Thankyou

You know who you are you know what you did......

 Table decorations by blogland....

I'm speechless

Chookyblue sending super big hugs and kisses.......ta.xxxx

Thankyou.....

Some of the parcels that have arrived in my mail box......

Thankyou my friends......

Have a Merry Christmas 

I'll try and be in touch over the next few days......they are unopened sitting on my Christmas table......

No decorations this year.... To many dust storms in the last month esp the last 10 days.... Only 3/10 not dusty......

Ok must go and set the lunch table... Meat to carve..... Have a wonderful time my friends.... And I sure hope I can find some more time to stitch and blog in 2019...I miss you all...there won't be a sewing marathon this Christmas break like last year :( ..... But my friend Jude sent me a little box ages ago and I'm going to try and do 5 minutes everyday.......

Merry Christmas......

Chookyblue..... Xxxx

November update..........

Life is a struggle at present...........some pics from the month......i did manage an hour or two with some EPP when I had a visit from a friend......we spent more time doing farm work then stitching........

Merry Christmas............

See you in the new year.........

Chookyblue........

National Agriculture Day

National Ag Day 21st November............

wear your green shirt to show support........

talk about Agriculture today........

here are some of my pics from the last week..............

#NoFarmersNoFood

Catch you later.............Chookyblue............

hello.............

Little bit of excitement here.............we got some rain...........still be feeding cows and sheep for weeks yet and will only stop if we get another fall of rain............need a follow up rain but this one was good......useful......

Catch you later.....Chookyblue...........

Another month flies by.....

Another month had flown by ...... No time to stop and sew.......a fly by night visit from Kris and geek boy was great.....  We are good at quality time together not quantity..... Just not enough hrs in the day at present......  We didn't even sew together......but was great to see them......
This little movie got put together by my phone from the pics during the month.......thought I would share........
I'm completely out of touch with you all at present but I will be back when I get time.........one day I will stop feeding stock and get a break...... Just not any time soon....... Hope you are all well. Catch you later..... Chookyblue.......

Hey......

Life's busy .........

It's town work or outside farm work......

This is from the last few weeks...... 

Hope you like the pics...... 

Hope you are all well...... Have not been able to see what your up to!

Feedly tells me there is 700 plus posts to read..... 

Looking forward to daylight savings starting and hope to be in before dark but probably not we'll still be working into the dark...... It's the only year I've been excited about it starting....... 

Catch you later.... Chookyblue 

NO SSCS............

Hi elves........

None of you have asked but I know some of your will be thinking about it.............

I'm very sad to say this year there will be no Secret Santa Christmas Swap............SSCS

Yes an effect of the on going drought..........I'm very sad about this as it has been running for so many years but I just cannot organise it.............there is no rain in sight and I just cannot organise the swap......my days are very long and full and I have a pile of farm/buiness work that is not being done here as it is.......I don't even have time to sew to make a gift...........I know other years I have even had a helper but not even this will work this year.........I am SOOOOOOOO sorry............I feel really bad about the decision......and I know I will be sad at Christmas time but I just cannot manage it.............

I will just have to see what happens for 2019.........

Sorry.........

Chookyblue.........

What everyone needs.......

the weekend was feral to say the least..............from mid morning Saturday the wind started picking up the dust.............the just got worse as the day went on............till it was a dust storm..........it blew most of the night too............

Sunday was not as bad but not much better with dust picking up all day blowing thru...........working in it was just beautiful as you can imagine..............

Sat was 34 deg.................Sunday just 17deg..........needed my coat most of the day.............

Sat we moved all the cows home from the other property.....I climbed up the top of the truck to take some pics but it was a bit freaky with the wind so blustery - hence the crooked pic..........we've been feeding the girls out there for so long but changing feed and I think it's going to be daily so home they came..........will be easier to manage............thank goodness they all walked back off the truck.....they are all struggling as have little calves on them.....all the babies mothered back up............the tiny calves were all in another truck.........some of the older ones are still tiny but we will start weaning more this weekend coming..........

We have a new baby.............Ev.....we pulled her off mum as she was down and not well..........drugged Mum with everything we could and tried to get her up but she died.............Ev will take  a bit of quietening but she is drinking well already..........she is strong and feisty little lady........less then a week old.........

What everyone needs out here is an E and B...............

A retired couple who decided they wanted to go help somewhere............

found a facebook page for a CWA group and ended up in that town..........I met them there and they decided they would come and stay with us for a few days after they left that town........I thought oh yeh that would be nice but they won't end up here.............BUT they did............they stayed for a few days.........had to duck home for a few days and they are back again for nearly a week..............

E has taken on feeding all her babies...........this includes the weaners  - 69 of those...and the poddies....5 lambs and 3 calves..........

she's cooked dinner.....hung out washing that I have forgotten was in the machine........its amazing it goes into the washing machine and comes out folded on my bed...........she's dusted and ironed........roused on me for not having the afternoon off after town work............I did explain that if she didn't do her jobs then I would still be going for ages yet as she saved me that time.............I have managed to get in a couple of evenings before dark........and the company has been lovely................And they just go back out to there caravan and sleep.........

B has been helping Mr Chooky..........saved me some feeding trips.......fixed the trailer that was falling apart and used constantly...........what ever Mr Chooky has been doing he has been out helping with.........today I think they will be working on the calf weaning yards we are making.........and weighing and sorting out the new feed plan for the cows............

Feeding late yesterday.............OMG it was cold by the time I finished..........

It was dark when I finished so I got in lite the fire and had a hot shower to wash all the dust off and warm me up..........

Hope you are all well...........

Catch you later....... Chookyblue.....

R u ok.......

Hey fellow bloggers........

it's r u ok day... 

Sometime's I feel like I'm all alone trying to juggle all, work, kids, calculations of food and money budgets, ordering, feeding working on and off farm......at present it's just work work work.......all day everyday is just the location that changes........

But..... 

Then I get a random text, email, calls, mail etc........ It's from you lot my support crew......
They always make me smile..... 

This is a time that is really challenging for me ........ I do choose to do what I do but at present there is no stop time...........it will rain one day properly ........ I will make it to the other side battered and bruised so to speak but it will make me a stronger person too......
So life is up and down but I try to find the ups to beat the downs.......
You never know really what's going on in someone's life so take the time to stop and ask
R u ok?
And really stop and listen to there answer........ 

Catch you later...... 

Chookyblue......

Smashed yet again.....

So the wonderful rain..... The drought breaking rain forecast........ 

DID NOT HAPPEN!

Miserable 4.5mms......

Atleast someone got some good falls....... Just not us........

Just crawled into bed after another late night.....

Catch you later.....

Chookyblue.......

I'm alive.....

Hi blogland.......

I'm still alive and kicking....... It's feral today... Rain forecast but it's only raining dirt so far....  Windy feral day.....  My hairs knotted and full of dust....... 

Life is full on.......the legs are pretty good.... Doing everything again just don't touch them still......

Starting to get some messages checking on me....... I'm feeling pretty good at the moment..... Even spoke at a drought fundraiser in the big smoke.....
The drought sure is hitting the media at the moment.....

Fodder is so hard to get and so expensive........ 

Just not enough hours in the day...... Other stuff to share just got to take the pics first.......
Thanks for the love.......it means a lot and keeps me going........
I've also got some emails I need to reply to too....... 

Catch you later......

Chookyblue......

Farm help

I'm doing this post as people have asked how they can help...............

How do you support the drought that is massively hitting the media at the moment...............

HOW TO HELP..........

Donate cash.  $5 to $500000 it all adds up no matter how big or small

It is the easiest to move about and can be turned into prepaid cards that recipients can use in there own community keeping money turning around in the community...........or household accounts can be paid.........

Drought Angels

https://www.droughtangels.org.au/donations/

Salvation Army Rural Chaplains

https://salvos.org.au/donate/make-a-donation/donate-online/

choose rural support as you go thru the donation screen.............

CWA

https://www.cwaofnsw.org.au/donate

Unless you want a weeks farm holiday..........

Come and visit..........and WORK........

I was honored to be part of a fundraiser in the city on the weekend............

people were so kind and they raised some great $$$$'s.....

the media hype will go but we will still be here feeding stock..........if we have any feed left or if we can buy any more............its very expensive and hard to find...................

there are lots more organisations but these are ones I have seen working assisting in our community..............

thankyou from those who you will never know you helped............

Catch you later..............

Chookyblue

Thankyou.......

This week has been crap......

Its been a long slow miserable week on the lounge......even threw my own  'pity party' it was a ripper...... 

Lucky you weren't here..... 

BUT........

Is amazing how things time out in life...... 

You know who you are,  you know what you did or said.......this post is for you....... 

Chooky..... 

Ps still hobbling around.......

Pss with hot pink nail polished today.....

feeding sheep.........

The upside is I am feeling better.......taking little walks in the house.......

the little lamb died........probably didn't get colostrum since it was not cleaned up.......bit sad but one less job to do and I couldn't manage it at the time......... 

Some pics from the other day.............

Sheep are much easier to feed in a drought then cattle...........

the only food they get is from the feed cart.............they all come running.......

you have to work out how many are in the mob and then how much grain they need and wait until they all get in so they all get a go at the feed for the same amount of time............

born today this little one knows he has to stick with mum to survive.........

the little ones gather together..........

while I am laid up i'm trying to work on the bookwork.........

your support means a lot my friends........

thankyou.....

Catch you later...............

Chookyblue............

International Friendship Day................

I couldn't get myself out of bed this morning so Mr Chooky hung around the farm working instead of the other jobs he needed to do.........

The afternoon improved but i've not moved from the lounge............

Apparently today is International Friendship Day.......

couple of my neighbours popped in and made cuppas...........one brought these beautiful flowers........

So thankyou for your beautiful friendship.........your care and support that goes with that too.......it is very much appreciated........whether near or far ........friendship has no distance...........its just a visit, phone call, email, text or comment away..............

Catch you later...... Chookyblue......

Unlucky but lucky.....

unlucky or lucky.............

meet Sonny........Sonny is lucky I had been out working at the other property 3 days in a row after work and saw he was not so good the 2nd day and I convinced Mr Chooky to help me catch him to bring home the 3rd day.........

easiest calf I have ever got onto a bottle..........clearly starving.......

a better picture of Sonny........

He's a buddy for Rover..........

then next morning we went out feeding at home.........

the troughs look so empty with all the cows that we are selling in another mob.............

they love the cottonseed..............

heading back from that I spotted this little bubba in the grasses........after I convinced Mr Chooky the crows would get it before we came back to check again he turned around and we picked the little lamb up........No mother in sight......another case of neglectful mother.........she had not even cleaned the lamb up...........mostly dry but still damp so born a few hours earlier..........

We had to head off to the other farm to work so it went road tripping with me............took some mixed up milk with me...........
ALL was fine with that plan until an hour or so later...........

9 cattle panels fell over on me and I went backwards over the side of the trailer..........hung up on the side by my legs the first thought was 2 broken legs............Mr Chooky was very close by and saw it as it was happening............thank goodness he was able to lift the panels up just..........but I had to get myself out.............upside is I can do an incline sit up - who knew it was possible (must have been the adrenaline).......but trust me my gut muscles know about that today.......

So while I was extremely unlucky to have the accident I am soooooo lucky I didn't break two legs.....no time for that.......no one to care for me if that happened...........yes I went home via hospital and xrays.........no broken bones - My fat calves (on  my legs) probably help there..........I'm sort of hobbling to the bathroom and back on crutches............some rippa bruises coming........so it's time on the lounge resting......a few other aches from being thrown backwards too..........can't see myself at town work tomorrow but i'll take  it day by day...........
Poor Mr Chooky is now cursing me as he has the job of the new poddies........woops............but so far he has not refused getting things for me...........hes gone off now to finish the jobs we didn't get done yesterday.............
So i'm on forced rest...........
guess I got spat out the side of the roller coaster...............

Catch you later........

Chookyblue.......

Roller coaster.....

life sure does feel like a roller coaster at the moment.......I just hope I don't get spat out the side as it rushes down and around the bend..........

the weekend was great with the girls but once they left it was time to feed..............

I had a day off town work Monday to get some cattle work done..............

pregnancy testing and working out what we can sell...............the last load of hay is like it is gold lined it was so much $$$$$......freight is a killer as it came from well over 1000kms away.......I can't keep spending that much money...........you would be horrified to hear how much our weekly feeding is costing at the moment.......

everywhere is so bare and dusty......

I snapped this pic when I started mustering early the other morning.........and as the plans of the day panned out and the reality of what I have to sell started to hit home......the day spiraled down........

We hadn't quiet finished the sorting out so Tuesday before town work we were in the yards finishing the job at daylight.........the cows are now in two mobs........keep and sell.........I know I keep talking about lack of rain but we have been feeding here since Jan/Feb 2017........yep that is 2017.............not 2018....in all that time we had about a month off feeding.............and this is on top of a crap run of 8 years........so much feeding in that time.........unless you live this life you can't really understand how hard this is at the moment...........yes I choose to be a farmer...........but selling your cows just cause you can't feed them is so sad...........not having fat rolling cows ready for market is a failure............I have worked on my cows for years and years and years..........slowly buying and selling and finally only in the last year or so feeling like I was close to where I had been aiming for...........always fine tuning......now that huge part of my life is being shattered.....already this is going to take us years to recover from........our crops are mostly winter and the sewing window is gone we are now not looking at growing grain and hay until 2019...........harvest is Sept to Nov.........

this isn't just my farm this is most of the state of NSW.......

this is going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better............and as  I load the cows on the truck there will be more tears shed.....my heart is breaking......but there is no choice but to carry on so that's what will happen..............

(comments are turned off as i just can't cope with them at the moment. I know you all mean well and this is not a sympathy post it;s hoping you understand a little more of my life)

Catch you later........

Chookyblue.......

Amnesia......

This weekend was planned ages ago.........I thought it would end up being cancelled as we are all so busy..........but no we all needed this weekend......

time spent with friends being creative and getting reinspired is so good..............

Kylie took this pic yesterday when we went for a walk..................

Anni took this one of me and Kylie...........we had a happy weekend..........lots of laughs and fun..........

this is all I can show you from the sewing machine and the design wall...........

with so much secret stuff happening its a good thing I have amnesia and can't remember anything............but I did sew........it was fun..........

Or maybe it is that I ate to many yummy jam drops made by Anni or delicious slice made by Kylie.........

With our cups filled with inspiration and motivation sadly we had to say goodbye...........the girls on their long trips home...........me I went to feed sheep and cows.............

And as the sun set peace and calm finished a perfect weekend.............

Better go Rover (pet calf) is bellowing for a bottle..............

Catch you later......

Chookyblue........

Omg sewing......

Stitch and bitch chat weekend.........

Refuelling from friends........ 

Catch you later........

Chookyblue......

Lamby.....

Lamby is still the fattest sheep on the farm stealing food where ever she can........

She came for a pat this morning.....

I looked at her up close and she is so so fat...... Her udder is looking full so I think there may be baby lamb/ies again soon........

Catch you later.......

Chookyblue......

Playing with cotton.......

Playing with cotton...............

cotton seed is helping keep my cows alive.........

Catch you later....... Chookyblue.......

Rover.......

Rover.........

Catch you later......

Chookyblue.......