Friends

This is one of the heritage roses at work. They were growing outside the old school before it got moved to Minnawarra Park, so they dug up the roses and transplanted them here to stay with the school. What cultivar of rose this is, I dont know. It was the only yellow rose on the bush, and the bud was far from perfect, however I think that just adds to its charm. Shine on you pretty little rose! When I studied floristry, we had to know meaning behind flowers and colours. Just incase we do something silly like, sending flouro pink flowers to a mans funeral, or something like that. Yellow roses, in particular, mean friendship. Yellow is a happy colour and will cheer most people up. Ive been hit with alot of bad news this week, and all of my friends have redefined wonderful when they found out. This is a very personal blog, I know, and in my bloggings, I typically dont include much more beyond opinions and what I know. However, I feel my friends all deserve a yellow rose each, and a massive hug, possibly even a medal too, as they are all truely awesome people. They say that prosperity is full of friends, its when things get tough you discover who your real friends are. Every single one of you is real and I can not thank you all enough for being part of my life. xx

Trolley Fishing

This is something we have to do occasionally. Some people believe its quite fun to push a trolley into the park and throw it off the bridge. Personally I dont understand the mentality, but I do like the fact we get to bring out the grappling hook. Theres something about a 4 pronged metal hook on the end of a long rope that just makes me smile. Usually 2 people are required to get the trolley out, as trolleys can be quite heavy, and the trolley has to be lifted vertically just above the water, then slid along the bridge to shore, in order to get it out. If you try to drag it without lifting it, it will just dig its self deeper into the silt and you'll never get it out. A word to the wise, always carry rubber gloves for this job, as when you get the trolley out it is usually covered in smelly, black mud. Believe me you dont want that hon your hands.

Week Old Web

Splendifferous news, peoples! I finally managed to save enough for a new phone. So we can go back to having pretty pictures again! So, to test it out, I took a photo of a spider web, that has been hanging at the bunker for just about a week now. Its quite a large web, and it anchors its self over quite a large area. The top thread runs a good 10m from the bougainvillea to the fertiliser shed. The web is built about 2m above the ground, so we have been walking underneath it. The rain of the morning is still caught on the web and I think it looks rather pretty. There is quite a large spider that inhabits it occasionally, but obviously she wasnt a fan of the wet weather either. So you just get a picture of the web.

Bring The Rain

Fun things about work. After a decent down pour of rain, Fungi! Fungi everywhere. Its delightful. I found these little mushroom like things poking their little heads out from behind a bush. Alas, there isnt much more of a story to them then that. Just a nice find last Friday afternoon.

Flavour Of The Month

Frangipani! The popularity of these plants has soared since I became a gardener 10 years or so ago. They have always been a popular plant for amenity horticulture, however about 7 or so years ago, alot of merchandise begin to come out with frangipani flowers on it (hair clips, mirrors, ornaments, etc) and this pretty much caused a popularity explosion. Im personally more a fan of the white frangi, then the pink. Different colours are more widely available now (from almost red, to orange red, orange yellows, pinks and whites). I think I prefer white because white is usually the least popular colour. Which is a shame, as white typically has the strongest of the subtle perfume that frangis emit. Frangis are really easy to grow from cuttings as well, which, I guess is why they are a popular tree to grow. Simply cut off a branch, leave it for at least 24 hours so the cut has time to seal, then plant. Dont let it get soaking wet, this will cause it to rot. Keep it moist and after about a month or so it will send out roots and Ba Na! you have a tree.

High Tide

When I took the first photo, I intended this blog to be more of a before and after shot of clearing out the spillway, but given the weather, its now a water level contrast as well. So, quite obviously, this is the spill way at work. Its where the excess water feeds away from the lake on Minnawarra. It was very over grown and needed clearing, as you can see in the first shot. Queue the job of rock climbing with a chainsaw. Yeah, I love my job. Basically we had to remove the small trees in the bottom and uplift the trees on the edge. Then there was the task of removing the weeds and just generally tidying up. Took a good day to complete and we did it the middle of the week before last, as we knew rain would be comming the following week and wouldnt have chance to get in there otherwise. The bottom photo was taken on the Thursday in the week just gone, when we had that delicious spell of rain. The spillway is fairly unaccessible, due to the water. Safety first, as always. Still blows my little mind, just seeing the difference a spell of rain makes.

Vruuuuuuum

This machine is a blessing and a curse. Meet The Auger. In very simple speak, a 2 Stroke powered drill. It basically means that instead of having to dig 250 holes to plant a hedge, I can drill the holes and do the job in half the time. The only main issue I have with it, is the fact that my lower back is about ready to throttle me after 5 minutes of use. It requires a bit of bending when you drill, so, naturally the lower part of your back begins to ache. So when you work in a team, you rotate auger use. Have one person drilling, one person planting, then swap roles every 10-15 minutes. Gets the job done in half the time, and believe me Im all for that!