By Judy Barnet, Ag Columnist
With CJ away in the Big Smoke and me filling in at the waste facility on the weekend I was somewhat apprehensive having to leave Dear Richie to clean the holiday cottage on both Saturday and Sunday for two lots of incoming overnighters. On the only other occasion he was asked to do this I was horrified to find out the next day that he had not taken the rubbish out, given the guests towels or put a doona cover on the bed for a sheet. I guess some of the responsibility falls on me as I should have had left him a list. I was well prepared this time though with a long list of instructions room by room! He must have done a great job as the reviews left gave us 10/10 for which I am very grateful. I was somewhat perplexed this morning though when I went to clean the cottage for the next guests to find two clean ironed pillow cases in the kitchen drawer with the tea towels.
We had a visit from some friends last night who camped down at the dam. As I walked down this morning my head was full of all the things I needed to achieve today and I wondered how on earth I would get it all done. The sky was grey after last night’s rain and everything was incredibly still and calm. Sitting down with a cup of coffee, we observed some baby Diver ducks swimming around in the shallow backwaters, a cormorant with a fish in it’s mouth, a pair of Eastern rosellas ands a pair of Yellow Head rosellas. A pair of swans floated past and bony bream were jumping out of the water everywhere. All of those uncertain thoughts vanished and peace settled on me like a warm blanket on a cold night.
With only one week to go until the start of the Rare Breeds Trust Auction (15 – 21 May) I am desperate to get the pictures and videos finished, descriptions, etc tidied up and the auction online. I have been very grateful for the last minute donations. It is going to be a great auction and I thought I would share with you the final list.
Parasitic worms again are an ongoing problem. This time it is the goats and as usual, it is no easy feat to catch them! Very sadly one of the Damaras, Badger, passed away although I am certain it was not worms. I am loath to blame snakes as they always get the bad end of the stick but he was okay one day and the next day he came up to the house, lay down like he was having a sleep and was dead a few hours later.
I had four lambs from my sale picked up this week by a transporter by the name of Steve. His stock work and transport company is called the Drovers Dog. Steve, although living in Brisbane, was a real country character with a wealth of stories to tell about the animals he had moved. Born and bred in the good New England country not too far from Armidale, Steve moved to Brisbane after he got married but missed the country so brought himself a ute and small stock trailer and went into business as a second job. Steve mentioned he had moved all sorts of animals, including an ostrich recently! He had just done a quote to pick up twelve Alpacas from the Northern Territory border. I told him if he got the job to make sure he took some time off his other job and had a bit of a holiday along the way as he had never been that far west before.
We didn’t get all the stuff out of Dick’s hut for CJ last week but Richie had a couple of days off with the wet weather and has made a fair bit of progress. CJ has been in the wars. Doing a bit of gardening she was bitten by a spider, the most likely culprit. CJ always has gloves on when I see her in the garden so it was just unfortunate. I never wear gloves and have never been bitten but I might start now I think. CJ’s finger as well as stinging like mad swelled up quickly, with a blister and a big black bit like a blood blister. By the next morning it was huge and her skin was like crackling so off to Texas Hospital went CJ. Returning mid afternoon looking a bit pale she had been sliced and diced to relief the pressure.
I have been trying to talk Richie into taking a week or so off and heading over to Tassie to see Monica, Yves and the boys. Richie doesn’t like change or holidays much and keeps saying we have too much to do but, well, that is always going to be the case! On a farm there are never any less jobs, only more things wearing out, including Richie and me. I would have liked to go when the weather is warmer but Spring is lambing time and, before you know it, Christmas has arrived!
I am actually looking forward to the shorter days of winter, cooking on the slow combustion stove and evenings in the lounge in front of the open fire with a hot chocolate. I am hoping to finish the felting project I started a few years ago this winter. It hasn’t been cold at all yet but I guess that is about to change very soon. It really has been just a lovely autumn.
• Family Pass Collingwood Childrens Farm V
• Miniature Timber Handmade Cattle Yards
• Bohemiam Crystal Set
• Weekend for 4 @ Glenlyon Dam Holiday Cottage
• Set of 4 Livestock Prints
• Cap – Tasmanian Rare Breeds Poultry Club
• 1 years Membership to the Rare Breeds Trust
• Taronga Zoo Pass Valued
• Highfields Pioneer Village Family Pass
• 8 x 20kg Bags Riverina Stockfeed
• Australia Zoo Adopt a Pet Voucher
• Meerkat Encounter @ Darling Downs Zoo
• Cheviot’s on Canvas
• Kent Saddlery Tote Bag
• GreenHip Workwear $100 Voucher
• Woods Stockfeeds 25 x 20kg Stocknuts
• Australasian Poultry Magazine Subscription
• Wacom Bamboo Folio Small (Value $226)
• Heritage Breed Cards – Canadian Breeds
• Meerkat Encounter @ Darling Downs Zoo
• International Membership to Heritage Livestock Canada
• Book – A Feathered River across the sky – Joel Greenberg
• Book – A Message from Martha – Mark Avery
• Book – The Passenger Pigeon – Errol Fuller
• Book – The Book of Eggs – Mark E Hauber
• 1kg Plain Pecans plus 2 x 120g of Flavoured Pecans
• Artists Case and Sloth Stationary Set plus other Sloth Brand Items
