Thank god for Uncle Woody

Poor Coco has been very sick with mastitis - thank god the pups are 5 weeks old and I don't have to take over any handraising. She is still determindly trying to feed them but it is obviously excruciating so we are trying to keep her away from the pups. They are eating like lions and thriving. Woody has decided that he will step into the role of primary carer and is found with the pups most of the time. Attached are some photos of them this morning...

City to Surf...and back to city again..

Well, I believe I said I fancied doing this 14km fun run about this time last year. After putting pen to paper there was no getting away from it so I lined up with 75,000 other Sydneysiders (most much fitter than me at the moment) for the hilly run from the city to Bondi Beach. As you can see it was quite painful by the end - actually it wasn't as bad as the photo makes it look. It seems that the way I think I run and the way I actually run are vastly different. In my head I am a marathon runner - in reality my style is more old lady. Anyway, I really enjoyed the run - more in retrospect admittedly. If I did it again I feel that renting a flat in Bondi would have made it much easier at the finish line as the logistics of moving over 75,000 people out of Bondi meant that a long walk was necessary to get to a nearer train station and rest our weary legs. Felix and Emi both took my medal to school when we got back home, and although Felix couldn't quite comprehend why I didn't win he said he was 'very proud' of me anyway.

Ponies and puppies

I'm told that I am going overboard on the puppy photos - however as my day is filled with washing both the kids clothes and now the pups' bedding you are just going to have to hang in there until they go to their new homes. Today Emi and I saddled up little Jaz and pottered about with her in the front paddock. We couldn't do too much as her daughter was in the yard making it very clear indeed that if Mum went too far we would have an airborne youngster tearing after us so Emily did some excellent shoulder brushing while Jazz happily ate her way through a bucket of food. Puppies had their first day of solid food yesterday which they tucked into with gusto - they are also having a couple of hours outside with Uncle Woody now which Coco is very grateful for. They get cuter every day.

Jazz arrives

Here is Jazz - she is my lovely new horse and joins Sparkle (who is not impressed) and Mickey (who is very impressed). You will hear lots more about her but I can't possibly type any more this session.

Beatrice the springer who wasn't..

Coco is doing a beautiful job with the littlies who are almost 3 weeks old. They have suddenly turned from small squirming sleepers to tail wagging trouble makers. Felix and Emily are delighted and spend pretty much all their time in the whelping box which Coco so helpfully shares. She is a lovely mother, although at times as we look into the box with them all clamouring about her she gives me a look that says "don't make me go in there". They are very lively and difficult to cuddle because they want to practice walking and wobbling about and generally making sense of the world. This brings me to Beatrice. In the beginning we had some concerns about her mental capabilities as she seemed very happy to lie quite happily with Emily for indefinite periods of time. This is like a little girls dream and Emi and Bea spend most of their time in each others company. We have decided Bea has no interest in being a working springer and would actually prefer to be a toy poodle - or maybe on of those handbag dogs. Above is where we usually find her... below is everyone else..

More new arrivals

Around the time that the calves were born my goats started to waddle a bit and Maggie had twins pretty soon after. Both boys they are named Jack and John (which is always a mistake because boys are not destined to live forever around here). They are full of mischief and are having a lovely time getting the ram to attack their mother as they spend a lot of time winding him up and then hiding behind Mum who has to roll up her sleeves and go into battle. Speaking of rams, Luke is very happy because he has 5 new ladies to talk to. He has small man syndrome and follows them around very hopefully much of the time. They don't seem to know he exists at this point.

Soon after this Dora had the biggest kid I have ever seen. She was so uncomfortable afterwards that I was convinced there was another one in there and was forced to ask Fiona to come out of retirement and roll up her sleeves. We were both a bit disappointed that we couldn't have a James Herriot moment but Dora was well and truly finished. The kid has been christened Jilly and has to kneel down to feed off her. This means early morning and fetta cheese again.

An off-line life is a difficult one..

Where do I start? Well, I guess it started with a new computer which didn't like our modem. Many trips to the local helpful computer shop rendered my modem which only refused to work on my new computer completely refusing to talk to any piece of technology. A week later and a new modem and I am catching up with life again. We might be in the country but are clearly not following a completely 'Good Life' philosophy. In fact it has been a busy couple of weeks on the farm. Despite the fact that i feel like we are in the middle of winter we are welcoming baby animals left right and center. Two calves were born last week when we learned that mother cows do in fact 'cash' their babies (or some such term that I can't remember). They do it pretty well too. For three hours we drove around the paddock and the cow very down hearted that the little calf we had seen the day before had obviously died a terrible death. Cow expert Scott took 2 seconds to spot the little thing hidden well in the grass and we still couldn't really see it (but pretended that we could of course).

Felix started the school holidays with a toffee apple and finished the holidays with no top teeth. He is pretty pleased and looks like a small vampire. Emily spends much time wiggling her bottom teeth and has convinced herself that they are actually close to becoming wobbly.