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I’ve been trying to capture this photo, twice before when we’ve had a full moon. But with a camera that doesn’t let me focus manually, I’ve had trouble in getting it sharp! This one, as you can see, is still a bit blurry, but it’s just a magic sight! When I took this photo, it…
School holidays is a great time for us to do the things that we just don’t seem to have time to do during the term… and some special things. The kids have been wanting to make damper for ages after hearing us talk about the way the old stockies used to, while they were out…
Well the shearing shed that we’ve had put into our machinery shed is now finished! Doesn’t it look great? We can’t wait to use it, so the next photo might be of some crutching here. But we’ve got a bit of work to do before that can happen. All the gravel area will have to…
I was in Esperance the other day and happened to be on the foreshore when this ship was coming into the port. I’d never actually stopped and watched the tugs bring one in, but since I had the kids with me, we stopped and watched for a little while. It’s really quite amazing, the way…
Together with That’s Life magazine, we’ve thought of a way that you can be included in helping write Blue Skies! If you head to this link you can enter the competition that we’ve got going for a farm name. You’ll have your name mentioned in the acknowledgements if I chose the name you’ve entered, plus…
Well, we got our wish! Holiday time arrived and two days in, we went fishing! I was standing up on top of the sand dunes to take this photo of Anthony and Rochelle getting set up to catch ‘the big one’. I think, by the looks, Anthony is giving instructions! We had a lovely big…
This bush caught my eye as I was hurtling down the road, running late for lamb marking! On the way back I slowly drove down the dirt road looking for what had caught my attention, when I didn’t have time to stop and look. We call these bushes ‘Black Boys’ (from the trunks what are…
We were lucky enough to be able to buy the inside of a shearing shed, complete with catching pens, grating, gates… the works. Having two farms 18 kilometres apart and only a shearing shed on one of them, makes life quite difficult at times and involves stock trucks carting sheep backwards and forwards at shearing…
Anthony went fishing at Thomas River the other night. Being a school night the kids and I stayed home, but with holidays coming up we’re hoping to spend a few nights fishing with Dad! It was worth the Boss’s while going to throw a line in the water as he came home with this six…
At the moment all the bulls are heading off on their annual visit to the girls! They’ll see who’s still there from last year and check out any new ones. This bloke is heading to a paddock with a some girls eagerly awaiting his arrival. We’ve been seeing the cows ‘bulling’ recently (which means, in…
I’m hoping you guys are going to be as excited about this as I am! Together with That’s Life magazine, we’re offering you a chance at an exclusive competition to be involved with the writing of my new book, Blue Skies. Keep an eye on my website and That’s Life’s website – over the next…
This is the finished version of our new dam! It’s huge isn’t it? All the guys have to do now is to run the grader around the bottom, smooth it all out and viola! It’s finished … And a PS: the dam was finished on Thursday afternoon and on Friday we had 18mm of rain.…
Dad was up pre-dawn to fly north for a couple of days, which meant he had to drag Mum out of bed. (There are no lights on the bush airstrip, so mum sits down the end of the strip with the car lights on, so Dad could see the end of the runway and be airborne in…
This guy is taking level readings to find the best spot for the new dam to take advantage of the natural fall in the land and maximise water collection. This thing that Graham is peering through, is like a pair of really strong binoculars. What you can’t see is Anthony, way out in the paddock,…
Well, the barley’s up! Its had a lovely couple of drinks from the rain we’ve had over the past week, the insects have been sprayed out, we can’t see any weeds … so this crop has had a good start. Now, it’s got a fair bit more growing to do over the next five months.…
About three and a half years ago, my friend Ned rang me to tell me she had breast cancer. I was stunned. Gutted. How could she? She was only 40 and had two very young children. Ned’s personality was larger than life and that was the way she treated every hurdle she ever faced. She…
Our ewes lamb from April through until early August. It gives us a range of ages and therefore we’re able to send lambs off at different times of the year. It spreads the risk and cash-flow! Lambing during winter can have its downfalls ifs a particularly strong cold front come through and there are lots…
See that red spot? Its my daughter off walking Rocket. I dropped her at the front of this paddock to walk up through the middle. It gives both her and Rocket time to explore, check out the insects that are about, or talk to the animals. The cows are checking out what they’re both up…
This is a huge piece of machinery isn’t it?! It’s a D9 bulldozer and it’s about to dig a great big dam for us. Last year was a terrible year, east of Esperance, season wise. We hadn’t had run off rain for nearly 18 months (that’s rain that will put water into the dams) and…
Some days its hard to describe the landscape’s beauty. This photo doesn’t look anything special, but the atmosphere during this day, was. The day was warm with little breeze blowing. The grey clouds were beginning to roll over, bringing with them the hope of rain. A neighbour was burning somewhere – bush smoke (at this…
We have a lot of Ibis around our two farms. They love getting in around the dams and putting that long, sharp beak to work, hunting out bugs! They come in together in huge flocks (I assume they’re called flocks and not mobs or ‘a murder’ (as in crows). They are so graceful and hang…