Mice, chickens and turtles.

 

The chickens have been enjoying the early spring weather. Here they are on their jungle gym.  Doesn't Nanny Ogg the black Australorp look lovely at the moment?   Mrs Guppy on the far left there is having her first moult.  Seems a bit early (or late) to me but, hey, she always does everything weirdly.  It's her thing! 

I've let them put of their run a few times. I do think happy, scratching chickens about the yard equal a purring cat by the fire for making a home feel cosy and contented!

We got out of the habit while Buffy the confirmed chicken murderer was alive, but we really should be able to now we only have Labs about the place.  Tuppy has been known to chase a chicken, but not when there are mice to be caught!

Madame Blavatsky, our adventurer chicken, especially wanted to join in on the digging. I got a little bit of video.  Talk about fearless!

It's not like she's out around them all the time.  She's just like that.  The looks on the dogs' faces the first time she just walked right up to them was priceless.

I know I showed you lots of flowering plants last time but this wattle tree at home is really pulling out the stops this year, despite being on its way out. It is far older and bigger than most wattles get to be. Its older than twenty, so very impressive even though some branches are now black and dead. This is the lowest branch. You can see a little of the blackened trunk on the very right.  

My other favorites at the moment are the lucerne trees, also known as Tagasaste.  They are natives of the Canary Islands but do very well here.  They nitrogenise the soil and feed the birds and bees with their flowers and seeds.  Also their leaves are edible by horses and goats and chickens, they are soft and green in winter, they are cool in summer, and they flower in cascades of white in early spring. They even share their nutrients from their long tap roots with their neighbours of other species!  What a top tree!

Latest news in crocheting...this is Princess Turtle.  She is made from a pattern by Planet June. 

I made her for a friend who I don't think reads my blog.  She has no time for that sort of thing, being as she's a very busy mum of two sets of twins!  If she does read this... Hey Aimster, come have a cuppa and get your turtle!

The pattern on her back was very interesting to do. I used light green plus a variegated rainbow yarn to get that effect.  For some reason, I felt she needed a little rainbow crown as well, and Princess Turtle was born!    

Lorie of C-ing Spots, this one is just for you... our neighbour working one of his Appies, Crystal, in the round yard.  :)  She has roaned out so much.  She was chestnut as a bubba.  He keeps his horses all their lives and looks after them very well.  She's a lucky girl.

Writing is going swimmingly.  My first two readers of Bunyip Dreaming loved it, so now I can get onto final edits!  Woo hoo! The cover art is done too but I'm keeping that a secret for now.  Heh, I'm a novelling dynamo!  The new book is flowing well too.  15 902 words on Heroic Plans as of yesterday.  I haven't written today as we've been out a lot. I'll write tomorrow, Saturday, instead, because Andrew is off for the whole day doing an amateur radio activation for the Anzac's 100th Anniversary.

They've been working as a team and using a special call sign, VK100ANZAC, activating for the four days of the beach landing at Gallipoli that killed so many Aussies and New Zealanders 100 years ago. Tomorrow they will activate Blackboy Hill Memorial Site, the place where a lot of WA soldiers camped and were trained before shipping overseas to war.  We've been there a bit making sure it is a good place for transmitting and receiving signals. It's a lovely spot.  Some gorgeous trees and plenty of birds nesting and calling. 
 

    
Check out my girls doing a lovely sit stay for mama!

Amateur radio is a fairly incomprehensible obsession as far as I'm concerned, since it is very technical and seems to mostly involve wrangling finicky aerials, but that's what a partnerships is about, hey?  Supporting the other person's interests even if you think they are crazy.  :)

This nesting Pink and Grey Galah thought we were an interesting diversion from the somewhat mundane process of incubating eggs, anyway!