Choose wisely

Now I'm not commonly the type of person who will get riled up and have to post an angry status on your given choice of media platforms but this one I truly do not understand.

Lisa Wilkinson's review illustrates perfectly my perspective on the latest sub par movie released. It somehow miraculously brings a fair few current issues that have been brought into the light in the last few years out into the open, ie; Domestice violence, equality between the sexes. Now we might say 'awesome, an intellectually stimulating, hopefully entertaining story played out on film that we can relate to as a progressive Australian audience'.

Um...
No. Sorry.

What is stopping the general populous from thinking, what do I want in my life? What makes me happy? Is it a shallow, lustful experience of a couple of weeks or would I rather a deep, complex relationship with someone I can call my equal? Someone with whom I can have an active, stimulating sex life with, go on adventures for weeks at a time and continue to enjoy their company and can also relax with and sit around in pyjamas, eating ice cream with milo on top while watching Dr Who at home at the end of a long day at work?

I know what I'd prefer. Am I really in the minority? Do people really fantasise about being an awkwardly submissive other who is caught between fear and passion to bring out their wildest dreams? Are men going to really satisfy you if they are domineering, arrogant twats who turn DV (somehow miraculously) into some romantic passionate act? What are the long term issues that can develop from these kinds of thoughts.

Are dogs better than humans?

Now I'm an animal lover from way back. I'm here now to introduce you to Zali, my beloved 20 month old dog. We believe she's a Koolie x Kelpie, a great combination for me, a lover of work dogs. I had a thought this morning I'd like to share. If you've any conversation to add, please do so.

There's been study and lots of discussion over whether or not dogs are conscious living beings. That is, whether they realise their bodily presence and link it with their soul, so to speak. One fairly accurate way of I've heard of testing this idea is by getting a dog used to its reflection in a mirror, painting something on their face, an obvious blue mark or something, and returning them to the mirror to see if they try to remove it. Now I've a few queries with this experiment, such as 'my dogs choice of perfume is horse shit, why would they care if there's a mark on their face?' among others.

Either way, my question to you today is, if they are completely conscious of their presence in this world as a physical being with a soul (which I believe they are) does it make them more caring, compassionate, loyal beings than humans? Because they will always put you first (even in ball games, its been said they only return the ball to make you happy) and share your burdens. There's so much more that could be said on this subject...

What then is the basis for humanity? What are our main traits? I shudder to think.

Harvest

Over the weekend my sister and I went blackberry picking to build up her driving hours around the forest. We've had lots of rain so lots of berries have come out. Unfortunately they've swollen with water and are lacking the real sweetness they usually have. Although on the upside, there's millions out and the dogs came along too and enjoyed the day out. (I haven't introduced any animals yet, blasphemy!)

A panorama from near where we were picking over to the east, over the Blue Mountains/Wollemi

 

My other half brought home a few kilos he and his work mates picked at work in the forest too. I returned them in the form of a pie he took with him today. I've taken to the stove top and made some blackberry jam with the ones from the weekend. Making jam and preserving is such a great task, I feel like I'm one of the ones continuing it as it fades away like so many other traditions that are of simply no use in our day and age. It refused to set in the test set in the freezer so we'll just cross our fingers and hope it does over time.

Earlier in the month I had a fantastic onion and garlic harvest (growing alongside their companion tomatoes) which I pickled too, my first try at pickling! Fingers crossed not an ounce of bacteria got in/survived and they taste alright.

In other news, my father in law, who owns the land my horses are on, told me about 5L of coolant sitting in a bucket over lunchtime disappeared the other day. By the time I got to the horses and checked their mouths, lips, and backsides there was no trace of who-dunnit. Although a poison, it was at maximum dilution rate, and they've been into supposed horse killing feeds before and survived without a hint of colic. All I can do is keep a daily eye on them in the meantime and hope it was the biggest, fattest mare, Dingbat who would hold a much higher tolerance than the other two geldings.

Charlie, (skinny Thoroughbred) (to the left) and Bruce (Standardbred, ex-trotter)

Dingbat (awful name I know) 

(no clue what breed but heavy, this is after a month or two yarded with a biscuit of meadow hay/day)

Our chickens are happy and still getting the hang of laying an egg a day, they're young, they'll keep. My tomatoes aren't ripening very much, I'm told its due to the drop in temperature for this season. Perhaps I'll be making some green tomato pickles before the seasons out!


On the academic side of things I have to shout out I'm almost finished my degree!!! My last essay submitted last Friday and my last exam this weekend. This week I start studying nursing at college 3 days a week in hope of a secure, busy job at the end of the 18 months.

Travel plans may have taken a hit with the lack of work over summer but I've been contacted about work with a local farm contractor I've worked for over the past few years so perhaps the plans aren't completely off the rails at this stage.

If you've any relatable experiences please feel free to share. Community is an essential part of the human experience and I feel we should use technology to its full potential :)