The horizon’s even bigger now

The RUC has been sitting on the block for five days now and the guys are busily working on it to get it ready for a new roof and the long stumps. I’ve been really excited, but something odd happened to me yesterday when I was standing alone on the veranda looking at the views to get a few pics for you. Hubby went next door to Joey’s farm to fix a light in his shed. The workers had left and it was the first time I’d been left alone in the place. It had been raining and when the rain stopped all I could hear was the sound of water plopping into pools below the trees. Some birds flew silently over the cane fields and the clouds began to break up, revealing shafts of sunlight across the mountains.

And I began to sob! Yes – you heard me, I said ‘SOB’. Not just a glint in the eye and a silver tear running down the cheek like some beautiful movie queen waving her lover off to war. I SOBBED. The tears spurted from eyes. My nose ran. Weird noises like the Doppler sound of a train coming down the tracks burst from my throat! I was sobbing and I couldn’t stop. Hubby came back from Joey’s, saw the mess I was in, hugged me and asked me what had happened.

I don’t know about you, but I can either cry or speak – I can’t do both.

The conversation went something like this:

Hubby: Are you okay? (Wiping my nose and face on his sleeve)

Me: Nods

Hubby: Just calm down and tell me what happened

Me: Nods  (some kind of gurgling noise – starts sobbing again)

Hubby: Did you get bitten by a snake?

Me: Shakes head vigorously

Hubby: Did you fall down somewhere? (now looking around the veranda for a hole when my leg may have gone through)

Me: Shakes head vigorously

Hubby: Did you see something you don’t like? Do you hate the house?

Me: Shakes head vigorously

Hubby: Sit down and relax

Me: Sits down (takes a deep breath and now I think I’m hyperventilating)

Hubby:  We’ve had a stressful year. Just let it out.

Me: Nods – the last twelve months in a nutshell. March 2012, Hubby has been sick for some time and finally gets the diagnosis of Pancreatic cancer. I get sick and get the diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis. April 2012, Mother and Father in law arrive to visit (not knowing hubby and I are both sick and we don’t tell them) Father-in-law suffers a stroke. Hubby is supposed to have operation, but flies father-in-law home instead. May 2012, hubby has whipple procedure, goes into renal failure on the operating table and also has an artery inadvertently nicked during the operation which lasts 11 hours. June 2012, hubby is deemed clear of cancer. July 2012, I am cleared of erroneous Code of Conduct charge that I’ve been fighting for 2 years (I’ll write a blog about this one day if anyone is interested). November 2012, I retire from the stresses of working for a highly incompetent government department called The Tax Office. December 2012, the old barracks is too damaged to fix and we have nowhere to live so we can care for ailing mother and father-in-law. We are offered the RUC and make the decision to move it.

And now I’m sitting on my new veranda on the RUC sobbing my heart out.

Me: I’m happy. I’m crying because I’m happy.

Hubby: One tear of happiness is worth more than a million of sadness.

So I pulled myself together and took some pics to show you. I’ve also added in some others that I’ve taken over the last month that are pretty cute.

Westerly view from the veranda

South Westerly view from the veranda

Southerly view from the veranda

Mr Fluffy’s parents are in the UK so we took him to the creek for a swim. I tried to get him to smile for me.

He smiled!

We asked Joey to move the petrol tank from in front of the RUC. BUT – we didn’t know it had four 20 gallon drums of cement attached to the legs. Poor Joey! I think he laughed about it in the end 😉

That’s it from me. I hope you have a lovely week and once all the rubbish is cleared off the veranda, I’ll take some pics to show you how huge it is!