Leannes World

Big Weekend

2010-02-21T22:38:00.012+11:00

Wot a big weekend!

Friday, went to the city with mum and dad.....all scary too start with...thought we were going to miss the train in and have to drive in together in the one car instead....

Lucky we caught the train! As we waited, the gods were kind and gave me a nice cold water that I had wished for earlier.... (long story...)

Got to the city about 12 pm and then jumped onto a ferry across to Manley.

The ride was a bit scary as the waves were HUGE around the heads...Mum took off into the cabin of the ferry due to fear of sinking whereas dad took off due to fear of getting wet (well, that was HIS story!). Anyway, it was an exciting ride and we made it across in one piece.

Once at Manley we found a nice harbourside restaurant and had a gorgeous lunch. Mum had chicken schniztel, I had tuna noicesse salad and dad had a very unhealthy german sausage platter. We over looked the Manley harbour whilst relaxing and chatting...it was very nice!

We watched the parasailing and dad started getting nervous since he will be going up there next week!

After a long lunch, we hurried back to the ferry. On the way back to circular quay there was some sail boat meet - sail boats were absolutely EVERYWHERE! Mum and dad were like kids in a lolly shop - they were very excited to watch all the sail boats from the ferry!!

After a long lunch, we hurried back to ferry and got back to circular quay and caught train to wynard for our dental appointments. Dad got a filling, I got a clean and scale and an appointment for a filling, and mum just got an invitation to never come back lol.

Then we jumped on the train and went home for drinks and tea and sleepies.

Saturday, I went to doctors in the morning and then rushed over to Al Ve Pos HVincents where I bought 2 green handbags (I couldn't decide between them!). Rushed home and threw a dress and hat on, and Sandra claimed one of my green bags, and we took off to the Rosehill races. Only 1 hour late. Lucky the blokes at the entrance let us park in the VIP entrance because of our good loooks and Sandra's declared trainers' license.

Met up with Dee and her Mum and had a great afternoon betting, drinking, watching horses and chattin. The races were interesting, i haven't been for a long time, but I enjoyed the buzz and excitement. It was particularly fun seeing the nice horses looking all posh and pretty. And all the people looking posh and pretty too!

We put some bets on; I think Dee easily won in the betting stakes - won something on nearly every race. I won on one race, but still ended up $2 behind! Mum only lost about $2 and Sandra's winning formula didn't really help her win but she was just having fun watching all the pretty horses!

We all had fun putting bets on with the bookies. Pretty weird cos your winnings can vary depending on what bookie you choose. I particularly liked the bookie that shoved an extra $10 in my hand because we couldn't decide whether we just paid for my bet with a $20 or a $10 note~!

It was also fun to get all dressed up for once. Too bad they didn't have fashions on the field or we would have taken out the prizes! Our natural beauty and style were obviously a magnet for all then men that went past....

All up we had a fun day and Dee enjoyed herself. It was great to be part of the buzz.

We were home by 8:30 pm and, after winding down and recovering from our sore feet, were in bed relatively early.

Today, we cleaned a bit of the cellar out, and then had a big fry up with everyone including Bonnie and Cassie before heading off to Preston's markets. Me and Dad had a bit of a looksie and bought a bit of junk. Went home, had lunch, packed and then headed off on the big haul home, ready for work tomorrow!

Wot a weekend!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

2010-01-03T12:06:00.005+11:00

Well, it has been an interesting start to the new year.
Bonnie has found a male friend (aka Buddy next door) and probably now has lots of little buns in the oven.
The sheep have been nothing but trouble, running through every one of my neighours fences, resulting in many unhappy phone calls.
And the rains have finally come - we've had about 160ml since xmas - this is about 6.5 inches in old terms. When I left before xmas all my paddocks were dust and i had no choice but to sell all the sheep and cows when i got back.
But now!.....

THE GRASS IS SO LUSH AND SOFT AND GREEN AND THICK!! THERE ISN'T ANY ROOM FOR BINDIES!! :)

a nice start to 2010

Xmas Cheer

2009-12-21T20:13:00.006+11:00

the christmas tree is up, with all the tinsels, balls, stars and LIGHTS!!!
wow...so pretty and xmassy! a huge THANKS to the fossil that POSTED me a whole xmas tree to rejuvenate my xmas spirit!

xmas lights around the house too!

and even xmas lights around bonnie's bed!

she was dog tired after all of xmas decorating!....

MERRY XMAS EVERYONE~!

Dusty Dooms Day

2009-09-24T20:01:00.008+10:00

Woke up yesterday to Darrin saying I have 2 things that I needed to know. Firstly, I had to look outside the window. I noticed a quiet, eeeeerie red glow outside my window and leapt out of bed. Imagine my shock horror when I saw this armegeddon like dusty dooms day outside!...

Secondly he said, I think there is something wrong with your dog's leg...

No idea what was wrong with Bonnie's leg except that she couldn't walk on it. Maybe she tripped over some dust.

It turned out there was a duststorm over the whole state. Here is a shot of my poor lil house...

and i tramped all the way to the top paddock to get this shot

cough splutter cough

everyone was whingeing about it all day, but i sort of thought it was pretty cool :)

Nundle dog race 2009

2009-05-16T17:50:00.005+10:00

Bonnie comes dead last...

Too bad. Well she might not have made the finals for the Great Nundle Dog Race, but she DID qualify for the event for the Consolation event.

Darrin and bonnie are in the far right of the field - near the white ute.

Don't know which makes this movie more exciting -dad's photography or mum's commentary....

Busy Quarter

2009-04-25T13:07:00.020+10:00

Well, I haven't updated this blog for 4 months! I guess that makes more than a quarter. It makes it Busy Third. But that doesn't quite sound the same.

Gosh, time has flown. Will have to do a quick summary of what has been happening on the farm.
After Bonnie's Xmas party, we went and purchased a flock of sheep. 18 in all - 16 ewes, 1 ram and 1 baby ram. They are dorpers, which is a breed that is low maitenance because they don't need shearing (shed they're wool) and don't need crutching (have bald bottoms). They are hardy, eat anything and are great mothers. Have one purpose in life and that is to be on our dinner plates (*sniff*).

Bonnie loved going to pick them up. She thought they were an early xmas present. She looked over them all the way home.
The farm looks a bit farmier now with sheep.

Bonnie is learning to become a sheep dog. She is a bit ditzy but is most defininately getting better. Sheep are actually quite annoyingly dumb - they do what they like and go where they like. And often can't get back again. They are keeping Darrin very busy because he has needed to upgrade all the fencing since we've had them.

We have tried to get them into the shed to drench them, but haven't had much luck. After chasing them around for hours, we all (including Bonnie) give up.

Over December we had a lot of rain. Everything turned very green and lush, and the place just looked amazing.

My first attempt of gladiolii went well with all this rain and I had a nice garden bed full. This was most exciting!

Unfortantely I was not so lucky with our vege garden. After many hours of nurturing seeds to seedlings and then watering, weeding and digging, our harvest was a tiny few pieces of corns and couple of tommy tomatoes, and one tomato (not pictured). This was quite devestating, thank goodness we weren't relying on my farming skills for survival.

The calves are starting to look more like cows now. They also loved all the green lush grass. They particularly loved being let into the top sorghum paddock.

Summer bought a number of breathtaking sunsets at Cockburnie. Here are a few shots I took.

Mum did a suprise sabotage on me over summer. She could tell I was suprised because my house was a mess! She caught the train and Darrin picked her up. It was a great suprise. She stayed for a couple of days. In that time, we sort of chilled out - did some shopping (bought some barstools and a new lamp), did some gardening, watched a bit of kath and kim, went to the river, and went to the local swimming pool (mum learned how to do tumbles!!). And Darrin taught mum how to ride the quad bike. No points for speed, but heaps of points for giving it a go and staying on!

Darrin built a new fence at the entrance of the property. It took him all weekend in 40 + deg days, largely by himself. Here is a before and after shot....

Before...

After...

Looks amazing now.

The neighbour helped for a little bit, so afterwards he helped the neighbour fix his bore as well!

We had an infestation of frogs after all the rain. They were everywhere, including our shoes, Bonnie's humpy and the toilet.

Bonnie got a fat head again (same thing happened this time last year). Thought it was a horse kick at first, although it probably was some sort of sting. Her head got soooo fat.

Speaking of injuries, Darrin got a sore eye for a few weeks, but he never did anything about it, and it eventually got better, I think!

Bonnie got a friend for a few weeks. Another border collie called Kallie. Although Bonnie was a bit antisocial to start with, they ended up getting on great and having heaps of fun and getting into heaps of mischief together.

Kallie loved lying in the water troughs.

A few weeks later we also minded another dog, a little Jack Russell cross called Wally. Bonnie didn't really get on with Wally, especially at dinner times....

Sandra came up and visited a little while ago. She did more of our gardening, and did cooking and cleaning for us too! She even did our lawns whilst she learned how to use a ride on! We also went for a horse ride at Oakhampton which was fun.

Sandra just visited again, along with Karen. And Kiara. It was a full house for a few days. Kiara had fun playing and riding the quad bike (until she stacked it!). On the Sunday we all went to Oakhampton (other side of Manilla) and went for another horse ride (including Darrin). We were riding for 2 hours, and helped muster their cattle. Heaps of fun. Kiara loved the deer and bunnies after the ride. Don't have any photos of this weekend yet (on Darrin's camera). Will post them soon.

Anyway, thats a quick summary of the last 4 months. Wow. That took ages. Won't leave this blog so long ever again!

Bonnies first xmas party

2008-12-14T05:40:00.009+11:00

Bonnie had her first Xmas party yesterday.

She had heaps of fun. She got all dressed up in her xmassiest party costume.

Bonnie modelling a fitted cashmere sweater jumper displaying the festive colours.

She was clearly the best looking and best dressed dog there.

Bonnie blames her restrictive jumper for not winning the next competition. This was a running race where the dogs had to run across a field to their owners. Memories of Nundle came flooding back! And she performed exactly the same -that is- was easily the fastest dog, but then run off the field half way through the race!

She entered the famous annual catch competition and did very well. This involves her staying behind a white line and being tossed a ball from an increasing distance. As the game progresses, the dogs that miss the ball get disqualified. She was focused and calm and continued to blitz every round. In the end it was a stand off between her and another border collie. The pressure was high as Bonnie and the other border collie had a stand off in front of the whole club. There was an excited silence during each round as the dogs which turned into amazed rounds of applause as each dog performed extraordinary catches from impossible distances.

Our nerves grew as the stand off lengthened. At last, I could not stand the pressure anymore, and my toss turned into a girl throw and the ball went whizzing way over Bonnie's head so that she had no hope of catching it.

So unfortunately Bonnie did not win the big trophy this year, although she was happy to be annual RUNNER UP and win a big bag of dog treats! We got our photo taken with the winning dog and were stars for a moment :)

We then had a xmas bbq and got xmas pressies for our dogs from the xmas tree. Bonnie scored a spill proof water dish (that actually looks like a potty!).

We then had a big xmas cake and had our presentations. BONNIE WON HER FIRST TROPHY! She got an encouragement award and got congratulated on her improving agility. Bonnie and I were so proud as we got our photos taken being presented our award :)

Bonnies first trophy

Bonnie had a great time and can't wait for next years party!

Bonnie with her prizes.

WHAT THE...?!?

2008-12-02T07:01:00.005+11:00

We have 6 hens and 1 rooster. The rooster ran away from home (the neigbours home) to be closer to his girlfriends here. The hens were free from the poultry farmer down the road who reckons they don't lay.

So 1 rooster, 6 hens.

Mmmmm...We collected all the eggs late on Sunday evening. (We got 2).

The next evening we collected them and this is what we got...

WHAT THE?!?

Maybe the hens didn't lay for him because they were all blocked up?

Or maybe this is proof that the rooster is seeing some other hens on the side?

November storms

2008-11-29T18:09:00.019+11:00

The day started off very pretty and noneventful. The birds were chirping, the sun was shining and Bonnie was frolicking carelessly and joyfully through the spring fields

However, the joy stopped suddenly.

There was an eery silence as the skies thickened and darkened. Ugly monstrous black clouds ferociously crawled above the vulnerable earth. The smell of electricity drifted threateningly through the abandoned paddocks. Frightened birds took feeble refuge in lone trees.

The sky brewed. A spectacular show of sheet lightening prepared the setting for a good storm.

Suddenly, angry thunder shook the ground and an icy lash of wind whipped through the grass. We all shuffled inside quickly. The skies opened, and then it rained and rained and rained and rained. The thunder was tremendous, the wind ripped through the hills, the rain felt like it would tear through the roof. Power was lost and we sat anxiously in the flickering house waiting for the roof to leak. The lightening and rain picked up momentum and the roof's skylight become a dancing disco strobe. Flippy hid behind the lounge, Bonnie hid with me, Darrin went to bed. It rained all night and all morning and when we woke up I was delighted by the fact I may get the morning off work. Tragedy struck and I managed to find a way through. However, after work, Bonnie and I went downtown to check out the damage.

This is a picture of the road to Bunnings Warehouse. There are also playing fields around here. Looks like there will be no home improvements this weekend!

Bonnie was excited all those floating sticks in the water! Let me at em! (If only she would let me off this darn leash!!)

This is the Peel river. It is pretty hypnotic to watch the strength of fast moving flood waters!

This is more of Tamworth.

This is the Cockburn River at Kootingal. Normally this is a trickle. (These photos were taken a number of photos after the rivers peaked at 7m and waters had begun to subside).

A lane through farmlands in tamworth under water.

A bit of the carnage after the waters subsided.

Here is some video footage I took:

"Tamworth under water" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxWnrsdtjkI

"Tamworth peel river floods" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eS0vrK6yl2g

First Harvest

2008-11-26T09:28:00.005+11:00

I have just harvested my first summer crop, a BIG bountiful basket of RADISHES! I don't know if there is any giant radish competitions in the area (like giant pumpkin competitions?) but if there was I reckon i'd WIN!

The calves are happy in their new paddock. After the recent rains, everything is nice and green. They love frolicking in their little paddock, with bonnie hot on their heels.

Flippy is a big cranky because she hasn't featured on the blog for a while. So presenting...FLIPPY...strutting her stuff on the catwalk....

Superdog

2008-11-23T20:26:00.005+11:00

Well, Bonnie has done it again. She has blitzed doggie school and climbed another rank today. Today she reached the highest status any dog in doggie club can reach - 4th grade. This is a red ribbon and a position of awe from other dog owners and their dogs.

To earn this status she had to sit and stay for 1 minute, had to down and stay for TWO minutes, had to stand and stay for 20 seconds, had to come when called and look at me, had to heel around at the end, had to heel off lead perfectly and had to stand for inspection (ie not move from a stand position whilst being handled by a stranger). She did make a few little slip ups and lost 19 (!!) points (you can lose 20 before you fail), but I'm still proud of her.

Anyway, I don't know what we will do from here! We can't go any higher! It's hard being at the top sometimes.

On the home front, the flowers we planted a few months ago have started flowering at last. Tulips and snapdragons I believe (mmm...well, I think!).

The tomatoes are getting close to ready and I think some of the radishes are ripe for the taking. Actually, they are huge- like big tomatoes! But I don't get it - there is only 1 radish per plant and if I pick it there will be no plant left! Seems pretty dumb to me. All that effort for 1 radish. mmmm....am I missing something?

Fruit trees need spraying-was going to do in in the last week but the weather has been too bad -about 50mm of rain and gale force winds and hail and almost snow!!

Les the sprayman came and assessed the paddocks today - a lot of the weeds are dying but a lot more are sprouting through with the recent rain. He is using a poison called something like GD6-apparently within 30 minutes of spraying it stops the vulnerable plants from being able to absorb any moisture or nutrients, and that is how they die. They normally die within 10 days but because it has been so cold everything has almost become dormant. He reckons once the sun comes out it will die off very quickly. You can already see big green patches of kikuyu where the grass is taking hold because they are getting more nutrients.

The calves are getting bigger (and louder!). I am trying to wean them again of the milk - I have been letting them out into the paddock during the day(yes, I did observe the 7 day withholding period for the sprayed paddocks, mum). They like having a little bit of a gallop and Bonnie especially likes help me put them in the pen at the end of the day. She is turning into a real little cow dog. And a chook dog (she puts the chooks in the pen for me twice a day). She actually knows the difference between "cow" and "chook". Ha ha, sometimes she panics when the rooster gets a little bit rough with the lady chooks and goes running over to save them.

Had a pretty lazy day all up today. Started early and got to doggie school and graded etc, but then got so cold that I had to come home and have a hot bath and snuggle into bed for a few hours and watch get rich on the internet dvds in bed :) Few naps in there. Later, staked my tomatoes, rounded up cattle and chooks, pulled paterson's curse and rapeweed, weeded some of the garden and did a bit of chatting on the phone. All up, a good day.

Found out that Rubens first gymnastics presentation went well and he did a perfect ramp leap and forward tumble and earned his first trophy today!! Well done Rubes, so proud of ya!! xxx

Update

2008-10-10T09:00:00.004+11:00

I should have updated the blog on the recent activities of the farm whilst I was posting pics.

The seed pasture mix is in. Daz supered and seeded and harrowed last weekened - and then we got 25mm of rain! Yay. It has just started to sprout today.

I have planted my summer crop - brocolli, brussel sprouts, capsicum, beans, carrots, squash, radishes, leeks, lettuces, snapdragons, poppies and zinnias (yum). My beans started sprouting today.

Darrin and Kiara caught some reject chooks from the chicken farm a few days ago - we now have a herd of 6. They have already laid one egg.

Calves are going well. They have finally been named- Roxy and Angel. They are growing strong and healthy and love going for a run. Bonnie is getting better at herding them.

All our bottlebrush trees are beginning to flower - red and white. I will take flowers in a few days as it is raining today.

Our boganvillia tree is ALIVE!! Both of them actually. And the wisteria on the fence too! This is SO exciting! Also, our monet's blue (the bushes out the front fence) still are ALIVE! They are pruned right back and have some green shoots! The name is Solanum Jasminoides. Or potato vine!

I have discovered that we have Pandorea Jasminoides growing over the pergola. And we have a pandorea golden showers out the back. We have also bought a heap of pandoreas and jasmine to plant. And some azallia. And an ornamental ginger that smells really nice when you rub the leaves. And a few other assorted trees.

Our fruit trees have made tiny fruits. Our santa rosa plum tree that we planted last month is still alive and has tripled in size. Our flowering ashes, madarin and orange trees that we planted are also thriving, especially since we mulched them with free mulch from the tip.

We have began a waterfeature at the side of the house. This includes the existing pond, but also the huge elephant plant put in the ground from the pot, a big log, and a frog in the log that keeps us awake all night.

We have had 50mm of rain in the last month and everything is looking very green and beautiful.

I will post lots of photos next week......

More flowers

2008-10-10T08:06:00.012+11:00

white wisteria on the clothes line

scenic country shot of calves and flowers

scenic country shot of pattersons curse

cows on the horizon

white and purple wisteria in fulll bloom

again - ooohhhh...pretty!

wisteria bush out the front

pink wisteria bush out front. too bad it was a gray day when i took this :(

bonnie resting under the bottlebrush

white bottlebrush

mystery tree

Calves and Spring

2008-09-28T18:47:00.010+10:00

Well, it has been a long time since I have posted to the blog. I am sure everyone is waiting with baited breath for my next post. Well here it is.

Spring has sprung! How exciting! The place looks fabulous here in spring - there are just SO many flowers! We do have to thank Sandra - without her, there may have been no spring this year. Apparently you have to water to keep your plants alive. Lucky Sandra came to Kooty and deduced this as being our problem of everything dying.

And now, there is just no stopping the flowers! I don't have the room here to post everything, but here are some...

Geraniums, a heap of white posie sort of things and heaps of profusely flowering white bushes

This is the bush on the driveway side of the house - the whole thing explodes with millions of blue flowers. Of course, however, there is thousands of bees. I run past this side of the house.

The wisteria on the clothes line has taken hold.

This is the rosemary bush out the front and a bit of the blue bush again. The butterflies love this bush.

And this side of the house is breathtaking. Unfortunately my photography skills aren't great and don't do any of these photos justice, but this side of the house is just swarming with so many different types of flowers. I wish I knew all their names......In the background there is purple and white wisteria....out the front of the house is pink wisteria.

Also, all the white and purple irises are in bloom now and look great too. I willl take some photos tomorrow. I also discovered today that we have pandoreas out on the back fence.

And these are the new additions to the household - cow 1 and cow 2. or laz and daz. anyway, they are very cute and very hungry. they enjoy drinking milk and chasing bonnie.

they also get a bit smoochy every now and then...

life on the farm is pretty sweet at the moment :)

Mum and Sandra and Ruben visit Kootingal

2008-08-10T14:53:00.030+10:00

Mum and Sandra and Ruben just left after spending the weekend here.
What a great weekend! They got here at 1:30 on Friday 8/8/8. Not too late really - they didn't even get lost! (Like some other people we know...)
First we showed them around the house. They were pretty tired so we had coffee and biccies whilst we checked out the new house. They loved the house, Ruben was particularly fascinated by the HUGE cupboards in the kitchen.

We then mosied outside to check the gardens. It was pretty cold, you could almost mistake this picture below for being taken in the snowies!

I'd like to say we went skiing after this shot, but we didn't - we just check out the gardens. Ruben loved the wattle - he even knew what it was called.

Sandra and Mum knew the names of most of the plants like we knew they would.

Then we went for a walk up to the top paddock over yonder. Bonnie bought her ball all the way up, happy to be bestest friends with Ruben all the way up.

All was going well for a while. The birds were singing, sun was shining and we were pottering along in a happy trance - oblivious to the danger that we were walking into......

Sandra was so close to danger....but she was lucky today....

First, Mum dove head first into the ground after being tangled up into a big scary ball of sharp, jagged barbed wire.

As we pulled her up, Ruben was not so lucky. With an electrifying explosive zap, like the sizzle of a bug on a zapping light, the fence BIT Ruben! It was tears all round and it took a little while for us all to recover from the shock and trauma of the situation. After mum stopped shaking, and Ruben stopped screaming, we all walked at a very solemn and tentative pace for a while thereafter.

Little Ruben had to face his fear of fences again, when we had to climb through a fence to get home.

Lucky there wasn't too many dramas after that. Except when Bonnie stole Ruben's ball and took off with it into the ploughed paddock. You can see them as a speck on the horizon. (Ruben -red spot, Bonnie - black spot) :)

We played in the garden for a while and Bonnie and Ruben had heaps of fun together with the ball. Then it got dark so we all came and snuggled in front of the fire.

I ran mum a huge bath to unwind in and soak away her worries. But alas, her worries became my worries as we realised there was not enough hot water to finish running it. Poor mum, I know she likes her bath water scalding, but this only searing. She perserved, however it was a quick bath (for mum).

Our hot water system seemed to die, so Darrin called the plumber, who said to call the electrician. The electrician came and told us country energy had missed the pulse that switches our off peak to on peak. So he hotwired our HWS to our stove, but then we had no stove. Me and Sandra took a drive into town and got pizza. And we all sat around eating yummy pizza in front of the fire.

I'd like to say they all partied hard that night, but this tells the truth....

However, after this picture, the party really started....

(and yes, that IS kibble in ruben's hand!)

Needless to say, everyone else slept well and was toasty warm.

We tried to stay awake to watch the opening ceremony of the olympics but all fell asleep about 20 minutes in.

The next day we had a lazy start. We eventually got down to the Tamworth Marsupial Park. There, we saw cockies, galahs, walked through a big bird avery, saw peacocks and emus and goats. Ruben played in the park. He learned how to monkey bar walk...

And so did possum!

He also figured how to go down the big pole by himself.

Mum and Sandra bravely rode the swings.

Sandra fed the emus frozen bread. They weren't impressed and kept choking on it.

We then went home and Sandra met her energy healing friend Tony, who turned out to be a really nice bloke and is going to get some sheep for us. He is also into rehabilitating horses and stuff. Wow! He stayed for lunch with us.

We had a really nice lunch on the back verandah of serloin steaks, salads and cheese.

This was followed by a Nanny nap.

After we all recouped our energy, we drove north to Banalasta (except Darrin who had tractor stuff to do!).

We checked out the nice shop and tried all their nice creams and sprays, and then taste tested all their wines. All the wines Sandra liked, I hated - and vice versa! We bought a few nice little things and then played in the garden out the front - Ruben showing off his new type of cartwheel - cross between a cartwheel and a somersolt and a flying jump!

We played on the statues out the front....

and then Ruben spotted the huge tracters!!

We then went and played in the lavender patch. It was freezing cold but Ruben had heaps of fun running through it while Sandra and Nanny learned all about the varieties of lavender.

Ruben didn't want to leave, but eventually we got away. We saw HEAPS of huge easter grey kangaroos and wallabies on the drive out.

Sandra got the shot of a mother and her joey. Lucky her shot was just with a camera because these dumb kangaroos didn't move -they just froze and stared at us!

On the way back, we stopped at Moonbi lookout and looked down. Ruben loved that. There was heaps of "WOW!!!"s.

Nanny started getting a bit peckish at this stage and poor possum was almost a casualty.

This was possum just before we saved him from the eternal jaws of Nanny....

Lucky it was a happy ending for all.

We stopped via Kootingal town on the way home - and what a co-incidence! - Tony's car was parked out the front of one of the houses we passed! We stopped in at the shops and bought Rubens some cool sunnies.

Then we went home and tried to work out what to do with dinner - we still had no stove. Sandra and Darrin ended up having left over pizza, Nanny had fruit and custard, Leanne had a vege burger and Ruben had rice and veges. Not bad for no stove!

We were gonna play cards, we were gonna watch a movie, but we all fell asleep by 9pm!

Sunday was a sleep in followed by a big fry up on the bbq. Leanne cooked while Daz played with his mower and Sandra weeded the gardens! Breaky was scrummy. Afterwards Sandra and mum and Darrin all got in and weeded the gardens - it looked GREAT!

Ruben and Bonnie and Leanne played a bit of soccer. Ruben won (as usual!).

Then we had afternoon tea and prepared to leave. Ruben was inconsolable when it was time to go - he didn't want to leave because he was having too much fun!

Then it was in the car, chocolates, fruit, and possum...and on the road again!!

Followed by a last ROUND AND ROUND AND ROUND the roundabout. What a great weekend!

BONNIES EXAMS

2008-07-27T15:52:00.004+10:00

Bonnie had her grading exam this morning for 2nd grade into 3rd grade.

Needless to say, she BLITZED it. Not quite 100% but close enough. Not many dogs pass first go. She was the only dog in the class to pass this month! I was very proud of her, she didn't even growl at the examiner!

AND she got her first ribbon today - a big shiny blue ribbon for 3rd grade! Plus she got a SECOND ribbon for second grade (that they forgot to give her when she passed into 2nd grade). Congratuations Bonnie!

Bonnie models her prizes. What a star!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAZ!

2008-07-27T15:45:00.004+10:00

It was Darrin's birthday on Wednesday 23th. He had too work but flew home on the 25th (Rubens birthday - HAPPY BIRTHDAY RUBEN!).

He scored pretty well - a roast dinner, cake and candles, a decorated house, a pair of RM William Jeans, a Drizabone Hat and a full length Drizabone.

Dazza models his new farmer gear!

What a weekend!!

2008-07-13T18:08:00.019+10:00

Wow! What a great weekend, and what a way to top it off....

That's right! That is MY WATCH! That dad found 2 minutes before they left. He was standing in front of his car, then he looked down and said -"oh, that wouldn't be your watch would it?". I looked down and here it was, a shiny gold watch, as real and solid as you could ever imagine, just sitting at the bottom of our feet! I said nonchalantly "mmm...yes..."I was waiting for somebody to say SUPRISE! WE HID IT FROM YOU THE WHOLE TIME! But nobody did. Dad said "Really?!" I said "mmmmm...yes...." Next thing we both start jumping up and down screaming, and then dad goes SPRINTING down the driveway, waving the gold watch yelling "DARRIN ! DARRIN! QUICK!! I FOUND IT ! I FOUND IT!!!"

Yes, that's right! My watch! FOUND! Don't know HOW it got there. It wasn't there earlier on. Or any other time we scoured the paddocks for the thousandth time. Nor was it there on either of the two times Darrin mowed over there. Or last night when we were looking at the ground there where it is apparent that there used to be a shed there. It must only be one thing - a bird DROPPED it there this afternoon. At dad's feet. Unbelievable. I have been waiting to wake up and it was all a dream, but it hasn't happened yet....what a GREAT FIND!

As I said, that just topped off the weekend. We had a great weekend. Alex and Dad arrived at about 3pm. Miss Daisies, yes. Apparently they got lost and had to do dirt roads and river crossings. We showed off the house for the first few hours; think they liked it......Dad was commenting he liked it even BETTER this time. Alex said he liked it (whew!). We walked around all the paddocks, gardens, and every other part of the property before we even bothered looking at the house. They seemed to like that too (whew again!). The men had cracked a few beers by this time. We played with Bonnie. We showed off the wagon wheels. We explored the orchard. We mosied up and said hullo to the neighbours pigs. Alex and Dad played silly buggers in the shed and tried climbing on the roof and skateboarding down the walls.

A great afternoon! Put dinner on about 7pm - T-Bone and wedges and had an early dinner. The house was snug and warm - it was already onlky 4 degrees by 8pm. We played dares with the mousetrap.

Darrin proved that he has less pain and hence less brain when it comes to snapping his fingers in a mouse trap. Brown hurt his fingertip going for second place. Afterwards, we went up to the local Kootingal Pub for a beer or two. Dad tried to stay out of trouble by trying to smuggle their bar mats and pour his own beer. Alex and I competed each other for status of fastest reflexes in a few "friendly" games of knuckes and slaps. And Darrin just made enemies by threatening weird and non-smiling men with his brightly coloured red fingernails that he so carefully painted before we left (too bad his red lipstip came off before we got there).

Got home, had one game of cards and went to bed. Boy it was cold Friday night! By the time we went to bed at midnight it was 0 deg.

Next morning started with bacon and eggs and sausages. The temp got down to -3 overnight and everything had frozen over. Including Bonnies play pond and Dad's car. We mosied through the gardens again. Then then men decided to put the big concrete pipe over the old well site. That was interesting while I waited for one of the men to fall in or to drop the concrete pipe on their feet, Luckily they didnt. Then Brown decided to act the Clown by doing his circus trick - rolling the concrete pipe while he balanced on it. It was pretty funny when he almost got rolled back into the hole we were trying to cover.

They finally got the pipe to stay on by placing metal bars underneath it.

Then the men went and fixed the bore that had timed out and lost pressure. They then found a new game - throwing Bonnies ball into the pipe that goes under the road and making her get it. Then they started destroying Telstra property...

and then my letter box.

We took the letter box up to the house and dad painted over the old owners name. He also painted Darrins tractor rims.

Then me and Alex took the ride for a spin - with Brown sitting in the trailer going for a tracter ride! We went on a poo hunt (horse poo of course) and found lots of great poo for the gardens. Everyone had a tracter ride over the weekend actually.

Darrin fixed the plough on the tracter and then got that going and ploughed up a paddock. Bonnie thought that was great fun.

Then the men fixed the sprinkler. Bonnie thought that was great fun too.

Until she tripped over the hose.

Leanne had a crash course in tracter driving and managed to reverse park it into the shed without wiping the roof out.

Dad and Darrin played in the shed for a while while Alex showed me how to get some music off the net. Brown also managed to fix my big screen that I haven't been able to use since I got it at Xmas. And dad fixed the DVD player that was jamming.

While tea was cooking we learned out to play texas poker. And then normal poker. I was going really well until I got cocky and lost all my money to Darrin. Then Darrin lost all his money. Then it was between Dad and Alex, and I do believe Dad won. Probably cheated.

Tea was great (because I made it!). Had a yummy roast beef with lots of veges. Desert was chocolate biccies and all the men then fell asleep on the lounge.

Lucky Alex woke up just in time to help me with the dishes.

Sunday morning started the same way as Saturday. Leanne up first, then darrin, then alex and then dad :) Alex hacked into my photos and also showed us a new game on the computer. Then we got breaky started early. Had a HUGE breaky - done on the stove and the BBQ. Had bubble and squeak, eggs, bacon and sausages. Had it on the verandah and listened to the birds. It was another perfect day. Then me and Alex rushed off to go to doggie school (I got in trouble for being 10 minutes late). Bonnie was the best behaved dog there as usual. Although Alex thought the naughty dogs were more fun to watch - especially the dog that only sat when his owner sat on him.

Afterwards we went to Bunnings to buy an exension cord and a puncture repair kit (ride on mower rides yesterday!) and ended up buying half the shop out. Lucky Brown refused to help me carry anything and I had to put half of it back. Stopped at Central park on the way back and bonnie showed off her agility training. She then got into a fight with a corgi. Driving back home Alex took us the way he went to get to my place -river crossings, dirt roads etc. Got very lost and drove around dirt roads before finally finding our way back to where we started. Thanks Brown. The car is filthy now.

Got back home and the men played around with the grey water tank pump to get it going. After a lot of mucking around they finally got it working and we were pumping stinky sludge stuff onto the orchard in no time.

We then had coffee and cookies and Brown and Dad packed. That's when Dad found my watch in front of his car. Then they left. So sad. It was such a good weekend. It went way to quickly. It was great having them up here. Maybe next time they come up we will hve a lot more junk on the bonfire and can get that roaring.

Poor Brown having to survive Dad's driving for the next 5 hours to get home again!

No gardeners anywhere?

2008-07-08T20:01:00.003+10:00

Well, either nobody reads my blog or there are no gardeners around. Nobody gave me any suggestions to what sort of plants I have :(

Maybe I should have made it some sort of competition with a prize?

Anyway, Brown has a good excuse - he thought that some gardening-IT-specialist-whiz-kid-hacker hacked into my blog site to post their OWN plant pictures. He rang me quite distressed at work yesterday to nervously inform me that someone had taken over my website.

But truly, let that be a lesson for us all and let us all remember to back up our web pages, hey?

Life on the farm is pretty quiet at the moment. Just been working - leave at 8am and get home at 7pm. Did spend my weekend being very domestic and working in the garden.

I pulled out all the dead geraniums. And mowed the orchard and around all the small trees. And mulched some of the trees. And made a compost heap in a 44 gallon drum. Did a bit of research first and learned what to put in, and what NOT to put in, a compost bin. I also learned you need to water it and turn it regularly. I liquid fertilised some plants. I repotted a few plants (ribbon plants I think they are called?). Got some thorns in a few of my fingers and hooked a barb from my fence right through my thumb nail. Had fun and got very very dirty. Also, got the ride-on fired up, with the trailer attached, and putted around the farm on that.

I was very distressed on Sunday evening because it appears all our little birdies have moved next door. No more singing from the bush. I think Bonnie and Flip might have scared them off. Then I could hear them all in the NEIGHBOURS orchard. To make it worse, ALL of the birds were steering clear of the WHOLE property! I was pretty devestated by Sunday night. And feeling very unloved! This morning however some of the birds are back, however not nearly as many.

Bonnie still taking herself for walks. Been bringing back some pretty wild stuff each time. Here is a picture of her latest addition to our garden.

Upon closer inspection it is the entire spine of (i think) a sheep. yuk!

Anyway, much nicer than the skull she bought home last week.

Got the new set top box working too. At long last! AND WHAT CRYSTAL CLEAR RECEPTION! Only get 2 extra channels, but the clear picture makes it all worthwhile. It has turned our REALLY BAD reception into a fantastic picture. I am very proud of myself and will have to apologise to a few companies for my rash and abusive emails :)

Another little win - my car passed pink slip today. First go! Don't even have to put new tyres on it! That has never happened before to me in my WHOLE LIFE! Must have been because I cleaned it so well before hand :)

What Plant Is That?

2008-07-04T06:55:00.003+10:00

What Plant Is That?

2008-07-04T06:53:00.002+10:00

What Plant Is That?

2008-07-04T06:51:00.002+10:00

What plant is that?

2008-07-04T06:49:00.000+10:00

2008-07-04T06:47:00.000+10:00

What plant is that?

2008-07-04T06:41:00.003+10:00

What plant is that?

2008-07-04T06:35:00.003+10:00

Some of the plants on the farm

2008-07-02T07:49:00.011+10:00

Here is some of the plants on the farm (that I know what they are!)
I will post another lot of pics soon that i DON'T know what they are and perhaps someone can help me identify them!

Jasmine (Jasminum fm). Not sure what spp.

Callistemon citrinus - Crimson Bottlebrush. Birds LOVE the nectar of these and so they tend to attract birds to the area. Well worth planting one in your own yard. Pretty easy to grow and only need a light pruning after winter frosts.

Jacaranda

Pinkisth Roseth - Pink rose :)

I think these are pansies. We have white ones too.

Good old tomatoes. Still growing strong in WINTER!

Geranium. We have lots of these. Red ones. Pink ones. Orange ones.

Ploughing paddocks

2008-07-01T06:27:00.006+10:00

Daz ploughed his first paddock on Sunday. He was grinning for a long time afterwards!

He was very careful to go AROUND the tree.

The soil is REALLY good. Very dark, rich, and not too clayey or sandy. We are very impressed by it.
Bonnie helped too. When Darrin first started ploughing, she went crazy and chased the ploughs and tore around the paddock at top speed. I missed it, but apparently it was pretty funny. Bonnie loves the dirt - she is allowed to "dig dig dig!" in this padddock.

Big day for Bonnie

2008-07-01T06:19:00.004+10:00

Bonnie had a big day the other day. Spent the day in the paddocks with Daz, ploughing, chasing wabbits, and playing ball.

She was very happy when Daz made her a humpy so that she is warm on these cold country nights. I think she slept well that night!

Weekend on the farm

2008-06-28T06:18:00.005+10:00

Here is a picture of the ride-on on the tractor. Darrin got the ride-on from the trailor by scooping the big iron carry-all under it and hoisting it off. He was quite proud of himself, and so here is proof that he actually did it (and managed to do it without too much damage!)

Flippy has been settling well. Actually, probably too well. She luuurvves being allowed inside and hasn't really wanted to leave the house. She has been hanging around the fire most of the day just sleeping. Lazy cat.

Although she DID venture out once the other night. Climbed onto the roof and woke us up at about 5pm as she killed a poor little possum. There was a huge commotion on the roof, she disappeared for hours, we thought the possum must have got her. However, it turns out in the end, that she just couldn't figure out how to get down from the roof.

Note camoflouged cat top left of pic.

She got down eventually - one BIG jump straight to the ground. What a thump!

She does seem to be keeping the mice at bay; but probably only by her presence and not by her efforts.

Septic Sam came out on Thursday (not his real name, but should be). :) Pumped the poo from the poo pit. He said it really was overflowing and couldn't have got much fuller! He reckoned that would have probably have explained the smell. He is probably right - the smell seems to have FINALLY gone! Thank gosh for small miracles! It was really bad the last few days. He also gave the tank a clean bill of health, a big relief. However, the branch near the pergola could be disrupting the overflow pipe and needs to be checked out.

I worked today as usual. Darrin stayed home and played with his tractor. He pulled all the shonky fencing up the lane way done and slashed around all the young trees. Looks a bit like a park now. I went into town and almost bought an orange tree and mandarin tree (on special at Kmart, under a big sign that said NOW is the time to plant roses and citrus!), but realised as i went to pay for it that i left my credit card at home, and so had to go home empty handed (how EMBARESSING!). Stopped at a nursery on way home and was told now is the time to plant roses and STONES (NOT citrus!). Citrus is very vulnerable to frost and will die unless kept undercover (whaddya reckon farmer brown?). Gonna buy some peaches and plums instead.

Fiddled around with my new set top box. Only to find out it is a DUD! You've been warned. DON'T BUY ARISTA! Many hours later, and much frustration, I have decided I will have to send it back. Too bad.

Anyway, off to bed. Working again tommorrow, and then have work to do on the farm.

Bad Day

2008-06-25T19:24:00.003+10:00

Everything is a drama in my life!
Why do I get so cranky? Because everything that SHOULD be easy, is always (for me) NOT!

Today...

Woke up. Went to have muesli for breakfast. Mice had chewed holes in muesli bag. Chucked it out in disgust. Jumped in shower. The shower tap fell off. Then I went to upload my website. Computer problems, couldn't do it. Tried contacting technical support. Waited ages. So decided to put some washing on. Washing machine died half way. Cold water tap no longer has water going through it. Fiddled for ages but couldn't get it going. Pump OK and other powerpoints working, hot water works but no cold. Gave up and went back to computer. Got in touch with Brown. He couldn't fix my computer problems. Decided to go and play with Bonnie. She went sooky because there was bindies and thorns. So I decided to play with the hose on the soft grass with her. No water coming out of that tap. Grrrr. So tried to do tricks. She wanted to bite the hurdles instead of jump them, and wanted to kill the ball instead of dance. I walked inside in disgust. Technical support still couldn't help. I thought I would make some phone calls. My first phone wouldn't work, dunno why, just no dial tone as usual. The main phone - tried that and that had no power. After fiddling around with it for ages, realised no longer sits in the cradle in a position to charge and the battery was dead flat. So put it upside down tentatively so charge light came on. Finally got it charged enough to use it and rang Dodo. They won't give me a referral fee for three months. Better than nothing. Went to call council about possum traps. Phone died half way. Used mobile and called back to find out that Tamworth only do cat traps but not possum traps.
I still have my new set top box to try and set up tonight, but I am really not game to even start trying.

Cold

2008-06-24T05:37:00.002+10:00

I have been awake since 4am since the dumb flip of a cat decided to go crazy and wake me up. She still hasn't caught a mouse. And mice poo everywhere tells me they haven't gone into hiding. She better get her act together soon or back to Luddenham she goes.
It is pretty cold here in Kooty! Especially yesterday. Bbrrrr. Yesterday was freezing - and the fire went out which meant it was even colder! I was breathing frost in the house! It took me one and a half hours to get the fire going. But this morning is not too bad in here. I have built up the fire and it is roaring now, and have got the heater going as well. So it is warm and cosy at the moment.
Too bad the dumb cat won't stoke the fire for me during the day so it is warm when i get home tonight.
Meanwhile, me and Bonnie went hunting last night. We walked up to the top paddock to check out the night views. On the way up, Bonnie chased her first wabbit. I was very proud of her. She didn't catch it luckily but had fun trying. She moves pretty fast when she wants to, sort of sounds like a racehorse. I am hoping Bonnie gets better at keeping the pesky wabbits away from my lawns. They are making a huge mess of them - holes everywhere, and I keep falling into them!

ADSL at Cockburnie!

2008-06-20T12:26:00.002+10:00

Yay!!

I am now officially online! ADSL works GREAT at Cockburnie! Faster than ADSL in Tamworth. haha. I am happy now :)

Greedy currawongs

2008-06-16T08:22:00.001+10:00

A big fat greedy currawong stole my beautiful EXPENSIVE gold and diamond watch (that Darrin bought me) yesterday L
I took my watch of as I unloaded the chiminea from the trailer so it wouldn’t get caught. I put it on top of the post. When I went back to get it half hour later it was GONE!! We looked everywhere last night, but without luck. Scoured paddocks and climbed on roofs etc but couldn’t find it L Apparently currawongs like shiny stuff. Hopefully it will turn up in a paddock or something one day, but it is more likely the very expensive pillow of a stupid little baby currawong somewhere.
Caught another mouse today. Darrin went out and bought more traps and spent lots of time running around setting them. Secretly I think he is actually enjoying it and would prefer that Flip didn’t taken care of them for us!
Spent the day cleaning the old house today. That hurt. Still got a bit to go that Darrin will finish this morning. I am back at work today. Still got heaps to do around here but getting through it slowly.
Had to leave the farm tonight to have dinner at Lia’s. Had yummy homemade pizza, she is a great cook.
And Bonnie had her first exams today! GUESS WHAT!? SHE PASSED WITH FLYING COLOURS! She had to do sit, heel and down. She reckoned it was a cinch and I think she easily came first in the class. She is now officially 2nd grade and I get an extra colour on my badge J After that, we went and celebrated by having a play down the bottom of the club where she showed her true colours – doing spectacular jumps over the balance beam, “going” away from me and sitting, dropping, staying, and chasing the stick. Clearly a natural!

Moved at last!

2008-06-15T07:11:00.008+10:00

Well we are finally in the new house! Yay! Living in the country on a farm - doesn't get much better than this!

Picked up the keys last Wednesday from Jeremy. Had a busy day moving stuff all day - very sore! Even moved Darrins shed stuff and THAT was heavy! Anyway, Jeremy stuffed me around as usual - the solicitor called at 3pm and said they had settled and to pick up the keys. I rang Jeremy and he said they were waiting on agent's order before they could release them. I rang my solicitor back and she got on her high horse and made a few angry phone calls and called me back and said that Jeremy had to told in "no uncertain terms to hand the keys over immediately!". haha. Anyway, flew over and picked up the keys (only 3!). Expected a huge hamper etc etc and got a cheap scabby bottle of red wine, a prd ruler and a prd stubby cooler!! ggrrr! walked away pretty disgusted. (the wine was disgusting too, we popped it that night and could only stomach half a glass each!).

Raced over to airport, picked up Daz, stopped in and got pizza for tea and went home for last night in the house.

Got early start in morning, packing the shipping container and cars. Drove over to new house at 12pm with hamburgers for breaky that we picked up on the way. Daz loved the new place again as soon as he got out. Bonnie still a bit sooky and whiny but excited. Spent the rest of the day unpacking. Shipping container got dropped off about 3pm - that was a bit scary waiting for the truck to go through the house and watching it tear up my beautiful lawn. Was a miserable day - cold and rainy, so it was lucky we got the truckie to pick up the container and face it the other way so it was lined up with the back door. That way we didn't get too wet. After unloading and unpacking for the day, we drove down to the local and had a big counter meal and met some of the locals. We were in bed by 10pm, very exhausted. I went to bed, Darrin fell asleep in the bath. He eventually got to bed and we had a very comfortable first night in the new house.

The first morning we woke up in our new house was Friday 13th! It was very cold and rainy again. Continued unpacking and cleaning today.Darrin got the fire started and it's SO warm! It warms up the whole house, and in the mornings, you just flick over the lever and it relights itself. Oh, and I decided I LOVE the bath - it's HUGE!! MASSIVE! And very luxurious. You can swim in this bath. I had a bath with candles going feeling very posh. Oh, and the views!!! WOW! Today was the ugliest day you could imagine - cold, dark, cloudy, rainy, really windy. But the view from our back verandah was amazing. All the clouds race over our back paddock towards the mountain range and form the most spectacular backdrop over the mountains.

I took heaps of pictures.

Then we got this incredible rainbow. I love the views here! As soon as you get cold, you go inside and it is so toasty warm and cosy. Oh, and the SHOWER pressure is amazing too. Until Darrin went and bought me a shiny new silver shower head, and it somehow ruined the shower pressure (so we are going to take it off and put the old one back on!). Took Bonnie up back paddock and introduced her to the sheep. What a natural! She wanted to chase them but came back whenver we told her. We did let her have a bit of a run with them - and she went out wide like she is suppposed to and tried to round them up. She found heaps of fallen wool and sheep wool on the ground and had sooo much fun rolling in them! A few bunnies managed to hop past her without her noticing them. She'll get the hang of that. There is a lot of bindies in the top paddocks and she looked pretty funny hopping and limping through them. Hopefully her toes will toughen up!

Darrin had fun too. He played with his tractor already. Took it for a spin down the road and around the roundabout. Won't be seeing much of him again!

By yesterday, Bonnie was feeling very settled in and loves this place. Spent the morning running around as fast as she could. We had our coffee as we walked through the front gardens. We walked over to the disused well (ie massive hole!) and I suggested to Daz we show it to Bonnie so she knew it was there and her inherent nature for remembering danger would ensure she would not fall in. So we called her. She came tearing down from the back yard, as fast as she could, and rang STRAIGHT INTO THE WELL! She could have gone a little to the right or left, but NOOOOOO – STRAIGHT into it! She went in head first at full speed -she didn't even try to slow down or baulk as she realized she was going in. In hindsight it was definitely a funniest home video winner, but not at the time. I thought she would have broken her neck for sure.

Anyway, between us we got her out, with Bonnie scrambling and us pulling her out by her scruff. Darrin later walled the hole.

We need to bring Flippy back. And get one more cat. Darrin set 4 traps and he said if we had a mouse by tomorrow we would need Flippy. If we had 2, we would get another cat. Within 20 minutes of setting them, we had one dead mouse on the verandah trap. Within 1 hour, another had gone off but missed the mouse, and 2 of the traps had the food taken. Yuk. So flippy has her work cut out for her. And her friend. We are going to get a cat flap so they can be house cats too and keep the mice away inside and outside the house.

We found out that our house is in a 3G deadzone. Darrin’s wireless modem works in the Australian desert, but not here. Not one bar. We looked at a map of the wireless coverage here, and everyone on our street has it – EXCEPT US! The deadzone is almost the shape of our house! I took the computer around the whole perimeter of the property tonight and we don’t get ANY reception ANYWHERE. Fingers crossed broadband works.

Today was another tiring day. We finally got the fridge in the house. It is VERY heavy. Lucky Leanne’s got muscles. Continued cleaning the old house and getting organised. Be glad when it’s all finished and we can actually just enjoy the place!

Move Day

2008-06-04T06:40:00.003+10:00

I'd like to thank everyone for their support and kindness on Jessie's passing. It meant a lot to me and helped a lot. She DID bring me great joy and I know she's happy to be back home and running amuck with Skitty.

On a happier note, today is the final inspection. I did a bit of research to see if I am actually supposed to do something for this, and I AM! I need to do things like check the appliances, check the plumbing, test the heating and cooling, make sure all then windows and doors close properly etc. I would have thought these things should have been done already by now, but I didn't think to do a lot of this stuff at the time. Let's hope everything works! Live and learn anyway. Meanwhile, I am really worried (who me, worry?!) about the septic system. I have done some research on these as well, and it isn't normal for them to smell. The septic WAS in good order when it was inspected 2 years ago, and Blanche said I wouldn't need one again because it had been done recently. BUT apparently you need to inspect them every 2 years. In other words, I should have got this done BEFORE I purchased the house. Again, live and learn. I didn't know this and nobody was going to tell me neither! Anyway, this could add a considerable expense to the house if it needs repairs or replacing. I will let you know once I know. Fingers crossed that it's all good and they were just smelly people :)

Today is move day as well. Well, going to START moving. Darrin got nearly all our furniture in the shipping container out the front yard over the last few days. But there is heaps of boxes and smaller stuff that I am going to start taking over today. You don't realise how much JUNK you have until you have to go and move it all. SO MUCH JUNK!! Anyway, Darrin did well to load up the shipping container by himself. I helped with a few things. But the fridge was too heavy for me and I think I broke my poofoo trying. So the neighbour had to help him with that. Needless to say Darrin went to bed very early on Monday and slept like a log.

So I'm meeting the agent at the house at 9am. The old owners are leaving the keys out so we can move in early. We could have actually moved in completely today, except the silly agent Jeremy stuffed us around and told us we could, and then after we organised our holidays etc, said we couldn't (and all that time we actually could!). Agents are a bit like that ad on tv, where everyone is smiling while the couple is signing the mortgage papers, and as soon as they have finished, the table and chair is ripped from under them, the roof caves in, the walls fly away, they are sitting their in the middle of no-where and the agent is running off into the sunset with their money and an evil chuckle.

Anyway, I had better get organised. Lots to do. Gotta get packing!

Everyones favourite Jessie ♥

2008-05-30T05:21:00.038+10:00

My beautiful little girl Jessie passed away on Sunday 25th May.

Jessie lived a long, happy, (and at times, lazy!) life. Jessie was a German Shepherd Cross Dingo. Hehe, she always looked like a dingo until she got a bit of middle aged spread. She was a smart dog, she didn't take unnecessary risks; she was very careful with herself and her inherent wariness of strange people and situations made sure she lived to a ripe old age. That's not to say that she was not without fun!....

Jessie was born 16 years ago at the Luddenham farm. She was the smallest and most timid pup from a litter of 10. Her mum was the gorgeous Skitcher, who was Alex's pride and joy and was a fantastic and loving mother.

Skitty

Jessie was always Skitcher's favourite, and so she often got lots of extra love, attention, and backscratching. Poor Skitty never got back rubs in return but never seemed to care.

Jessie smiling for the camera

Her early life involved playing with her brothers and sisters and having a ball of time. They were all beautiful but Jessie seemed a bit more timid and in need of extra nurturing, and so I kept Jessie while all her brothers and sisters left home. Jessie was my first OWN dog and I LOVED her! She had this cute big snout and huge paws that were too big for her body. As she got older she developed curly hair under her tail that Alex used to call "SWIRLS!". We did everything together. When she was about 3 months I took Jessie to puppy pre-school. She seemed traumatised by this, and seemed to become more fearful after this experience! (Although she was always the smartest and best behaved puppy there!).

We used to do tricks. Jessie was very good at sit and stay! She couldn't do fancy stuff like dance or anything, but only because she was too smart to bring herself to that level! She did know "GENTLE" which meant to take the food GENTLY! We used to ride around the farm on the motorbike - Jessie upfront in a crate.

Jessie loved swimming and also loved bushwalking. We have been on MANY hikes together. Jessie adored her bush walks and as soon as I grabbed her lead and sqealed "WALKIES!!!" she would run around in circles wagging her tail and saying "LETS GO!". In her earlier years, Jess was very agile at some of the tracks we traversed - some of these were steep mountainsides and some bordered on cliffs (oops, sorry mum!).

Jessie conquers the 6 foot track from Katoomba to Jenolan Caves

As she got much older, we stopped doing these walks together, although we would still do lots of trails.

She's been in most of NSW's national parks (oops, sorry again mum!). She's seen much of the state, little Jessie. She's been around many areas of Sydney and Blue Mountains, down South including Mittagong, Bowral, MossVale etc, across to the East including Newcastle and Gosford, out West including Bathurst, Mudgee, Lithgow and up north including Windsor, Wisemans Ferry and the Hunter Valley.

Up to Newnes to master the fierce Pipeline track. Jessie is unstoppable!

She lived through my troubled times with me, always standing by my side. She moved into my first house when I left home for the first time at Guildford with Annalisa. She has gone with me to Wagga for 5 years and then here to Tamworth.

She was very happy at Wagga. When I moved to Beckwith Street, Darrin wooed me through the stomach of my dog. He used to visit every day bearing big yummy Schmacko's for Jessie. Jessie thought this was great and they quickly became great friends. When we moved to East Street Jessie had to learn to live with Deifer who was always eager to play rougher than she was willing.

Later Lobo came along and she had to perserve with Lobos weird antics of following her around ALL day.

But Jessie was always a very tolerant dog and steadfast and just took it in her stride. She made great friends with Kiara and was very gentle around her. Only twice in her life was she a bit naughty, once when she ate dad's prize sheep and another time when she ate our duck. Oops. Her belly often got her in trouble!

Jess was at Mum and Dads for 2 years while I was working at the hospital and living at Piper Street. She gained a few too many kilos on a diet of dad's huge pigouts.

She always loved her food and would eat everything placed in front of her given the chance. When she came back to Tamworth to live with us, she went on a diet and was walked daily again and looked very slim and stunning. We bought Bonnie so she would have company during the day and (most of the time!) they got on really well and Bonnie made sure Jessie didn't get TOO lazy.

(Jessie "plays" with the frisbee")

She would walk down to the river every day with us. Often she would go for a swim. She loved going for rolls in the smelliest stuff she could find down there such as poos and dead fishes. There was even tricky bits on this walk, such as a steep hill and river crossings, but Jessie just took them in her stride. Jessie had always followed me EVERYWHERE, she was just like the Terminator - virtually nothing would stop her from following me. Although in the last 3 months she couldn't get down to the river, so we would just walk down the backyard; although sometimes she would have to be enticed by Dine kibbles! Coming back she would always skip because she knew it was dinner time!! (Just before dinner was Jessie's most active time of the day, often miracously losing 10 years of age and developing super-dog abilities).

Jess psyching herself for the return back to the house

Last year when we were coming back from our walk, the neighbours pig dogs both attacked poor Jess. It took her a while to do that walk again, but eventually she overcome her fears and learned to love the walk again.

Jess went to Sydney with me on Mother's day and had been at mum and dads for the last 3 weeks. I was due to pick up her next weekend and we were going to take her to the new house we bought. One of the reasons we bought this house was because it had no stairs for Jessie! Darrin says he's going to give her a piece of his mind when he catches up with her for not waiting around for our house! I was really looking forward to bringing Jess to our new home, and for taking her for walks up to the top paddock every day, but perhaps Jess was just tired and wanted to stay at her home where she grew up.

She had a long and happy life was very loved and that's what matters. Jess is, and always will be, sadly missed. I know she is up there with Skitty now, having lots of fun playing like a pup again.

♥♥♥

Starting to pack

2008-05-28T08:20:00.002+10:00

Thank goodness, a day off at last. Won't get another one for 7 days :(
Had a late one last night. Like to say I was out painting the town red and having fun, but I was at a BORING work meeting until 9:30 (sorry Patrick if you are reading this!). The meeting actually was really an extension of the day - a lot of effort but no results. That was my day yesterday. Everything I tried to start didn't get finished. People kept interrupting me for starters. Things didn't work. Like trying to open an article on one computer, not having the software, so installing that, then needing a different piece of software for the second article, emailing it between workstations, to find that computer didn't have the software! Or trying to organise payment through DVA and getting tossed around between departments from people that said they couldn't help me, nor could they even speak good english. Then everything kept breaking. Like the printers. The whole system crashed twice. And then the hard drive on the main server (the brain of the pharmacy) blew up. That was it for me, I ripped the hard drive out of the wall and told everyone we were closing early and going home.
Haha, Patrick out there today so his problem, not mine, for once. hehe. Sorry patrick (he has a toothache to top it all off).
My day off today - need to walk Bonnie. Poor girl has been quite neglected the last week since I have been working so hard. Her tootsy is looking better and I think she is up for a good run. Although I have been playing with her everynight - we play hide and seek through the house - she LOVES that game. She makes it more interesting for herself by stealing a pair of my undies or socks from my bedroom and trying to make me chase her to get them back. Very mature, I know.
I also need to start actually packing today. I have already started throwing out some junk. Might have a few ebay sales as well. Need to start getting things in boxes. The neighbour is dropping a shipping container out the front today and so Darrin is going to start loading it up this weekend. (Don't know how I am going to live for the next week with everything in the shipping container!).
Having said all that, I should get started. Pick Darrin up tonight. Bonnie always comes to the airport and watches the plane come in, very excited. Well, very scared to be honest, but always excited to see Darrin and does make a big spectacle of herself.
Chow for now
By the way, SANDRA is going to be starting a blog soon, so watch out for it!....

Monday finished at last!

2008-05-26T20:46:00.002+10:00

Wow. Glad THAT is finished. Monday is alway hard after having a full weekend off.
Was quite grumpy at work today. Everything getting to me. Like it being a Monday today to start with.
But other things too, like lack of communication and organisation between staff members. Really drives me crazy and makes me very frustrated and aggro. Anyway, I kept my temper under control all day, although I can't say I wasn't too friendly to the staff which I guess is just as bad as losing my cool.
Had to sort out an arrangement for a little old lady that isn't taking her tablets too reliably. Bit worried she might overdose. Had to do the same for another young chap as well.
Issued my first medical certificate today which was fun, although not too sure if I am going to be happy with every Joe Blo and their dog coming in to pay their way for a day off. Maybe I will start telling people they need to toughen up and get themselves to work just like I have to.
Bonnie's toe is looking considerably better today, although she still isn't using it too well. Poor Bonster.
Spoke to Darrin tonight. He still has a job which is good news after the argument he had with all his bosses this morning.
Spoke to Brown too. Taught him how to put adsense on his blog. He agreed to pay me 50% of all revenues he makes.
Spoke to Sandra this morning who is still sick. Poor Sandra.
Well that is enough from me. Don't forget to visit my sponsors on the right!

No doggie school this weekened

2008-05-24T08:02:00.004+10:00

I have to work all day tommorrow at Gunnedah and Bonnies tootsy is still sore :(

Day off at last!

2008-05-23T13:50:00.000+10:00

Well, I've finally got a day off.! Just worked 9 days straight. What have I done today?
Weelll...

I've continued my frenzied office clean up. Found all my gift vouches etc that I had been looking for for ages. Found my lease termination papers that I was looking for the other day. Found other useful bits of paper etc and have transferred the important data on them onto my docs in gmail so i could throw those scrappy bits out!
Feeling a bit organised!!
Even mucked around with google calender and figured out how to sync it with microsoft works calender. yay.
Also, signed up to google image finder and google reader. Which is why I am posting this - I am trying to make it alert me when there is a new addition to a feed I'm subscribed to. Can't figure it out but - well, it doesn't work anyway.

Enough of boring computer stuff.

I have also taken Bonnie to the vet today. She hurt it on Saturday night and couldn't walk on it by Sunday. Darrin took her to the vet on Monday and the vet, Peter Best, diagnosed her with a broken toenail. He bandaged it and I had to take her back on Wednesday. By Wednesday it was infected, so surgery she went. Full anaesthetic for a little toenail surgery! She spent the whole day at the scary vet clinic by herself.

She was happy to come home. But she was devestated about not being able to play ball for a while.

However, I think she secretly enjoyed all the extra attention and priviledges she scored.

(bonnie watching tv in bed)

She has got a sore foot still. When I took her back in today, the vet Liz took the bandage off and had a look - looks very sore and red, and Bonnie was really sooky about it. she was a sook about everything - from getting out of the the car, to walking into the clinic (I had to CARRY her in the end!), to growling at 2 kittens in the waiting room- right up to running away from the vet when she tried to go near her. How embaressing.

Anyway, bandage gone, still yucky looking, still sore but, more antibiotics for a while, and a bit more rest.

Took a drive to Kooty and got some petrol. Could have got it in Tamworth, but I like the drive and I'm a bit excited about driving out there for my new house! Only 10 minutes from Tamworth, and so much nicer to fill up there - mountain scenery, birds, holiday cabins etc. Move in to the new house in only 2 and a half weeks! Actually started cleaning my office today in an attempt to start packing.
Also tried to fix new printer today, with only a little bit of luck. Only wants to connect when it feels like it. Don't know why that isnt working. Maybe a router problem, restarting router made it work for a few minutes.
I am off to Tamworth now. I have to post a letter and then go into Maxwell and Pevy and terminate my lease. This is a first for me - terminating a lease to move into my own home!

well, back to it, so much to do and running out of time.

Adios for now.

New home

2008-04-30T07:39:00.001+10:00

well thiis is an exciting post about nothing

haha. just joking. that was a ploy so mum and dad didn't find out about the new purchase early (unlike OTHER "computer savvy" people that know INSTANTLY!)

Well, going to do it today

Going into solicitors and putting down the deposit for the house. $33,200. What a lot of money. About 3 years rent actually. Just for the deposit.

Anyway, I can always sell it if I get sick of it. Or rent it out, which I planned to do from the start. I figured once I get it down to a certain level, it will be a positive cash flow house and I can use it as an extra source of (taxable!) income.

And then I can put my energy and efforts into investing. And know that I didn't miss out on the freebie from the governemnt!

Probably should get that silly "must own your own house" thing out of the way. And use up the first home buyers grant. And it will be fun to have a sheep or two and a kangaroo for a little while.

Mum and dad can sleep easier knowing that I have a house and they don't have to worry anymore. They don't know about it yet. I have managed to keep it a really good secret. Well, from the family anyway. Except from Sandra, cos I needed some moral support through all this. Sandra was great moral support, she made me feel better each time I had a nervous breakdown through all this. Such as when we were agreeing on the price. And once the price was agreed and the day after was an open house with more people looking it. And then when I went into the solicitors to sign. And then after I signed and was gong to put depostit down. Lol, thanks Sandra! You can put your horses on my land any day!

Mum and Dad are planning a "suprise" visit this weekend. Haha, the suprise is on them. I'm planning to drive them past the house to see what I missed out on, and then - I'll show you through it, ("the owners will be fine!"). Then while we're in there......dunno yet, will have to think about that. Anyway, hopefully they won't say anything too shattering such as "what a dump, lucky you chose not to buy it!". Or "what a rip-off! HOW MUCH were they asking?!?"

Already been through that shattering position, after I told them (trying to keep the suprise) that I had missed out on it. They then told me something else would come up, it wasn't a bargain anyway and I would get a much better deal through auctions :( Didn't i depressed THAT night!

Anyway, on a positive note - the house is pretty cute. It's no mansion, but big enough for what we need. 3 bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom, laundry, meals area and lounge. Oh, a toilet out the back. Plus in the house too!
It has some of the little luxuries such as a dishwasher, wood stove, Air con, ceiling fans, huge bathroom, timber floors in the rooms, all freshly painted and looking nice. Heaps of storage room - all the rooms have massive built-ins. Nice big back verandah. We will need to put a verandah on the front. All on 10 usable acres. 2 stables, massive shed, heaps and heaps of flowers and bushes, little orchard, good fencing, GREAT water - can run it all day long! Not just one, but TWO, PRIVATE BORES! Needs a dam for the dogs and to go swimming, we will look into it. Otherwise maybe we will just put a pool in for the dogs! Anyway, the house is only a few kms past a small town on either side, and only a 10 minute drive from tamworth.

Funny - doesn't have a bin service. You have to take your own rubbish to the tip. Oh well, that will keep Darrin out of my hair. lol. on a dirt road, but we've been told that it is being tarred in the near future. postie only comes 3 times a week. guess thats not too bad - not hassled by the bills every day! don't know if i will get adsl there - the owners checked with telstra, who reckon there it, but i find it very unlikley since there is not even town water down there! wait and see. opposite a huge proposed subdivision of 800 acres. Plus next door to a really expensive house on 60 acres being sold for almost a million buckaroos!

anyway, must leave and get ready to go into town. have to put the deposit on this morning and exchange contracts! this is it. no turning back now.....

Ripped off

2008-04-30T07:38:00.000+10:00

The price of that stupid ebook I bought last month is now $10

Dawp

And I'm still not one cent closer to being rich from it either.

worked another sunday

2008-03-30T20:38:00.000+11:00

Well it has been a long time since I have added to this blog.
Last time I posted to it was a sunday and i worked. And today is exactly the same! sunday and i worked! Nothing really exciting happened today. Oh, this big fat lady came in and was really scary looking. I couldn't tell if she was a man or a woman. Still not sure actually, but she had a female name. She abused me for not giving her 2 packets of panamax on her script. i explained that the government only pays for 1 packet with her concession card. but she wouldn't listen to me. Told me that the other shop does it. As if. Then she came back later and abused me 5 minutes later in front of a customer saying that I had her medicare card. I had a search but couldn't find it. I hadn't moved from my spot and it wasn't there and so i told her it was definitely given back to her. She stormed out huffing and puffing saying she would look again. she didnt come back so i guess she found it.
i had a nice lady come in and bought a picture frame for her friend who was moving to rome for 3 years. i gift wrapped it for her and she was so grateful and kept saying what a beautiful job. what a nice lady.
pretty boring day besides for that. came home, had a nap, played with the dogs.
bought a ebook from the rich jerk - probably got ripped off,but it was only $20 so i thought "screw it, just do it" :) given me some ideas anyway.
anyway, maybe next time i post to this i will be a multimillionaire.
or hopefully at least made my $20 back.

Working on a Sunday

2007-10-21T13:35:00.000+10:00

Well, I had better actually do something with this blog. So here goes. I took Bonnie for a walk this morning. All was going peacefully until a big fat scary wallaby bounced out of the long grass straight towards us. I didn't know what was happening, either did Bonnie. But she chased it anyway. Lucky for her she didn't catch it.
I went to work today. Yes, on a Sunday. It was pretty quiet and noneventful. I did meet an American lady who came in and who was very interesting, telling me stories of LA and meeting all the hollywood stars such as Whoopi Goldberg and Goldie Hawn (Notice all the rich people have gold in their names?!).
Might have to visit hollywood one day. Maybe somebody there will snazzle me because of my looks and charm and i will be the next big star. Guess I might change my name to Leanne Gold. Sort of works, hey?
Not much else happening today. Going to hunt for a planter box and some seedling mix on the recommendation of my very clever sister-in-law. Planning on washing the dogs and worming them, doing my taxes, doing some professional development stuff, having a nap, and doing some housework. Gosh, I sound pretty busy. Let's see how much i actually do!

I'm here!!

2007-10-20T16:02:00.000+10:00

OK. Well here I am! Watch this space....