Costume starting with A? and other things.

A is turning 30 on Friday and we're having a birthday BBQ dinner with an 'A' theme. That's all very well, he's all excited and organised to come as a character from Avatar - blue morphsuit and all! I, on the other hand am not a costume party kind of girl. I generally avoid them like the plague so I have no idea what to wear! I've suggested being 'A's wife' and 'a pregnant lady' but apparently they don't cut it!

Anyone got a better idea than 'astronaut', 'Albus Dumbledore' or 'apple'?

Apple was my dad's suggestion after seeing a my 22 week belly pic - thanks Dad! Oh yeah, and I have to be able to put it together for THIS Friday. While you're at it, if you have any good 30th gift ideas, that'd be great too. Nothing like having 6 weeks of holidays I could have used to work this out but leaving it until now!

Work has started for real and is going well, tiring, but well. The last two nights I've woken up with leg cramps and I'm really hoping they are just happening because my body is not used to all the standing and walking and stairs and that it's not a pregnancy symptom that is here to stay!

We got a bathroom quote. Are you sitting down? $39,000!!!!! Who are these people kidding??? How hard is it to remove a wall, put in a few pipes and slap up some tiles???? Ok, so I know I'm over simplifying things here but I didn't think what we had planned was that complex. Needless to say we'll be going back for a 'third time lucky' quote. The first one we got was $25,000 and we thought that was steep!

Finally, here's the cheekiest chicken saying hello through the (horrendously dirty) kitchen window. I was surprised and a bit concerned that she could get up there as it's a fair way from the ground and higher than our fences so I know she could get over them too if she wanted!

Dear Chicken, please do not take to visiting the neighbours yards when I'm not looking. They have dogs! Big ones!

Hope your week is going well!

Taste test

Once we were sure we had an egg from each of the chickens it was time for a taste test! Rolled omelet with spicy eggplant relish. Mmmmm.

Delicious. And so nice to no longer need to support the commercial egg industry, especially with the recent discussion around changing the guidelines for 'free range' farms from allowing 1500 chooks per hectare to 20,000!

OMG!

We have an egg people! One perfect little brown egg!

Amazing! I thought we were at least another two weeks away.

I'm home sick for the next couple of days as I have a cold and no voice - so annoying as I was meant to be off to Sydney for 3 days with group of kids which I was really looking forward to. But finding this egg just made my day 100 times better!

Will there be another one tomorrow?

Axel may not realise but it is most definately spring-ish in Canberra at the moment. I love this time of year, when everything starts to come back to life. I also love it because it's not a busy time yet in terms of doing work on the weekends and people are not yet properly out of winter hibernation (yes, in Canberra this happens. Social events slow down significantly over winter). So, a fairly quiet social scene mixed with 2 weekends in a row of stunning weather means we get things done around the house. More on that soon though. For now, here are some photos from a beautiful sunny weekend.

The last of the Broccoli - this one was as big as my head!

Lucky - all grown up and exploring the spa cover.

Beautiful blossoms in our front yard - ahh

Hope you have also had a lovely weekend!

31 Photos in 31 Days: 4

Day 4: Lucky

This is Lucky. She's had a fairly interesting life so far for a 3 month old chicken! She's survived a pretty full on cat attack but you wouldn't even know it now.  I may be a little strange perhaps but watching the chickens scratch around brings me a lot of joy, far more than I'd expected. I love days like today when I can afford to get home from work while it's still light and go and watch them for a bit.

Weekend madness and holiday goodness

It's come to my attention that we may be a little crazy. On Friday night we decided that we wanted to go to our friends' son's Christening on Saturday. Sounds reasonable, right? Except that it was in Victoria and we were in Canberra. No matter, we got up at 5:30 Saturday morning and started driving. We got there, met little T, went to his lovely Christening spent a couple of hours with friends, A and R, and then drove home again, pulling into the driveway sometime around 12:30am. It was well worth the trip but I don't think we'll do it again in a hurry!

One of the reasons we did such a flying trip is that we needed to, once and for all, get this chook shed built. So we raced back to Canberra so we could spend all Sunday building! The rate these chickens grow is incredible. Just two weeks and they were starting to get cramped in the nesting area that A created. So, we started at 10am. We hammered, nailed, measured, sawed, drilled, stapled and cable tied (what did we do before cable ties existed?) until it was dark. Then we got out headlamps and torches and worked a bit longer. At 8:30 we were exhausted and decided to call it a night. I could finish the final touches and make sure it was secure the next day.

What a weekend. Luckily though, the holidays have rolled around again. I spent the first day checking over our creation. It's not square and looks a bit amateurish but it is secure, has survived the crazy wind we're having and the chooks survived their first night in it so all's good!

I'm also happy to report that after a week long process of trial, error (and more emotional trauma than you would believe - chickens can be so mean) the injured chicken has finally been successfully reintroduced to the others. She's on her own now as we're heading off for a little holiday. If she's still around when we get back, I'm naming her 'Lucky'.

Back to the holiday talk, A also has some time off and we are heading away for some snow very soon leaving the chooks and cat in the hands of our trusty housemate. Anyone out there know a New Zealand snow dance? We've got plenty here but there's not much there yet!

Hope all is well!

And then disaster struck

The weekend started off well. I finally bought some material for the chairs and had a trial run to learn the sewing machine and see if my skills were truly up to the task. I think they will be but I definitely learnt from the first run. More on that later though.

We got organised for our new housemate, watched the chickens scratch around in a temporary enclosure in the sunshine and I had some old work friends over. 

All was going well. Just as everyone was leaving, J, my animal loving, vegan friend asked to see the chickens. 

Sure, no problems, I say. Oh s*&#! Where are they? 

We found three huddled up by the side fence and quickly returned them to their box. But, where was the fourth? We couldn't see her and I was starting to get worried. The neighbour's cat had been eyeing them off earlier that day. 

Then we heard a squawk. We could hear her but not see her. Eventually we discovered her wedged between the fence palings and a sheet of tin. She was stuck fast. We broke some palings to get her out. She was in a VERY bad way. I'll spare you the gory details. It was not pretty, there was a lot missing. Poor J had to sit down.

J, being the quick thinker and, while nauseated, slightly less panicked, called her mum who works at the RSPCA and asked her what to do. So we followed the instructions and put her in a warm spot expecting only to be able to try and keep her comfortable until she died. I was crushed and feeling super guilty. I went back to check on her later and she had perked up. I put in some food and water to see if she'd eat and she did. I still went to bed not expecting her to last the night.

Sure enough though, on Monday morning there was chirping coming from the box. I couldn't believe it. She was limping but otherwise pretty happy. I left for work thinking, maybe, just maybe she'd recover.

Now, it's ok to laugh, I won't hear you. I took her to the vet that afternoon. Mostly because if she'd needed to be put out of her misery I'm not brave enough to do it. He could not believe she had survived. He gave her a reasonable chance and sent us off with some antiseptic cream, instructions to put her back with the others as soon as we can and a light wallet. If she survives and lays eggs she'll pay the bill off in what, 2 years?

Anyway, to wrap up a long story. It's Tuesday night and she's still with us. She's happy, eating, drinking, exploring and is currently perched on my left arm as she has been for the last hour or so. We'll put her back with the others tomorrow and see how she goes.

Please send us your chicken recovery vibes! 

Chicken update

Last weekend while I was report writing, A was slaving away in the backyard creating the next step up from the box-in-the-lounge-room cage for the chickens. They have grown so much in just 4 weeks.

They went out into their new home on Saturday night and LOVE it. There is so much more room for them to scratch around in and explore. That said, it's only stage one of their outside home. Eventually there will be a bigger area built around it and the brick section will have a proper roof and become their laying box. The heat lamp is still rigged up under the little shelter as they need to have that until they are 8 weeks old - longer if it is cold. Given that I did playground duty yesterday with an apparent temperature of -2.4 degrees I think they'll have it on for a while longer yet!

By the way, I did name one of them but I have to say that A was totally right, 5 days outside and I can't remember which one I named! I think they'll go by the collective 'Chickies' that I've called them so far.

Hope you are having a lovely week!

C'mon, let me see you shake a tail feather...

Well, not yet, they don't really have any to shake as you can see in the third picture. I'm sure it won't be long though. They are about a week old today and you can acutally see how much they grow each day! They love being let out for a run around the lounge room but freak out a bit whenever they venture somewhere new. So, so cute! I'm keen to name them but A thinks I'm a little mad as he doesn't think we'll be able to tell the difference between them once they've grown. What do you think? Would you name chickens? And, if so, what would you name them?  

So the chickens are something I can cross off the to-do list. Their arrival also puts a couple of things on the to-do-really-soon list. That is, fix the fence and build them a real home!