bLimey!

There are a few drawbacks to living in the country. It can at times be noisy or smelly, and more than once I've had parts of my garden sprayed with weedkiller. This morning I was thoroughly limed.

I was standing on the back lawn after hanging out my washing, enjoying the warm sunshine. All at once there was a terrific engine noise bearing down upon me. Because of a low hedge I couldn't see what it was or how close it was. Suddenly I was enveloped in a thick cloud of dust. My dark blue towels almost vanished. I tried to grab my washing from the cloud, but it was pretty hopeless. I couldn't breathe.

It took a couple of minutes for the dust to settle, and settle it did! Everything, including myself, was covered in grit and dust. There was a layer in the bottom of the laundry basket. It smothered the grass and vegetable leaves. A previously unnoticed spider's web became prominent in a bare currant bush. I had a little cloud of personal dust as I moved.

I went for my camera and stood boldly on the top of the bank to take this shot of the offending lime spreader. From this height the dust cloud doesn't look so big, but when it was on the same level as me it was way over my head.

One thing I am thankful for is that it was spreading lime and not fertilizer.

I'm suffering from a lack of sleep today. Fed up with the way my medication makes me feel dopey until mid-afternoon I took half a dose yesterday. That didn't work at all so today I've taken it early. I'll probably be dozy at 8pm. I apologise in advance for garbled comments, or none at all.


There has been a magnitude 6.6 earthquake, which is a very scary size, close to Wellington at the bottom of the North Island and at the top of the South Island this afternoon. No reports of casualties or major damage, but electricity and transport systems have been disrupted. They say a lot of people will be walking home. I didn't feel it here.