It's probably time

It's day 22. Mr Fabulous and I have decided that its probably time to do 'the test'. That means a trip to town, which is not something we enjoy, to purchase 'the test'.

I am VERY tired, in fact I can fall asleep almost immediately once I am horizontal! I am off two of my most favourite things: coffee and eggs. I am not the slightest bit interested in an egg which is rather odd as I would normally have two eggs every day for breakfast.

Now that I am not liking the thought of eggs, I have had to come up with some other ideas for breakfast. Yesterday I made a gluten free banana and cardamon loaf! I warmed two slices of it this morning and coated it in butter and then drizzled maple syrup over. Oh my goodness- YUMMO! That will be breakfast for a few mornings!

I was the domestic goddess yesterday, cooking up a storm in the kitchen. I made the banana loaf I mentioned before, as well as chocolate and berry muffins, and a marble slice. I made all of these on rice flour, so they are as gluten free as possible. There is a slight taste difference, however it is not worth worrying over.

I like to be as prepared as possible for the up coming week. The men are fencing this week, so Mr Fabulous will pack an esky most mornings with smoko and lunch, and he will take that when he leaves the house, at around 5.30am.

As well as cooking, I did a little study and took photos over the week end. I am trying to stay on time with the December photo-a-day challenge. Yesterday's challenge item was 'someone you love'. I took a photo of a photo of my dad. It was taken when he was about 13yrs of age.

Have a great day.

I've started

WOW! I enrolled and within 24 hours I could download the first two modules and assignments. I have already completed the first assignment. HOWEVER, I am going to re-read the notes and re-do the assignment, just in case! I was a tad tired when I read the module last night.

I know I have a relatively good knowledge of grammatical and punctuation rules. I now also know that I have forgotten alot! For example, do any on you remember what a concrete noun is? No, its not 'dog' written in a freshly laid section of concrete either! Dog, is in fact a concrete noun though! A concrete noun is something tangible, it is something that our five senses can appreciate; you can touch, smell, taste, hear and see IT. So, that is one thing (among others) that I learnt last night.

I have started going through my photo library with the aim to delete anything that is unworthy of keeping. Anything that is blurry, too dark, too light, and anything that I simply don't like is being deleted. What a task!

Here is an oldie, but a goodie

I really like this shot for some reason. Perhaps the angle of the truck leading your eye to the weaner. Perhaps the size difference between weaner and truck. Perhaps... Perhaps... Either way, this is a keeper.

Today, being Friday, we are off to town for lunch. We also need to take my father-in-law to the airport as he is heading home; after being here helping out for the past week.

Hope you all have a fabulous Friday!

learning

I love learning.

I love reading.

I dislike grammatical and spelling mistakes.

So, what better way to DO SOMETHING about it, I enrolled in a professional copy editing and proof reading course! I am completing it through the same college that I did the professional photography course through, The Australian College, here is their website.

www.australiancollege.edu.au

I find their tutorials easy to read and understand and the feed back provided on the assignments is excellent. So, I must say, I am excited! And what makes this venture even more exciting, I could potentially earn money whilst sitting in my own lounge room proof reading! Sounds positively wonderful!

I also awoke with a determination to find my motivation! It has helped that it is a fair bit cooler today than recent days. I weeded, pruned and tilled my vegie gardens as well as planted out some garlic, sweet potato tubers and basil, coriander, baby spinach, silverbeet and tomatoe seeds. I then took off around the yard with secateurs in hand and pruned a few of the calistemons that were getting a bit messy.

I then grabbed the camera and caught up on ALL of the December photo-a-day challenge pics.

Here they are

This is what I was doing at 8 o'clock- gardening!

Where I am at peace!

something that I held whilst ticking of the photos I have done

One of my groovy black and white coffee cups

One of our Border Collie, Ollie, looking up at the water from the hose that Mr Fabulous was playing with him with

AND....

Day six is 'from where you live/ your country'

Well its time for lunch. Chat tomorrow!

waiting again...

Well today marks the day that I am 17 days overdue- naturally! Neither of us are saying too much about it and neither of us are in a great rush for me to do 'the test'. One thing IVF has taught us, don't get over excited about things. SO, we're not. Yet. We are just biding our time, however I have stopped drinking- just in case!

It has been hideously hot here. I know it has been hot everywhere, it is Summer afterall. However, its been reaching 45+ deg, topped with high humidity and very strong northerly winds. I must admit, I am suffering more with the heat so far this year than in years past. What's worse is that Summer has only just begun! I seem to have lost all motivation for just about everything. It is just too darned hot to do anything except edit photos and sleep!

I am very grateful however for our new outdoor kitchen (aka BBQ with sink!) Since setting it up, two weeks ago, we have cooked inside 3 times. It is quite incredible how much cooler the house is staying without the added cooking heat.

Oh well, its time to organise lunch for the men. Chat tomorrow

Commitment!

When we were on holidays I made a commitment to myself that I would write daily! What an epic failure that has been, thus far! Today, I revived that commitment. I will write daily!

Our first morning home was the morning of the eclipse. Here is my favourite image of the morning, where just a bite has been taken out of the sun

I have been out and about with the new camera, getting used to it. I went and sat at 'The Lagoon', a semi-permanent waterhole on our property for over an hour last week. This year we had such an extended wet season, that there is still plenty of water and I am amazed at the rich bird life. There were flocks of Spoonbill, Cockatiel, Budgie and Corella. Here are some of pics of them

We had a party here on Saturday night. We had a lovely time with family and friends. I didn't take any pics, however I think my mother-in-law did, so you can see pics on her next blog. I also hosted Photography group meeting here on Sunday and we took some photos of my bird, Costa. Here is a shot of him

Time for lunch. Chat tomorrow

Cherished Memories

We've been on holidays. We were invited to a wedding in Kingscliffe so we decided to make a road trip holiday of it. We love road trips!

We love road trips as you get to see different parts of the country side and you can catch up with wonderful friends and family along the way. So far this trip we've been to Blackwater, Burrum Heads, Maroochydore, Brisbane, Kingscliffe, Biloela, Moranbah and now we are relaxing in Bowen for a couple of days before heading to Townsville.

We saw some lovely countryside and then we saw some countryside pitted with coal mines- BIG coal mines. It was incredible to see the size of the 'dump' piles of dirt. They are man-made mountains. One can only imagine how deep the pits are when looking at these 'mountains'

The best part of this holiday, for me, was seeing cousins whom I haven't seen for years. It has been approximately 10 years since I have seen Blackwater Cousin. It was terrific to see her, her youngest daughter (who just bought her very first, brand new car, at the age of 18)and her partner. Even though it has been so long since we've seen each other, it was as if we've been in contact ALL the time. We just picked up where we left it, 10 yrs ago.

Seeing Burrum Heads Cousin and her Adoring Husband was just the same. The last time I saw her was 2 yrs ago at my wedding, when she gave me away. We have more contact as we are both passionate about photography and we are in some of the same photography groups on Facebook.

The bond that you have with cousins is subtle yet strong. I love spending time with them as I feel 'connected' and a part of a 'bigger' picture. My fathers family is quite large and I do not know all of my cousins which saddens me somewhat, however I am forever grateful to know those whom I do. I am an only child, so having a connection with cousins is very important to me. So much so, I have made a pledge to keep in touch more often with them.

Whilst in Brisbane we caught up with two Uncles and an Aunt. It was lovely to see them too. One uncle I have not seen for a very long time, I saw my Aunt two years ago and my other Uncle and his Wife I was lucky enough to see last year. I love seeing them as they remind me of my father, who is deceased. Not only do they remind me of him, they tell me many stories of what life was like growing up in the 30's and 40's and what my dad was like as a child. I cherish the times I have with these lovely people.

I will post photos when I get home.

We are off to have a lovely dinner on the water front.

Enjoy your evening

photo editing

I was asked by a friend to do some editing to an image and see if it can be enlarged to 16 x 16.I gladly did the editing and I have just sent it to my 'people' in Townsville to see if it can be enlarged to that size.

Here is the before shot

And here is the after shot

I straightened the horizon, darkened the whole image and darkened the marlin as well as added the text. I think it came up ok and my client, aka friend LOVES it.

I shall see how big it can safely be enlarged to.

The exhibition will be coming to an end whilst we are away. I have asked my co-exhibitor to take down my pics and hold onto them until I return. We are going to find alternative venues and exhibit them again!

Here are some of my favourite shots from the exhibition

'Do-Gooders'

I am certain that people have our best interest in mind when they say "Stop stressing", "It will happen when its meant to", "Stop thinking about it and relax", "Go on a holiday", "You're trying too hard", or my personal favourite "I know people who struggled for years to fall pregnant and they decided to adopt and then suddenly, she fell pregnant, naturally".

We are very gracious when receiving this 'advice', however deep down we want to say "Shut the F up! You don't know what you're talking about". In fact, I did say that to someone, and she got all indignant- I had offended her. How about taking a step back and wondering whether I could potentially take offence to the abovementioned comments???

I am old enough to know my body. I have been dealing with infertility since my first miscarriage at 18- that's 21 years!!!! If it was 'going to happen', it would have!

I've even had people suggest that we are 'stupid' by continuing with our specialist. "What's the definition of stupidity, doing the same thing but expecting different results", is what was said to us. I replied by saying that every time we go through treatment, things are changed and as far as I knew, the only people in the consultation room was my husband, my doctor and I. How do they know we are doing the same thing every time...?

Why do people think that we are public property, open to scrutiny? I want everyone to back off and not a say a word to me about MY condition and MY treatment. I want everyone to think whether I could take offence by their comments, rather than them getting offended by my replies.

Kerthump!

I thought we had nailed it this time. However, I have crashed back to reality with a big KERTHUMP!

The wait continues

I had my blood test Wednesday. We were up early and out the door at 6.30am as the nearest collection centre is 2hrs away. It was a productive morning as we did a little shopping at the BIG supermarket whilst we were there.

I was hoping that I would have received a phone call yesterday with my results. I was quite anxious and teary all day, all to no avail. TODAY will be the day.

I am still TRYING ever so hard to not analyse symptoms/ changes however it is proving VERY difficult. Expecially when Mr Fabulous comments on changes that he has noticed. EEEKKKKK.... am I setting myself up for a big kerthump?

The strangest change is this: 'normally' I dislike milk, 'normally' I only have a splash of it in my coffee (I like my coffee to resemble mud!), 'normally' the thought of cereal turns my stomach. TODAY I was looking forward to eating weet-bix for breakky. Go Figure! I practically inhaled 4 milky weet bix, covered in a heap of sugar. This excites me as last year, before I miscarried, I LOVED Cornflakes!!!

'Normally' at this time in my cycle I would be reaching for anything chocolate. There are three blocks of chocolate and a family sized packet of mint slice bikkies in the house. I am not interested in them. I want savoury stuff! I have been eating dim sims with chilli sauce every day for lunch! Last night I suggested to Mr Fabulous he cook a chilli chicken pasta dish, which he did! He added a fair amount of chilli to it and I thought it was wonderful. He however thought he was a tad heavy handed with the chilli!

The third deadline for the EOS comp is today. I hope all my friends managed to get some good shots.

Here are my five entries

As I submitted entries for all the briefs this year, I automatically get a 'box' for the EOS comp next year without having to submit a 'qualifying' entry!! YAY!

waiting

It has been 11 days since I had the embryo transfer. I have to wait another 4 days until I can get the blood test done. It is the worst fortnight imaginable.

I am tired, hungry, teary, off coffee (Yes I hear a gasp!)and my sense of smell is becoming more acute. These are all positive signs. However I am on an enormous amount of progesterone. For those of you who don't know, progesterone is the hormone that 'keeps' a pregnancy. So, when there are copious amounts of it sourcing through your veins, your body is going to think "I'm pregnant".

It is difficult to not analyse each little symptom.

It is difficult to stay positive whilst keeping one foot firmly on the ground to protect yourself from a big 'kerthump' when/ if the blood test results are negative.

It is difficult.

Only two more weeks of the exhibition. Only two more weeks until we go away again, for another wedding!

Here is one of my favourite images. Its called 'Cooleebah Reflectins'

Austin

Our cat Austin, is a half wild, ginger cat. His mother is a domestic cat and his father is wild. As a result Austin can be a tad playful! We have 11 dogs and all of them HATE cats. If they spot a wild cat whilst out mustering they have to see to it that the cat is, at least scared away. Consequently, Austin HAS to be an indoors cat. His 'wild side' however gets him into trouble and he has learnt to break out of the house. He has destroyed screen doors and windows, he knows how to open an unlocked sliding glass door and he has realised that if he worries the back door enough, by putting his paws under it, so they are outside and curls them up, he can pull the door inwards towards himself and OPEN it!!

There have been times when he has been face to face with 11 dogs, where each dog is shaking in anticipation to 'get him'. They didn't- to my surprise and relief. He must smell like us, or me for that matter as he is definitely my cat, and that must be the reason why the dogs left him alone.

Some would say that Austin is a spoilt cat. If I were to be honest, I would agree! I buy him toys ALL the time. He has everything an indoors cat could want really. That doesn't stop me from buying more though (gee, what will I be like when I have babies of my own?!?!?. His latest TOY, is a cat house with scratching poles. He was starting to ingore his scratching mat and decided that one of our rugs was the best thing to scratch his claws on...

Here is Austin on his new toy

He loves sitting on the top and looking out into the world! I am so pleased he likes it!

Here are two other shots of Austin, looking outside- love the reflections!! I played around with one of them, turning it into B&W- I love it!

WOW! It's been ages that I have had the time and, lets be honest here, inkling to write anything!!

So much has happened since I was last here too. I will try and catch you all up!

September was a busy month! I was away more than I was home. I went to Townsville at the start of the month for treatment. However, my body was not responding to the medication as we all had hoped so the embryo transfer could not go ahead. My Dr advised me of a technique that he had heard about whilst at a recent, overseas conference. Three professors from different countries vouched that this little procedure has proven to be beneficial for women like me. That is, women who simply don't fall pregnant- for whatever reason! So, I agreed to give it a go. It was a little painful and uncomfortable, however that is a small price to pay if I am succesful in falling pregnant.

After this little procedure I came home, as I and a fabulous friend had a photography exhibition (that is still on by the way!)opening night to attend. It was a great night!It was great fun, after the nerves settled! It was also very humbling to hear people talk about MY photos. I guess after awhile, familiarity breeds contempt and after seeing my photos so many times, I no longer 'see' if they are good or not. They become, just a photo. I have sold a few prints, which is exciting, howeever, that means that as I have received money for them, I can now classify myself as a Professional Photographer... now THAT is scary!

I was only home for a grand total of 22 days and in that time we had 3 lots of visitors! It was quite exhausting! During this time I commenced my medication again, hopeful that an embryo transfer could go ahead THIS time!

Also, during this time, I received my Canon Photo5 box and I had decided that I wanted to complete ALL briefs BEFORE I went away again. I am chuffed to say that I DID! I did however manage to lose/ drown my little people for the Scale brief within 1 hour of receiving them... They slipped into the mouth of a bromeliad! Luckily I had already taken a few shots of them out and about in the garden!

This is the image I submitted! I would have liked it to be more clear, however, at least its something!

I stayed with my best friend and her baby, my godson whilst I was away and I had a lovely time. Treatment was able to go ahead, so perhaps the little procedure I had DID do something. I had 2 embryos transferred 1 week ago. I have to wait 1 more week till I have a blood test to see if I am pregnant or not. It is such an awful wait! I analyse every little change I notice. Which is silly as the medication I am taking now mimic pregnancy symptoms! All I can do, is take it easy and rest! Which is not a problem as I have been very tired and very hungry for the past month!

Speaking of which, its lunch time!! Have a great afternoon everyone!

Life's been crazy!

Life has been crazy! Crazy in a good way, but crazy nonetheless.

A friend and I are putting together a photography exhibition! The Gallery manager wants it ASAP to capture the tourists still in the area. So, ASAP means opening night is Friday 14th Sept. We only had THE meeting with the manager 1 week ago! That's not too bad, really, however I go away tomorrow for treatment (ivf) and i don't know when I will be 'allowed' home.

In the last week we have decided on the exhibition title "Outback- through my lens" and we have started trawling through our photographs to select THE ones that we want on display. That is a harder task than you'd imagine.

We decided that 20-30 A4 images each as well as two poster sized and about 10-20 6*4, series type images, would fill the space nicely. I have selected my two images that I want enlarged and I have sent them off to a place in Townsville. I will hopefully be able to pick them up when I am there next week.

I THINK I have the 'series' shots organised. I have a series of four images of a flock of Corella's coming in to roost for the night; a series of eight of a cow licking her calf and a series of six of a wedgetail eagle coming in to land on a fence post. I, of course, love them all. I hope the viewers do too!

I also THINK I have selected the images I want on display. Mr Fabulous, who is my biggest fan, yet also my greatest critic, says that I have a great selection of images. Again, I hope the viewers do too!!

We completed our promotional flyer yesterday and if I do say so myself, it looks great.

Mr Fabulous has been away for the last few days. Sedan Dip campdraft, rodeo and bush races is on this week end. I would normally go for the races, however not this year. There is a nasty flu doing the rounds and the last thing I need, is to get it, on top of everything else going on. I have managed to remain well, despite Mr Fabulous and our closest friends getting struck down by it. I am not going to go to a place that will be crowded by sickies!! So, I have had a lovely few days alone. It is good for the soul to have some time alone and apart I think. Especially considering we live and work together, so are pretty well together 95% of the time.

Anyway, I am going to step away from the computer for a few hours. It seems that since agreeing to the exhibition I have not been too far away from here. As I am feeling on top of things this morning, I think I shall shout myself a few hours in front of the telly. Have a great day all!

visitors

Mr Fabulous' great Aunt and Uncle and their friends arrived with their caravans yesterday lunch time. They plugged their respective vans in to the electricity and made themselves quite at home out on the 'flat' (an area in the front of our house that is flat and gravelly).

We ladies chatted most of the afternoon, whilst the husbands relaxed in their vans with books. Once Mr Fabulous was home, the men felt brave enough to venture into the house.

I love to cook and feed people, so having visitors is my idea of heaven! I prepared some roast capsicum dip, my famous curry cheese ball and chopped up some pepperoni. Everyone tucked in and the ladies wanted my recipes!

Mr Fabulous asked if they wanted to go for a drive around the property which they all hastily answered "Yes please". They all piled into my Subaru and off they went. That left me in peace to organise dinner! I needed to organise alot as we were also expecting an electrician from the coast to arrive at any time. That meant there would be 7 for dinner!

We had home made chicken mignon, hot potato salad (not creamy like the traditional one), steamed broccolini, carrots and asparagus. You know that the food is good when everyone stops talking... well we ate in almost total silence. That is the best thanks anyone can ever give me!

The night ended at 12.30am, when we had finished the 7th bottle of wine! There was 4 of us drinking red wine, 1 drinking beer and the two ladies shared a bottle of white wine. In the end, there were 3 of us still up 'yarning' and we finished 2 of the 6 bottles of red! It was a wonderful night filled with alot of talk and laughter.

Today the electrician has been busy! I have new power points at the end of a kitchen bench, a new light over the dining table, he has fixed a wiring issue and replaced some old power points and light swtiches among other little jobs. He and Mr Fabulous are currently at our other property doing some work there. All this electrician wants as payment is to go 'pigging'. He bought a team of dogs with him and he is keen as mustard to go out later this afternoon and this evening hunting. We of course are very happy for him to go pigging as wild pigs are a bit of a problem.

Our other visitors left early this morning to continue on their holiday. It was a quick visit, however it was terrific.

Well, its been awhile. Life gets in the way of things sometimes. However you'll get no 'major' complaining here. My life is terrific.


Friday, Mr Fabulous and I went driving around the property early to check that all the troughs were full of water and that the cows were looking GOOD! We then went to town for lunch and to run some errands. After completing every job on our list, we hurried home to ensure we had enough time for a quick nap before getting ready for a party. We were invited to a birthday party of someone whom we did not know. I think I was invited primarily to take photos, of which I got some really good ones. (As I am knew to this, I do not know how to post pics, unlike my terrific cousin!)


It ended up being a great night and I believe we have made some new friends. We stayed up too late, which is something we usually do! Saturday was relatively non-productive as a result.


Sunday was a tad more producitve, not by much though. I did however use the new food processor to mix up a cake. It is delicious! Tonight we will finish it so we can start our 'diet' tomorrow. Don't scoff, its happening! I'll keep you posted!


I had a photo editing day yesterday. It can be very rewarding, yet annoying at the same time. I must get another external hard drive just for photos. I think this one may be getting a tad full!


New month tomorrow, that means a new daily photo challenge! Can't wait!

My Life

I think my life is awesome. I think there is one other person who's life would be on par with mine and that is my wonderful cousin. She lives on the coast and rides her tricycle every morning and takes photos- AMAZING photos. I really don't have to answer to anyone. I have one day weekly set aside for 'business' matters, the rest of the time is mine. I help Mr Fabulous whenever he needs, don't get me wrong and they are BIG days. However, in general, I can do whatever I want with my time. Its funny how life turns out really. I haven't always had it this easy. I've worked hard to get to where I am in life. I don't really have much to show for it though, but I am not the materialistic type. I do however have wonderful memories and friends. Some people may have a different opinion of me. I believe thats because what I have, I've worked hard for, so its good! I also like to wear nice clothes, perfume, have my hair done and I use fabulous skin care products. Therefore, I may give the impression of materialistic, but really I am not. My day begins with a plunger of freshly ground coffee beans. Every day I start with one of these. My indulgence I call it. I then check the computer, email, facebook, flickr, you know the usual stuff. I sometimes go for a walk with my camera and I love it. I really should go more often. I promised myself I would once the wind dies down. The southerley winds out here are hideous in winter and not at all conducive to a lovely morning walk. I then get to take photographs, edit photographs, upload photographs...This is fun, the taking, sorting and selecting decent photos. I may take over 60 photos in 1 day and only keep 2. I have become very picky and I scrutinise every single image and if it doesn't 'grab' me the moment I look at it on the big screen, its deleted. Simple. I also get to cook. Some of you may think I am crazy, but I love it. I find it therapeutic. I get into a 'zone' and I can block all other 'distractions' out and I can come to some awesome decisions whilst in the zone. I don't find cooking difficult, nor do I find it 'mindful'. Therefore, I can get into the kitchen, start cooking and solve all sorts of quandries. I also have time to spend with our dogs, all 11 of them! I think we have space and time for more, however Mr Fabulous doesn't think so. I know each one of their personalities and their barks. I know each dog's bark and I can tell the differences between each dog's bark for 'intruders' and if there is 'something else' around. Funny how you get to know the subtleties and the inflections of a dog's bark! I used to say that I wouldn't live and work with my husband. Now, I couldn't imagine it any other way. I used to say that I would never live inland, that I would always be a coastal, city girl. Now, I couldn't imagine living any where else. Funny how everything happens for a reason and you always end up where you're supposed to be. I am supposed to be here, and my life is awesome.

how times change!

I am excited! I received my birthday present, a week late, however its here. A food processor and bench top mincer with sausage maker! I chuckle to myself when thinking about how excited I am to try and make my own sausages! Gone are the days of wanting lingerie, shoes, diamonds and perfume... now I want household appliances!
What does this mean? Have I become disinterested in looking and smelling good? Have I become MORE interested in being a wonderful cook than wearing Versace and some diamond droplet earrings? It seems to be a trend however that as we women age, we want to spend our hard earned money on 'practical' items, items that have an intended purpose. I thought that lingerie and perfume and diamonds also had intended purposes, they're just not practical I guess...                                                                                                               

This is what happens with maturity, practicality reigns supreme over frivolity.

Well, as I said, I am excited- I am off to 'attempt' to make sausages.

My Frustrations

Let me premise this by saying that I love where I live. I am blessed with the life that I have, the husband I have, the friends I have. However, sometimes living in a remote, rural area has its downfalls.
I awoke in a fabulous mood today. I donned some comfy clothes, my walking shoes and I went for a 45minute walk. I came back into the house, made myself a plunger (my daily indulgence) and came to the computer. By this stage it was about 8am. It took 10 minutes for my email to open, Facebook needed to be restarted and refreshed about a half dozen times before it would open, Flickr took 4 hours to upload 1 photo and this website, well its now 1.20pm and this page isn't even open properly, but its allowing me to type now. Living remotely means that we rely solely on our computers to pay bills, order equipment for the property, grocery shop, and at times work. We don't get mobile reception, so its not like we can log on using our iPhones. Yes, we live in the 1% of Australia that doesn't receive mobile coverage. Our internet is satellite broadband. When the NBN (National Broadband Network) was first being established, some 3 years ago, we received a new satellite dish and modem and that was supposed to help with the speed of our system. What a joke! If anything, its worse. If there is wind, cloud, fog, rain we can pretty well kiss our internet good bye for the day. However, today is clear, sunny with only a slight northerly blowing. There is no reason for us to have such a slow connection today. As a result, I have had to fax a food order off to a supplier, that I normally email. I have had to ring people to see if they have received important emails from me. All of which wastes time.
Another frustration is that we don't have a permanent doctor in the town near where I live. I think that it is because the town itself is quite unappealing. There isn't much to do, unless you like to drink! For a township of approximately 250people, there are 2 pubs that remain open. There was a third up until earlier this year when a false insurance claim caused it to close its doors.
We have intermittent free to air TV. Since going digital, our free to air has been pathetic. As we live on a property and we therefore don't pay a certain code item on our rates, we were not entitled to subsidy for a free set top box and new satellite dish. We bought our own box and hooked it up to our Austar dish. Apparently, everyone in our district who has done that has the same issue with free to air telly. We ring the provider of the set top box and ask for assistance and we're told to re-scan the box and that is all the technical assistance we can get. They can never tell us when a tachnician will be in our district as we are so remote!
We cannot get our local electrical company to send an electrician to our property. We have been running our septic system by an extension lead now for 4 mths. I've heard that every time you ring to see when you MAY expect someone to come out, your job goes 'to the bottom of the pile'.
I am frustrated that people pay so much for beef at the stores when we only get an average of $1.80 per kilo. Yes, that's right- you read that correctly. We are in the only industry that has a product, that cannot request a price for that product. Imagine going into your local ice-creamery and saying that instead of paying the $5.00 on a double scoop cone, you think its only worth $3. Do you think they would say "OK, sure thing, here's your ice-cream."? No, I don't think so- yet that is how our industry works. Inflation causes the price of everything we need to run a successful cattle property, such as: fencing gear; water facilities; vaccinations; tags; veterinarian charges; freight costs, to increase however the price we get per kilogram has remained constant for years. Consequently, margins are becoming narrower and many people are going bust. Its not right and something needs to be done. But... how? Where do I start? Not having those answers frustrates me!

So this is blogging??

So, I've decided to join the blogging world. Where exactly, or how exactly does one start? Is this where I start... here in this funny little box? I don't really find this funny little box conducive to writing, creating something interesting that others MAY want to read. And then there's the question... what to write about? What should I say that MAY entice people to read what I have written. So, how about I talk about today. Today, the day after my 39th birthday. Today, the 22nd anniversary of my fathers funeral. Today, Wednesday 11th July.

Today we awoke to no water, again. I awoke to no water on my birthday too! There is something wrong with our bore. We live on the artesian basin in Nth West Queensland and we rely on bore and rain water. Bores are essential as we are cattle producers and cattle need water. My husband and our worker are 'puling the bore' as I sit here 'talking' to you! Pulling the bore means, lifting a submersible pump to the surface of the ground, from about 25 m down. These pumps have motors, pipes to carry the water and alot of electrical cords attached and are therefore very heavy. We have 2 submersibles, in case one 'dies', as this one has we can replace it so we have flowing water again. It will need to be sent away for servicing. It is always a tad nerve wracking when a pump has been sent away... "what if the other blows whilst its away?" That could be potentially disastrous! I am hoping that they fix the water issue soon as I need to finish a load of washing and turn the dishwasher on! Luckily, due to the extended wet season we had there is still a fair amount of water still running in gullies so the cattle will be OK. Plus, its winter and cattle drink less in winter, like everyone I guess. It's nearly 5.30pm and I still don't have water...

Today, is a clear, sunny, glorious day. Yesterday was shrouded in fog and cloud and persistent drizzle. We tried to truck some cattle to our other property yesterday, only to get the truck bogged due to the persistent drizzle! So, after trying to pull the truck and trailer out with the tractor, we decided to jump the cattle off and walk them back to a paddock close to our house. We'll have to wait for a few more sunny days before attempting that again!

Today, I joined the blogging world!