Hi all, firstly sorry for the lengthy time since my last blog. I've been working hard, had some surgery, got a super bug in hospital and it's taken a shitload longer than I imagined to bounce back. But HERE I AM!
First big bit of news since we last blogged is that (amazingly) I found Jeff's owner and they were happily reunited.
 |
| Jeff (aka Rocky) heading home with Sam, his dad. Is it just me or did he look really sad to be leaving? |
Lots of animal things have been happening. Baillie continues to eat cat food, which I promise her will make her ears pointy.
Roman (God bless his simple headed soul) continues to "help" me around the place.
 |
| Roman helping me bag dog bones from a friends cattle kill (he's guarding them - growling included) |
 |
| Roman helping me with a pile of excess donkey straw, which is full of donkey poo and probably the odd snake. It must have been warm. |
Then, he's also had his moments, like last week's hydrobath - and every other hydrobath for that matter. Roman LOVES the concept and attention of having a hydrobath. It's just the actual bath bit he doesnt cope with. He goes to his "special place" every time.
 |
| Roman visiting his special place while having a hydrobath |
And then this morning, I found him doing this...
 |
| Obviously trying to find out which came first - the chicken or the egg! |
SirLoin has left us - but not what you think. I had bought a new freezer, booked the butcher and then he decided he wanted to go meet the neighbours. Long story short, one of the neighbours fell in love with my little fence crashing steak on legs and they bought him from me for a sizeable fee. He is now living the Clear Mountain Cow dream living in a huge paddock with Devon, the world's largest Fresian steer.
Next one will be called Westinghouse and there will be no photos on social media!
Donkeys are fine, happy and healthy. They spend a lot of time around the house paddock due to grass being in lack of supply (sans SirLoin). So, I'm in the process of opening up another 10 acres of mountain for them to graze and hopefully exercise on. It's soooo steep in areas that I have never seen the bottom of some ravines. In the interim they are being very well hand fed (not without the constant requests for more).
 |
| Irwin helping me trim the driveway for a bit of an outing |
The farrier came a few weeks ago for a donkey pedicure.
 |
| Guinness sharing the love with Peter the barefoot farrier. Look how calm he is. |
Red Rooster has grown some lovely tail feathers. He is very friendly and comes in the house if the front door is open. Last week I was working on the deck and, who popped in for a visit...
 |
| Red Rooster is such a friendly and lovely boy |
And... I've traded in the SUV for a truck! A ute to be precise, a big black VW Amarok and I LOVE IT! It's only been a couple of weeks (I couldn't drive because of my surgery so MOTH got to break it in) and I can't fault it. The dogues had to get accessorised appropriately of course...
 |
| Dogues ready to ride in the back of their new ute |
Finally, a new addition to the family. Meet Mia the Manx. She has been with us for just three days and is still spending most of her time in the bedroom taking in the rest of the zoo. She is coping really well.
 |
| Mia ready to break of of jail at the RSPCA |
 |
| Mia the Manx is still getting used to the rest of the zoo here at Clear Mountain |
I made my best ever batch of pate yesterday (highly sought after).
There has also been many jars of various chutneys (mainly by MOTH - I grow and harvest, he cooks) produced over the past weeks and this weekend it will be lime time.
 |
| So, if I make lime marmalade and add a splash of vodka, will it taste like a vodka lime and soda? |
I've also taken up crochet again after many many years to make myself a granny blanket for in front of the fire. So far, so good. Being unwell has forced me to slow down and sit still a lot more than I'm used to.
Hopefully I'll be good to go in a few weeks when MOTH and I head off for a bit of a holiday. We have a zookeeper coming in to manage the animals.
Then it will be bushfire season and then summer. Gosh, 2014 - what happened to you?
