A Smokey fortnight and a visit to my sisters.

So this is going to be a photoless blog as during this time I seemed to forget my camera completely!!
The fortnight following Granny leaving we spent holed up in the house, hardly able to go outside.
The reason for this is we had gotten a very unexpected and unwelcome rates bill, showing us we owed over a grand. The reason being that while they were sending the rates bills out, we were not receiving them, and worse, we never noticed!!
So we were faced with a choice of paying the bill slowly, plus an enormous amount of extra interest added every month, or pay it now, and go without, oh so many things!
We chose to pay it immediately, and put everything back except the mortgage. This meant we were without petrol for the fortnight, and since the train station was a twenty minute walk away, we  couldn't take the trains up on their free fairs for Morwellians to get out of dodge and a break from the smoke!
So we spent the fortnight with our heads down and (for the most part) locked up in our house.
The very first thing we did when we were paid was head out to my sisters place for the weekend!
I must say, too, it was the best thing we could have done. Miriam had bought me two more chooks (as one of ours had died in the smoke) and so we had organized for her to look after our one remaining chook, plus the new two, plus the two budgies till the smoke had cleared, and we dropped the three birds off when we went up.
It was a very relaxed time. None of us were up to much,  as the smoke had taken its toll and we were all pretty pale and shaky, but we managed to squeeze in snorkelling (the older two children and Ryan) fishing (all the children plus myself and Miriam) naps (Michael) and a lot of chill out time (all of us.
On the down side, the Sunday Ryan heard his father died, so we tried to give him his space.
We left the Monday, and brought a little girl guinea pig Miriam bred and kept for us, so now Muffin is happy. The smoke hasn't seemed to have phased him much, and now he and little Victoria are very sweet and happy in their cage.