Death Trap

The trusty quad bike.

Used daily on farms all over the country to muster cattle and get around the property to check fences and stock.

We also use ours to take visitors on 'farm tours', heck...the kids even ride it around the backyard (slowly and with supervision).

We've heard the safety warnings, we know the dangers......but it didn't hit home until last week.

I don't know why, or who was looking out for us, but my husband is still walking around, still breathing, still with us. This was a VERY near miss. My blood freezes when I think about how different things could be for us right now.

The story is fuzzy - concussion does that to a person - but it goes like this:
While bringing in cattle around the edge of the dam, the bike became unstable and flipped. He was thrown into about 2 feet of water, and the bike landed upside-down on top of him. By some miracle he did not drown. He freed himself, righted the bike, eventually got it started again and made his way home to call me up at work "can you come home - I've come off the quaddy and I'm hurt".

Painfully bruised ribs and a huge scare are a small price to pay. He is OK and we've all learned some very big lessons.

P.S. The lottery ticket has been purchased!

A different kind of sketch

I recently decided to take up DRAWING again after unearthing all my old HSC Art under my bed.

I bought myself a set of graphite pencils and off I went.....

I drew this baby being cradled from an old Anne Geddes calendar......

......my elephant was copied from someone else's drawing in a book.....

.....and my crazy emu I copied from an Artist magazine....

I have a long way to go.......so I'm starting Life Drawing classes.......first one tomorrow morning!

I'm so nervous.

Wish me luck!

Another month-in-review double completed....

......edging the top and bottom with strips used up lots of scraps.

Have a guess what they're lookin' at.......

Some silly woman working out on her new cross-trainer!

Too funny!

Having an audience was a bit off-putting - but I won't complain about the view!



Feb-in-Review

I'm trundling along with my 2011 month-in-review layouts....
I showed you March last post, and here is Feb:

 

I found a packet of old Adorn-It valentines day type stickers and based the whole layout around them - a handy little technique I use when colour schemes elude me!

I'm stealing the wonderful Pip Prosser's favourite doubles design for most of these - just perfect for heaps of photos.

New reads:

I finished this one....

 ....highly recommend it for mothers with girls of any age. Some of her ideas for rituals are a bit out there, but her promotion of the mother-daughter relationship and its importance for raising well-balanced children is spot on.

Started this one last night.....

.....you know how much I enjoy this author (she of the Shopoholic series)....LOVE this story so far! Lots of giggles!

Less than a week left of the school hols....in between working I'm trying to spend as much time with the girls as I can.... this week I took them to see:

.....a gorgeous heartwarming story......definitely one for the girls.......Matt Damon is dreamy.......sigh........bring the tissues.

We now have FIVE sets of twin bubby lambs! Pretty amazing since we only have 7 ewes. One set is so incredibly tiny, they look like white cats running around. Haven't managed to photograph those ones yet, but here are some others:

To all those being affected by floods - keep safe.

Rain rain go awaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

Farmy news

What kind of an egg do you call this chookies???? 

Mini omelet anyone? 

Oh my - how things are growing down on the farm!

My vegie patch 6 weeks ago...

  

And this week...

Makes me feel all content and happy inside!

And remember my new garden last January?

Here's how it looks now (and needs weeding again)...

My beautiful Milly girl 12 months ago...

And now....

Of our 6 working dogs, I do have a soft spot for Milly. She is so sooky and gorgeous not to mention extremely intelligent (I taught her to shake hands). Thankfully she's turned out to be a good worker too - that means she gets to stick around.

More little feet pattering in the paddock....5 baby lambs! Including one set of twins.
Cute, cute, cute!

The new mailbox I got for Christmas prompted a facelift for our property entrance, including getting around to displaying the lovely sign my Mum had hand-painted for Tim's 40th 18 months ago!

Look who's snazzy now!

Our Weekends

....have been rather full - and if you have kids who do stuff I'm sure yours have been just as crazy!

I tell you - kids have the best social life!

We've had a Blue Light Disco, a birthday party, a sleepover, a "just because" party, and there's more to come!

A few weekends ago we planted our vegie beds.....

Then it flooded. This is the causeway we have to drive over to get out of our property - more like a river!!!

The Macintyre River broke it's banks. Water came up into the park in town.....people were bracing themselves, but thankfully it stopped short of businesses and houses....

A planned fishing trip and picnic for a friend's birthday was kinda ruined by all the rain - we ended up at their house instead. The kids were determined to get in the water - and there was plenty of that to keep them happy....

Sometime in the middle we went to the launch of the Gum Flat Country Kids Calendar....the Year 5/6 girls designed and photographed the calendar, got a grant from Community Mutual to print it, and decided to give all the proceeds to the local Breast Cancer Support Group.

The calendar looked fabulous, as did the photography exhibition they held, plus they raised over $2000 for their chosen charity!!!

A truly amazing and inspiring effort by 7 young girls and their wonderful teachers.





Beth performed in her end of year guitar concert on Sat night....

She did "Rockin Robin" with 3 other kids - and she was also on vocals! So beautiful! She inspires me to keep plugging away with my guitar. With her help I can now play about 3 chords quite well! Whoopie!

Speaking of concerts...a certain someone in our family is counting down the days for this....

This weekend we have a Little Athletics Zone Carnival, dance concert and Archery Xmas Party....more photo opportunities!

Hey, remember these organza flowers with the melted edges that were all the go a while back? I bet you have some hanging around the place.

Dig them out (or make some new ones!) and stay tuned for the SUYS Try This Challenge annoucement. The sketch challenge is already up.....check out details here.

Catch you soon!

xxx

Been a while....

.....but each time I think about posting an update I'm overwhelmed by how far behind I am! But, today is the day.

Life has been running away on me.....we've had two trips to Taree, one to Yamba and one to Sydney in the last 2 months.....spring has definitely sprung along with allergies all round.....the farm is looking beautiful with fat cows and gorgeous babies everywhere.....the new vegie gardens are finally done and ready to plant.....swimming lessons have begun for Bethie and Mimi....Kate has started Little Athletics.....music practice madly happening in prep for end of year concerts.....and Kate is increasingly excited (and Mum increasingly stressed) about going into high school next year.

Some photos:

Book Week

Mia as Lola from Charlie & Lola, complete with pink milk...

Beth as the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland

(how's that evil pose!)...

Kate as Malificent, the wicked fairy from Sleeping Beauty (that see-through mask was SO creepy!)...

Yamba Camping Holiday

   

This is the perfect holiday park for families - so much to do!

 State Athletics

We made the huge trip to Sydney for our little Gum Flat relay team to compete at Homebush....

It was a day to remember forever.....summed up perfectly in this letter my Mum wrote to our school principal....

"Good Morning, Mr Bloch,

I am writing to tell you that I had the pleasure and privilege of attending the PSSA sports championships at Sydney Olympic Park with Penny and my three granddaughters, Kate, Bethany and Mia Hackney.

The relay team from Gum Flat made me so proud! These fine young people were a joy to be associated with, their good manners, their friendly team spirit, their courage and aplomb while dealing with the disappointment of the results in the Semi Final, showed a maturity far beyond their years.

They did so well in the heats and were only point four of a second behind the fastest team. Without a proper track to train on at home, this in itself was a remarkable feat. It was so exciting to witness! They were looking forward to success in the semi-final, but when there was a fumbled baton pass between Lydia and Kate, we all held our breath.............Kate was devastated, and she has blamed herself for the error. However, the team ran on, valiantly and finished the race. The girls were inconsolable, and slowly made their way back to us, arms around each other, and in tears...........it was heartbreaking and we felt their pain. Alex and Campbell were gallant and very calm and mature and sympathetic to the girls although they must have been mightily disappointed at losing out on a chance to enter the final. They set an example of true mateship that many more famous sportsmen might need to follow.

I feel compelled to write to you, to congratulate you and your staff on the training of these little sporting heroes. The experience of being on the spot made me so pround of Alex, Campbell, Kate and Lydia, they are fine young people and this day will stay in my memory for ever. I want to thank the four of them for allowing me to be a part of this fantastic occasion. The future success of Gum Flat community will be secure in the hands of these young people, I am sure. Well done to you all.

Sincerely,
Angie Budden Watt (aka 'Martha') Grandma of Kate, Beth and Mia."

 After such an emotional and exhausting day on the track, it was off next door to the Olympic Pool for a bit of fun.....this place is AWESOME.....you have to go if you get the chance!

 

Gardening

I got to drive a tip truck for a day.....I reckon it could be my new career.....such fun!

Apart from driving trucks around the place.....I've been picking up my guitar each evening (determined to learn those chords!)....and have gotten hooked on Ancestry.com.....so interesting and addictive.....chews up hours of time though! Have gone as far back as my Great Great Great Grandparents and still discovering!

I'll leave with a reminder about the latest Show Us Your Stuff challenge....a lovely sketch. Find out here.

Have a joyous day.

xxx