Nancy's busy December

December has been a very busy month so far! 

Some of the more memorable highlights include

• my birthday
• work Christmas party
• Anthony's visit

December 15th is when I turned a year older...as usual I preferred this day to be normal and without fuss.

My family organized the usual dinner for me the weekend before.  As always, it was a late dinner and there was a fruit cake.

Actually wait, they forgot the fruit cake at the shop because they had so much food to bring home and too many hands helping to do it.  Either way it was fine; none of us have been a fan anyway!

Paul naturally chasticized us for not appreciating the time and effort they put in to make it.



Then there was my work Christmas party which was my very first.  Itwas at a very nice fancy restaurant with a special function centre all decked out in astroturf and flowers.  As per fancy restaurants, the food was alright but in very small portions.

We started with bread baked with sprigs of rosemary, along with dipping oil with soy sauce balsamic.  Entre was 4 thin slices of roast pork in a balsamic sauce.  Main was a tiny portion of beef steak with vegetables that an ant could single handedly carry off.

Sadly there was no dessert.  I suppose the company felt it was more important that we all over indulge on alcohol with an open bar rather than fill our tums.

 

I wasn't the only person who was still starving after our tiny meal.

Today has been the best day of all - I got to see Anthony after two months.

We met at Flinders Street Station and I made use of him by getting him to carry my heavy corn for the girls :)

Queen Vic Market is open every Tuesday and Thursday - Sunday.  There are outdoor sheds that sell fresh produce; these sheds double as knick knack stalls on Saturday and Sunday.

Weekends are incredibly busy for the obvious reason that the majority of people have it off. and need to fill up their fridge.  It takes patience to navigate through the numerous trollys and prams along in the crowds.

We dropped all my shopping at home and then went out for a late lunch in the city.  Then we spent an hour chilling at Borders; it's one of my fave things to do, just sitting there and reading together.

Then I had to see him off at the train station because he had to go back to his family obligations.

New Digs

My girls have a new house!

This recent purchase is thanks to an online pet store on ebay.  Chicken coops are quite pricey and this one was quite reasonable I thought.  I was quite excited that it was below au$200 and considered it to be a huge bargain!

It arrived really quickly; within 3 working days infact.  Unfortunately no one was home so we got carded.  It was divided into two boxes and my brother had to drive me to the LPO to pick it up because it was quite large.  Definitely not a packge for 1 person to pick up on foot! 

Putting it together was a bit tricky; May helped me and we had to be very careful because the wood is quite flimsy.  The nails were all screws and holes didn't need to be drilled; you just screwed it straight into the wood because it was that soft.  (Ok this is the incorrect terminology but I don't know what is).

After putting it together, we realized that getting the foundation right with the first two walls was important.  We didn't get these perfectly aligned so every time I slide the floor/ removable tray in I need to get it at a certain angle or it doesn't fully go in.

Here is the end result;

Flitter has never slept on slates/ a perch before so she sleeps on the removable tray instead.  She prefers it lined with old clothes.  White Chicken isn't particularly fussed where she sleeps, considering she slept perched on a cardboard box in the laundry during the first week we found her, a coop is a luxury for her!

Dust Those Lice

Since buying the poultry produce from Enfield Pet Supplies, I've dusted my girls twice with lice powder.

The first time was a tricky experience because no one wanted to help me.  They were still trying to get over the fact that the girls had lice.  The first reaction was 'ewww, are you nuts, they'll jump on me' 

I on the other hand had had some time to get over it so I got into the dusting with great gusto.  (Although for the next two days after that I thought I could feel creepies crawling all over me - my workmates were pretty grossed out when I told them my chickens had lice)

White chicken was very evasive, such is her stray nature, but I managed to get a tiny bit of dust on her.  Flit Flit was much easier to catch and she looked quite forlorn when I was done with her - she was standing there sadly covered in white powder.  Poor thing didn't understand it was for her own good.

The lice rose to the surface after a short while only - they were big weevil looking kinda things - and both girls were eating them.  Not too sure whether this is a good idea but I'm sure they've eaten worse when they're out free ranging.

Dust bathing is nature's best preventative measure for lice and all that icky stuff and here is a good example of that.

Flitter has lice!

My baby has lice!

Those nasty parasites have laid thousands and thousands of eggs at the base of her bum feathers.  It's a good spot to hide because that's a pretty well hidden spot.

I only discovered it when I was trimming her feathers around the lump on her bum.  I've cut off a few feathers but can't be too heavy handed or she'll be completely bald down there!

Thank goodness for online stores because there's this pet shop at Enfield that sells practically everything I need.  Enfield Pet and Garden they're called.  So I put in an order for;

- calgrit: right now I give them normal grit but if calgrit offers a higher calcium content then I'm all for it!

- garlic and apple cider vinegar: apparantly this is a supplement that they will love to drink

- diatomaceous earth (food grade): used as an insecticide, due to its physico-sorptive properties. The fine powder absorbs lipids from the waxy outer layer of insects' exoskeletons, causing them to dehydrate

- poultry dust: great for the prevention and control of poultry parasites such as fleas, flies, ticks, ticks and mites. 

All up it only cost about au$68 with postage being au$20 from NSW.  I've read that shaking the eggs off then rubbing vaseline into the base of the feathers will hep.  Kind've a tricky thing to do considering Flitter doesn't particularly like being handled.  And White Chicken, we can totally forget that!

My poor girls :(

kinky gerlinki

Kinky Gerlinki is now one of my favourite clothing shops, thanks to Lyn.

Last Saturday we went to Sydney Road in Brunswick for a bit of shopping.  The shop name sounded dodgy to me at first, and I don't usually go into little boutique shopss, but am I glad I did!

According to their website, they've been trading in Melbourne for 10 years now.  Inititially they started as an exporter, exporting their clothing from Asia and Europe.  They now make their own clothing, sometimes only 15 items per style.  How's that for ensuring you don't go to the same party in the same outfit as that other girl?

Their catalogue can be found here.  There were quite a few lovely outfits I wanted to buy, but alas they had run out of Small sizes for most.  I picked up 2 gorgeous skirts, the same design but in different colours.

I also tried almond dates for the first time from a lovely Lebanese grocery shop.  It was dates all blended and shaped into the natural size of a date, then coated with almonds.  Whether or not it was the natural sweetness of a date, the high sugar content killed my taste buds for a couple of hours.

What started off as a cold rainy morning later turned into a bright and warm afternoon so we took advantage of that by eating our burgers outdoors at Burger Edge.  My choice was Hungry Jacks (because I love to clog my arteries) but I've never tried Burger Edge so decided to give them a go.  I love how they use aioli to butter their buns, but I prefer the dripping bacon fat at Hungry Jacks more :o)

Bedroom Treasures

My bedroom is one of my favourite places in the house.  It's not very big but it does have a door and a big window with stunning city views and overlooks the playground of the Special School.  

Privacy, fresh air and natural lighting, what more can I ask for?  

Below are some of my other lil treasures;

The lovely cherry blossoms silk painting I recently purchased with Anthony at Victoria Market



My engagement card, posted all the way from Margaret in New Zealand! Such a very thoughtful girl she is. At first when she was telling me about finding the perfect engagement card, I thought she meant she had found the perfect card for me with which to announce my engagement! After much confusion, Joanne finally explained to me Mugs had found an engagement card she wanted to post to me.



The drawing from Anthony :o)

The Pure Fiji moisturiser set from Mrs Yam when I spent last Christmas (2009) with Anthony's family at Niranji Street.

Nancy Online: Fiji Day in Melbourne 2010

Nancy Online: Fiji Day in Melbourne 2010

Fiji Day in Melbourne 2010

Fiji Day this year was held in Moorabbin on 09/10/2010.

There were about 20 stalls and there was a lovely kava ceremony and meke.  It was good weather for it too, being a bright and sunny day.


The evening event was a fashion show at the Langham in Melbourne.  I would have loved to have gone to the fashion show but tickets cost au$150.  This included a sit down buffet meal and 20min fashion show.  A bit too steep for my budget!

There was yummy food galore albeit not at the usual Fiji price of course!  The lovo pack cost au$30 but it was money well spent!  There was Fiji style curry, palau and cassava cake.

Alas I didn't get to try any of the yummy food pictured here because a certain someone didn't mention she was going to the Fiji Day celebrations which means I missed out!

Happy Fiji Day!

Long Time No Blog

Having chickens sure keeps one busy!

Hi my name's Nancy and It's been over a year since I last blogged :o)

Needless to say, much has happened. I'll continue from the first blog - alas, Sam is no more. Why, do you ask? Because he grew up into a beautiful male chicken who loved to strut around and crow. Crow a lot. The neighbour wasn't a fan, especially being woken at 5am. So he called the council on us - two guys in a car who were parked outside our house for a while, then introduced themselves as Council workers who just so happened to be 'driving around' when they noticed the chickens in the yard. Sure.

After that visit, Dad decided Sam had to go. So into the pot he went, later that year in 2009.

Flitter didn't seem to miss him too much - I rather suspect she was glad she wasn't getting mounted 24/7!





And it meant she was getting twice the attention and being spoilt rotten!

It was just me and her for a while, but one day in March of this year, that changed...Because a stranger came knocking on our door saying she'd found a chicken in the alleyway, and did it belong to us?

May: 'We have a black chicken'
Stranger: 'It was a white chicken and it's been in the alley way a couple of days now.'
May: 'Hmm..can you show me?'
Stranger: 'Ok, sure, jump into my car'
May: 'Sure!'

Long story short, they tracked the chicken down and caught this gorgeous snowy hen. She was terrified of humans and cringed when you went too close.

For the first 2 weeks, she perched in the laundry and refused to eat when we were in the room. At first Flitter ignored her. Then when White Chicken (for that is her name) got braver and finally left her perch to walk around, Flitter would bully her mercilessly.

But they're the best of friends now, so all is well!