So there it is. After weeks of waiting---will it rain today or wont it---the new roof has made it. Hard to see but it IS there.
The whole job took 7 hours. We are very impressed. Now we are secure, dry, and with 2 whirley birds to keep us even cooler.
The solar hot water system is too big for a small family---we produce too much hot water---imagine that, so Murray(!) is replacing the ppanels with smaller ones. He said we should have more baths, but what about saving water?

Its hard for a bloke to have lunch in peace here without somebody wanting to muscle in on the mango.

Just a glimpse of produce from our little spread. Envious?

I forgot to say about the trees falling down; we had some tree felleres in last week to get ready for the new roof. The palm that came down was dead and rotten, and it came on the house and the tank. I pushed it a bit, got it off the house, and then it looked like it would take out the tank and the tankstand. So we rang the aforementioned tree fellers, in a panic, but their phone would not ring. ( I think they are bits of cowboys, not that that has anything to do with not answering their phone,) So we had no alternative but to do it ourselves. So we used Billy's method and tied a stone on a rope, threw it, ( many times) until it got round just the palm , and PULLED. It worked. It missed the tank and the stand.Hours later, the phone rang; tree fellers. I am SO pleased we did it ourselves!
Now I am wondering about the increasing piles of garden rubbish.

As you can see, we get some rough weather here. This blow brought down a couple of trees, so we have been busy on the saw. One, an old palm, came crashing down, to reveal a lovely possum in the top. Poor thing. It had to find a new home.
The girls seem a bit barmy. They run around in the rain and then stand together, with beaks pointed in the air, in some strange ritual, maybe warding off the storm spirits.

Talk about all go. Life in chook paradise has taken a turn downwards. Gert is being ostracised and is very sad. Talk about bottom of the pecking order! We have no idea why. We are very sad also about it.
Then, the tree loppers we have in are your proverbial cowboys. The jacaranda they were lopping so that it did not fall on our new roof, lopped onto the roof! Lucky it is still the old roof. The house shuddered and so did I!
We continue to expand the orchard. A Grumachina and Granadilla are the latest.
Tomorrow is Yandina market day, so who knows what enticing plant we will see there.