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!