I’m here I’m here 🙋‍♀️

Oh my goodness, October 2023 was my last post! Thought I would jump back on and try to fill in the massive gap since we last caught up.

We were heading in to dry conditions on my last post but I’m pleased to say we have received beautiful falls this year, in fact we have received more than our 2023 annual total to date this year already. There was some very wet weeks and a flood just after Easter. Apart from road and fence damage nothing detrimental came of the floods. Our paddocks are full of waist high grass at present, it’s been green since Feb/March, although just starting to turn now as the weather cools. We had some very cool weather last week but it has returned to mild for now, I sit outside in the sun as I type in a singlet and jeans only.

Nothing has slowed down here, our lives tend to mould into long days, short weeks and even shorter months. The list of jobs and tasks is never ending and always changing. We continue to oversee Ercildoune seamlessly with little interruption from the owners. Matt and Josh seem to have their communication styles worked out and Josh lets Matt run his days as he likes. The revolving door of cattle in and cattle out continues, forever putting mobs together for specific weight requirements and processing cattle coming in. Matt and I work well in the yards, we have our method worked out pretty well now and enjoy working together.

The kids are going good. Indigo seems to be entering her ‘tween’ stage early, God help me! She lives with enthusiasm and personality our Indi, always wanting to partake in tasks and so very social! She thinks fast and talks even faster. Lexi is her own person, not particularly fussed about her peers, incredibly ignorant and just goes about life doing her own thing. I’ve always said ‘Lexi is the cutest devil you know’! Ashton, my Ashy boy! He is growing so big and independent. He loves anything with wheels and even more so if there’s mud! He spends his days pushing something with wheels while blowing raspberry sounds from his lips to imitate the motor, riding something with wheels or watching something with wheels. He can even ride his bike without training wheels now. He’s my little shadow, he gets dragged from pillar to post some days but happily for the most part. We enjoyed Tambo and Blackall shows in recent weeks. Indi and Ashton rode their horses in the gymkhana at Tambo. It was Ashton’s first time riding his Shetland Zorro at a competition and he seemed to enjoy it. I don’t think he will be a horseman, perhaps mustering on wheels will be more his style but I hope he at least learns how to ride horses well. It’s such a great skill to have if you want a life on the land. Indi took out first place for all her events. She’s very competitive and loves winning, but remains very encouraging and humble to her peers. Lexi missed out on riding at Tambo as she was nursing a sore toe! The week before the show she was riding her motorbike when her foot got hooked on a rock and pulled backward under the peg..in turn ripping off her toe nail and cutting the tip. That Sunday afternoon ride resulted in me driving her to Tambo primary health centre then sent on to Blackall for some stitches and toenail removal. 6 hours and 320km later we were back home. She was very brave, only crying when she had the numbing needles! Blackall show also resulted in lots of ribbons. Indi competed in the junior stockmans challenge for the first time. This consists of a dry arena pattern followed by a campdraft type run where they are scored on different parts of each event. Her horse was a little difficult in the dry pattern, despite practicing many times at home, the environment and big sand arena was adding a bit of spirit to all the horses on the day and she didn’t execute a perfect pattern but got the elements right. She handled it all very well. Her campdraft section known as the ‘wet work’ was better and she actually won a 3rd for her efforts. I was so very proud. All 3 kids rode in the gymkhana….a bit of horse swapping and away we went. Ashton riding his little fat Shetland again and Dad running his hardest, they won a 3rd I think. Lexi was in the same age group as Ashton but was the only independent rider. She picked up a 1st and rode very kindly. Indi was superstar of her age group again, taking all firsts and winning overall champion rider. She was ecstatic, and we were very proud!

I still don’t know how to describe my job title or what my days consist of. Normally up at 6, heading to the bus at 7:30 and filling the day until I leave for the bus again at 3:15, get home at 4 and do the afternoon chores and then the night routine begins. Between 8-3:15 can consist of housework, office work, mustering, processing, fencing, washing vehicles, driving the truck….the list is endless. The only routine I have is the bus runs, anything beyond that can change in the blink of an eye. I enjoy the mix of work, I neither want to be in the office all week or working outside all week, so it works well for me.

It wouldn’t be a blog without mention of the Blackall house! It is finished!!!! Well, for the most part. We worked all through Christmas, in fact we were painting until 8pm Christmas Eve to get it finished. I had a call from someone I knew in Blackall about October last year looking for a house for a new couple coming to town. They were moving down from Julia Creek, he a stock agent and she a school teacher. They needed a place by Christmas! We really pushed hard to have it ready, every weekend and some weeknights to get it done. Although we didn’t have it done by Chrissy, they stored some things in the shed and house and agreed on early January. We finished the house at midday Sunday and they moved in at 5pm that afternoon. To say it was a big job is an understatement. The drive was the most challenging part, leaving late Friday afternoon, working all weekend and arriving home late on Sundays ready for normal work Monday morning. We are incredibly happy to be done. Although there is still a few jobs to be done up there at least there are good tenants in and they seem to be looking after it. This weekend was spent in Tambo on our block of land, profiling for our kit home due to arrive early July. We are looking forward to starting the next project, we anticipate it to be a lot easier than the Blackall renovation. Our plan is to set it up as an Airbnb on its completion.

I hope each one of you are keeping well and I look forward to your comments on this blog, I like to know I’m not writing to no one. 😄. Until next blog. ✌️

Outback Futures is a not-for-profit providing mental health and wellbeing services for kids, youth, adults, families and communities.

Looking across our yard from the front door to the sunset