Now and Then!

Farmer Phil and I - April 2009 at Rach & Jess' wedding.


Farmer Phil and I - 21 years ago today!! Happy Anniversary!

New Job for Daniel

Daniel is starting a new job tomorrow. Farmer Phil and I helped him move his furniture and gear to his new house yesterday. He is now jackarooing on "Avenel" which is 40km north of Deniliquin at Wanganella. "Avenel" is a merino sheep stud and kelpie dog stud, so he'll get a fair bit of variation in his work there.


His new quarters are very neat and modern compared to where he lived before. He can even have a fruit salad every day if he wants with an orange tree, a lemon tree and a mandarin tree just off his verandah.

Father and son!

Daniel's two "knucklehead" dogs, Rex and Wally will hopefully learn to become useful sheep dogs whilst at "Avenel". Here are their new "digs".

Winter Dip in the Pool

Here is our first winter swimmer in the pool. He wasn't invited, but ended up having a lovely dip!

P!NK

I took Emma to see Pink's "Funhouse" Concert held in Canberra on Monday night. Well, Pink is absolutely UNBELIEVABLE!!! It wasn't just a concert, but more an extravagant production. Emma hadn't been to anything like it before and she was just buzzing with excitement before and after.

The tickets we had were for standing only, so I didn't really know how much we'd see. We positioned ourselves at the top of the runway stage and we had a fantastic view because Pink performed many of her songs at the end of the runway.

The stage setting was fantastic with so much colour and action. Pink's costumes were amazing and she has the best looking, fittest body of any woman I know! These are just a few of the photo's I took. Click on any of them and they'll open to a larger format to see them better.

If you ever get a chance to see Pink in concert I can guarantee you'll have a wonderful time.

Crop Update

The canola is flowering it's heart out at present, so we need some decent Spring rain to make it fill to it's full potential. We had about 4mm of rain today, which is nowhere near enough. This area should have received 360mm of rain to date for the year - we've just made it to 206mm! Barely more than half the average rainfall! The crops are in not bad shape considering this.

The wheat is a nice, lush dark green. The seed head is about 1/3 the way up the stem, so the head should poke out in another few weeks. Same story for the wheat as the canola needing decent Spring rain to live up to it's potential.

Our Zoo

Farmer Phil quite often refers to our house as "The Zoo" because the cats have a free run of the place. As you can see from the photo of Daisy on my dressing table, she's happy to curl up for a sleep wherever she likes!

Squirt is a fully grown cat now, but his broken leg still gives him trouble. This is how he sits on the arm of the lounge with his bung leg hanging down. He can't seem to tuck it up comfortably. We always laugh at him when he sits like this and he gets very indignant with us!

Rachael Treasure

I've loved Rachael Treasure's books ever since her first novel "Jillaroo" was released back in 2002. She's a great storyteller and I can picture everything that she writes so clearly in my head. Her new novel "The Cattleman's Daughter" is due for release in October and I can't wait to get my hands on it - I bet I read it in one sitting and then read it again more slowly. I've just finished re-reading "Jillaroo", "The Stockmen" and "The Rouseabout" for about the sixth time each in readiness for the new novel. Rachael has personally signed all my books and I especially like the message in this one. So get along to your nearest bookstore and buy a copy of her books - I guarantee you'll love them!

Young Farmer

Ryan is a young farmer in the making. He will be 15 next month and loves to help with the farm work. The outer yard is getting overgrown with weeds, so Ryan is slashing it with the mower. We've got a heap of trees to plant out there before Winter is over and Farmer Phil is going to rip the ground today so we can get them all planted.