Part of the fun of living in the bush is the unexpected things that happen.  I took the dogs to the vet for their annual vaccinations and as i was about to leave was asked did I know anyone who wanted a baby joey? Are you kidding?? The little fella’s mum had been hit by a car and killed, and a lady had brought him into the vet that morning after rescuing him out of the poor mum’s pouch.    I said that I just might know someone and they showed him to me.  How can you refuse a face like that??

I took off to my sister-in-law’s house and showed her the photo.  She and her husband have looked after a couple of orphaned joey’s in the past and as soon as they saw him they agreed to take him.  I hot tailed it back to the vet and brought him back to them.  I ran up a little “pouch” for him to sleep in and he took to it immediately.

We worked out what he weighed and made up a special mixture for native animals called Wombaroo.  He started taking the milk straight away and then curled back up in his pouch and went to sleep again.  I will try to help with him as I feel kind of responsible for them taking him. Native animals are not easy to rear as they are quite delicate and can die if they are not handled with proper knowledge. He is in good hands with them! He finally has a name, “Izzie” named after our current Rugby hero Israel Folau.

Another exciting event happened last week.  My niece and her husband have started a free range piggery and after much hard work and determination it is in its early stages of operation.  The first batch of piglets have arrived and are doing well.  They are so cute, its a shame they have to grow up!! You can see what they are up to on Instagram at  #CrackWillowFarm or on Facebook with the same name.

Other things that have tried my patience this last week are the cockatoos feasting on the precious hay I bought earlier in the year for my cattle. In February this year we were in drought and I bought 24 round bales of wheaten hay to feed my cows so that they have feed towards the end of the winter months and into early spring as the grass gets scarcer. Its full of nutrition, unlike ordinary bales of hay that just fill them up and get them by till summer.  Well! The cows love it but so do all the damn birds!!  We have always just put the bale on its side and rolled it out down a slope in the past but this hay is too precious to do that to and after doing it with the first bale I realised my mistake.  After the girls had a good munch on it and pooed on it and sat on it and generally destroyed whatever was left, the cockatoos, galahs and rosellas came down and had a lovely feast on the rest of it!!

I decided to take the plunge and buy round bale ring at a cheeky $520. What else would you do with $520?  So with the help of Chris my niece’s husband we drove to the other side of town and picked up the ring and brought it back.

This way, with the bale inside the ring, the cows can get to the hay buy can’t destroy it and hopefully will get the most out of the bale before the cockatoos get to the rest of it.  With any luck the little blighters might stay away from it altogether!

I made another decision this week too.  I have been worrying about the road into my property!  Since the original grading of the road, it really hasn’t had much work done to it at all.  With the recent snow and rain,  it has been reduced to a quagmire in parts and at one point was nearly impossible to drive through with anything other than a four wheel drive.  I rang our local guy with his grader and he has come out and graded and filled in the areas where the road is at its worst.  Luckily I had some pretty good gravel at the side of a bend and he used this to build up the bad parts. I am so excited about my new road.  All they have to do tomorrow is run the roller over it!!  Yay!

One reason I really want this to be fixed pretty quickly is that I am going to trade in my rather large Toyota Prado 4×4 and change to a smaller car that I can use when in Sydney as well as up here. But thats another story for another time!

PS.  I would appreciate a lot of ooo’s and aaah’s about the little babies in this post.  Thanks!!