Tinkerbell has been locked up behind the house for a couple of weeks now as she has laminitis. She was therefore present for the birth of the baby who will love, master and live with her into her dotage. She just lay by the back door all through labour and didn’t call out for Baby or make a fuss about her confinement like she normally does as soon as the sun is up. Instead she was quiet, present and contemplative until Benjamin was safely birthed into her world.
Tag Archives: Tinkerbell
Waiting for Baby . . .
I was so sure that by now we’d have a baby to share with you. However, it was that little curly haired blonde girl who told me she was going to be a Virgo, 9 months ago. So since she is a boy, instead of a girl (presumably that means dark haired too), it is inevitable that he will be a Libra instead! Oh well, we need a bit of BALANCE in our lives . . .
Belly belly
It looks like the race is on between the two mad cows at Avalon . . . . Paddy is really ‘bagging up’ now and her udders are bigger than mine (close, but no cigar!). It’s a close thing who waddles more and who eats more . . . we both have our noses in the trough 24/7! Ged says now he knows how Daisy feels when paddy head butts her off her feed – I am scrapping for the biggest bowl and the leftovers now!! Maybe Paddy is waiting for me so Macca the midwife can deliver us both!
Clearing, Chainsawing and Croc infested waters
Ged has gone away so last week was mainly directed at him getting him all packed with everything he needed for a three week adventure in the far Northern Territory (sounds like hell to me – sand flies, sweat, mosquitoes and crocodiles!) and him trying to get lots done in the yard and house before he left so I wouldn’t throw too many tantrums about the lack of progress while he was getting eaten alive in the Gulf of Carpentaria. The logical question at this juncture is WHY would anyone want to drive for twelve hours a day over three and half days in order to go somewhere hot, bug-ridden and crocodile infested? It’s beyond me, but before I came along and he had a life (!) he used to go on these crazy camping adventures. This one is supposed to be a fishing trip but since fishing bores him rigid, I can’t quite see the point and neither can he, but plans long since made must be honoured so I am all on my tod again (already!)
I have been logically working my way through a long list of jobs and enjoying the silence and the solitude. Phee has been revelling in being the sole focus of my intention and getting under the duvet privileges again. I steered clear of the chainsaw until Sunday and then had to swallow the fear in order to try and tame the orange tree trim into something I could burn. By Monday at 7.30am I was wielding it like a pro and had significantly diminished the boughs into ash. Go, girl! I forgot how independent and invincible I am!
Even George has abandoned me as he has reached his monthly ‘cap’. He has done some amazing clearing work again. He takes that tractor where no sane person would go – he goes up and down vertical cliffs and while it often seems like we work for George, not the other way round, when I throw a mini hissy fit about some part of the farm that is driving me crazy (normally lantana related!) he gets to work to make me happy. The whole of the ridge coming up from Angle Creek was overgrown with 6 foot of lantana and now it’s all gone – thank you, George. He has also been clearing the big gully on the bend coming down to the house and I have grand plans that I haven’t shared with him yet for a waterfall and a dam there. I cornered him the other day before he disappeared for the month and asked him for a map of how he would want the cattle yards planned out as I was coming round to his way of thinking, that they could be relocated to the flat by Angle Creek (it is a natural mustering triangle – see picture below). So he showed me the clearing work he has already done so he can build a fence from the creek up the far ridge – cheeky bugger! He knows that if I so much as even sway from my stated position, he will get his own way in the end!!
Good thing I had my clothes on when he and Marcia turned up on Sunday lunchtime with a young bull and left him in the yards to wean from his Mum. Poor boy he lay in the very little shade all Sunday afternoon with tears streaming down his face. But he runs away from both Phee and me so we can’t soothe him. He has been very quiet and sad, with just some early morning roaring to remind us he is there. I think Tinkerbell is befriending him and if we can only explain to him that he is not in hell as he thinks, but in heaven . . . there are over a hundred heifers on the other side of the property – actually maybe that is hell . . . one poor lone stud and a hundred strong harem – no wonder he’s crying!!
The ‘C’ word . . . Commitment!
I have had lots of queries from you all about Ged so I suppose I’d better come clean. He’s 38, 5’10, blue eyes and a reasonable head of hair except the Prince Charles bald spot at the back (but he is definitely going to look like Phil before long). He is incredibly kind and sweet and loving and for some strange reason thinks that the sun shines out of my a**se (which, considering he works in the solar industry, is a real worry!) He loves Phee and Tom and the horses and copes well with all their unique foibles – Phee trying to shag him, Tom regurgitating fur balls with monotonous regularity at the moment, and Tinkerbell using every wile and cunning at her disposal to break into the feed (again!) Good thing I have one perfect Baby . . .
He has forsaken his Aussie meat pie and three dead animals a day diet and completely embraced my limited one. He says he doesn’t miss the meat, wants to learn to cook the stuff I cook and has lost weight and is looking better for the shift. At this point my Mother will be screaming ‘quick, don’t let him get away!’ and quite possibly getting straight off a plane from The Rockies and on a Roo bound for Down Under so she can chivy things along!!
He’s completely house trained – does the washing up, washing, pegging clothes on the line etc. He’s also a builder which is a bloody good thing at the moment and a farm boy which means that none of the realities of life on the land worry him one iota. In fact he has 400 acres just up the road. We met when he quoted me for the upgrade of the solar system here and during the long process of the purchase we talked regularly on the phone.
He doesn’t seem fazed by any of my foibles (burping, farting, scratching and snoring!). Someone revive my Mummy!
He wants the 4 C’s – commitment, chaplain, children and did I mention commitment? Now that’s one C word that I have an exceptional amount of difficulty with so I have been running around in ever increasing circles looking for a way out because it all seems too much, too soon, too unexpected. And, of course, having been single for so long, I am used to my own company, my own space, the solitary silence that I share with the animals and nature and the peace of the solo sleeper in the double bed . . .
Am I too old and entrenched in my ways to make room for someone who looks after me so thoroughly? Or do I just need to keep running a little longer til I realise that there’s nowhere to go, nowhere to hide, and that what’s good enough for the rest of the planet might just suit me too?
Luckily Ged (short for Gerard) is patience personifed because we all know I’m not! In some ways we are very alike but I guess in the important things we are polar opposites. He knows I’m a complete worry mutton, and he doesn’t (apparently I look very peaceful when I’m sleeping!) He knows I always have a plan and normally just fits in with it . He doesn’t drink very often (like me he had a battle with the bottle and can take it or leave it) he doesn’t smoke although he once did so snap there. He’s also a Gemini which scares me witless and two generations back his family on both sides came from The Emerald Isle (Catholic) . . . . smelling salts for my Daddy!
He insisted on taking me to meet his family this week which was pretty terrifying. His father is a blue eyed farmer whose family came from Kangaroo Valley so he great tales to tell and we had mutual acquaintances to discuss. His mother is a much harder nut to crack – wary, suspicious and assessing so I might have to get a spade and dig deep there if this goes the distance. Mind you she reads Maeve Binchy and Dick Francis just like me so the heart beats true! And she’s got the complete works of Banjo Patterson so I will need that spade after all . . .
Running, running scared . . . . . .