Digging the Dam

TL brought his excavator and cleaned out the little dam. It's now about three times as big as it was. If the predicted rain comes it should have water in it any day now.

This was how it looked in mid September.

The Little Things

Little things happened this week.

Here's the cooked goat roast from last Sunday.

Coco ate too much left over wagyu meat from the big cook up at the feedlot (a hindquarter cut into big pieces).  She made a pig of herself over the leftovers, ate too much.....and ended up at the vet on a drip for 2 nights and 3 days with a bout of pancreatitis and a bright purple bandage. She's not very friendly with the vets; she knows that bad things happen when she goes there. Here she is in the car, sporting two shaved legs and a boring white bit of sticky bandage to stop the bleeding when the drip was removed.

Meg came home on Friday night; she has booked and paid the deposit on her next adventure - a 4 week trip to Turkey and Egypt in April/May next year (Anzac and Ancient Egypt).

The three of us walked on Saturday morning, inspecting the newly dug out small dam and checking the water level in the tank. Apparently it's going to rain big time this week so the dam should be full by the weekend. We've had a little bet on it.

Gibbo surprised us both by suggesting we go to Pips & Cherries for breakfast. A moment of madness??!!! He mustn't have been feeling well!! He never suggests things like that. We both jumped at the suggestion and yelled YES. We had a very pleasant time made all the better by me winning scissors, paper, rock when discussing the room configuration when we go on our FAMILY CRUISE in March!! Another one of Gibbo's ideas (not sure what's got into him lately). In the end we decided to be "all in together" in a 4 berth cabin........ If you knew me you might know that I don't ever partake in games such as scissors, paper, rock. I prefer to make a well considered decision and then stick to it - whereas the other G type people (ie Gibbo, Meg and Drew) love to play. They play and play until one or the other gets the outcome they desire which means games can go on for quite a while. I've usually wandered off by then to do something meaningful.

Meg and I went to town to help unpack my Dad's gear at his new house. All my family were there - Mate, Mum, Peter and Andrew. Lots of work was done unpacking and cutting back trees and shrubs. It's a perfect little house for him and his little dog.

While we were away some sheep were delivered to Woodlawn - 6 ewes and 3 lambs. The menagerie is growing. These weren't the sheep that we had intended to get but circumstances in another family meant that the sheep ended up with us. It looks like circumstances in a different family again will see a number of goats turn up here in the next week or so. And then there'll be the pigs. I'll have to give up full-time work soon. Yesterday afternoon we tried to walk the sheep up to the water trough. The plan was thwarted by Poofy and Coco trying to help. Farm dogs they aren't. Today the sheep walked up on their own. Perhaps they're not so stupid after all. Also today we ran two barbs to stop the weaners getting into the sheep paddock.

Speaking of the weaners, they have finally worked out that they have to walk back up the laneway to the yards to water at the trough. We've had to bring them up each day from their grazing paddock, Gibbo on the bike and me on foot (running across the paddock, through the grass, some of it shoulder high). Low stress stock handling - not for me it's not. Yesterday morning, they began to wander up in dribs and drabs to drink at the yards; by yesterday afternoon they were old pros at it.

Drew has had his first exam; has 2 tomorrow and the last one Thursday. He has picked up two hospitality jobs in the last week or so - one at an upmarket bar on Eagle St Pier (where he worked a 10 hour shift on Melbourne Cup day) and the other at a well known seafood restaurant in Milton (first night last night and he loved it - and the table of QUT Law graduate girls apparently loved him too)!! He isn't coming home for these holidays - he's going to stay in Brisbane and work, work, work to save money for his trip to Switzerland.

This morning we moved two lots of chickens from the shed up to The Compound. While were were there we put up some extra shelter on a couple of pens in case the predicted big rain actually comes this week.

Little Big Red is still with us, still being ostracised by Pepper. Sometimes he looks so sad I want to cry for him; sometimes he bunts me so hard I want to smack him.

Late this afternoon I gardened, planting the last of the iris that I brought from the feedlot along with a honeysuckle (outside the dining room window where we sit to eat and talk), two red hippiastrums and a day lily. These I planted in the metre wide gardens that run along the sandstone outdoor area. I'm planning on a wisteria up one end as well. It got too dark to take photos.

The Things We Do For Love

I was sitting at the kitchen table this afternoon, balancing the budget and books. G sent me a text message, asking me to go up to The Compound. I thought there must have been some sort of crisis - a dead goat, a snake, a broken egg - something along those lines. No. Nothing like that. He was trying to catch his chickens so that he could "ring" them. He couldn't reach and catch them due to the very awkward design of the pen they're in. It's not very high and only has a small square opening in one corner. He tried to get get in but soon realised there was no way that was going to work - hence the text message....and yes, we are heading down the road of individually identifying our poultry. At this stage it's not electronic - but who knows where it might all end?

Following is a (long) series of photos that I got G to take because I wanted the kids to see just how far I'll go for their father! These were taken right at the end of the process - when I was catching them I was actually crouched down, flat on the ground on my shins, my body folded into a kind of Z shape, grabbing bare legs and passing the chicken up through the opening to be "ringed" and returned.

Here is the pen. As you can see, it's not very far off the ground. I am 5' 10". The opening is on the diagonal opposite corner.

Poor Little Big Red

PLBR continues to be ostracised by Pepper; Rosie appears to be a little more kind - she shared her grain with him for a few seconds yesterday until Peppie saw what was going on and chased him away. We've been giving them some time in the turkey/duck run where the grass is growing fresh and green.

Wrap Up

G was away most of the week, arriving home late on Thursday night. We worked from home on Friday via a very slow and patchy internet connection then went back to the feedlot Friday night for the much anticipated hindquarter roast dinner. In our case we had a butcher cut it up into several pieces; the other feedlot did theirs whole a few weeks ago.

Yesterday G dug 22 holes in the garden for me - much quicker than I would have been able to do. I just parted the hay, pointed at the spare spot and said - "here please". Later I went along and threw in a handful of dynamic lifter/blood and bone bone mix followed by a bucket of water.

These are the plants I'll be putting in the holes - most of them are cuttings I brought with me from the feedlot.

The weekend flew by quickly as they always do. We've walked each morning since Friday. G is trying to do 10,000 steps a day to help his weight, waistline and diabetes; the walk to the tank at the top of the farm and back almost meets half his quota. We moved the cows on to their next paddock on this morning's walk which added an extra thousand or so steps. We gave another bale of hay to the weaners and filled up their syrup trough - which, to cut a long story short, wasn't as easy as it should/might have been but we manager in the end. When it comes to needing strength and brute force I am not a lot of help. If it's logic you're after, I'm your girl.

Meg and the family she lives with had a Halloween party last night; here she is with MH, looking beautifully angelic.

Drew swam laps at a charity event at the coast today. I don't have any pics though. His first exam is Saturday, then two on Monday with the last one on Thursday - so this should will be a week of heavy study.

Jamie came for dinner; this time he got the Lightning goat roast (he came last Sunday as well but we had to have pork roast because Meg refused to eat any part of her goat). Here it is before it went into the oven.

I fossicked in the garden again and pulled some good sized beetroot and weird shaped carrots, some rosemary for the roast, some small tomatoes that went into the oven as well and some dinky little potatoes. I had to supplement this haul with some store bought pumpkin, sweet potato and an extra potato.

Earlier in the day I used eschallot, parsley and tomatoes from the garden and five big beautiful plymouth rock eggs to make mini quiches for lunch.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SLIPRAIL!!

Five years ago today I wrote my first post - November 3, 2008. So much has happened since then; I love that I/we can look back over the years and remember things that perhaps we might have forgotten if they weren't recorded here. I heart sliprail.