Christmas Time

Merry Christmas!

Last Tuesday morning, Barry crawled up into the attic to fix the hot water.  Our hot water is heated through either solar electricity or through a pipe that runs behind the wood stove.  The hot water tank is outside the kitchen window up on a steel frame. 

Blocking out the flies

While we had the latter leaning against the house, I helped Barry block up the space in the chimney around the stove pipe to keep all the flies out.  Later in the day we had some guests.  The first was a man interested in buying the property at Brumby’s Run.  He arrived in time for lunch and Barry spent the rest of the afternoon giving him a tour Brumby’s Run.  Our next guests arrived in time for dinner.  Janeen and her daughter, Mirra, aged 11, came for a visit to look at the brumbies in the hope of eventually buying one.  Both mother and daughter fell in love with Sky, the brumby I helped to train for the festival at Jindabyne. 

Wednesday morning Kathrin and I picked up Jianne and headed into town for anther Beef Group meeting.  The meeting was held at the Johansens’ farm just outside of town.  This meeting discussed “drenching,” which is the term used for giving cows (and other livestock) de-worming chemicals to fight against worms and flukes.  The presentation was given by one of the senior government veterinarians in the area.  I am afraid I didn’t understand a lot of what was being said about the different types of chemicals and how to apply them.  Although at the end of the meeting, after a nice BBQ, the veterinarian dissected sections of beef and sheep liver that were infected by flukes.  I got to see the body of a dead fluke and that was very interesting. 

Our presenter dissecting a cow liver infected with flukes.

We could also see where the tissue in the liver was all white and hard from fibrous scar tissue that was due to the flukes moving through the liver. 

  After the beef meeting and the yummy BBQ that followed, we went back into town and ran a few errands.  By the time we got back from town it was getting late, almost time for dinner.  Janeen and Mirra had spent the day just hanging out around the house and getting to know the horses a bit.  Before dinner I started both of them on the basic ground training for horses.  Timmy and Sky were our practice horses. 

Playing with horses while trying not to crash into each other.

The next morning, after a quick breakfast, Janeen, Mirra, and I headed out to continue working with the horses.  Janeen and Mirra continued to work with Timmy and Sky respectively while I worked with Dakota.  After finishing up the basic ground work, Mirra and I mounted on our horses for some bareback riding in the yards.  We had fun trying to turn circles and walk about without running our horses into one another.  After lunch we continued playing with the horses and even did some more bareback riding in our new riding arena.  Soon after, Barry finished the crate he had built for the back of their ute.  So we loaded Sky onto the back and bid a very heartfelt good-bye to our friends, both horse and human.  

Mirra and Sky

Friday morning, Kathrin spayed Sprocket.  The procedure was short and the normally energetic Sprocket lay in a drowsy stupor for the rest of the day.  The remainder of the day was spent preparing for our dinner on Sunday.  Kathrin and I cleaned the house, both inside and out.  We tidied the veranda, and I mowed the lawn.  We also took the horses for a quick ride up to the top of the goat paddock to enlarge the small pen we had made earlier for using the goats in dog training. 

Frosting Gingerbread cookies.  Yum!

  Saturday morning we finished with our cleaning preparations and started on our cooking preparations.  I picked lemons, raspberries, blackberries, and blue berries.  We also made a quick trip down to Billy’s Cabin to drop off some more dishes and check to make sure the cabin was all ready for the renters who would be staying for Christmas.  After we returned to the house, Kathrin and I decided to be particularly industrious: we baked and frosted ginger bread cookies.  Earlier in the day, Kathrin had made cookie cutters from strips of metal.  One was a gingerbread man and the other was a star.  Now we rolled out the dough, cut out our figures, baked and then frosted them.  The cookies were very good! 

Sunday, Christmas morning, I woke early to start my dough for the dinner rolls.  I also made my favorite Crunchy Peanut Coleslaw.  After our meat had been placed in the oven, we hurried out to saddle the horses and muster the goats.  While we were doing this the first of our guests arrived: Desiree and Andreas with their border collie, Teddy. Andreas and Desiree then drove all the dogs up to the top of the goat pen, while we mustered goats.  

Mustering goats on Christmas Day.
Notice Bouncer, the small black puppy just turning to follow the goats.

Bouncer, one of our kelpie puppies, came along with us while we were mustering with the more experienced dogs and he did a splendid job of instinctively herding the goats.   This was a bit of a relief because we had put him in with the goats in the pen before, and he had shown no interest in herding the goats at all.  For working dogs, they either have the instinct to herd, which can then be trained and improved upon, or they don’t.  

Our Christmas Rainbow

Soon Jianne and Tulip arrived.  Barry put our puppies and Jianne’s puppies in for a session of herding with the goats.  Then we trotted our horses back to the house.  After all the animals had been put away, everyone gathered on the porch to chat.  Lunch was soon ready and we all enjoyed a delicious meal of roast, potatoes and yams, German potato salad, steamed garden peas, rolls, and coleslaw.   For dessert, Andreas had made his famous Cherry cake, which we ate with homemade ice cream.  As you may imagine, everyone was pleasantly full and feeling a bit languid and sleepy after our meal.  Some went off to take a quick nap, while the rest of us sat around the table and talked.  Meanwhile, Kathrin neutered Teddy, Desiree and Andreas’ puppy.  Later on Barry took most of our company on a guided tour of the paddock he had just finished mulching.  They also stopped by the river and went fishing.  While they were gone, Kathrin and I watched a Poirot movie while Desiree read her book.  We enjoyed a very lazy and comfortable afternoon.  By the time the sightseeing party had returned, the hot and sunny weather had turned into overcast skies with a light, chill wind.  Soon a small rain storm blew through and we got to see a Christmas rainbow.

Monday morning was Christmas afternoon back in the States, so I was able to Skype via computer with my family.  Then Kathrin and I had to go out and move the spider fence in the horses’ paddock, because they had broken through the wire again.  I think Sambo, the older black brumby, pushes one of the younger horses through the fence, and then when the wire falls to the ground; he jumps over it and escapes.  That is my theory anyway, since Sambo was the only horse outside of the downed fence when I came to check on the horses.   

   Barry spent most of the day preparing the tractor equipment for cutting hay.  Kathrin and I worked with horses a bit and did some simple puppy training, such as sit and heel.  In the afternoon some light rain showers blew in, so Kathrin and I watched a movie from the library. 

Tuesday dawned sunny and with a promised forecast of more sun.  So Barry cut the grass in the paddock at Billy’s Cabin. 

Cut hay

 Kathrin and I worked with horses in the morning and took a nice long ride on Joringle and Sambo up around the middle paddock to check the fences and gates before moving the goats into their new pasture. 

Paddy the cat helping Kathrin weed the garden.

Our afternoon was spent doing regular farm chores: weeding the garden, picking berries, collecting eggs, hanging wash, etc…  It is amazing how much time the small chores take up in our day!  In the late afternoon, we went down to Billy’s to plant in the big garden the pumpkin seeds that Kathrin had started in the windowsill. 

Wishing a wonderful Christmas Season to you and yours!

Jillaroo, Joringle, Dakota, and me.

With Love,

   Hana