So tired

 Just need to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

All time, money, energy and effort is going in to getting the new place up to a standard where it can be managed easily. It's getting there, it just takes time. And a lot of effort. Made loads of progress, we've come a long way from where we were the day we moved in. And sorted a lot of the chaos!

But a bit more money would have helped. Could have had all our issues sorted and space for the stuff we have two years ago - if we just had an extra hundred thousand. Or two!

Oh well, just have to work with what we have.

But damn I'm tired....

Amber is alive?!?!

 Holy crap!

My brother's cat, which was already really old went missing. I posted about her back in 2021 when she disappeared after a surgery.

Today we had a call saying she'd been found! Can't believe she managed to survive so long out on her own in the bush. The vet called me as I was still down as an alternate contact, they hadn't been able to get hold of him. Apparently she's in a pretty poor state, fingers crossed.

Edit: my brother went to the vet, and she recognised him. She had multiple organs failing, very under weight and had several injuries. He did the right thing and chose to have her put down. She was a fighter and lived to almost 18 years I think. A very sad end, to have found her again after so many years lost only to have to let her go again. But it was for the best, it would have been a long, hard road to try and get her back to good health with little chance of success. It would have prolonged her suffering for no real gain.

At least when she closed her eyes, she was in the arms of a loved one and not alone in the street or surrounded by strangers.

Heart is heavy with pain and loss. Good bye Amber.

Bobito is at rest

 After just over 17 years, Bobito has passed away.

He was my brothers cat, born 18 Sep 2008 to a stray cat that was hanging around our house at the time. We adopted her, Amber (she died around 2021), she started hanging around the house some time in August of 2008 (I think I made a post on this blog about her); she had a litter of kittens not long after she started hanging around.

Bobito was the runt of the litter, a wee little tiny kitty. He kept getting up to mischief in the shed where Amber lived with her kittens. My brother saved him a few times when he got stuck in various places.

When they were a few weeks old, we gave away most of the kittens, but my bro couldn't bear to part with Bobito. So we kept him and he became his familiar. Amber also became a family cat.

We moved, they came with us. I got married and moved out, the two cats stayed with him.

And now after nearly two decades, Bobito has closed his eyes for the last time.

Rest young man, you will be missed.

My bro will be heartbroken, no more furry warmth by his side. No more eager eyes watching him get home from work. No more angry meows demanding food.

Tyre rotation - both cars

 Not a big or interesting update,but posting this as a reminder to me later.

Rotated the tyres on both the Prado and the Navara this morning. 

On a separate matter, feeling a bit down that I've done so few updates on this. I think this is the first one this year!

August

 Making progress on the house, including the lean to. Slow, painful progress but progress nonetheless.

Hopefully finished the remote tasks with work and I can stay around the house to continue doing work.

No other really major things coming up at the moment.

Though this weekend? Was very much a lazy long weekend. Should have gotten a fair bit more done, but ended up doing late starts and being rather un-motivated. Really not feeling it. But wet season approaches, and it must be done.

Over a thousand

Chopping down trees, and moving the bits off onto the burn pile. Not a huge drama, chainsaw makes short work of dropping trees and cutting them into manageable bits.

The problem? Green ants. Lots of them, very angry. I suppose justifyably so, I was busy cutting down their homes and source of food. Still, the bites are annoying and painful. Luckily I don't seem to react to them, though I do feel like garbage.

Estimate over a thousand bites. I was getting covered in ants as I was picking up branches and logs to move around. I was countimg them, and stopped counting when I'd hit 20 (sometimes 30). Each trip I still got more bites on the way to the dump point. Some trips I'd reach 20 just before I dropped that load off. Some trips I hit 30 before taking a few steps.

And I did a lot of trips.

So just had a shower, took an anti-histamine and generally feeling like garbage. Oh well, managed to clear some land. Still lots more to go.

First run

 Been pretty hectic and working non-stop on the new place since June. Making progress!

Went for a run - first one since 28 June (according to my records) where I went for a run on my own account. We do some exercise for work, but even that has been lacking due to all the downtime I've had. Not too bad - did 2.9km in 18min, going to be feeling it in the morning!

Edit late 25 Jan - yup, really feeling it in my legs!