Muffin of the day

Watching the ongoing fluffy canine intrigue with the new (second hand) sheepskin bedding, has cause me to wonder about change. Can people change? Do they even want to change? And what does it mean when people fail to accept change? Ruby the Kelpie sure didn’t want the change involved in accepting the replacement sheepskin, but Ollie welcomed it.

As an update in the ongoing canine sheepskin saga:

Ruby accommodates herself to the realities of the replacement sheepskin

It took three weeks, but eventually Ruby now accepts that the old threadbare sheepskin bedding has been burned off. We didn’t give her any choice in the matter. Either accept the replacement, enjoy the dog couch, or sulk your socks off on the cold hard timber floor – choose. Winter nights can get cold for a girl, and no doubts, the sheepskin soon began looking like a good option.

Had to laugh about the dog bedding intrigues and power moves. The fluffies always keep me entertained. But it’s hard not to notice that we all adjust to change at a different pace. In her first adult job, Sandra used to work at a big firm. One of the senior folks quipped that they: ‘Refused to participate in the recession’. Turns out that reality proved tougher than stated beliefs. It happens.

Yeah, change. Always comes with a bit of pain attached. If change was less painful, people would be more likely to embrace it. Mostly people, just like Ruby, doggedly hang on. Years ago I read a study which surveyed peoples responses to the threat of bushfire. Bushfires down here can be serious natural disasters, and so as a threat, they’re worth taking seriously. The survey discovered that people were evenly split between three responses to the threat: Leaving well in advance of the threat; Taking a wait and see approach; and Clueless. You’d hope you weren’t in the last category, but clearly plenty of people are.

The official interest rates were lifted 0.25% last week. I’m pretty certain this increase in the cost of mad cash will be causing pain in many households right across the nation. Having lived through times of high unemployment, and crazy out of control costs for mad cash (i.e. high interest rates), I decided long ago to sit this exciting economic time out on the sidelines (Am I refusing to participate?) Only a few years ago when the cost of mad cash was bonkers cheap, my internal alarm bells were sounding klaxon sirens. All good things come to an end, and the story of cheap mad cash appears to have reached its concluding paragraph.

Basically the banksters will soon be taking more of a cut of household income. Loans down under are generally only at fixed interest rates for a few years. They then revert to the whatever the variable interest rate happens to be at the time. I don’t doubt that the people taking the wait and see approach have been renegotiating their debts. This may give them some certainty for a few more years, but then they’re back again on the carousel.

That lot will probably be fine, maybe. It’s the clueless I wonder about. Here’s an article citing current mortgage arrears down under: Mortgage borrowers are doing it even tougher than renters as interest rates surge. Ignoring the questionable headline, the article shows that statistics are a wonderful thing. 4% arrears doesn’t sound like much, until you realise that it means one in every twenty five houses in that suburb is in arrears. That’s a lot of households.

There’s a whole lot of economic trouble brewing. Increasing interest rates are being used as a tool to reduce the amount of mad cash that households with debt have. With less mad cash available, those households will most likely spend less. The theory is that with people spending less, prices won’t be as likely to rise. It’s a simple policy, and the results are playing out all around us. And blame gets directed at the banksters.

The only problem is, it’s probably not going to work as intended. The Federal Government I’d have to suggest, wants households to reduce their spending in the hope that upwards pressure on prices goes away. That lot just don’t seem to have accepted that this helpful suggestion applies equally to them as well. What do they care anyway? They can simply take on ever more debt to pay for almost any extra interest costs. It all gets down to accepting change really. That lot are one of the biggest spenders in the country, and if they can’t cut back on spending, how do they expect mere households to do so? Just like what Ruby faced with the new sheepskin, its probably best for everyone if they’re not given a choice, and that is indeed what is happening.

The long range forecast for the winter in this corner of the continent was for a dry and warm couple of months. If this week is anything to go by, they got the warm bit right. Three inches of rain fell over three days. It was very wet outside for a while there this week.

Fog pools in the valley below the mountain range

The little petrol generator had to be dragged out of hibernation and run for a few hours so as to get some charge back into the house batteries. One day produced 15 minutes of peak sunshine, and then the next day was the second worst on record at 10.3 minutes. That’s hardly enough solar derived electricity to run the components of the power system itself, let alone an industrial civilisation. Bonkers weather, but even greater bonkers beliefs are heaped on this technology.

By the end of the week, the sun had returned, and the timber order for the shed extension project arrived. I walked all of the timber down to the work site. The dogs loved running down and then back up the hill again multiple times. I walked.

Dame Plum admires the stack of treated timber

We began work on the roof carpentry for the shed extension project.

Work commenced on the carpentry for the roof of the shed extension

By the end of a long work day, the carpentry for the roof was completed.

A small electric chainsaw can be handy for carpentry work

After yet another long day of work, the steel bracing and also the mesh to keep the birds out of the shed were installed. Then we anchored all of the many corrugated steel sheets to the roof timbers.

Roof plumbing is hard work

After many hours clambering up and down ladders and acting as if I had the skills of a domestic cat, it felt nice to be back on the ground with the work finished for the day.

The shed extension project is coming along nicely

A couple of more days work, and the project will be completed. With all that going on, we still found some time to make sake (Japanese rice wine). We’re trialling a batch of organically grown rice which we haven’t used before, and it’s good. Very high in protein.

Sake making, down under style

The winter has been mild, if somewhat wet. Already Daffodils are pushing through the soil. From memory, this is rather early.

Daffodils push through the winter soil

The tree fern planted a few months ago continues to enjoy the wet conditions in the drainage basin.

Someone had a good drink this week!

The heavy rain and warm-ish conditions have produced a huge number of mushrooms. They’re most likely all very toxic.

There’s a lot of mushrooms out there

The family of Kookaburra’s (a variety of Kingfisher) living on the farm appear to have added to their family.

Kookaburras sit in the old gum tree

Onto the flowers:

The Hydrangeas are putting on an end of season show
Succulents are enjoying the warmer winter
The Succulent terraced garden is looking very lush

The temperature outside now at about 10am is 7’C (45’F). So far this year there has been 435.4mm (17.1 inches) which is up from last weeks total of 350.4mm (13.8 inches)