A bit of this and that

Yesterday I received an impromptu visit from my Mum and Dad. They came to visit and see their middle grand daughter that is here from Melbourne until Monday.

With them they brought a box of goodies. The local owner of the IGA store in Kimba is a friend of my parents and these goods were damaged while being opened. The cutter that was used had sliced through the packets so they were unsellable. I got a big bag of SR flour and plain flour, big bag of rice, small packet noodles, and two bags of raw sugar, plus some chips that were just out of date.

My mum is lucky because she receives things like this all the time. Keeps her grocery bill down.

This poor little orphaned lamb was recently rescued by my parents from a farm that they caretake. It's mother had been mistakenly put on a truck when he was very young. He seemed to be doing poorly so my parents have taken him home to try and make him healthier. He will return to the mob when he has recovered.



This is a pet rabbit that my parents have. My Dad used to breed these rabbits for meat but unfortunately they all got the Myxomatosis disease and they lost all of them except this beautiful boy. He too had the disease but he didn't die from it and was nursed back to some sort of health by Dad and Mum. He has crippled legs and can't move very well as a result of the disease, poor thing. He now lives in with the chooks and is fed by hand. He seems quite happy.

My Dad has a real soft heart for animals. He once brought home a baby fox of all things for me to rear when the girls were young. It was so young it was still black in colour, but it knew how to survive. It would steal my kittens food while he was trying to eat. I tried to feed it a bottle but it bit the top clean off the teat. Dad said he had found the fox while out checking sheep, he thinks the mother may have been moving her babies and was disturbed and dropped the cub. As children we had many pets, kangaroos, lizards, lambs, calves, chickens, baby feral rabbits (4 of them reared from when they were still pink with no fur), they had been dug up by a neighbour ripping up the burrows, to name a few. Dad even found a carpet snake once that he kept for a while and then donated it to a reptile park. You name it, we had it. He is still the same.



I have taken pictures of some of Mum's garden although I should have taken more of her veggies. Mum has always had a garden as long as I remember even though some times it has been a struggle to grow anything due to poor soil and drought. My parents live on a town block now and the front garden is a combination of flowers and vegies all mixed in together. Amongst it is a lemon tree that fruits really well and some natives.



I am not sure what this flower is, except it's grown from a bulb with a brilliant orange colour.





Mum's lavender in full bloom in and around the vegies.







A spider that my son spied on the silverbeet.





A lovely Iris in bloom, she also has the plain white variety.




Some more pictures taken at the Kimba Museum. The members decided to paint this old Fordson tractor in rainbow colours to catch the tourists eyes. The museum is situated on the main Eyre Highway near the Big Galah, a huge statue that I will get a photo of later. Kimba is the town marked as Halfway Across Australia, (as seen on the big sign in the backgound) almost in the middle of this great country. You will pass through this little town if travelling to Perth. To see the Big Galah and other information on Kimba go here.

Fordson Major tractor lovingly restored by one of the Museum members.

1919 Fiat Tractor, with lots of old tools displayed in the background.

My Dad quizzed me about what these homemade gadgets were. I wasn't sure except I thought they were to do with animals. Turns out they are cattle yokes used to stop cattle getting through the fences.

Shearer King seeder restored by the members of the museum. They have busy bees on a regular basis.

Horse drawn buggy, I would love one of these.

Wagon that I think was drawn by horses, but may have been pulled by cattle.

Some old trucks that have been kindly donated to the museum by the locals.

The great community spirit still lives on in the little towns, which is a blessing, but I wonder what will happen in the future if the younger generation doesn't take these things on that the older generation have spent tireless hours restoring for everyone to see. Will all this be lost? I certainly hope not.

My weekend will be spent inside today as it is 41C (105.8F) outside and blowing a terrible wind. Poor plants, just what they don't need. My daughter has her friend's wedding today of all days, a wedding to remember I'd say. Tomorrow is an early start with Little Athletics at 8.00am and Soccer in the afternoon at 4.00. It is meant to be better weather tomorrow.

Have a truly wonderful weekend,

Tania