Farewell Ra

When Ra was a young cat our neighbour came and knocked on the door to tell me that she'd just seen him run over. I sat in the middle of the road with him cradled in my arms as he took his last breath and bled all over me. A had a sprained ankle at the time and he stood on one leg in the small back yard of our block of flats in Stanmore, Sydney, and dug a deep hole. We wrapped Ra up in a lovely shawl and buried him. We all cried lots.

After the burial we were standing in the kitchen, me, Stylish and A (no one else was around then) and we were all crying when all of a sudden ... Ra walked along the window sill and jumped into the kitchen.

We checked the hole ... no disturbance.

We discovered that we had actually buried the wrong cat! Ra was a pretty ordinary nondescript tabby cat! We laughed lots about that over the years, and a friend who is a teacher told her drama class about it and they did a play of the story.

However, we didn't laugh last week when we really did bury our little middle aged cat.  He started getting thinner, and a bit moth eaten, he went off his food, and within days he pretty much wasted away to nothing. We took him to the vet who basically said that he was too far gone to warrant testing. She said to take him home and keep him comfortable. The two conditions she suspected were both untreatable anyway.

We brought him home and he had a quiet  last week with us until one morning he just died in our dining room. A and Stylish were with him. He's buried next to the hothouse where he spent many hours in his cat style day spa.

Cooling down

The weather has been cooling down rather fast, and this morning we had our first serious frost. The fire is keeping us lovely and toasty warm of an evening and my new slippers are a very welcome addition to my slothful wardrobe.

Some of our recently planted seeds are sprouting up in their planter pots, keeping warm in the hothouse. The tomatoes are still giving us plenty of juicy harvest and when the weather gets too seriously cold for them to keep ripening we're going to make green tomato pickles with them. Spikee is very keen to help pick the green tomatoes. He'll be less keen to eat them if history can offer us any clues.

Vinnie and Ra seem to be embroiled in an ongoing war for top cat. Ra is winning by virtue of his sharper claws and nasty disposition. Angus has been driving Ra mad pulling his fur out and trying to get into his bowl when he's eating, but sometimes Vinnie and Ra have quite long standoffs near the cat bowl where Ra decided he's finished eating but won't let Vinnie finish off the scraps. it's almost as if Ra likes flirting with the dog. The dog is very keen to befriend him, and often rolls around in a submissive way trying to get Ra to acquiesce, and sometimes Ra will actually chase the dog around playfully.

Autumn is upon us

You can feel a definite chill in the air now, but for the last few days the weather has been beautiful in the afternoons. Last night before bed I let Vinnie out to pee and I could hardly see the front fenc through the mist. I love mist! I never knew how much I loved it til it was a regular part of my life. It was cooooold out there standing in it, but I think I'm going to enjoy winter with the fire, and weather watching on the hill.


We've been taking Vinnie out as much as we can, knowing that soon it'll be dark and rainy and too cold to enjoy the out doors as much as we have been over the Summer months. He's improved so much with his training. It's a beautiful sight to see him running freely at the park, he runs so fast, you can really see the cattle dog in him when he's running.

We went for a walk over the Easter long weekend and discovered a new park near the bowling club. The river goes through it and it's beautiful, open and sunny. We've spent every day over there since then, with Vinnie running wild and the kids skipping stones on the river. Today they banked lots of them up in the current to see how the water changed course. There are lots of toadstools there and they look so pretty, Spikee thinks that faeries live in them, and was very upset to see one that had been deliberately smashed. 

We had a wonderful Easter weekend, we made a big pink marshmallow rabbit and a berry jelly one, too. And we enjoyed lots of other tasty treats like home made hot angry buns and, melting moments with mandarin icing. The family were planning on coming down but they ended up canceling, but they're coming over next weekend instead and everyone is really looking forward to it. We also celebrated Mabon, just to completely confuse things! We went walking and collected a basket of beautiful coloured leaves, red, yellow, brown, faded green, and sticks and some rocks, which we had in a basket on the coffee table. We're going to tie the sticks in a bundle and put them in the fire to welcome the Dark Mother, next weekend, and the kids are going to read Mabon poems.

hot x buns

where the faeries live

the dog, enjoying the park

pink rabbit with crazy son!

latest harvest

pink rabbit with jelly rabbit

kids at the river

The Dog, and other furry creatures

The dog is completely toilet trained (although tonight he peed on the rug because we didn't understand his "please let me out" pleas) and for the most part is settled in now. He's had a few cold nights now because he took it upon himself to totally destroy his bedding, leaving it all across the front lawn, through the kennel, and right down the driveway, there were even bits of green stuffing floating aimlessly down the street on the wind. We relented and gave him an old doona because it is quite cold out there of a night and we're hoping to pick another one up from vinnies (I can't decide if that's a pun or not...) when they have one that isn't good for humans - they do give them out apparently.

He had been a little bugger at the park when we let him off his lead and he was refusing to come when he was called, and running rings around us when he did come. This was ok in the middle of the park but he ran up onto the main street (not too busy in comparison to Sydney, but still not entirely safe) and wouldn't come back. So we took dog treats to the park and made him sit for one. let him off the lead and then called him, made him sit and gave him a treat every time he came. The first day we did it he came about half of the time, the next day he was even better, and the third day he came every time except when there was another puppy (which happened twice) and when he was chasing pink crocs (stay tuned).

After a wander up the platypus walk we took Spikee to the skate park on his bike and he was happily riding over bumps and ramps and whatnot when Vinnie decided to chase him and try to chew his pink crocs. Spikee came off his bike very badly and landed with an almighty face plant on the concrete. Blood was gushing out of his mouth and I was worried he might have lost a tooth, but he just cut the inside of his cheek very badly. The cut is easily the size of a 20c piece, and there is a graze on the outside and purple and blue bruising is still coming out. He also grazed his knee and got a cut on his forehead from where the helmet was crushed between his head and the concrete. Seeing him come down as I did I am relieved beyond words that he was wearing his helmet because without it he would have undoubtedly fractured his skull.

On our next trip to the park we will take Spikee, his bikee, me, A and Stylish, and when Vinnie goes near Spikee on his bikee he'll get a whack on the bottom. I attachment parent my kids, the dog isn't so fortunate after this incident.

The day after the accident was shopping day and A and I made a snap decision to ge the kids a guinea pig each. One of the cutest things I have ever seen is Spikee sitting down watching tv, tickling the guinea pig in his lap. They're really tame little things even though the guy in the petshop said they were quite skittish. Today we went to the tip shop and bought timber to make an outside run for them. It's coming along nicely so stay tuned for pics!

You can see the cut on his face and the swollen lip here but not very clearly. It's actually much worse!

A House of a Different Colour!

THE PAINTING HAS BEGUN! After a month of more of scraping back the worst outdoor area of the house (the ugly room and kitchen) we painted it with undercoat two days ago, and then today A put two coats of our chosen mustardy yellow on. It looks amazing! it took all day to do just that area, although he did do two coats which rather effectively doubled the time it took.

I spent the day trying to maintain some semblance of order indoors, which is complex when you have a teething baby and you haven't slept well for 6 nights. Nonetheless I managed to wash and fold lots of clothes and completely reorganise the system in the boy's wardrobe.

The chooks are slowing their laying now that the weather is cooling down, but today we got an extremely long egg, and a small one. I think the phantoms are living on borrowed time now, they both look rather elderly and haven't laid a single egg (today withstanding) for a month or more. The emus are laying less, too. We have plenty of insulation on their shed but apparently they're quite hardy in cold weather and it's hot weather that they dislike.

Summer is in death throes at the moment. Yesterday and today were so lovely and warm, but you can feel the change in season is coming. Soon we'll have the doors on the hothouse closed tightly!

A climbed up on the roof to clean the chimney because we weren't sure if the fire was working very well. Turns out ... we were right. He stuck a rope to both ends of a chimney cleaning brush and he and Dad pulled it up and down, but in the process A dislodged the flue. It was a very dicey procedure to get it back in, it involved unscrewing the top plate on the inside of the fire and wriggling it around lots until it wouldn't wriggle anymore. Finally it went back in though, and A decided that it might not have been in there properly to begin with, which would explain why the fire wasn't burning well. We suspect the last people who lived here tried to clean it, dislodged the flue and didn't know, or couldn't work out how to get it back in place. Now it's burning beautifully! We have plenty of firewood to last winter, and that's largely due to the fact that A bought a raffle ticket and we won second prize which was 3T of wood.

I keep meaning to update on Vinnie! He is finally settled in and for the most part behaving himself very well. He's toilet trained, and is still learning to walk on a lead but doing better.

A month in the life of a humble vegetable.

broad beans and zucchini. Top photo November, bottom photo January.

Tomatoes in November (top) and then January (bottom).

The garden is coming along really well. Our tomatoes are flowering, and we have quite a few on the bushes that are ripening. The broad beans are flowering, we've had a few blueberries off the already established bush, and we've finally taken time to plant our new blueberry, brown fig, and red current all in the frnt garden. It will be quite an orchard over the coming years. We've also decided where the outdoor garden bed will be, it's going in the unused side area of the front yard. All the seeds that A's mother gave us were thrown into the raised beds in the hothouse and soon we'll be eating all manner of crunchy, delicious green leafy things.

There were a heap of new seedlings planted out in the hothouse today, bush cucumbers, eggplant, four varieties of basil, cress, radishes, a watermelon, and tarragon. We also had to transplant the entire herb garden, coriander, chives, two varieties of mint, a rainbow chili plant, and dill, because the paint scraping would have ruined it all.

We've begun scraping back the paint under the car port, in preparation for painting. We decided to buy a heat gun to make it easier, but we're trying not to think about the next power bill ...

Vinnie seems to be toilet trained at long last! It took him over a month, but he's finally gotten it through his doggie skull. The current problem is his walking, or should I say PULLING! He's a royal pain in the bum when we take him for a walk. There are several ways we can correct this but we haven't started yet. Tomorrow. He's pretty good at "sit" and we're still working on "stay". Puppies are cute, but they're hard work!

Painting

My hill on a balmy summer day, as seen from the window in the lounge room.

We have finally chosen colours for the house, a yellow for the weatherboards and a browny / red for around the windows. I'm thinking the doors will be another colour, I'd like them to be a dusty pink or purple but we're gonna look at it all and then decide because it has to match the green roof. A has begun scraping back the window frame on the Ugly Room window onto the carport. Today we applied some paint stripper to speed things up a bit. We're getting the Ugly Room done first because it's in need of painting quite badly. We have a bit of a dilemma coming up because we have to scrape and paint the weatherboards above the herb garden ... wish we'd thought of that before we planted it!

The hothouse is coming along really well, everything is really reaching for the sky. We planted some new tomatoes in there yesterday, a yellow cherry plant and a normal red cherry plant, so all up we have ten plants. The strawberries we're getting are so delicious and because we have so many varieties of plant I'm seeing how different they all are from each other, it seems that a strawberry is not just a strawberry!

Vinnie needs more intensive training, I keep meaning to set aside some time and just train him for about ten minutes a day but Angus has been very clingy so I haven't been able to. I'd get the kids to do it but the dog really doesn't pay much attention to them unless they're playing.

Angus is very close to crawling, he's moving about but we never seem to catch him doing it so we're not sure exactly how he does it. Right now he's wriggling around on our rug chatting to A, who is lighting a fire. Spikee has been sick with a cold, but he's really enjoying having his books unpacked now, I read him five stories while he ate his dinner tonight (a banana with manuka in it). Stylish is having a sleep over with a friend tonight, I'm sure they're changing clothes and talking about boys as I type this!

The chook is still broody! We didn't like putting her in the cat cage so we're just throwing her out of the coop all day and closing it so she can't get back in. We are getting plenty of eggs, enough to keep us well supplied. This morning we had home made bread toasted with fried eggs for breakfast. They're really yummy!

Saving Strawberries

We saved the strawberries today. We bought four coconut husk hanging baskets and repotted them, now they're hanging in the hothouse, safely out of reach of the emus and the phantoms. We stopped in at the tip shop on the way home and rifled through the piles of discarded wood where we found heaps of stakes for tomatoes and some fencing which may be used for staking or even a dog and emu for a guard gate for the hothouse.

This evening we wrapped the kid's giftmas presents, so now they're falling apart with excitement. The tree looks so colourful with decorations, rainbow candy canes, tinsel and presents underneath.

We took Vinnie walking tonight and he has transformed into a runaway steam train! He's either dragging me or tripping me up because he's running in circles around my feet. I've got to look into a few ways to curb his enthusiasm because it's not much fun walking a dog who is tying me in knots!

The Emus and The Humble Pie

We have to transplant all our strawberries into the hot house ASAP because the chickens are enjoying them. I kept accusing the kids of eating them but then I caught a chook half way up the bar stool near them and I worked it out. Looks like I'll be having humble pie instead of strawberry tart if I'm not quick! T-Rex family is still alive but she is too scaredy to come out of her house now, which is sad. She's not laying anymore, but now Klukkie is laying up a small storm, and the others are too. Today we got an egg from all the Larger Ladies and one small one. Four eggs in one day is perfect! We might have to try egg nog this year for giftmas.

We have really started using the hot house now. We've planted our tomatoes in a bed prepared by Spikee and me. First we lay down a layer of newspaper (that we got free at the local supermarket, because they keep old news papers for gardeners!) then a thick layer of mulch straight from our lawn mower, then another layer of newspaper, then A lay a top layer of soil. Then we planted our rock melon and watermelon seedlings, and broad beans, zucchini, and parsley. We also have a hanging pot with three strawberry plants in it.

Vinnie's training is coming along well, he's walking well on a lead, sitting as soon as he sees his bowl being handled, he's stopped eating the cat food ... when we're watching him at least *snigger* and the toilet training hasn't faltered for two days now. The food aggression is really good too. He lets me play with his food, and hasn't snapped for a week or more. He's really quite relaxed around food these days. He had his first bath three days ago, and it was the most humiliating experience of his short life. he looked so pathetic and sad in there as we shampood him all over. He best get used to it, he's in for a life time of baths because of his unfortunate genetic canine disposition.

The Hot House in Summer!

This is the candle christmas tree I got at the tip shop for a pittance. Everyone laughed at me, but now we all think it's really pretty! I was right, I told you so ner n'ner n'ner ner!

It's freezing here, despite being more than a week into Summer. We've had the fire burning tonight and last night despite it being out for over a week now. I lit it tonight, I think I did a rather deft job of it for an L plater! Stylish did it last night and I was really impressed with how well she did it too. With the fire burning it's lovely and toasty warm in here, but I'm not looking forward to winter.

The dog was caught "playing chicken" today. He was only being friendly but that's too rough for teeny tiny little T-Rex Family, we're concerned she'll die of shock over night. The LOTL (Ladies Of The Lawn) have been keeping us beautifully supplied with lovely home laid eggs. The little ones started laying after a few days with the emus, and since then they've really started acting like chooks, they come out of the shed by themselves and peck around on the lawn eating bugs. Send well wishes to T-Rex Family. I'll keep you posted on her status.

This afternoon I finally managed to put Angus and his reflux down for long enough to do some gardening in the hot house. I really enjoy gardening. We filled up the raised beds in the hot house with potting mix, then planted out the rocket seedlings, and pak choy, and put the newly planted peat seedling starter pots with mesculin straight in. Then we planted more lettuce, spinach, rocket, and pak choy in seedling starter pots. We also replanted some of the seeds that never sprouted properly in the first planting. I'm not sure why they didn't come up because I've never had that problem before. Hopefully we'll have better luck this time round.

Beer making is going well, and A has just bottled about 50 bottles of chili and lime draught. We cracked a bottle of the raspberry and one of the blueberry to taste it. The raspberry tastes amazing! The blueberry is nice but not as flavoured. The ginger beer has become a bit of a habit now, A feeds it every day and bottles it every week.

Tomorrow is meant to be the family xmas lunch but it looks like it'll be raining all day. What a shame. Oh well, there's always next year!?

Vinnie -walking. And hot housing.

Vinnie's training is progressing remarkably fast! He's a smart, eager to please little puppy, although it's fair to say that I haven't had a dog for 14 years now, only a cat, and they aren't exactly obedient. This evening after dinner it was a beautiful balmy evening so the kids took their scooters and I took the baby in his pram and Vinnie on a lead and we went off to do some exploring in our new surroundings. The dog just walked tonight, instead of stopping and having to be dragged, he eagerly trotted along and only sometimes had to be dragged away from the most interesting of smells. We had our first encounter with other dogs and Vinnie behaved like a perfect gentledog whilst the other ones were being rather naughty, barking and whatnot. Then he came across something delicious, and didn't growl or protest at all when I opened his mouth and took it out. Then when we were nearly home, about four houses down the street I took him off his lead to see what he'd do and he trotted along contentedly, smelt a few things, and then ambled amicably into the front yard!

He's also doing "sit" now. Every time we feed him he sits. He's not quite up to waiting yet but that's going to be our next training command. He is doing brilliantly with the food aggression and eats out of my hand or with someone's hand in his bowl every feed. This evening I took him into the y ard to do a wee and he knew I had a treat so he was doing "sit" right in front of me all exaggerated, so that he could have his treat. The toilet training is coming along ok ... could be better, but given hos fast he's done everything else it's not going to be too much of an issue.

I bought some pet mince for Vinnie today and he refuses to eat it. So does the cat. But you'll be pleased to know that the Ladies of the Lawn loved it. The cat remains firmly in charge of the dog, but we've seen Vinnie taking more of an interest in The Ladies and rounding them up into their shed. They are still laying so we've decided to monitor the situation closely for now but take no action other than disallowing the dog in their shed.

We're hoping to find the time to get out in the green house tomorrow and plant some seedlings, I'm also hoping to plant more seeds so our bok choy and lettuce crops are aplenty through the summer. We also need to plant the fruit trees but we're not sure where we're going to put them, Possibly in the unused front garden, rather than in the back garden where the Ladies of the Lawn will possibly eat the fruit, and where the kids play.

Table manners 101 - for Vinnie, and other miscellaneous happenings

Today we implemented Vinnie's 'food friendly' programme. I was feeding Angus at breakfast time so A and Stylish fed him his bikkies by hand. A held him firmly and made him sit before each mouthful and Stylish fed him from the palm of her hand. Spikee helped as well and gave him a few handfuls, and both kids put their hands and faces in his bowl while he sat and watched. He doesn't really do calm eating but he is certainly getting better, he is calm while we eat and doesn't beg which is positive. For lunch he had left over porridge. I made him sit down and I patted him enthusiastically while he gobbled it down. At dinner time Stylish and I fed him. She held him and made him sit and I let him eat his foul and disgusting kangaroo mince out of my hand. He did quite well and there was no growling or snapping. I suspect that this all stems from his lack of socialisation and the fact that they were giving him the tiniest amount of food at the pound. They were feeding him half a cup of biscuits three times a day and that's roughly half what he should be eating according to several sources. According to common sense and other more reliable sources he could have developed this nasty habit due to hunger and socialisation. So I believe we're on the right track!

Today we did a tip shop run and got a door for Spikee's room. We were looking for one for the back door but we'll have to keep looking. We took our door off the hinges and put the new one there instead, then our door went on Spikee's room. For some reason that fits much more geometrically there than it did on our door frame - go figure!? While we were there we also got a heap of bottles out of the recycling crates and A has been sterilising them, scrubbing labels off and prepping them for the next beer brew (chili and lime - due for bottling in a day or so) for hours. We got a complete fish tank, a book for Stylish, a bag of toy animals and a wind up dinosaur skeleton ... all for $20! We love tip shops!!!

We cracked open our first ginger beer brew yesterday and have nearly finished it already, it's too good to leave sitting around. We have another lot fermenting and still another batch of starter on the go. I think the next lot will have lime in it instead of lemon, just to see how it tastes. It's safe to say that home made ginger beer is one of the finer things in life!

More on Vinnie 2

This evening Vinnie was a bit aggressive with the kids because he wanted to eat their toast so I've been googling food aggression to find a solution. This is a bad habit we simply won't tolerate because it's dangerous, especially with kids in the house. So far I've found the following pages with useful advice:

• Hand feeding
• Gradually approaching the bowl
• Varying bowls and offering treats

I think we'll implement a practical combination of all three, first with A and I only, and then when he is better, letting the kids take over. It's important to let the kids be a part of the training so that when Vinnie learns not to be growly with me and A, because we're Top Dog's, he won't transfer his own Top Dog behaviour onto the kids. Stay tuned!

The toilet training has progressed well today, over the whole day we've only had four indoor wees, compared to the copious indor wees of yesterday! We've rolled up the rug in front of the fire because he seemed to like weeing there for some reason. We didn't like him weeing there because (well ... why would you like that!?) we just steam cleaned it with a special shampooing vacuum cleaner!

Food issues aside, he is a very well behaved little dog when it comes to other animals. he met and happily greeted a large staffie at the park today, and he is completely ignoring the cat and the chooks now.

Vinnie Settles In

Last night we put the baby gate up over the bathroom door so that Vinnie couldn't pee all over the house when we were sleeping. We thought he might protest about it but he was pretty good considering he's spent the last month and a bit in a cage almost full time. At first he whined a little bit and we very firmly told him "no, bed" and he curled up quietly in his bed so we gave him a dried pig's ear to chew on. He was quiet until about 3am when he decided that some company would be nice so he knocked the baby gate down. So we put it back up and put a clothes airer over it as well, but he knocked it straight down so we closed the door on him. He whined twice and then settled down on his bed again for the rest of the night.

This morning when Stylish let him out the cat attacked him. He ate his breakfast with his usual lack of table manners (forgetting to chew) then went outside and did doggy things for the morning. After lunch we decided to take him for a walk and see how he went on a lead. It was slow going at first with us having to use lots of little dried fishies and drag him along gently. By the time we came home he was walking a bit better on the lead, still having moments of stopping and having to be encouraged though. While we were out we stopped at the cafe in the village and had a coffee, Vinnie curled up contentedly under the table and had a micro sleep.

We're using the RSPCA recommended method of toilet training, combined with the method Cesar Millan suggests on his website. Basically when he wees in the house we take him outside and just let him have a sniff, but we dont' shout at him or any of that nasty punishing crap. We also take him outside every half hour (we're all sharing the task) and when he wees we give him a dried fishy and make a big deal of him.

More on Vinnie ...

We've had him since about midday now and he's really taken to the whole family. We've discovered (although we already suspected) that he's not toilet trained, so we're running mad wiping up wee and taking him outside a fair bit!

We fed him and he ate without swallowing, so we fed him more and he did the same thing, and since then he's eaten two lots of the cat's food ... we might have to move that. We've also learnt that he's never walked on a lead before so as soon as you put it on him he stops still and refuses to move, I'm sure we can fix that with a few little fishy treats though.

He and the kids spent ages running around playing chasings in the yard, then the kids were worn out and Vinnie was only just warmed up! So they had a rest then went and played more and he was tired so he crashed out on the ugly fold out sofa in the ugly room. The blue healer in him is rather dominant I'd say.

The cat isn't terribly impressed but he hasn't tried to decapitate Vinnie just yet, and Vinnie has taken a liking to the chickens, so we have to keep a close eye on him. He means no harm, but the chooks aren't keen on playing with him - funny uptight things they are!

Meet Vinnie!

Vinnie is our new second hand puppy, he's 3.5 months, just like Angus! We brought him home from the Hobart Pound this morning. On Tuesday we drove in and selected him, and then we had to wait while they desexed him. It's been a long week! Stay tuned for more Vinnie updates as he settles in and we train him.

Please excuse the dreadful photo! it captures him doing what he does best ... WRIGGLING!

J'aDoor le hot house!

Today A finished putting the door on the hot house and covered the back end of it in the PVC and secured it properly. Now all that remains is to fill the garden beds up, and build shelving! It is very strong and secure and I can't wait to get some food growing in there, it gets so hot with the sun pelting down on it, and long after the sun has set it's still warm.

I'm happy to announce that most of the pak choy has sprung up, and a bean plant and one rocket as well. We have added a red currant to our fruit tree collection, and now we have six strawberry plants, most of them with small green strawberries growing already. I haven't had time to start the herb garden yet, but it's on the TO DO list. The mint is growing beautifully, and every time I walk past it I get a strong whiff of it and feel so contented. There's nothing like the smell of fresh herbs!

The phantom chooks are doing much better since their new roommates arrived. They seem far braver and they just have a better "vibe" about them ... which probably sounds strange, but it's the truth! They even voluntarily came out of their shed this afternoon, and then this evening when I locked them all in there for the night they were perched alongside the emus ready for bed. They're eating all our kitchen scraps and I think they could eat more than we have but they get plenty of wheat and layer mix.

The Garden Underway!

T-Rex Family, right, Klukky, left.

12 tonnes of wood and a chook shed

The veggie garden beginning.

Today I planted a heap of seeds in little peat seedling starter pots which you just put straight in the soil when they're ready. I planted cucumber, oregano, sage, coriander (in a mini green house), zucchini, dill, pak choy and a few other things too. We also bought 6 tomato variety seedlings. A has been industriously digging up the garden where the hot house will go. We've measured it and decided to get some cheap raised garden beds, we'll put a trestle over the top of them for pots.

The cat is settled in nicely now, and he hasn't given the chickens (now named T-Rex Family and Klukky) any grief so far. Speaking of the chooks, I should probably do a more formal introduction! We have been lucky enough to be given two teeny tiny bantums. So tiny that we call them phantoms. They came from the home of an animal hoarder who had fourteen of them all living in a small chicken run, so they're extremely unused to free ranging and they are very shy when it comes to people (although they seem to be accepting A, and they cluck at him when he makes chook noises at them). They won't come out of their shed unless we go in and shoo them out, which we do gently, once a day, so they can begin to recover from their agoraphobia. When we do make them go into the garden they usually spend a little while scratching about before they go straight back into their shed. They're the cutest little things, once they settle in we plan on getting a couple more.

We've decided to make all our giftmas presents this year. We're giving people a bottle of home brew, a bbq spice rub, and a citrus fruit with cloves stuck in it to make their house smell lovely. There will be a large family gathering just outside Hobart which we may or may not decide to attend. It's hard to decide coz being in our own house means we'd quite like to spend the day here, but we've never done giftmas with this branch of the family and they'd probably like to see us and the kids. Our giftmas tree is ready to be put up so we'll do that over the coming week or so, A and I seem to be more excited about that than the kids!

The Plans

So plans are as follows. Leave the Mould Hold on the 8th, stay in Sydney for another 5 or 6 days (depending on the available accommodation at destination B). Leave early in the morning and travel to Canberra, spend a few hours letting the kids run amok at Questacon, maybe do the National Gallery too. Stay the night in the ACT then make a run for Melbourne the next day.

The placenta will travel with us. We decided it is too much of a risk to trust an airline with it.

We located a cat box in the shed, now I just need to find out whether it's an acceptable one to post the moor unsuspecting cat to Antarctica in.

Plodding Along

The cat contemplating migration ...

We're well on our way to home ownership now! The deposit is paid, all that remains is the irritating business of conveyancing, and settlement. So not terribly long after we welcome our new baby I expect we will take possession. Which will e a whole new set of issues, like insurance, and trying to work out what we can do from over 1000km away to make moving in easier!

I wanna get a few things done before we move in, and I wanna have a better idea of what some other things are gonna cost. I'm thinking I'll send a friend over to the house as soon as we take possession, and get her to measure the walls so we can estimate paint costs using the bunnings paint calculator.

We have a rough idea of what colour we want the walls to be, I want brown, not too dark not to light, warm, rich brown. We will give the kids a good helping of freedom in what colours they choose for their own rooms, and Stylish will probably be allowed to paint her own room. The kids both seem to want a similar combination of turquoise and mauve. I'm ok with that, and paint can be repainted when they decide they hate it!

We've finally got some sort of a plan organised for moving our cat which is a relief. A friend of ours will board him, then stick him on a plane. I want to be semi settled, with all our stuff moved in, if not unpacked before he arrives, because we really don't want him running off which he is prone to when moving house. He's 9 now so he's pretty settled, plus he's been in this house for nearly 5 years. I was very concerned about boarding him professionally because that would require vaccination, and we would like to keep him unvaccinated. He's lived 9 years without a problem, I'm prepared to bet that vaxing him would be the start of his health problems.

I'm now 38w round, or so I estimate, I really have no idea. I've been doing pre labour stuff on and off for a week now, and my blessingway was last Saturday. I had a gorgeous day surrounded by wonderful women, and Stylish did a henna drawing of the Egyptian frog Goddess, Heket, on my belly.