Life is a rollercoaster.....whoopee!

I haven't been on Rose Talk for a bit, seems like an age! After our ewe Sorrel was stolen, we have had an official visit from the council- it seems that somebody filed a complaint regarding our abode, said there were heaps of people living here in sheds, vans etc., and other nasty claims. The Council guys turned up ready to evict us, cameras at the ready to photograph "evidence'... The new gate we built after the theft had been finished and padlocked just the night before they arrived completely unannounced
Well, finally, today was inspection and 'D' day.... we had hardly slept since the first approach..

Guess what!??! They LOVED the place, and spent more time admiring the gardens, taking pics of the rock BBQ I built, and admiring our fish tanks than photographing 'evidence'! The two guys said our place was nothing LIKE what they had been led to believe, and they are more than willing to assist us in having a little cabin put on the property, and happy to offer advice on requirements... looks like we are home to stay after all

way to go...I am happy for you....

That's great news, lildeb. I'm thinking you must have some unpleasant neighbors perhaps?

Deb, now you have the council onside, why not ask the 2 very nice employees over for a BBQ, get them sloshed and ask who the baddies are . No seriously I would keep in contact now and again, might help.
I had another thought, is it possible to ask them if they have to give a respose to the complainant, if they do it should "shut" them up

Thats good it all worked out so well Lilded.
Its alwful to think we are being observed on our our places. I was here in two caravans, a truck van and a garden shed all interlocking to make a home for my two daughters and I, for two years before the banks would give me a loan to build a two story barn house or lodge. Just in the nick of time as a man from the council came to see what I was doing. He was very helpful though and even gave us a double sliding glass door for our upstairs story, which saved us $700.

Deb,
I am so pleased you got a good result. It is awful that there are such nasty people out there.
Is the cabin going to be your home?

Hi,
we also lived in caravans while we built our home (every stick and stone ourselves) and can't praise our local council enough. Our Mornington Peninsula Shire Council was great.
I don't think it would be possible to do it these days, but we are forever grateful that we could.
Barbara B

There truly are some toxic individuals around Deb , glad the council chaps saw things in a reasonable light though.

Just after we saved the deposit and bought this place, hubby's work as a subby carpenter which was supposed to be safe for at least another five years suddenly stopped, so because we couldn't build, we have just spent every spare cent doing up this place- hunting down a slow combustion stove, collecting floor tiles til we had enough for projects.. you know, the stuff we all do to get where we want to be
But after we suffered a lot of damage in the big floods last April, hubby has spent this year in and out of hospital with heart probs. So it's all been an on-going worry....
BUT......
we drove down to Coominya this morning, it took a bit over two hours.. and spent some really good time with James and Sam from Gypsy Cabins, talking about ways we can do this- Council have given us til next Wednesday to get some sort of plans in... ai ai ai...
Awesome people, and lovely little wee cabins, so looks like we are on the way!
Coming home, Hubby set the GPS on his phone to find the quickest route home....
Word to the wise..... if you do this, TOP YOUR FUEL UP... take extra fuel, food, and a torch if you can!!
Somehow we found ourselves, in the dark, on a rugged, washed-out gravel track, fording two rivers because we had insufficient fuel to turn back, and NO >>>idea where we were!

The recorded voice tried to coax us to plunge off cliffs, 'turn right' through giant trees, and continually had to 'recalculate'

N.B. We will be having a ceremonial 'burn the phone' ceremony when we finally crawl out of bed sometime tomorrow....
Eventually we turned the wretch off, followed our noses, and dragged home to collapse... the return journey took FIVE HOURS!

I noted that the GPS options did not include "most popular route" or "most commonly travelled" route... noooo that would have been to simple!

Life is never dull, frequently scary, but always worth the journey- you never know what's around the next bend..

To respond to you guys, we have to apply through freedom of information act, and pay, but I think we will apply to find out who is behind it all; unless there is a toxic outbreak of the "nasties" in the area, one would suspect that the sheep and the council incidents are linked....
And, yes, part of Council's response to these type of things is to send a written response to the trouble-stirrer, and in this case, assure them all is well in hand, the complaints were, apart from the non-approved dwelling, unfounded, and basically tell them to butt out.
Then I sit up near the goat yard at night with a baseball bat....

And talk to my lovely roses that I no longer have to think of moving.. YIPPEE

Oh Deb what a day or should I say a day and a half.
You could have come home the way you went but then again YOU new that. When ever we have used a GPS thinging David agues with it and it takes for ever for us to get anywhere. Now we go to google maps and do a print out.
Now back to things,
I am so sorry that your Hubby has had work and health problems, how on earth are you managing to pay off the land? or do you work?
What are you living in now, you said about the stove & the floor tiles.
It isn't at all fair that some one could complain and you have to pay to find out who it is.
I/we are so pleased that dont have to think of moving now and I know that things will get much, much better from now on.

A rollercoaster for sure! Our GPS once had us bushbashing (if we'd done anything except laugh at it) most of the way from Bellingen to Sydney. Hope life turns into a motorway for you for a while.

Apart from everything else he does, Ed is my carer, I am disabled.. I sell some goats milk soap as I can, and grow our own food etc as much as I can so that helps
We are living in a little weekender that was on the place when we bought it, it backs onto a creek so much of it goes underwater in flood season, which is why we were able to afford it.. It has its blessings, when everyone else is buying water, we still have lots to water our gardens and goats etc.. so we are always green, and everything thrives, as long as we consider carefully where to plant! It was trial and error for the first year, as all our duck and chook pens washed downstream.. grin.. fortunately we paddled around bringing wet chooks ashore while hubby was busy with the blow dryer in the bathroom, drying them all out... Think we have it nailed now! ...ooops... shouldn't have said that! Last year we had ti cut fences to rescue stock when we had record flooding, and all our plans were *cough* swept away....

From my point of view this is another reason for this forum to keep running, Deb has her Ed, now she also has us, the forum to talk to about life and not just roses. Keep the chin up Deb, we are here at all times, David.

Deb,
How long do Goats live for?
I am asking as we have one. He was born on a truck full of wild goats going to the Abs. They were going to knock the poor little baby on the head. One of the men there grabbed him and delivered him to us at about 2 hours old. We hand reared him and he is now 14 or 15 years old.

Deb,
I hope all is going well with you and Ed

Carole, you must be taking really good care of your chappie, lots of folk say goats live to around ten or eleven, but like lots of creatures, they can do the "eveready battery" and just keep on keeping on if well cared for. grin..

Today's question... well..... if you have caught the news lately... we live a couple of km from Glenwood, but we couldn't make it to the servo/shop like half the area did, we sat, cats in the car, doves in small cages, and my betta fish in little bowls, surrounded by seven wet dogs at the top of the driveway waiting for the water to drain out of the house...
And you know what? When the water subsided, all the rose bushes seemed to just shake themselves off and keep growing, even my new little moss rose A'longue Pedoncules

Ed was taken to Gympie Hospital yesterday by ambulance, his heart is playing up, but hopefully they will let him out tomorrow. Was to be today but I think he started thinking too much about re-building fences.. lol..

And Thank You David, Carole and all of you guys, This is a great place to drop in, have a coffee and a chat, learn heaps, catch a breath, ready to stand up and go on with the day. You Guys are the Best.

Lost in admiration for your sheer guts, Lildeb. You are quite a girl.

Ah Bless you Meryl, a wise friend told me years ago, it's just like the riddle : "How do you eat an elephant?
One bite at a time.."

We all do it, every day, one bite at a time.. and when we see what the friend next to us copes with we are amazed, never realising that a friend on the other side of us is thinking the same of us

OMG Deb , what an experience , and not the first time by the sounds of it.
Best wishes to Ed for a speedy recovery , but telling a bloke like that to take it easy for a while will be like trying to whistle a symphony whilst facing upwind I guess.

If there is anything that we can do from over here in the west to help get your home back in order or replace what has been ruined , eg linen etc , let us know what you need.
If we don't know , we can't help. And please don't be offended ; it's not called charity ; it's called what goes around comes around. Who knows , we might need help in the west next year.

it is sometimes call "pay it forward"

Oh Deb you poor, poor girl
I agree with Meryl you sure have guts.
How big is your car ? it sounded more like an Ark.
I do hope Ed is better soon and doesn't over do it when he comes home.

I like that, Neptune.. that's good.
Haven't sorted everything properly yet, I got the doonas and pillows out, thinking we may need to sleep in the car.. lol, most of the linen is wrecked though, and the couch/lounge I have to drag out and burn but I have decided to try and get my paws on one of those old timber lounges with the cushions that you can remove... amazing how often the old, simple stuff works best! My dear old Slow Combustion stove is fine now she is drying out, and I don't have to worry bout damaged electricals with her either
I am still on the look-out for an old chip-heater for water, sooner or later it will come within my orbit..*evil grin*
Just you Westerners, don't go up in flames this summer- I swear I would rather face any flood than those awful bush fires that the poor Vic/NSW and you guys face at times...

Our car is a little Honda CRV that Ed bought while he was still working
away from home couple of years ago, got sick of the old ute breaking down and leaving me stuck.. She is little, but so handy, with the back seats down she becomes very roomy, and we are not tall or big people, have slept in her before on trips to Vic to see the kids... not with seven dogs and three cats, I will admit

Houseboat, I rekn that's the go! Just tether the goats on deck... maybe it's a good thing Ed said "no" to water buffaloes when I asked for some!

It sounds like it is great little honda