Cade, on his birthday... not much changed in 10 years, other than a bit more grey in the muzzle.

A cute one of Veri-airy-blueberry

And a less well shot but far more accurate picture of what they usually look like. ;-p

As far as why there's no pictures of our herding workshop weekend... it's because I ended up sick and didn't go. The highlight of the weekend though, I picked up a new Aylesbury drake - they're a very rare breed and he's the nicest boy I could hope for so tickled pink with him. Note to self: stay away from expo fundraiser hotdogs... :-(

Happy 10th Birthday CADE!

My Italian Greyhound, Cade, turned 10 years old the other day. He was a real firecracker of a pup, dubbed Johnny Rotten by his breeder.

(Cade, age 5 weeks)
He totally demolishing everyone's idea of IG's being timid little creatures by plowing into the middle of everything with gusto, enthusiasm and an absolute certainty the world was his oyster.
(Cade, his first day home)
He is way too smart for my own good and born with endless energy to enact his ideas... his hijinks in his younger days were legend, many and varied. He remains absolutely full of himself, though thankfully his stunts have mellowed with the years, though he's sure to be the one and only Cade for many years to come. ;-)

(Cade, Okemos, 2003)
Happy birthday old man!

The Gardening & Rare Plants Expo

This is shaping up to be a good weekend... herding workshop Sunday of course but also *drumrolls* The Gardening & Rare Plants Expo at Tesselaar in Silvan!

Check out the stallholders listings and the talks and everything else... doesn't it look fabulous!
http://www.gardeningandrareplants.com.au/about.shtml If you're into gardening and plants there's not a better place to be this weekend!

Wombat herding...

...is probably not something anyone would want to try.

First of all because I suspect the local version of the DNR would be dreadfully unamused. Second of all because the wombat in question was unamused. And third of all because Mr. Talbot's cows were also unamused and I've no fond delusions how it'd turn out should they come after the wombat and I be in the way...

To be fair I certainly didn't intend to herd a wombat. I really can't think why anyone would want to herd one either for that matter. I'd assumed that what Hope and Veri were so interested in the tall grasses near the dam was probably nothing more fascinating than duck poo until I saw both dogs circle the spot uncertainly, sniff, sneeze and look up at me with twin baffled expressions whereupon I spotted their unlikely "sheep".

The wombat decided perhaps it'd best take it's dinner elsewhere and made a steady amble for the fence-line. The dogs looked up at me clearly wondering what the heck weird kind of sheep I'd brought them out to! Veri sneezed again and seemed to be thinking, "Those crazy Texal ewes were bad enough but mum's gone off the deep end this time..." I told them to leave it and watched as the wombat barely wriggled it's rump loose from under the lowest line of barbed wire, only to run straight into Mr. Talbots cows. The cows took one look at the furry brown intruder and circled up to it sure that it was out to get their babies. The poor wombat by now decided it had absolutely enough and for a furry, brown, brick-shaped tank managed a surprisingly fast clip for the back paddocks where it could eat in peace!

After wavering back and forth between entering my chooks in a local show and doing herding I finally decided to go with the herding workshop - so yippie, Veri and Hope are off to Beloka on the 24th of February! Will be interesting to see how Veri does off my property. She is keen on them here (read: completely and utterly obsessed) but is still at times quite shy in public and the atmosphere at the workshops is usually quite charged given all the dogs not understanding the concept of "waiting turns" and wanting to get off their tethers and to the stock! I know Martin and Hutch are going as well... Amanda if you're reading are you taking Leo or Kinta?

One of the great bonus of having neighbors with horses... your child can pet them to his hearts content and you don't have to pay for feed bills, farriers, shoeing, tack, floats etc etc etc. *VBG*
This little black pony is a "companion" to their other (full sized) gelding and he is a typical pony - generally sweet but nosey and just a little pushy and spoilt. La is in LOVE!

We've also had an EXPLOSION of imaginative play... blocks become drums, roads, mobile phones and hats and many of his plush animals are taking "naps" wrapped up in "blankets". He built his first 'blanket and cushion fort' (okay, so he called it a crate... same thing really...) and oodles more I can't remember because I'm absolutely brainfried.

And we've entering into the phase of I Can Do Anything That's Everything All On My Own! Breakfast alone brought "I can pour my own drink from my pitcher and I will only drink from a regular glass - no sippies!" and "I can make my own jam toast mum! I will fetch the bred, jam, kiddie knife and make it all by myself!" Gotta love it... and it's also introduced, "...and you can fetch your own rag and wash up the mess!" ;-) Two years and three months is a Very Good Age!

Murphy's Birthday. I swear that's what yesterday was! Okay, so it was MINE but Murphy owned the day really! ;-p

First thing in the morning, the gas is gone because the gas company hasn't been out to refill like they were supposed to. Then most of the morning was spent on Cade's abcess. The evening before he was outside and we heard him yelp and his muzzle had a little lump , so we figured he'd found a wasp and had gave antihistimine. By morning his lips and underside of the throat were huge and later it burst... so an abcess. Maybe a spider or maybe one of the Copperheads? Poor guy was very patient while it was cleaned out and treated but yerg! I am simply refusing to look at the vet bills... just handing the card over! LOL To top the day off, my car simply refused to start when I went to pick Nic up. So Nic had to go to work via taxi (ow, my aching pocket book) and as the mechanic couldn't fit the battery till the 13th he's stayed over with a work-mate and we're on our own till tomorrow.

Today was nice though. A lovely sunny day spent puttering around with kidlet, puplets (minus Cade, firmly planted on his cushion) and chooks doing some gardening. We got a nice surprise in that Jamie came over again to recheck measurements on the garden and get samples for some that have stumped them! So a fellow he knows who is also expert in ID is going to come over. Also noted several that were rare/heritage varities and talked about propagating them (*dance*) and incorporating bush tucker etc. Yippie, yippie, yippie!

Sketches and such

Just a quick post to anyone intersted... as a bit of an add on to the 'art' bit in the last post I decided to scan and put up some of my doggy sketches and a statue I painted of Sierra. I have heaps more to scan as time (and toddler) allows but for now, Sketchy Memories (DH came up with the title, cute eh?) is at http://sketchymemories.blogspot.com/ with a few anyhow.

The garden fellow I'd contacted and who assessed the garden a few weeks back came back out yesterday. The initial step is to chart the entire garden, get accurate measurements of the layout and identify all the significant trees with a full report on each etc.

One very cool thing is that he mentioned a number of the trees were not only historically significant (came up last time) but that some of them were a bit rare and well worth propagating and he'd be happy to help show me how. So cool!!!

The other week on AB there was a thread about "what I want to be when I grow up" the gist of my answer being:
* dog trainer (but more on line of consulting behaviourist style and as I mentioned last year the qualifications I'd prefer to do for it are overseas... natch!)
* farmer-but niche/hobby farmish. I'm moving towards at a good clip even if I'd prefer to have the thousands of dollars of disposable income to do it all yesterday instead of as we can afford it. IE Sheep, farm gate veggies/fruits/eggs, lambs/wool, chickens/fertile settings/young birds and sale of breeding quality adults etc
* something to do with gardens - intending to be sort of an extension of "want to be a farmer-but-not-a-real-one" thought, most likely small scale production of cottage garden plants and herbs
* and one I'd had in the back of my mind for quite awhile but never seriously pursued would be fine arts courses with the end goal being focused on sculpting/casting bronze garden sculptures and animal portraiture as I've never had classes but enjoy sketching and such and there is plenty of space for a small studio nestled in the garden.

I know several people reading who will be grinning and shaking their heads ruefully, "all this time and you still don't know what you want to do, do you?" But I think the reality of it is I don't see why I have to pick. I've got lots of time, so why not do them all? They're all small scale and complimentary. So (and here's where this ties in to the garden fellow bit) it's super neat that through renovating my garden I'll also be furthering the realization of these goals. It's interesting how things unfold opportunities you hadn't seen isn't it?

My little big man is sporting a haircut after I finally decided it was way too long and he needed it. I'd kept the whispy baby hair natural for as long as possible but it was definitely time. Gods bless thinning sheers, they are hard to screw up with even with a very wiggly, bouncy toddler grabbing them every two seconds as you're cutting! LOL

He's sprouted too... he's still a shrimpy scrawn-ball compared to many other kids his age but he's definitely longer and less rolly-polly and turning into a regular chatterbox picking up 2-4 new words every day which combine with the other few hundred words to rapid fire most of the day non-stop. ("Poo" still remains the most frequently used though... charming!)

The playgrounds are definitely getting a work out now... climbing - ropes, rock-walls, ladders etc is very popular. Anything he can hang off of with his hands and swing on. Standard swings, tyre swings, anything that can be pushed, moved or launched off of. He's either going to be a gymnist or a cat burgler I swear!

This is my favorite bit of little boy-hood though, watching his relationship with the dogs.

Even the old, sun-loving codgers... ;-)