Bloody boys!

I let the lambs out this morning for them to have a frolic. As they run quite fast, I was putting them in the chook enclosure to keep them contained - much to the disgust of Phoebe and Caramel, who ended up being stuck inside the chook house.

Jeremiah, being a boy, decided to get inside the chook house and wouldn't come out. My arms weren't long enough to grab in, so I had to get Margaret to do it. Typical male. He just stood inside and stamped his foot and wouldn't budge.

Beautiful Morning

This is the sunrise that greeted us this morning.







What lovely colours!

And then there were four ...

Came home late after work on Monday night to find the laundry light on. When I peeked inside, this was what I saw:





We have four new babies. We'd asked the local publican where we could get some lambs, and he asked around. These ones had been abandoned by their mothers for various reasons, and the farmer would normally just let them die.

They require feeding every four hours, just like a baby, except no night feeds. We haven't finalised their names yet, because two of them looked rather sickly and we thought they might not make it. So far, we have Bubsy (the smallest), Skinny Minnie (the skinniest), Ethel (assertive) and Jeremiah. We originally were calling Jeremiah 'Jemima' because he/she had the scours, shit running down the back legs. But those dangly things mean we've had to change his name. Bubsy will probably be renamed LuLu, in honour of Michael's ex-students/friends (Ethel and LuLu) who are vegetarians. Michael says this is so we can't eat the lambs if they die.

Caity is good at helping feed them when she's home from school or at 6am. Last night, I did the 10pm feed on my own. It was like a sequel to Killer Sheep - 4 hungry lambs, 2 bottles and me! We are just using Michael's mineral water bottles, they hold a fair bit of milk.



We are having a real rural experience, 2 chooks and 4 lambs!

Stihl a Man

Michael has a death wish - he bought himself a chainsaw. It's big enough to cut through the logs on the property, giving us plenty of firewood, which we need these days. On Saturday, he managed to cut up enough logs to fill the woodpile next to the house. The fire has been going almost non stop since then, to keep the house (and Margaret) warm. Works well.

Surprise!

Caitlin and Mim had the surprise of their life last Saturday.

I'd kept the girls busy on Saturday morning, whilst Michael went into town. When he arrived home with Margaret, they were in their individual rooms.

Margaret walked into Caity's room and asked "what are you doing?" Caity spun around, yelled "Mumma" and hugged her, and dissolved into tears. Mim just stood there and grinned for a little while, before rushing in for a hug.

We'd arranged for it to be a big secret, and they hadn't guessed. I would have thought me cleaning up the front bedroom would be a dead give away, but no. Michael is still asking when the aliens are going to return the real Sharon, the one that doesn't cook or clean.



Since her arrival, Margaret has been put to good use, advising on all things country (see later blog). Her knowledge has been invaluable.

Jemima is now permanently attached to Margaret's hip - poor Mumma can't even go to the toilet on her own, just in case she races out the door, drives to the airport and leaves! And Mim has been sleeping with Margaret - a hot water bottle that kicks! Even Gomez jumps into bed with her whenever he can!

It's going to be a long 3 weeks for Mumma!

The Missing Lynx

Michael got really shitty last year when Coles stopped stocking Lynx Java, the only deodorant he likes the smell of. They told him that Lynx had stopped producing the product. He grumbled that everything that he likes stops getting made.

So Margaret and I have been scouting the $2 shops (Crazy Clarks, The Reject Shop) and the local chemists, looking for the deodorant on special. When we found it, we'd buy up big.



Michael has enough to keep him going for the next year at least!

(Same deal with the Shave Foam!)

Laffative

Mim has taken a few steps back in her (what we thought was completed) toilet training. She won't poo in the toilet! And I'm sick of cleaning undies!

I threatened to give her a laxative one day. Then I thought better of it and tried giving her a multi vitamin.

She now requests "Laffatives", believing that the multivitamin will help her poo in the toilet.

(It's not working!!)
Next step - castor oil!

Guard Dogs

Over the past two weeks, after putting Mim to bed, we've noticed things appearing in the hallway.



She doesn't want them in her room while she's sleeping, they are her guard tigers against monsters.

Back to Work

I'm back to earning a small income again. I started work last week, working as a part time medical receptionist in the small town of Penshurst. The clinic is very small, just one doctor at the moment, but we are getting another one start in mid May. The clinic is attached to the "hospital" which consists of a couple of beds for the nursing home, a couple of beds for the hostel and about three "acute" beds. Realistically, it is an aged care facility, not a hospital.


(Penshurst Hospital - at the end of a very quiet country road)

The car is certainly getting a workout. I leave about 7.30 (or a bit earlier, if I can get Mim ready in time) and we drive to Hamilton. I drop her off at daycare and then drive another half an hour to Penshurst, getting to work by 8.30am. I haven't been leaving before 6pm, but luckily the daycare is just down the road from Michael, so he picks Mim up after school.

Mim is enjoying daycare, apart from Reuben and Zachary, one who pushes her and the other who tells all the kids to "shut up" and yells "poo!" Mim was talking about "thocking" the other day as well, so I think the vocab of Reuben has increased. I've told Mim that if he yells Poo at her, she is to tell him "it is either Faecal Matter or Bowel Movement". She's been eating well at daycare. They provide fruit for morning tea, biscuits and jam/vegemite for afternoon tea and a cooked lunch. Today's was spaghetti and meatballs, yesterday's was Fried Rice.

Last week, she complained about having to have a "rest" at daycare. All kids have to lie down on their mats for a little while. I told her to just read a book. "But the books at daycare are Boring!" was the comment. I know she's tired, because she was always falling asleep on the way home. Anyway, on Friday (her third day in care), she fell asleep before lunch and slept for two and a half hours. All that playing certainly takes it out of you!

I'm also exhausted. I'd forgotten just how tired one gets learning a new job. And with medical billing, it appears there are more exceptions than rules! Still, it's starting to sink in. I've met my other half (the woman who'll be covering the other days of the week) and she's really nice. She's only just been employed there as well, so we are both on the same learning curve. The practice manager has given us someone to train us for the next few weeks, thank goodness. And the doctor is a darling, a really lovely down to earth guy. The staff at the "hospital" are all lovely as well. I think I'm going to like it there!

Down one chook

We are now down a chook. When Michael and the girls arrived home yesterday afternoon, only Phoebe and Caramel were there to greet them. Duchess has disappeared.

There's no sign of a struggle, no carcass lying around - so we are not sure if she wandered off (unlikely) or has been taken by the neighbour's cat (most likely, as the cat was sighted today).

So, we'll be leaving them inside their enclosure from now on, no more free ranging whilst we aren't home.

A Beautiful Photo

Caitlin took this photo this afternoon, in the front yard. She has a good photographic eye.

Hamilton Drivers

Michael has come up with a new theory about Hamilton drivers.

You see, Hamilton's CBD (all 5 streets) is full of roundabouts. And traffic never moves smoothly through them. Michael's theory is that Hamiltonians drive up to the roundabout at 40km/h, stop dead just outside the roundabout, look at the other traffic around them, see if they recognise anybody, wave, and then play paper / scissors / rock to see who goes first.

This theory has been tested, and I think it's true!

Free Range Chooks

I've been letting the girls out of their pen lately (well, Caramel kept flying over the fence to get away from the Mean Girls, so I decided they all may as well come out).

They enjoy grazing over the back yard, so I've been throwing their pellets down there. Somebody else also enjoys eating the pellets.

I'm just waiting for the day one of the girls finally attacks him!

Domestic Goddess does it again

I have had a very domestic day today. After doing the requisite washing and hanging it out under grey skies, I decided to bake some bread.

It turned out perfectly, a lovely hard crust and soft interior! And it smelt (funnily enough) like fresh baked bread. (Remember the smell from the convenience store in Arawa, Mum? Just like that.)



Then I decided that as we were having meatloaf tonight, which I was making from scratch - I'd make mini apple pies and homemade icecream to have with it. So, I found recipes and made pastry from scratch, (I cheated with the apples - I had a can of them in the cupboard - but I do know how to stew apples!), and made fresh vanilla icecream.

+ =

Yuuuummmmyyyyyy! I feel really virtuous now.

Let's see - tomorrow night can be something out of a tin, or better still, takeaway from the local pub - I don't want to strain my DG halo!!!

To reward me for my DG duties today, I got a welcome phone call - I was offered the job as medical receptionist at Penshurst. It's only 2 days a week (and the pay is almost half the hourly rate that I was getting in Brisbane) but it's something extra to help pay bills and have some pocket money. I'm very pleased!

We have green grass now!

See what two weeks worth of showers has done, it has greened up overnight.



Compare these two photos!


taken late Feb (one foggy morning, but you can still see how dry it is)


taken early April

Clean dog

Oh the humiliation .... I'm looking like a drowned rat here. They got me and put me in the shower, I couldn't claw my way out of the spa bath! I'd only waded through stinking mud and rolled in chook poo - why, why, why, must I be washed!



The lot of you can just piss off now and leave me alone.
signed, Gomez.

2 days on....

Duchess


Caramel


Phoebe

The girls are still alive (hallelujah)! Duchess and Phoebe gang up on Caramel and kick her out of the nesting box. Twice, Caramel has managed to fly/claw her way up to the chook house roof, so she'll be the one to watch.

Gomez was given strict instruction to leave the chooks alone. I caught him outside, just watching, yesterday. Everytime Caramel moved, his little body quivered as if to say "Must not chase... must not chase.... must not chase...."


This morning, the girls stood quietly in the pen and allowed the chooks to graze around their feet. I rescued Caramel from the roof of the shed and gave her to Caitlin to hold. Poor Caitlin, she didn't want to hold her, was very nervous about doing it. But she did! We'll make a country girl out of her yet (as long as she stops squeaking each time the sheep looks at her).

The girls have arrived

I collected my three girls today. The chook house was all ready for them, thanks to a bit of "tinkering" by Michael. He'd roofed the joint so that the gale force winds today made no impact on the house.

Caitlin decided that the white chook should be called Caramel, because it had some tan feathers. One of the brown chooks was a pecky little sucker, so we've called her Duchess. The third chook we've called Phoebe, because she seemed rather quiet.

They didn't want to get out of the cat carrier and into the chook house so Michael sent Mim around to the other side of the house to "call them and they'd come". Poor kid even did that, she stood around the other side calling "chook, come here, choooooook."



Gomez thinks they are the latest plaything for him. He has been under the house, around the house and wanted to get inside the enclosure to play. Caramel was not impressed. Hopefully they'll learn to stand up for themselves and give him a big peck. Morticia, quite frankly, was not interested. She just wanted to get out of the wind.


It appears that Caramel will be the Houdini of the three. She is the one that is the most adventurous to date, the other two have kept in the shelter of the house. So we don't have photos of them.

Wild Weather

Today has been a day of wild weather. Winds have been pretty ... ummmm.... gale force just about describes it. Trees have lost branches, rain has come in horizontally and we lost power for a couple of hours. We had to postpone a dinner date with Jenny and Warren, bit hard to roast a leg of lamb when the electric oven doesn't work!

Still, got some good photos:


The storm coming across from Casterton


Gomez, playing ball with Caitlin during the power out


Mim, having her bath the night before