I'm Baack

It's been a LOOONG time since my last post.

Admittedly it became too much of an effort to fight May for the laptop every night.  Also because I had to take on a bit more responsibility at work so no longer had the time to update my blog :o)

Cel has been stationed in Melb for her Trainer role so we've been hanging out and having little adventures on the weekend.  Today we drove to Apollo Bay which is just under 3 hours from Melbourne.  We went there to have lunch.

Nothing fancy nor any special ocassion.  Just an ordinary lunch where I had a steak sandwich, Angie had a beef stew, Cel had a vegetarian foccacia and her friends Rupa had a lentil pattie while Jamie and Ant had a big breakfast.

The weather wasn't particularly nice but there were moments when the sun came out.  

The drive was great but I was disappointed I didn't get to show Ant the 12 Apostles.  We decided we didn't want to go further than Lorne.  (12 Apostles is in Port Campbell).  So close and yet so far!

On the way there and the way back, we made pit stops so that Genki could go have a run.  She loved it!

Ant drove me and Genki, though it took a lot of convincing because he didn't want to drive all that way just for lunch.

Angie went with Cel and her friends and based on the laughter when we all met up for lunch, they had a great time on the drive. 

Two weekends I went go-karting with Cel, Angie and John.  It was great, although terrifying.  I completed the least number of laps and the lovely worker there called me a 'safe driver'.  We also went to a winery for an amazing lunch then dinner in the city.  Ant stayed home because he said the car 'would be too full' but joined us for dinner in the city.  I bet he regretted sitting it out!

Then there's the weekend that we all went to Mt Hotham for two nights at Alpine Chalet.  We went after work on Friday night and were all exhausted after the 3.5 hour drive.  Despite this, almost everyone stayed up talking until late.  I immediately went to sleep because I can't function without 8hrs of sleep.

Skiiing is hard, and incredibly expensive.  We plan to go back with Fiona, Marlene and Genki at the end of this month and I will not be forking out for equipment hire or a lift pass since I only used my ski for 2 hrs and was too terrified to go up the ski lift.  Rather, I was terrified of how I could come down once I went up.  Poor Angie went up and had to walk all the way down. 

It'll be incredibly exciting for Genki to see snow.  I was meant to buy her some snow gear but have been very lax about looking it up on ebay.  They're all from International sellers so there's no way any order will arrive in the post by the end of this month!

Looks like it's time to sign off and get searching or my next post will be about how Genki lost a toe to frost bite....

Found: Sparkles

Over Easter we lost Sparkles.  Because my mother left the kitchen door open and Genki jumped at the opportunity to run outside to see her feathered friends.  Unfortunately they were not as excited to see her and Sparkles ran out the yard.

Everyone was busy in the house so no one was aware Sparkles had jumped the back wall to get out.

Anyway the weather during Easter was particularly bad so we didn't really hold much hope of her surviving the freezing cold + neighbourhood cats.

But today we found Sparkles!  Technically i did.  This morning on my way to walk I thought I saw movement in the school yard across the road.  I remembered it's school holidays and it registered that it would be a good hiding place for a jumpy hen.

And as I was gazing earnestly into the school yard, who should strut on by but Sparkles!!

Ant and May caught her - which I am told was very hard to do - and reunited her with white chicken who promptly gave her a few pecks.  Maybe in welcome?



 

Easter Saturday

Docklands Flea Market

Bolte Bridge,  Docklands

Docklands flea market located under the Bolte Bridge.  A great little alternative place that is only just establishing itself.  A great idea is using shipping containers as stalls/ food stands.

They were very pro-active about boosting return customers with asking you to join their mailing list as you exited.

Then we moved on to Costco - it's walking distance but we drove in anticipation of all the toilet paper Lyn planned to buy.

$2.50 hot dog and re-fillable drinks at Costco.  Can you get more value than this?


A long walk to the park with Genks and the hubs.  Her nemesis Tesla went in the opposite direction + lotsa runs with Gypsy and Skittles = great walk

hello Easter holidays



Travancore Park


Hooray for the Easter long weekend!

Wednesday Walks

It's pretty disappointing how much I've neglected my blog.  It seems less motivating to jump on when life is being normal.  As opposed to getting married.

I've been sick the past three days.  Stayed home on Monday and Tuesday which was GREAT.  I mostly slept (hey, I was sick!) but today I soldiered on and went to work.  Big mistake because 3/4 of the team did not show up.

After work Ant and I took Ms Genki-poo to the park where her arch nemesis Tasslar was already waiting.  There's usually a big congregation of dog owners at the entrance of the park and most times it's fine to let Genkie off the leash EXCEPT when Tasslar is around.  

The tiny 10-month old de-sexed puppy is crazy and likes to pick on poor Genks.  His owner says he only started acting up when he got de-sexed.  Something about him wanting to prove he's still a man by picking on the little dogs.  We're waiting for Genks to outgrow him so that she can bully him back one day.

Hurry up and grow faster Genks!  We'll even buy you some overpriced dog milk ($3 for 1 litre) to help you out.

A boo boo

Yesterday on our evening walk to Travancore Park, Genki learnt an important lesson; Don't run across the path of a cyclist.

The silly muppet dashed right across the path of an oncoming cyclist who didn't see her so ended up running Genks over.  Where were Ant and I?  Trying to hide from her because she was being cheeky by running across the park to a family who were minding their own business.  

The cyclist came out of nowhere and I ran out from behind the bush I was hiding when I heard her yelp.  She came running across the field back towards me but was more intent on finding Ant (who had run further away to hide so wasn't aware of what had happened).  Eventually I knelt down and she jumped into my lap where I checked her for injuries.

The poor cyclist came up to me to check that she was ok too because according to him, he had 'clipped her pretty hard.'  He seemed more shaken up than she was.  At least he didn't tell me off for not putting her on a leash.  

That cut short our walk because she seemed to be quite aloof and nervous.  And she smelt really bad - like she had shat herself.  So off home we went and Ant gave her a bath.

Let's see what the next walk brings.

Genki playing with her rubber keys in the frontyard

Hello Sparkles

Today (9th March) I bought a new chicken from Victoria Market. au$25 - she was down from au$30 I was told by the gentlemen. Either that or he decided to lower the price after he saw my expression at the au$30.

Her name is Sparkles and she's a scrawny little golden feathered girl with black splotches. She caused some excitement as soon as I let her out into the back yard by jumping up onto the back door and then the garage roof. She wasn't all to blame; white chicken started bullying her.

So after we caught her, I clipped her wings. But obviously I didn't clip it short enough because shortly after that she jumped onto the fence and onto the neighbour's hills hoist. So her wings got clipped shorter.

Luckily this week is a three day weekend on account of Monday being Labour Day public holiday so I can keep an eye on them. I've decided to partition off the back yard so that Sparkles is out the back and white chicken will have the area along the side of the house - this also allows her to come into the front yard by walking along the brick fence.

I also had to partition off their house with chicken wire- Sparkles has the nesting box while white chicken has the more bigger space.

So far white chicken has been most unappreciative by having very loud rants. And very often. She doesn't like my explanation that Sparkles is there to be her companion.

Introducing a hen to a new hen isn't the easiest thing but we'll get there. Afterall, it took time introducing white chicken to Flitter but in the end they became good friends.