Release the crackin' poddy!

On Saturday we took the poddy calf to the cow and calf paddock.

We thought that the steers may have given him a bit of a hard time if he had gone in the oats paddock with them.

 So we loaded him into the covered trailer, which we had used for camping just a few weeks earlier.

 With some of his lucerne hay.

 We got him off the trailer and loosened his collar in case he got away from us.

 Then led him to the most important bit ~the water trough!

 And removed the collar.

 And he had a big, Big drink. 

 Then he had a bit of a look around.

Then...

 Turned and ran!

not an inkling of wanting to hang with us!

 and started chomping.

 And wouldn't let Itty Bitty near him.

Yay!

After 4 bags of milk and about 5 bags of calf rearer pellets and same of lucerne hay,

 he is paddock trained!

 The next day we went and checked on him again.

Just to be sure he wasn't stranded somewhere , or stuck in the dam.

Itty Bitty spotted him first in the middle of the poisoned box thorns!

which is on the other side of the dam.

He's buddied up with some other calves.

He started his usual screaming at us.

And we drove away!

Harsh! I know!

He's made some new friends,

 with the possibility of sneaking some sucks of milk from some big udders every now and then!!

Baby update

What a cute little baby,

the new big XXL crate has arrived!

 The little one did NOT work for her!

I can fit a friend in the big one with her. It is huge!

Howling may be heard all night tonight!

But not by me, my TV will be turned right on up!!

Though maybe she'll like being close to the others!

My bedroom might remain intact tonight!

That is if I don't give in to the sweet baby howls!

Update:
Ummmmm, it lasted all of about 40 mins then my heart could not stand it anymore.
Back into the bedroom she came.
She is pretty at good sleeping on a rug and in the ensuite. But we hear every movement and search she has in the room for whatever, and she is, after all, a pup and makes some puppy mess!
She's just had breakfast in there, whinged a lot and finally settled for a bit of a rest then I've let her out. She's now screaming at the door to be in with me, just a bit of insecurity has arisen.
I'm going out in the garden in a minute, then she'll be right.
-Til the next lock up session!
big boy doesn't mind it at all, especially when there's little morsels of puppy food to eat!

Lots of little times will get her used to it.

After all she goes into a bigger dog yard every day while I am at work!

More pretties

My rose garden is driving me nuts!

It's not growing fast enough.

I've bought too many plants!

I keep wanting to plant them in here,

but I know I have to wait for these ones to grow and spread  and fill in the gaps.

The newbies will have to go around the corner, salvia and lavender and lambs ears and.....

I remember when it was looking like this, just pokey sticks!

Each day Ive been checking moisture levels, ie turning on the sprinklers and I've just fertilised the roses again, even the new ones- I thought you had to wait on them, I always have for their first year! but a friend said no as soon as they start getting growing give them a boost.

I dug up lots of Hippeastrums and relocated them into the "rose" garden. I'm not all that keen on this dark one.

But love the paler colour of this one.

This one is up the back and looks to have been chewed by some critter.

The roses I do have are pretty special.

Fisherman's friend.

I love the David Austins.

The root stock took off on this one, so I gave it the big chop and cut it all away after I took this photo, I probably should have put some steri prune on the cuts so it won't come back! 

I am seriously enjoying the Pierre de Ronsard climber on the back verandah.

It is very nice, but has lots of little black cotton pollinator beetles in it, like most of the other roses. They don't do any harm at all.

Unlike the big fat brown mozzies which just tried to carry me away and eat me alive.

Seriously pretty.



One hit wonders

We've got a few one hit wonders around here.

I like things to be recurrent generally.

The Wisteria is over and done with for the year.

Of course mine doesn't rate in comparison to the oldest one in the park at Launceston! 

The White Banksia rose hedge out the front, it's still hanging in there!

The Rosa Sinica Alba

( I think that's it's name I put it in quite a few year ago now)

It is really thorny and has lots of baby ones coming up underneath!



Once can be enough in lots of ways!

A new baby GSD

I've been pretty slack at the blogging gig for a week or so as I have been playing catch up at home after 2 weeks away and 50 loads of washing and being back at work!
Plus..
We have a new baby.

Like I didn't have enough going on already!

I've been serious about another family protection dog for a while.

 Ever since I had a nasty fright one morning a few months ago it has been weighing more on my mind,

I've been waiting for the right one.

As if by magic my brother announced he was having a litter of German Shepherds.

Perfect, we fully know the background and stable nature of this baby's parents.

No dark secrets.

I need to know these things for the sake of my own babies.

This is how she travelled home a week ago.

8 hours of cuddles.

She doesn't look too scary at the moment.

The big boy on the other hand??

Does his scary guard dog job VERY well!

Except when he has us and a baby to smooch.

I can see he needs a big grooming session to get his winter coat away!

He has always loved and protected my Cairn puppies and he seems to equally adore this baby.

Dare I say perhaps more.

Do you think dogs recognise their own breed?

I know my cairns seem to 'know' their own family by bloodline in a big group of cairns.

He gets lots of attention from the wee one,

And slobbers all over his baby right back.

Baby is getting on nicely with ALL the family, learning we are her pack!

Even puss gives smooches.

On another note this was the freaky tri foam stage at the new car wash

( my daughter wanted this bit in here!)  

AND check out the size of this mulberry, and I have very large hands.

You can see I had already picked a few others.

They just keep coming and coming and the flavour is divine!

Tasmania, Parks and Gardens

I adored the parks and gardens in Tasmania. 

I guess being Spring made them pretty good.

We spent a fair bit of time in parks as the kids were practising their cracking.

This is city park in Launceston.

 They had a very beautiful conservatory.

 filled with orchids.

 The fellow was in there tending to them.

 Catmint and poppies, i think!

 I didn't even realise on the first visit that behind here was a heap of monkeys.

 Mackaws from Japan.

 I couldn't work out wht these cages were for and then I got it- they let the fish hide from the ducks, who couldn't get to them in there!!

 A youngish Oak.

 I think these are rhododendrons.

 Helebores?

 A little train that dragged the kids around in it.

 ?

 Rhodi?

 ??

 This bush had a fairly strong almost aniseed scent.

 Clivias just like at home

This was a huge sprawling tree and I couldn't find a name tag.

 the Oaks were beautiful.

 The Children's fountain.

We played some chess in the park, except when I went to the toot I came back and Itty Bitty had lost 3 key pieces to his brother!

 Eventually I won, even though I had to change the rules at the end to cease the stalemate.

Below was the front garden of the B& B we stayed at.

I told him I saw a moving shadow in my room the first night. 

He got a bit freaked!