Exo's Exposé

There's a substantial puddle in the dam!, big enough for the staffy to swim in the middle of it 😄 I decided to check it during our walk yesterday because it had rained all the night before, every time I woke up it was still raining 🙂 Staffys are reknowned for it & my guy is no different, he had this gigantic smile on his face, he was so excited when he discovered he could swim in the middle - so that's what he did, swam circles in the middle of the dam, slapping the water with his front feet, biting at the splashes that he made 😄 The frogs, bugs & birds are all singing a glorious symphony! The grass forest is growing rapidly in the back yard & I couldn't get the mower going yesterday, I tried all my tricks, cleaning the spark plug & air filter, emptying the fuel bowl & lubricating the pull start - nope, no go. I can't afford a new mower, can't really afford a second hand one but I'll start looking; there's no-one out my way that does lawn mowing & to get someone out here costs a fortune. Long grass {or mainly weeds} means nasty bitey bugs & I mean nasty, not just mozzies but scorpions & centipedes . . . & of course snakes! Christmas was ok, of course there was the gapping void of my daughter & grandchildren though they did respond to the messages that I sent. I went to my sisters, she & her husband are having financial problems, he's just had an accident & is unable to work for some months, she's just quit her job . . . & they've got mortages & the likes. So there was an amount of tension. I've had a couple of christmas's at home alone & it's actually very peaceful, it can be just another day & it passes very quickly. I've gotten a parcel every year since I got the fence done, from the fence contractor & it's a decent parcel, a grocery box full! I get all sorts of yummy foods & this year he & his wife even remembered I'm not able to have gluten! It also included wrapped presents, lovely hand creams & washes! I think they must be members of a church or community organization, but I really appreciate them all the same. I wouldn't have received any gifts if it wasn't for them. Another thing I noticed is that this year I didn't receive one card, I guess that's better for the environment 😉

Love to all that need or want it ❤️

@Bunniekins @Zoe7 @outlander @Sophia1 @Emelia8 @eth

Hi @Exoplanet It must be kismet because I was thinking of you this morning and here you are

Not feeling well though so will re-read your post later and respond giving it the time you deserve. In the meantime sending you love and hugs

Good morning @Exoplanet 🤗💞 Good to hear from you. Glad to hear you have had enough rain in your area to cause a substantial puddle in your dam. Ha ha, and your staffy sounds very happy about it. They are very funny arent they? When I was on the farm we had a Kelpie (working dog) and she loved swimming in the dams too. In fact she would be bringing in a mob of sheep at times, taking them right past the big dam. And she would suddenly quit work, head to the dam for a quick swim, then back on the job. She was a great sheep dog, but also a lovely pet. But yeah, when she wanted a swim, there wasnt much you could do to stop her. Thankfully she also loved sheep work, so she was back on the job quickly.

Oh dear, sorry about the mower. Just when you need a working mower, they tend to go on the blink. A bit like our hot water service over the Christmas break. All fixed now thankfully, and back to hot showers again. But damned annoying. Hope you are able to obtain a cheep second hand alternative. I dont have a good history with lawn mowers, my husband blaming me for wrecking them. We have to keep our grass mowed pretty regularly too. We only have 3 acres where we are now, semi-rural, but we are in an area where there are plenty of snakes. And just as bad ... a paralysis tick prone area. So not good at all for my little dog. I treat her with appropriate anti-tick stuff, but you still have to keep an eye on them. And long uncut grass is an open invitation for ticks to transfer from the long grass into small dogs.

Gosh you are very lucky .. and deservedly so ... how nice that the fencing contractor gives you a christmas hamper each year. Very thoughtful of he and his wife, especially the bit about being gluten intollerant. Some people are just so lovely, and acts like that just reinforce that people are (on the whole) good.

Yes physical christmas cards are on a massive decline. We still send out a stack, because my husband is a traditionalist and has lots of navy friends, former business acquaintances, and quite a few interstate family members. So this year I sent out 44 cards, down on previous years. Slowly cutting back, unbeknownst to hubby. We got quite a few less cards in return this year I notice, but still got a couple of dozen. More people are sending email or text messages these days. And thats quite okay with me.

Love back to you Exo, and I hope you are keeping well. Happy new year .. I notice your profile pic have the fireworks all ready happening. 😊🎉💓

Emelia 🌺

Oh @Exoplanet I hope you can get a cheap, second hand mower. Not at all what you needed Hon

That tension with your family on Christmas day is awful to sit through also. Luckily this year we did not have any of that but in the past we have and it makes for a very long and difficult day. Thank goodness for your parcel from the fence contractor's - so lovely of them to continue to think about you - it restores some faith in humans when that happens.

I could imagine your fur baby swiiming in the dam - what a treat to have enough water for him to do that. I had a giggle at him biting at the splashes he made - that is super cute 🐶

I hope your new year brings with it joy and happiness Hon - and maybe the lawn mower fairy comes too (can hope).

Wow, what wonderful replies 🙂 Thank you @Zoe7 , @Emelia8 & thank you for the new years
greetings too, @outlander , @Bunniekins , @Shaz51 .

I'd all but forgotten that it was new years eve until my sister rang that afternoon, at first
I was wondering why she was telling me she wasn't doing anything that night? . . . then
I clicked, she sounded a bit down. Her hubby had fallen up the stairs & they spent new
years eve's eve, in the emergency department of the local hospital . . . he has a hairline
fracture now, on top of the surgery he'd had done to the tendons & muscles in his
shoulder!
I think it was fitting that new years evening I dipped into the dam with the staffy! 😄 In
the middle it was about as deep as my legs are long 😉 I could still sit on the bottom but
if I stretched out my body flat I was able to do a kind of breast stroke . . . so I did swim
in it! 🙂 😄 I even managed to coax the little fella out far enough {still in the reedy grass}
that he did have to swim back to shore 🙂

You've taught me a new word Zoe, Kismet - fate or something that was meant to be . . .
I like it 🙂 Sorry to hear you weren't feeling well, I hope you've recovered & I'm sending
that love & those hugs straight back to you ❤️ On the other hand it was good to hear
you had no tension on Christmas day 🙂 So I'm thinking that would make a nice new
years wish for you . . . a stress free year, impossible I know, but it the thought that counts 🙂

Emelia, your Kelpie sounded like a good worker, I think that breed is even more
energetic than the staffies! . . . sprinting off for a quick swim whilst running after a herd!
Yeah the mowers a pest, but I bought it second hand years ago & it's started first pull
every time until this season. The fuel lines split, but this model isn't made any more, I
think the company that made it went bust, so I can't get parts for it, I just tape it up. I had
to fight it last time I used it, I just managed to get it going & it was sluggish. I'd really
like to find a service to do it, 'cause I know I'm past mowing, I've known it for years.
The hot water going on the blink at Christmas would have been a pest too! Especially if
you had visitors!! Luckily it's been warm enough here {though much more pleasant than
the heat wave} that I can have cold douses under the hose 🙂 I'm also lucky that we don't
have the paralysis ticks here, the ones we get here the locals call nymph ticks, they're so
tiny when you first get them that you can't see them; problem with that is thier bite just
itches a bit, like a mozzie, so you scratch it . . . that knocks the body off & the head
borrows in a bit & causes a kind of infection, which leaves that itch & sores for months!
I use the anti-tick stuff too . . . but they don't make it for people 😉 {though I do take Vit
D, which is supposed to help with mozzies & ticks [& thought & emotional problems]}.
Wishing you health & happiness for the new year, I think if I were to make a new years
resolution it'd be to continue not stressing about my health & focus on happiness 🙂

Love to all that need or want it ❤️

@Exoplanet Hey and Hap pea New Year's Day Exoplanet :D! You know that vitamin D is also meant to with covid as well as many other ailments. I have recently started taking it as I figure it cannot hurt :). Have you got leeches in your dam? I friggin freak out with leeches! So does my daughter but my 2 male kidults love playing with them ..... I wont go into details what they do to them .... anyways .... I hope you are well and that your furbabies keep enjoying the dam :). Take good care of yourself. Love peaxx

@Bunniekins Happy New Year beautiful Pea. Ummm, let me guess what your kids might do to the leeches ... does it have anything to do with turning them inside out I wonder or shaking salt on them? Hate to say it, but as kids that what we did too.

Hey @Exoplanet thanks for the big response. I love reading your updates.

Oh dear ... not good about your sisters hubby, who now has a fracture to contend with. As if a tendon and muscle repair of his shoulder was not enough! Poor fellow.

Ahhh nice ... I used to swim in our dams too. Most of them were muddy and dark and full of horrible leeches. Hate those little blighters. So you were very brave sitting on the bottom of a muddy dam amongst them. Thankfully at another farm we moved to later, we had a beautiful clear spring-fed dam ... it was huge and high up overlooking a valley. Unfortunately there were still leeches there, and red belly black snakes as well, but at least with the clear water ... you could see them coming. Eeek.

Yeah our Kelpie, Bessie, was a great dog. Kelpies are highly intelligent dogs, and make wonderful pets as well. But it is their herding instinct that they are mainly used for of course. And she just loved to herd things. On the farm, she would herd the geese, or sometimes she would round up a paddock of sheep and just bring them up to the sheep yards. All on her own.

When we sold the farm and moved to 3 acres in a rural estate some 11 kms from nearest small town, we brought Bessie with us of course. It was a big adjustment for her, but she adapted well. Some of our neighbours had chooks, and she got to realise that they had to be brought in from the big paddock back into their henhouse for locking up at night. So she would disappear over to the neighbours place, round up the chooks and have them settled safely in their enclosure for the night. We have quite a few foxes around here. The neighbour started giving her a chicken wing for her troubles, so of course there was no stopping her then. After her treat she would wander back home here in time for her dinner. Sadly we lost Bessie to lymphoma a few years after moving up here.

Thankfully no, we did not have visitors here over Christmas, so the only ones being inconvenienced by the lack of HWS was hubby and myself. I cannot believe how soft I've become when it comes to cold water. When we were on the farm, we had an outdoor shower set up. The water was gravity fed from the big spring fed dam up the hill that I mentioned above. Piped down via black polypipe. It was a great natural heater, and given the pipe ran for about 500 meters, there was plenty of hot water. So we just hooked up a shower head at the end of it (up high to allow it to cool enough) and put some heshian bags up to protect modesty in case of surprise visitors. We later set up an old bathtub outside using the same principal. It worked well during the day, and definitely helped when water was scarce and our fresh water tanks were running dry. Much better than when I was younger and we had to light a fire under the old laundry copper to heat water for a bath. Thats when we had no hot water system of course. Later upgraded to one of the old 'chip' heaters at the end of the bathroom. Then of course the very modern 'zip' heater beside the bathtub. Those were the days.

Those little ticks sound nasty. We get some of the brown ticks around here too, but its the paralysis ticks which everyone worries about. Because they can cause death in pets.

Wishing you health and happiness too @Exoplanet for 2021 and beyond. I have to say that I am currently feeling pretty fragile, but hopefully things will improve as 2021 progresses. I like your resolution to not worry about health, but to concentrate on happiness going forward. It matters not how long we are around, of much more importance is that the time we do have here on earth, is spent being happy, feeling worthwhile and doing no harm to others. I will try to adopt that same principle.

Hi @Bunniekins @Zoe7 @outlander @Faith-and-Hope

Emelia 💞

Happy New year day @Exoplanet 🥰❤☕☕🌻🌻🌻

@Emelia8 , @Bunniekins , @outlander , @Zoe7

@Emelia8 Hey Em and Hap pea New Year sweetheart :D. Yes they use salt and .... well let us just leave it at that. Son2 does dreadful things to roaches too .... anyway ..... that is what boys do I suppose. xx

@Shaz51 Hap pea New Year to you too my sister. I missed some of your recent posts ..... is everything alright for you? ....xxx