Well rise and shine it’s morning. Time to get out of bed. I do not normally just jump out of bed wide awake so by the time I hit the kitchen, I am still a little sleepy nevertheless awake.
The first thing I usually do is to prepare the calf’s bottle of milk. I opened the kitchen draw and I look, and look again. Now did I put that dishcloth and plastic bags in there or did it somehow mysteriously appear. I gingerly pick it up and let out a scream. Hubby who I thought was sleeping peacefully enjoying those last minutes of peaceful bliss in dreamland is in the kitchen in under 7 seconds. I looked at him somewhat amazed that he was right there when I needed him and said, “It’s a rat”. Hubby looked at me now sure that I was quite safe as the rat had made a very safe exit probably never to be seen again. He turned quietly toward the the bedroom to get ready for his working day.
Now I had tackled the bats, and the snakes and the frogs but a rat, and in my kitchen draw. I examined the draw and found that this rat had worked all night. He managed to drag in two plastic bags, one dishcloth, one sink plug in a plastic bag and lots of big leaves with stalks of grass. He also decided that my wooden rolling pin was perfect material for his bedding and so he proceeded to gnaw at one end and created a small pile of wood shavings.
The day must go on. There was literally water everywhere. It had been raining for days and didn’t look anything like letting up. Even though it wasn’t on his agenda, Hubby decided to clean out the goat’s pen which was right alongside the chooks. The goats have a concrete floor but it was covered in old hay and goodness knows what else and I’d mentioned to Hubby that the hay seemed wet. Hubby discovered that both the goat and the chook pen had a stream running through them because the water was banking up behind the pens. The cleaning was arduous and long because the hay was wet and full of mud. After it was all out I cleaned the floor with a few buckets of water. As I bought the fresh hay up Hubby said, “No more hay into that pen. It has to go in the outer yard”. I understood as I observed the mountain of mud and hay he had extracted earlier from off the concrete. Hubby dug a drain at the back of the pens and that seemed to do wonders. It drained all the extra water away. I let the chooks out to free range and they were as happy as anything just wandering all over the place. They had quickly learnt to go down to the dog’s pens and pick up any spare feed they could find there. And I would see them scratching around in the hay where the horses had fed. It seemed like they’d do anything to get a free feed. It is a bit of a guessing game to find the eggs but my red chook gave the hiding place away when she cackled so loudly after laying her egg. I found nine beautiful eggs.
I feed the horses at the front gate and some days there is up to 13 horses, mares, fillys and geldings to feed. I premix my feed in a bucket and all of their feed bins are lined up in a row. I go on the quad and they hear it coming and race to greet me. I then ride from bin to bin placing a scoop in each one. It sounds easy but it is actually an art because if you know anything about horses you will know there is a pecking order and if they are going to fight it will be over their feed. I am at the top of the pecking order and so I have to be in control and carry out this operation with a minimum of fuss and make sure everyone gets fed and no one is hurt ie they kick and bite to establish their order. It works quite well but I find it is much easier to divvy out hay. They seem to just feed in a line with the hay.
I did mix a bottle of calf’s milk very early but with my ratty episode the baby seems to be overlooked. After getting some lucerne chaff in a bucket, Annabella, my Maltese/Shitszu and I head off down towards the cattle yards. Generally I can’t see them so I call out. They call out back to me and then always the red one, my baby comes prancing up to me. She loves her bottle of milk and eagerly gobbles it all down so quickly that she has a little cough at the end. There are two more black poddys there and they amble up as if they have all day. I place their lucerne in the feed bin and they jostle a bit for the best of it but generally they share quite well.
While the poddys are feeding, I ride off to feed the stallions. Today Hebron is not in but I see him up the lane way a bit with his head through the fence line. I call him but he doesn’t come. When I get close I see he has his mane caught in the barbwire. Obviously he had been trying to get free as his mane was full of knots. I cut his mane a little and he pulls back and is free. It does worry me that he got caught but I’m thankful it’s not his leg and he is not injured.
So the morning jobs are finished and I need to get back up to the hut and make morning tea. I have become very proficient at making pikelets (simply because I don’t have an oven). I can make any variety you like sultana, pineapple, coconut, ginger and today it is, coconut. The ones I make are gluten free, dairy and sugar free but they taste absolutely delicious and when we lather them with pure bush honey well, it’s just yum, yum, yum!! Hubby comes in on time and normally just as they come out of the pan. He doesn’t use a watch but miraculously just arrives at the right time for every meal.
The day is very bleak with continual showers but as afternoon draws near, the atmosphere has lifted a bit and the showers are intermittent. I decide to take the goats up to where Hubby is snigging logs. Jacob and Leah are very happy to see me after a very wet day. Their concrete pad is clean but their yard is just a bog. Annabella is with me and she rides in the basket in the front of the quad. (Much to my dismay she fell out twice yesterday when I went over a big bump. She wasn’t hurt but just a little surprised to be on the ground so unceremoniously) When we are going out somewhere, Jacob and Leah always trot along behind me and they bleat the whole way. So off the four of us went. I don’t travel fast so they keep up well. With Jacob and Leah I never have to wait for them when I go through a gate. They either go round it, through it or under it.
When we get up to where Hubby is, he is nowhere to be seen. I can hear the sound of the tractor and at one stage Leah and I heard him talking. Soon we hear the sound of the tractor, the motor gently throbbing away. As he draws closer, I see he is towing a couple of iron bark logs. He unhooks the logs from the back of the tractor and with the chainsaw begins to put a slit from end to end in each one ready to debark. By the time he finishes the rain begins to pour down. I am sitting up on the tractor out of the rain and Hubby hops in the Cruiser. Jacob and Leah are running around bleating and seemingly worrying about getting wet. Annabella scurries underneath the quad bike. I call out to the goats and they see me and Jacob tries to come up but I didn’t think that was such a good idea. Eventually they crawl under the tractor to keep dry.
When the rain stops Hubby begins to debark the logs. Jacob and Leah ever curious hop up on the log with him looking like they are the professionals and of course they are there to help. But this doesn’t last for long as they find some more wattle leaves to chew. Dark is closing in so I decide to head for home. Annabella hops in her basket and I start up the quad. As soon as I do this Jacob and Leah’s heads go up and we are a foursome as we say goodbye to Hubby and travel off down the road. This time however, Jacob and Leah are in front. They always travel in front going home and don’t bleat.
We get back home just on dark. I put Jacob and Leah in their bed for the night, make sure all the chooks are up on their roost and locked in safely. I then check my poddys give them another bucket of lucerne chaff and shut their gate (which doesn’t mean a whole lot). Poddys have a way of getting into mischief by walking through fences. Annabella and I head for the hut and I hurriedly prepare the evening meal tired but happy that together Hubby and I have done another ratty, but honest day’s work. Thank you God for looking after us today.