Preg testing and a new arrival

The cows and few calves were all mustered the other day from the big paddock ready for the vet on monday. I took our youngest son down to have a look. He was keen. I had to get changed into jeans and boots rather than leggings and dress (a town appointment was cancelled). Itty Bitty MDK announced to me approvingly you look GOOD!! I think I shocked the vet coz he usually sees me in teacher work clothes, not farm get up.

This is the screen that the vet could check on, its new and it has a long yucky probe attached- I don't think you'd like to see it!  Sometimes he could tell there was a pregnancy though couldn't see it clearly enough, we were trying to age the pregnancies, so that we could split them into different paddocks and have the 2 groups calve out at around the same time.

So with the cow confined in the crush in the yards, when the probe wouldn't reach, the vet had to occasionally do the testing the old fashioned way - by hand- gloved of course. 

Then to the right went the cows close to calving and to the left went the empty and midway pregnant ones. Each cow got a spray of paint along their back to indicate their status. The empty ones were later drafted out and sent to town and sold this morning at market.

while the mummas were still waiting to be scanned, I let the little fella get in and have a cuddle with the new babies. This wouldn't worry the big girls.

We worked the gates and helped out for a little while. Itty Bitty wanted to push them up the race, I thought he was a bit hard so had to remind him these were cows with little babies and we were going steady, steady so there'd be no stress.

However, one little fella didn't get mothered up after it all. I got the phone call, do you think the kids would like a poddy, in other words are you up to morning and night feeds or do we leave the calf a bit longer and it might get mothered or it may starve. I chose to not take the risk. This is what arrived at my house on Tuesday morning.

He hadn't mothered up after the event. I am hoping that he was one of the twins seen with a big white cow that was left in the paddock. She was a little bit too silly to muster and it wasn't neccessary.

Morning and night this will be my task, though this morning while I lay in bed reading blogs on the Ipad and giving myself a headache (too close and no glasses on), Miss MDK did it all by herself- yay! Though I did rush out to check that she didn't have the milk too hot. All was good. At this stage we worked out that thongs were not going to cut it around him, he likes to step on toes, enclosed shoes from now on!!! We've put him into a Big old goose yard next to the chookyard. We don't have any geese any more. This will stop the dogs from annoying him too much until they are more used to him. The boys did a good job cleaning it up so there'd be nothing he could get hurt on, as all the spare metal is also kept in this yard.

He's very lovely and the kids have been giving him plenty of looovin'.

When I was in the yard, I noticed this was going on.

The Mulberry tree is starting to sprout it's fruit and leaves.

The frost will turn them black, its all too soon.

This English Oak hasn't even lost all its leaves yet.

A new flower. There's not many going on around here.

And these strawberries are now fruiting up.

The silverbeet plant I put in a month ago are going well, despite the chooks getting out and having a go at them.

Back to my decluttering of the linen press! 

xx MDK

The week that was

This last week was so very busy,

Monday night we said goodbye to my sister who had very kindly made the trip to look after  the 2 young ones whilst we went to New Zealand- this never eventuated due to the Ash cloud from Chile. Ho Hum.

I did A LOT of baking for my kid's school's P and F as they were catering for 40 people one night and I was given the job of desserts. I decided on 2 baked cheesecakes, 2 pavlovas, 2 pineapple syrup cakes and my latest and greatest discovery, Pioneer Woman's Apple Dumplings, using puff pastry instead of crescent rolls. I was told there was plenty of leftovers for the following day's morning tea. I have NEVER been one to undercater anything. This was a busy Wednesday night and Thursday morning with a few extras baked for my own household and work morning tea on Friday. Thankyou FF for the yogurt cake recipe, I have made it twice this week alone.

The one above used berry yogurt and raspberries

It worked really well doubled in my favorite Bundt tin.

This one was not such a hit, it used vanilla yogurt and canned prunes.

This is my weapon of choice: 

 It's a Kenwood Major,and I can double most recipes very nicely in it. I've had it for more than 12 months now and it has made literally hundreds of cakes and dozens of pavlovas(2 at a time, 16 egg whites and a Kg of sugar) It was a good investment. I did a lot of research as everyone seems to have a kitchenaid, but went with my own past experience, I had owned a Kenwood chef for 20 years until it blew and I still have my mum's 35 year old one as a backup plan. I can most highly recommend Kenwood!

Though it would not be unusual for me to buy the Kitchenaid as my 2nd mixer!!

On Thursday I had a trip to a town 120 Km away for some dental work. May I just say that in coordination with my jewellery, Gold is involved in a custom made article, that no one will really ever be able to see. Unfortunately, no diamonds can be set in the said item. I think I shocked the dentist when I asked if I could select the colour of the gold! Even princesses must get to choose the colour of these items!

Thursday night saw my eldest son come home on the bus from boarding school for his holidays. He actually enjoyed the ride this time compared to past ones. He had the longest mop of hair I'd seen in a long time. Last holidays in Sydney a hairdresser actually spent so long checking him out, before cutting, for non-existent creatures that it was incredibly embarassing, I think she must have thought he was a hobo. We won't ever go back there! He now sports a very short, extremely lovely do which makes him look and feel so much better.

On Friday Mr MDK had a few scares in his piloting. He was on his way home in a big headwind when his plane told him that he would not have enough fuel to make it all the way so he turned back to get more fuel in a little outback town. He refuelled and then made the decision that it might take him longer to get home and it would be too close to dark so he was going to stay the night. hmmn I was a little worried about this as he had nothing with him and nowhere to stay. When he called I was also in the process of trying to explain to my son that he could not shave his head and that I would not let it be too short as he would be sent home from school until it grew to an acceptable length, couple that with the fact that the last time he had his hair all clippered off he stared in the mirror and cried for an hour. I reminded him of this, though he said he could not remember it. I didn't tell him he was only 2yrs old when it happened. Well I must have given the impression to Mr MDK that I wanted him home, so he checked out his flight plan and started to taxi etc.

Along the runway he blew a tyre.

Thankfully it happened when it did and not at the point of take off or at the other end when he landed. He then had to wait for someone to fly out in the morning and replace the broken one.

So he got his night away from home, sleeping in a converted shipping container and listening to campers tell tales around a campfire, whilst consuming plenty of cooling/warming beverages. His idea of a great night out!

He arrived bearing this to the saturday party.

Saturday saw us attend a friend's 40th and his daughter's 2nd combined birthday parties.

Here's what Bush kids get up to when they're sick of the Wii.

The big kids loaded the little kids in the toddlers cars and off they went.

I think the aim was a race, though to us adults it looked like a type of super noisy, destructive, break the cars game. Yes, there was blood involved, but the bleeder was tough and there were no tears.

The blue car was a write off at the end, perhaps that had more to do with the large load that was being pushed along and the ruts in the road!!!!

It's Stuffed!

Today I am going to implement the decluttering of shoes and clothes and cleaning ensuite policies.

As these little beauties arrived this week (purchased due to the recently changed shoe policy at work) and I need somewhere to put them.

I wore these yesterday and can say that there were no blisters or sore feet to be had.

AAh the only flowers to be found around here in the dead of winter!!

Strawberries.

And one lonely Pierre de Ronsard!