Pond Love and Big Red

The pond is up and running; well, it's full and it has a few randomly placed pots of herbs around it. I'm thinking I'll plant a nasturtium over the mesh to provide some shade to the water.

Chloe inspected it (while Poofy got a pat in the background. He has had a proper vet haircut).

I think she approves.

Last week went by fast. We went to a funeral on Friday where Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody opened the service and The Travelling Wilburys' End of the Line closed it; the father of Drew's best friend from school passed away at forty-nine. A heart attack. I finished one of my recent posts with the line "Life goes on". Well actually, sometimes it doesn't. A reminder for me for a bit of "carpe diem".

Meg made a fleeting visit home yesterday, arriving about 5pm with a pork roast in hand. We were scheduled to have goat leg roast but she refused to eat any part of Lightning McQueen. That's ok Meg, pork is my favourite meat anyway.

Drew spent the weekend working bar at the Indy 600 at the Gold Coast, in amongst the "bogans and ferals" - his words, not mine. We booked his Geneva flights last Thursday.

The weaners have quietened and are well behaved. I was able to lock them up on my own tonight. Two ended up escaping that first full day.

We candled eggs last night. From the 71 we brought home from Victoria, 60 are fertile and going - including 8 silkies from my silkie man, Ian. Am really looking forward to seeing what hatches.

Big Red has come to visit for a little while (well, Little Big Red). He has run out of feed at his home plus we want to mate Pepper and Rosie. At this stage, things aren't going so well. Pepper just keeps beating the crap out of him; poor little fella can't stand still for long without her chasing him and trying to bunt him. I'll get a photo tomorrow.

The Weaning is Done

We ran the cows and calves through this afternoon, sent the mothers back up the laneway to a fresh paddock and left the calves in the yards. It will be interesting to see how many of them are still there in the morning. We've left it a bit late to pull them off; some of them are self weaned. There doesn't sound to be a whole lot of stress out there tonight; maybe that's because they've all escaped and found their mothers.

Poofy loves to go hunting in the tussocky grass; I fear he'll flush out a cranky snake one day.

Lottie

I forgot to post about Lottie, a maltese chihuahua cross  - she is the prettiest little dog I've ever seen. Every time she moved her ears it looked like she had ponytails. Her big brown eyes just melted my heart. She was found on the side of the road, hairless and starving. After some vet care she found her way to the P's place where she is very much loved.

Resting on my lap.

All Home Again

Drew picked Meg up from the airport on Friday night; she's home safe from her 5 week holiday around SE Asia. She had a wonderful time; her favourite place was Laos. She had a few enlightening moments and got 3 tattoos and made some decisions about her future. I look forward to watching and supporting her in this next phase of her life.

We flew back in from Melbourne on Saturday morning. It's a weird feeling for me when the parents fly in to greet the children. We had lunch at Hogs Breath at Indooroopilly and listened to Meg's stories. She shared her gifts: clothes and a wallet for Drew, a belt and bottle opener for Gibbo and for me - xmas decorations, a bangle made from disarmed land mines, a charm I've been searching for forever (found in amongst a pile of little Buddha's) and a cashmere Chanel scarf, the softest thing I've ever felt. Some of these things were supposed to be xmas gifts but Meg gets so excited and just couldn't help herself and had to give them to us now!

I travelled back to Tba with Meg; Gibbo took Drew back to College then followed us and picked me up and we came home via town to collect Coco from Mum's place. She had a fabulous time at Grandma's, sleeping on the bed at night (and even during the day). We got home after dark, worn out.

Our time away in Vic was short but rewarding. In the end we only had 3 days of actual holidays but we managed to do the 4 things we had on our list - drive the Great Ocean Road, go to Daylesford for a spa/massage experience and visit Gibbo's chook man (Bendigo) and my chook man (Ian). We brought home 71 eggs which we'll set tonight. We spent time together, which was important. I enjoyed having only a faint waft of The Company drift by now and then; I think G might have felt a bit of relief too. We were humbled by the generosity of our hosts. We ate too much good food and drank too much beer/wine/gin. I'm sure we both came home heavier than when we left.

Today we're back into the groove. The chooks have been inspected and chickens counted. I've already started a list of things to do in the garden. The cows and calves are in the yards, ready for weaning later this afternoon. Life goes on.

Garden Inspiration

We turned off at Lorne and headed inland, our destination a silkie breeder and landscape gardener about an hours drive away. This man is featured on the cover of Grass Roots No 213 Oct/Nov 2012 and also in the latest edition of Good Organic Gardening Sep/Oct 2013.

If I wasn't inspired by the Anakie and Bendigo gardens I certainly was after I left this place. Some people just have a knack and an eye for design/placement/colour. Unfortunately, I'm not one of them. I need to think outside the square a bit more. Ian's garden was a mix of natives, succulents, veges, flowers, fruit trees, chooks and art. There was form but it wasn't formal. Veges mixed with flowers in the kitchen garden. There were quirky sculptures (barb balls) and features (rustic trough floats). Admittedly, he has been there for 15 years and it gave me lots of food for thought.

His silkies were big and beautiful. His hamburghs were spectacular and his old english game plentiful and colourful and cheeky. His main pen setup was fantastic and his use of the deep litter concept so much more developed than mine (due mostly to the cold wet climate I guess). 

This visit was a highlight of the trip for me.

Spectacular Phoenix. Gibbo really liked these.

Partridge and white silkies.

Big pens, protected by plastic sheeting in the winter and shade cloth in the summer.

Hamburghs.

Barb balls.

Trough floats.

The Kitchen Garden.

Driving the GOR

We took a while to get going Friday morning; we caught up on emails and had a Skype call with Meg as she lay in her hotel bed in Kuala Lumpur. She was heading home.

We drove the (un)scenic route (thanks AD) and joined the Great Ocean Road just outside Peterborough. The next few hours were taken up with a lot of driving, walking and photo taking. If you haven't driven the GOR yet, put it on your list. It is spectacularly beautiful. We drove from West to East; coming over the hill and down into Apollo Bay was one of the most incredible sights I've ever seen. We want to go back one day and do it again.

Our first stop was Bay of Islands and our last was The 12 Apostles (of which there's only 9 or 10 left); we stopped at nearly every place in between. The wind was fierce but not too cold.