MJ's little flock

[Shadrach]

They do. I use them all the time. Soak them in the wheel barrow and lay them on the ground overlapping about 5 or 6 pages thick then put mulch on top. It works a treat.
Our front yard was overgrown with grass and I just trampled down the grass, jumped up and down on it a few times and used the newspaper and mulch method. Not much broke through and all the native plants seem to be thriving now.
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Did you find stuff grew better with the sunny Spanish newspaper?

 

[MaryJanet]

Sounds like a very satisfying project to have. Could you share the history of the house?

Gratuitous chicken photo: Pepper before her moult with sun on her feathers.
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I'm trying to think of new information to add to the background I've already shared. Ummm well great grandfather was a captain of a ketch called Macintyre that he co-owned with Elders the insurance company. He spent his life taking goods from the port to the country towns and crops back again. He became sick in his late 60s and went into hospital in Wallaroo and someone else took over as captain. He wrecked her off Wardang Island and as she was full of wheat, she wasn't salvageable. Today she's a divesite. Anyway, the insurance payout was sufficient to build the house. His brother in law was the builder (he later built the Queen Elizabeth hospital). So this house, these bricks and mortar are what's left of his life's work. He died two years later, followed by great grandmother. The house was Nana's for a long time and I lived here as a toddler. Then it was Dad's. He commenced but never completed a renovation. He died in 2016 leaving the place in a big mess. His ex tried to take the house so we entered a dispute with her that was settled after two and a half years. It took all my savings but in the end she paid our costs which I recived in bricks and mortar, not cash. In the meantime she was horrid and left shit in the tiolets and rubbish in the corners. Could've been worse I suppose. Anyway, having paid everyone for their shares, it's now my home. I work fulltime in a job I love but it's taxing, eg, last Thursday I was asked to give a 30 minute talk to 50+ senior people on Tuesday in addition to my usual work. That's not easy to do. It's exhausting but wonderful. So the house proceeds slowly and with dignity. And I close my ears and eyes to others' opinions on what I should do with it and its garden. Having fought so hard and suffered such a lot of worry and fear, while greiving and while doing genuinely hard work, so much that my health suffered, I have ended up with a lot of my identity invested in the house. That may change but for now, advice feels invasive and its unwelcome.

 

[Ribh]

I'm trying to think of new information to add to the background I've already shared. Ummm well great grandfather was a captain of a ketch called Macintyre that he co-owned with Elders the insurance company. He spent his life taking goods from the port to the country towns and crops back again. He became sick in his late 60s and went into hospital in Wallaroo and someone else took over as captain. He wrecked her off Wardang Island and as she was full of wheat, she wasn't salvageable. Today she's a divesite. Anyway, the insurance payout was sufficient to build the house. His brother in law was the builder (he later built the Queen Elizabeth hospital). So this house, these bricks and mortar are what's left of his life's work. He died two years later, followed by great grandmother. The house was Nana's for a long time and I lived here as a toddler. Then it was Dad's. He commenced but never completed a renovation. He died in 2016 leaving the place in a big mess. His ex tried to take the house so we entered a dispute with her that was settled after two and a half years. It took all my savings but in the end she paid our costs which I recived in bricks and mortar, not cash. In the meantime she was horrid and left shit in the tiolets and rubbish in the corners. Could've been worse I suppose. Anyway, having paid everyone for their shares, it's now my home. I work fulltime in a job I love but it's taxing, eg, last Thursday I was asked to give a 30 minute talk to 50+ senior people on Tuesday in addition to my usual work. That's not easy to do. It's exhausting but wonderful. So the house proceeds slowly and with dignity. And I close my ears and eyes to others' opinions on what I should do with it and its garden. Having fought so hard and suffered such a lot of worry and fear, while greiving and while doing genuinely hard work, so much that my health suffered, I have ended up with a lot of my identity invested in the house. That may change but for now, advice feels invasive and its unwelcome.

I love old homes with a history & I think yours is wonderful!

 

[MaryJanet]

I love old homes with a history & I think yours is wonderful!

Thank you. I've already done a lot (floorboards, hot water, new stove, painted interiors, plumbing, more plumbing, even more plumbing, air conditioning, chimneys, hens, and loads more little things), but there's still a long way to go.

 

[LozzyR]

I'm trying to think of new information to add to the background I've already shared. Ummm well great grandfather was a captain of a ketch called Macintyre that he co-owned with Elders the insurance company. He spent his life taking goods from the port to the country towns and crops back again. He became sick in his late 60s and went into hospital in Wallaroo and someone else took over as captain. He wrecked her off Wardang Island and as she was full of wheat, she wasn't salvageable. Today she's a divesite. Anyway, the insurance payout was sufficient to build the house. His brother in law was the builder (he later built the Queen Elizabeth hospital). So this house, these bricks and mortar are what's left of his life's work. He died two years later, followed by great grandmother. The house was Nana's for a long time and I lived here as a toddler. Then it was Dad's. He commenced but never completed a renovation. He died in 2016 leaving the place in a big mess. His ex tried to take the house so we entered a dispute with her that was settled after two and a half years. It took all my savings but in the end she paid our costs which I recived in bricks and mortar, not cash. In the meantime she was horrid and left shit in the tiolets and rubbish in the corners. Could've been worse I suppose. Anyway, having paid everyone for their shares, it's now my home. I work fulltime in a job I love but it's taxing, eg, last Thursday I was asked to give a 30 minute talk to 50+ senior people on Tuesday in addition to my usual work. That's not easy to do. It's exhausting but wonderful. So the house proceeds slowly and with dignity. And I close my ears and eyes to others' opinions on what I should do with it and its garden. Having fought so hard and suffered such a lot of worry and fear, while greiving and while doing genuinely hard work, so much that my health suffered, I have ended up with a lot of my identity invested in the house. That may change but for now, advice feels invasive and its unwelcome.

That must have been an awful 2 1/2 years. People suck sometimes.

 

[MaryJanet]

That must have been an awful 2 1/2 years. People suck sometimes.

Whenever someone who cares about me encounters her, she gets a very dirty look. And she now has to live with those dirty looks her whole life. I'm just grateful I had the presence of mind to deliberately accumulate evidence in our favour.

 

[BY Bob]

I'm trying to think of new information to add to the background I've already shared. Ummm well great grandfather was a captain of a ketch called Macintyre that he co-owned with Elders the insurance company. He spent his life taking goods from the port to the country towns and crops back again. He became sick in his late 60s and went into hospital in Wallaroo and someone else took over as captain. He wrecked her off Wardang Island and as she was full of wheat, she wasn't salvageable. Today she's a divesite. Anyway, the insurance payout was sufficient to build the house. His brother in law was the builder (he later built the Queen Elizabeth hospital). So this house, these bricks and mortar are what's left of his life's work. He died two years later, followed by great grandmother. The house was Nana's for a long time and I lived here as a toddler. Then it was Dad's. He commenced but never completed a renovation. He died in 2016 leaving the place in a big mess. His ex tried to take the house so we entered a dispute with her that was settled after two and a half years. It took all my savings but in the end she paid our costs which I recived in bricks and mortar, not cash. In the meantime she was horrid and left shit in the tiolets and rubbish in the corners. Could've been worse I suppose. Anyway, having paid everyone for their shares, it's now my home. I work fulltime in a job I love but it's taxing, eg, last Thursday I was asked to give a 30 minute talk to 50+ senior people on Tuesday in addition to my usual work. That's not easy to do. It's exhausting but wonderful. So the house proceeds slowly and with dignity. And I close my ears and eyes to others' opinions on what I should do with it and its garden. Having fought so hard and suffered such a lot of worry and fear, while greiving and while doing genuinely hard work, so much that my health suffered, I have ended up with a lot of my identity invested in the house. That may change but for now, advice feels invasive and its unwelcome.

Thank you for sharing. I think you have shared a lot of this in pieces before but it was nice to have it all put together. I would love to see as you make your improvements inside the house as well if you feel like sharing them.

 

[BY Bob]

Whenever someone who cares about me encounters her, she gets a very dirty look. And she now has to live with those dirty looks her whole life. I'm just grateful I had the presence of mind to deliberately accumulate evidence in our favour.

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

I like pepper.

Pepper and I feel honoured.

She is a sight right now. So many pin feathers.

If I can get her to stand still long enough I'll post a picture but she tends to see the camera and run!

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

Sorry fingers jumped the pictures I saw didn't shop any fruit and yours looks way better than the web pictures.

Banksia fruits are cones so only the parrots can tear them apart. They are the type that releases seed after a fire.

Here is a pic of the cone on my Hairpin Banksia I took just now.

Those hairy things below it are the spent flowers from last season that haven't developed into a cone.


If you look towards the back on the left below you can see a flower just starting.

While I was out examining my plants I noticed that my Mountain Devil (Lambertia formosa) is flowering so here is a bonus red flower for you.