Sunday, May 22, 2016

New Job

Drew is back at Uni this semester, studying Law. He just picked up a part-time job in a cafe that opens its doors tomorrow. I love the fit out/decor - look forward to a coffee and cake visit some time soon.





Hanging Pork

Thursday 12/05 we loaded 5 pigs and took them to the local butcher. Loading 5 pigs when your facilities are really only at 75% is fraught with frustration and when one of you is built like a grasshopper (ie all skinny arms and legs and angles), one of you is likely to get knocked around a bit. I dread loading pigs. I always end up with a body part crushed, scraped, knocked or bleeding. This time I nearly got knocked out whilst hugging and waltzing with a 65 kilo screaming boar that didn't wish to go where I wished him to go. We got him in the end though.

On Monday we went and did a chiller assessment on them, happy enough with the amount of marbling and fat. We've had some good feedback from the people who ended up with half a pig each - "ecstatic", "bloody beautiful" and "best pork I've had in a long time".

Here's to Woodlawn Pork's future…..



Chook Run

Last Sunday (15th) we drove to Roma with a trailer full of mesh/wire/steel posts to build Meg a chicken run to surround her chook pen. We'd planned for a few weeks to go out on Sunday - and as karma/murphy's law/ the universe would have it, a neighbourhood dog attacked her chooks 3 days before we got there and killed two of them - leaving one very freaked out silver pencilled wyandotte behind. She probably would have been dog dinner as well if not for the elderly man from over the back getting in his car and driving around to Meg's front door to let her know what was going on.








Nearly done, finishing touches.




Coco came for the ride and reluctantly posed on the chook house verandah.

Saturday, May 21, 2016

Western Trip

The last day of our 9 days away was spent at one of the properties a few hours from home, showing our SA visitors around. We saw some of the usual sights - cattle and kangaroos.


Our SA visitor (Meg) was very, very excited to finally see some kangaroos. She'd been in the country for a week and hadn't seen one! It was beautiful to watch her reaction when we came across hundreds of them as we drove around the property! It reminded me of how excited I was when I saw my first zebra in the African bush!


And a group of wedge-tailed eagles feasting on kangaroo carcasses.


A jenny and her foal in the yards; a group of them came in from way out west  and are put in the bull paddocks in an attempt to stop them fighting.


Monday, May 9, 2016

On the Road

We've just spent 9 of the last 14 days away from home, on the road for work. Firstly our annual managers conference in Brisbane followed by meetings at head office; home for a weekend then away again in the plane to the annual wagyu conference then home again for 3 days then away again yesterday to the stud property at Surat with some visitors from South Africa, back home today.

Even though I have a laptop and take it with me everywhere I go (my mobile office!) it's difficult to keep up with emails and admin when you travel so now I've got quite a backlog of work to catch up on. A couple of quiet days working from home will help. That's my plan anyway!


We won two gold medals and a bronze at the beef awards and missed the overall best piece by 1 point! So close! It was good to catch up with folk I only see once a year. This year's conference was one of the best yet.


Random Wanderings for May

On April 19 we celebrated a year of #morningmissm, my daily look outside the blinkered life of work/my job. It's a little window of fun and humour and acknowledgment that there is a world out there.


I grew these. I didn't mean to, they just happened - but they were so pretty and perfect! Xmas in May!


And these!


Barney was very pleased to have Meg home


We had both kids home the weekend before last; it was lovely. Drew cooked a camp oven meal.




We all went out for breakfast at P&C in our local village.


Wrap Up

Arrivals, Brisbane Airport! Always a relief to see a child walk through, back into my arms.









Thursday, May 5, 2016

Home at Last

Meg is home! Safe and Happy! It was incredibly hard but incredibly awesome at the same time. Lack of oxygen was more of a problem than the physical challenge. As always, it was wonderful to see her walk through the doors at Arrivals at the airport!

Here's a random selection of fantastic photos.








What??!! All my gear has to fit in that one little red bag…….????










Crazy airport at Lukla! Meg took a video from within the cabin of the departure take-off - everyone clapped and cheered as the wheels left the ground!