We're At It Again

Show season is once again upon us; we did plenty of this last week.

Did you know it takes at least twenty long (and sometimes boring) minutes to properly dry a chook (and then I got chipped for not quite finishing the job off properly); there were cockerels, pullets and hens, both large and bantam wyandottes - but silkies really take the cake. It took forever to dry my white silkie hen (but I didn't get any photos of her). A wet silkie is a very wet thing indeed.

Underarms wings.

Almost there - but not quite.

 In the salon - three girls at varying stages of treatment - one dry, one half dry and one just out of the water.

Finished!!!!

So we set off nice and early to the Kingaroy club show with chooks in boxes and tools of the trade ready (and a scarf, beanie and coat for me. It was a tad chilly). It was a wyandotte feature show so there was lots of competition.

In the end, ribbons were hard to come by but it was a good day out.

I finally tracked down some rosemary and planted it out, along with some italian parsley. My herb garden is slowly growing and they all seem to like their spot on the tankstand.

And I have more colour!

Our Four Leggers

Our four leggers are intelligent little beasts. It's turned a bit chilly here over the last few days; already we're feeling the sneaky winds of winter. Our house is sited in a little hollow and we think it might be a couple of degrees colder here than at the old house. However - we lit the fire on Saturday night and the lounge/kitchen/dining area is warm and cosy and soothing.

Within a minute of putting this old curtain down in front of the fire Madam had claimed it as her own....

but not for long!!!

When they're not in front of the fire, they're in my chair - sometimes all three of us are in it at once. It's a bit squishy.

Poor Poofy sits outside the sliding door, all sad and forlorn and looking longingly inside. Poor baby.

Two Days Away

We went to Bris for two days last week; G had meetings so I went along and caught up with Drew. I lingered in Mary Ryan and enjoyed a coffee (or two). Actually I had to get up and walk around because I nearly fell asleep!

We had dinner with Drew and on Friday I caught the city cat across to the Uni. I told Meg that a good birthday present this year for me would be a ticket that would let me ride the city cat from one end of the route to the other, all day. I could sit inside with my face pressed up against the window and wave to all the people as I cruised by. I love riding on it.

The birdlife at UQ must be a hardy lot, having to live so close to all those Colleges and the unruly students that reside within.

My first visit to this year's room; I've seen photos but hadn't been in it until last week.

Food for thought.

We went to Indro where we picked up a new phone. I lost contact again (in a different way) when all the messages, since the other phone was lost, dropped in. Hellooooo.......this is Ground Control to my son Drew.....can you hear me my son Drew.....can you hear me my son Drew......

We did a bit of clothes shopping and went to a sushi train restaurant for lunch. I've never visited one so this was something new. It's very tempting, watching all the different combinations ride past.

What you pay is determined by the colour of the plate you choose - and it's worth is determined by the ingredients on that plate.

G came by and picked us up, we dropped Drew back at College then headed home. We got home and went up to check the tank...and found these two lots visiting from next door!

HMD to Me

Another very thoughtful gift came my way today - a lesson in Thai cooking at a cooking school in Tba in June. Thankyou my bebes. Fabulous idea. I'm looking forward to it already.

Planting out the Veges

At last I've planted out the first round of winter veges - and I only used half the garden so there's plenty of room to experiment with some other things that I might not usually plant. I'm really interested to see how these go; there's a very thick layer of old horse manure on top and I had to dig deep to get to the dirt and turn it over - but it felt and smelt beautiful so I have high hopes for a bumper crop of everything. The soil is so friable that I might even be able to grow a decent carrot! Time will tell.

The empty garden with a plank down the middle to provide easier access. I think I'll divide the area into 4 separate sections.

10 punnets - 8 vege and 2 flower - eschallots, capsicum, beetroot, lettuce, carrots, celery, cauli, broccoli and calendula and poppies.

Gibbo hastily built a fence around the garden to keep out whatever has been nipping at the garlic; we think it's a hare or two.

Finally, some coriander in a pot on the tank stand, where the herbs live. I couldn't get rosemary at either nursery in town; I was surprised at that.

My Day

Meg came home yesterday afternoon and brought Thai and Indian for dinner. This morning we had breakfast together and sat out in the warm sun on the steps with the 3 four leggers. Drewy was in Warwick, recovering from a big 21st party.

The McL's came for a visit and to pick up 3 wyandottes for Connar. We haven't seen them for a while so it was nice to catch up.

We cooked semi-dried tomatoes from scratch. The smell wafting through the kitchen was to die for.

The end result - totally delicious; I ate quite a few on their own. On pizzas or with crackers and dip they will be sensational. I couldn't capture their beautiful, rich, golden red colour but they look quite amazing in the jar in the sunlight.

We also roasted some garlic in oil and then preserved it to use in stews, casseroles and soups over the next little while.

The 2 heads only made half a jar; they smell great.

We sent the angus weaners, a charolais weaner and a dry angus cow off to tomorrow's sale. With cattle prices at fairly horrendous levels we're hoping for a semi reasonable result.

Meg left mid-afternoon to go back to Tba. She took Nae with her for another block of tafe lessons.

G and I went to town for a coffee and ended up at one of the quieter establishments due to the more popular one being over-crowded and about to close. We had 2 cups of tea and a scone for the price of one coffee at the cafe up the road. I thought I was back at the 1960's kitchen table at "Doomben"; the tea was hot and the scone, very good.

We went to visit Peter at his ultra neat house and yard. It's very peaceful.

We all grew up with guns and learnt to shoot and handle firearms at a young age. Both brothers were professional shooters for years. I wouldn't say Peter is a greenie now but he encourages the local wildlife into his garden. These green parrots were enjoying the grain mix that he puts out; he said the rainbow lorikeets and cockatoos were due in any time for their daily dose. We could hear the doves cooing in the chinese star jasmine trellis.

Everything about his yard is neat. This is the grey water channel that runs through a little hedge, turns a corner then runs to one of the many bamboo clumps that he has growing.

Looking towards the farm from the hill just out of town. If you know what you're looking for you can see where the front of the farm is - just behind the row of trees (beyond the dark green crop) that go from left to right; the shed roof (the little patch of silver), the left hand boundary fence running up behind it to the top of the hill; the concrete tank in the middle of the photo and the line of trees on the right hand boundary, going up the hill.

When we got home Gibbo walked the cows back to their paddock and I started planting the vege garden.