systems to be put into place it takes time, effort and a lot of mistakes have to be made in the process. 

Take the paperwork, for instance. 

In our home office, we have three paper trays, one for engineering, one for the cafe and one for the household accounts.  Many times, the paperwork overlaps.  The telephone account overlaps, because we have one for all three entities.  Same with the electricity and gas accounts.  Some expenses are shared by both businesses - like the petrol bills.  Some expenses are shared by the cafe and ourselves - like various food items. 

A and B, B and C, C and A. 

(Doe, ray me, tea with bread, bread and jam...tra la la...)

Every purchase, invoice, cheque payment, direct deposit etc has to be recorded in an electronic acccounting system.  Food and hospitality produces an enormous amount of paperwork.

Bank statements are the biggest headache.  We have several.  We collect them, you see....

3 x business statements, 1 x GST statement, 1 x private statement, 1 x mortgage statement, 1 x investment statement, 2 x superannuation statements (there's more, but I'm sure you don't want to hear about them...).

Reconciling them for quarterly tax reporting is always nightmar-ish.  Imagine having several shop dockets with various tax codes for various items and having to separate them to record them accurately....

I remember watching documentaries on "Starting a New Life", whereby families would change their lifestyles completely.  A few of them decided on hospitality; b & b, small hotels, restaurants, cafes.  All of them declared that the hardest part of their new life was staying on top of the paperwork. 

Hmmm.....

I get it.  I really do get it.

A Taste of Spring

I bought some petunias today.  Petunias and stocks - in pinks and whites - some frilly, some smooth petalled.  Oh, and a couple of silver leafed perennials to plant in between them, bringing out their beauty, while adding to their vanity.  There were red and green cabbage flowers, too, which I left behind and now regret.  I've always adored displays of fruits, vegetables, berries and twiggery which hold their own against the most brilliant of flowers.   These aren't for our garden, though - they are for the Grands, and for mam to divide and replant.  She's been wanting 'pots of colour' for their outside table since the weather warmed a little.
"When did you put those plants outside our door?" she asked "will we be going back to the plant shop? I'd love some primroses, too ..."
"Sure we can, ma... I just wanted you to have something beautiful to welcome spring"

Our garden at home has come alive and looks quite lush already .... with LOTS and LOTS of weeds.  There's weeds between the vegetable beds and the garden paths have the thickest, greenest patches of lawn.

Should we mow it or scrape it up?

On each bed sits bulbous black bags, strategically placed and filled with semi-decomposed leaves; - a gift of labour from Grandpa when the leaves were carpeting the front of the house in early winter. They look like huge cocoons, waiting to burst open and spew out their contents.  I'm hoping we can relieve them really soon. 

Then again - I'm hoping to attend to a lot of garden exploits.  Soon.

Ramblings

The Machinist insisted we had a day 'off' and in town today.  Who am I to argue with that? Firstly, though, we had to pack away the flour deliveries, as well as the fresh fruit and vegetables. It's a good job we're just 'down the road' from the Shop.  There's always a feeling of 'I need to do this or I need to do that'.  The Machinist says I should relax and rest on days that we are closed.  I can't see this happening, as I cannot rest unless my house is clean and orderly, the washing is done or doing and the pets are tended. 

The Grands are always willing to help with our workload.  Grandpa forages for firestarting branches on the hill behind their cottage, and stacks the wood when we deliver it to him.  Hard going for an 84 year old.  They made them tough in 1925.  Each afternoon, he pops in for coffee and a treat, then later returns to carry the outdoor tables and chairs inside.  Like I said, they made them tough...

Granny also pops in with him, as she polishes the cutlery and folds the napkins.  Some days (yay!), she takes a stroll down to our house and washes any dishes we may have as well as folds the washing.  They made them tough in 1928, too!

Tomorrow, Lordwilling, the girls and I are taking a trip to Sydney with our Cheffy Rob to attend the Food Service Australia Expo. 

Which means an early start...

Hope Rob is awake by then! 

(If you read this, Cheffy, note that I AM JUST KIDDING. We all know you are like the sparrow...)

Soup..Er ... Meat Kitchen

I didn't notice her straight away.  Then, the kitchen light, shining out into the darkness revealed her eyes.  She was so thin and tiny, almost skeletal.  She came towards me, limping...

It's our mission to fatten her up.  Her name is 'Rognons', 'cos her first meal was Steak and Kidney pie and she wolfed it down with great abandon.  She is a nocturnal tabby.  There is no sight of her during the day, and then, at night, with the clashing of pots and pans, and the ritual door-opening to let cool night air into the hot kitchen, she appears, waiting, wanting ... with faint meows...

Two nights ago, a pure black cat showed up, too.  Rognons, although much smaller, growled at the newcomer, as she lapped up her evening milk.  The larger black cat now waits until Rognons is finished before she approaches the bowls.  The Machinist informed me earlier this evening that yet another cat; - a black with white patches feline attempted to claim Rognons' position as the Head Daily Pie cat. He continued on that he showed the other cat some 'Oliver Number 7' boot (he'd never do it.  He just hates injustice).

I remember smiling with admiration at a local farmer - all of 84 years of age - who feeds the local ferral brigade.  The cats don't remain ferral and a nuisance for long, though.  They become tame.  He names them and they become his.  The dairy cows on his farm provide a bottomless dish full of lactose nourishment.

Perhaps we've started a trend akin to our local farmer.  Maybe the feline community do their rounds.  Meaty dinners, followed by warm milk in two of their favourite locations.  Maybe, then, Rognons will become ours.

Smile....

Working Together

We work together
We work as one
Though there may be times
When we don't 'get on'

We may not always
See 'eye to eye'
And sometimes we feel
Like saying 'good-bye'

When this happens
We shouldn't lose heart
For of 'something greater'
We are all a part

Each one of us
Has a role to play
In making this
A brighter day

We work together
For the good of all
It's in our hearts
Where we feel the call

Gods love lives within
Every heart that shares
and every soul
that really cares

So whenever you feel
like going away
Just listen to your heart
For it wants you to stay.

Janice Walkden

Strength in Weakness

It's constantly amazing to me, how we get through things in life. 

A week ago, things looked daunting.  The Machinist had to go for an operation, Granny had to go for an operation, there were the prospect of long weeks ahead, full of events for The Daily Pie. 

Who would roll pastry with me? Who would bake pies with me?  Who would marinate and braise and slow cook meat fillings with me?  How could I take care of these two loved ones at the same time?

The washing machine broke down, the water pump played up and the electricity at the Shop was constantly tripping...

There was a multitude of other things, too. 

And yet....

My family pulled together and we got through it all....

The annual Pumpkin Festival is on this weekend, and we are expecting thousands of visitors to our tiny village of around 250.  We will be baking meat pies, sweet pies, pumpkin pies and serving pumpkin soup.  Pumpkin fever rages high, and I am tempted to enter a pie in the Pumpkin Pie competition. 

If there's time for such frivolity!