Mud and cows

We have had quite a few cold, windy and wet days up here at the property. It's our first indication of where the track in needs to be improved to enable year round access regardless of weather. There are a few places at the beginning of the track that are black soil which is becoming quite soft. Also one other area just before an area already repaired that could do with some gravel also. The rest of the track isn't too bad other than coming in our gate. The previous owner said it was very slippery in the wet, he wasn't exaggerating!

We are now leaving the cars outside the gates, and quad biking it in and out of the property, while we wait for things to dry out a little. We are hoping to be able to get a machine in on the weekend to install a cattle grid here and have gravel either side to fix this area. If it's too wet, we will need to wait another week, and hope for no more rain between now and then. 

The cattle are now out with full access to the property, Max and Diesel went down to the small paddock and chased a few of the girls, who ran through the fence to the small paddock, which meant 10 out on the property, and 6 remaining in the smaller paddock, so we let the remaining 6 out to join them, they are now all exploring the property and finding their way around. 

These two girls were coming up to say hello, and then Max and Diesel happened...they chased them....which is a pity, so I will try again tomorrow, this time the dogs will be tied up.

There has been some very chilly nights, in the caravan it's been pretty cold through the night. I bought a hot water bottle and tried it out last night, it works brilliantly, so I will be using it again tonight. Off to cook dinner now, and after work out some more plans to put in place for around the farm.

Our first cattle adventures have begun

We have been up at the property for the last few days, and we have purchased ourselves some cattle. 16 Heifers, 10 of which are brahman cross, and 6 are charbray cross. These girls are about 6 months old, and we will keep them for about 12 months, and we will keep any really nice ones for breeding. We had to first get in a ramp, we had the yard panels which came with the property, but needed the ramp. We went out for lunch to some new friends who manufacture cattle yards, crushes, ramps, trailers etc, who were introduced to us by our very good friends who already own property near ours and we have purchased a ramp from him and put in an order for a crush for ear tagging and injections etc down the track. Here is the sparkly new ramp ready for action

First girl coming off the truck

 And the rest of the girls coming off the truck.

We are keeping the girls in these smaller yards for a few days while they quieten down a little and get used to us and we will start to sweeten them up to us with some molasses treats as well, and then we will move them in to the smaller paddock for a couple of weeks to further their interaction with us and with our yummy molasses to hopefully make them happy to come in to the yards when we need them to.They can then go out to the rest of the property to graze as they wish. They all seem happy enough in here for now, and are very slowly getting used to us.

Damian and Michael have now finished their work in WA, and Damian has started a new job in Bundaberg today which is only a 40 minute drive from the farm, so he is going to stay at the property during the week, and will come home on the weekends or I will go up to the property on alternate weekends and school holidays, which will work out great while we are building the shed and we are also looking at building a small cabin to live in while we build the main house, and the cabin will later be used as extra bedrooms and car accomodation, allowing us to build a slightly smaller main house as we will have extra bedrooms etc in the cabin, rather than building a larger house with the extra bedrooms for when the older kids come to stay or we have guests. So, it's been a busy couple of weeks back and forth to the property organising things and slashing the farm and mowing the orchard etc. We absolutely love the town though, it's so relaxed and the people are lovely, so we can see ourselves fitting in nicely once we get up there full time.

Just sharing a wonderful video..

This video is currently getting heaps of views on youtube, and it's no wonder, if it doesn't make you smile, then nothing will.

It's a man from the US - Isaac's proposal to his girlfriend Amy...he went to so much effort....lucky this wasn't around when Damian popped the question or else he would have had some work to do!

Isaac's live lip dub proposal

My hidden pen and notepad holder for the kitchen.

Before we renovated, we had a large colonial looking drawer unit that the phone sat in, and it had a drawer underneath it for pens etc. It was very purpose built, and I didn't want something that large for beside the phone, but we still need somewhere to put the pens and paper for when we need to write down a number or a message. I found this old timber crate at the op shop last week, it was pretty ugly, and only $3.

I wanted to make something to do the job, but decorative as well.  So, this is what I came up with.

It hides the pens and notepad at the back, but looks pretty at the front.

    I'm very happy with it.

What possesses them?

No...it's ok...I don't need a heel in my gumboots, or toes....

Cattle dogs under 2....gotta love em...only 6 months to go until Diesel and Reg turn 2, that seems to be the magic number with cattle dogs to grow up and stop chewing, and digging, and making a mess...these boots have been sitting outside the back door for a couple of months, why last night was the night to chew them I have no idea...grrrr....

Late night cleaning....and territorial guinea fowl.

Up late tonight after watching the state of origin on tv. Suddenly had the urge to do some cleaning...so when I have the urge, it is best not to fight it, as the desire to mop my floors does not come too often. So out came the steam cleaner, and the floors are now all lovely and clean. While I had the steam cleaner out I steam cleaned the rugs and mats, and the main bathroom shower and the toilet, oven, sink and stove. Tomorrow I am off to pick up some floral supplies for the business, and then down the Gold Coast to look at some seat covers for the car, and then off to Ikea...yay...I love going to Ikea, I have only ever been twice, and the last time I was in a rush, as I needed some vases for a wedding,  so didn't really get time to look around. Toni is going to pick Kasey up from school for me, so I have plenty of time to look around, and have lunch there.
I also moved the remaining 3 new chooks over to the smaller pen, as the guinea fowl are being really territorial in the big chook pen, and really giving them a hard time, and it has not improved at all in the couple of weeks the chooks have been here. So I am not sure at this stage whether I will move all the chooks to a new pen and keep the guinea fowl where they are or whether I will divide up the big chook pen and try and integrate any new ones that way....I have been doing some research and apparently it is quite normal for the guinea fowl to be very territorial, and it can take 6 weeks or so for them to accept anything new in to their territory, I suppose that is why they are so good at keeping snakes at bay, as they don't accept them in to their territory and attack them or drive them away. They were so bad that I had to start putting food and water in the top nesting area for the new chooks as they would not let them come down to eat or drink. So, they will have a chance to have a reprieve for a few days, and as Michael is home for a week tomorrow night, I might see if he can help me divide up the big pen...baha....wishful thinking there I think....anyway, better go to bed or I'm not going to feel like getting out of bed to go anywhere tomorrow  :)

Pretty French inspired craft

Went to a workshop yesterday with Mum. Mum wanted to do a cushion and another lampshade in keeping with the Whimsical workshop we did last year. I was going to do my dress form, but after decoupaging it in vintage sewing paper, I liked it very simple, which will allow me to change the displays on the dress form to suit my mood at the time. So, after much deliberating at the last minute on what I would make, I decided on a hat box. I am still going to paint the base white and use a computerised cutter to put some french sayings on the box, which will finish it off nicely.

While I was waiting for the paint to dry on the lid, I cut out a heart shape from some thin fabric I had in my toolbox, and stuffed it with wadding, and then embellished the heart in some stretchy rose trim I had, along with some pearl accents in the centre

I also made up a large corsage of velvet roses and lovely trims, which I will use in various displays, for the moment I will temporarily attach it to the dress form on her hips

I also changed my toolbox embellishments slightly, I incorporated more greens in to the design, and thinned some areas down, I am happier with it, but now need to touch up a couple of painted areas, which I will hopefully do tomorrow, I will then upload the updated photos. So the display of the items I finished yesterday ties together one corner of the bedroom nicely. I still want to add in some rustic features just so it is not quite so feminine, and more in keeping with the overall style I am wanting to finish off the decorating with.

We had a lovely, relaxing fun day of crafting...looking forward to doing it again some time soon.