Last batch of soap for 2020

 In an effort to use up my out of date oils I recently made up a batch of soap using the Castile Bubbles recipe as the only oils required are olive oil and castor oil. This should turn out to be a really nice soap but the main reason I made it was to see if the dreaded orange spots appeared so that I can narrow down the cause although I doubt that the oils are rancid as they don't smell. Anyway I am quite pleased with how they turned out.

Around here

As the days just seem to run into each other lately I have been trying to achieve something each day so that I don't feel like I am completely wasting my time. Our teaching English volunteer jobs are still on hold and I don't have that weekly lesson slotted into my timetable. So I have started writing a list of what I want to do each day to keep me on track.

A couple of reminders

I am sure most Aussies would know about the Aussie Backyard Bird Count 2019 which starts tomorrow but, if you don't and would like to join in, I am sure you can still sign up. It is a lot of fun and I find it really interesting seeing what birds visit our backyard especially at this time of the year when the noisy Stormbird arrives and the neighbour's Parrot Tree is the party venue for hundreds of parrots and don't they make a racket from dawn to dusk!

Heatwave and the annual Backyard Bird Count

We are in the second month of spring and are having a couple of days of heatwave conditions which, from memory, happened last year as well. Once the front has moved though we should be back to normal weather once again. We do have aircon now if it becomes too unbearable but so far we are coping with just the fans going full pelt.

Another soapie experiment

As anyone who reads about my soapmaking knows I do like to experiment so for my latest batch I wanted to make my favourite Aloe Vera and Cucumber Soap which is a recipe in Jan Berry's book Simple and Natural Soapmaking. This time I decided to double the recipe I used last time and instead of chopping up an aloe vera leaf and putting it in the processor with the cucumber I just scooped out the gel and used that instead. I did show how I removed the gel in Using Aloe Vera in Soapmaking if anyone is interested.

Summer, Winter, Summer, Winter!

What extraordinary weather we had last week! On Wednesday it was 35C and then the temperature plummeted to 15C on Friday and we were back to winter weather. Apparently it was the coldest February day for many years. I was glad I hadn't packed away my winter jumpers and track pants as they were certainly needed as was the rain that arrived with the cooler weather.

Entertaining the wildlfe!

The other day, just on dusk, I headed outside to put Sally the chook to bed when I heard a ruckus and much squawking as I disturbed about a dozen cockatoos feeding on something on the lawn. Of course as soon as they saw me they flew off but not too far as obviously they intended coming back for seconds.

A cold, windy and rainy Sunday

Well the forecast was for a wet winter and the Weather Bureau just might be right! It was fascinating watching the radar over the weekend and seeing the rain band move from the North West of Queensland to the South East then over the border into New South Wales. The Mt.Isa Show was on last Saturday and I believe some events had to be cancelled after the rain arrived. I did warn my son-in-law it was coming :-) He calls me his weatherman/lady. Anyway, I think the children did have a few hours there before it got too wet. It was just overcast here in the South East but you could tell there was rain coming.

Off I go!

This time tomorrow if nothing untoward happens I should be in the Outback chasing my granddaughters so they get to bed on time as they have school the next day and my little grandson will probably be tucked up in bed by then after a big day with his sisters as they will have had a pupil free day. I was going to do a blog post on the soap I made using the 'quick method' but I have run out of time so will say goodbye and hopefully I will be able to show you some photos of the Outback during the week if the internet works. I am sorry I won't be able to reply if anyone comments on my posts due to the internet being a bit hit and miss at times. At least I can write a post in Blogsy without being online.

Have you heard of the Australian Backyard Bird Count?

A couple of months ago I signed up to take part in the 2015 Australian Backyard Bird Count.  
We have a large variety of birds that visit our backyard each day and I was looking forward to the 'count' from the 19th to 25th October but forgot I was travelling on one of those days and would be in Mt.Isa the rest of the time. So I guess I will have to work something out so that I can still do the count.

The new bird on the block

I was walking around the garden today and enjoying the winter sun when I heard a noise in the trees above and saw what I thought were Rainbow Lorikeets chirping away. I raced to get my new camera to see if I could take a half decent photo of them but when I came back they were nowhere to be seen. I had been looking up at the mulberry tree where they had been moments before and I suddenly lowered my eyes and there was one sitting on a branch right in front of me. Duh! A bit of the case of not seeing the wood for the trees. :-)

Sugar free eating ~ an interesting topic!

Judging by the number of page views after my last post about saying goodbye to sugar, the topic of eating this way seems to be of great interest to a lot of readers. I think many of us do eat too much sugar and I must admit that I was feeling bad about the teaspoon I was adding to each cup of coffee apart from all the extra I was eating unknowingly in supermarket sauces and other condiments. I did know about the amount of sugar in pickles as I make them but was quite surprised about other foods.

 

 1 1/2 cups of castor sugar in this recipe

Sweet Potato and Ginger Soup

 A friend gave me the recipe for Sweet Potato and Ginger Soup recently so I tried it out this week and it certainly has a bit of zing in it! I think I was a tad heavy handed with the fresh ginger so will use a little less next time but it certainly is a different taste from the usual soups we have been having in this cold weather and I quite like it. 

A BIRTHDAY STORY FOR MY GRANDDAUGHTER

I have a little granddaughter who turns 4 years old today. She loves wildlife so I thought I would write a little story for her birthday. As it won't take you long to work out, I am not a story teller but children don't care and I know that she will love reading about all the birds and animals which frequent her backyard and ours. This is purely a fictional story and any resemblance to factual information is purely accidental. :-)

Pesky birds...don't be fooled by their cuteness!

Since retiring and being at home a lot more than when I was working, I have noticed the comings and goings of a lot of wildlife around our suburban yard, especially the many varieties of birds that visit the nut and fruit trees we have growing. I am sure the whole neighbourhood knows when the cockatoos arrive as their loud screech lets everyone know they are visiting.

The Tawny Frogmouths are back!

A couple of months ago I introduced my readers to a family of Tawny Frogmouths that had taken residence in the pine tree next door. The day after I took the photos of the birds they flew away but would often return to a tree in a friend's backyard a couple of doors away. She rang me this afternoon to say that they were back so I raced down with the camera to see how much the little ones had grown.

Wildlife everywhere!

I don't usually take a lot of notice of the wildlife around here although I do look out for snakes during the warm weather just in case any of them are lurking around in the back yard. Our resident Blue Tongue Lizards have given me a fright on more than one occasion when I thought they were snakes. Lately however, I have seen a number of birds for the first time and the most interesting of them are the Tawny Frogmouths which have a nest in our neighbour's pine tree.