Baa, lamb, ewe…
No writing today…
No writing this afternoon, no swimming either … instead, bringing the ewes off the oat stubble on a stormy afternoon…
Through dust and dirt…
“Click go the shears boys, click, click, click,
Wide is his blow and his hands move quick,
The ringer looks around and is beaten by a blow,
And curses the old snagger with the bare-bellied yoe…”
It’s very quiet in the shearing shed, the day before shearing. Especially on a quiet winter’s day where the light sparkles. It’s something special after almost a year of drought, to gaze out upon green paddocks and pasture beginning to grow…
Once upon a time there was a Jack Russell.
He was born at a well-known JRT kennels but he had no aspirations to be a show-dog.
He just wanted to have fun…
See how blurred this pic is?
That’s how my eyes felt after reading the books. I’m learning about Byzantium in the pursuit of Tobias’s journey to find the rare dye, Tyrian purple in 1194 AD.
So today, I spent the day outside at the farm – you know how I get cabin fever.
Driving the hoggets to new pasture…
Almost there…
My offsider…
Waiting at the Old Highway pass for husband to drive the breeding ewes up over the hill with the ATV…
Through the pass and waiting in the holding paddock to head to the underpass beneath the Tasman Highway to the paddocks on the other side…
Damned cold today. 7 degrees Celsius (44 fahrenheit). Rugged up and hopped behind OH on the four wheeler to feed out to those of our girls with child!
It’s been the toughest summer and autumn and we’ve got to the hard end of our pasture so we feed out our own hay cut from summer 2011 when we had grass ‘as high as an elephant’s eye.’ Plus barley harvested in 2011 from our own crops. But mainly sheep pellets which are a grain mix and which the girls think is chocolate!
We left House (our miniscule cottage by the sea) to live the split life of city/country, about 6 weeks ago. Since taking up the urban lifestyle (the farm is only 30 minutes from the city and 30 mins from House) we have rushed.
I’d had a good morning. Dressed in my city jeans, city shirt and city shoes (favourite camel JP Tods bought from the USA), city perfume, city makeup, jewelry, clean hair … you know, the sort of thing you do when you are going shopping. Not dressed up to the nines but a damn sight better than the last five months of aged shorts or farm jeans.