I'm not sure if I mentioned it in a previous post but Justin and I have joined up with the Northern Breeders group which is an FBA initiative to bring peer based groups together to liaise, enhance and grow their businesses. We had one of our first gatherings at the Kennedy's property "Tralee". We went the afternoon before to save waking up super early which meant we got to have nibbley down beside their beautiful big dam.
For this particular gathering we had Darren Hamlin from Master Beef give us a presentation about data collection that would be applicable to our beef herds and WOW what a wealth of knowledge he was! Such a progressive and intelligent human, I could have listened to him all day, but by the end my brain was overflowing! I tell you what though, if we were in a position of working for someone as a manager, I would be seeking out a position with this guy!
The weekend before mini-school, I went to Rocky early, so that I could hang out with mum and catch up with my dear friend Ange, and watch her son race.
Below are some images I took of some random people, trying out my panning skills. I love the affect.
These couple are of Clancy, Ange's son. He did so well. I think he even came third! Such a great little rider!
Back in Green Valley and the "pretty wattle" is in bloom everywhere and I really love it! It is so much more beautiful than the wattle on the coast (even though we still have some of that here too).
My succulents are also in flower. They are so lovely and last for AGES!
One thing I love about being on the range, is that the cloud formations are so beautiful!
I had this idea about overlaying blue gums and creating some pastel dreamy montage. However, I happened upon this dark and moody creation which I liked just as well.
Below, our photo club theme was 'still life' and having not done any of that particular genre, I spent an afternoon trying to come up with something.
I actually quite liked this one, but my buddy (who never steers me wrong) suggested the simpler one.
I liked this one too! Actually the one that I saw that got an honour.... wholey dooley! It was AMAZING! So I have a LOT to learn! But I just need to get an idea in my mind.
Above was the one I entered and it got a Commended which is ok, I struggle to get minimalistic to work for me.
Poor Chook Chook! "You will be loved!!!"
Sometimes you get a afternoon where you can just pick up a camera and capture a little bit of magic. I loved this series and struggled to pick a favourite.
This was the one the I sent in to competition and it got a Merit. So I was happy with that.
Tiz the time of year for Campdrafts and Pony Club. As we didn't do anything last year with us moving and things being a bit hectic, we are trying to get to a few this year to get the kids a bit motivated.
The first weekend, we did Emerald gymkana. The kids did very well considering that it was their first gymkana ever! Kaka got 2nd in her age group and came home with a yeti and swag of ribbons. Garrett got 4th in his age group, which was pretty cool considering there was about 12 of them AND considering that he woke up feeling very unwell that morning after catching the mini-school bug.
The following weekend was Alpha campdraft. On the Thursday the pony club had a clinic to teach the kids how to campdraft. This was such an excellent opportunity for them and set them up really well for the weekend where they competed.
G man tried to ride his new horses "Rose" at the clinic, but I think because we had been telling him 'cowy' she was, he was a bit mentally spoked to really have a good go, so I made the call to swap him back to his old horse 'Baby Blue' to ride in the Campdraft on the weekend. This meant that he could ride a horse that he felt more confident on and could have a bit better go at it; (rather than just walking, which he had done at the clinic). I think it also gave him a new appreciation for Rose and how easy she works for him.
These are some of the photos I took at the Campdraft.
She's so aerodynamic!
Kaka got a 6th place on the Saturday and tied for 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th on the Sunday. G man, having just gone up an age group, was at the bottom of the pack and had some pretty good competition which meant he missed out on a ribbon, but he still had a lot of fun!
Oh yeh and I've become a weird bird person! A "twitcher". It started because my absolute favourite bird call comes from the bird below and I never knew what its name was. So now I've started taking photos of birds to find out what they are and what noise they make! *insert facepalm here*
Above is a red-backed kingfisher and below is the noisy friar bird (he's so ugly, but I just love his song).
I think this fella is the brown honey-eater.
Kaka wasn't impressed with the moon photo I took... I thought it was alright.
Phone photos
Sooo I've completely given up! These are in reverse order AGAIN! I'm not going to fight the system anymore, some days are just going to be backwards! Frustrating though for progress photos of kakas garden and for the kids progress with the horse riding.
Yesterday, we attended Clermont Pony Club Gymkana. Was a very long day for everyone, being up early to saddle and leave and by the drive home, someone was a bit tuckered.
As I said, I think after riding Baby Blue at the Campdraft, I think it gave G man a new found confidence on his horse Rose, because he cleaned up at the gymkana. He won nearly every event except for one that he got disqualified in because he didn't finish his show jumping over the correct line and one that he came second in. This led him to winning his age group and getting a lovely gear bag and swag of ribbons.
Miss kaka, also did amazingly well. She won her age group too and rode very well. I think going to that first gymkana made them realise what I have been trying to get them to practise at home. Rather than just randomly going around pegs, they have a real purpose now and Jessica's times from Emerald compared to Clermont were almost 1 minute faster.
Alpha also won the march past which was cool! I think we came 4th at Emerald, but there was such an improvement in just two weeks. I think all the Alpha families were a bit surprised at how far Kaka and G man had come in such a short time.
Oh yes and there was book week! That will be the death of me! It always makes me feel like such an inadequate mother, it's just not something that I excel at, making costumes. I keep saying that I will be better next year.
Oh and then I had been conned by my friend to walk 100km in August. I think I'm up to about 73km with one week to go. I fair effort I guess considering that I had a scan on my stent the other day and apparently I have no blood flow to my right leg.... which would explain a few things, like why walking up hill is fairly challenging and why my right leg is always fatigued compared to my left.
However, having a challenge does force me to get out of bed and go for a walk and the mornings are very pretty.
A fire from our neighbours had snuck over the boundary fence and we were pretty relieved that with the colder nights it went out without causing a great deal of damage and we didn't lose the whole paddock. The smokey mornings were rather dreamy though.
Missy's garden has been growing fairly well and it's so nice to have something pretty to look at.
Missy getting her ribbon.
The guinea fowl appreciate feed time.
Clinic where Peter Black was guiding the kids on what to do.
These are so cute.
We also had an inch of rain which made everything get a bit green again and Kaka's flowers loved it.
My lemon is going nuts. I can't wait till it's fruiting! I found out that my finger lime will take 15yrs to fruit...... I don't know if I have that level of commitment. Watch this space lol!
This was their first gymkana at Emerald.
Missy also won the 'team of four' with some of the other girls from Alpha. Which apparently is a bit of a big deal! We were only 7 points away from winning it yesterday too.
The Alpha riders at the Emerald Gymkana.
Goodness I almost forgot about mini-school. They always have so much fun. With the year 5-6's away on camp, g man was well and truly the tallest in the school lol.
Him and his friend Ben, who it's a bit sad don't have any classes together online, but they always love seeing each other.
Couple of frosts in the valley. Some of the locals reckon it was one of the coldest winters they have had for a while, but I didn't think it was that bad. Maybe having such a warm house and maybe having prepared myself mentally for it being so cold in the west. Some of their water troughs even had the tops frozen. Perhaps I should have went for a drive to the swamp to see how cold it was. 
I bet you can guess what they are trying to do.
Cold times call for desperate measures.
Aren't they just lovely? They cut so well too!
Still working on our front lawn and the kids still loving the oversized sand pit.
Our foal is growing too. Kaka wants to call it "Moonlight" which is probably the best name so far.
They were also rather excited to catch a magpie in the chook house.
Kaka's strawberries.
Catching up with Max for his afternoon feedtime. I took him out for a ride the other day for the first time in a while and he didn't throw me, which was good!
Chatting to the weaners.
And that's a wrap. I'm feeling a bit scattered today, so if my blog doesn't make sense that's why! I have been walking around the house and trying to clean but kept finding new jobs in each room and forgetting to finish the job I had started in the previous room.
I watched a John Wayne movie with kaka the other day. She loved it, of course.
Moranbah Pony Club is this weekend but I'm not too sure if we will make it. We have the Friday off school, so might be a nice opportunity to go camping.
We are hosting the Northern Breeders group here next month, so I will be trying to prepare for that. I'm not sure what else is on. We have 2 weeks left of school and the 3rd week will be a of a miss as we have stuff on, so the countdown is on!
Sending love and may your cups of tea be hot and full of contentment.
With Love.
