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The Boys are Back in Town!

2/27/2017

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Reuniting My Family

​I’d been (im)patiently waiting for this moment for three years.

In fact, this event fulfills a life-long dream.

Backstory
A few years ago, we adopted five Standardbred horses and trained them (well, they trained us) into a team and we tackled part of the Bicentennial National Trail together. The full story is here.

The bond between the seven of us was extraordinary. I grew up with horses, but living and relying on each other 24/7 over many months meant a unique relationship formed that would ultimately tear my heart to pieces. We were family.

A member of my (human) family was poorly and I felt I needed to be in the UK. Reluctantly the five horses were split. Stevie and Spirit went to one home, Charlie, Ned and Dom to another.
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(l to r) - Stevie, Spirit, Dom, Charlie, Ned. This is only a few months before we departed company.
Fast-forward three years.

During during those years not a day went by when I didn't miss those boys.

Returning to Australia, it worked out that we could have Charlie, Ned and Dom back. I counted the days.

Nine days ago today, we picked them up. Charlie needs more food than most. At 16hh he is not only tall but bulky, his big thick legs show no breeding of daintiness – whereas Neddy is a ‘good-doer.’

I fretted over Charlie on the eight hour trip back to our place. He’d not fared well and I thought he’d break.
​
‘Horses are far more resilient than that.’ Noel reminded me.
Here are the boys on their first day home.
Charlie hadn't fared too well
Charlie's last foster home didn't have enough grazing for him - the hay didn't do much either.
Dom had done a little better.
Ned had fared really well - he's a good doer.
I thought Charlie would break on the journey home!
Dom's a bit boney.
I watch Charlie eat every mouthful.
Neddy-boy
Charlie's lost his beautiful round shiny bottom!
The boys took a while to recover from the journey.
Their forever home.
My cowboy!

Amazing Transformation

The pictures below were taken nine days later.

We have great grazing and the speedi-beet is working wonders. After worming, grooming, feeds and loads of love – their eyes are bright and I’ve caught them doing the odd buck and head-toss with pure glee.

Do they remember us?
Yes. Ned has already rested his head just above my tummy and sighed with relief –  he used to do this on the trail after something scared him. He can be quite nervous can our Neddy-Boy.

Charlie talks to me. He only ever chatted when there was food. Now I call him, or just walk down to say g’day, and he says hello. Gently he rubs his head against me and breathes his own sighs of content.

Dom, well Dom loves everyone and everything. He’s the first to come to us, ears up, with the kindest face. He’d play with butterflies if he could. I call him little Dom, but he was a baby when we let him go and he has grown!

They are all so big – how did I ever hop on board Charlie!

They are at their forever home. Everyday, I hope to receive a message to say we can have the
other two back and reunite our complete team. I’ve asked and asked….

My life-long dream has been to own my own land with my horses. Of course, I share this with Noel who is just as happy to have our boys back. A good man, lovely horses, and a beautiful home - life's pretty good!

Everyday I smile, I’ve fulfilled a life-long dream and have my family back.

I need nothing more…
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Another Shed And Man-Eating Spider Dramas!

2/13/2017

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Serial Building-Dismantlers

We have another shed!

The theory was to put the battery-bank and inverter for the solar panels inside this smaller shed. I say 'was' as that has already changed and we now have a .... well, you'll have to wait and see.
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First we dismantled the American barn - it's sitting on our land still in bits.
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We took apart the hard annexe on this caravan - hefted down bit by bit with our trailer - then put the caravan on a truck and that now sits on our land - annexe is waiting to be reassembled as well.
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This was the latest idea (to house the batteries etc). We managed to convince Noel's brother, Colin (left) that dismantling this "tiny-weeny" shed was a good idea in 30 degree heat!
Colin was wonderful help and also defended me when confronted with a man-eating spider!

A rather large, hairy, heavy lump of spider was clinging to each wall as it was removed. Until finally, the last piece was lifted and Col and I warned Noel of this tenacious crawly!

As Noel lifted the last piece, the spider fell onto the floor and galloped towards Noel, how he didn't feel the vibrations on the concrete slab I just don't know.

Col and I tried to shout a warning, but we tried to yell as fast as the spider was moving and so we squealed incoherently. The spider leapt up Noel's leg and it was all too much for me. As Noel did the spider-dance, I jumped behind Col's back and more-and-less climbed up his back under his t-shirt!

After a few minutes we all pulled ourselves together and Colin and I gracefully took on board Noel's advice, 'it'd be helpful if you could yell a warning coherently!'

This shed is now waiting to be reassembled, but it maybe sometime, as we have another trick up our sleeves....  an item that is great for storage and part of our home-made crane!

That's all coming soon....

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Where We Live

2/11/2017

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Beautiful Brogo, NSW

Since returning to Australia we've done a fair bit of dithering on decisions on whether to build - or sell up - and buy a smaller block of land with a house.
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One of the many small residents - love the cute feet!
But we couldn't find a bit of land that came close to our diverse, character-filled land.
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While we dithered on decisions - it didn't stop us accumulating several (yes, several now) buildings. We then realised that we'd be daft to sell, it's so beautiful here.

​Come on a tour with me....
More of our antics coming soon - including making a home-made crane to lift a 600 kilo generator!

In the meantime - how am I going battling my migraines? I'm making progress, look here.
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House Sitting

2/3/2017

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Taking care of Pets and Houses - between projects

While we organise the build on our land we are house sitting in the area. We are starting to be in demand, but there is a down-side.

I am an animal lover - mostly I like animals more than I like humans, they listen better, they don't judge and they provide unconditional love. So I quickly adore each pet we take care of.

I also thought I was more of a dog-person than a cat-person, but little Bonnie (with a thick coat) thought otherwise. 
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At first she was shy, it took her a while to trust us.
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However, soon, she had me wrapped around her paws.
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She'd often ask me for something, and I'd follow her, thinking she wanted to go outside, but she'd reach the soft hallway carpet and flop down - it was time for tummy tickles!
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Not only did she endear herself to me entirely, we could also enjoy these blissful sunrises - so far we are unpaid house-sitters and I get so much pleasure from different animals.... wonder what/how many we'll end up with when we move into our house, once it's built!
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​Next installment on our new infrastructure on our land - are we serial shed dismantlers... and what's that? A ship's container?

Don't forget to check out my other blog - I'm doing an experiment to combat my migraines. Take a look here.
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