Friday, November 15, 2013

The big fat man in the red suit is done and dusted..... :(

Kasey was talking to me on our way up the track yesterday afternoon about Santa. She was saying that the kids at school all say that Santa isn't real...she has been bringing it up for a couple of years now...so I fessed up......sigh....
Not a little girl anymore...
Makes Christmas a LOT easier though...
She was totally fine as she was pretty sure anyway...
I have told her that she has to be the keeper of the magic for younger ones though and not to go and do what the other kids at school do to ruin it for everyone else....she agrees that it should be magical for littler kids so I think she will do the right thing. I try and always make a big deal about decorating for Christmas to bring the spirit alive, so it's not so much focused on Santa...it worked for Toni, she is as nuts as I am about decorating for Christmas, she wanted to put her tree up a week ago!! Kasey and I were talking about how Santa is for little children to bring the magic in to Christmas, but as we get older, it's more of a focus on family and friends and spending time with loved ones and enjoying each others company with good food and good times..at least we think it is...

Monday, November 4, 2013

Some property exploring

Things are still very, very dry up our way. We did manage to receive 16mm of rain last week, which gave things a drink and settled the dust for a couple of days, but we really do need a good solid drenching, like so many others.  We headed up in to the back 25 acres of property on the weekend as we would like to open that area up to the cattle, as it is where Brushy Creek runs and we also have a seasonal creek up there. The seasonal creek is completely dry, but Brushy Creek has a few waterholes in it as it winds its way along the property. Not a large amount of water at this stage, but definitely some back there. Before we can let them in to that back 25 acres though, we need to do some fencing repairs as the creek washed away some of the fencing in the floods. So we need to get stuck in to that as the cattle are going to start losing condition walking to the dam each day at the front of the property for water. Damian took the bobcat up to clear a track along the fence line and clear some of the lantana up there, so we can repair it, and we would also like to keep the boundaries with a clear fire break all the way around. It is very, very pretty up there, and this is the first time I have even seen that part of the property.

These are the dry creek beds. Very pretty. We also discovered a lot of blue metal and crushed rock up here, so we might end up with our own little quarry here that we can use for the track in.
Over the last few weeks I have picked up a couple of the last items that I needed to finish off the kitchen here in the cabin. I picked up a rangehood from the flea markets in brand new condition for $30, it was white though, but I bought some silver appliance paint and resprayed it in a stainless steel finish to match the other appliances. It came up really well
I also managed to pick up a stainless steel dishwasher for $100 on the local garage sale site on facebook. Damian installed it for me yesterday.
Our house in Brisbane is now finally on the market, so we are hoping that we can get some action there soon. We'll just have to wait and see how the market is. Our new business here in town is going well, we are creating quite a bit of attention and new customers, enough to keep our heads above water for now. Hopefully it continues along that way. I am working down in the office Mon to Fri most weeks at the moment, so that is keeping me out of mischief. I do start the Michelle Bridges 12 week Body transformation challenge next Monday, as I really need to build up my core strength as my lower back is really sore from the compressed discs in my lower spine. So I have been busy doing the pre season tasks, and I have to do the fitness test over the next few days. Damian said he will do the fitness with me, so we'll see how we go. Hopefully in 12 weeks time I will feel fitter than I do at the minute.