The Fabulous Fingers of Fate.

So...I have been on tenterhooks all week waiting to hear if I had been successful in getting one of the casual Librarian's jobs at Stanthorpe Library. I was told at the interview that I would hear by the end of this week.On Tuesday I heard from one of my referees that they had been contacted and questioned about my suitability.On Wednesday I had planned a day out in Warwick but was called into the State School for a day in Prep and it just so happened that later that same day the Business Services Manager at that school was called for my second reference. She said she gave a glowing report. When asked if there was anything I needed to work on she said she couldn't think of anything and told hem I was 'perfect'. When asked to give me a mark out of ten she told them "It will have to be a 10".I though I would hear something yesterday, Thursday, but nothing.Today, Friday, I headed off for my postponed trip to Warwick and halfway there my phone rang. It was a call about the job."I'm sorry I am just driving," I answered, "may I just find somewhere to pull over and ring you back?"I pulled over next to these guys......who we often pass on our way to and from Stanthorpe. They are often dressed up in seasonal clothing and are here dressed for the recent State of Origin football matches between Queensland and New South Wales.I rang Southern Downs Regional Council back and was told that I had got the job!Of course I am absolutely delighted and though it is only for less than 10 hours a fortnight initially, hopefully I can get more hours later on."Do you ever come to Warwick?" the HR lady asked."Well, it's funny you should say that" I said, " because guess where I am headed today?"I met with HR at Southern Downs Regional Council Offices at 1.00 pm and collected all the documentation I need to read and the forms I need to complete and was congratulated by the Head of HR for the Southern Downs Region herself. I really felt quite important even though there has been quite a lot of waiting and quite a bit of palaver for a job of less than 5 hours a week!It also just so happened that it was the Warwick 'Jumpers and Jazz in July' Festival this week and so I got to see all the decorated trees in the Main Street with Jazz music played through speakers all down the street. I hadn't known and so it was an unexpected treat.

 

Work for wood.

So... when I left the State School last week I told them I was going to say I was unavailable for a fortnight to recover from my two full weeks but I did say that if they needed me to cover a Prep class I would do it. ( Well, the Business Services Manager did say she would be a referee for the Library job).Today I had planned a nice day out in Warwick, lunch out and shopping until the phone rang at 8.05 am calling me to see if I would do a day in Prep. I did say I would so didn't feel I could say no...so there it is, an unexpected day surrounded by little goblins, still, as Will said, it will pay for more wood for our house building!

The Last of Mu.

So...this morning, at about 11.00 am, I saw a fox up near the edge of the bush crossing the clearing. It was quite a big one and the first I have spotted in sight of the house.We told the 'chooks' to be on their guard but did the stupid things listen? Did they heckers! No, the roosters crowed as if to say "Hey Foxy, here we are! Come and get us!"The sneaky fox must have spent the next two hours stalking through the bush round the back of the house.At about 1.00pm such a commotion went up with all the 'chooks' crying out in alarm. Will was gardening and I was hanging out the washing and we both rushed over to see what was going on...though we both really knew.The brazen beast had snatched Chang-Mu from right in front of the loo. We were both about and 'Geronimo' the generator was going to power the washer but it had come right up close to the house to grab her.We found a scattering of feathers and Will eventually found a few more South West of the house, down the hill, in the bush.Poor Chang, she was the last of the Mu sisters to be taken from us. We lost the others in the two Quoll attacks months ago.We have eight chooks left. The hens are Pacha, Iris, Arke and Hecate and the roosters are Yudhisthira, Odin, Wang -Mu (offspring of Mu) and the horrible black one we haven't named whose days are numbered. 

Downs and ups of life at Frogknot.

So...it is obvious that this old house is slowly crumbling and it is inevitable that it will one day collapse or be pulled down but each time we find new decay it hits us hard.We have discovered one of the ridge supporting poles has sunk and that part of the ridge beam has bad termite damage. On top of that we are smoked out every night by the stove as it is old and warped and cracked.Will spotted a 'new' second hand stove for sale in town. It is one Will is familiar with and like one he had on the goat farm down at Cooma. We went to see it today but were greeted by Gabriella, the seller, apologising and saying that we couldn't see it as the shed it was stored in was locked and the lady who owned the shed was away and not answering her phone. We will have to wait to inspect it but it would be great to get a stove that does not smoke us every might like kippers and have a usable oven at last!We called in at Aldi to assuage some disappointment and came away with a digital TV aerial and a Bluetooth sound bar.We spent the afternoon putting up the aerial and for the first time since we have been back living here finally have 'live' TV. The picture is great despite being surrounded by trees though the aerial is atop a 20 foot pole. The sound bar is connected to the TV and is presently playing lovely music streaming from my new computer.We have been given four solar panels by our neighbour (granted they are similar to those suspected of starting the fire that burned their house down) and we are thinking of investing finally in a decent storage battery for the solar power we produce. Heck! With a new (second hand) non smoking stove with oven and a reliable power supply we will be happy chappies.It's great to have all conveniences of modern life in your crumbling home.

I survived!

So glad those two weeks are over !