Hello Holly

Say hello to the newest addition to the TGOG house!  Her name is Holly.  She is a 12 month old Corgi/Silky terrier X and we picked her up from the local pound.  She is cute, and full of beans.  Butch the wonder dog is very cautious around Holly at the moment and has snapped at her a few times.  He is going to just have to learn to share.

Holly has also tried to round up the chicken, which they did not like one little bit!  But, butter would not melt in her mouth.  I was hoping that she would eventually do her fair share of deterring the neighbourhood cats from around the chicken coop.  Time will tell.

Other than picking up Holly at lunch time, we had a journo and photographer over after work to take some pictures of Ben, Megan and Holly for the local paper.  The story will be about adopting pets from the local pound.  They were all very excited during the photo shoot, but Holly cottoned on very quick and hid under the bench for a while until the flashes and noises went away!

Whilst the paper guys were here, Kim had hit them up yesterday for a story about the Melton Sustainable Living Group as well.  Kim had taken a shot of Dale, the chickens and I this morning, but the photographer also took some photos of me in the chicken coop with my chicken friends scratching around.  I felt like the Great Gonzo!  There was also a pose with my eggplant bush.  Very becoming.  Here is Dale and I with his proud butternut pumpkin that he gave me for teaching him how to grow vegetables! It is the best gift in the world and I shall savour every mouthful when I turn it into Pumpkin soup in winter.

Then came a brief interview by Ryan about how the MSLG began and what prompted me to start it.  If you have read the blog, you have heard it all before.  Green Epiphany, Hybrid, worms, compost, rainwater tank, veggie patch, Solar PV etc…..  Then he asked Kim what she thought of her husband.  Oh, the praise.  I felt ten foot tall and bullet proof.  Love you too, honey.

After dinner, I planted purple podded peas from seed I saved last year.  I chose today in accordance with Cosmic’s moon planting guide for April.  I planted about 50 seeds in a well composted and fertilised bed, so hopefully this lunar stuff works and the peas will be strong and healthy.

An exciting day, but I not finished yet.  I have just completed waxing a gouda cheese wheel that I made on Sunday.  I had to wax it three bloody times, because gouda is not a solid as wensleydale and the cheese kept moving under the wax.  The wax then started peeling off if I held it for more than 20 seconds.  Eventually I wised up, put the wheel in the freezer for 10 minutes, and then waxed it again with a single layer, put it in the fridge to solidify, then gave it another coat.  After an hour of mucking around it is finally done.

Well that is all for today, and on top of all of that, I did a full day telecommuting from my home office.  Flat out like a lizard drinking!