A Really Nice Birthday.

Thanks to everyone that wished me a Happy Birthday.  So nice of you all.
I had a great day
Daughters L and T and grandaughter J met me and 1 of the kids I care for for a picnic at a playground near a river.  The ducks wanted our food so we had to watch them but it was a nice day.

I think we should do it again some time as the kids had a great time riding their bikes along the paths.


The ducks had a friend but it is hard to see, you can hear it though...

Happy Birthday To Me.

Yep, it's my birthday today...and I have to work.  HoHum...

I don't usually work on Wednesdays but the woman had an important meeting so I get to go in today instead of yesterday.  Doesn't matter.  It's still my birthday and I have made Satay to have for tea when I get home.

Hubby might make me my *get home from work and have a coffee* coffee.  If not I'll make it myself, it will still be good.

I'm getting on now...more than 50, less than 55...There are so many things that I haven't done, a few I'd even like to try...Some will get done this year, some will get done next year but that 55 is getting closer and my list isn't getting shorter so I'd better get a move on.

But anyway...Happy Birthday To Me!   And anyone else having a birthday today.

Some Must Do's

I have been slowly clearing out some of the tank gardens.  Most of what is in them is finished and as the soil is quite diminished it will be a good time to up the nutrients.
I will need to collect a pile of cow manure from the back paddock first so it may be a few days before they are done.  I will also add the top layer from the chook yards and then mulch them with the grass clippings that the chooks have been *refining* for me. 
It will be quite a big job for me and I had given myself to the end of the month but as that is nearly here and I am busy with the van today I have extended my time limit to next weekend. 

The chook sheds need clearing out again. 

The lawns need mowing...again.  daughter T came out and did some of them for me a week or so ago, they will soon need doing again as well.

Hubby is due home today so a tidy up inside wouldn't go astray.  I had all my sewing stuff spread around the place when he left and it is still there...HoHum... I did only finish with it last night though but as I am finished for the time being I suppose I should pack it all away...

First off though is burying a chook.  An old Isa has gone to that big ol' chookyard in the sky and I need to choose a tree for her remains to feed. 

Better be off.

Earth Hour

It is that time of year again when the world is called on to turn their lights off.  For an hour.  For 1 night. 

If it gets people to change their way of living long term then I am all for it but I don't believe that it does.

I think that most of the people that turn their light off tonight will have them on tomorrow even when they don't need to.  TV's will be left on when they go outside...they will have a long shower, sprinklers will be on when it's been raining...
Christmas lights will get bigger and more brighter every year...car racing will still be going on...good usable stuff will still get taken to the tip...

I don't have lights on here unless I absolutely have to.  The TV is not on unless I am watching something and is turned off afterwards.  There are nights when it is not on at all.  If we didn't have one I wouldn't miss it.
I do have the computer on too much but the monitor is turned off when it's not being used.

So why does it bother me?  I dunno but it does.  Am I a hypocrite?

If you participate in Earth Hour please consider tomorrow night as well.  And all the rest of your nights.

Late Night Visitor.

A couple of nights ago I was sitting in here minding my own business, but reading about everyone elses, when I heard a noise outside the window.  Now I was home alone so turned the monitor off so whoever/whatever it was wouldn't be able to see inside.   The noise is there again, I think someone/something has knocked the chookfood bucket as they/it was sneaking around...
I leave it dark inside but turn the front light on...gingerly pull the curtain back...and spy a bandicoot.
There was a bit of wheat left in the bucket and it had come out for a midnight 9 o'clock snack

 I turned the monitor back on, found the camera and took some photos...at first through the window but only got the flyscreen so I opened the front door.  It heard me and ran into the garden but soon came back and I managed to get a couple through the door.

If you click on the photos they should get bigger

 It was so cute...pointy little nose, short tail...We have sometimes seen one in the driveway and months ago Hubby saw one on this verandah.  It could be the same one and he might live here   The cat didn't seem too fussed, he came outside with me when I went to put the bucket up and didn't chase it as it ran into the garden.

I have Smokey, my clayton dog, here for a week so I dare say this little critter will stay away for awhile.

Present for being brave.

It's been a week since I was brave and took the train by myself.

It was good being able to do it but it was better that night when Hubby rang from work to ask how I went and to say that he was proud of me for doing something tha made me so worried.  Now he never does stuff like that so it was a very pleasant surprise.

A couple of days later when he was home he said he'd bought me a present because I had been so brave.  Isn't he a nice husband...

They're coming to get you...

                                    Being not so brave...afterall, they're not even real.  Scarey though...



I have been looking for a floating crocodile head to put in the dam for ages. 
He goes off to the shop for something and there they are...
Lovely man, he do have his moments.

Lunch In The Country.

Seems like I'm a right little socialite...Lunching every week...In the city...In the country...

Todays lunch was in aid of my mothers birthday...Some family members met up at a place near Harvey for lunch and a catchup.  I had a nice time, I like meeting up with my family.

Not Here, There.

Well I haven't been around much and all I'm doing outside is the chooks and watering.  A sad little backyard here lately.  A sadder inside but that is nothing new...you get that!

The reason is that I have been trying to get the van setup so that I can take it away somewhere but truth be known, I haven't been doing that much there either.  Hubby has and I have been *helping* but that means that I have been in the area, offering suggestions, standing around so as not to look like I am not doing anything.

There you go, another guilty little secret revealed...I am a *standarounder* not an actual *doer*

The van is looking good though.  http://iwannawander.blogspot.com/ 

I am going to have a *campout* tonight, to see if I have what I need out there.

Next week I am going to get seriously back into the gardens again.  I really gotta do that.

Lunch In The City.

We had lunch here   http://www.annalakshmi.com.au/
It is only the second time that I have been here and I had forgotten that some of the food is spicy.  Nice though.


It didn't take long for the train to get to Perth and because I had plenty of time I stayed on until it reached the city station.  Got off and wandered around a bit before walking down to where the restaurant was.  I was early so sat and looked out over the water for a bit.




Close to 12oclock and I went out front and walked around looking at people and wondering if they were who I was meeting then saw a group of 3 women that looked like they could be.  I had some colours of clothing to look for and found them here.  We waited for 2 others that were expected then went into the restaurant.  We ate outside and had our meal overlooking the water and boats.

This place doesn't have a menu as such, you get a tray and help yourself from the dishes that are set out.  There is water, juice, tea and coffee as well and today there was a dessert of some sort.  We couldn't work out what it was.  When you are leaving you pay what you think is fair.

I enjoyed myself.  The women I met were nice and friendly and I hope to meet up with them again sometime.

My First Solo Trainride.

It went well.  I really don't know what I was so worried about. 
I think I overthink things and imagine the bad things that could happen instead of concentrating on the good stuff that is more likely.
But now that I know I can do it I think I will do it more often. 
I could visit the musuem.  The Art Gallery. 
I could just sit and people watch, that's always fun.

I got to Mandurah Train Station just after 9am and as expected all the free parking was full so I went on to the pay and park section where there were a lot of spaces left.  Why is it that the carpark that you have to pay to use is further away than the free one?  Not right! 
So $2. for a ticket there and $9 for the train ticket doesn't make a too expensive day out.  Of course you could spend a lot by buying food and *stuff* but you could also have a cheap day out by just looking and doing free stuff.  This $9 ticket lets you use the ferry as well once you are there. 
On weekends you can get a Family Day Pass for the same price so it would be great for families to go up for the day. 
Take a picnic, ride the ferry across the river then back, train back to your car after a lovey day out...I might see if I can get some family interested...

Lunch In The City.

Sounds kinda posh don't it. (and there ends the illusion)

The idea is that I leave here tomorrow morning, drive the 40min over to Mandurah, catch the train to Perth and have lunch with some people that I have never met in person.

It will be an adventure.  My first solo train trip.  I only kinda tear up when I think about it but I am hoping I don't start crying on the train.  That would be the height of Sookylalaness.

I am looking forward to meeting these women as though I haven't met them in real life I kinda know a bit about them through the FLYing In WA Yahoo group.

So I am hoping that I can get a park at the train station, not sure what to do if it is full.  Maybe go have a look at the shops for a bit then come back and try again...So I will leave here earlyish in case I have to do that.

I have been told that there will be *nice people in uniform* if I need help working out how to buy the ticket I need.

It will be an adventure. 

Garden Cleanout.

He does the roosters and I *cull* the unwanted plants.

This week I have been pulling up the corn, so far none has been good enough for us to eat but the chooks like it.
The brocolli has been growing for so long, I can't remember when it was planted but it is now getting bug-ridden so that is going.
The beans are dying off so they came up.  I have saved quite a few dry pods though and will try and grow them some time.
The dead tomatoes are gone.
A pumpkin plant that was doing nothing but choking some Pepinos went.
Most of the seeding lettuce plants are in the pen with the chickens.  I've left a couple to collect seeds from.

Still a bit too do but most of it will have to wait until next weekend.

A Week of Quiet.

We  Hubby culled a few roosters a couple of weeks ago but we only had a weeks quiet before the next lot started.  I think there are 3 out there starting to make noises that get them in trouble the frypan.  My problem is identifying them.  I go out and watch when I hear one starting then tell Hubby that it was the black one.  Maybe the grey...They are all black or PR looking!  And sometimes the one making the noise doesn't look that rooster-like.
I'm thinking of getting a spraycan of red paint so that I can mark them in some way.

Chooks Make Mulch.

I have been mowing and that means that I need to rake out the chicken yards of the old clippings and put them on the gardens and put the fresh clippings in the pens for the chooks to do their work on.   

It's never just one easy job here.

But these poor deprived chooks...They have a huge area with fresh green grass but they need to hang around me and get in the way.  Like the old stuff is better than the fresh, still growing stuff.  Stupid chooks.  They come running and get in the way, peck at my shoes and fingers as I am trying to put the old stuff into the bags...

"Why go out there when she will bring it to us in here"

 

"Good, already chopped into little pieces for us."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The chooks in this pen are Australorp-Plymouth Rock cross.  I call them AussieRocks.  Some are black some are more PR colour, some a a smokey colour.  I like them.

Bee Careful...

This is my first attempt at putting up a video.  It is not very good but does show how brave I am. hehe.

I am not sure if you will be able to hear it properly but it shows Hubby using the smoker to calm the bees down so he can lift the boxes and shift them around.

Hubby came home from work the other day with some *frames* in the back of the Cruiser.  

For a few days now it has been kinda scarey going passed his car.

Not for him, he is *the man* but for everybody else...

The frames are leftovers from where he was putting on nucs (short for nucleus. When they requeen the hives) and still had honey in them and it attracts bees from around here.  He works with an apiarist so we quite often have this happen and the bees are not dangerous at all.  They are not out to sting anyone but it is a bit scarey for me, and probably anyone that doesn't know bees.  Of course if you were allergic to bee stings then it would not be a good idea to be around them.

All's Good.

I have been getting a bit depressed with the gardens.  A lot of stuff was dying off, chooks kept getting out and scratching up what I planted, I seemed to be forever watering and mulching and still things weren't doing too good...the grass kept growing, it was too hot out there...whinge, whinge, whinge.

Yesterday I picked a couple of cucumbers, chillies, pumpkins, capsicum and had a non whingey look and saw that there is still quite a bit of food growing...

I went in to check the chooks and ate a few fresh figs...went into a different pen and had an orange and an apple later on from a different pen again...So all is good and I am ready to get back into it again.

And we had yummy *Honey Rooster* for tea last night, all vegetables from the garden.

All is right in my world again.