Buck me

Nugget has a big head. I got up early so I’d have time to do the chores and go for a ride before I went to work. Trying to get Coco’s bridle on Nugget’s big head turned out to be an exercise in optimism, even after adjusting the straps. So I went for a ride on Coco instead. I know Coco is supposed to be a bit more difficult than Nugget but life is short and adventure and experience beckons. And it turned out she is more difficult. The worst was when I had to open the gate, and was trying to get my foot back into the stirrup when she decided to try and buck me off. I’m going to buy a new bridle for Nugget tomorrow. We went for a short ride anyway, checking out the view from above the big house (Noah’s grandparent’s house), practising my trotting. I’ve got a lot to learn. I figure there’s a point in the future where it all starts to click and it’s just a matter of clocking up the hours until then.


I spent the day working at a friends place cleaning up bricks for her paving. Recycling. It’s a true pleasure re-using materials when I’m building. The dairy we live in has a lot of things that have been re-used. The shack was full of windows that I cleaned up and re-puttied, I brought second-hand doors from Fremantle, the kitchen sink was in the shack, the bathroom sink was in the garden, the stove was stored in the existing dairy, the tin and gutters for the laundry and verandah were off the big house, a lot of timbers were re-used when I redid the framing, the woodstove is from a friend in Fremantle, I bought the rangehood, the hot water heater and the bathroom cabinet second-hand from the tender centre, the benchtops were made from the mezzanine floor in the old dairy, the architraves were made from old floorboards from the verandah of the big house, the outside light fittings are from living room in the big house, the kitchen cabinets were salvaged from the old dairy, the window frames were made from old floor joists, the extra windows were made from an old oregon beam Rob had from a butter factory in Murrwillumbah, and we removed, cleaned up and re-used the old weatherboards that were on the dairy. We saved a lot of money, the main cost is the time. But, as I said before, it’s a true pleasure.


I drove home into the setting sun, trying to remember to slow down and admire the view. Enjoying the journey is a good philosophy but ironically it’s hard to do when driving. Nana made the dinner tonight which is a new experience for Noah as you can see.

“I’m grateful that we might have a lovely dinner.”
(Confused? Look)