March

 

March....but for starters here is a photo l took this morning of my lattice screen from the February post. Still a long way to go but the Boston Ivy is slowly creeping its way out there even though the main contenders for space at the moment are the crazy Nasturtiums which l just love...........until the first big frost and then they will all be gone!

So now back to March (which seemed to be a lot less busy than February!)

We had our first frost by the looks of it........

And l took lots of photos of flowers..........Not that THAT'S unusual!

And baby chickens in hats!!

l then decided to build my SECOND more ambitious pond in what was the old netted vegie garden. l pulled out all the netting, ripped down most of the old fence and started to dig. This pond took me a while and l don't think l actually started to fill it up with water until November but this was the very beginning!

And because l am sooo proud of this area here is a sneak peak of what it looks like today...Hard to believe after less then a year isn't it? l still find it hard to believe how much it grew..

Autumn colour must have been late as the front veranda looks still pretty green here.

As opposed to today, almost exactly a year later the whole front is turning brilliant red already. 

And Georgie decided the very best thing in the whole wide world of her new life was the stable....She loved it and still does to this day. She adores coming into her yard every evening and most mornings she greets us covered in shavings.

And Barney kept on eating grass..................

Yep, March certainly was a lot quieter!

 

 

February 2017

February 2017 seemed to be quite a busy month! First and foremost on the agenda was the arrival of the rather magnificent Barney who came to stay with us for two months. He was just gorgeous and the girls absolutely adored him! However..........not enough to produce any calves 9 months and 10 days later..............but they adored him all the same and so did we.

He really was a big lovely gentle boy....

So apart from our failed attempt at calf production , we had more success with our duck pond building.........The overflow from the creek comes via this area so we let it run dry in Summer and dig it out a bit deeper each year as it silts up.

Waiting for it to fill up............

And the ducks DID well and truly appreciate it when it was full and overflowing with creek water...

Lilli suffered for her art..............and let herself be poked ,prodded and squished by two favourite little friends of ours on a visit....

As did little Insky ,when two budding young equestrians emerged in the same visit!

Although he TRIED to show his displeasure!!!! Not sure if he is crying or grinning!!!

Happy days with the arrival of a new member to the family . Little Georgie... This girl has a long sad story behind her which l will go into on another day. She probably deserves her own page all to herself sweet little thing that she is. Anyway, she arrived, and the boys loved her. Insky LOVES her and they are now an inseparable pair. Maxie 'loves' her too but in his annoying, aggressive, arrogant,irritating way..........bless him............

And my pond building began! Why I decided to start digging a great big hole in the ground in the middle of February is beyond me, but l did........

And l DO recall digging out about 900 daffodil bulbs out of this one hole!

Plastic went in........pond filled up...........

And landscaping happened. It was such fun! It was meant to be a frog pond but it was a bit too shady and it soon filled up with mosquitoes.........so l got fish and they love it......AND no mosquitoes! 

Then l stared my great divide! Aiming to create a garden room within the garden. Using the original vegie garden gate (which l filled with an old bed end to create a window ) and lattice to create a screen, l split the long area in two. I've planted Boston Ivy, Virginia Creeper, Jasmine ((((((((((Geoff doesn't know that bit yet as he hates the smell!!!!))))))) and Clematis. Maybe (hopefully) one day it will be a crazy riot of colour all times of the year with a window to peek through to the garden beyond.....

And looking back towards the house from the other side. Now with two pencil pines in place and hollyhocks galore. ONE DAY this garden will be spectacular!!

And pictures from mid Summer.............always beautiful.............. 

And always time to appreciate it................. 

Phew, February makes me exhausted just looking  at it l wonder if March was any easier?? !

January 2017

January as usual is mainly focused on the hay. Has it grown? How many bales might we get? Will it rain? When will we get it cut? And so on.................
It doesn't take much memory recall to make me remember 2016 season as it was wet all Summer and the hay crop boomed... It was a bumper crop state wide.
We had ours cut................and then it rained and rained and rained.............. I rang our hay man and asked him how much rain could cut hay cope with and he said about 10ml.....We had 17 ml overnight and it then rained all day..........l can't remember the exact amount but it was over 20ml that came down on our precious harvest.
HOWEVER..............The Rain Gods took pity on us that day and the next morning we sky rocketed  up to a dry 28 degrees , blue blue skies and a fresh gusty wind.
The hay got tetted up into rows and by a miracle it dried! Geoff and l went out constantly the next two days, kicking over wet clumps with our boots , trying to ensure that it all dried.
When Brandon  (our hay man) came back and it all went into windrows it didn't smell, it WAS a bit yellow but it baled beautifully and we were very happy and very lucky!

 Yep! He's happy!

 Always a few problems with baling!

Then in it comes..............from memory the last bale (this WAS the last bale) came in just as the rain started to fall yet again.....

Good reasons for smiles all round!

 

Rest of Dec!

Well looking at photos taken but never posted starting from the day AFTER the blog ended is a rather overwhelming experience! There are a lot! In no particular order here is a quick run through of the rest of December 2016.
The sheep were shorn by our lovely shearer Barry.

 Always humorous to watch the confused state of the girls afterwards.

We filled in the sides of the big gypsy wagon (it's STILL unfinished even now but hey, you can't hurry these things!!)

 

Finished (to a point) and painted red........Perfect place for a glass of wine!

And a visit from beautiful Bethie...

 So many places to wine and dine now! Spoilt for choice!

Christmas (judging by my photos) must have been a complete non event! l think we had drinks on Christmas Eve and did nothing on Christmas Day which l would imagine from memory would have been quite nice!!

And the epic arrival on New Years Eve of the Almighty Toze Family. En masse from Queensland and the ACT. Descended on us on the very last day of 2016 for 5 wonderful fun days.

 What a good thing we finished the Courtyard just in time!