And This Little Pig said I've Been MIA

Yes I've been Missing In Action. I had to make a dash home last Thursday, and only returned home this morning.

My Mum took ill last week, she is going to be alright, it was a combination of a lot of things, working too hard, dehydration, a touch of heat stroke and stress. But it was enough to get her to go to the doctors for the first time in 11 years. So to add to this combination the Doctor informs her that she has high blood pressure. And yes it was high 200/100!

No he didn't put her on medication, cause he knows how worked up she can get, and it is coming down. She asked me to come home, and I have spent the last five days basically following her around the farm, telling her to calm down don't stress, and stay off the internet and stop self-diagnosing... ahhhhh!!!

Really she is going to be fine, it's just that at 67 she has to finally realise she has to slow down a little, and she has never ever really been sick, except for the broken ankle 7 years ago, and she was a bad patient then :D

So I thought some calming photos would help do the trick. I took a lot of farm photos and will post them over the next couple of days, but for now some dawn and later afternoon landscape photos, taken from the back yard out to the east.

February 25th -- 6.13am

February 26th -- 5.21pm

February 27th -- 6.33am

February 28th -- 7pm

Oh the puppies are doing fine 4 weeks old now, and starting to get really mobile, playing, fighting and biting with their lovely sharp little teeth, although they are not eating much Evie is just too good a mother, but they are really starting to pull her done, no mater how much she eats. Photos tomorrow, promise.

Nite LiBBiE in Oz

And This Little Pig said Puppies Three Weeks Old

Yes can you believe it the little darlings are three weeks old. They have been keeping me busy, starting to eat and today they are starting to wrestle with each other. One even barked, it is lovely hearing their little puppy voices take form.

So be warned photo heavy, as in puppy heavy post!

I am in trouble :D this is Podge, as in Hodge Podge, and yes she is my favourite, remember little white toes, well this is her, they are starting to blacken in, so you won't even know they were white in another couple of weeks. It also looks like she might be a black & cream instead of a black & tan. Just look at that face... Definitely in trouble.

Evie with her brood tonight... officially three weeks.

Yes Podge again. She is very photogenic... honest.

With her favourite brother, who also hogs the camera... Sibling love.

OK this is a hold-up, put those paws up and pose for the camera!

Chocie boy all twisted, he is such a dag.

You know if you are hungry, there are better things than Mum's back leg.

Finally got it right.

Meah said don't forget me. Yes that is my cleaning washing. Hint don't own black clothing and white dogs.

I have been stitching, working on Northern Lights by Gracewood Stitches but not enough to show you any real progress, must get back into my Family Sampler, which was supposed to be finished by March. Just not gonna happen.

Nite... LiBBiE in Oz

And This Little Pig said Cow-Day-Wednesday Photos Photos Photos

Well it is Cow-Day-Wednesday, the difference between this week and last week... 46C (114.8F) last week when I got in the car to go back to office and 29C (84.2F) today.

Cattle are like people really, every now and then you get one who is a real little star. Today was my star day.

First I will start with the old girl who just screamed character.

Don't you just love the tiny spots, if she was a grey horse, she would be called 'flea bitten'

Long Face.

My Little Stars mum... Do you mind. I'm nursing.

Well at least it's not...

Well...

Well let's see, which eye do you look better out of...

No... I think it was the other one.

I couldn't decide out of these two photos, this is what you call a milk face. Would you look at those long eyelashes.

So calm and placid, love the zig zag in her neck line.

Okay the puppy photo of the day, taken this morning. Their eyes are just starting to split, ever so slightly. Oh and just a touch fat.

LiBBiE in Oz

And This Little Pig said Puppies One Week Old

Yes can you believe it, the pups are one week old, and doing fabulously well. Evie is such a good mum, considering the extreme heat we have had. Officially 12 days straight of over 40C, and tonight at around 6pm it started to rain. We were all outside, and I can tell you one minute there was heat and humidity, and the next a southerly wind. Humidity just went, the temperature dropped, and I got to switch the air-conditioner off, and open some windows. Can you hear the Alleluia chorus :D

Well before I show you the pups, Meah and Quincy wish to enter a protest that they have been feeling rather left out :( Acutely I think there was a demand in there somewhere.

So as you can see they have not been doing without.

Meah making sure I am only taking her photo, not trying to nick her treat.

Quincy doing roughly the same thing, and...

...making sure no-one is sneaking up behind her.

I know it's blurred, but isn't this a great shot, and no her tongue is not forked :)

And they called it puppy love...

A group shot taken 30 minutes ago, all relaxed, and for the first time in their very short lives the puppies did not have a fan on them or air-conditioning.

And these two were taken ten minutes ago, all lined up at the milk bar.

Don't you just love the little rolls of 'condition' down their necks.

Now Danni my love you were worried about my excess white comment. The Australian breed standard states... "All colours are permitted but no white permissible, save for a small patch on chest which is permitted but not desirable." This means no piebalds oh I would love to breed one!

All it means is that they technically cannot be shown. The black and tan boy has no white, and one of the black and tan girls has a small narrow strip of white on her chest as does one of the chocolate boys, and the last born black and tan girl has a big strip of white on her chest and her white toes are a no-no (me personally, I think they are so cute) and the other chocolate boy has white on his chest that looks like a mathematics symbol :) When we breed, we aim for puppies with great temperaments, home reared under foot, who will make wonderful family members, occasionally we have a puppy go for show, but prefer family homes.

When Sue calls in again, I will get her to hold each of them individually, and take their piccies. Also sorry no stitching, it has just been way too hot.

Until next time... LiBBiE in Oz

And This Little Pig said Cow-Day-Wednesday

Yes it is Cow-Day-Wednesday, and it was 46C (114.8F) today air conditioning really didn't make any difference, that is not an understatement. So quickly went and took some photos.

By now you must know I cannot resist Brahman's, it's the ears, eyes, even their noses, but these boys had beautiful horns as well.

Just looking for a place to lay my head.

Yes I did manipulate him a little bit, he was not quite this red.

So after I finished the paper work this morning, weighted my bulls, and while waiting to weight the rest of the cattle, I rushed home to check the puppies. They are doing great! Evie is such a good Mum, and well I don't think I will be able to jump over the electricity bill this month... but the pups are worth it :) I also came home and checked on them after I had finished weighing, and then it was back to work again.

These were taken last night... Proud Mamma

Curled up with her babies.

All lined up... left to right... girl-boy-boy-boy-girl... and they colour coordinated as well.

Another group shot.

Are you starting to get who is the favourite, this is last born girl, she has a white chest stripe (just like Evie) four of the five puppies do, but she has also has white toes on her back feet. On each back foot she has three white toes, with the outside toe being tan.

Excess white is a no-no in Oz, but I really don't care, she is a little dream.

Well it's off to bed, with hope of sleep, and tomorrow I hope to catch up on everyone's blog :)
LiBBiE in Oz

And This Little Pig said A Day of Contrasts

Well day one of the babies, and they are doing great, and so is Evie, she is such a good mum, I might actually get a betters night sleep, fingers crossed, but I'm sure I will still be up several times and at any slight noise :)

Also Evie would like to tell you that her mother (me) has been slack and did not change my bedding until after she took the photos, something about the puppies and me 'just looked so cute'!

We love our mummy.

So this morning in my sleep depravation, when I took all the girls out at 5am, I must not have shut the back door properly, so at 7am when I stood at the sink making a coffee I realised the door was slightly ajar... well my cats, my indoor, not aloud outside cats, had had access to the backyard for over two hours. Ahhhh...

Thankfully Sylvia was sitting between the door and the screen (with the dog door), such a good girl she had not gone out. Stella was just around the corner of the house, and Levi, well the evil one had gone over the side gate was in the front yard!!! All fine, thankfully, and Levi came when called.

Once back inside the full extent came to the for, Sylvia, my Silly had been outside. She is my calico, my moggie RSPCA girl. Well the photos tell the story... please note she is in her mid-summer clip.

My Silly is white, as in snow white.

This evening while I was watering pot plants on the front verandah, it was still 40C (105F) at 6.40pm tonight, this little fella must have taken shelter from the sun. He was looking right at me.

Not quite sure what he was pointing at... PM phone home :-)

Well we all survived day one, even with the heat, and tomorrow will be just as bad, but the puppies will be one day older... LiBBiE in Oz