Assisted Delivery

As Jessica and I left for work on Thursday morning we saw a pregnant ewe on her own away from the flock. I thought I could see something hanging out the back end of the ewe and it just didn't look right. Jess and I called Kim and headed back to the house. I fetched the surgical gloves grabbed a towel and ran to the paddock with Jess and Kim.
The ewe was in trouble with the lambs heads hanging out of her vagina - not good. Lambs are meant to come out feet tucked under their head first.
We managed to corner the ewe and Kim crash tackled her I don't how he hung on but he did. I was watching closely and thought I saw the lamb breath.
Jess did her expert assisted delivery job and the lamb was born quickly.
The ewe was not impressed with the midwifery skills and took off as soon as we let her up. Another 45 minutes around the paddock to reunite mother and lamb.



Ewe with her Ram lamb


Kim kept a close eye on the ewe and lamb throughout the morning and found the ewe had given birth to another lamb. If, we had not intervened both lambs would have died so good job Kim and  Jessica!

Ewe with her Ewe and Ram lambs looking very healthy

Mother's Day 2012

Mothers Day was wonderful. The kids and partners came over and spoilt me with lots of lovely presents. They cooked me a three course dinner of creamy garlic prawns, duck pasta and lemon meringue pie for dessert! We really relaxed and enjoyed the evening.






 

 Alison and Kate had a great time flying a kite





It was pretty windy and Aison was having trouble as the kite soared higher and higher. Kate was giving advise on how to reel in the kite.



After that fun I got to have some fun of my own.

This is Kim's amazing present! A NEW IPAD!

Geoff and Tara gave me an awesome ipad stand. Great for the kitchen bench I will never need to print off another recipe

Jessica gave me a new stick blender - I love my kitchen gadgets and needed a new one!

Anthony, Alison and Kate gave me the much needed cover for the iPad with an iTunes voucher.



Jess and Kylee brought me these beautiful flowers and a bottle of champagne. So very thoughtful and I am not even their mother!

 What a wonderful Mother's Day! I hope everyone had a brilliant Mother's Day too!

Autumn

We are in the last month of Autumn the trees have been changing colour and losing their leaves. Cooler weather is here. There have been quiet a few frosts but the days warm up quickly. The fire has been going 24/7 since Anzac Day




This picture was taken this morning. A Manchurian
Pear in all it glory on the left with a London Plane tree on the right



Liquid Amber changing colour

With the fire going 24/7 Kim has to get more fire wood from the property. We have lots of fire wood from dead trees and have never had to cut down a live tree.



Kookaburra and Magpie waiting for breakfast.

We usually have about 6 Kookaburras and many magpies visit for food 



Remember these well they produced this.



  

The Claremont Cacklers have laid the first of many eggs.



Sunday Dinner

Twice a month we host family dinner at Claremont all the kids, wives, partners Cameron, Skye, Oliver and Harry come along to share a good meal. Sometimes they bring friends as well so usually there is about 12 to 14 for dinner.  

I love seeing my family all together and having a good time. The girls usually do most of the cooking and Kate with the guys usually wash up

Last Sunday we celebrated Cameron's 31st birthday which was on the 8th May 2012.

Cameron requested Indian Roast Pork Belly. I have made it before and the meal was a big hit.

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/28433/indian+roasted+pork+belly

We also made Harissa Split Chicken recommended by daughter Alison and Fried Pumpkin Gnocchi

The chicken  tasted delicious and was very easy to make.

Harissa Split Chicken

4 long chillies de seeded and roughly chopped

3 cloves garlic crushed

1 tsp salt

2  tsp cumin

2 coriander

1 tbls olive oil

1 x 2kg chicken. Butterfly  the chicken by cutting out the backbone with chicken shears

Place all  ingredients except chicken is a food processor and blitz to a smooth paste. Rub paste over chicken and allow to marinate for at least 20 minutes

Bake or BBQ for 1 hours or until cooked through. Allow to stand for 10 minutes before cutting into peices.  



Thie recipe was soo good  http://steamykitchen.com/6515-pan-fried-pumpkin-gnocchi-browned-butter-sage.html





The roast tasted as good as it looks




Baby Harry so cute in his Owl hat


Skye, Cameron and me cooking up a storm




Oliver had a good time as well




Cameron and Anthony having a birthday hug. PS Cameron thanks for the pictures. http://ourlittlehodgefamily.tumblr.com/



Lambs are arriving

The first of this year’s crop of lambs started arriving on Sunday. A beautiful Type 5 ewe gave birth to twin ram lambs. Another ewe gave birth to a ewe lamb on Monday.

All the pregnant ewes are in the paddock that has an electric fence around the perimeter to deter the foxes. A shooter friend shot a fox in another paddock last week and we saw two foxes frolicking around the dam in the same paddock. So the foxes are out there in numbers.

We have often counted many sets of twins when they were first born but by the time you get the lambs in the yards to mark them the number of twins is halved. If, you can protect the lambs until they are a couple of weeks old the survival rate of twins is much higher.



The lambs are very strong and a really good size.