Crazy Weather

The crops around our place were looking great, and lots of farmers gou out there, making hay or harvesting the grain. Then the rain came!

Farmers love the rain, yes, but at the proper time. We got 30mm of rain on one day this week. Right now is not a good time to get that much rain. The crops are all looking fantastic, standing up proud and with lots of grain there.

Rain right now means no harvesting until we've had some decent sunshine to dry things up again. If the grain starts to sprout, that will downgrade the grain, so what may have been top quality wheat for pasta make becomes stock feed.

The price for stock feed is much lower than the premium price paid for durum wheat for pasta. I am so glad I live where I live, in the country, but I am also glad I'm not a farmer. I don't think I could handle the stress of it!

All is calm in our household

Yesterday Jake stayed home from school - he had a big weekend away and needed a rest. The dogs didn't catch and eat the mouse that was mucking around near the TV or in the kitchen.

I spent my time shifting dogs and hanging out and bringing in the washing. Nobody dragged any washing off the line, so it all is now clean, waiting for me to put it away in the wardrobe/drawers.

Today, no washing, just putting away. I need to decide what's for tea, and remember to get it out of the freezer.

Kharis at the moment is on the sofa, and he looks like he might stay there for quite some time. If the mice are still in the kitchen or near the TV I don't think Kharis cares.

What other dog news do I have? Nothing much really. One of the people up the street was walking some of her dogs yesterday. That reminds me that I should walk our dogs. It would be good for my health, good for the dogs and so on. I know that it just isn't going to happen.

The only jobs I absolutely have to do today apart from sorting tea out, are to get writing things underway, if not finished. I have to guard against the internet, the biggest time stealer in my life at the moment. You know you're spending too much time on the internet when your cup of coffee goes cold before you finish it!

I've got to put La De and Nena outside next, check they have water out there, water some plants if they need it. The weather has turned cool, which is a pleasant change after the summer weather we've had. I don't know if it will rain today, but we had 3mm yesterday. I love it when it rains, as long as I don't have to go out in it!

No rain Tuesday

It didn't really rain today either, just a few spots for a few minutes when I was playing lawn bowls at Mallala. I think the 'rain' must have put off the players on my team, because after the rain stopped, our good play pretty well stopped too.

I play penants for Mallala Black on Thursday mornings (when I get picked). This is my first season of playing really, last season I was a 'floating' player and only played if theclub was desperate.
I've improved in my playing, and I reckon that by the time I'm sixty or so I might be a good player (I've got quite a few years still to pick up with my game!).

I really enjoy playing lawn bowls. Those crazy bowls can be your friends or your enemies, and you have to come to an agreement with them. I speak nicely to them, adn tell them what I want them to do. When they get it right I send mental 'thank you' to them and we remain buddies.
Today we lost, but it was to another Mallala team, Mallala Red, who are doing quite well this season, so that's not quite so bad.

The fun thing is coming up with reasons why you didn't play so well. It could be the green, the wind, your sore back/knee/whatever. There's plenty of room for creativity on this one. It's better of course to play well, and then you do the 'aw shucks, it was nothing' thing. There are lots of rules to playing lawn bowls, and if you're lucky you might actually get to learn some of them.

A few clues to anyone thinking of taking up lawn bowls -

• believe only half of what you're told
• never forget your bias
• don't change the way you hold the bowl if you're bowling well
• try new things at practice, not during a game, unless you're playing badly
• some bowlers have been playing for more years than you've been alive, you'll get there, if you try long enough

Remember, it's just a game, and there's always next week.

Jenne home again

Jenne the pup is home now - she slept alone last night in a crate in the lounge room, away from her brothers & sisters.

This morning she was glad to go outside, but still limping. I gave her all of the medicine she needed, and this afternoon she seems a little less sore.

We have to continue the medicine for about a week and in another day she can go back with the other pups.

Hopefully all will be well very soon.

It's freezing cold and threatening rain outside at the moment, so I don't think Jenne is all that unhappy to be inside. She's much better off than Kharis who is outside, woofing his head off. He probably wants to be inside on the bed - his favourite place to be.

Who can blame him.

It's cold out there!

Our schnauzer babies are going well, nice and fat, and their mother Nena is taking excellent care of them. It's a cold day today, and the dogs aren't keen about being outside - I guess I'll have a houseful of them today. Kharis doesn't want to go outside yet, even though he's usually up and out before 9.00am. Kharis is curled up in his usual position!

It's windy out there too, I have to get my timing right and bring in the dog beds I washed yesterday afternoon before the rain starts, but not until they are properly dry.