We've been very lucky and grateful for the weather this summer. Only a few days of over 40°C, but we had three downpours of over 20mm each over a week or so which made the grass green and all the plants bounce back beautifully. With Mum and Mike staying in their campervan they couldn't have gotten any luckier!
The garden is doing great, and there is abundant peaches, pumpkins, spiders and insects, and the crested pidgons are nesting again this season with two more chicks on the way. Although not all the abundance is welcome. We have had many more mice and rats this year too, which is keeping Sarah (Mum and Mike's dog) very busy. She has been digging out the nests and doing her terrier duty quite well. We'll miss her when she moves to Victoria in a couple of weeks.
She's been aging backwards since eating carnivore like us. Her fur went from wirey, dirty and constantly shedding to the complete opposite! Soft as silk, doesn't fall out every pat, and dirt just falls off her for the most part. Now you actually want to pat her, which is great since that's her favourite thing in the world next to catching mice. She doesn't yelp when being picked up anymore and she has loads more energy. We can't be sure but we think her cancerous lumps might be getting smaller too. Either way, for an old doggie who everyone thought was on her last legs, she has certainly perked up!
We have finished the irrigation, filled in the whole trench by hand and have shown off some local landmarks to Mum and Mike. We hope to get some more projects started and finished again real soon.
Manda.