Birthday

Another birthday has arrived, and it has been going pretty well so far. I still don’t feel any different, but I suppose it will eventually sink in. To treat myself I bought a new “utility” lawn mower and also a pull behind garden cart, and Eva got me some more jeans. They call the mower a utility because it basically has just stop and go, side discharge, no catcher or fancy controls, and a fairly powerful engine. I have already used to to mow down in the ditch out the back and some other rough areas with long grass that the lawn tractor doesn’t do well with. It’s all steel construction and actually commercial grade, so it should last a while. The pull behind cart is heavy duty plastic, has a tipper function and can carry about 500 kg/1,200 lbs of stuff. I have been using to to pick up loads of sticks and bark, it’s better than the wheelbarrow since you have one hand free to do the picking up and you just pull it behind you. I’m also thinking I may get a good quality garden tiller, commercial grade at some time in the future, maybe next year. My plan is to use it to smooth down the rough, uneven areas so that I will eventually be able to mow a bit easier. I may also be able to dig up all the areas where the paspalum has spread and put in some new grass.

We have been furniture shopping this week with the funds we have saved in 2020 plus the economic impact payments we got.  Apart from the new couch for the living room and the dining room table, we are going to get a new bed and a good mattress for our bedroom. The other one will go downstairs in the guest bedroom, maybe we can use it if we sprain an ankle or something. We are also going to look at getting a new TV cabinet and coffee table, and maybe some side tables for the couch. We looked at a lot of the imported from China stuff that the big chain stores carry, but there are other places that make the stuff here using local hardwoods, and the prices are not too unreasonable. The only things that we are getting that are either not made in Tasmania or Australia are the nice leather couch that is made in Italy. I guess we will just get an inexpensive or second hand queen bed for the annex, or maybe put the day bed out there some time.

​They just started a new website here where you can check your vaccine eligibility, and it looks like Eva and I will have to wait till May 2021 to get ours, unless there are any updates. They have just started the rollout that includes the over 70’s this week, but only a small fraction of the people in the first phase have been vaccinated, so it’s a bit mad. The locally produced AstraZeneca batches should start being available next week. Anyway, despite the rollout being a bit messed up, things are still comparatively good in Australia, and Tasmania has been over 3 months without any cases at all.