Archive for November, 2006

The bitches are back!

When we had our own babies, we left off breeding pups for a while … but now, with Charlie nearly two and having finished our own breeding program, John and I have decided it’s time for the bitches to have a bash!

Here’s our two star bitches, O’Connell (Connie) and Diamond! When I took Connie for her early morning run this morning I noticed she’s coming in season … so we’ll be paying the neighbour a visit soon for a hot date with Connie’s Kelpie friend Jock.

Our boy Border Collie Max is also taking more interest in Diamond lately so look out in a couple of months — if we’re lucky we’ll be a full house with beaut little Kelpie and Collie pups for sale!

Send me back to school!

Our friend Grant just left school on Friday — year 10 over and done with forever. We’ve offered him work over summer, so he showed up Monday morning and was soon on the end of a shovel with John fixing our horse yard fencing.

Grant is fit, strong and a really hard working country kid … but by lunch time he’d figured out school was such a bludge compared to post digging and life ‘on the outside’!

It’s a theory of John’s and mine that the western world’s societal problems started escalating when women stopped killing their own chooks for tucker and young blokes stopped digging post holes.

Both pastimes put you in touch with the bigger picture of life and connect you to your inner self.

It’s a simple theory — and not everyone will agree, nor understand, but John and I, and many of our country friends believe it’s true.

Can you imagine having Sydney race riots again if every one of those kids had been on the end of a crow bar and shovel fencing all day? They’d be too knackered to complain about anything and content with their own self.

So if you’re feeling pent up and angry … go dig a hole!

Help! The Teenage Stage!

 
Rousie’s up there at the six month mark — and is growing all gangly and goofy. He’s hit the teenage stage of puppyhood and as of today is out of his puppy collar. He’s into the real thing!
 
A word on collars while we’re here — we choose collars with metal buckles — not plastic ones. And we use nylon webbing collars instead of leather — again because they are stronger and last longer.
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Marigold’s Mishap

It was bound to happen! One day out from going on a girlie groggy galivant with the gang and Marigold goes and gashes her girth!

Poor Marigold must’ve caught herself on a post overnight. As luck would have it, my friend Manty, who is a vet, was coming up that very same morning.

We have a great little vet kit on hand and with some penicillin, some Manuka Honey and the good old purple spray, Manty had Marigold sorted.

It’s been up to John and myself to administer the daily wound dressings, which hasn’t been too hard as Marigold is a wonderful patient and stands still for injections and swabbing.

She’s also enjoying the extra TLC and snacks of chilled apples from the fridge!

Going nude in the hooves!

Here’s my hubby John and his apprentice farrier, Charlie, working on a barefoot trim.

The riding school horse is one of Flea McShane’s gentle mob. He’s called ‘Mozz’ and is loved locally by all who ride him at Flea’s for lessons.

Flea’s pupils also love Roley the labrador who does a great job of eating stinking horse toe nails whenever John turns up.
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Good Dog Training Books

Rhiannon just wrote in to ask what are the best books around on dog training … she’s looking to buy a Kelpie and lives in the ‘burbs of Melbourne.

The best book I’ve ever found for working dogs who live in the city is by a Tassie bloke called Scott Hunt who has beautifully trained Border Collies.
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‘Do you want to put up with crap behaviour?’

My dog training guru friend, Paul Macphail, once posed this question to me after my Kelpie put it all over me in the yards.

It’s a question I think all dog owners should ask themselves each day in regards to the dogs they share their lives with. Do you want to put up with crap behaviour from your dog towards you? If you don’t — then do something about it.
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Knocking the Rouseabout into shape

I’ve just spent two days at the desk sitting beside my editor and friend, Belinda from Penguin Books. She flew to Tassie to help do yet another edit on my new book The Rouseabout.

With the foot high manuscript piled up before us, we went from the first page to the last checking and rechecking!

It was  a huge job, made all the more tricky because of this fractious farming life; the rams got out on the road, the stock truck turned up but the sheep hadn’t long been yarded (we’ll be up for an extra bill for truck washing as the sheep hadn’t ‘emptied out’), the dam had run dry and water needed to be carted to the horses and the poddy’s were bleating for a feed!

Luckily, John was here to help as was Mum and Maureen to wrangle the kids and Belinda chipped in to help cart water to the nags! Go team!

The manuscript now goes to ‘first pages’ in a months time where we’ll do yet another edit!

We’re working on cover concepts — there’s one I love and I think you will too — and then, hopefully we’ll let The Rouseabout loose into the world in April 2007!