All posts,  The Bush

Two kids, one day

The first day of the Easter school holidays has seen our kids have separate adventures over 100km apart.

Violet spent most of the day at a campdraft being held at some sporting grounds 45 minutes drive to the south of our place…

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She was all spurred* on by the sight of glamorous women riders a couple of weekends ago. (No-one could possibly accuse her of NOT getting value out of those pink Dallas cowgirl boots, can they?)

(*Yes that pun was fully intended.)

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She had a blast riding Sandy around with Daddy (here on Trooper) ‘warming up’.

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Fair to say that Sandy was WELL and truly warmed up by the end of the day.

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Trooper was too, but not for the same rewards he had at the last event. He just couldn’t get a decent score on the board. Of course we understand that this is par for the course when one is campdrafting. We are hoping tomorrow is a better day.

Violet and Mr Incredible are spending the night in the back of the truck, in a swag, at the campdraft tonight. Father-daughter bonding time. Violet was beside herself in anticipation. Her father was just hoping for some sleep!

MEANWHILE…

Some 50 mins drive to the north of our place, son Dash was wowing his mate and family with his fishing skills.

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I think I could spot the glint off his triumphant grin about 10km away!

He caught three fish (more than anyone else in his party) and posed a la Fishing Magazine pose. His mate was happy to get in on the posing action!

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This catfish was still breathing in this shot which always freaks me out slightly. We discussed methods of cleaning and gutting fish most of the drive home.

Upon uncovering the hapless catfish from his plastic bag, we discovered he was STILL breathing. This is well over 90 minutes after he was caught. We both stared in amazement, Dash declared he COULDN’T kill it, and I didn’t offer to do it for him.. So he dashed outside into the darkness… I tried frantically to find a torch (always unlocatable when you need it) before running outside to make sure he hadn’t tried to run all the way to the river (through three barbed wire fences) with the gasping fish.

Once again he came into view, grinning broadly.

“He’s ALIVE! He swam!”

Apparently the gigantic goldfish residing in our big concrete water trough near our feed shed has company tonight. I have no idea in what state we will find our Miracle Catfish tomorrow (before Dash and I make our way to the campdraft and reunite with Violet and Mr I). But at least there was no bloodshed in my kitchen tonight. ( I’m not sure who was more relieved, Dash or his mother, at being rescued from killing and cleaning a fish. We are whimps, the two of us.)

The adventure ramps up again tomorrow. Thank goodness it’s all in one location!

I have something REALLY special to share with you from this event. Once I work out how to drive it properly… something I have NEVER tried before.

With that teaser, it’s ‘Over and Out‘ from Granite Glen.

🙂

BB

13 Comments

  • Helen G.

    Catfish are incredibly weird… from their looks to their innate survivalability. And Violet’s pink boots are so wonderful. Glad she is getting a lot out of them.

    Looking forward to more campdraft photos and your surprise!

    Helen

  • Kelly

    As beautiful as Violet and Sandy look in their purple and pink, my heart’s with Dash in this post. You can tell him I caught two large mouth bass last night – both returned to the pond to be caught again (or not).
    Kelly´s last blog post ..Shadow Shot Sunday #74

  • Nancy in Iowa

    Violet and Sandy are a beautiful pair! But your catfish story reminds me of the time Mom decided to take my sister and me fishing – with a bamboo pole and hot dogs for bait! This was in Florida – and I think we fished in what was really a big ditch flowing from the lake. We caught a catfish – but Fla cats are even uglier, scary spines, and nasty bottom feeders. None of us would touch it, so Mom rested it in the pail she had brought, with some water so it wouldn’t die while we were driving home – and took it back for Dad to take care of!

  • BB

    UPDATE: Miracle Catfish did not make it through the night. Clearly the trough life support system failed. A very sad fisherman this morning. Hopefully a ride on Pickles at draft will cheer him up!!

  • Connie

    Violet on her little palomino ….. adorable!
    I notice the ‘fashion’ for cow horses there includes roaching the manes? So many of the show horses have ultra long manes and tails …. the shorter tail and roached mane looks so SUMMERY and cool.

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