Saturday, May 21, 2022

Dog woes and a political change

chilli harvest
Flynn
link car port to house and new fence
 21.5.2022

 

Wow. It is ages since I have written anything.  A lot has happened. Today we are happy that the Government that was wanting new coal and gas mines has been voted out and with the help of several amazing new independent women we may get the country to respond to climate change. I think that the floods that keep destroying homes and businesses in NSW and QLD have changed peoples’ views.

 

 On our farm things carry on. All the summer vegetables have been harvested and we are back to silver beet, lettuce, pumpkins and that sort of thing.

The milk supply has dropped but there is enough to make a hard cheese or feta every week and still have enough for drinking and supplying friends. The point of lay chooks I brought have been very slow coming into lay, so egg production is also low. This all adds up to a reduction in our work as winter approaches which is a good thing.


Edd has recovered well from his hip replacement and can now walk without sticks or pain. Much to our relief it has been much easier to deal with than the knee replacement he had a few years ago.  Sadly, something has happened to our dog, Flynn. He has lost most of the movement in one of his hind legs. The vet says he has had a spinal stroke, (whatever that is), and has prescribed anti-inflammatories and bed rest. He is not in pain but he can no longer bounce all over us as his usual over exuberant self. Very sad.

 

 The new fence we put up round the house worked well and let us have outdoor activities without us worrying about the kids falling in the dam. The idea of the fence was to keep the dog away from the sheep, the sheep away from the plants by the house and the grand and great grand kids away from the big dam. Stevo has built us a paved path to the car port and rendered the wing walls, so with that done and the grass growing on the slopes up to the roof we are slowly getting sorted. We need a bit of landscaping in the area the new fence has enclosed and the building rubbish moved before we look good.

 

The best bit is that we can now get in our cars with out getting muddy shoes and the automatic lights mean we can get into the house without tripping over. This is luxury we have never had before!  Nice as we get older. Another great thing is that I go on Saturdays and do a Natures stewards course. We get lectures from enthusiastic young Dr’s about fungi, plants, animals, birds, geology and the history of our area. Great fun and lovely people.

Thursday, May 5, 2022

party pics



 

family gathering








 
5.6.2022

Edd continues to recover from his hip replacement. We still have another two weeks before he is legal to drive but he can walk around fine We were managing really well until last Sunday when we had the family visit. Bo’s kids all came and helped clean up and everyone brought food. We had a blue stone hunt for the little kids. Alice, Andrew, Ruby, Pele and Yeshe and CB played her concertina. I was a bit too active and managed to damage my knee enough to find walking very painful this week!  I should have been more careful.

 

Anyway, it was lovely seeing everyone. Yeshe was a bit damaged. He had fallen off his bike and cut his head. The doctor had glued his head together but accidently the glue dripped into his eye. He is OK now but he ended up in the children’s hospital this week to complete the process of glue removal. The other kids were all fine and played happily with Sylkie. 

 

Josh got home in time to join the party. He had been Hiking with a uni friend in Queensland. They had planned to do this on Hinchinbrook Island but the weather was too bad for the ferry to get there.  Qld has had a lot of wet weather recently. It was forecast to be a wet week here too, but it has actually been dry and sunny most days.

 

The goats have finally started coming into season. They are much later than last year for unknown reasons I managed to get Ursula and Olga mated but I am not mating the rest of the herd to cut down on work.  The new point of lay chooks have also started laying, they have taken their time too.  I have more control over the vegetables. The broccoli, cauliflowers and root crops are all growing well. We are still getting strawberries and the occasional zucchini as there are no frosts yet.

 

The news is all about the up coming election. The pandemic is still going on but all restrictions are lifted so we have lost our feeling of safety.  With the horrible war in Ukraine and unpalatable party leaders it is better not to listen to the news right now.