Kip

Today, the 17th March 2021, would have been Kip's 8th birthday. My Saint Patrick's day baby. Her life fell short of this milestone three days too early. She lost her battle to either an infection or an embolism which resulted from being attacked by another dog. My life feels empty where it had once been full. She should be sitting at my feet right now, half asleep, waiting for me to knock off from work so we can go home. Instead, she is already home, having been laid to rest the same morning that she passed away. 

She didn't have a dull life. Born to Finny Venturin and Axle Holzwart, Kip should have been a working dog. Her career achievements, however, were looking at cattle whilst other dogs worked them, blocking up a mob of cattle by accident and bringing in another mob while I thought she was lost in the paddock. The rest of the time, she was the perfect quad bike accessory.

Finny's pride

Kip got her name because she liked to sleep. As a pup, she would get cranky if woken up. Due to her love of slumber, she was a good traveller. She loved a good leg stretch if there were wallabies, rabbits or hares involved, though she was never fast enough. The speed which her brothers and sisters had inherited was marred in her when she contracted botulism at only a few months old. She recovered well due to the attention she received from absolutely anyone (especially Cookie) that passed her spot on the lawn and moved her, massaged her legs or held her to a standing position for a few minutes.

She crossed the Northern Territory/South Australia border with me multiple times. At some point, Kip and I would usually be at Wudinna on these trips where my mother would proceed to complain about my fur child. "She's lying in the laundry basket of clean linen", "she's stained the armchair red from digging holes in the backyard", "she's tunnelled under the garden shed", "she's dug up Nanna's plants" etc. On one occasion in Wudinna, she had been bitten by a spider just before we left the place and by the time we got to Alice Springs she was in need of TLC from Desert Oaks Veterinary Clinic.

She came with me to multiple house-sits where she made lots of new friends. There was no shortage of new fun, mischief and comfy things to sleep on.

However, at some house-sits, things didn't go so great. At one, Kip struggled to make new friends. They did not take too kindly to her at all. She recovered well. 

At another, Kip got herself into a bit of a pickle and got her eggs fertilised after scaling the fence. Her date was kind enough to walk her home the next morning, which is how I even had a remote idea of what breed the puppies will be crossed with.

After that litter of puppies, I was done with the little rascals and got Kip spayed at the Mount Barker Veterinary Clinic. She recovered quickly because it involved plenty of sleeping.

I often felt as though South Australia was a more dog-friendly place and so I'd take Kip with me here or there because she was far easier to deal with in public than her rambunctious sons.

Of her nearly eight years, each moment has been a blessing to my life. I never thought I'd lose Kip so early. I'd always envisioned her getting old and sleeping significantly more than she already did. It's been a hard knock to deal with her passing. She was always there, right by my side, in the car, beside my bed or even in it with me. Always within arms reach. As I cry and ache and I look to her for comfort, she is gone. 

So on this day, Kip's 8th birthday, take a moment to appreciate your pet. Give them an extra treat or bone. Let them run around out of the cage or off the chain for an extra half hour. Take them to that place or this, even if you think it's a pain in the arse. Because you just don't know if that could be your last adventure together, the last time you pat your dog, the last time you cuddle your cat. The last time you see their wagging tale and contented smile. Don't let those opportunities pass because one day they'll be gone.

Thank you to Katherine Vet Care, to everyone for your thoughts and understanding during these difficult times and to everyone that passed through Kip's life and showed her love and kindness. Everyone who was good to her contributed to her being a great dog and an exceptional best mate.

Wet

From what I can understand, the 2017/2018 Wet Season was average. What I know is that the 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 Wet Seasons were almost non-existent. And from what I’m seeing fall from the sky so far of the 2020/2021 Wet Season, we’re doing pretty bloody good.

When I first bought my block in September 2015, the previous owner told me that he never knew the dam on it to have ever gone dry. In October 2019, it was just a mud puddle. When I returned to my block in July 2020 after two and a half years in South Australia, there was enough water in it to carry the wildlife until the Wet Season arrived. Trekking down there on the 21st of February 2021, I discovered it at over 100% capacity. I have never seen so much water in it before. Even in the 2015/2016 Wet Season there wasn’t as much water as what’s in there right now. 

To use the word “trekking” isn’t an understatement either. If anyone wanted to do a tough mudder, all they had to do was come out to my property. Anywhere that my horse’s feet have sank, I seemed to have found. Knee-deep in mud, I would have to crawl out of their hoof holes. 

When I wasn’t dragging myself through mudholes and puddles, I was in town, enthusiastically checking the height of the Katherine River. From Friday the 19th of February, Katherine Town was on minor flood-watch. We were hoping the river would crack the 16-metre mark. Alas, it got as far as 15.54 metres (officially)… Which is still awesome! When in the last Wet Season the Katherine River barely flowed, to have even got to 15.54 metres is a total blessing. Every man and his dog were spending the weekend checking out the river height and watching it flow. 

Back at the mud pit I was cursing the fact that my property had reached full saturation with nowhere to go to the toilet except in a bucket. The horses have been hanging out at camp, putting holes in the ground wherever they step, lifting their tails to pee and making the place just smell generally. Up until now, I have never considered horses to be smelly creatures. I’ve given up trying to keep the floor in the caravan clean. The chook sleeps inside due to the rain, unceremoniously plucked from her perch on the towbar and put on the floor. The weeds are enjoying being untouched as no car nor ATV is getting anywhere on the place to eradicate them, especially at places where they’re at their worst. Lucky that the weeds guy and I have been able to put out a bit of selective herbicide before the drenching rain began. 

Despite the frustrations which can come with having to leave my car at the bottom of the driveway and walk up to camp, traipsing mud indoors, letting weeds grow etc. the Wet Season is my favourite time of year. It’s when life gets breathed back into the land and the wildflowers appear. My favourites are the little, tiny ones. They speckle the green with their colours. There’s time to pause in the Wet Season. Can’t go anywhere, can’t do anything. Just read a book, watch a movie, do a puzzle. Relax. Let your belt out a few notches. It’s only going to keep raining until the end of March!

The dam on my property

Meg - The Whirlwind

You blew in and blew out again all within three months. I found you wandering down the side of the road on the night of a Friday barbecue and your owners weren’t really bothered if I took you home or gave you back, so of course I took you home. Three months later you died on the road after wandering off from all other dogs and humans at the Friday barbecue. In that three months you loved with all your heart and lived with all your being. Any adventure worth finding and you would find it. Walks with Barb in the morning, chasing horses, rousing on cattle, dragging things into the scrub, splashing in water. You caused endless frustration with your escapades to the point that I nearly regretted taking you on. But your smile and sweet affection resolved those feelings until your next round of naughtiness. I’m glad I took you to the station that day. It was the only big day where it was just you and me. You met so many other friendly dogs and (amazingly) did not chase any horses. You got bored with me cleaning troughs and fixing fences. An hour and a half into the job you were buggered, bored and asleep in the shade of the car. You had many names. Your proper name was Meg. You were called by “Meggy”, mistakenly called “Peggy”, taunted as “Nutmeg” or “Mouser”, thought of fondly as Junior and was even given the name of “Sprinkles” by the kids due to your erratic persona. You were described in appearance as being like a fox, a mountain dingo, run-out or scrawny. It didn’t matter how much you were fed, you’d burn off all that food in an instant. You looked and behaved nothing like your grandma/namesake. Camp is now eerily quiet and the horses walk in without hesitation. Kip is bored and indifferent. She’s relieved to not have you bugging her anymore yet at the same time she’s sad to not have anyone to play with. We’re both sad. My face is sore from so many tears. You had a warm goodbye. Hector and Tate were present as well as their owners who so carefully laid you to rest. You live on in memory and in sustenance for the tree you are buried under. A spirit like yours can never cease, only wander.

Eat Mach II

A lot of people are worried about what I’m eating out on the block so I thought about doing a blog post of all the recipes I cook. Then never did it. A good friend then piped up that I should do a blog post of all the recipes I cook. Nothing like a jab in the ribs to get one motivated to actually do it.

All that know me are aware that I do not like cooking. I will happily head through the drive-thru and yell at a box in order to get something for dinner. This habit caused me to gain quite a few kilos while living on the block last time around and I ended up on diet shakes (and even exercise) to drop the weight again. I haven’t been so bad this time around. At least I don’t think so.

I’ve been able to keep some veggies reasonably fresh by putting them in plastic-ware and then putting them in the esky. I usually had one to three days to consume them or the bad bits get cut off and the rest got given to the chook. Scraps now go in compost due to a lack of avians.

I search Google for inspiration or I cook things I know can be achieved with dry goods. I generally don’t follow recipes because I do my best to remember ingredients and quantities and I often go by sight when putting everything in the pan. This has bitten me in the bum when it came to a Yellow Split Pea Dahl.

Yellow Split Pea Dahl:
Yellow Split Peas
Half an onion, diced
Half a red capsicum, diced
Vegetable Stock (I use powder)
Cumin
Cayenne Pepper

Fry the onion, add the capsicum to soften. Add the split peas and the mixed vegetable stock. Stir regularly and add water as needed. When peas start to soften, add cumin and cayenne pepper. Keep stirring till the peas are cooked through. Enjoy… or not if you’ve put in a whole teaspoon roughly of cayenne pepper. In that case, pluck out and enjoy the capsicum (if you can) and throw out the rest because you’ve just burned the inside of your mouth and oesophagus.

 

Most things I cook aren’t hit and miss, such as risottos. You can’t go past risotto!

Mushroom Risotto
Three small mushrooms, sliced
Half an onion, diced
Vegetable stock (powder)
Water

Fry the onion and mushrooms. Once cooked, add the rice, water and vegetable stock. Stir regularly. Add more water when needed. Once the rice is cooked through, eat.

Milanese Risotto
Small can of peas
Half an onion, diced
Dry parmesan or dry pasta topper cheese
Vegetable stock
Water

Fry the onion. Once cooked, add the rice, water and vegetable stock. Stir regularly. Add more water when needed. When the rice is getting close to being ready, add the dry cheese and stir through well. Once the rice is cooked, drain the can of peas and stir through the rice. All done!

Rice is a pretty good staple for any pantry but especially mine so I came up with another rice dish and after a Google search I came across a name for it that suited it as the recipes online were fairly similar.

Italian Rice
Half an onion, diced
Half a small pepperoni
Rice
Vegetable stock
Water
Can of crushed tomatoes

Fry the onion and pepperoni. Add the rice, water and vegetable stock. Stir regularly and add more water when necessary. Once the rice is cooked, add the can of crushed tomatoes and stir it in.

 

If I was Italian, oh my goodness. I’d probably actually have a passion for cooking food as much as eating it. Instead, I settle for lazily cooked things like Pasta Napolitana where I boil pasta, put it aside, fry an onion, simmer it with a can of crushed tomatoes and chopped basil and then pour the sauce over the pasta. Yes, you can buy it in a jar, however, if you look at the basic ingredients, you can make it yourself just as easily and add some creative flair. Basically, if you buy it in a jar you’re being duped.

I often crave veggies and so I turn to two different medleys to satiate the need for nutrients. Veggie Medley 1 contains onion, mushroom, spinach or kale and asparagus. Veggie Medley 2 contains capsicum, onion, carrot, spinach or kale, a can of crushed tomatoes and a dash of mixed herbs.

Because I now have seasonal access and zero excuses to not use pumpkin, I love it in a good fry up. The Fry Up contains onion, mushroom, pumpkin, ham and spinach or kale. Pumpkin cooks quite quickly so only needs a dash of water to help it along.

For as long as the butane gas cartridges last, I cook. Otherwise it’s that box I yell into or salads from Woolworths that keep me fed for dinner. Lunch (if cooking) is leftovers, hence not too much meat in what I cook unless it’s a type of cured meat.

When I really want to cheat yet avoid convenience foods, I get those pre-cooked Sunrice tubs, mini cans of corn, beans and capsicum (capsicum isn’t always available) and mini cans of tuna or Tassal salmon. I mix them all up in a bowl and it’s a tasty, easy combo. You could even sprinkle in some taco seasoning if you felt like it and it could be a Mexican burrito bowl of sorts.

All this talk of food is making me hungry. Macca’s anyone?

Photo credit: expeditionaustralia.com.au

A Little Update

 Garden

I bought some bananas and passionfruit which got planted and I was given some kale which I had to re-pot.

Chickens

They think it's hilarious that I've planted a garden and before long had de-leafed the passionfruit and two pots of kale. The yard built to retain them now means nothing and the kale has been shifted high off the ground and the passionfruit entirely given up on. However, since moving back to the NT, they've laid five eggs.

Dog

Those eggs? Dog beat me to two of them. Some education was required to keep Dog inside the yard and to not bust through certain sections of it.
Then Dog got company and she wasn't too impressed about it. She not only now has to share my attention but share the eggs as well.

Cat

While I was away down at the station the cat ran away from my pet sitter's house. He was seen that night by the pet sitter's neighbours and not since. I hold out small hope of him being able to navigate himself back to the block. It's unlikely he'll return to the pet sitter's. Numerous attempts have been made to look for him. 

Wild Dogs

The pups are running with the rest of the pack now and together they all howl at night and early morning.

Comfort

I've got a new hot water system... I've painted water receptacles black and I lay them in the sun during the day so that they're nice and hot by the time I get home. It'd be good to expand upon what I've got and I've learned that it's best to have my bogey before the sun dips below the tree line. I'm now also sleeping in the walkway of the container. I protest less getting out of bed on cold mornings this way.

Old Camp New Camp

In the blog post “Quarantine Diary”, I mentioned Old Camp and New Camp and having shifted from one to the other. Old Camp is where it all started out in late 2015 when I first bought the block. This is where I parked my caravan, set up the dog’s yard etc. I’d put the caravan alongside trees and eventually my camp was invaded by a variety of ants. They loved nearly everything I had that they could chew.

The caravan wasn’t all that flash though what could I expect with what I paid for it. It had an air con that worked well and was much appreciated during the Build-Up and the Wet season. The caravan also leaked which was not appreciated during the Wet season. As I found the leaks I patched them with tar tape and I think I got them all. Mind you, some had well and truly created some mould by the time they were patched. The caravan was also a breeding ground for mozzies. During the Dry season I slept mostly outside, going to bed when the sun set. Initially I had a mozzie net and was burning mozzie coils to keep myself safe. It failed. And by December 2015 I had Ross River Virus. Thankfully, I was in a house-sit when it took effect.

Also thankfully, you can only get Ross River Virus once so I’m not so bothered with sleeping outside anymore and still did up until a week ago on the block. It gets cold but I have a dog to keep warm with. Despite sleeping outside not being much of a bother, I'm now sleeping in the container, walled-in by copious amounts of stuff.

The container will be fitted out to be a tiny home but not plumbed. It will be more like a living/sleeping space with an area dedicated to food prep. And perhaps, when time passes and money accumulates, a separate container will be purchased and that will contain a bathroom and kitchen. In the meantime, a 44-gallon drum cut in half doubles as a dish drying bench and a stove top.

The bath doubles up as the washing machine as the seal had gone on my tumbler washing machine and I am yet to try it out with the new seal cut out for me by the local upholstery guy. Squishing the clothes around in the tub with clean feet and laundry detergent is just as effective anyway. The bucket I use to rinse the clothes is also the kitchen sink.

People are still freaking out by how I’m living, however, I have all I need. Some people spend large amounts of money for this gadget and that just to go camping and no one bats an eyelid at a family going camping for a long weekend but everyone loses it when I’m going to spend the foreseeable future doing it myself. I have water, sanitation, food, shelter and an education. I’m already doing a lot better than a significant portion of the world’s population.

	Old Camp (Late 2015 to late 2017)	New Camp (Present)
Electricity	8kva Petrol Genset	Solar panel phone charger, torches, magnetic light switches, solar fairy lights
Water	1000L IBC (aka pod)	8000L poly tank purchased in 2017 but not used until now
Cooking	McDonald’s and then diet shakes because of too much McDonald’s	Butane stove
Hygiene	12v Camping Shower ‘til I got sick of changing fuses and then used a bucket in a tree	200L plastic drum cut in half and used as a bath
Animal Containment	Large Silvan brand dog pen	20m of dog mesh from Bunnings, 5 pickets, a donated gate and mesh gutter guard
Shelter	Caravan	Shipping container (which was used only for storage in 2017 )

Quarantine Diary

You couldn’t find more bored people in such an isolated spot except at the SA/NT border on the 30^th of June. The people that I did see were one army officer, one RAAF officer and two police officers. They were huddled around a campfire and their peace was broken by my arrival. The casual cops looked at my paperwork, got me to tick a few boxes on it and sign it, then parted the traffic cones and I was on my way to Tennant Creek to stay for the night.

The next morning, I got home around lunchtime. I had a bog hole, a full water tank and I wasn’t expecting my shipping container until the next day. I set up a rough camp, turned on my Kindle for a quick read and did a lap of the block to see how it was faring. My neighbour three properties up has a donkey. It bayed all night. The cat wouldn’t speak to me, Aeroguard was in heavy use due to the gilgi still having water in it but I got a good night’s sleep under the stars.

The 2^nd of July was day three of quarantine. I’d been waking up well before 5am while on the road and this morning was no different so I had to force myself back to sleep. That was after I heard the alarm of one of the neighbour’s campers three properties up. When I finally woke at a proper time, I looked over at the Dog and she was following something with her eyes. As it came into my line of vision, I saw it was a big, grey, tabby cat. She did nothing about it as it sauntered past. After getting out of bed I went for a walk around the block and who drove past in their concrete truck? No other than one of my bestie’s. We couldn’t hug each other but we could wave like crazy and she could honk the horn on her truck. At the end of the day the shipping container still hadn’t arrived so I made a quick call and it had not yet arrived in Katherine. Maybe tomorrow?

Tomorrow came but the shipping container didn’t. The next day, both the phone and Kindle went flat. The Kindle got recharged on the powerbank which then went flat. A neighbour picked up the phone and powerbank and charged them both for me over that day and the next. I had bought a solar charger that I thought would be sufficient to charge my devices. It was totally useless and anytime that I tried to plug in the phone, the lights on the torch would start flashing and drain what power it had managed to generate. I was assured that the shipping container would arrive on Monday though I held out little hope. In the meantime, two kindly neighbours brought me more food and a rocket stove to heat water on. One of whom was the one who charged my phone and powerbank.

On the 5^th of July I went to get some pickets from around the dam but they broke off and I gave up. I then headed to the front of the property and discovered that all the old fence I thought I had finished in that direction I actually hadn’t.

Oh my goodness! The container is actually in Katherine on Monday the 6^th of July and will be brought out forthwith! So many happy dances. Everything I’ve needed has been in that container. More food, a garden hose, a butane stove, things to do etc. I strung up a clothesline and I tried to put up a tarp on the eastern side of the container for more shade for the animals but I had to battle the wind. The wind won. Instead, I used the tarp to store some of the hardier things from the shipping container in order to create more space. It also dawned on me how much crap I owned. Another neighbour dropped off a solar panel phone device charger that Dad had bought over the phone from the hardware store. Hurrah! This one works!

The cat finally emerged out of the car early the next day and did a great job of keeping me awake. So much got done this day now that the container had arrived. I cut the 44 gallon drum in half, put up my sign at the front gate, built a bathroom with the pickets one of my neighbours picked up for me, started building a yard for the animals, did a load of washing, started making a punitive effort in constructing a cubicle for the toilet, had a bath instead of a bogey and dug some holes for future banana plants to go in. The bathroom was very private. The bamboo screen I had bought from Bunnings did not live up to its expectations. I had also misjudged how much water was required for the bath and water overflowed when I got in. When I got out, I made a note of the fill capacity. At least I still fit in the tub which I hadn’t used since I was as skinny as a stick in 2012.

It turns out on the 8^th of July that I had overdone it the day before and had given myself a bad headache so not much was done on this day in order to ease it from turning into a migraine. The dog wasn’t feeling that crash hot either so I drove her out to the dam with the hopes to cheer her up but it didn’t. I did plant some dwarf snap beans from seed that I had for goodness knows how long. The packet said “Plant before August 2012”. They are unlikely to germinate but the garden bed I made for them looks quaint anyway.

For the first time in my life, on the ninth day of quarantine, I used a butane stove. These things scare me, however, I put on a brave face and cooked pasta napolitana. I also finished putting up the fence for the animals and took the bamboo screen meant for the toilet and did another wrap around the bathroom. It made a slight improvement. I also planted some poinciana seeds. I hold out more hope for these than I do the dwarf snap beans.

On the 10^th of July, there’s nothing more haunting than waking to the sound of wild dogs calling. Adults calling to their litter who returned those calls. In my usual morning walk around the block I came across those culprits. The large, adult, very healthy wild dogs. I looked at them and they looked at the dog and I and thank God they chose to canter off because we would have been buggered if they decided we were easy prey. They watched us though as we followed the fence-line across the back of the property. Efforts had been steadily made since the arrival of the shipping container to create a cat enclosure. I had grand plans for this thing. Work on it this day stopped after I broke my little saw. It was mushroom risotto for lunch and dinner today.

On the 12^th day of quarantine my true head said to me “get off your lazy arse and finish banging in the pickets of your latrine!”. Before I left SA, I bought a little animal enclosure for the chooks and maybe the cat so on this day I assembled it. Quarantine gave me a call. It was a weird conversation that started out well.
Q - “We can’t find the address you listed on your quarantine paperwork”
Me – “Oh, because my road address doesn’t come up on Google Maps and half the time I forget what it is so I used my NTP”
Q – “So what area is your property?”
I told him my area.
Q – “That’s not a permitted quarantine zone”
Me – “Well, I checked the crappy map and it said K-Town Council and I pay my rates to K-Town Council so quarantined here”
Q – “You can’t quarantine there”
Me – “Well, there’s two French people up the road who were in quarantine and they’re in the same area and when the cops visited them, they didn’t get told off for it”
Q – “Is there somewhere in town you can go to finish your quarantine?”
Me – “Not with my own bathroom and kitchen and space for four pets, no”
Q – “You just have to disinfect everything once you use it but you can’t quarantine where you are, you’re out of the zone”
Me – “Dude, you do realise I crossed on the 30^th right?”
Q – “I’m going to talk to my boss and I’ll call you back”
Ten minutes later he calls back to tell me since I’ve only got two days left after today and I come from a low risk area I can stay where I am. Good, because I would have been pissed off if the Frenchies weren’t told to move yet I was. And why is it that I haven’t had a visit from the cops this entire time?
Q – “Your details were entered in wrong and you ended up on the wrong list”
I knew those cops at the border were too casual!

Day thirteen of quarantine: Because I’d used to the bamboo screen intended for the toilet on a second wrap of the bathroom, I decided to use an old tarp as privacy for the toilet cubicle instead. It was this this night that I shifted officially from Old Camp to New Camp. I’d been walking back and forth between the two and although it isn’t that far, the dog was sick of following me between those treks. It was also this night that the cat was dry-retching on my swag. I kicked him off and thought nothing more of it.

Oh, the final day of quarantine! I finally emptied the car and gave it a bit of a sweep out. I returned to my swag, as usual, to brush off the dirt and leaves before covering it up for the day. It was at this point that I discovered that I had to clean my swag for after I had left it the cat got on it and brought up his breakfast on it. Bastard! I put some besa bricks in front of the container to act as steps and started on getting more of the old fence out on the front part of the property.

During quarantine I read three books and made a significant progress on a fourth (which is not a short book). I coloured-in and napped a lot. Despite all the things needing to get done I also took it steady as this was the closest thing I was going to get to a holiday between now and December.

You couldn’t hold me back from town on the 13^th of July except it was an eerily quiet place to be. Though there was now freedom of movement within the NT, the lack of tourists was noticeable. Seeing a mate on my way to the town library while the car was getting serviced on the 15^th, she described the impact of the Territory’s lockdown as though it was permanently Sunday afternoon. On the 17^th of July it will be back on like Donkey Kong. Except for Victorians…