Mr Tilly’s biggest obsession is, without a doubt, chasing butterflies and chasing the shadows of butterflies. If the suns out, so are the butterflies, and so is Tills. Only it’s more than just a simple obsession, more like an obsessive, compulsive disorder, but perhaps all dogs are a little bit OCD.

He’s over three now. We’d hoped he would grow out of chasing butterflies and shadows, but I don’t think that’s about to happen any time soon. He’s funny and cute to watch him on his sentry duty when at home, but a real worry if we take him to the beach during the day. The butterflies hang out in the low dunes, so that’s where he heads to. He knows just where they’ll be, and he darts around trying to make them take flight. He has no interest in catching them I’m sure, it’s just the thrill of the chase he loves. I doubt if he’d take any notice of the snakes that also inhabit the low sand dunes, but I suspect they wouldn’t take kindly to him trampling on their terrain at a million miles an hour when in hot pursuit.

We’ve tried all of the training tricks to keep him down by the water with us, or to get him to come back to us if he sees a butterfly. Early in the morning, (which is the time he mainly gets his beach walks) there is no problem. The butterflies are still sleeping I guess, but in the heat of the day, they’re happily flitting from plant to plant, and he knows it. No reward is greater than the reward of chasing butterflies, so we can’t offer him anything that will tempt him away. As soon as he sees one he goes totally deaf to anything and everyone. With absolute tunnel vision, he zeros in on his target. First the butterfly, which quickly flits out of reach, then it’s shadow which dances here, there and everywhere.

We tried to stop him chasing them at home, figuring it was best to make the game completely taboo for him. We tried all last summer, and again at the beginning of this summer season. We had thought that a winter without butterflies and that magic third birthday in July, was going to see him turn into a dog ‘far to mature’ for such puppyish pursuits. No such luck!

I was considering calling in Dr Harry or a local equivalent, but then I really watched him in the back garden. His back straight, as he sits up on high alert, going from one shady place to another, his head quickly turning from side to side. Five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen, maybe more, like a disciplined soldier on watch, he remains hypo alert and vigalent. He sees them as soon as they dare to pop over the fence, then he gets up, ready to give chase. He lets them get down near the plants then off he springs, darting in and out around the roses and plants with the agility of a panther, They quickly fly up out of his reach leaving just their shadow dancing before him on the ground. He switches from chasing them to chasing their dancing shadows until they disappear again over the fence again, taking their shadows with them. Then back under the clothes line he goes to await the next brave intruder.

It might be half an hour between butterflies, but he never gives up. His favourite place to watch from is in the shade of washing hanging on the clothes line. He’ll sit there for about ten minutes before changing his vantage point. He’ll try under the baskets of strawberries, then the lawn. That gets to hot, so he’ll move between the garden plants, then back to the clothes line again.

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I guess he’s trained me. It makes more sense to let him happily chase butterflies all day long at home, and keep him on a lead if the butterflies are flying about at the beach. Most days Paul walks him at the beach in the early morning anyway, long before the butterflies have woken up. The few odd times when we do take him there when the sun is shining brightly and the butterflies flitting from flower to flower, well, he just has to suffer being kept on his lead for those few walks. And as I’m typing this the sun is shining brightly on our back garden, so no prizes for guessing where Tills is!

I mentioned in my last post that we drove past a farm with a few dozen dilapidated old caravans. Turns out it wasn’t the caravan graveyard that we had at first thought it was. The old caravans have been re-purposed to serve as hen houses for several thousand red hens.

We purchased a dozen eggs from the farm gate. Inside the carton was the following clever little note:

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It was a cool week-end, in fact, a return to what felt like winter. The guys finished around 4.30pm on Friday, by which time I had decided it was cool enough to justify a final Friday night outdoor fire. An impromptu casual dinner followed with a couple of good friends, a bottle or two of red, and some black bean nachos cooked over the fire. Then toasted marshmallows to follow, which is much more about the ritual of toasting the marshmallows than it is about the actual taste. A good start to what was to be a good week-end.

Saturday, Paul did a little bit of work on the renovations, a few fixtures added to the bathroom, and a bit of filling ready some more painting on Sunday. Saturday evening and another couple of friends came over to share our company. Dinner and more wine! A great night, to much food of course, and probably a bit much wine too. Neither of us really overdid it though as we anticipated a full day of painting on Sunday.

Sunday started with a leisurely breakfast prior to commencement of the painting. Then the phone rang. Kaye says, “ Brian and I are going to do that drive over to Balingup today, would you two like to join us?” Painting walls, or being chauffeured around the countryside? Of course we chose the latter, the painting could wait.

What a lovely relaxing day. Brian had been told about a pleasant drive that started about 20kms before Nannup which would take us through some lovely forest to Balingup, then we would take the Balingup/Nannup road for our return. Here’s a map of the days travels.

We found the road, as advised, about 20 kms short of Nannup. It took us past a field with dozens of old delapidated caravans, and thousands of red hens. Turned out the caravans are the accommodation for the Out ‘n’ About, free to roam egg farm. I must say I was impressed. More about that in a later post perhaps….

Not exactly knowing where the road led, we turned back on ourselves once or thrice throughout the day. Instead of seeing multiple fountains (all the same one), we seemed to be seeing multiple Out ‘n’ About chooks and their caravan homes – the fountain’s another story though and a bit of a joke between us and our travelling companions.

We eventually found ourselves in the quaint little town of Balingup. It’s years since any of us have there, and my goodness, hasn’t that little town just blossomed, growing into the promised quaintness it was showing the last time we went there. That must have been at least 20 years ago.

A bit of a lunch first at The Mushroom Cafe, amazing pies, and a delicious lemon Meringue pie (a pie each, followed by one serve of lemon meringue pie with 4 dessert forks – yes it was that BIG). Then a meander around the town to help it all go down.

Obviously recognising that Sunday is a good day for people to be out ‘n’ about, most retail businesses were open. I found a gorgeous little wool shop, but stopped short of buying more wool. I don’t know why but country wool shops always appeal to my creative side and usually inspire the beginning of another crafty project. However nothing seems to inspire me to complete any of the said projects, so this time I used restraint. Instead of buying more wool, I instead took with me an idea for using some alpaca wool purchased during one of my previous, moment of madness, purchases.

Here are some pictures from around the little village of Balingup.

Then back home via the Balingup/Nannup road. First a look around the Wrights camp ground – inspiring for a caravan trip one day perhaps. Then a stop at Nannup on the way and another stop at the new brewery, The Shelter, on Busselton foreshore.

A pleasurable day was had by all, and the wall painting on the home front – well tomorrow’s another day, it’ll wait.

Everything has been going well with the renovations, but as anyone who has had renovations will attest, it’s unheard of to go through to completion without a hiccup. This renovation is no exception. We’ve hit our first hiccup, in fact we’ve hit two.

Fingers crossed that the two little hiccups stay small. We had the flooring booked to be laid this coming Monday and Tuesday. I phoned yesterday to confirm that only two days would be needed. However it seems the ordered flooring has gone astray. A week ago when the arrangements were made, the flooring had, supposedly, just arrived into store. Yesterday I phoned to confirm the days needed would be only two, only to be advised the flooring had disappeared. Tracking indicates it left Melbourne and it arrived into the Perth warehouse. From there it should have been transported to Busselton. It’s not there. Tomorrow the Perth warehouse is going to have a thorough search. I hope it turns up, but it’s not sounding promising.

The electrician was coming today to complete all the electrical work. It was around 11 when he called in on his way to the hospital to get x-rays on an elbow that’s been giving him grief. He hoped to get back later. Fortunately for him (and for us) nothing was broken, so he did make it back, but with half the day gone of course there wasn’t time to finish everything. His hope is to be able to come back Monday, and possibly Tuesday of next week to complete the wiring. However, he informed us, that also may not be possible. He has an appointment in Perth on Friday at the eye department of one of our major hospitals, and it’s possible he may have to undergo a vitrectomy. If so, it’s possible he will be out of action for a short while.

We decided the best thing to do is to postpone the floor in the hopes that the electrician is able to make it back to finish the job (I’m sure he’s hoping he’s not going to need any eye surgery, as are we). We had been hoping to get the ceiling, and the remainder of the walls painted before the flooring went down anyway, and the ceiling can’t be painted until the lights, and fan etc have been fitted. So the floor has been postponed for a week. That should give us time to get the wardrobes completed, the barn door attached to the bathroom, the cornice up, and all the painting complete. I hope the flooring turns up.

In the meantime, here’s a sneaky peak at the progress….

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Our toilet has also been fitted, but I’m sure you don’t want to see a photo of the toilet. It’s a rimless toilet, which I’d never heard of. I like the idea of that!

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So that’s today’s progress report – providing the hiccups remain small, the completed project won’t be far away. Watch this space….

It’s a wonderful time in our garden at the moment. The lawn is growing vigorously and needs cutting at least weekly. There’s nothing quite like the smell of new mown grass. The deciduous trees are re-clocked with their new leaves, and the flowers are blooming. The perfume wafting around in the breeze is delightful.

The roses are blooming

Fragrant lemons mingle with the powerful scent of citrus blossom heralding more fruit to come

So that’s our garden in November. For December we have more beautiful perfumes to follow. Our three frangipani trees are just starting to come into leaf, so the gorgeous, sweet smelling, cream and yellow flowers will soon be here too. Gardening has always been a labour of love for me, the colour, the produce, and the perfumes. The garden is surely life’s simplest of pleasures!

The framework is up for the bottom part of the garage wall. Paul painted it yesterday, and applied a second top coat today.

We’ve received one quote for a garage door, but will get another one or two quotes before we decide who will get our business for that. The bottom part of the garage wall, where the framework is, will be solid, the top half will be done in opaque, as will the garage door.

The bathroom floor, and the shower walls have been tiled, and should be grouted on Monday.

The panelling is up on the other bathroom walls too. Paul is painting them this week-end in readiness for the bathroom fixtures to be fitted some time next week. Mmmm, he’s not enamoured with my/our choice of wall at the moment! The boards come primed and ready for the top coat of paint. Unfortunately, all those groves between the panels need the top coat to be cut in with a paint brush – never thought of that when I suggested panelling instead of ordinary gyprock. After the cutting in is completed the rest of the painting can be done with a roller. A day to do the cutting in, half an hour to do the full wall with a roller.

The longer panels needed for the bedroom are due to arrive on Monday. Hopefully they’ll be fitted Tuesday. We’re guessing the end of next week should see the bedroom and bathroom really close to completion, and we should be able to work out by then when the flooring and curtains will be able to be fitted.

It’s getting exciting now!

Our premier has announced a relaxing of our hard border controls is to take effect on 14th November. We will then be able to travel between all states and territories with the exception of NSW and Victoria, without the requirement for self isolation upon our return. The new freedom comes with a warning – should the virus re-appear Mark McGowan, our premier, will have no hesitation in putting us back into lock down.

We’ve booked tickets to Darwin for a two week holiday in January/February. Our son and daughter-in-law have moved from Katherine to Darwin, so we’re going up to see them, and we’ll get to see Darwin in the wet season. I love a really good storm, but my son tells me I’ll hate the humidity. He’s probably right, but hey – I’ll never ever know, if I never, ever go.

Hope there’s no cyclones.

Colin, the builder, has finished for the day. Paul has lugged all the equipment from the carport back into the half finished room for safe keeping. The make shift heavy cardboard door has been screwed into place. Time now for the building inspector to do his nightly inspection.

Every piece of equipment is looked over and sniffed. Anything that was there yesterday gets just a cursory glance, but he takes his time with anything newly added. The tile cutter was new tonight, he spent a few minutes sniffing every inch of that.

Today’s work though was sealed off from his prying eyes as the adhesive is still soft, and the spacers are still in place. Another surprise for him to expect tomorrow night.

I think by the end of this week it’s going to be really taking shape.

Work on the new bedroom and en-suite is well underway. The en-suite is taking shape with the shower walls up, some of the bathroom wall panelling fitted, and the pre-plumbing fit out completed. Paul spent much of today applying the green water proof coating to the shower walls and floor. The floor tiles will be laid tomorrow, and the shower wall tiles the following day. The vanity cabinet has been ordered with delivery expected next week.

The wardrobe framework is up. Unfortunately we couldn’t fit in a good sized walk in robe, so have opted instead for two floor to ceiling fitted robes. Each robe is bigger than the one we have in our current bedroom. We’re waiting for the hardware for the sliding doors, and for the panelling to make the doors. Paul undercoated the rear of the wardrobes on the week-end.

The wall panelling comes in various sizes up to 4.5 metres in length, only the 4.5 metres sheets weren’t readily available in WA. They‘ve been ordered from the Eastern states, and are due to arrive on Monday of next week. The guys have gone ahead with the shorter walls using the lengths of the panelling that were available locally. The plan is to have an eclectic/coastal themed room with horizontal panelling on the walls to both bedroom and bathroom. The wardrobe doors, and the ranch style, sliding door to the bathroom will be made with the same panelling, only it’ll be vertical.

It won’t be long now. The flooring and the curtains have been ordered, and we’re hoping the flooring will be going down during the second or third week in November, with the curtains a few days later. We’ll be wanting to get all the painting done prior to the flooring of course, so there’s still a lot to do. When it’s all finished I’m sure Paul is going to be looking forward to a good rest. Perhaps I’ll let him have a nice sleep in, in the new bedroom.