Hello, Billie

It's been an intensive two weeks (still two days to go too!!). Work is mad, and I won't be conned again into 'holding the fort' right after a deadline while all the bosses go gallivanting around. Very long days, and lots of stress. And what for? Still, for now it brings in the money so I can't complain too much, and thankfully everybody is back on Monday. I've used the system against itself for once, and booked all my holidays while everybody was away and it's all been approved by the powers that be. No doubt this will cause some shit as early November there is another deadline, and this time I'll be away. As they say Life is Pain, but in November it isn't mine for a change.

PJ's brother is still in intensive care, and still can't be operated upon, he is still too weak. For now PJ's family has said that things are ok, so he's decided not to go back at this point in time. I guess I'm secretly a bit relieved about that, as it would be quite a handful looking after everybody by myself - not impossible, but it would be a big job.

As for the rest, PJ is still making a lot of progress. The spare room is ready for painting now, so it should really be well finished in the next week. He has started gyprocking the study, and then, and then!! oh, we're still not finished then. PJ picked up the kitchen the other day, it's looking beautiful but we still need to put it together in the next few weeks, as the top will be ready by the end of the month.

We're back into martial arts training. We've been having really good sessions with Jamahl, who's also done martial arts before, and Monte is learning. It's good to train as a foursome, and everybody seems to be enjoying themselves. We've decided that for now we'll do 2 sessions a week - one beginner's session (for Monte) and then one advanced session (for PJ, Jamahl and me) so we all get out of it what we need. I'm still a bit weary of my hands, as they are fairly sore from milking and as long as I have gigs I must be able to play the violin. Besides I love playing the violin so, it's just finding a fine balance. (I think the first thing to cut out is this wretched computer job - that would take some pressure of my hands :P)

Never a dull moment in other words! My music as said is going well, we have another gig coming up in Hobart on 25 October so I'll be catching up again with Marjorie and Steve the coming weekend, and we have a few dinners too so no doubt the weekend will be going much faster than the rest of the week. I've made more cheeses, two camembert are looking beautiful and I now have 3 Edams and 2 Gouda drying in what has been made into a cheese pantry. It's looking great, but with the Edam and Gouda we have to wait 3-6 months before they're ready.

Ruby has been looking ready to calve since last week. I must say that after Emma, we're a bit more relaxed about it, though we've been keeping an eye on her. This morning I picked up Ems for milking, and Ruby was missing. I thought, I'll milk first and then see what's going on. So, after finishing with Emma, PJ and I put her and Porter back in the field, and then went for a walk.
And yes... Ruby was standing by a tree, looking rather a lot slimmer than she recently has been. She made this low sweet mooing sound that we've heard the cows do when they call their calves, and there she was, a beautiful little girl who will be called Billie (after Billie Holiday). Ruby is not as friendly as Emma, so although I got her a bucket of food, she was not quite keen to eat while I was holding it. So we put it down, and just watched them. She must understand that we don't mean harm, because she let us stroke Billie and check her over. I don't think Ruby will become a milker, because she is fairly old and set in her ways - I don't think I could get her used to the routine. She's observed Emma with interest, but every time I've tried to herd her in, she's panicked and run off.

What I find so amazing is that she had found a fallen tree and some branches, which form a perfect half circle. Billie was lying down inside this circle, protected from the wind and she looked quite comfortable. I knew she was a girl by looking at her face - it's just a bit finer than the boys I'm afraid! We had hoped a little bit for a boy, as he could be Rufus' successor for the herd.
I'd like to keep Billie as a second milker, but of course we could never have Rufus come near her. Friends of ours that we met at the Bio Dynamics course have been interested in purchasing a milker, either a Jersey or a Dexter so who knows. We'll have to see what happens for now - she looks so cute it would be hard to part with her. I'll take some photos of Billie this afternoon. I didn't want to distress Ruby too much.

Anyway - work is calling so I'll have to get on. Sigh.... Two more days of stress!

Here are a lot of links - I forgot to add them last time.

• Cassandra's view
  A very interesting view on the ASPO conference in the US.
  
• Adieu, stage 1 collapse!
  One of my favourite writers who is eerily accurate in predicting what is happening.
  
• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
  The Huffington Post - more alternative news
  
• Palin gets foreign policy tips
  ... from no other than Kissinger, another Bilderberger.
  
• Joe and Noah's If We Were Charlie Gibson: The Palin interview
  Sent to me by one of my colleagues in the US. They are all incredibly funny and it's good to see that not all Americans stick their heads in the sand. This woman is an insult to all women with a brain.
  
• Monster pig holds woman hostage
  We can't just read depressing news :)
  
• Florida voting issues raise fears of 2000-like debacle
  I work with computers. I'd never trust a program with something this sensitive (unless you set out to fiddle the results - not completely unlikely either).
  
• The complete elite consensus over the financial collapse
  Just read it.
  
• Farmers go green as petrol prices rise
  Very interesting, farmers are going green and towards Bio Dynamics as artificial fertilisers (based on non-renewable resources) are getting too expensive. When will the penny drop, people!
  
• America's self-inflicted societal collapse
  Interesting article about the different perspectives on the upcoming collapse.

Until the next time!