A Cuppa and a Catch Up

I don’t seem to have been around here a great deal this month, so there are still a couple of things I still have to share.  Back at the beginning of the month we took part in the Geoff Martin Rally, which is a classic bike rally run by the local Panorama Motorcycle Club.

For a change we didn’t take a sidecar.  We gave “Sophia”, the Italian lady in a  beautiful red dress, an outing.  That’s Sophia on the left.  We rode a lot of the time in the company of the other Moto Guzzi on the right.  It was fun having the two together.

It would be a good two years since I have been on the back of her and the strangest thing happened…….. my leather duds shrank in the wardrobe from lack of use.  Fortunately, my denin Draggin’ Jeans hadn’t shrunk quite as much, so were wearable.

I loved this ratty bike that took part.  Quite a contrast to the one next to it.

This BMW is only new on the road, and lives just near us.

I was a little nervous about being on a solo again, so initially hung on to the grab rail.  However, after a couple of miles I was just back into the flow and thoroughly enjoying the ride.  It was also different going back to having no intercom between us and not being able to take lots of photos as we went along.

The ride was on gorgeous roads, taking in Hill End, Hargraves, Mudgee and then to the village of Ilford for lunch and voting of the bikes.  Mick and I made a little detour from the route for coffee and cake (naughty us), so had part of the ride with the roads to ourselves.  It was just glorious on quiet sweeping curves.

Sophia won runner up in her class, which was nice. 

Meanwhile, this little man is proving to be the worry of my life.

The weekend before the rally, we noticed Joey down in the front yard chomping on something.  Initially, I thought it was a bird – naughty cat – but there were no feathers, so I went to investigate.  To my horror, he was chomping on a tiger snake!!! 

We kept an eye on him, just in case the snake had chomped on him first, but he seemed OK.  However, the following weekend, he was just laying around, as he does, being a cat, and we were out and about on the rally on the Saturday.  On the Sunday he seemed quite lethargic and I was starting to think that he had indeed been bitten, but it was slow acting.  Cat’s can slow down their metabolism once bitten.  He has already had $1,000 spent on him after a snake bite a couple of years ago, and heartless as it may sound, I was reluctant to go down that path again, if he is just going to go out and catch them again.  I was resigned to a sad visit to the vet on the Monday.

Come Monday morning, I was expecting the worse, but when I got up he wasn’t in his basket….. Next thing he comes trotting along the back verandah, good as gold, rubbing around my legs and wanting his breakfast.  Thank goodness!  I don’t know if he had been bitten and had turned the corner, or whether he was just off colour.

THEN……… the next week he was nowhere to be seen for two days, before turning up as if nothing was out of the ordinary.  I just tend to worry during the snakey time of year.

By the way, I saw a brown snake up our driveway on the way home tonight, but it was a way up the paddock from the house.

Other than that, not a great deal has taken place.  Our vege garden has been beaten into submission and finally had some veges planted a couple of weeks ago. Quite late for some things, however, we had a frost the next morning, so was glad that things weren’t further advanced.

We had a storm here on Tuesday night providing a much needed 12mm.  Then, on Wednesday evening, while I was driving home from work I encountered the heaviest rain I have ever driven in.  As I was driving home I could see the storm near our place, and the sky was green, which does not bode well.  Once I drove into the storm, on the narrow road to our place,  I couldn’t see where I was going, it was just a wall of white water, but, being a narrow road, there was no where to pull over and if I stopped, something may have driven up the back of me – they certainly wouldn’t have seen me…….then the hail started……..I’ve never been so terrified.  It was about the size of walnuts.  Fortunately, the car is not damaged.

Meanwhile, at home, Mick had the camera out while waiting and worrying.   All the gutters and downpipes were overflowing.  This is nothing compared to what I drove in.

We had 43mm in half an hour and all the tanks are now full, which is great going into summer.  Fortunately, because the vege garden is running late, it didn’t get smashed, and it has had a thorough watering.  See, there was a reason for it, not that we are slack.

The last couple of days have been stinking hot – in the mid 30s - and I think tomorrow is forecast to be the same.  That is quite warm for here at this time of the year.  Farewell Spring.