Celebrating Stray-ya Day

Today is, of course, Australia Day, and some of our Aussie icons were prominent- quite a few Eastern Grey kangaroos feeding on our front ‘lawn’ and hopping off in classic style when disturbed, and some colourful green and gold plants in the garden.  It is, however, raining steadily now, and many Celebrations have been washed out.  It’s been as dry as chips all month, and record hot temperatures, but now we have some very welcome rain.

My main celebratory feeling today is that, with another month coming to a close, I have now ‘finished’ the work I set out to do in this time.  I have been working really hard to establish the bushfire-safe clear zone around our cottage and am very, very, pleased with the progress.  It is not yet finished, but will be by the end of March, which is our deadline.  Working towards the completion of a defined task is satisfying in itself, however as I progress I am finding some very attractive bushy areas which previously were unusable scrub, and which ultimately will be part of our bushland garden.  So the work has progressed way beyond merely complying with a local-government regulation, to developing our place in ways that we had always hoped for and envisaged.

Of course I am still itching to get more involved in the ‘train’ side of Whistlestop, but with the end of this clearing in sight I am getting very excited about focusing on all things ‘train’ again.  I finished all the routine mowing and maintenance of Whistlestop the other day, and it is looking really, really, good, despite the dry conditions.  As I work around the property I see many small jobs which won’t take too long to do, but will improve the look of the place immensely, which I’m looking forward to tackling soon.

On the toy-train front, my O gauge F7 set arrived the other day and is absolutely superb!!  So now the F7 collection is complete and ready to be displayed when space is available.  Here is a list of the different sizes and manufacturers:-

Z-   Micro Trains

TT- Rokal

N-   Kato

HO- Athearn Genesis

S-   Showcase Line/ S-Helper

O-   MTH Premier

1-   MTH Railking garden

G-   LGB

Another item on it’s way Downunder is another Lionel Corporation landscaped plot accessory, which like most of my Standard Gauge trains is a very authentic replica of the item that Lionel produced in the 1930s.  This one is a #911 with a Red Villa.  These look great and will complement the trains very nicely, and help cover the acres of green plywood!

Good enough reasons to celebrate!!