I'm Stuck...

Tonight I'm stuck for inspiration - I don't want to talk about work or the garden or the meeting I went to.

I'm just getting my daily dose of blogworld, reading my latest favourites.....I look forward to seeing what everyone's been up to during the day. Some posts are personal, most aren't; some blogs have existed for years, some only just started. I wonder how long mine will last and if (and how) it will evolve...and when will I tell someone of its' existence??!

Monday Again

Up early. Fed the chooks. Put the sprinklers on. Did a load of washing. Ironed school clothes. Made school lunch. Went to bus. Went to work. Saw big brown snake. More budgets. Home for lunch. Shifted sprinklers. Back to work - just getting into last week's arrivals - then my turn with the auditors. Came home. Shifted sprinklers. Collected eggs. Boys went to touch. Balanced cheque account. Transferred money. Cooked thai green chicken curry for tea. Too hot. Drew home from touch. Gibbo back to town for poker. Had tea. Cleaned up. Blogged. Megan is resigning from job to begin "Summer Adventures of Megan". Offered moral support. More than father does anyway. Going to read paper on couch and watch Lifestyle channel with dog. Probably fall asleep. Usually do. Usually crawl into bed 4am. Then can't sleep. End of (exciting) day.

10 Minutes

I went outside with the camera, just for 10 minutes, and these are some of the images I collected. I am very fortunate to live in such a peaceful and calm environment.

It's Raining!

After a "Curlys' Breakfast", S&P left about 9-30. It was a great visit and we enjoyed seeing them.

A small shower of rain fell at 5.30am and it's just rained again now - 10am. The sky is dark grey and it's thundering too. It's definitely the kind of day for a book, a cup of tea and the couch.

However..........

Just after I wrote the above, G called me outside and we spent the next three hours sorting and moving silkie chickens into rooster/hen groups in new pens. Andrew helped me finish off the last lot while G took the culls to the rooster man. It's good to have my chooks sorted; I can watch them closely now and decide which ones I want to develop into breeders. We have a couple of people wanting some pet quality hens and I'll be able to fill their orders.

G is picking up some more chickens on his run so I'm looking forward to see what silkies come home.

A Pleasant Saturday at Home

I got up early and did three loads of washing, moved sprinklers, sprayed for insects and vacuumed and mopped the floor, all by 9 o'clock. Then I cleaned the pantry out, a job I'd been meaning to get to forever. Gibbo left at 7am to go to Meandarra to play cricket.

Drew and I went to town and picked Mum up; they went to the shopping centre while I did the grocery shopping. We had lunch there then went to the pet shop where I bought Coco a new squeaky toy.

We came home and unpacked; then I went for a ride about 5pm, only about 15km as I'm still getting back into it.

Our friends, S&P, arrived about 7-30pm; they beat Gibbo home by about two minutes. They're leaving their current employment and moving south to NSW and they went down to have a look at the house and surrounds. We had a really nice night, catching up; mb score 5 wagyu, potato bake and salad followed by chocolate self-saucing pudding, ice-cream and cream. Oh, and a few red label Bundy rums rounded out the night.

This might sound like an incredibly boring day to somebody out there - but I enjoyed it because there was no rushing, no time limits and I ended the day with a clean floor and good company. I'm easily satisfied!!

Budgets, Budgets

Spent all day on four 2010 budgets and ended up brain frazzled.

Drew came home from camp, exhausted but happy. He had a great time and we sat on the couch together while he told me all about it and drew diagrams of the challenges.

No photos today; I'm tired and off to bed. See you tomorrow.

Riding when it's Cold AND Windy

I finally jumped back on my bike for the first time since the beginning of winter - and what a day I picked to get back in the saddle! The wind was cold and biting and very blustery. I nearly got blown over when I went to stop at the turnaround. Then I came across three b-doubles taking cattle to the abattoir and got covered in bits of dust and grit and dirt and whatever else as they went past me (I guess it could have been worse).
As you can tell, my gear is rather dusty from sitting outside in a box for a couple of months - and my poor bike is much the same. I'll be taking it in for a service first chance I get.

It was nice to be back. I don't expect I'll ever ride competitively again but that's ok; I intend riding purely for two reasons - for fitness and for the mental health benefits. My computer isn't working so there's no pressure to perform! Just ride for pleasure.
These are my favourite socks, a bit worse for wear now. I bought them four years when I did my first Gold Coast 10km. They're supposed to have special somethings where the pressure points are to make your journey a more pleasant one (or something like that, I can't remember now). I just know that they're my favourites and I love to wear them cycling.
This is kindergarten alley, where you go when you leave the nursery (which is actually a setup of five brooder areas in the garage). You stay here for maybe two months with your mates, eating as much as you can, then you graduate to the big cages where your life of reproduction really begins. Most of the birds pictured are roosters - we seem to breed an overabundance of them; plus we've sold a couple of girls from this first pen.
These are some of Gibbo's Jacobin pigeons - a side view and a front view.

Today's garden shots.

The chinese star jasmine in the roundabout garden looks fantastic and smells magnificent.

...and Woofy thinks it's Christmas. We picked up half a beast today and G threw the bags of bones out onto the lawn to pick up later.........but someone else got to them first. How exciting!! He was very pleased with himself.

Flowers for Me

We had an early start to the day with Drew needing to be in town around 7am to head off on Leadership camp. He was very much looking forward to going. He left his phone and ipod at home on the kitchen table as they were listed under the heading "What not to Bring" - so no contact until Friday 5-30pm. This time four years ago, Megs was heading off on the same camp, only under very different circumstances. I was going into hospital to have a lump removed from my lung; they were uncertain times and we insisted that she still go on camp.

It was a busy day at work today. There was an audit (that I wasn't involved in) and I spent all day working on budgets for 4 profit centres/stations. I've set them up ready to attack tomorrow with projected figures.

I was sitting in G's office, deep in concentration, when I looked up and saw a man who delivers commodities to us standing at the door with an enormous bunch of flowers in his arms - white lillies and red roses wrapped in bright yellow cellophane. "These are for you", he said. I was speechless. I was totally blown away! I had helped him and his wife out with a little problem and they were so grateful; I saved his wife a considerable amount of stress just by making a couple of phone calls to the right person and they wanted to say thankyou. The flowers are absolutely magnificent and their scent filled the office and is now wafting through the kitchen and family room. I was humbled and chuffed at the same time and didn't stop smiling all afternoon. What I did for them, to me, was only what they deserved in the first place and for them to be so appreciative of what I did - well it goes to show that however small an act of kindness is to you, it can have an enormous impact on someone else. So thankyou, J and K, you made my day.

I came home and did another hour of weeding. The driveway is looking better, slowly. It's very cathartic, weeding. It gives you lots of time to think about life.

It's a very quiet evening! G is watching TV; I'm surreptitiously typing here. Day 7 so far and I'm managing to keep up. I've even added a photo to my profile and set up 'blogs I'm following' on my sidebar. I'm re-emerging into the world.

I still have a few posts to catch up on - the NSW coastal trip; and the death of St. John the Brave, our ginger cat who died when we were away.

Today I...

fed all the chooks and discovered new babies - black pekins and our special line of silkies; dealt with the small drama of Megs having to pay the excess on her car that she legally doesn't have to pay (otherwise she couldn't pick the car up from the repairer); rang my Dad to say happy 74th birthday; went to the office for 4 hours; came home and did an egg run; rang Desley and found out that Renee was in hospital having a c-section; spent an hour trying to make one weed sprayer out of three and didn't achieve anything except frustration; fixed a sprinkler head that was broken off the last time cattle got into the yard; cut back the overgrown honeysuckle; weeded the round garden for an hour (because I didn't have a sprayer); went to the bus; weeded for another two hours until it was too dark to see; found out that Renee had a little girl called Phoebe; came inside and fed the dog; cooked lasagne for tea and worried about G because I hadn't heard from him since 1pm and he was flying home from Melbourne then driving home from Brisbane; and now I'm so tired I can hardly keep my eyes open. My hips are aching from all the bending over, standing up, bending over, standing up, pulling rotten weeds.

I found a good book in the library a few weeks ago and I keep having to extend the borrowing time on it because I can't find time to have a good go at it. It explains a few things about how this sadness comes over me periodically and there have been a couple of a-ha moments as I've skimmed through it.

I Need A New Camera..

that's what Andrew thinks. I sent him the same photos that I posted here yesterday and he said it's time I bought a new camera. I tend to agree, only because I really like his Canon 50D and I want one too; and my current one is 4 years old and has taken over 10,000 photos and seems to have a nice black spot on the mirror.

However, I think I'll hang onto it for a while. I just completed a photography course through TAFE and I've got plenty of practising to do. I actually feel like my photography has got worse since I started (and finished) the course because now I'm trying out all the different settings instead of just leaving the dial on 'auto'. P, Av, Tv - they're all new to me and there's plenty of scope to practice and learn. I've been implementing what I learnt but some of the results are crap but I've enjoyed experimenting. When I get a chance I'll post some of the better shots.

School started back; last term of Grade 11. This is the second last time we start Term 4! Gibbo rang from a very chilly Canberra - 10 degrees and he didn't take a jumper. My plan this week is to work the mornings and garden in the afternoons; not sure how that will go as budgets are due on Friday and there's several to do.

We dropped off three silkes to DL on our way to touch footy. He was pleased to get them.

Garden is looking better mainly due to the amount of water I'm pouring on it at present.