Finally some rain! We’ve received weekly showers on average and the grass is green with the tanks full and flowers everywhere. Just beautiful seeing the dormant trees and shrubs after such a long dry spell, take shoot and flourish. The birds have been in a frenzy feeding on the abundant of nature and nesting all over the property, the fairy Martins have taken over the stable roof. We have red/green lorikeets and the pale headed rosellas at the moment shrieking through the trees bickering over blossoms and space. The bee eaters will be arriving soon for their summer stint to add to the plethora of species about the place. Isn’t spring delightful? Apparently we are in for a wet summer here in SE QLD, let’s hope so.

 
CHHFD preparations have started in earnest with stall holder allocations and attractions being booked for 2011 so this will keep us busy for months organising and preparing next year’s event. Any interested persons wanting to volunteer for weekend stewarding or to help with the many many jobs that need completion before then please let us know and we’ll get you involved.

We’ve managed to get a good stop on the itch that plagues Rebel and Pearl. Rebel has only a few tiny spots on his ears and forehead and that’s it after months of trying product after product and potions and lotions he’s stopped scratching himself to bleeding on his shoulders and rump and his skin has returned to the lovely gloss he had before this affliction got a hold. Pearl on the other hand is still scratching her rump but the lesions have reduced considerably except her ears, she just won’t let you near them without taking your life in your hands to get the lotions up there. Still, compared to what we had a month ago it’s 80% better than the horrible bloody sections she’d scratch raw each day, rugged or not. Now we just have to wait for their manes and tails to grow back enough for a plait at their next showing.

We’ve also made the decision to sell Salazar ($25000) as well as Rebel ($20500) as we just don’t have the capacity for the two stallions on top of the mares and their foals on our little 10 acre lot; it puts a lot of strain on the grazing not to mention the churned mud and tracks around the yards where they thunder through each day playing. Duchess is due 22/10/10 but I think she’ll have her foal early given her presentation over recent days and then we’ll have both AI’d again in November bringing another exciting round of foals to Deacons Gate Shires in 2011. We need to ensure the mares have the best environment with loads of room and get the lads into their new homes learning their new skills and getting ready to sire future generations of Shire champions as they were bred to do. Of course we’d like to keep them all but without that anonymous donor providing the 100 acres; the reality is to sell the excess horses.

I actually mowed the driveway today with all this rain, it’s been over a year since we’ve had to actually mow anything, I’m sure the novelty will wear off when it becomes a chore again. And the pulling of woody weeds is a satisfying activity at the moment as the ground is soft the weeds give quickly, when it’s dry it’s impossible to get them out of the ground and the bloody horses of course don’t eat them. The chooks will be into all the exposed ground tomorrow harvesting all the mealy bugs and beetles we’ve unearthed today. Tomorrow it’s another wash for Pearl and Rebel and for Zar a first real wash with soap for a set of clean photos and all his hair. We washed Raine last weekend and the amount of white hair sloughed off was amazing. It looked like we clipped him at the wash point but he’s looking lighter but not cleaner having rolled every 10 paces in every mud puddle as he took off to join the others after the deed.

Life is bliss and weekends are precious spending time with our motley crew, hope you enjoy yours as much as we do.