Ok so I have been trying to write this post for almost 2 weeks now! Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry! I have been busy... Hold it! That isn't exactly the truth. I haven't been able to write, I guess writers block set in and wont go away.
So here goes back a few days when I actually got something written! WOW!
A little late I know. But I couldn't really help it, so much has happened since that day.
Ok I guess I will start with Christmas Eve. We had planned to go and use our movie vouchers that we got last Christmas before they expired. We all got ready and got everything done early and set out. It wasn't far down the road that the car started slowing and soon we were sitting on 80 kph (which is about 40 mph) and then stalled, I don't know much about cars but automatics are pretty hard to stall, and apparently it takes more than bad driving to do so.
Anyway we never got to the movies. We had a rest day instead, well all except Dad who was working really hard to get the car going again before our long drive the next day to our Grandparents place. The car wasn't going to work so Pop drove up and took us down and also dropped our present off :) it was a barbecue!!! We had one but it was about ready for the junk yard.
It was a pretty good day, we got to see all our cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents. There were a few down points of the day, like I had a pretty bad headache and that every time I turned around one of my cousins were talking about what "Santa had got her". I'm sorry to offend any one but I hate 'Santa'. I mean how could parents lie to their kids like that! And how are the kids going to feel when they find out that 'Santa' was just a big lie their parents had fed them? I don't know about you but I would never trust my parents again, I would constantly be asking my self "what else are they lying about?".
Ok enough about the bad side of my day :P. A good point! My aunts and uncles finally figured out that me and my sisters don't want skimpy little dresses but real things, like things for our glory boxes and finally someone found out that I want to write, not play with make up, and gave me a heap of folders and pens and note books :D.
On Saturday we rested. How come life is sooo tiring?!?!
Sunday we went back to Cudgewa and visited our friends. What a wonderful day! We didn't have to be dressed up we just went as we were and got to play games and have real fun, while our parents talked.
Sunday was also the day when my Dad got a text from our boss. They had a disagreement and Dad told our boss that he has 4 weeks to find another person to milk because we were leaving. The last year has been a real struggle to live here, we don't have enough money at any one time and our boss hasn't been very nice and one thing led to another and that text was the straw that broke the camels back... So anyway we have been frantically packing and moving boxes as fast and as much as we can.
And during this time we found time to lend a helping hand to our neighbors just over the hill who got almost completely burnt out by the fires. They have no feed for their cattle so they are having to agist their cattle out to farmers. At our old farm we have about 50 cattle on a lot of land with a lot of feed, so we offered for them to put some of their cattle on our property. Some of the cattle were burnt, it was horrible to see. One funny thing was though, when the cattle got off the truck their heads went straight to the ground the eat, they hadn't eaten well for about two weeks and they looked very content.
There has been so much else going on around here but I don't have to time right now to say everything. I will try get the photos of the fires up soon, I tried today but for some strange reason the storage card that they are on wont work. Ahh the joys of technology
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Fire De-briefing party, Christmas Eve, and tomorrow is Christmas!!!
Ok I think I may have mentioned on Facebook that we went to a de-briefing party on Wednessday night. Basicaly it was a barbeque with lots of people I didnt know talking about their expieriences in the fire. There were some people from the country fire authority (CFA) and some people from the rural lands protection board and some from the department of primary industries (DPI), and SOME from Red Cross. We got told all about the loans you can get if you had damages to your property or house, and the money that the Government is giving out. We got heaps of pamflets and papers. And we talked to a Red Cross lady, who (bless her heart, lol) told us all about how there is going to be stress about the fire and that if we feel a bit depressed that we should talk to our friends and let all our frustrations out on Facebook. I just kept smiling and thinking "Stress from this? You have got to be kidding! The stress of every day life is bad enough, the fire was just a bit of fun and excitment for a day!" I mean, yeah its hard to see all the damages and hear of all the devestation others have gone through but right now I am so tired of hearing "oh I am sooo sorry about the fires, are you guys ok?" I am so tired of talking about the fires and hearing about them. I am sorry if I sound angry but I am frustrated about it all and I am sick of people being pathetic, one person was in tears because she thought I was in a bit of shock (by the way I was just a bit bored and wanted to be alone).
A Christmas Eve post
So its Christmas Eve, wow this year has flown! I dont have much time to write much at all because we are going to Albury today and I have no idea when we will be back, so I thought I would put the song Christmas Shoes here :) I dont have the video so you will just have to put up with the words.
It was almost Christmas time
There I stood in another line
Trying to buy that last gift or two
Not really in the Christmas mood
Standing right in front of me
Was a little boy waiting anxiously
Pacing around like little boys do
And in his hands he held
A pair of shoes
And his clothes were worn and old
He was dirty from head to toe
And when it came his time to pay
I couldn't believe what I heard him say
Sir I wanna buy these shoes for my Momma please
It's Christmas Eve and these shoes are just her size
Could you hurry Sir?
Daddy says there's not much time
You see, she's been sick for quite a while
And I know these shoes will make her smile
And I want her to look beautiful
If Momma meets Jesus, tonight.
He counted pennies for what seem like years
And cashier says son there's not enough here
He searched his pockets franticly
And he turned and he looked at me
He said Momma made Christmas good at our house
Though most years she just did without
Tell me SirWhat am I gonna do?
Some how I’ve got to buy her these Christmas shoes
So I layed the money down
I just had to help him out
And I'll never forget
The look on his face
When he said Momma's gonna look so great.
Sir I wanna buy these shoes, for my Momma please
It's Christmas Eve and these shoes are just her size
Could you hurry Sir?
Daddy says there's not much time
You see, she's been sick for quite a while
And I know these shoes will make her smile
And I want her to look beautiful,
If Momma meets Jesus tonight.
I knew I caught a glimpse of heavens love as he thanked me and ran out.
I know that God had sent that little boy to remind me
What Christmas is all about
Sir I wanna buy these shoes for my Momma please
It's Christmas Eve and these shoes are just her size
Could you hurry Sir?
Daddy says there's not much time
You see she's been sick for quite a while
And I know these shoes will make her smile
And I want her to look beautiful
If Momma meets Jesus tonightI want her to look beautifulIf Momma meets Jesus tonight
Have a great Christmas Eve! And God Bless.
Till next time!
It was almost Christmas time
There I stood in another line
Trying to buy that last gift or two
Not really in the Christmas mood
Standing right in front of me
Was a little boy waiting anxiously
Pacing around like little boys do
And in his hands he held
A pair of shoes
And his clothes were worn and old
He was dirty from head to toe
And when it came his time to pay
I couldn't believe what I heard him say
Sir I wanna buy these shoes for my Momma please
It's Christmas Eve and these shoes are just her size
Could you hurry Sir?
Daddy says there's not much time
You see, she's been sick for quite a while
And I know these shoes will make her smile
And I want her to look beautiful
If Momma meets Jesus, tonight.
He counted pennies for what seem like years
And cashier says son there's not enough here
He searched his pockets franticly
And he turned and he looked at me
He said Momma made Christmas good at our house
Though most years she just did without
Tell me SirWhat am I gonna do?
Some how I’ve got to buy her these Christmas shoes
So I layed the money down
I just had to help him out
And I'll never forget
The look on his face
When he said Momma's gonna look so great.
Sir I wanna buy these shoes, for my Momma please
It's Christmas Eve and these shoes are just her size
Could you hurry Sir?
Daddy says there's not much time
You see, she's been sick for quite a while
And I know these shoes will make her smile
And I want her to look beautiful,
If Momma meets Jesus tonight.
I knew I caught a glimpse of heavens love as he thanked me and ran out.
I know that God had sent that little boy to remind me
What Christmas is all about
Sir I wanna buy these shoes for my Momma please
It's Christmas Eve and these shoes are just her size
Could you hurry Sir?
Daddy says there's not much time
You see she's been sick for quite a while
And I know these shoes will make her smile
And I want her to look beautiful
If Momma meets Jesus tonightI want her to look beautifulIf Momma meets Jesus tonight
Have a great Christmas Eve! And God Bless.
Till next time!
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Fire!!!!
Ok so I never really imagined that this would happen to US!
It was a kind of quiet day, Mum and I went into town to drop Ayala and Sarah off at their jobs and did a few jobs ourselves, we headed home. The Murray Goulburn representative was coming today so we had to be back before 10:30 AM. But at 9:30 there was really no hurry. We stopped to take some photos of the big harvesting machines working in a paddock, and the piles of grain the had already collected.
We got back home at about 10 and cleaned up. The rep was arriving at 11. All was going smoothly. The rep arrived and I sat at the computer for a while, checking emails and Facebook before going to my bedroom with a book to find a comfy chair. There was really no need for my brother and I to be around while the rep was there. They just had to talk over money figures and plans for the dairy. We take these opportunities to read or sleep in my brother's case.
My book was really interesting (it was actually my sister's book from the library but since she wasn't there I thought I would read it). But I got interrupted by the door swinging open from the wind, when it got windy the door had a nasty habit of swinging open and the cats would get inside. I got up and locked it (that's the only way to keep it shut). About an hour my Mum knocked on the door. She told me there was a fire, it was nothing out of the ordinary there had been many times where there had been fires around but nothing ever that affected us. I expected that my Mum would tell me that Dad was going to help and we had to get water bottles ready or something like that. Where? is the normal question when that statement is said. The normal answer is usually the name of a place near here but too far from our house to be of worry.
This wasn't a normal answer! "Pine Mountain" is the big hill right in front of our house! There is the Murray river between us and there but that comfort was short lived when we heard the man on the radio said "On the NSW side of the river at Pine Mountain.". That meant that the fire was raging just about 10 to 20 kilometers North/West of us at speeds of 110 to 114 kilometers an hour with a strong wind blowing South/East. Complicated I know. But it means that the fire was going at about 110 kph right at us! That's when the adrenaline kicked in. Running on scared we filled as many buckets as we could with water, drenched as much of the house as we could until the power went out. Every now and again I would look up and watch the cloud of smoke getting closer.
By this time we had all donned masks, hats, gloves, overalls, cotton shirts and work boots. We looked like we were getting ready to enter a war zone. The wind kept blowing my hat off so I took it off. My hair by the end of the day was a mess from the wind.
Woolen blankets, computers, photos and water found their way to the cars and into the dairy, the place we had chosen to flee to just in case the fire took out the house.
The wind was slightly to our right so the first fire front flew past us by about 500 meters and just missed our neighbor's house, then fled up and over the hill and was gone, leaving the sides still burning. The wind picked up the little fires and turned them into a second fire front, picking up speed, it was closer this time but still missed us by heaps. It jumped the main road just outside our boundary and into our neighbor's paddock. The wind changed direction slightly and burnt through one of our paddocks filled with 100 hay bales and 300 silage. It was also wide enough to catch our neighbor's house. It burnt to the ground. There was nothing anyone could have done as the fire was too fierce.
With the fire still burning round the edges, it came down the bank and invaded another of our paddocks. Dad filled up his spray tank and went to take it on. He managed to stop it but it got away again coming closer by the minutes. Thankfully the paddock that it invaded next was all almost dirt, it fed on the stubble for about 200 or 300 meters stopping short 100 meters from our house. Fire trucks and cars came and went all day, I lost count. There were helicopters and airplanes going over almost constantly, getting water and dumping it on the fire fronts. Hundreds of tankers and emergency cars went by. We gave glasses of water out to men I have never met. I kept thinking it was amazing what people who really cared would do for you. One of our tractors had stopped, out of fuel, in the middle of the paddock two days previous, and a neighbor we hadn't met before came with his tractor and without being asked put a fire break around it.
That was the worst of it. We were on alert the rest of the evening as it was about 5 PM by this time. My Dad and brother filled Dad's spray tank up again and went putting out smoldering logs and fence posts.
We went for a drive around the district and it was totally amazing the amount of ground that got burnt.
We went to Tintaldra to see if we could go and get Ayala and Sarah from town but there was a road block and once you went through it you were not allowed back for anything! Ayala and Sarah stayed the night with friends and we drove out to get them in the morning, the road block was still there but since the fire danger had passed mostly we were allowed in and out because we lived there.
We were out of power for 2 days. My grandparents came with a generator for the house but we had to wait all day to get one for the dairy but ended up getting it hooked up only to unhook it again because the power came back on.
I have heaps of photos that I would like to put on here but I don't really have time right now.
I'll write more later today or tomorrow. That was not the end of the story. It still isn't as I m writing this, the fire, although presents no threat to us is still burning a little while away.
I have to go, till next time I post.
It was a kind of quiet day, Mum and I went into town to drop Ayala and Sarah off at their jobs and did a few jobs ourselves, we headed home. The Murray Goulburn representative was coming today so we had to be back before 10:30 AM. But at 9:30 there was really no hurry. We stopped to take some photos of the big harvesting machines working in a paddock, and the piles of grain the had already collected.
We got back home at about 10 and cleaned up. The rep was arriving at 11. All was going smoothly. The rep arrived and I sat at the computer for a while, checking emails and Facebook before going to my bedroom with a book to find a comfy chair. There was really no need for my brother and I to be around while the rep was there. They just had to talk over money figures and plans for the dairy. We take these opportunities to read or sleep in my brother's case.
My book was really interesting (it was actually my sister's book from the library but since she wasn't there I thought I would read it). But I got interrupted by the door swinging open from the wind, when it got windy the door had a nasty habit of swinging open and the cats would get inside. I got up and locked it (that's the only way to keep it shut). About an hour my Mum knocked on the door. She told me there was a fire, it was nothing out of the ordinary there had been many times where there had been fires around but nothing ever that affected us. I expected that my Mum would tell me that Dad was going to help and we had to get water bottles ready or something like that. Where? is the normal question when that statement is said. The normal answer is usually the name of a place near here but too far from our house to be of worry.
This wasn't a normal answer! "Pine Mountain" is the big hill right in front of our house! There is the Murray river between us and there but that comfort was short lived when we heard the man on the radio said "On the NSW side of the river at Pine Mountain.". That meant that the fire was raging just about 10 to 20 kilometers North/West of us at speeds of 110 to 114 kilometers an hour with a strong wind blowing South/East. Complicated I know. But it means that the fire was going at about 110 kph right at us! That's when the adrenaline kicked in. Running on scared we filled as many buckets as we could with water, drenched as much of the house as we could until the power went out. Every now and again I would look up and watch the cloud of smoke getting closer.
By this time we had all donned masks, hats, gloves, overalls, cotton shirts and work boots. We looked like we were getting ready to enter a war zone. The wind kept blowing my hat off so I took it off. My hair by the end of the day was a mess from the wind.
Woolen blankets, computers, photos and water found their way to the cars and into the dairy, the place we had chosen to flee to just in case the fire took out the house.
The wind was slightly to our right so the first fire front flew past us by about 500 meters and just missed our neighbor's house, then fled up and over the hill and was gone, leaving the sides still burning. The wind picked up the little fires and turned them into a second fire front, picking up speed, it was closer this time but still missed us by heaps. It jumped the main road just outside our boundary and into our neighbor's paddock. The wind changed direction slightly and burnt through one of our paddocks filled with 100 hay bales and 300 silage. It was also wide enough to catch our neighbor's house. It burnt to the ground. There was nothing anyone could have done as the fire was too fierce.
With the fire still burning round the edges, it came down the bank and invaded another of our paddocks. Dad filled up his spray tank and went to take it on. He managed to stop it but it got away again coming closer by the minutes. Thankfully the paddock that it invaded next was all almost dirt, it fed on the stubble for about 200 or 300 meters stopping short 100 meters from our house. Fire trucks and cars came and went all day, I lost count. There were helicopters and airplanes going over almost constantly, getting water and dumping it on the fire fronts. Hundreds of tankers and emergency cars went by. We gave glasses of water out to men I have never met. I kept thinking it was amazing what people who really cared would do for you. One of our tractors had stopped, out of fuel, in the middle of the paddock two days previous, and a neighbor we hadn't met before came with his tractor and without being asked put a fire break around it.
That was the worst of it. We were on alert the rest of the evening as it was about 5 PM by this time. My Dad and brother filled Dad's spray tank up again and went putting out smoldering logs and fence posts.
We went for a drive around the district and it was totally amazing the amount of ground that got burnt.
We went to Tintaldra to see if we could go and get Ayala and Sarah from town but there was a road block and once you went through it you were not allowed back for anything! Ayala and Sarah stayed the night with friends and we drove out to get them in the morning, the road block was still there but since the fire danger had passed mostly we were allowed in and out because we lived there.
We were out of power for 2 days. My grandparents came with a generator for the house but we had to wait all day to get one for the dairy but ended up getting it hooked up only to unhook it again because the power came back on.
I have heaps of photos that I would like to put on here but I don't really have time right now.
I'll write more later today or tomorrow. That was not the end of the story. It still isn't as I m writing this, the fire, although presents no threat to us is still burning a little while away.
I have to go, till next time I post.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
I dunno what to call it...
Well I was just checking up on my blog and who has been visiting. I kinda got really excited because there have been people looking at my blog from all over the world! There have been people from 4 different continents right here! And anyway I felt bad because I haven't been posting very much lately. So I decided to write a post. Now all I have to do is think of something interesting to write about, lol!
Why must catastrophes happen when I am writing a blog post??? I'll be right back after I tell my Dad that the cows are in the silage paddock.... Yup, his reaction was exactly as I thought it would be, a loud 'Oh NO!" and with out being told my brother got up and went and got in the car.
It seems that lately I have developed a talent for one of my least favorite chores... cooking... Or maybe its just the everyday practice.
I am kinda typing this post a little slow in between jumping up every two minutes to check on dinner. And the fact that I have the startings of blisters on my hands from riding my bike with wet hands doesn't help any. Ahh the joys of my life, huh?
Yeah I know I have mentioned this fact a couple of times in the last 5 posts but really its my blog I am allowed to write what I want, anyway back to the subject. 10 days till Christmas! I'm not actually excited. Isn't it funny...
~~~
THIS BLOG POST WAS PAUSED WHILE THE AUTHOR SUDDENLY REALISED THAT SHE HADN'T PUT ANY WATER IN THE CARROTS THAT WERE NOW BURNING ON THE STOVE. ~Rule #1 if you are going to burn something you might as well make it taste good (add honey to carrots).
~~~
Oh yeah! Isn't it funny how when you are a kid you spend your entire year looking forward to the 25th of December, and when it arrives you are so excited and happy. Then suddenly one year you just don't get excited and its just another day *sigh* its all kinda sad. You are supposed to remember that our Lord was born on that day but when you think about it, did he really get born on this day? or was it just a day that someone superstitious picked out of a hat? No body knows when he was born exactly and why should every other day be different, we are supposed to remember him every day not just on Christmas and Easter! Christmas isn't even about Christ any more, its about Santa and presents. And this fact is the sadder of the two.
Why must catastrophes happen when I am writing a blog post??? I'll be right back after I tell my Dad that the cows are in the silage paddock.... Yup, his reaction was exactly as I thought it would be, a loud 'Oh NO!" and with out being told my brother got up and went and got in the car.
It seems that lately I have developed a talent for one of my least favorite chores... cooking... Or maybe its just the everyday practice.
I am kinda typing this post a little slow in between jumping up every two minutes to check on dinner. And the fact that I have the startings of blisters on my hands from riding my bike with wet hands doesn't help any. Ahh the joys of my life, huh?
Yeah I know I have mentioned this fact a couple of times in the last 5 posts but really its my blog I am allowed to write what I want, anyway back to the subject. 10 days till Christmas! I'm not actually excited. Isn't it funny...
~~~
THIS BLOG POST WAS PAUSED WHILE THE AUTHOR SUDDENLY REALISED THAT SHE HADN'T PUT ANY WATER IN THE CARROTS THAT WERE NOW BURNING ON THE STOVE. ~Rule #1 if you are going to burn something you might as well make it taste good (add honey to carrots).
~~~
Oh yeah! Isn't it funny how when you are a kid you spend your entire year looking forward to the 25th of December, and when it arrives you are so excited and happy. Then suddenly one year you just don't get excited and its just another day *sigh* its all kinda sad. You are supposed to remember that our Lord was born on that day but when you think about it, did he really get born on this day? or was it just a day that someone superstitious picked out of a hat? No body knows when he was born exactly and why should every other day be different, we are supposed to remember him every day not just on Christmas and Easter! Christmas isn't even about Christ any more, its about Santa and presents. And this fact is the sadder of the two.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Sorry :P
So I haven't been very good at writing... It seems that every time I get to write a post something happens then I either get kicked of the computer or I forget or I have something else to do, anyway posting is a the bottom of the priority list right now. Maybe I will get more time in the next few weeks because this morning I got rid of all the calves that need feeding milk and I only have one! Yay, its great!
Kurt has been coming out every weekend now and he really is becoming a part of the furniture now :). A friend of us girls came out this weekend for a girly weekend and we ended up spending all the time watching movies and generally relaxing, lol :). We are getting ready because we heard a rumor that our Grandpa is making his yearly visits around this time. And now in a couple of weeks its Christmas! Wow, where did this year go?!
My sister Sarah and I had a stall at the farmers market this past Saturday, we stayed up till midnight cooking the night before and we made heaps of cakes, biscuits, and cupcakes. We were thoroughly sick of chocolate and cakes before the night was over. And with all the stress and a few half nights of sleep I got what my parents think was a very mild case of the shingles. Anyway we had fun and had a good day, we made about $30 which isn't really that much when you look at all the time and money that went into it... Oh well we have 13 more farmers markets to do in the next year, so we have to keep going on for now :).
I would upload some photos that my Mum took of my sister and I cooking but I think Ayala has her camera at work so, hmmm....
Well gotta go
God Bless all this Christmas!!
Kathy
Kurt has been coming out every weekend now and he really is becoming a part of the furniture now :). A friend of us girls came out this weekend for a girly weekend and we ended up spending all the time watching movies and generally relaxing, lol :). We are getting ready because we heard a rumor that our Grandpa is making his yearly visits around this time. And now in a couple of weeks its Christmas! Wow, where did this year go?!
My sister Sarah and I had a stall at the farmers market this past Saturday, we stayed up till midnight cooking the night before and we made heaps of cakes, biscuits, and cupcakes. We were thoroughly sick of chocolate and cakes before the night was over. And with all the stress and a few half nights of sleep I got what my parents think was a very mild case of the shingles. Anyway we had fun and had a good day, we made about $30 which isn't really that much when you look at all the time and money that went into it... Oh well we have 13 more farmers markets to do in the next year, so we have to keep going on for now :).
I would upload some photos that my Mum took of my sister and I cooking but I think Ayala has her camera at work so, hmmm....
Well gotta go
God Bless all this Christmas!!
Kathy
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