Bye Anthony!

I've just come back from seeing Ant off at the airport.

We're not very fond of long drawn out goodbye's so it's usually just a hug and kiss; very tear-free.

This trip was a long one - he arrived in Brisbane on Friday Dec 10th 2010.  Stayed in Brisbane for a week then came to Melb Friday 17th and stayed with his mum's Aunty at Forest Hill.  Then they came to mine from Dec 23rd.  His family left on 1 Jan 2011.

This morning we woke up at the early hour of 8:30am to have breakfast with Leny Cel and Faye.  8:30am is the earliest time we've gotten up during the 3 weeks he was here!  I blame my late bedtime and wake ups on his negative influence on me.

Cel has been here since Thursday on holiday, and she, Leny, Faye and Angie had gone out clubbing the night before.  Ant and I had preferred a quiet night so we'd gone to Melbourne Central's Tamadochi sushi train for dinner instead.  Breakfast was at Soul Cafe on Swanston Street (cnr Bourke).

I had an Eggs Benedict and a half strength latte.  It was a lightly toasted muffin with two sunny side up eggs on smoked salmon with pesto sauce.  I polished it all off, ontop of the bratwurst I'd bought from Victoria Market.  I must've been very hungry!

Then we had tea at Ren Tea which is opposite the road.  They specialize in Chinese tea - 'Hong Kong style Tea' is what they have written on their shopfront glass window.

The girls all had a taro milk tea with pearls on Leny's recommendation.  Tasted sweet with a light starchy aftertaste.  I had the rose black white tea which was like a normal tea, except with rose buds.  Yum. 

Below are pics of Ant saying good bye to the girls...

As you can see, they weren't really that interested.  Flitter was more intent on trying to blend in with the tree and White Chicken was having a grand time dirt bathing.

St Kilda Beach and Beachcomber Cafe

Today was another scorcher and most of it was spent at home where it was cool indoors!

After waking up at 7am to let the girls out, I stumbled back into bed and woke up again at the late hour of 10:30am.  And it was only because my cousins were outside loudly ringing the doorbell!

They finally left at 3pm; which is about the same time that May woke up so that we could finally go bridal shopping!  Shopping for wedding dresses really isn't that fun.  But seeing as this is only my second time around, I shouldn't be so quick to dislike it.

More to come later on how that goes.

After dress shopping, May and I met up with Ant at Borders where he was doing his usual free reading.  From Melb Central, Paul and Oy picked us up to go to St Kilda for dinner.

We ate at the Sea Baths which is right on the Esplanade, with views of the beach.  The Restaurant was called Beachcomber Cafe. 

Oy, Paul and I inside Beachcomber, the food, Ant and I on the beach

The food was good - and for the prices they charged it shouldn't have been anything less!  Oy and Ant had the Fisherman's Basket which was au$36 and although pricey, was quite worth it with prawn and scallop skewers, battered mussels, fish bites and fries.

I had the au$20 Beach Burger which had a yummy relish and huge beef patti, and fries.  I also ordered wedges which cost about au$12 and a huge waste seeing as our meals came with fries.

Paul, Mr Gluten-free, had the risotto which was the smallest portion on our table, but he declared it as being yummy.  Most of the waiters there are backpackers on a working visa, ours was a lovely French guy who needed to refer us to another waiter to understand what 'gluten free' meant.

Outside Beachcomber Cafe's parking lot - see if you can spot Ant who happened to walk into view with Paul after they parked the car. 

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 :(