I sometimes wish I had a nice, orderly property. It’s two weeks since I mowed the grass around the house and already it’s getting problem-long. But it’s not dry enough to mow it again – plus it’s fiendishly humid. That said, nobody around here likes to complain about too much water. “I never complain about the rain,” says my friend, “I just remember the fires.” Fair enough, he stayed up three nights running raking up embers and putting out spot fires on his place; he was THIS far from being another Rural Fire Service statistic.
The family came over and we all walked to the creek, and then the waterfall rock pool. I usually swim there in summer, it’s deep green with a fall of clear glass coming over the rocks. Now it’s a raging yellow torrent, full of dirt the rain’s washed away. The two guys got in anyway, while most of the women rolled their eyes. Still, they were vindicated – inasmuch as they didn’t get swept downstream and bashed unconscious against the rocks.
Properties are like babies: they make you feel constantly guilty. A couple came round yesterday for a potential house sit – I caught myself apologising for things. The grass – really, I did mow it! The ivy on the solar shed – I do cut it back! The jungle that is the paddocks – well, I’ve been calling the guy with the slasher, but he hasn’t called me back. Guess he’s busy, who would’ve thought! But then of course there’s pride. Have an apricot. Only planted it last year, how about that?
When I come back from Europe, at the end of winter, I’ll start getting the fences fixed. I’ll just make a few paddocks at first, enough to keep a few horses or sheep in, then if that works I’ll expand from there.
I’m thinking about putting up a ‘tiny house’ and leasing it to somebody. Maybe a nice handy young couple who need somewhere to live and love tromping about cutting stuff up. I don’t think you could do it for less than $50,000…
Ideally? Half the year travelling, half the year enjoying my beautiful, wild property and communing with cows. Not nature – nature runs away and hides in the tea tree scrub. And a person with a chainsaw taking care of all those annoying CHOPPING problems.
Excuse the burbling – it’s just a sort of diary, for me. I do, actually, love it here.
On another subject – books. My (as yet unpublished) sexy Byzantine adventure novel Pandora’s Jar is available for free, for a limited time, in return for your feedback. It’s a bloody good read, so I’ve been told by unbiased sources. You can find out more and download half, here. If you like what you read and want to know what happens next, just email me at fallaciousrose@outlook.com with your comments, and I’ll send the other half.
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