Not dead yet......

Rumors of my demise have been highly exaggerated.. Well, exaggerated anyways.. Just back from a one year stint living on top of a mountain as a holy man.. "It is easy to be a holy man on top of a mountain"... Razors Edge....

Internet Glitch

Yeah well last night after a loooong day running cattle and assembling steel cattle panels I wrote about 2 pages of blog here...hit enter..and poof it all vanished in some freakin' error.
I just didn't want folks thinking I never update.. I am however..not going to attempt to regurgitate the mood or words and just say.. Hi..and ermmm go now.. *wanders off*

Back..and just in time too.. Look at this mess ! Sheeeesh....

Well...I have once again been remiss in updating... (hangs head) I know...how slack.
I've been struggling however.. Struggling with wanting to put in this dramatic update about how there was this fire, I put it out single handily, burned my lungs got this infection in them, turned into a roaring bronchitis leaving a bed of inflammation so that simultaneously I caught a delightful upper respiratory bug and have been laid out for like over a week.
But I won't do that. Today is the first day in (I'll quote delightful Australian colloquialism here) Yonks that I've felt I actually might survive this thing. Coughing is down significantly, and the antibiotics have this thing on the run I believe. Most that know me know I'm a 6 hour a night sleeper. Anything more makes me feel almost hung over. Been that way since I was a kid and all, but yesterday was the longest I can recollect in my life. A 2 hour nap in the noonish time, followed by crashing at like7 and waking at about 8 this morning.
None of the whammys that hit me were helped at all by me working out in the blasting cold and rain for 2 days right after the fire.. I know..One would figure I was a bit smarter...heh.. But duties duties everywhere and I hate to let folks down. Guess pushing up daises wouldda let them down a little bit more, but I really didn't think it was all that bad at first (Can we say denial ?)
All in all there was probably a couple grand in loss from the giant shed contents that burned. It was sad mostly cause there were newly hatched chicks in a brooder that went up..and a beautiful old surrey (horse drawn cart) as well as various bits of furniture and lots of canning jars.
However.. I have yet to get all down about it. I have since the first moment reclining in my bedroom slippers and track pants (standard Australian firefighters ensemble) after the fire was extinguished thought, thank God it wasn't in the house.. How much worse could it have been seriously ? It was brought under control within 20 minutes, and aside from the little peepers, the rest of the stuff was just that..stuff.. We own nothing. Everything on this plane is on loan. We can think we do, but when that day comes they toss you into a box, nothing else really fits, and even if it did you wouldn't know it was there nor use it. My proof of that last statement is Tutankhamen's tomb and contents (nods) He never got up and played with any of his stuff.. in thousands of years..so.......
Everyone is safe, albeit a slight bit worse for wear but nothing a tincture of time won't relieve. And...as Pollyanna said... "You can be glad about that."
and I shall.....
So..slight cough still present, tonight will be the inaugural launching of Texas Tea at the local Drakesbrook.. Y'all come down now...ya' hear ?
T.

The Texas Tea Massacre.......Now with improved dates *cough*

Pretty much just pulled the name for this post/entry out of my head cause it sounded cool....... One has to say it with a real Texas southern twang though to make it rhyme...
Oh, there was a point to the name/title on a side bar.. The local publican of the nice/remodeled pub in town asked me if I'd fire up my Texas Tea Karaoke business at her place fortnightly Saturday nights. It will be as usual, a blast.. And the money's good. I get to sing, get paid to do it..geeze what more could I ask for.. Also, the same pub is having it's monthly Jam session on the 29th of this month. I have like a week to practice with Linda, and we've performed together once ? and practiced together for 20 minutes before the performance... Better get in some practice this week...*L* no seriously.. But, we must've done something right, cause the publican saw us, and well....asked me after if I'd do the pub gig, so it must've sounded alright to her...
In a moment I'm headed out bush to cut some firewood for Bo and Linda.. Hope the rain lets up...
Have a great weekend now....
*wanders off*


Jam Session August 29th 8-?

Texas Tea Karaoke Sept. 12th
8-?
then fortnightly thereafter...for a while anyways.... ;)

Captain Slacker Reporting for duty Sir........

It's true....I've finally...finally gotten these (well some) pictures to upload here ready.
Some, I wanted to be more....I don't know, better. Like with me and the tractors ? But I'm out there by myself 99% of the time and I don't have anyone with me to take "action" photos :( So, the "Camera held at an arms length" technique is used here. It's less than satisfactory to Moi.
There's also a couple I need to get from Linda where Bo and I are conducting a "ribbon cutting ceremony" for the parallel bars I built for his rehab post accident. Those look pretty cool where we're shaking hands as he's cutting a string of wool yarn (no ribbon to be found at that exact moment). But the wool was fitting as he's a shearer and all. Anyways. It's been a dang action-packed week these last 7 days. I probably won't recollect all the events to put here. But there was a huge party at the Bo-Lin estate on Sat night. The couple days before I worked myself silly hanging giant tarps to protect partiers from the gale forced winds and HAIL, I kid you not hail. One tarp had some 20 kgs of steel weights holding the center down and was still being tossed about. Another 20 kgs rectified that. And I brought out the stove I built out of a 55 gal giant steel drum and a ute full of old jarrah fence posts to burn in it that kept partiers pretty toasty. Guitarists abounded, and we were serenaded by some pretty darned talented talent-heh. I brought out my new set of drums and tinkered a bit while folks played. I got to sing quite a bit (still recovering as my notes are still strained some still). There was a girl there with her folks though, who was quite-quite good at the drums, and she had a whale of a time jamming for most of the night. I like to play, but love to sing more, so that worked out good for me there. Bo, the next day was really looking the drum set over as he used to play some before the accident. I'mma leaving it there for a while and it'll help develop his hand eye coordination. He's quite excited about playing with them. I set them up so he could slide his chair in easy enough, and a couple sets of sticks, so party on Bo.. I woke the next morning at 7 and the party was still pretty rocking. Wowsers.... The musies went till about 11 and then everyone was asking me to turn on my state of the art karaoke equipment. Which I did. Here's a tip....if everyone is yelling for you to open with Jimmy Barnes Working Class Man...and you're not Jimmy Barnes...don't do ittttt.... noooooooooo.. Anyways.. I pulled it off aside from that end screeching part where he hits notes that require normal men to smash their testes to achieve, and we all sang till past 2 in the morning. Good thing we were way out of town though...Whewww...
On the farming/ranching front, I'm signed up for an extra day this week, as I'll be a tractor driving fool when those hundred round bales show up on Thursday. Mostly the last couple of times out there at the ranch I've been tying up loose ends for them. With the weather being abysmal, there's been horse shelters to repair from wind damage, the last of the cattle for me to treat, and finishing touches on older projects. So nothing too fascinating. One new horse was brought out there yesterday. Shipped from England (that cost either 15 or 30 thousand bucks for shipping, and trucked from the east coast to here for another 5 thou. Wild folks tossing money around like that. Mentioned this one only cause the owner showed up with his ear all bandaged. I don't think he hit it off real well with the horse when he met it, as it tried to bite off his ear...
Anyways.. I'll do the picture thing, and will attempt to clarify what some of them are in captions. Some will relate to earlier posts... Have the best day now...It's pretty much freezing rain here today, but at least I'm not heading out into the paddocks today...woooot.... :D



These are of the foaling yards I made. Where the momma horses go to have their little ones..


Now I know these look like a sandy wasteland, but since finished I filled them up with 3 truckloads of soft nice sand, and then seeded them with a rye/kooch mix, and now they're all downy green and luscious. The sprinkler system I put in hasn't been used much with the frequent rains though.



My rescue horse friend "Phantom" as in phantom of the opera cause of the mask pattern on his face..........



This is one of the two tractors I use out at the ranch. Older, but more powerful, The Harvester can drive in fence posts with it's attachment on the back.

The John Deer
Smaller, but I can land this thing on a ten cent piece and it can haul 2 round bales at a time..

I believe I take the most ghastly pics of myself. Usually I can find a few others have taken that I can live with at least. But I had to get myself into one so's folks wouldn't think I just cut and pasted these of the JD. I look crabby, but I promise I wasn't. Just most of them came out either with me looking like a serial killer/over adamant used car dealer...or like the next one reminiscent of a Jimmy Hendrix moment...

Oooooooooooo Gears and Stuff...........

One of my Best Friends... Zena. aka: Zing, Zing-Zing, Chocolate Drop, Zee, Zee-Zee... and I suspect a couple more aliases. She'll come to any of these if her buddy calls. Twice, I've been on my way home and discovered she'd snuck into the back and hidden. I SWEAR stowed away. She's gotten to come over and stay the night after her anesthetic hip xrays. I guess you could say she's a tad spoiled. Rides on my lap on the tractor and the 4 wheeler...
Oh...and this is my "Tiniest Ute in the world".. Actually I have 2..One's pimped up, and I don't think I'll put pics up as you'll find me absurd *nods*.....perhaps later if I have a couple of drinks, but let me clarify that if and when I do, it ummm.. Came that way. I didn't....nevermind..*cough*
This one's name is Max.. He's a genuine Suzuki MightyBoy... Runs on burning twigs *cough*
These are pics of the "Al Fresco" parallel bars I made for Bo. 2.5 feet into the ground set in concrete, with a jarrah wood plank deck. I thought it looked more cowboy-ie rather than something pretty. All materials recycled from and old deck and a trampoline I round up. The ground near the deck looks rough because, well, we just built the deck and the long ramp a couple weeks ago... I'll get one or two of the mobile one I built after I tack on the horse shoes around the base for decoration..
Well...that's about it. I should get some of the party up here as soon as I get them uploaded. I put this last one of me up here in my brown duster (one of ermmm 4 I like the Black one best). It's the lesser of 3 evils, or umm pictures I had taken on my porch. I should get some better ones of the porch as I'm always writing here. Dang it, I need to write more...stories I mean. Been sliding on that and there's a couple I need to add chapters to or wrap up. But that's an aside, sorry..

*hums* "It's been a while....."

That was from a song I like to sing.....
Anyways......... It has been a while since I U-dated this ol' blog. Can't say it was out and out laziness that kept me away from here. I have, as per usual, been a busy-busy little bee though. But, honestly, I was feeling like I just didn't really want to put much up here, and as time slipped away from me, it seemed like more and more it was easier to do... Funny that is. Like meditation. Skip enough times, and it's easy to forget the crystal clarity one can feel during it, and get all caught up in the day to day trappings of life..
This last week out in the paddocks has been a rough one though. I've put three calves in the sand dune hills with the ol' tractor. Firstly, I don't like it when anything dies, let alone animals I've watched come into this world and tended. I guess eventually other humans would've probably eaten them, but I can't worry about what might be's. I can only concern myself with "what can I do at this moment" things. There wasn't anything. My post mortem diagnosis was that they were heavily loaded with parasites that were brought in by the sheep that the owners dabbled in on the ranch. They should've wormed all the animals including the cattle when they found out the sheep were infected. One of these little calves I'd bottle fed and taken great care with, spent time with. They are so adorable when they're little..
So.. It's a bit sad out there for me right now. Most folks probably have no feelings one way or the other about it. But I do. Most probably have no clue how much it affects me. I try not to show it there, but a clever mind could tell I reccon.
So... I went out there myself and wormed the rest of them. I wasn't waiting for #4 to drop off.
Was funny though, how close they let me get to them. Even the 2000+ pound bull lets me pat his head while I;m sitting on a 4 wheeler.. Couldn't get them all though.. Some are more leery than others *nods*
On a lighter note... I have gotten a couple of giant projects wrapped up in the last week and a half. I got a magnificent set of parallel bars made for my friend who's just learning how to walk again. I set them in the ground 2 feet in cement, but built a nice off the ground plank/boardwalk path going through them out of old jarrah wood. All materials recycled. The bars were from an old trampoline that I cut on half and reworked the angles of the pipe, and the wood was from an old deck I'd helped take down on their property. This set, being outside and all, made me consider what he'd do if it was raining, cold, etc outside. So I made one that could roll and be moved to either the front porch, the back porch, or inside the house. Quite a feat of engineering as it could not be able to be tipped over while using (for obvious reasons), and yet still needed to be light enough to be practically moved (unlike a Trojan Horse).
It all came together great, with it having the desired rustic hue that a man of his status would like. Being a rough and tumble sheep shearer and cowboy sort, I couldn't make it all wimpy looking. Some time this week I'm gonna run old horse shoes around the edges to decorate the podium it rests on. I shall endeavor to get a picture up of both completed projects. (I know I'm remiss in not putting up pics of some of these projects, tractor and horse workings etc. But it's real hard to take snaps when you're neck deep in stuff)
So...yes...there it is. An entry.. Whewwww.. Glad I got that knocked out.
Oh...and I built another chicken yard also... Foxes are a big problem here, so this one I put metal sheeting buried a foot into the ground and wire mesh 12 inches or so out flat on the ground in front of the fencing. That'll out fox those ol'....ermmm foxes....
And what else ???? Oooo did a bit of a singing gig at the local pub sat night. I thought it was less than my best, but no one seemed to think so... Bahhh always my own worst critic I 'spose.
Anywhoooo.. getting on time to hit the paddocks folks, so I'll draw this to a close.
*looks up......* I think there's the slightest hue of Spring in the air.... *smile*
Have a great day now......*wanders off*

Thunder and Lightning.......

And rain...*smile*
That's what's going on in my neck of the woods. It's a bit chilly today on this ol' porch. But I'm in some snuggy clothes, yup. Harder to see that sun when it'll come up, so I'll just have to settle on knowing it's there when I see the glow of light and that ol' clock tells me it's time. I'm not in an uber rush to hit the paddocks today. *eyes the lightning with some suspicion* And that rain is intermittently drumming on this ol' tin roof on my porch with some serious din.
Thought one being in an area void of much things higher than say a prairie dog pokin' it's head out of the ground, I make an excellent lightning rod. And being soaked through makes excellent grounding for electricity.

Thought two being that horses spack out whenever the weather's strange to them, and they will find this strange.
I'll pull out my long brown duster coat for today. Aside from being a little harder to manipulate in, it'll likely keep my inside clothes pretty dry aside from soggy jeans at the bottom. I'm not really looking forward to this day, as it might be becomming apparent....a-heh.

I did get a bit of good karma news this week though :D At the Pinjarra festival I come cross one of those booths where you can meet the little kangaroos...the babies hanging in little man made pouches. They're the wildlife rescue folks ? Anyways, there was this one baby who acted so funny. He was so attracted to me. Kept reaching out and pulling my hand in to get ear and head rubbies. Finally, he grabbed my face and started kissing my nose, and even as I was walking away kept motioning me back. I'm gonna tell you this...if you want to get me to part with my money ? THAT is the most excellent sales technique I have ever-ever seen. Cha-ching I whipped out the wallet and was handing them 20 bucks right there. I mean honestly, how often does a Texan in Oz get that sort of attention from a wild kangaroo ? I was handing the lady my money when she asked how many I wanted. Tickets mind you...for the raffle. I wouldda snatched up the joey right there, but instead, since they were a dollar a piece, I said "errmm 20 ?" Then spent a while filling out initials on each ticket and left her with a contact number. Enough days passed I figured it was a done deal and over, you know ? But sure enough I won a pack for 4 tickets to the Peel Zoo where I get to see the Joey again, and a 50 $ voucher at the gift shop. Score ! Well, I was wanting to go yesterday, but the weather weren't cooperating a'tall. So rather than make it a drizzly day at the zoo, I'm being patient.. Biding my time and all.
Getting lighter here a bit, and a teeny speck of blue in the sky says for me to get my lazy butt out there and sling some hay...
Y'all have a good one...keep warm and your powder dry... *nods*
T.