Minute to Win It and Colombo's Got Talent???

At night if the kids aren't too tired after 4 tough water ski training sets each day, we usually have some entertainment for them (there's no TV allowed!). We always have the annual Colombo's Got Talent and then this year we also had some Minute To Win It type games. In past years we've had a trivia night and a ping pong tournament.

Kirsty, I don't hink praying is going to help you with the Oreo!

Our two youngest skiers Callan and Kyle mastering the jigsaw puzzle.

Super coach Josh trying his hand with the ping pong balls.

Emma trying her hardest to get a ball in each cup.

Brodie and Jenna concentrating on their cup stacking technique.

This years winners of Colombo's Got Talent - "The Sparkles" (aka Sierra, Hannah, Tahner, Jaycee and Leah) who performed a wonderful Taylor Swift number.

Emma singing Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" - great look with the trackie pants and uggies!

Emma lost points because her back up dancers weren't quite up to scratch - sorry girls!!
Jenna, Tanika, Riley and Jayme trying their hardest.

It's really great to see the kids come out of their shells and move away from their comfort zones to have some fun!

Second Silo

Last week the builders finished our second 300T silo. Great job!! And the new "silo paddock" has been levelled to resemble a billiard table! That's Farmer Phil and Farmer Andrew having an inspection before the builders completed the cone!

Ski School

Every year in the first week of October school holidays Ryan and Emma have a water ski training camp at Colombo Creek. Here are the future superstars of Australian and international water skiing!!

Here are our amazing coaches - Chelsea ("no wimps allowed" super coach), Cathryn (Australian Water Ski Team member), Jacinta (World Champion Silver Medallist in Women's Jump!!) and Josh (everyone's favourite "Joshie"!). I must apologise to the girls because they all apparently put on weight after eating the great food we cooked for them over the two week camp!

Ryan doing his thing in slalom.

Emma showing her slalom style.

Guess What.........??

WE HAVE STEPS!!!! Yeah!!! Just a bit of cleaning up and push the mossy rocks back into place and we're in business!

We also have battens fixed down ready for the merbau decking boards to go on top!

And, the retaining wall around the pool filtration system is almost done! Just need to knock the boxing and formwork off and then the timber box creation can be fixed into place!

We can almost see the finished products - just a few more days work for the builders and they're done!

Another Silo + Earthworks

We have decided to build another 300T silo which will be located right next to the other one built earlier in the year. The builders were here on Friday setting up the crane needed to lift the silo as it is being built.

We also had the local earthmoving contractors in to laser level the small paddock the silos are in. It will eventually have just a 1% fall across the whole paddock which will make it much easier for semi-trailers to tip their loads of grain into the silos.

The machines were quite mesmerising to watch in action! The levellers hold almost 50T of soil when full so you can imagine the horsepower needed to pull the beasts!

Birthday Cake and Field Day Loot

Farmer Phil and Ryan arrived home last night at 7.30pm both complaining of sore feet, legs and backs after a very long day at the Henty Machinery Field Days.

Ryan is now able to eat solid food after his surgery 3 1/2 weeks ago so it was steaks on the BBQ with salad and roast potatoes for his birthday tea. Then we had a chocolate sheet cake from The Pioneer Woman's cook book - yummo!

I took these photos this morning of the mess left after Farmer Phil inspected every purchase made yesterday. There are cordless drills, an impact wrench, rain gauge, motorbike work stand, HID lights for the tractor, drill bit sets, miscellaneous tools and another 3 hats and 4 stubby holders for our already overflowing hat and stubby holder cupboards!!

Ag n Chat Overnight Trip to Cowra/Canowindra/Manildra

Last week 10 Ag n Chat ladies embarked on our annual overnight trip - this time visiting Cowra, Canowindra and Manildra. First stop was a quick morning tea/catch up at Young before heading to the Cowra Information Centre for a presentation there about the World War II Cowra Breakout.


The Cowra Japanese Gardens were next on the agenda and what a beautiful day to visit there!

On to Canowindra and the Age of Fishes Museum to learn about the districts important fossil history.

Our overnight accommodation was at the very comfortable Old Vic Inn at Canowindra.

We were joined by 5 local ladies from the NSW Women In Agriculture group for a very yummy dinner.

Super cosy lounge room to have a great old chin wag!

Next morning was a very informative and mind-blowing tour of the Manildra Flour Mill. Wow, whoever designed that factory was very ingenious!

Last "agriculture" stop was the MSM Milling canola crushing and packing plant.

We then all wanted to go back through Canowindra and sample some of their gorgeous boutique clothing (Saffi) and homewares (Bendy Street Emporium) shops and art gallery (River Bank Gallery).

Phew!! We fitted in a lot in our 2 days away - thanks Wendy for organising!!

Henty Machinery Field Days and a Birthday

Farmer Phil and Ryan have gone for a day out at the Henty Machinery Field Days today. It's Ryan's 17th birthday today so Farmer Phil has been instructed to purchase a present for him while at the field days - a motorbike workstand and some tools! Daniel is coming over from Denilqiuin and they'll all meet up together for the day.

I decided to stay home and get some jobs done as next week we are all away at the water ski training camp we attend every year. I need to cook some biscuits and slice and maybe get some housework done which has sadly gone by the wayside this past month!

Another Deck Update

Our builders Graham and Kade concreted the deck area on Monday (steps at the front path will be done later so no photos to show there). Hopefully in a few weeks the merbau boards will be fixed on top and it will all look fantastic!


They also concreted around the pool filtration setup which will have a retaining wall and a large steel-frame box cladded in decking boards surrounding it with opening doors for access. It'll look much nicer than it has the past 2 1/2 years!

Deck Update Etc

I was away for 2 days with our annual ag n chat overnight trip and I came home to this - yeah!!

The builder will be back on Monday to pour the slab for the deck and make me some stairs at last!!