The Girls are Back in Town ....!

I'm so happy! My girls are back with me after living at my friends place for the past few months since we moved here.

Ruby at the front, checking out the new digs.

My friend who was looking after them went jetting off to Europe for 5 weeks (oh, the high life!) and I was visiting them twice a day for feeding/cleaning/egg collecting etc. Problem was, we hit freezing times here and went below zero a few days in a row, so their drinking water was freezing solid and I was tripping back and forth to give them fresh water.

Silvie (no comb) and Blondie (huge comb) ??why ??

After much guilt and anxiety, I practically begged the real estate agent to let us have them here, and within 3 hours they said the landlord said yes! Woo hoo!

Lady- fully recovered from the fowl-pox that killed Racey Rooster, but still she is still not laying after 3 months.

We can't move the ark here yet so for now we built a ramshackle lean-to into a holding pen. Bit of chook fence we went to our old house and pulled down (it is STILL for sale -not happy) and a bit of a hutch thingy and hey presto - new chooky accomodation.

BG- more Blue than Gold but still a beauty

Blondie - check out the mad comb!

The wyandottes are HUGE now- I really didn't understand how different they are to other breeds until I had my own- they are like soft round fluffballs! Check out the fluffly butts !!!

They seem very happy, even though they are still trying to figure out where they want to lay (there has been a few eggs rolling around the ground!) I made a nice nest inside the hutch and they just dragged the whole thing out :-0

So then I made a box on its side with straw in, but instead of using it to lay in, all 5 of them stuffed themselves in to sleep in it last night.... what the ???!!!!!

Crazy chooks - love 'em.

:-)

Movin' on up ....

Time for some changes ..... we have been so busy here lately I keep thinking of stuff I want to blog about but never have a chance :-(
I have been trying to keep our house in tip top condition, all spic and span for the inspections we have been having (not so easy during the school holidays with 2 mini-hurricanes charging around!) Luckily it has always looked tidy and clean, and we have had quite a few people through, but no buyers yet.

The good news however is that we have got ourselves a rental house to move into, I looked at a few and the only one that was suitable was in high demand! I had no idea it was so competitive, there are so many people out there going for each property. Of course that pushes the prices up as well as making it harder to get what you want. We weren't even that fussy really, just wanted a 2/3 bed house with heating (I can't believe some places don't have heating in the upper mountains ...brrrrrr!)

Anyway, we did get the one we applied for and I am so happy! I will be able to walk the kids to school instead of driving 96 km every day -hooray!

The main problem was having somewhere that has a fenced yard and will take a dog. The chooks would have been a much bigger problem, except that a lovely friend has offered to house them at her place for us while we rent. She has had chooks in the past and really enjoys them, although never had a rooster, so we are both hoping that won't be an issue with her neighbours. We still have to discuss who will be responsible for what, but they will be close by so I can visit and hopefully our shared-care arrangement will work out!

Hopefully we will be able to get a removalist to help us move in next weekend, (we have done it ourselves way too many times, its not worth the chiropractic bills, not to mention the damaged furniture!)

I will report back form our new surroundings when we get settled, no doubt there will be a few tales in between :-)

Suddenly...lots of news!

Where is this year going? I keep thinking of blog posts, but somehow get swept up by events going on in my 'real' life and never get round to writing.... but so much is happening here in the world of mountain wildlife!

Firstly, our twins started school in February, a huge milestone for all of us! They are in kindergarten and settling in well, we are very proud of them. The only downside is that I have to drive 30 mins, 4 times a day to take them there/home and back/home. We decided to start them in school in the town we will be moving to, rather than where we are now, as this will be far less disruptive for them when we do move, having already settled into school and established some new friends. We were being optimistic that we WILL build this year and it WILL go according to plan!

Which leads nicely to our second big event-of-the-moment --- the builder we returned to late last year (after a year of owner-building-nothing-getting-done dramas) seems to be handling things well and getting things moving far faster that we did. Of course I still have moments of impatience when I would like things done TODAY (!) but at least things are progressing. The council application should be ready to submit in the next couple of weeks- waiting as I write- on a bushfire assessment. Our block is surrounded by, and covered in, natural bushland so this is a very important report which will determine what modifications we will have to incorporate into the house. We already have a good understanding and have budgeted for such things so hopefully there won't be any surprises.

However, because of my afore-mentioned impatience (LOL!) we have decided to sell up our home now, (news no. 3!) and rent further up the mountains while the building progresses. Hubby will be travelling further as he works down the mountains, but that would happen eventually anyway, and besides ---news no. 4!! -- we have bought a second car so he can do that! Its an older station wagon, cheap but hopefully reliable, and has heaps more room than our other car. The train he usually catches doesn't run from our new place, so this was going to happen sooner or later. But, the school run will be so much easier, we can be more part of our new community, and our children will be closer to their new friends. Me too, as I have met some lovely people through the school and made some new friends already! 

So, our house is up for sale and the agent is confident it will go quickly. Hmmm.... now, where are we going to live??!!!

I have been searching for a rental in the upper mountains (news no.5!!) - they are quite rare - and the ones that do come up that look suitable/affordable are so far not allowing pets. Not good, as we have our lovely dog with us.
Oh, and did I mention the 5 fat hens and the rooster who does hilarious attempts now at crowing? Well, I didn't mention it to the agents that's for sure! I think the chooks might be taking up residence on our land with daily visits from me, it's hard enough finding a rental that will allow an outdoor dog!

News no.6 - we are selling our investment property at the moment as well, hopefully that should all go through next week, so its all contracts and paperwork here!

Between building, selling x 2 and house hunting, as well as driving 100km/day, you may have figured out why I have been missing lately.......

So much going on, fingers crosssed everything will soon fall into place and I will be able to exhale again!

:-)