Friday

At first I thought they had it wrong but when I arrived at Zarraffas at Nerang this afternoon, I realised the weather forecasters had been right! It did rain . . . I just hadn't noticed. Although that Lars was wet when I emerged from the WorkHouse (as I later realised) should have given me a clue.

Maggie investigates

And it was clues that were lacking at Latimers! There has been a crime of sorts - S's tomatoes have gone missing! Yes, the very same ones we took the photographs of yesterday - and just as well we did because, overnight, they have vanished without a trace. S searched everywhere for them, including in the house, just in case I'd picked them and taken them inside to ripen ... although that was inplausible - it is me afterall! - it sounded so good for a minute it even had me thinking it could have been so.

Picking up the scent

Was it the same person who's plundered the hedge outside D's at the top of the lane? Seriously the whole of the hedge has been decimated, leaving only the bottom two feet of growth. The rest of the hedge is laying on the road or at the side of the road, making it just a little difficult to navigate on the way in this afternoon but hopefully it will be gone by tomorrow. It's a shame because we liked that hedge - and certainly D's place won't be as protected from prying eyes now that the privacy "panel" has been removed. I wonder what brought that on. S and I have been thinking about it and can't work it out - maybe we can ask D when we see him next. It seems like a big move to take them away.

Most else here at Latimers stays more or less the same - especially the grass down in the paddock with B's three foals - despite his assurances, they still haven't eaten the grass down there. I'm sure they're doing their best but ... they could do better. But they are cute!

We haven't seen anything of the other D lately which means the lawn hasn't been damaged any more. We're hoping to get in another mow before M comes home (less than a fortnight now) and that might help it along a little bit ... because it does need help!

The case of the missing tomatoes remains though and S, at this stage is thinking that some creature, perhaps a possum, is the culprit - or perhaps a bird - although how either of those would be able to remove the "branch" the tomatoes were on without damaging the rest of the plant is intriguing. We're thinking it definitely wasn't rabbits or hares although if Pearl can get up into the raised bed to bury her bone, we're thinking it could have been anything. Maybe even cockatoos since they were the ones picking lemons off the tree last year. And we must remember to take some more lemons into the Markets on Sunday ... they've all had enough time to use the buckets-loads we took in last time and the tree needs a good de-lemon again.

It was the Vet!

Beazley decided he wanted to go into the bedroom with S this evening (she went in fairly early - 9ish) and he was told he could stay in there as long as he came out when he was told to ... and who knew he had such long claws ... all the better to dig into the doona with when it came time to remove him from the room. In the end, cookies spoke louder than words and a gentle shaking of the cookie dish (being careful not to wake the other cookie fiend, Pearl) managed to get him out and me in. Which was why it came as more than a bit of a surprise when I woke up during the night, unable to move, because Beazley was back on the bed! (He's a lucky boy that S has a kind heart and gets up during the night!)

S did a kind act today. She changed the clothes in the wardrobes over so we're now officially in Winter and I have no excuse not to iron my shirts ... since they won't become crushed just from being in the wardrobe. I'm not saying it was crowded in there but lately I could have (if I was a hanger rather than a draper) managed to hang things in there without a hanger!