Just a Peak into my Life!

Hi everyone! I have been absent for a long time now and so much as happened and continues to happen, but today I have uploaded a few photos and hopefully it will get me back into blogging and show you what exciting things have been happening here in our little back yard. I would also like to send a big hello to my uncle Roy who has recently been in hospital.

Last year we finally got started on our house, for those who are new to my blog our house burnt down due to a chimney fire on may 2011. It was a traumatic time for our family but we are slowly getting back to life. 

 My son came up with his boss and stayed a few days and brought his truck and dog with machinery, so it was time to start excavating and get this house started.

 Bentley, Rex and I just couldn't help but play in the dirt, we were just so excited to finally see progress happening. We have been comfortable living in our cottage which we built with some of the material that wasn't destroyed in the fire.

 My son worked late in the night and moved so much dirt and rocks, he definitely worked for his supper those few days

We had this emu move in on his own accord, he lived up the road but was known to get out and roam the streets. When he came to our end of the street his eye and feet were bleeding so we  tried to coax him into our paddock but he just took off. A few weeks later he found his way in our property and stay for quiet a long time untill we had heavy rain and one of the fences fell down and he got out.

 The neighbors would drive past slowly as our house site was starting to look like some serious  major work going on. The trenches and footings have now been dug and ready for the concrete, which came 100kms away. We needed eight trucks of concrete and thankfully we had help to spread and finish it off.

 It was great to finally have the first row of bricks layed, the house was starting to grow!

In between all of this we still had the farm to look after and the sheep needed shearing and fences needed fixing. Our long time friend who suffers from Huntington's disease has been a constant help and support for us and in return this healthy country life and work has help him dramatically with his illness.

 You know when we put our house plans into council we put on there the accommodation we are currently living in as guest accommodation which will be fantastic in the future because we can start up a Bed & Breakfast plus have room for friends or relatives who want to get away for a holiday.

 I had this sunflower grow outside my bedroom window and as it grew I was amazed because all these buds were growing off this one stem, it was like a sunflower mobile, amazing.

 This fellow was hanging around our front gate for a while, just sunning on the gate post.

 Back to the house, we decided to make our bearers from steel, which is white ant proof, fire proof and stronger.We will be having verandahs right around the house, which I just love.

 This is the front of the house, the length is 50 metres   and it will have five bedrooms.

 This is our cottage we are living in right now, Dave has made it look like an old American barn, cladded in old iron. We used most of the material from our old house, the windows, timbers, steel, roofing iron etc. It has been great to save money plus being able to recycle and reuse.

 This is my gorgeous grand daughter Sophie, it was Sophie's birthday not long ago. Sophie' is like her mum and has the most beautiful curly red hair and fair skin.

My little grandson Bentley was there as well to celebrate Sophie's birthday, don't you just want to hug and kiss him :)

We had a great Easter weekend with my daughter and granddaughter coming up and staying a few days, there was so much to do. We have had so much rain and this turtle was living in one of the trenches but it was time to find a new home so Dave caught him and we were going to put him in one of our dams. 

 Sophie needed a cup of tea to get the day stayed, isn't she gorgeous.

 We set out to the dam to give this turtle a new home in the dam.

 One last farewell and poppy put him on the dam bank and he just took off into the water. Sophie just loved it.

 Sophie and Bentley playing with a bubble machine.

 We have a new dog, Rosie was my son's and his backyard was a bit to small for her, Rosie is a Great Dane x bull mastif. Rosie has settled in quiet well and love to run around her three acre back yard.

This weekend we finally got some of the frames up, now I'm starting to get really excited. Dave is hoping to have the roof on by the end of May.

This is a sunset from our property but not a current one but it is still beautiful and it brings promise of  sunny days ahead. I hope this post has given you a peak into my life and a start of more post to come.

Santa the Great Imposter

"Santa the Great Imposterhttp://www.av1611.org/othpubls/santa.html"
Santa Claus or is it really satan's claws, have a read of this article, it is fairly long and it is backed up with scripture. I was shocked as I read how we are letting and encouraging our precious children to follow this pagan tradition which satan is behind. If you are not a Christian or think of yourself as the religious type I would still recommend you read this and maybe your eyes might be opened to the deceptions of this world.

On a happier note, I should be back to post fairly soon, my life was hectic last year so I plan on a much slower and more enjoyable one this year. Smelling the roses and enjoying my grandchildren and family are definitely on the list.
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What is your weekly menu like?

I wasn't going to rave on how busy my life is but I just can't help it!
Just how much can you fit into one day?
If we didn't need sleep the days would roll over each other.
My daughter, partner and grandson will be moving back home with us at the end of October as the granny flat they have been living in since our house burnt down is needed for our friends daughter. So we ( my hubby, and good friends) have been frantically adding two bedrooms, a bathroom, hall and verandah to our little demountable we have been living in since May.

Hubby has also been doing the last few things, such as tiling bathrooms, decking, bathroom fit-out, plumbing etc on the Church which is getting close to completion. As well as making furniture for our customers and finishing off one of our neighbour's extension, he is in need of a holiday. As a requirement for lodgement of our plans to council I as an owner builder have to complete an Owner Builders Course online, so much fun, I have about 60 hours of reading :)

I had a great long weekend, one day it rained but the other two I managed to pant strawberries in hanging baskets on our deck, prepare seven beds for vegetables, plant celery, beetroot, spinach, Chinese vegs, tomatoes, capsicum and carrots. My seedling in my plastic glass house are coming along nicely, I think I have done well considering my veggie patch is surround by a construction site with mounds of dirt and old water tanks. Ok that's enough whinging for today :)

What I wanted to mention today was what I heard on the radio the other day, a lot of people these day only have 3-5 recipes or meals they used in their weekly menu. Imagine eating the same few  things every few days. I suppose there is a number of reasons why people do this,  lack of cooking abilities, maybe they werh never taught how to cook or learnt a variety of recipes, lack of imagination, laziness or maybe with the vast options of take away meals these days people prefer the quick and easy option. I thought about my meal options and I was pretty impressed with myself, I think I could go for months with not cooking the same thing twice. How about you? Do you cook a variety of meals or do you rotate the same meals every week? Do you teach your children how to cook? Have you passed recipes down to your children? Do you have recipes that have been in your family a long time? I would love to hear your point of view :)

Take Care

Goodbye Scooby!

Very early Thursday morning we were awoken by a cry outside our window, which at present is near the sheep yards and at first we thought one of the cats had caught a rabbit but after a while I went outside with the torch to investigate. I saw our precious scooby dragging himself on the ground crying in pain, my heart just sanked, I knew he was in bad trouble and I couldn't do anything for him. He had either been bitten by a snake (this was about 3.30am so not sure if snake would be out) or he had eaten fox bait so I knew he was in trouble. I picked him up in a blanket and carried him to one of our sheds out of the cold and patted him for awhile then I left him. In the morning I knew he would be gone. We have been excavating the site for our house and we had to move a camellia tree that was near the old front verandah and we thought we would transplant it and bury scooby underneath it. I posted about Scooby a few years ago when he wandered off the street into my shop as a kitten in town, he was such a beautiful big cat.
FAREWELL SCOOBY :(

It is ready to start

The house has now been demolished and what building material that could be saved will be used in other building projects on the farm such as accommodation for my milking goats and storage sheds as well as an extension on our demountable. We will be making the demountable into guest/tourist accommodation later when the house is finished. My son is coming up in a few days bringing two excavating machines as well as his boss to excavate part of the house site. This house is going to be a lot bigger than the old one and we will be having verandahs right around the house, which I can't wait to sit out on a warm summers night or in the sun on a cold morning.

We have a new dog to our herd, my son unfortunately does not have a large enough back yard for this girl so she is staying with us a for a while. I will have to show you a photo of her, she is as dalmation cross and she is very large. I have to keep the little dogs a way from her, being a pup she is too boisterous when she plays.

We have been busy doing fences, looking after lambs, making furniture for our shop, looking after children and gran children, and getting ready to start to build this house, I will show photos of its stages of build later. I'm also hoping to get my veggie patch booming this year as I am wanting to have enough to feed ourselves as well as our kids and grand kids, the price of food these days especially meat is crazy. I'm waiting for my one of my neighbours to finish shearing his sheep to come and shear mine and pick up a couple of older lambs to kill for our freezer. I know some of you might not like the sound of that but when you can produce and look after your own sheep with care and know that they are not full of chemicals and you can appreciate the quality and taste you know you and your family are getting the best.

They Have Arrived !!!!!

I had a great day milking goats and sheep on Saturday as you can see below all the girls were lined up ready to go. I was eager for as much information as I could as I knew I didn't have long till my goats had kidded and I would be up to the arm pits with goats milk.

The Girls all lined up for milking

Well as you can see from the picture below I am now in panic motion as one of my goats kidded on Monday and I think the other one is not too far away. I stayed home on Monday as we had quiet a few farming jobs to get done namely fencing and bringing the sheep in the house paddock as they had started lambing and to my excitement my first kid was born.

Baby born 1/8/11

He didn't take long to jump to his feet and mum was up eating and drinking straight away.

Up on its feet

After all the excitement of the day the reality hit when I started thinking I only have a week or so before I will start my morning ritual of milking the goats then storing the milk in my single fridge and start making cheese. I have written a list and am now running around buying the necessary equipment needed for my adventure as well as a second hand fridge. I will keep you posted as I stop to take a breath.



My Dairy Goats & Making Cheese

These are my very own dairy goats and they are both in kid. I bought them about four weeks ago and tomorrow I am going to a goat dairy farm to milk goats and make cheese, I am so excited I feel like a little kid myself. I have been wanting to get dairy goats for a long time now but because they have been  too hard to find or have been too expensive I felt it wasn't the right time but one day Dave found these pair advertised not far from us and so cheap I felt that's it, I'm getting them. They are friendly and have been in kid and milked before so I'm hoping all will go well. I went to our local Field Day a couple of weeks ago and met this lady who has a dairy farm and makes cheese so I booked myself into her course and I just can't wait. I think I have about another 4-6 weeks before the goats kid and I can start milking so I'm trying to learn as much as possible to look after them, the kids as well as milk them and make cheeses. If you have any advice or links I would love to hear from you. I will be taking pictures and telling you how the day went.