Kathleen's Art.

Here are some examples of Kathleen's art. I have many more pictures of them but at assuming the upload at all, at a whopping 1.4 megabytes each they take half an hour to upload per picture so these will have to do for now.

This one is the one that she just did yesterday. 

And this is one of my favorites that's hanging in the guest house.

Blood blisters, Led Zeppelin and Astrophysics oh my!

Life goes on. The song remains the same. The internet is being really stupid right now even though i am the only one here. I don't know why. Anyway the weather has gotten surprisingly colder in the past few days. It has been really cold at night especially of course with no heating in the staff quarters and the front door doesn't really close right. but there is a little wood stove that we have been making fires in that heats the place up nicely. And one thing we are not short on is dry wood. A short trip down into the creek will yield several hours worth of heating. I spent this morning cleaning out probably 10 kilos of ash from inside the thing and gathering enough firewood to last at least a few days. 

In the meantime, the paintings have gone on well; I have now stretched and primed many canvases for the artists. I’m still working on getting a post up with examples of Kathleen’s paintings. I think that Kathleen and the others are really becoming more comfortable about working around me. Not that they were ever very uncomfortable I think but they are being more friendly and talkative lately which is cool. I’ll definitely miss working with them after I leave.

Speaking of which I don’t know if I mentioned this before but now it is looking like I will be staying at Delmore until the middle of June rather than July. I think I would rather see more of Australia and have a bit less money than make more money sticking around Delmore and not get to see as much of Australia. After all this is an adventure I’m on. I’m still not sure where or how I will get out of Alice Springs to. The plan as of right now is to find some other backpackers who want to split renting a car and then drive either north to Darwin and see Kakadu National Park or drive south to Adelaide and Melbourne and then up the coast. Whichever way I go, Cairns and Port Somethingorother just north of it are my ultimate destination. I could really go right now for a fresh caught fish dinner and a corona on the beach. Maybe if I have enough money I will go for a trip to New Zealand, we’ll see I guess.

One thing I’m definitely learning on this trip is that you always have more options available to you than are immediately apparent. We live a lot of our lives with our heads buried in the sand of our own circumstances and only every so often the covers are pulled off and you remember that life was not always that way and that you are actually free to do whatever you like. Crazy philosophizing I know, but I’m having one of those moments and I figure that this blog can’t be all crazy bugs and SPAM sandwiches all the time. But because of it, I now have some LONG TERM top secret …..should that be TOP SECRET long term? I don’t know but I have projects in the works, which I never thought I would be capable of. The important thing is that I actually have specific goals now for my life, whereas before I was very vague and open to what life might bring. That is a fine attitude if it’s what you’ve got, but now I know what I want. As it relates to my experience here at Delmore, this realization that I now have was there before but it seemed like something that other people do, or have or are just given, and I didn’t give it much more thought than that. But this trip has given me the time to find what I want, through not having access to it. I think I was walking down a road before that I thought was right or at least would eventually get me there, but now I have taken a step back and realized that it’s easier if I just take a helicopter to where I want to go. I know all of this is vague right now but you all will find out eventually I’m sure.

They say that the expansion of the universe is accelerating, and sometimes I believe them. Before I left on this trip it seemed like everyday was a bit shorter than the one before. It certainly didn’t feel like it had been an entire year and a half since my graduation from college. Much less since October 14^th 2008. But it turns out that a plane ticket to the other side of the planet makes a great stick to shove in your spokes. Life really seems like it is divided into chapters, each one a complete story unto itself. The only difference between life and a book is that you are writing it as you are reading it, and if a chapter is going on to long, you are at full liberty to start a new one whenever you feel like it. No matter how entrenched you think your future is. . . . . I want a sandwich. . . . . And thus we hit the core of my soul. I'm glad that it's only two paragraphs deep.

But seriously, if anyone has read this far, congratulations, you will doubtless receive some prize from me at some point in the future for your dedication. Also I do recommend that everyone should get out and have adventures. It is a great way to slow down the universe. Now, about that sandwich….

Duengemalriobolatitius Jungle Fever!!! NOW FEATURING ORANGE JUICE

For the past few days i have been out of commission with a rare mysterious and incurable outback bush disease. But through sheer willpower and determination to fight and live on, i miraculously cured myself. As well as by drinking copious amounts of orange juice. By the way now we have orange juice and many other things necessary to basic survival in the shop. A huge order came in from town and the guys brought 4 ute-loads of stuff back. Such gourmet items as: white bread, rice, peanut butter, canned soup, bacon. Life is indeed good.
We did some more paintings with the artists the other day which was hard what with the jungle fever and all, but it came through ok. Today i am stretching some more canvases for Kathleen and Elizabeth to paint on tomorrow.
AND BUSTER. Tom and i were driving out to the northern boundary of the property to make sure there were no cattle on the fence, and buster like he always does, tried to follow us. Even though we were driving a beat up old subaru outback on some pretty bad roads he just couldn't keep up with us for the 15 or so kilometers to the boundary. Since it is a straight shot down a road from the homestead to the boundary we assumed that Buster would just turn around when he got tired like he always does. So we continued on, driving around over dried creeks and overgrown roads in a car that shouldn't be running at all, let alone in the bush, and we returned home. Of course it was several hours later when we realized, WAIT, WHERE IS BUSTER? I dealt with some customers while Tom went searching around for him on the homestead but to no avail. Buster was gone forever. We figured that he probably was heading back home along the road when he saw some cattle at the water bore along the road and decided to chase them into the bush, and being the infinite wellspring of intelligence that he is (HAHA) got lost in the bush. So i was pumping some gas for Freddy (one of the aboriginal leaders) and he was asking where is the black dog that is always here? I told him that he ran off and Freddy just said that was no good. So they drove off towards utopia and not 45 minutes later they pulled up again and this time they dropped of Buster whom they had found lost and exhausted by the side of the road a few kms away. He spent the whole rest of the night and next day wiped out and probably traumatized by the ordeal. Also i accidentally locked him in my room yesterday but i think that was much less harrowing an experience for him.

Return of the Backlog

Today it is raining. (April 12^th by the way.) That is definitely news in itself as usually there aren’t so much as clouds at all. Tom and I just shot over to the Delmore yards and covered the bales of hay with these huge and heavy tarps so they don’t get soaked with rain.

Yesterday I stretched canvases and Kathleen ended up doing a really awesome painting on one of them. I think she is getting more used to working around me because not only has she done something different every time I work with her but each time the painting is better than the last. I should be able to put up all this writing on the internet soon, and pictures as well. Matthew taught me how to say good job in their language, “Warrangara” Or maybe it started with a “B” or “M” don’t quote me on the spelling. they speak so quickly and laugh so much it’s hard to hear what they say but I would like to learn more of their words.

It is now several hours later and it is still raining. I never thought it would rain this much here, or be so damn cold for that matter. Maybe it just feels cold because just a few days ago it was 41 C. Which is about 105 degrees F. The weather report for Alice Springs said it was supposed to be 10 C which is like 45 F maybe. . . and it really feels like it. Never did I think it could even go from 40 degrees Celsius to 40 degrees Farenheight in the space of four or five days! Luckily I brought both a jacket and a sweater as I am wearing both right now. It’s all about the layering. And having a nice hot cup of Bushell’s extra strong tea. “Not Lipton! I don’t drink bloody Lipton!!” to quote Don. 

It continued to be rainy and cold and crappy for the next few days during which time i made and gessoed and prepared several canvases and figured out a moveable pentatonic scale for one of the tunings on my banjo. No it's not as simple as on the guitar. Also today is the 16th and the internet is working again so there will be no prequal trilogy to these backlog posts.

The Empire Strikes Backlog

Today is now the 10^th and I had a very long evening and an even longer morning today. I helped out last night sorting and branding cattle at the Delny yards which are a few kilos away from the homestead and this morning it was at some closer ones. I had such a great time working with the cattle and hopefully I will be going out again soon. Last night consisted of herding the cattle into long single file holding chambers at the end of which is a big contraption that holds down the cow and flips it on its side so that it can be branded, have its ear tagged and if it is a male castrated. To say that Don is cavalier about cutting the testicles off of his cattle would be an understatement. There should be signs on all of his yards saying “CAUTION FLYING TESTICLES” More than once I nearly was hit in the face with them as he chucked them about as if he were taking socks off the cows.

The shirt I’m wearing today is caked with cow blood, human blood (I wore it when I crashed the ATV) manure, diesel fuel, swatted flies, motor oil, sweat, cow slobber, lemonade (from lunch) and the thin veil of red outback dust that covers everything here.

I’m going to have an AWESOME time getting back through customs.

While most of the cattle are only about 2 years old and are the size you might expect cows to be, last night we loaded a bull the size of an elephant into the truck. I’ve seen a lot of cattle in the month I’ve been out here and that was definitely the biggest cow I have ever seen. But it was the smaller ones that ended up almost taking me out. One of the females was giving birth, which apparently for cows is a much longer process than for humans, and was just walking around the whole time with a calf leg and foot just sticking out of it’s back end. And while most of the cows just move out of the way when you call them this one was defensive and charged at me a few times. There was also a young one that was going crazy and I had to block it from going back out through the gate so I had to grab it and flip it around as it charged me. I’m sure that this is just another day in the life as far as a rancher goes but for someone who has never worked away from a desk or retail getting charged by a 600 pound animal while you’re on the clock is pretty exciting. Oh! Also I got kicked in the shin by a cow. Im sure this does not need to be explained, but THEY KICK REALLY HARD. My leg is ok, I’ve got a bit of a bump but its definitely not broken or anything. Now I guess I know to push them from behind and not to smack them. Ha ha.

This morning we were up at 0 dark thirty as they say, then it was off to more yards 6 hours of work before lunch.

Today or maybe tomorrow will be my one month mark of being in Delmore Downs. I would say that we would have a party or something but there are only 6 of us here and there is almost no food. Canned corn and SPAM doesn’t make much of a celebration. Hopefully there will be a shipment of food soon. Although I’ve written that here a lot. . .

Last night I found one of those bulldog ants in my room and a scorpion just out side. God help me if I find either in my bed. Those things are legitimately scary. Having lots of big weird bugs in your room I can handle, but those ants not only have jaws a quarter of their body length, AND venom stingers, but also they seem . . . aware. They aren’t like regular ants which just go about their business and will bite you if they get on you. They seem like they know you are there. And they HATE YOU. These monsters don’t go around looking for anything so dainty as sugar or crumbs left out on the kitchen counter. No, they want to look into the dilated eyes of their helpless victims and soak in their shrieks of terror as they feast on them alive and screaming. No mercy.

The scorpion wasn’t so bad though, it was pretty small and I think mostly dead. But it did look cool. I have a picture I can upload when the internet starts going again.

Well it turns out we have some flour butter AND powdered milk, so I think we are going to make biscuits and SPAM for dinner. 

TIMEWARP POST BACKLOG!!

The internet has been particularly bad for the past week, leading to a lack of posts. These next few posts will be a back log that I have written in word and will copy on to the internet as soon as it works. Today is the 9^th of April by the way, Easter day for all you northern and western hemisphere people.

My boss’s family are here for easter and to help with the mustering which is going on right now. For those of you who don’t know the mustering is where he rounds up as many of his 10,000 head of cattle as he can, and counts, sorts, brands, tags, castrates all of them and sells the ones over a certain size. I’ve been mostly working the shop and working with the artists during this process and Kathleen has turned out some pretty good paintings. Better than the first one I was there for in my opinion. She is definitely quite the diva though. Today was supposed to be a painting day and they all showed up this morning but with Don away at the muster we had to have them come back on Wednesday which we told their driver Matthew, (who is a pretty cool guy) and they all seemed ok with it and they shopped at the store instead. Kathleen apparently didn’t get the message and kept trying to get me to give her paint. Later as I was giving Matthew some of the things that he bought from the store, Kathleen partially rolls down the window of her car and all I could see of her were her little eyes over the windows and her wagging finger as she yelled something at me in Arrente (their language) that ended in “painting”.

The other day I went for something close to a 16 or 17 mile walk. I walked down a road past the dump to where we watched the sunset the first time. It was very flat so I saw a lot of the bush but it’s still cool and it felt good to see something other than Don’s house or the shop for a while. But I have to say that I always forget how relatively few flys there are here on the homestead. I mean they are a bit annoying here but you can barely open your eyes out there with out being overrun. The back of my shirt was black being covered by them and whenever I would turn or bend over they would all fly up in this huge cloud like the bats under the bridge in Austin.

I’ve been using the exercise equipment here a bit, there is an elliptical, a stationary bike, a rowing machine and some weights. Many days there will be a big gap in time before customers show up so using that time to burn off some steam while still being around is good. 

This was a test upload of video here. Its of us pulling up to Red Rocks where we watched the most epic sunset from.

Greetings from the scenic Delmore Dump.

Unloading the pieces of the tree that i hacked up the other day.

The bird that i pulled out of Don's living room way to early in the morning.

One of the great parts of this adventure for me is the time. I am working a lot but it gives my mind time to remember my passions for things. I have been painting and drawing more here just for fun than i have in a long time. Also the long hot stretches in the middle of the day are a good time for me to play the guitar thats here, and my banjo. It isn't so much that i had forgotten how much i loved doing these things, it's more that i accepted that i loved them as de-facto. Since graduating from school in 2010 i think i lost a lot of my inspiration for my arts and interests through concentration on getting and maintaining jobs. But my time away and to think is starting to heal that. I don't feel like i have to make myself paint or keep advancing my music or write for the sole purpose of staying the kind of person that i want to be. Now i feel like doing those things, so i just do. I guess i am remembering that they are not a function of my personality, they are just things that i have fun doing. 

Ok enough philosophizing.... in other news there is a 4 foot lizard that lives in our laundry room. The other day it took a GIANT crap in our living room. Also just in the past few days a new breed of fly has emerged. Thankfully all that these ones seem to do is sit on the wall. The only thing is that they are HUGE. Also we saw this weird caravan of caterpillars crawling along the sidewalk. And there is a big brown spider that keeps building a web in front of my door. i've walked into it like three times already.

Food supplies are once again running dangerously low. Now there are 7 of us (two girls from New Zealand showed up) the frozen meat is gone and we're down to our last half kilo of rice. After that it's just canned corned beef, which is pretty good on sandwiches albeit, but i don't want to live on it. The boss is coming back from Sydney tomorrow with his family (for Easter and the mustering) so hopefully there will be some food with him. I'm not sure what his family will eat if he doesn't. 

Oh, the other morning i woke up and pulled a medium sized bird out of my bosses living room. That was even before i had had my instant coffee. Which i must say is growing on me. It would definitely never replace fresh ground black gold, but when compared to the American brands of brown acid powder, it is definitely livable. And speaking of black gold last night i had a Tim Tam Slam. Firstly i should explain the ingrediants. There is of course the Tim Tam which is essentially a chocolate covered chocolate....cookie....crunchy....waffery... grahamcrackery...thing and Milo. Now Milo is a wonderful discovery for me and i will definitely bee trying to get some more once i get back to the states. If you have ever had Instant breakfast then you will understand the premise. Milo is malted barley powder with chocolate flavor that you mix into hot or cold milk. Although it's a nestle product it seems to be strictly an Aussie/Kiwi thing. I've been drinking it every morning that we have milk, it's delicious. But a Tim Tam Slam is where you make a cup of hot Milo, bite the opposite corners off of the Tim Tam bar and use it as a straw for the Milo. The hot milo melts the inside of the Tim Tam and its chocolate overload. Pretty awesome even aside from considering it's the first candy i've had in three or four weeks.

AH!! I hit a milestone with the guitar. I managed to learn Living in the Country by Pete Seeger. One of my top 5 favorite songs ever. (Don't ask me the other four because the list is too long). I am not forgetting the banjo of course but this definitely is an exciting moment for me as i really love that song. 

Not a lot has been going on in the past few days here, Don is gone and we have pretty much cleaned the entire homestead, it looks pretty good now. I even chopped a tree into pickup truck sized bits with an Axe. A backbreaking few hours of work but it was satisfying work. 

There may be more to tell but the mosquitoes are out en masse and I'll have to update more later.