We went to the farm this weekend, and even though we made a conscious decision that we weren’t going to do anything except relax, it started off very rushed.
Doc didn’t get home from work until late Friday, so by the time we were packed up (and I got disentangled from the ratchet strap that attacked me and tied itself around my ankles), it was 8.30pm before we left.
We were planning on stopping along the way for some dinner, but after a phone call from our friends who arrived before us we decided we’d better get there as quickly as possible. There had been a lot of rain out that way, and the track in was very muddy. They almost got bogged in a few places. Having been bogged there on more than one occasion Doc didn’t fancy having to spend an hour digging us out in the middle of the night.
Fortunately we did take the cruiser, so of course we had no problems getting through.
It was however after midnight before we arrived, and we were starving. I blame it on being tired, because stupidly, when lighting the grill I crouched down and looked in.
Have you ever seen those cartoons where something blows up in somebody’s face and they end up with soot everywhere except their eyes, and their hair sticking straight out from their head? Well, that’s exactly what I looked like after the gas blew up in my face. And Doc laughed. And laughed. And laughed some more. He was still laughing when we finally got into bed.
But I had the last laugh as the smell of my burnt hair kept him awake for another hour!
Saturday morning dawned bright and clear. At least I think it did, it was clear when we finally climbed out of bed in the middle of the morning. My first job was to have a shower and wash and condition my hair to try to restore some order.
Then we got into farm mode, which means relaxed. Given how boggy the ground was we didn’t take a trip down to the lake just in case we got stuck, so my only photos are taken from outside the house. There’s more water than last time we were there, but the level is still low.
That left time to just wander around . On a previous trip Doc and Ado had cut down a dead tree for firewood. It was huge, even with two trips there was still wood left so we went out and harvested the rest of that to bring home. While Doc was chopping away with the chain saw I went for a walk.
Creeks are running, the grass is green as a well-tended golf course, and the wattle is out. I found a beautiful spot on the creek with little waterfalls ringed by wattle and tea tree. Even with the chainsaw noise in the background it felt peaceful.
If anybody is looking for all the bees that have disappeared – they’re at the farm. When cutting the tree trunk Doc discovered a huge, abandoned bee hive. The inside of the trunk was filled with honeycomb. It’s a shame there wasn’t any honey in it. I think the bees have moved on from there up to the house. The blossom tree in the yard was a mass of flowers – and bees. And there’s another large hive in a dead gum branch in the paddock next to us. Just as well it’s winter and I was wearing shoes and long sleeves – I’m allergic to bee stings.
Sunday afternoon the boys decided to shoot some clays – or at least to try to shoot some clays. I don’t know if they were a bit camera shy, but I took 250 photos of them shooting and only got one where the clay had been hit. And it wasn’t the fault of the camera! It probably didn’t help that I was giving directions “aim the clay lower, it’s not in frame”, “aim the clay higher I need it against the sky to be able to see it”, “shoot earlier”, etc. Oh well, that just means there’s still lots of clays for next time.
And, as always, we had a camp fire. A big campfire, where we sat at the end of the day talking over a glass of wine or two.
Even though it rained Sunday night and Monday morning, we made it out again towing a trailer full of very dense, heavy firewood. There are worse ways to spend a weekend.
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