Jenny and Fifi Triumph!

Went to watch my sis and her huge giant baby horse, Fionn, who is now almost five, at their first ever riding club lesson yesterday.  They did so well and looked so good, I was proud as punch of both of them.

He was pretty excited on the inside, but as she said, he made good choices to look and learn instead of being silly, and he was so interested in everything, and they looked quite the team. You'd never know how green he was.   

There were times when he was moving in the most beautiful self carriage, and he has such a lovely rhythm, and Jen wisely hasn't rushed this big baby out of rhythm by hurrying him.  She has let him come to his balance and more impulsion in his own time, and this is the result.   

 She was so happy, and who could blame her!

 He even lined up like an old horse in between his turns.

Though he did have fun while he was waiting, by knocking over the chair and dressage marker.  He didn't even scare himself when he did that.  He is going to be one cool cookie!

 

 He is so intelligent and loves to poke his nose into everything.

In the afternoon they had another lesson, all very low key to make sure he had a good day and ended on a good note, and he even got to do some tiny jumps out on the cross country, which he also enjoyed. With generations of Eventers and Irish hunters in his pedigree, he is surely born to jump!

They were both magnificent. It is no easy to thing to raise a young horse, especially a huge one, and Jen has worked so hard, bravely and carefully at getting every stage of his training just right.   Now she is getting to the stage where they can go out and have fun together at last!

Go Jen and Fionn!

 
In other news, the little chookies only took two nights to work out how to get up to the high perch, and the gap on the perch between the two halves of the flock is narrowing. I got this pic of one of our Bronzewing pigeons yesterday evening when putting away the big girls.  I have never got so close to one as I can get to this well-fed bugger!  He thinks he owns the chook pen now and picks at scratch at my feet like another chicken!

   
I'd be happier if he used some of all that food he and his friends are stealing to lay me an egg.  :D

I am up and down for energy still.  I've managed to go back to lyre playing after the longest break ever.  I was playing Mondream yesterday and Andrew popped out to let me know he was off to do some computer support for a friend, and I had to laugh at the company that came and went with him.

     
 The pied piper of Tuppys and chickens.  :D

Today I did manage to make two lovely almost-paleo fruitcakes for him.  Fruitcake is one of his favorites.  They have vanilla and fresh zest of lemons and oranges in them, so the smell in the cottage as they cool off right now is insane.  I add a teaspoon each of cinnamon and mixed spice, and use butter instead of oil, and low GI cane sugar instead of coconut sugar.  Just in case you want to try that recipe and have it come out like mine.    

I'm determined to get a least some word of my novel today.  I think I've had a whole month off due to this stoopid flu!  I'm feeling better about it now as my health returns.  I know where I'm going and have the brain power now to do it.   Not far to go!

The dogs enjoyed the cuppa time at Mum's this morning. I liked the juxtaposition of the two young ones, brother and sister, off sunning, while the two older ones, grandmother and daughter, sleep nearby at our feet.  One of each colour at each position!

     
  

 

Drumming and Peeping

We have three new chickens as of yesterday!  I was tired of only getting one egg a day so decided it was time we perked up the old pensioner flock with a few youngsters.  These girls are only eight weeks old so will be a while before they start laying.

It was a lot of fun to watch them begin to explore the chook dome as soon as they were released. At this age they love to run around flapping their wings, so they did a lot of that, and then they took about two seconds to find the little bits of grass poking through the wire and start pecking it, despite probably never having seen grass before.  Not long after that they were turning their sweet little heads sideways to look up for possible perches, and in no time were jumping up to the perching spots in the dome.  Amazing how strong their instincts are.

At bedtime, when it was nearly dark, so they were sleepy, I tried to settle them in a warm nesting box with hay in it, but they wanted up, so I lifted them one by one up to the sleeping shelf to sleep beside the big girls, and they settled down in no time, just a little way away from the grumpy old chooks. So far the old girls have been fairly horrified by them, but I haven't seen any bullying. I think getting them young like this offers them some protection because they still make baby peeping noises and perhaps chooks are wired to be nicer to peeping babies.  It truly is the most charming sound.

Kitty, Cyrano, makes a cameo appearance in this too, looking bright and beautiful in the spring sunlight.  :)  I think you can just hear the baby chickies peeping, that and the local wild birds, and the mortally offended adult chooks in the distance complaining about the babies, and the kids screaming across the road at the school.  It isn't always peaceful living here!

It's so funny when they run around madly, flapping their little baby wings at the end.

The nice guy at the local stockfeed store picked me out three somewhat different-coloured ones so I can tell them apart.  One is spotty so I was calling her Spot a lot, so I decided this generation can have cliched dog names. So, we now have Spot, Rover and Fido to go with Nanny Ogg, Madame Blavatsky, Mrs Guppy and Spock.  I am nothing if not eclectic in my chicken naming.  :D

I'd been very tempted to get a heritage breed this time, but with being sick and all, the thought of raising day olds just now was too hard, and anyway I truly do love the outgoing personalities of the Hylines.    


I got a photo of Andrew heading off to work yesterday too, with his new work ute. I am so happy for him I could cry.

He is so close to his work now, he can even join us for our dog walks before heading off.  This morning he got this photo for me of the thickest bunch of trigger plants I've ever seen in one area.

Can you see all the white flowers?  There are some blue Leschenaultia there too.

It was this area that was burned just last year.  Trigger plants apparently like a post-burn environment.  They are amazing plants.  Every smallish white flower has a little stem that sticks up and away form the centre, and when an insect comes to take the nectar from the flower, the little trigger-stem pops over and daubs the insect square somewhere on the body with pollen and collects pollen left there by other plants. hey even have different contact positioning for different types of trigger plants so they don't mix up the pollen! How clever is that?

Spang!  Gotcha!

If you go to the site this pic came from, you can see a little bit of film showing it happen. 

I must say, I found the walk exhausting this morning though we didn't go far.  I'm still post flu, and also very anemic which is an issue because I can't tolerate taking supplements, so I am limited to using a skin cream with iron in it, and eating steak as much as possible.  It's a horrible feeling of being both weak and tired.  Reminds me way too much of the Lyme Disease years, I can tell you.  Flashback to the bad old days!  Scary!

We went to drumming on Wednesday night because I was determined to get there to farewell one of the circle leaders, Simon, who is off to the Eastern States to live for a few years.   We went to his house to drum at his drum circle.  It was worth the effort.  Such lovely people and a great place to drum.  I got pretty tired so was not at my best in my drumming, but Andrew had a lot of fun with the doons.

And Glenn, Michelle and Simon were having fun too.

Altogether there were eight of us drumming, which was really good because we could play around a lot with parts.

            
I must admit we left earlier than the others, because I was just weary to the bone.  I've missed two controlled burns this week too, dammit.  Hope I'm back to normal soon!  There is so much to do here around the property and with the brigade, and I still haven't started writing again either.  You'd think by now I'd know all about letting my body dictate what I can do, but nope, I still fight it, in fact I think I'm worse now because I just don't want miss a single day of my new active life that I still appreciate so much!

Andrew was at the night burn this week and got this great pic of Andy.  It was perfect for the banner of our brigade's facebook page. 

Hopefully by the time I post again I'll be all better and able to post more interesting stuff that I've done as well! 
              

 

What a Sistery Weekend!

Well that weekend went by in a flurry!  I picked PJ up on Friday arvo and we kept busy for most of the time apart from when we both crashed out for naps.

On Saturday morning we went to Fireys, and it was fun to have PJ there to help us with the vehicle checks.  It was raining a lot but we still had a good time.  

Saturday night all the ladies of the family went out for niece Molly's coming of age dinner. It's a nice tradition that we have.

Two gorgeous grown up girls, one to go!  

On Saturday arvo PJ and I headed out into the stormy weather to go find a gift for Molly. We went across the hills to Kalamunda and came across this cool bit of yarn bombing.

So bright and fun on a very dark day!

I believe it's not great for the trees to leave them on for too long but I'm sure the trees don't mind it for a while and probably actually enjoy the attention, though I didn't think to ask this one if it did! 

Sunday PJ went for a long walk to the local water-slides in the local national park with our sister, Jen, and niece, Niamh.   It's an amazing place.  I've taken pics there before. 

Niamh is catching up to PJ, who is a bit taller than me.  

Yes that's my home-made slouchie beanie. PJ, child of the hot QLD climate, was freezing here in our unseasonally wintery weather so we had to rug her up a bit more!

Missing her own little Zella, PJ got to have lovely cuddles with the family pets, including Kelly and Fergus.

Sunday arvo we three mad sisters had a great time playing musical instruments and singing together.

After that we went for a walk round Jen's firebreak, and I got this pic of Kelly and one of the lovely kangaroo paws that grows in the bush at her place.   The Kelly bit was accidental.  :D
 

Then when the nieces got home from rehearsing their latest play,  PJ got to have a drumming lesson from Molly and then a violin lesson from Niamh.

    

Jen and I think she's a natural and Niamh did a great job of explaining.

After that it was back to our place for a rest, and then we had a final dinner before we dropped PJ at the airport this morning.  It was a short but sweet visit!  Come back soon sis!         

   

 

Life Returns!

Well I'm finally starting to feel human again.  That is some evil flu bug.

I'm still not writing.  I'll start next week.  This weekend we've got my sister from Queensland visiting.  I go to pick her up this arvo.  Yay!

Wednesday I did manage to drag my carcass up to the block and plant this oak tree seedling.  It was grown from an acorn from the local giant oak by a firey friend.  Good luck little baby in your tree guard!

From that tiny beginning, to maybe one day, the size of your mama!

It's not likely, because mama has ideal growing conditions which the new baby will not, but you never know. 

The block was looking lovely on that beautiful spring morning.  I managed a bit of a stagger around after planting the seedling. 

The shimmer grass was catching the light beautifully.

It's probably some hideous introduced species and I should murder it, but it looks so pretty with sun and a gentle breeze making it dance and shine, and it doesn't seem to have spread much so far. 

The Mouse Ears (Calothamnus Rupestra) are flowering. 

And the "Bastard bush" ( Variegated-Leafed Hakea) is still going strong in our shelter belts.  I planted all of the plants here a few years back.  It is so lovely to see them thrive.

This baby Jarrah, three years old now, is thriving and beginning to develop adult stripy bark on the trunk. It is funny to see the change of bark so delineated, rough to smooth, in a sharp line. 

It's taller than me now!  My little baby is growing up!

  

I took a bit of video to give you an idea of how lovely it was sitting there after planting the tree, with the sun shining and all the birds singing and the dogs happily panting.

 

The professional photos from the DFES firefighter's awards breakfast became available.  I thought this one was a lovely one of all the brigade members who went to support Angus.

We didn't even plan it to end up so nicely colour co-ordinated, it just happened.  :D

I'm very proud of Andrew this week.  He has started a new job as acting Fire Hazard Inspection Officer for the local Shire.  How cool is that?  After years of long exhausting trips to and from work in the centre of Perth, now he can be at work within five minutes of leaving home!  I love knowing he is buzzing about nearby, and he is loving being an even bigger part of his local community,  and in keeping people safe from bushfires.

I'm also proud of sister PJ!  She is actually over here because her work for her local government was shortlisted for a prestigious award, and last night she won it! Woo hoo!  2016 Economic Development National Awards for Excellence: Digital Entrepreneurs Category.  Woo hoo!  I'm so inspired by both of my gorgeous, intelligent, live-wire sissies.  I got really, really lucky in the sibling (and husband) lottery, that's for sure!

 See you soon PJ!
         

 

  

      

Introducing Rosie and Tuppence

Well, I'm still sick and currently feel like the boringest person in the world, so here's an early post from when my blog wasn't read by many people.  It's about my Rosie and Tuppence and was firs tposted in Dec 2014, only my second post ever.    



So I say in my label up there that I'm a dog nut. I must say I'm not exaggerating.  All my life I've loved dogs and needed a dog by my side to feel 'normal'.  It seems as natural to me as breathing.

I've had some amazing dogs in my life, and I still miss every one of them.  Maybe I'll do a post about them one day. In the meantime, these two darlings are my current companions.

This is my sweet Rosie.  She was bred by my mum who is a registered breeder but only has a litter very rarely. The pups were born into my hands as the mum, Tess, wasn't keen on lying down to have her babies!

Rosie decided she was my girl from about four weeks old and who was I to argue? We've done lots of fun stuff together and she is always by my side.

Then when Rosie was three and a half, we bred her to a very nice boy called Punch.

  We kept a girl puppy called Tuppence.  She is rather different to her gentle mum.  She's lively, a bit twitchy at times, but super smart and great fun to train.

     She and her mum are great friends, which is lovely.  This was painted from a photo I caught of them snuggled together on the bed.   

They're peas in the pod, to the point where it is a bit hard to tell them apart at night or in dim light.   :)

Mum calls them my Black Watch after the Scottish troop of the same name,  because wherever I go there they are, trusty and true!