Blog for Saturday 27th December 2025

“Happy Birthday Josh! We hope you have a fun day up in Queensland with Mum, Dad, Paulina and Dad’s cousins and friends.”

I woke up at four and slowly eased my way out from under the duvet and blanket. Yes!      Can you believe that! It was that chilly last night that I had on winter ‘jamas, and we used both the duvet and a blanket on our bed. What crazy weather!

Today Paddy and Matt’ arrive on the farm, so I had to get into gear and to get our home looking less like a bomb had gone off in it! A daunting task lay ahead!

My little Busy Lizzie (vacuum/mop vacuum) was not fully charged so I could not get the floors looking nice a clean, but I swept them anyway.

Today, I did loads and loads of washing and hung them out to dry, so Monday will be a big day of ironing for me to look forward to. I will get my audio books lined up for that!

Paddy and Matt’ as usual hit the farm running and working up a serious sweat. First, they fixed the water container’s pipe so they can fill the tank with water and water all the trees that Paddy planted last time they were here.

Matt’ worked on the quad bike as the one tyre was flat – very flat. He worked out where the leak was by using water et cetera to find the leak and then fixed it. Then he had a quick forty winks.

A little later Paddy came up to the top shed and had a coffee and chat then walked down to the Large River Camp to check where he had sprayed to get rid of blackberries and all things weed like, when he was here last!

Apparently, tomorrow we are doing cattle work – well, weighing the weaners to get the correct dosage for inoculating them all. That should keep us all out of trouble. I am not sure of the timing of that exercise as I will go into Wauchope to church first, and I need to drop off some money at a friend’s home too. Shame, I spoke to her last night, and her husband had had a stroke just before or on Christmas Day so was in the base hospital in Port Macquarie, so their Christmas was anything but merry. I pray that he makes a full recovery and quickly.

Paddy and Matt’ got some wood and lit a fire for us to have a braai/barbeque outside and that was lovely. There is something almost magical to sit outside around a fire at the end of a busy day and watch the flames flickering furiously as they consume the wood, and the sun slowly and silently slide down the sky above us. Just beautiful.

For our supper tonight, we had poached eggs, bacon, steaks and a cheese sauce just for a change. Paddy and Matt’ had cooked the steaks to perfection and so the meat was delicious and just melted in one's mouth.

Not long after our meal we all slowly peeled off and headed for our respective beds for a journey to the Land of Snort, Snort and Snooze. Wonderful!

What lesson did I learn today? To enjoy getting organized again for the week ahead.

What am I grateful for today? That Paddy and Matt’ cooked the meat for me tonight.

My saying for today is …