Well here we are again in another Autumn at Three Dams. As you can see above that we've been enjoying some lovely sunsets as the shorter, mild days and cool nights are starting to come. The summer as usual had its moments with some insanely hot (43 deg) days and blustering northerly winds that put everyone on high bushfire alert. It's the kind of weather where you spend a lot of time peering into the horizon over the trees hoping not to see a telltale plume of smoke! Thankfully we got through ok and are now settling in for log fires and hearty slow cooked meals with plenty of red wine again!
The vineyard also managed to withstand the weather but didn't fare so well with the wildlife! All the vines bar one are alive and healthy despite most of the new growth being devoured by the kangaroos and wallabies. This is apparently no big deal in the first year but our priority before next spring is to erected a high fence right around the vineyard.
In other news, our new battery bank is installed and functioning well. We now have a capacity of 880 Ah with is more than 4 times what we had before and will hopefully allow us a few days autonomy in the event of cloudy skies.
The extra power we have now enables us to also run our new (second hand) split system AC unit during extreme weather days. The house is becoming more comfortable everyday and Wends is very happy with the new lounge room layout complete with new (EBay $20) rug! Now you can watch the fire and the TV at the same time!
The garden has produced the usual abundance of nectarines, cherry tomatoes and also lots of apples as well this year. The new system of pumping dam water up to a holding tank to use for garden watering has been a great success and has meant we haven't had to buy in any water this year so far. Some heavy Jan and Feb showers also helped fill the tanks.
So for now, it's back to enjoying the Autumn days and moving to inside jobs as we move towards winter in Heathcote again.
Ziggy of course will get any rays of sun whenever he can!
