A Steamy Saturday…

It’s MARVELLOUS what a difference a little water makes…

We miraculously managed to get under some storm clouds last week – 55mm at the house and 20mm up the paddock. Better than a kick in the shins!

I was away getting more treatment (no chemo thank goodness) when it hit, and arrived home last night .  I couldn’t wait to get up this morning and see with my own eyes how our country had responded…

This is our house paddock – the foreground is where I use a sprinkler to keep SOME green nearby when it’s super dry.  And beyond is au natural… much sparser but still green.  I need to point out that we don’t normally graze our paddocks so short.  But we have had to keep a lot of animals close by these last few months, so the pasture has had a bit of a hammering.

But everywhere, you find these little sprouts of hope poking their heads through the soil…

This morning, Dash, Violet and Mr Incredible were moving heifers into a new paddock. These girls have been ‘growing out’ in a paddock to the south of our house.  They spent last night at the halfway point to their new abode.  You can see the kids to the left of this pic, and Mr I heading up the road to open the gate…

Here Stella, Diamond and Dani are working to keep the mob neat and tidy.

Here is Axel, not working. Being all forlorn that he is not allowed to go.

Aside: He tried to be a cattle dog a couple of weeks ago and almost killed himself.  I was in town at the time he decided to run away and join the working dogs – for a 5 km walk in the stinking heat with a mob being moved south. It wasn’t pretty apparently.  His enthusiasm (lots of bounding and being ALMOST in the right spot) wore off after the first kilometre. He had to be led the last couple of k’s and Dash had to hold his head above water level in a trough as they tried to cool him down near the destination.  He also had a ride home in the truck (first time ever).  Everyone talked with LOTS of exclamation points!!!! in the retelling of his adventure. They seriously thought he would expire. He didn’t. But he did wear the pads off one paw – silly duffer.

I just hoped he learned his lesson…

His ability to recall these lessons is in doubt though, so he was tied up til the ‘real’ cattle dogs were out of sight.  Watching him try to cool himself down from doing pretty much nothing confirmed my concerns … yes, that snout is BURIED in the bucket.

Sheesh… Great Danes are quite ludicrious.

You are a HOUSE DOG, you great galut!

I (also) am not yet allowed to be out working properly, so was assigned the role of truck driver…

Sitting in the air-con while everyone else melted in the humidity… tough gig!  It was hot, darned hot, hot and sweaty!

The dogs’ tongues were all pretty much hanging on the ground…

The humans got a little cool refreshment from the water bottle as we headed north….

It’s so nice feeling bright enough again to take photos of these moments…

I have really, really missed doing this… being part of this, and sharing it with you guys.

And soaking in that short carpet of verde… bliss!

I adore watching the kids work too – learning, getting into strife, getting out of strife, understanding the cattle and the dogs… and their dad! LOL.

This young man – who goes away to boarding school next year (!?) – never fails to entertain me. Wonder what he is pondering here?

Actually, I know. I showed him a mango as I passed them in the truck – incentive as we got close to our destination. Pretty sure he was imagining how it would taste here…

And here he is, in perfect imitation of his Dad, right hand on thigh, toes out.

Meanwhile Violet is doing most of the work. (tee hee)

Chimmy (Dash’s horse) looks like he is asking Diamond (Dash’s dog) to share the trough… He’s not.

He’s TELLING him… horse trumps dog.

Two horses totally trump dog.

But Diamond feels the heat almost as much as Axel.  She likes her swims. I wonder if the water tastes a bit ‘poochy’??

The heifers were keen for a cooling drink too… finding the water in their new paddock.

And Mr Incredible’s gorgeous steed, Trooper?

He had his third ‘shower’ for the day.

(Actually all the horses enjoyed a cool shower, and some reward time in the houseyard. Still the greenest paddock around!)

😀