Lest we forget

late to the party I know, but a few quick shots from our little towns Anzac Day parade, which the children run.

The Husband was thrilled (not) that he somehow managed to find himself on a horse for the second time this year. (the second time in around 10 years too I might add)...

  

His joy was compounded by the fact that as he mounted the borrowed horse, he was informed of its narcolepsy-like condition. It probably wasn't appropriate, but the owner of the old horse and the wife of the green shirted rider were heard cackling away quietly when The Husband was seen giving ole Spin a boot in the belly to wake him up...

The service (just lovely as always) was followed by smoko of course.

I raided my precious silver leafed iron bark tree for some greenery, and on the way out, quickly added some fresh mock orange blooms to the vase. Smell=divine.

They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them. Lest we Forget

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Aren't I the Lucky One

Schools back in. Lunch box torture commenced once again, however on the upside we go back to a 9am start at school (we do 830 in summer because of the heat)..amazing what a difference that extra half an hour makes in the mornings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was impressed, as you would be, to discover a burgeoning toothache the other evening, whilst watching TV. If you've read this blog for any length of time, you will know of my ambivalence towards dentistry (ie cold sweat inducing) - no hard feelings dentists, please don't take it personally - so this toothache didn't exactly fill me with joy, especially when it didn't really go away. Perhaps the gods were smiling on me, as I found out that the travelling dentist was in town, and they found me a space. I put on my pretty sandals and necklace to cheer me up for the exciting prospect of dental treatment, and off I went.

The young Asian, just left high school (god I feel old) dentist very cheerfully did an x-ray "hmm, wisdom tooth there causing the problem" and then "ohh" (which is NEVER a good sign is it) on receipt of x-ray. Joy joy, lucky lucky me, its impacted and will require firstly a nice BIG x-ray, and then surgical removal (in Townsville).

Magically, any ache has disappeared (mind over matter?! which didn't work when I required that root canal a while back)...

Breathe in, breathe out...

So, how's your week been?! Dentist free I hope!

Easter Holidays - Adventure is out there (week two)

I mentioned that we made some last minute plans about what we'd do in the second week of the holidays. It was dry, cattle work was done and nothing exciting was planned, so I decided to MAKE some excitement. So we packed ourselves (kids and I AND the dog, leaving dad at home) and went off to visit some old friends, who while we'd seen here and there, not visited for years. Because they live on station about 400km to our north.

Monday morning saw us head off, grabbing some groceries on our way through town and heading up the infamous Hann Highway. (far more civilised than it used to be, having long stretches of bitumen amongst the dirt these days). With no rain in these parts, the road was in good order.

First stop, a bit past a Roadhouse called The Oasis (the only fuel and convenience stop in 300kms either way) was my friend Kat's place.

 

And with seven kids between us, it was a noisy old visit! The kids had a ball....

and as for the mothers, well we talked, ate, fed the kids, talked some more, ate some more, and did some more talking. Kat has the most lovely renovated house, set in lush sweeping lawns and shady garden beds. A lovely place to visit.

And it apparently RAINS up in this part of the world, it was so nice to drive in and see paddocks of deep, green grass.

We stayed two nights, and Wednesday morning dawned with a shower of rain and  dark moody skies (and reports of rain at home, which was exciting). Off on the next part of our adventure, we retraced our tracks a little then turned off...

before turning off again (Kidston Dam road) truly heading into placed where there isn't much traffic. Haven't ever travelled this road myself, so each bend and river was exciting for us all.

 

(the first being the Einasleigh, the second being the Copperfield).

We arrived at the Cowans  place "Oakleigh" as a shower of rain came over, and with a grand total of TEN kids galloping about, we quickly made ourselves at home. Juliane has been slowly bringing house and grounds into shape over the past few years, and had her husband and brother in law help cart rocks and dirt to develop her lovely native garden.

We arrived in the middle of mustering, so with ten kids to feed and just as many adults (if not more) Jules and I were easily occupied for the afternoon getting a caterers sized dinner and dessert ready to feed the troops (AND making proper boiled egg custard "just like mum makes!" Juliane's husband was pleased to note...although my only involvement was stirring and making judgement as to when it was to come off the heat...stressful times, I tell you!)

With report and talk of more rain, by morning I was keen to get going (as had always been the plan) and after making phone calls and wishing to avoid the 7 hour trip home the "long way" I decided to run the gauntlet and drive home the Hann (which is not as user friendly after rain!).

(not ALL of Juliane's kids, four of hers, two belong to her brother in law, with one other child missing away having a nap)

We made it out of Oakleigh just fine, with just 255kms to go to get home...and it rained and drizzled and rained all of the way down that bloody road. It got a bit messy in parts but thankfully we stayed on the road (given that we passed only ONE other car on the road I was starting to question my sanity!) and then, about 100km away from town, the rain stopped. Just like that. But looking behind, I think we'd just moved a bit faster than it....It was BLACK behind us!

Made it home well before dark, and with the kids tired and grouchy, I think it meant they had a great time away. As did I. (although, I am kicking myself I forgot to get cuttings from Juliane's garden!!)

And in good news, came home to a well watered garden thanks to around an inch of rain (with more to the south over the inlaws and my parents properties! A wet season it doth not make, but relief certainly provided!)

Easter Holidays - the first week

The Easter Bunny did visit, despite many threats to the contrary! It was touch and go, as on the eve of Easter Sunday, as The Husband lay snoring on the floor "watching tv" in his jocks, a phone call came. A train had lit up along the road, and as all of the district bar us party poopers and one or two others, were at a big 18th party, Husband had to go lend a hand. (he put his work pants back on!). Luckily the bunny did not get caught in the flames and the fire was brought under control quickly.

Smoko and an Easter Egg hunt at Granny's place was then enjoyed, with of course the consumption of MORE chocolate....

(more stellar shots for the family photo album!)

We spent a quiet week at home, catching up and doing stuff (like in my case, tidying up my, ahem, shoe collection!)  and making last minute decisions on what to do in the following week of the school holidays. Before that however, was our niece Mackenzie's christening.

With extended family photos (my husbands side of the family, combined with sister in laws family)

 

And photos of boys with grandad, and the stance of brothers made me smile.

And I forgot, somehow, even though we were SO EARLY out the door, to take a little family photo of our own.

Next up: what last minute decision led to for Week Two of the holidays.

waiting for a bus

That's what it feels like, a friend recently said, waiting for it to rain. But now its becoming increasingly apparent its a bus that's not going to turn up, that we aren't going to get what we call a "wet season". (along with the greater part of the north/west of the state, so don't think we are alone in this of course!)

On that note (and in all seriousness), for any of the readers out there on the land: seeking agistment for 300-400 hd of no2 & no3 heifers (yearlings you might call them) We'll consider all offers/areas.

 

Anyhow, other random, less weighty observations:

- I probably shouldn't ever wear white tights/leggings (whatever you call em) even though I do so love white and they are so comfy under a nice tunic. (I'm a late fan to tunics, but love them I do) hello sausage legs ;-)

- I wonder if its possible to have a chocolate/sugar hangover? (see above, may have something to do with legs mentioned above)

- my three calves, which have lived on the lawn and back paddock of little grass for the past three months, are trashing the joint. They should go...but to where?! In better news, they have finally taken to eaten the snacks of calf crumble and molasses I have laid out temptingly for them.

- again, related to the above comment, walking on the lawn barefoot can be somewhat hazardous...but hey, its great fertiliser. And when things get too, umm, thick, I just let the chooks out and they happily scratch about the spread the evidence out nicely.

- speaking of walking on the lawn, yesterday I was chatting at the front gate, and a snake wandered over my foot. Nerves are yet to recover fully, the back end of it was all that was sighted as it cheerfully continued on its way into the jungle like front garden. Only consolation, thanks to aforementioned calves, is that the lawn is being kept very short (despite mad watering sessions every day).

- we are really really enjoying the slow mornings that school holidays have allowed. Which means productivity is at a low...and The Husband plans on throwing spanner in the works with talk of needing help laying poly pipe.  (lets hope the boys and their toys part is over before we get there, as honestly its only exciting for the male contingent of this family.)

- in direct correlation with the need to 'tighten the belt' and be fiscally responsible in all non-essential purchases, comes all sorts of advertising and sighting of desirable items one might purchase. (yes, I know, stop being so materialistic! but...prrretty)

That's about all that's filling my silly little mind at this point in time, hopefully next post will return with adventure filled photographs. Or at the very least, some crossing off the list of projects long planned!

Hooroo.