13th November, 2025

It's been a slog. Geoff flew to NSW on the 13th of October, so he's been there nearly five weeks. His Mum had a turn and he was caring for her while she was in the critical care ward at the hospital. She was off with the fairies but mobile, so a danger to herself and others if she went walking and started pulling things off shelves and out of the wall.

He was able to get her into respite care, as she won't be well enough to go home any time soon, if ever. Now that she has people making sure she eats and bathes regularly and monitoring her health she will be alot better off. Also plenty of company, instead of being home alone for weeks on end. Geoff is flying back tomorrow, I think he is very tired and emotional.

The sheep haven't been shorn, the weather has come in sleety and snowy and the wind, oh the wind ! So I left their woolly jumpers on for now.

Mae will have her last serve of milk tomorrow. She's over six months old and a sausage, and finally eating pellets. I kept her going on two litres a day just to finish the bag off. 

I haven't milked Star for a few weeks now as Rani is drinking all on offer and I am tapering Mae off. I might take a little milk for the house if I see she has a full bag, but not until the weather warms up, as Rani will need plenty to stay warm.

We've lost one chicken, she was just stretched out on the chook house floor like she'd gone to sleep. They are pretty ancient so I anticipate there will be more over the next six months.

I have built four raised beds in the back yard, and filled them with combinations of apple tree prunings, aged chook poo, straw mixed with sheep poop, aged cow manure, and potting mix. Mulched with more straw. I have put posts and mesh around three and the fourth is working as a compost pile. 

I've planted dutch cream potatoes, a variety of tomatoes, peas, radishes, beets, capsicum and basil. Most of them are not liking the sudden cold, they may not make it through after getting a dose of hail. Out the front I have long pots hanging on the front fence and they have salad lettuces, also not appreciating sleet.

I went to Pub Choir in Launceston with some friends. We had dinner at a chinese restaurant first, and then to the Princess Theatre for the singing. A good time was had by all and if they ever come back to Launnie we'll go again. They tour all over the world, so it might be a while.

I'm in the second row.

To the left of the lady in the green top and the right of the lady with her hands in the air.

My nephew, Sharik, got married at the end of October. The ceremony was held at Hobbiton in New Zealand, the set of the "Lord of the Rings" movies. They had an unexpected visit from the actor who played Frodo, who was showing the set to his family, being in New Zealand for another project. The incident made the news all over the world.

Jess and Sharik 

The happy couple and their unexpected visitor, Elijah Wood

The feast at Hobbiton

 

My sister and her husband David 

My nieces Aimee and Nessa, and their dad, Gray

Click here for a news item on the wedding

1st November, 2025

 Bit of a catch up, things have been quite busy.

On the job front, I didn't get either of the Dept of Health jobs, hospital or physio assistant. What I did get was permanent part time at May Shaw and an extra day a fortnight. I now do Monday one week and Wednesday and Friday on the alternate. I have picked up some extra shifts around Christmas so that will be a tiring time. The New Year might be a good time to drop some Woolies shifts as I moved my contract around to fit the new May Shaw schedule in and didn't drop any shifts.

On the sheep front, all are still with us and are due for shearing next week. Caleb has brought home a lamb to raise for the freezer, and he has been integrated with my flock. They are all in the Hops Paddock until he is weaned and then they can go back to wandering where ever they like under the hot wires. 

Toot was checked over by the shearer during crutching in July to see if he was doing ok, and had one tooth left of his front teeth. He has since lost that and is alot more comfortable eating. He has access to hay and the grass is long enough that he spends alot of time sitting in one spot and eating in an arc before getting up and moving to the next spot. I think his arthritis is progressing, so we will assess him again at shearing.

On the cow front, Mae is still on milk. 2 litres of replacer and whatever I get out of Star each day. Sometimes nothing, sometimes 2 litres. She has about another two weeks of replacer left then will get weaned. She should have been right into the pellets but is just not interested. Luckily the grass is growing now and she can be weaned onto grass off six months of milk like a normal calf.

Star is becoming a great house cow. She stands pretty still now, sometimes even puts one foot back for me. She has small teats but all are hand milkable. Mostly I get some kind of let down, it just depends how recently Rani has drunk as to what's left in there. Rani is doing just fine, she is part of a girl-gang with Mae and Eloise.

The others are mostly all doing well, especially the steers Tiddy and Mato, who are over a year old and still on milk. Jack, however, is slowing right down and it's time to consider when things become too difficult for him. He is the last animal left from Dubbo, the end of an era. He's 15 and has had a good life for a steer.

The chickens are laying better, about a dozen and a half a week. The first broody is in the broody pen and I expect to see more soon. I still have 12 chooks, most of them quite old but they are all getting around well. I could probably do some claw trimming and will have to get organised for that.

Finn is still living an indoor and outdoor life. His nose is almost back to completely black but he sometimes knocks the layer off if he buries a bone by using his nose instead of his paws. He's shedding now and needs a good brush.

The cats are a mixed bag. The girls, Shadow and Suzie, are fine. Suzie is on a diet, she's almost 8kg. Sarge, however, played road roulette once too often after ten years and has left us. It was instant and his body was found by one of the vets on their way to work. They are all gutted and sent us a card and bunch of flowers. We miss him terribly, especially Geoff. He took up alot of space for a small animal. At least he lived his best life right up to the end.

 I'll try and post some more updates tomorrow.