Pics from downunder

[Donlin Stud]

Some pics of the weekend in 2010 when the drought finally broke after 11 years








The poor girl sat there for ages. Obviously not impressed with the 'kid' not going out to play

[Donlin Stud]

We were flooded in for a couple of days




Our drive out of the property wasn't that fun either

[Donlin Stud]

[wvdexters]

Wow Donna. Yes, I don't think I'd be crossing that drive either.

I have never been to Australia, but would like to go someday. Such beautiful country, and very different from where I live here in the WV mountains. That kangaroo is something. It is so neat to be able to look out and see such an animal in your field. I guess it's probably like us looking out and seeing deer in the yard, again.

I can't imagine an 11 yr drought. How did you all make it? We had a terrible one here about 20yrs ago. No rain, no grass in the pastures and no hay anywhere. But it was no way near 11 yrs. Most people had to cut their herds way back, many had to sell out completely. I remember many of our friends wells went dry, and everyone was so afraid of fire.

[Donlin Stud]

Well when you do come to Australia, you have to come and spend some time with us. We are in the middle of nowhere, or so it seems. You can join us in one of the most relaxing and enjoyable moments of summer and that is sitting on the veranda as we sip our favourite alcoholic beverage while watching the large number of kangaroos scatter each time the Dexters playfully jump around to scare the white cockatoos sitting on the sides of their treat bowls in front of the back drop of grey coloured haze representing the arrival of the afternoon’s easterly change that drops the day’s hot temp down by at least 7-8 degrees [celsius] .

Its one of my favourite and most relaxing moments in summer.

As my dad would say: you wouldn’t be dead for quids……………..!!

Deer – oh we have our fair share of deer here too. Only a fortnight ago I was driving into work minding my own business when I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. But the brain didn’t quite recognise the shadows. Heart went into my mouth as I hit the brakes and narrowly missed 3 of the 6 young bucks running across the road. Thank goodness for assisted braking technology and bullbars. I still get tingly thinking about it now!

11 years of drought was bad but we were in one of the lucky areas. We enjoyed afternoon coastal showers on a regular basis, and having native grass instead of improved pastures – it kept some feed on the ground requiring only supplementary feeding. Water tanks remained on the watch list though and dams were always on the borderline.

There was never any length in the grass. My plan had always been an Olive grove for table olives. Even went as far as having the holes dug our for 1500 trees just before the drought broke. Thank goodness we did not plant those trees though. Half of them would have died. We had no idea where water would run on the property as we had bought during the drought. I did however lose 62 fruit and nut trees though. They had only been in for a couple of years with some only flowering but never fruiting.

The water was ankle deep for about four days, which they obviously did not like at all.

Fire is scary but its all in the preparation and knowing what your limitations are.  One can always rebuild but the loss of life is something that cant be replaced. 

Some think its funny that we have the chooks and the Dexters trained in a fire drill (so to speak).

They come when called; sometimes we walk them through the crush or load some into the stock trailer and we always reward afterwards.
The chooks and ducks just load in amongst the Dexter feet in the trailer.

If we have to evacuate – I leave no one behind. It’s the rule in our house that extends to the Dex, chooks, ducks aswell as dogs and family photos Oh and the hubby too *LOL

[lakeportfarms]

I couldn't imagine training our Dexters for a fire drill...lol It's a good thing we're not in a fire prone area, although where we live 130 or so years ago there was a huge fire that came through and destroyed most everything...Now we have a lot of farm fields so the threat is gone.

I bet nobody knew this little tidbit of information...

Relief aid
In 1881 Clara Barton, at the age of 60, founded the American Red Cross. The organization's first official disaster relief operation was its response to the Michigan "Thumb Fire" of 1881. The Red Cross provided money, clothes and household items.[6] The fire caused more than 14,000 people to be dependent on public aid. It also destroyed over 2000 barns, dwellings, and schools.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thumb_fire

[Donlin Stud]

Wow in 1881? I thought the Red cross was a little younger than that