I've only met Simon Bedak, Esq., cattle baron, the once. He is a great one for spruiking the benefits and flavour of beef! and I agree with him wholeheartedly, I love a hunk of bleeding beef on my plate.
However the move to large animals at Lantanaland is going to start with ........ sheep. There is a reason for this. I can get a few dorper cross lambs for fifty bucks, whereas a nice angus jersey cross will set me back at least $200.
Don't get me wrong, I really want a cow. It will give me an excuse to go do that cheese course I've been lusting over. It will provide me with lots of tasty dairy products and rib fillets.
I've just never kept or had good contact with someone who's kept animals for meat and sheep seem like an easy way to start. Docile and easy animals for docile and clueless beginners if you like.
So unless squire Bedak can convince me, shotgun in hand, that I should go head first and get a cow, soon Lantanaland will have two sheep.
Oh and a happy birthday to one of my mates for yesterday, Kerri-anne. You might have to wait six months for your present Kerri, but I promise, the first few dozen pure white eggs I get are yours.
Lantanaland from the iPhone
Friday, May 29, 2009
Monday, May 25, 2009
Do the British have this over us
Being in the car 90% of my working day, I listen to a lot of podcasts. Sport, design, music, tech and comedy. Comedy. Why can't we get a decent show on radio or podcast in oz. The Brits have fantastic stuff like the news quiz, The Now Show and the sadly gone Im Sorry I Haven't a Clue. We have comediens on breakfast or drive radio.
That's cool I guess but where is the equivelent of The Daily Show or The Glasshouse or even The Chaser doing something on radio. I downloaded some comedy hour the ABC did last year and it was, well, woefull. University revues would have been embaressed.
Considering we can crank out Summer Heights High and The Hollowmen, there is no excuse. Cmon oz, make me laugh.
Lantanaland from the iPhone
That's cool I guess but where is the equivelent of The Daily Show or The Glasshouse or even The Chaser doing something on radio. I downloaded some comedy hour the ABC did last year and it was, well, woefull. University revues would have been embaressed.
Considering we can crank out Summer Heights High and The Hollowmen, there is no excuse. Cmon oz, make me laugh.
Lantanaland from the iPhone
Sunday, May 17, 2009
No Sandra Bullock tie ins please.
Had a bloody good weekend. Kicked off with a double feature at the drive in which despite some false advertising about the wolverine/ star trek explody goodness double, did include my roast chook in bread. The second movie turned out to be teen/family movie "17 again". Maybe I had low expectations but this movie was genuinely funny, the bit where he lectures high school girls about self respect was just gold. Star Trek, well i'll leave it up to my mate Cobbs, whose two lines straight after, "to cheesily go where no cheese has before" and "who'd have thought Zac Efron would win the day" summed it up.
Saturday contained one of those moments that I just love to have in Lantanaland. I toodled off in the morning to go to the dump (no rubbish service here) and pick up some gravel and mulch for a bit of gardening and driveway repair. At the landscape place they had no recycled concrete, but in a lovely gesture pointed me down the road to a recycling place that did industrial soil and concrete. Met a guy there who hooked me up and we got chatting about Lantanaland. Turns out he used to work for a company that specialized in clearing lantana. They even have a special machine just for that. I didn't have cash on me so he just said to come back Monday and he'd bring in some photos of the work he'd done to show me. Seredepity I'd call it, except that sounds like a Sandra Bullock movie, so I won't.
I'm the afternoon I went and cut some bamboo from a stand next to the river that I noticed a while back and had been meaning to get stuck into. Those poles are from just two bits of bamboo. They'll form the uprights of a frame for another chook pen which will have grape vines trailing all over it for shade in summer.
Fresh duck pasta with mushrooms and home smoked bacon for dinner than a chat with Mr Flinthart while I watched the mighty Lions dismantle Adelaide.
Today I got into the bees, it looks like they had swarmed, the hive was half empty and very little honey. This is probably because I've been very lax, partially because of a busy social schedule and partially because of all the wet weather. Mostly just cause I'm slack. I'll have to keep a real eye on them to make sure it was a swarm and not disease. Then I baked a carrot cake and planted some radish, carrots, onions, sage and zuchhini. Chicken, mango, cashew and mushroom filos to tip off the day.
A productive weekend all round.
Lantanaland from the iPhone
Saturday contained one of those moments that I just love to have in Lantanaland. I toodled off in the morning to go to the dump (no rubbish service here) and pick up some gravel and mulch for a bit of gardening and driveway repair. At the landscape place they had no recycled concrete, but in a lovely gesture pointed me down the road to a recycling place that did industrial soil and concrete. Met a guy there who hooked me up and we got chatting about Lantanaland. Turns out he used to work for a company that specialized in clearing lantana. They even have a special machine just for that. I didn't have cash on me so he just said to come back Monday and he'd bring in some photos of the work he'd done to show me. Seredepity I'd call it, except that sounds like a Sandra Bullock movie, so I won't.
I'm the afternoon I went and cut some bamboo from a stand next to the river that I noticed a while back and had been meaning to get stuck into. Those poles are from just two bits of bamboo. They'll form the uprights of a frame for another chook pen which will have grape vines trailing all over it for shade in summer.
Fresh duck pasta with mushrooms and home smoked bacon for dinner than a chat with Mr Flinthart while I watched the mighty Lions dismantle Adelaide.
Today I got into the bees, it looks like they had swarmed, the hive was half empty and very little honey. This is probably because I've been very lax, partially because of a busy social schedule and partially because of all the wet weather. Mostly just cause I'm slack. I'll have to keep a real eye on them to make sure it was a swarm and not disease. Then I baked a carrot cake and planted some radish, carrots, onions, sage and zuchhini. Chicken, mango, cashew and mushroom filos to tip off the day.
A productive weekend all round.
Lantanaland from the iPhone
Monday, May 11, 2009
Compete?
A mate of mine is known for his competiveness. He should be, I guess, having played for his country, but a story I'm sure he'll love me telling will illustrate the extent.
A few of us used to go to my folks house on Curtis island for new years, it became a bit of a tradition. Lazing around after a few cleansing ales a few of the boys were enjoying my young nephews connect 4 set. Ryan had never played the game. Andy on the other hand, coming from the wrong side of the tracks, had dabbled quite a bit in board games in his youth and quickly dispatched him. Trying to shake the fog from his brain Ryano went again. Bang 2-0. Ryan was clearly getting annoyed, something that Andy, keen to no doubt motivate the rookie player, made public to us all. Game 3. Pride on the line. Aaaaand bang, another routing. Ryan jumped to his feet, the constructive comments of the crowd ringing in his ears, declaring that his short and colourful connect4 career was in fact, over. And that we could all go and shove our heads in that well known valley where the sun shineth not.
I used to be like that. Hated losing at cards. Hating losing at touch footy. Ground my teeth and took the ritual humiliations on the tennis court from the wife like a barely grown, sooky man.
That however, was all in the past. I got fat. The Rev defeated my competitive spirit. I could play backgammon and lose three in a row with barely a sulk.
It was like my grape vine that The Wife would have declared dead ages ago and I had even contemplated pulling out. Not quite dead despite appearances. The first shoot was going back and training with AJ, Nath and "connect 4 Ryan". I didn’t lose weight but started to feel a little fitter. A leaf opened on Wednesday night when I had an ok game. That is I didn't give my celebrated impression of a fat 30 year old. The opposition was of a good standard. Then came the catch up game on Saturday.
The opposition was the best team in the comp. Four internationals and a few NTL reps for good measure. I let a try in where technically I reckon I did everything right. I just got burned. By a fitter, stronger, lighter, more agile player. Another moment I ran into a small hole and had to reach and juggle for the ball because I was half a step too slow. Little things that really had not much bearing on the game, we got thrashed, but they burned me a little.
Sitting there having a beer later (the irony!), I thought about what might of happened if I was that 5-10 Kg lighter that I reckon I should be. The next day, doing a training session with The Wife, I reckon I ran just a little harder every time I thought about letting in that try.
The vine has been fertilized now, who knows what sort of fruit it will bear.
Lantanaland from the iPhone
A few of us used to go to my folks house on Curtis island for new years, it became a bit of a tradition. Lazing around after a few cleansing ales a few of the boys were enjoying my young nephews connect 4 set. Ryan had never played the game. Andy on the other hand, coming from the wrong side of the tracks, had dabbled quite a bit in board games in his youth and quickly dispatched him. Trying to shake the fog from his brain Ryano went again. Bang 2-0. Ryan was clearly getting annoyed, something that Andy, keen to no doubt motivate the rookie player, made public to us all. Game 3. Pride on the line. Aaaaand bang, another routing. Ryan jumped to his feet, the constructive comments of the crowd ringing in his ears, declaring that his short and colourful connect4 career was in fact, over. And that we could all go and shove our heads in that well known valley where the sun shineth not.
I used to be like that. Hated losing at cards. Hating losing at touch footy. Ground my teeth and took the ritual humiliations on the tennis court from the wife like a barely grown, sooky man.
That however, was all in the past. I got fat. The Rev defeated my competitive spirit. I could play backgammon and lose three in a row with barely a sulk.
It was like my grape vine that The Wife would have declared dead ages ago and I had even contemplated pulling out. Not quite dead despite appearances. The first shoot was going back and training with AJ, Nath and "connect 4 Ryan". I didn’t lose weight but started to feel a little fitter. A leaf opened on Wednesday night when I had an ok game. That is I didn't give my celebrated impression of a fat 30 year old. The opposition was of a good standard. Then came the catch up game on Saturday.
The opposition was the best team in the comp. Four internationals and a few NTL reps for good measure. I let a try in where technically I reckon I did everything right. I just got burned. By a fitter, stronger, lighter, more agile player. Another moment I ran into a small hole and had to reach and juggle for the ball because I was half a step too slow. Little things that really had not much bearing on the game, we got thrashed, but they burned me a little.
Sitting there having a beer later (the irony!), I thought about what might of happened if I was that 5-10 Kg lighter that I reckon I should be. The next day, doing a training session with The Wife, I reckon I ran just a little harder every time I thought about letting in that try.
The vine has been fertilized now, who knows what sort of fruit it will bear.
Lantanaland from the iPhone
Friday, May 8, 2009
I'm back baby
Been a bloody busy time. The folks dropped in on their way home from their South Australia fishing pilgrimage. Allen had always wanted a decent crack at the King George whiting and from the sounds of it, they'll be back again they had so much fun. It was good to catch them and Mum got to participate in The Wifes special facebook program, How to Edit a Whole Trips Worth of Photos into One Facebook Album in 12 easy steps.
The Wife is a master of trimming photos so you get a tight cohesive story and they worked 500 odd photos into 60. We then had a nice trip up the mountain, caught up with an old mate and had lunch at the Mt Tambourine botanical gardens. Highlight of the day was the honey mayo made with duck egg and Lantanaland Gold honey. Mmmmmm.
Of course the weekend was finished off nicely by me getting swine flu. I mean I eat heaps of bacon sandwiches, so that must have been what I had. Tuesday I stacked on the sudafed to go out to dinner with my mate Ryan, to celebrate winning an international series. He was on one arm though, because he had shoulder surgery three days after playing!
I've stocked up on chickens now that I seem to be snake proof. Anconas, Barnvelders, Welsummers and Malay Game round out my Chooks stocks, for now. The Wifes accusation that I have compulsive poultry purchase disorder are completely groundless.
I mean 34 is not that many, is it?
Lantanaland from the iPhone
The Wife is a master of trimming photos so you get a tight cohesive story and they worked 500 odd photos into 60. We then had a nice trip up the mountain, caught up with an old mate and had lunch at the Mt Tambourine botanical gardens. Highlight of the day was the honey mayo made with duck egg and Lantanaland Gold honey. Mmmmmm.
Of course the weekend was finished off nicely by me getting swine flu. I mean I eat heaps of bacon sandwiches, so that must have been what I had. Tuesday I stacked on the sudafed to go out to dinner with my mate Ryan, to celebrate winning an international series. He was on one arm though, because he had shoulder surgery three days after playing!
I've stocked up on chickens now that I seem to be snake proof. Anconas, Barnvelders, Welsummers and Malay Game round out my Chooks stocks, for now. The Wifes accusation that I have compulsive poultry purchase disorder are completely groundless.
I mean 34 is not that many, is it?
Lantanaland from the iPhone
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)