How good were the bad old days?

Things were good in the bad old days, those days when I had heaps of water in my dam compared to now. When I set out the 4 back paddocks I made it so all the fences led down into the dam which meant the sheep could have direct access. To do that each fence finished at the high water mark which is “A”. Then I made some temporary fencing going into the water which stopped the sheep wandering from one paddock into another.

When the water level dropped about two years ago I removed the temporary fencing and replaced it with steel pickets and barbed wire down to the then bad water level at “B”. My theory was and still is if the water rises then the fencing goes down into the water and creates a barrier to stop the sheep moving from paddock to paddock, but if the water level drops below the fencing then conditions are bad and the sheep need to wander around to find some feed.

Now that it has not rained much at all for 18 months and the water level dropped again, I added one more section earlier this year a “C”. When I did this I hammered in the steel picket at the water’s edge.

What was once bad at point “B” seems like the good old days. What was once very bad at point “C” is starting to look good. Today I am at point “D”. I just thought of something funny, A = acceptable, B = bad, C = crap and D = dreadful. The next step? E = empty. 

Catch Up

Lazy me too busy planning the trip to Japan and neglecting everything else. Here’s the cat in his late evening favourite sleeping spot. When I go to bed he usually gets down on the seat I sit on when in front of the computer and sleeps on it. Then early morning he comes and annoys me for awhile then sleeps next to me. This is his winter routine when it is too cold to be outside.

My one and only orange. The citrus trees are struggling to stay alive during this drought. I pick off any flower buds or just starting to form fruit sothat the trees which are still small don’t waste energy trying to produce fruit. This one orange got through and I am letting it develop. My first every citrus success.

Here’s my little house as seen from the big vegie patch down in the back paddock. Not so scenic from this angle but the view up there is pretty good.

This is the lamb thaqt was born on my 50th birthday so she is two years old now. SHe does not shed her wool much at all though they are supposed to shed better after their first lamb which she hasn’t had yet. Surprisingly sheep do look like their parents, you usually notice the resemblance to their mother who they hang around for some time. This one does look like her mum and also her younger brother who is still a bit of a mummies boy.

 

Garden Bed

What a lazy blogger I have become! Only one thing can distract me enough to neglect this blog and that is travel. Lots and lots of trip planning for when me and my younger sister head off to Japan in November.

Anyway, here’s a boring photo of  the vegie garden I built up close to the house years ago. Years before the house was built actually and when I was still living in the shed. The big vegie garden I have ranted about often is way down in the back paddock. This garden area is along way from being finished but finally getting this last section in the front of the photo completed is an important step. Even if I do nothing else this section needed to be completed.

The whole area has been grown over with weeds and grass for a  few years, neglected while I battle with oh so many other projects. But now for the first time in 8 years I feel like almost everything is under control and I can finish things off properly or start smaller fun projects I had in the back of my mind for years. This section is sort of built into the slope to create small garden beds and to tidy up the edge and look nice. There are two level areas one you can see here and one more just out of the photo to the right (it sits lower down the slope).

You may be able to pick out a raised garden bed at the back and to the right, there’s a pile of timber in front of it to be used for more beds. Raised garden beds will make life easier when I am older and feebler.

Dead Sheep

Yesterday I got two more sheep, so now I have 6 ewes, the ram and four wethers. This morning when I looked down into the back paddock I saw what I thought was one of the new sheep laying all alone and dead. When I went down for a look (dreading having to dig a hole to bury it) I took my camera with me. About 20 metres away I saw its head move but only when I got closer did I realise it was not dead but tangled up in a roll of old fencing wire. You can see a few poo pellets to the left so it was not stuck like this for too long. It stayed quite still as I carefully untangled the poor bugger, then ran off to get back with the flock. It ended up being one of the young wethers who is strong and robust and able to endure this ordeal without any after affects.

Cactus

This little cactus is no wider than a five cent coin and I had to get the camera in close using macro to take the photo. I bought it about 6 months ago and a bit surprised it is going so well.

Cat help himself

Do all cats have to get into, onto or under anything new? Mine does. I opened this drawer when he was on my desk and of course he had to get into it. I might empty one and pad it with something soft and see if I can get him to lay in it and keep me company at the desk. Would make typing easier then when he is on my lap.

Little Big Pumpkin

This is my not so big giant pumpkin. I planted several giant pumpkin seeds but as with everything else during this past drought ravaged summer, little came of it. This pumpkin is a bit bigger than a good size watermelon though if all went to plan it should have been 10 times bigger at least. They are supposed to be sweet but whether or not I can comsume it remains to be seen. If not, the sheep will get it.

Update: I fed the pumpkin to the sheep in July.

Comfortable distance

My cat decided to sit against the house on a drizzly day, he like to be outside sitting around or sleeping somewhere. The parrot is actually about five metres behind him and quite safe. THere are just too many birds here for him to bother that much.

Capsicums

Time to give up on the vegie patch and let the sheep in to eat every they can including the grass and weeds. After a cool spring and a dry hot summer and a very poor harvest, I am surprised at how well the capsicum have done. Only trouble is I had to pick them while mostly still green as they won’t ripen before the cool weather comes. This was the first time I’ve managed to grow good capsicums ( I thought I had a capsicum jinx) so it would have been great if they could have fully ripened.

Free Ride

Sometimes my cat gets up on my shoulders for whatever reason and I carry him around hither and dither. He always looks around as if it’s all new and exciting. He weighs about 6kg so he is a noticeable load. Note the claws and the grip. Usually he gets off onto the top of a fence post and sits there.