Making Friends

I went to get some buckets of sand and composted manure and took the camera.

 These guys are fullbloods and have been here a while. The cattle are always very friendly and inquisitive and not at all scared. They all came to the corner to have a look.

Blogger and Me

Sometimes I don't get along with Blogger and Blogger doesn't get along with me. I tried to post last night from my pc but no matter how long I sat there and stared at the screen, the posting template wouldn't load. I can type up a post from my ipad but still haven't worked out how to upload photos; therefore, photos have to come via the pc. More research required.

I found this picture today while reading ifeltit-poppiespoppy blog. It's just the way I feel when I'm lost in a good book; like it's my friend and I don't want to go anywhere without it.

We've had a busy weekend in the garden (both house and permaculture) and packed away half a beast. We started Friday afternoon on the meat and finally finished it today (except for the crivac steak packs in the outside fridge). We didn't have enough room here so had to take quite a bit to the freezer at the feedlot. We welcomed another mouth to feed (that requires a blog post all of its' own).

Drew is studying hard for his final two Japanese exams this week and working on the drafts for his final SOR presentation (The Afterlife) and English (pick a celebrity and write how the media portrays them in a positive/negative way). He chose Britney - plenty of material to work with there! That leaves Maths and Biology (both tests during exam week) and Drama (a monologue).

Gibbo has gone again, until Thursday. There's a severe hail and storm warning for our area; we've been out and put the cars away and covered the chooks and pigeons. Not much more we can do now except wait for it to hit. I'm sitting at my favorite table, the one I hardly ever get time to sit at, looking out over the beautiful garden, so green, with the dark storm clouds behind. The wind is picking up and the branches are bending. If we're lucky it will bypass us, just dropping a nice little shower on the house garden and veggies as it goes.

It's About Time

I haven't posted any animal or garden photos for, oh-maybe a week, so I think it's time I did. I love our animals and I especially love going out to my vege garden to see what's happening. I like to take a cup of tea out there. It's very peaceful and calming. It's easy to spend time and not notice it passing.

Here's Millie in her day pen, enjoying her warmed weetbix, muesli and bread mix.

Here's Pepper, enjoying carrot sticks 

 Wild Tomatoes

 Of course the dogs had to get in on the carrot act. They love coming to the garden and chooks too - it usually means a free egg or two.

 

 Happy Boys, having a game

 Happy Girls; Megan does so love her Peachy

 More new silkie chicks

 The First Zucchini and some delicious wild tomatoes and fresh eggs

Farewell Viv

Today we said goodbye to Gibbo's Mum's husband, a lovely man she married five years ago. He had been sick for a little while and finally succumbed last Thursday. A lovely service was held in Tba and we all caught up afterwards. Pam was very strong, getting up to deliver a heart warming tale of their time together. She has been blessed with two wonderful husbands and now finds herself alone again.

While we were in Tba we visited our friend who had the mild stroke last week. She will be in hospital for several more days. She is weak and tired but otherwise, ok. It has given her quite a fright and has been a wake-up call for all of us.

The weather was typical - cold, foggy and raining!

Walking to New Farm

Once I had booked out of the unit on Friday morning I had a couple of hours to kill before meeting up with Meg. I decided to walk to New Farm. I took my time, admiring the Story Bridge along the way and enjoying the walk along the Boardwalk, a floating platform that I recall caused a deal of angst when first built. It was a lovely walk and I stopped here along the way, enjoying the cool breeze and the wonderful scent of the chinese star jasmine hedges.



It took me an hour to get to New Farm Park after stopping to rest, take photos and chat with the nice man through the security grille at the ferry stop. None of the river ferries or cats were operating due to the debris churned up by the release of water from Wivenhoe Dam.

I was really looking forward to a cappuccino when Meg sent a message saying she was finished. I had a quick coffee; she came and picked me up and we spent a lovely half hour in a quirky little shop where I bought ear-rings (and was conned into buying a pair for her as well).

From there we went to Mary Ryan's at Milton and fondled and smelt the books; had lunch at the CClub then headed for home. Unfortunately we timed it really badly and were caught for 40 minutes in traffic on the Ipswich Motorway at 2.30 in the afternoon. Crazy. We finally made it home around 8 after grocery shopping in town. Gibbo wasn't too far behind us; he'd left Bris at 5.30 and also got caught in traffic. Drew was working at Mary's then at the Rugby Banquet.

Choose Your Response

During our Personal Development day last week, presenter Jill referred to a man named Victor Frankl when we were discussing certain aspects of character and what makes one of us different to the next. His book, Man's Search for Meaning chronicles his experiences as a concentration camp inmate and describes his psychotherapeutic method of finding a reason to live.

We also spent a while on the "Listen, Pause, Respond" concept, one that I try to implement but am not always successful at.

I've just gone to one of my favourite blog girls and found this quote:

Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom. - Victor Frankl.

Is the universe speaking to me? How ironic (?) that this quote arrives in my life not 5 days after I've been intensely studying  the very message it's sending.



Check These Out

Meg has a shoe fetish. She cannot resist.

Wisdom Teeth

Drew and I went to Tba today to visit his oral surgeon. He is due to have three wisdom teeth removed on December 1, just three days before our annual beach holiday and his Canada orientation day. We saw a very clear picture (x-ray) of his problem teeth and I picked myself up off the floor when they told me how much to remove them.

We also re-visited the suit hire shop to make sure that he still liked Suit No 1 as much as he did before. Thumbs up.

I spent a while in A&R and bought another 2 books on diabetes, a calorie counter and a GI shopping guide. We found a very funky little tea/coffee shop that was half the size, width wise, of a shipping container. Very groovy. We bought some very nice, deep red roses and gerberas and went to the hospital to visit our friend who had the stroke - and discovered we were at the wrong hospital. Her husband was confused as to which one she was at. We came home.

I then turned around and went back out to my second last peb meeting ever.

Goodnight.

Conscientious

That's what I am.....conscientious. These are some things that came back to me from the personality profile.

• reserved
• approach to work is systematic
• pays attention to details
• focuses attention on immediate task
• prefers to stick to established guidelines and practices
• likes to plan for change
• needs high standards
• needs appreciation
• needs quality work
• fears criticism of work
• fears imperfection
• speaks thoughtfully, precisely with pauses for thinking (don't interrupt)
• basically introverted, can engage in social conversation when the occasion warrants

There's plenty more general assessment but these are the main ones. All pretty very accurate. It was a good day, a little emotional in parts but uplifting as well. We discussed the art of listening and how to do it properly; the different ways people learn; and the four personality groups.

What was the main thing I took/learnt from the day? During a break, while standing on an inside window ledge staring down at the city and river below (through floor to ceiling windows) I came to the absolute realisation that it's ok to be me. I have long struggled with the fact that I don't socialise comfortably, am more than happy with my own company, have a small circle of friends and could easily go for days without speaking to another human being if I had to. In the past I've seen these traits as negatives, parts of my character that I needed to change to be a better person. I've tried to be more outgoing or extroverted but it hasn't worked. It's just not me. So now I feel a little more at peace with myself, for now at least.

A Visit to CP

Thursday morning saw us visit the marketing arm of the Company. This is my roomie, Leona. We're the only two feedlotters amongst the group.

 I was quite fascinated by this...........it's a kebab maker. It involves a metal box, a lot of skewers, some nice meat, a knife and a strong arm with which to slice. This way, that way, take off the lid and VOILA.........kebabs.

From there we went to head office and sat and listened while a progression of people came before us, to welcome and tell us this and that. Most of  it was interesting, some of it was not. It would pay some people to listen more carefully to what the women of the Company tell them; that way, we might be more amenable to their suggestions.

To repay the hospitality always shown to head office staff when they visit the stations/feedlots, they decided to return the favour by cooking for us. We enjoyed drinks and nibblies after work. I could have quite happily left at this stage (I was peopled out) but we headed on to dinner at a nearby Meditteranean restaurant. The food just kept coming and coming and by the time the lamb shanks arrived, I couldn't eat one more morsel so I let them pass me by on their way up the table. I would have loved a taste but really couldn't. We finally taxi-ed home and I fell into bed, too tired to blog (and blew the Blogtoberfest challenge!).