pre-occupied with everyday life

stuff like this....oh how I wish it came off the line folded and magically found its way to where it belonged.

Tomorrow's activity will include a fair bit of time on #63, going past this sign....

On Tuesday, most excitingly, a painter is coming to paint the gutters, and eaves, and any other bit of bare or peeling outside bits of our old house. Won't be seeing any more bits of peeling Mission Brown! Mind you, before then and now, we have to relocate three heavy chest freezers and other bits of outside storage so he can access the back wall of the house to paint it. That will involve some marital bonding and team work no doubt! ;-)

See you after some order is restored!

gate crashed

obviously, he thought he was missing out! We had a little impromptu photo shoot one afternoon.... the above taken by Kate...and the below one taken by Angus! pretty good shots from the kids!

And this one too, from me:

Little stinkers.

my dad

A quick digi page made for SAG challenge yesterday. See more HERE , including the original inspiration.

walking with animals

Yep, she walks with us too. Only needed a pig (and you know we've walked with the Pig before) and the zoo would have been complete. With those three up in front being the monkeys ;-)
She runs with the dogs....
and the kids. No wonder she is one confused fat tailed sheep.
Just a fairly typical afternoon at our place. (the day before we had 40mm of glorious rain, the back road looking a little muddier now!)

a quick page

from my post at  Simple Aussie Girls yesterday.

About my maternal grandmother. Just a quick few lines of remembering her and where she lived (the two go hand in hand). To read more, pop over to SAGS .

animal sitting

As opposed to baby sitting. The lady across the way from us has gone to the city to await the arrival of  her second child, and we are looking after her dog, and her lamb.

Meet Penny.

I believe she has separation anxiety issues, not to mention a personality disorder of some sort. And as you can see, she is not a wool sheep, but a fat tailed meat sheep. The difference in their coats/wool is remarkable.

She is also very vocal about feeding times.

Georgie, ever the animal lover, is very taken with her. I am not sure the feeling is mutual, given that she seems to have attached her affections to me, which is a bit of pain when she follows me upstairs, I have to say. I do have a policy about NO SHEEP in the house!

Still, she is very sweet and entertaining, and is nicely pruning plants here there and everywhere as she nibbles her way around the garden. Saving me some pruning at the least!

I am also thankful for the difference between poddy calf poop and lamb poop. Vastly different and the latter is both far less smelly, and far easier to clean up off the cement area.

Thank heaven for small mercies!

one I had to own

Not one of the batch of books I recently bought, but one I borrowed from a friend (thanks Mel) and then just had to have a copy for myself, so that I could revisit and savour it over again. It is that good. I thought I would share it here, just in case you haven't come across it yet.

 

"January 1946 - London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she's never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb. Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends - and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is.' The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society' - born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island - boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all. Juliet begins a remarkable correspondence with the society's members, learning about their island, their taste in books, and the impact the recent German occupation has had on their lives. Captivated by their stories, she sets sail for Guernsey, and what she finds will change her forever"  Review from HERE

Utterly charming, and one that I couldn't put down. I was devastated to find the author had died before the book was published, I was so looking forward to more of her writing.

If you haven't read this book yet, do! And if you have read it, did you love it as much as I did?!

the new girl on the block

My husband, in the past few weeks, has been preoccupied with just a few things: fires, working at our business in town in between fires, and procuring a grader. We have already both a bulldozer and loader, the former not being fast enough for fire fighting uses, and the latter having an unfortunate habit of blowing hydraulic hoses at the most inopportune times.

I am most pleased that he can now focus on any other topic other than finding a grader, as one is now parked up in our back yard, ready to get to work. She's a plain old thing, no fuss and frills, nice clean lines, and terribly vintage. (I told you that we like our machinery old in these parts!)

This was quite an unexpected chunk out of the budget (HAH what budget? a fictional piece of nonsense that is at the whim and will of a fickle season and an unpredictable husband!), but a deal has been struck. The bulldozer, bless her clanking tracks, has to go. Wanna buy a second hand Cat D6 (I think...hmm, best check on that detail) anyone?

Right now, this old dear is a very expensive and greasy (you do not want to see my washing basket) climbing frame for the kids, as it gets serviced and waits to move to the property. And the Husband, as one might expect, is like a boy with a new toy.

Two other things I am pondering on, as I look at these photos:

1. There are now six more wheels on the ground, which means that there are six more tyres that have the potential to need replacing at some stage or other. Great.

2. She needs a name. Suggestions anyone?

lashing out

Am not sure what I was thinking, when the QBD sale email came into my inbox.  I made my selection carefully: light and not too deep and thought provoking. I have a pile of those here unread that proves that I am just NOT in that sort of mood.

Perhaps I am getting ready for those warm stinking hot summer days, wishfully thinking to myself that things will slow down and lazy afternoons of reading are just around the corner.

Yep, chick lit basically, but hopefully well written chick lit. I don't normally buy books - Harry Potter and titles by my favourite authors the exception, these were ridiculously cheap AND free postage. Hard to resist.

Roll on summer I say!

little bit big

He has prep induction at our little school two mornings a week, and one of those days includes swimming lessons in town in the afternoon. He loves it. Can't understand why he can't stay. Mind you, after school and swimming on Thursday, come Friday he was one cantankerous little boy.

With his goofy bigger sisters, wearing his uniform and school hat, he has been waiting so long to wear that shirt.

Wonder how long the enthusiasm lasts, when the real work starts to happen...? ;-) 

in case you missed it

or you don't, in fact, purchase a copy of the North Queensland Register every week, I went and scrummaged through the newspaper pile and tore out this clipping to share with you.

Its the closest to paparazzi and fame as one gets in the north ;-) well, ones five seconds of fame as the paper is flicked through I guess.

One wouldn't think it now, but it was cold that morning out there (hence the jumper) with strong gustily southerlies, which fanned the fire that we (using the term loosely of course) fought in the days after returning from Cloncurry.

I leave you now, as I ponder on ways one might pose more flatteringly to have ones photograph taken whilst perched on the edge of a grid. Perhaps next time I might hide myself inside a trough and pose most winsomely with head and arms along the edge (and thus keeping problem areas well and truly out of sight).

I shall consider.

random matters

The boy started his first morning of prep orientation this morning. he did not want to leave.

We have a "severe thunderstorm warning" for parts of our district and further west this afternoon.  I was a bit sceptical, but already, right now (and very quickly too) the skies are getting darker and there is quite some grumbling up high, getting louder and louder. Fingers crossed for some moisture to accompany it, and no fires.

Just after I posted about the glass drink dispensing beauty yesterday, a parcel arrived via the courier drop off point at the pub. She is indeed a beauty. Husband not convinced.

Post up today at Simple Aussie Girls about using divided page protectors.  I know, I may already be preaching to the converted but I have to tell you all again how much I love 'em. Pop over and have a look.

And tomorrow, and for the next few days, most YEGAD-ingly, I have been pressed into service, for the the first time in our nine plus years of owning our concreting business, to HELP. As in hands on, getting dirty, with the concrete, manual labour, helping out. NOT in the office, paying bills and sending invoices. Getting hot and dirty and using equipment I've only ever ordered parts for before and have never actually laid eyes on before.

Can you tell I am so looking forward to this, so excited? snort.

The short of it is, the day after the fires that raged through 20 000 acres plus of our property, our man that runs the concrete side of things fell off his motorbike and broke his arm (pretty badly as well). We just had to laugh, slightly hysterically. Finding experienced, or at least useful staff to fill the gap isn't easy, so my husband has been trying to catch up by himself , bringing me in to hopefully speed up the process and get us back on track after the delays caused by injury and bushfires.

And waddaya know, its started to rain. And the washing has gotten wet, I have just realised that too late take it off the line.....

So, a truly random post.....

slightly distracted

you know, by getting back into some sort of day to day normalcy, that is not disrupted by phones ringing non stop and fires and school camp sleepovers and packing bags for short holidays and trying to keep on top of everything else.

School started back today, but before that the kids had a last hurrah at Granny's place whilst I went and helped The Grumpy One muster and draft the weaners off the cows, and move them to a fresh paddock. This was not without grumpiness from either party and dirty looks and mumbling under ones breath.(I only know of one married couple that manages to work together in hot and trying conditions without some sort of misunderstanding or difference of opinion! We call them Barbie and Ken - Toy Story 3 anyone? which they take with good grace.)

I took my camera but didn't even get it out of the bag, it was so dusty, which is a pity as there were many a cute little wobbly legged calf to photograph, or the starkness of the blue clear skies against the burnt to a crisp, right to the tree tops, burnt country (although it wasn't dusty there, I was on the motorbike and cannot vouch for the safety of the camera on said vehicle, I am flat out maintaining safety of self whilst also watching cows, let alone the camera bouncing around as well!)

So, the other day, before I went out chasing cows and when I was procrastinating and pretending that there was nothing to do around the place,  I came across this little number, which I shared a link to with some other bloggy friends wondering why I felt the need to own it...well they did too. Sales of this little beauty went up as at least three were purchased from that one email! (even though the postage is a killer if you live west of the great divide!)

I can see it at Christmas filled with a fruit punch or Sangria, or even with some orange crush cordial and ice for the kids on a hot day.

And, of course as it always happens, I found this other BIGGER glass dispensing beauty, which is bigger in capacity but on the other hand doesn't have a very wide opening at the top for putting in the good stuff. And it doesn't have the cute little stand base. But they would both look as equally as cute when full! (although what do a bunny and presents have to do with a glass drink dispenser?!)

So of course I look forward to the mailman bringing me a nice not so little parcel in the near future, which I hope he doesn't drop, or throw the mailbag into the back of his vehicle with gay abondon only to hear the tinkling of glass....

Fingers crossed!