And then there was one.

Not long after we moved here the Big Fella decided that we needed a dog.  He saw that someone local had puppies they were selling and went to look at them.  We ended up with two.

Here's the link to the post about them, with photos.

The female, Choccie, let the Little Big Fella do just about anything to her.  He could pick her up and pat her and make her dance and chase her around.  And she'd placidly (although not always happily) let him.

Recently the dogs have been running up and down the front fence "chasing" cars (especially utes), motorbikes and people.

Unfortunately today Choccie got out the gate when it was briefly opened, chased a truck and managed to get run over, dying instantly.  Thankfully(?), the Little Big Fella and I were at a party so the Big Fella took her and buried her.

Obviously there's sadness in our household tonight.  Frankie (our male dog) keeps sitting watching out the front.  I'm pretty sure he's wondering where she is.

The Little Big Fella had a big cry and we talked about how sad it was and what we loved about her and that we'll have to make sure we play a lot with Frankie now because he'll be lonely.

The Little Big Fella constantly amazes me in how well he "gets over" things.  After his big cry and our talk he went on with doing whatever he was doing, and playing and talking.  I have no doubt that there will be intermittent tears over the next few days, and recollections for a long time to come, but he's accepted what happened and is moving on.

So we're down to one dog and no chooks.  I'm beginning to wonder if we're meant to have animals at all!!!

Choccie was a bundle of energy and excitement.  The character "Scrat" from the Ice Age movies could easily have been based on her!  Although her barking wasn't my favourite thing, she was a stereotypical loving and devoted dog.  All she ever wanted was food and love, and we were happy to give her both.

We'll miss you Choccie.

The midnight visitor

The night before last, I wasn't tired.  Not even a bit!

I tried playing mindless computer games (normally a clincher for me).

I tried just laying in bed for a while.

I tried writing everything in my head down on paper.

I didn't end up asleep until around 1:30am.

Unsurprisingly, last night I was tired.  Okay, truthfully I was exhausted!  I've been a little busy lately, and the addition of a less-than-full night of sleep really wasn't helpful.

So when I went to bed last night I had that wonderful experience of collapsing into the mattress, feeling completely surrounded by blissful comfort.  Of course, I was asleep almost immediately.

Fast forward a little.  To just before midnight.  I was torn from my blissful slumber by my dogs going completely off their rockers!!!

Now, I need you to understand the sound that wrenched me from that peaceful oblivion.

Imagine a small dog barking.  No problem!  Everyone knows that sound.  It's annoying if the dog isn't yours, and annoying and embarrassing if it is.

Now, imagine, if you can, that sounds going up a couple of octaves.

This takes annoying small dog barking to high-pitched, small dog barking.

Now, you need to make it loud, of course, and add some significant yelping.  I'd imagine it might be a similar sound to what you'd get if a crocodile had attached itself to the dog's leg, and the dog was barking because there was something in its territory, and yelping because it was in pain.

I think you now have a bit of an idea of what awoke me, just before midnight, when I was in a deep, much-needed, blissful sleep.

I did what any dog owner would do (yes, that's my tongue in my cheek) - I yelled at the dog through the window.

No response whatsoever.  The bark-yelping continued completely unabated.

I put on my "now I'm really angry with you" voice and yelled again.

Nope.  Not even a flicker of acknowledgement.

A BIG sigh preceeds me throwing on something more appropriate (in case any of my shift-working neighbours, or those awoken by this awful ruckus were to investigate) and stomping outside.

Meanwhile the "crocodile has my leg and is in my territory" bark/yelping continues.

We have two little dogs.  A male, Frankie, and a female, Choccie.

Choccie is the one that normally wears the bark collar (although she's having a break for good behaviour at the moment.  That, and I haven't gotten around to putting it back on after their last bath.).

Frankie is a much more settled dog and rarely barks for longer than about 20 seconds.

You can imagine my surprise when Choccie comes up and submissively rolls over but the bark/yelping continues!

I try yelling at Frankie, using his name this time.

No response.  He's still losing the plot.

What on earth is going on here???

I go downstairs and finally get his attention... for a moment.

I don't know if it was a full moon last night (I didn't look - I just wanted to get back to sleep), but it was very bright, and I couldn't see anything around the place that would cause my dog to completely lose the plot like this.

Eventually (after getting and losing Frankie's attention about a dozen times) I walk over to the garden area where he keeps going.

I see nothing.

So Frankie helpfully decides to come right over and bark/yelp some more.

I finally see some movement.

It's not even in our yard!  It's on the other side of the fence, in our neighbour's yard, in the shadows.

And it's attempting to bury itself to get away from the awful noise my dog is making!

Folks, last night we had an echidna problem!  And it wasn't going to go away easily!

There's no way I was going to try to pick it up to move it along, and the dog was freaking the poor thing out, so it wasn't going anywhere.

What am I going to do???  I'm exhausted, my brain is definitely not kicking into gear and I am just about ready to strangle my dog.

Fine!  I'll lock the noisy thing under the house!

So I cajoled the dogs under the house and went in there with them for a minute.  I patted them and tried to calm them down (rather unsuccessfully really, but at least the barking had stopped!).  I hoped that somehow the echidna would get the hint and move on, preferrably quickly!

After a minute or two (I really didn't have much patience at that point), I let the dogs out (on the other side to where the echidna had been) and they ran around to the garden, thankfully not finding anything to bark at anymore.

I dragged myself back up to bed then lay there for about 10 minutes, unable to get back to sleep.

Stinkin' wildlife!

While the cat's away...

I've had lots of things to tell you all, but I've had no time to tell it!!!

The Big Fella was away fishing for a week.  So, to keep myself from getting sad and lonely, I planned a few things to do.

I've cleaned almost as if I was moving house (we're not, by the way) including exhaust fans (bleuch!) and windows (double bleuch!).

I've woken up my (very sleepy) craft bug.  I think it's the time of year.  Halloween is a little bit of a deal here in our little town, so I've made some paper mache pumpkins, I'm still working on some luminieres made from tin cans, and I need to paint my window silhouettes.  I'm also working on a costume for the school fair/ladies' pink night/Halloween walk.  And all of that gets me excited about Christmas so I've been planning and buying stuff for that too.  But there'll be more about my crafty capers in another post (possibly next week).

And what else should you do to fill in time without your husband, but hang out with friends???

We've had playdates and craft sessions and buy-at-home parties.  And I had a few of the girls around for an evening on Friday.  No, there'll be no telling!  But I think it's okay to say that none of us has had a late night drinking and laughing with the girls in a while, and it hit us a little hard the next day.

I have to say that I have some brilliant friends, too!  I love that we talk about a wide range of things and we can say some pretty outrageous stuff and not be shot to pieces for it.

And laughing!  Oh my goodness I love laughing!!!

But I often get so caught up in the busy-ness and stress of daily life that I forget to see the funny stuff.  Life shouldn't be so serious!  Keep reminding me about that, okay?

It was my nephew's 5th birthday the other day!  I got to talk to him on the phone and I miss him (and his brother, my sister and brother-in-law) so much!  That's definitely one of the sucky things about living away from family, and friends too.

The school is running a fair this Friday and I've offered to do balloon animals for them.  I was trying to get my juggling skills back in time, but it just hasn't happened.  I think I stress out about it too much and end up throwing the balls all over the place!

I'm excited to do some kid-based stuff again, though.  It's been quite a while!  I'm hoping to get half an hour to practice some of the trickier ones before then.  Or at least jump online and look at a few!  I think my very basic repertoire of a dog/giraffe/monkey/elephant and a sword won't quite cut it.

We're off to the big town 2 hours away tomorrow.  The Big Fella has a specialist appointment for the first time since we moved here.  It's been very exciting lately, because his most recent pathology says that his weight loss and exercise are improving his kidney health, significantly reducing his potential need for intervention.  I just about did a happy dance in the doctor's office when he said that!

While we're over there, we're going to be doing a spot of shopping (hello Spotlight (fabric/craft store) and Bunnings (hardware store)).  Just a tad excited about that one.

Anyway, I need to go finish the dishes and get to bed.  The Big Fella is working tonight so there's a decent possibility that I'll be driving tomorrow.

Okay, side note:  I want to kill my dogs!  Obviously not literally.  But when that stinking cat comes by every, single, night, and they bark like there's no tomorrow every, single, night and it doesn't matter what I do they do it EVERY, SINGLE, NIGHT.  Sheesh.

Right.  Time to post this (sorry, it's been a while and this really hasn't been a very exciting post) and get to bed!

A dream childhood

I sometimes wonder if my son, despite (or perhaps even because of) being an only child, is having a dream childhood.

If I were to ask you what a dream childhood for a boy might look like, what would you say?

Maybe riding bikes?  Maybe even motorbikes?  Check, and check!

Maybe fishing with dad?  Check!

Maybe doing all kinds of handyman things with dad?  Check!

Maybe lighting fires (not bushfires, obviously) and learning to play with them (safely)?  Check!

Hmmmm, what else goes into a dream childhood???

Dogs!  For a boy, you'd just about have to say dogs, right?  Check!

Playing in mud and dirt and sand?  Check!

Kicking the football around with dad, maybe even with mum too?  Check!

Lots of food?  Check!  A bit of junk food?  Check!

Dressing up as superheroes probably needs to go in there too, right?  Check!  Oh!  And movies!  Check!

And then there's the stories that I used to be told by my parents about the golden era of their growing up years.  I'm sure you've heard similar ones.  You know!  The story that goes something along the lines of heading out to play with your friends, only coming home to eat or when it gets dark?  Running or riding around, playing, getting into harmless mischief, knowing that any of the mums will tell all of you off if you get into not-so-harmless mischief... you've heard that story, right?

Well, the Little Big Fella will now be able to tell his kids those stories because today, at about 10am he raced into the house desperately trying to find me.  A couple of the people who live in the cul-de-sac behind us only get to have their kids during the school holidays, and the kids were calling out to the Little Big Fella to join them.

Who could say no?

So off he went!  And you know what I felt?  Guilt.  Guilt!  Do you believe it???  I felt guilty because my son wasn't under any single person's direct care.

Are you kidding me???

Thankfully I quickly realised that he was living the dream so I put away my guilt and happily fed him when he came home for lunch, before running out again to play for most of the afternoon.

And when one of his new friends climbed over the fence to play at our place for a while, I fed them jelly (it is school holidays after all), and they played until it was nearly dark and they were called inside for dinner.

At one point, late in the afternoon, myself, my next door neighbour and her backyard neighbour met for a quick chat in the corner of our yards.  And we smiled about the fact that our kids are getting to live this dream childhood.

Oh!  And if you're wondering what I did with my essentially child-free day, I cleaned the office and planned for our trip next week.  Yep!  Livin' the dream :-D

Overcoming fear

I think the Little Big Fella had just turned two years old when he got his first bike... motorbike, that is.  The Big Fella bought it and "tested" it at work:

And the Little Big Fella loved it from Day 1!

He literally did (and does) sit on it and pretend to be riding!

So either the Big Fella or I would jump on the back with the Little Big Fella and take him for rides around the yard, or just up the road to a big paddock, or around the lagoons.

At that point he was riding a pushbike with a handle on the back.  He couldn't steer in a straight line, so we had to "adjust" his trajectory for him.

Over time he's gotten great at riding his pushy.  He and I used to ride along the Esplanade on our bikes, and he even got to the point of riding over the ramps at the park.

When he ruined his "old" pushbike (I'm not sure toddler bikes are designed for skate ramps), the Big Fella bought him a really good BMX-style bike.  It's tough and should last for at least a couple of years.  Unlike his previous bike, which had back-pedal brakes, this one has handle-bar brakes.

During our rides together on the motorbike, we'd gotten to the point that the Little Big Fella did the majority of the steering and throttle control.

So now the Little Big Fella had developed the ability to ride in a straight line, and the ability to use handle-bar brakes, and an understanding of how to use the throttle.  In theory, he could ride his motorbike all by himself.

In theory.

The problem is, he was too afraid.

The Little Big Fella had the skills he needed, he just needed the confidence in his abilities.

The Big Fella tried forcing the Little Big Fella to do it on his own.  But that seemed to make him more afraid.  He tried coercion, to no avail.

How do you help someone overcome their fear?

Sometimes the solution is to build that confidence little by little.

The Big Fella somehow got the Little Big Fella to sit on the motorbike all by himself.  That in itself was a bit of a feat!

Then Daddy got his son to keep his feet on the ground and move forward just a foot.

And then a little bit more.

And then a couple of big steps.

And then a couple of metres.

And then along one side of the yard.

And then he was off!  (Cautiously.)

The dogs thought it was great fun running around with him (possibly the most exercise they've had in a little while!).

The Little Big Fella was so impressed with himself!!!

Daddy started riding my pushbike around to keep up with the Little Big Fella, but then decided that his big motorbike was a much better idea!

The Little Big Fella wanted to show me, and then he wanted all his friends to come around and see him do it.  And then he wanted to ride all yesterday, and all of today, and will probably ask first thing tomorrow morning!

The Big Fella was so impressed and excited that he called his parents, then my parents (who are part of the Ulysses) to brag.

It is definitely a momentous day in my son's life!

The whole process got me thinking a bit about fear though.  The Little Big Fella had what he needed to move forward, but fear stopped him for months!  And I wonder how many times I've let fear hold me back.  And how many times others have helped me moved forward, little bit by little bit, until I realised I could do it on my own!

Maybe it's time to take a leaf out of my son's book and overcome a little (or big) fear.

Chook'n eggs!!!!

YAY!!!!!  We finally got our first egg today!!!!  (I'm just a tad excited, can you tell?)

The Big Fella went downstairs this afternoon, just before we left to pick up the Little Big Fella from kindy, and there was this little egg, sitting on the grass at the bottom of the stairs!  Look at it!  It's so little!!!

So now we have the added task of looking around for eggs each day... woo hoo!!!!  Pity the chooks don't like the chook house.

The other hilarious thing that happened today was this morning.  The Big Fella and I were sitting on the couch, taking a little break before facing the next task.

I heard a noise and couldn't work out what it was.  I looked out the door and saw both dogs lying down.  Nope, not them.

I heard the noise again and still couldn't work it out.

A couple of minutes later I saw our female dog, Choccie go over to the dog house.  A moment later I saw a flash of feathers.  Our Rhode Island Red chicken had chased the dog into the dog house, pecked her and effectively kicked her out!

I nearly cried laughing!  Our chicken thinks it's a dog???  Hilarious!

So it turns out that the noise was the chicken pecking the dog house, probably looking for spiders and bugs I guess.

In other, non-chicken-related news, the Little Big Fella did great at kindy again today and then did really well in his swimming class this afternoon.  We've been asked by the teacher to practice his freestyle arms and breathing motion at home so that he can catch up with the other (bigger) kids in his class.  Am I a proud Mummy?  Yes, I am :-D

Old MacDonald had a farm...

Our little chicks, Salt and Pepper, have grown too big for their box, and too big for the cage.  So during the day we let the big chooks out in the yard, and let Salt and Pepper scratch around in the chook area.  If I'm outside, I let them out in the yard as well (the big chooks pretty much chase them down so I prefer not to have them together too much).

Anyway, this afternoon I'd let them out into the yard then went back inside (the Fellas were outside playing on the trampoline and in the sprinkler).

A little while later I hear the Big Fella calling out to me.  He was on the back "deck" (okay, it's not even a metre square, but we'll call it a deck because it has decking timber, okay?), laying down and enjoying the breeze after hanging out in the sprinkler and getting totally soaked.

I looked out the door and saw him laying there.

Then I noticed the two dogs laying right next to him.

Then I noticed the chicks, sitting on his bare tummy!  And while I watched, the black chick wandered up on to his face!!!!

Apparently they'd climbed the stairs all by themselves and perched on top of him.

Guess you can't help it when you've got... animal magnetism (tee hee hee)!

Horror in the backyard

Yesterday morning I received a text from a neighbour who has chickens.  Apparently their chicken gate wasn't closed properly the night before and a dog had gotten in and killed all 6 of them.

I was so glad I'd shut our chooks away that night, because sometimes we leave them to sleep wherever they like.  Probably a bit stupid being in the country with the possibility of foxes and feral cats or whatever.

Well, later that day I was in the garden pulling weeds (seriously, that is not my favourite job!) and I noticed a visiting dog in our back neighbours' yard.  I assumed that they knew about it and were trying to get this beautiful Husky to mate with their Labrador (or maybe she's a golden retriever - I'm not sure of the difference).

Our little male, Frankie, was not happy to have this Husky hanging around.  I mean, he thinks that yard is his as well, so to have a strange male dog hanging about (and I'm pretty sure he thinks Chloe is his girlfriend) was making him cranky.  The two of them were having a pee contest all over the fence too!  Ew!

After quite a while (at least half an hour, maybe even an hour) the Husky suddenly jumped the fence and attacked our silky chook.  Thankfully the Big Fella was around and chased the Husky away before it got our other chooks as well, but I watched my poor Silky stumble for about 30 seconds before collapsing and dying.

I know it's just a chicken, but honestly, watching that was horrific.  Silky, although she'd been quite shy of us, had become part of our family and it was awful to see her go like that.

The Little Big Fella had heard the commotion and come outside to see what was going on.  He saw Silky and knew that something wasn't quite right.  I explained to him that the dog had attacked her and that she was dead - her life was all gone.

You know, he amazes me, that child.  He accepted it.  Just like that.  It wasn't that he didn't care or understand either, he just accepted it.

The dog was collected by its owner a little later.  Apparently it gets out often and has attacked chooks before.  There's a bit I could say about responsible pet ownership but we'll leave that one alone for today.  Suffice for now to say that he offered to replace the chickens (ours and our neighbours').

The whole incident makes me very wary about letting our chooks roam free in our yard though.  But I don't want them to be locked up in their area all the time either (as nice as it is).  I guess we just have to gamble and hope that they'll be safe!

Boxing day busy

Traditionally Boxing Day is movie day for us.  We go to the cinema and check out the latest blockbuster release.  But our local cinema doesn't have "The Hobbit" yet so we ditched that idea for this year.

We had a yummy breakfast - the Big Fella made garlic and lemon turkish bread toast, topped with melted bocconcini and triple-smoked ham, with an egg on top.  We followed that with a little fruit salad and greek yoghurt.

Then we got up and got going around the house and yard.  Seems like we weren't the only ones too - we saw a lot of trailers heading up the road to the tip today :-D

I cleared the yard of dog toys etc. then the Big Fella whipper snipped and mowed, while I harvested all of our mangoes.  Did you know that they spray sap when you pick them?  Maybe it's just me and my spastic mango-picking technique?  But we ended up with half a laundry basket full of them, now sitting downstairs and ripening up.  Mmmmmmm, mango!

I don't think I actually ate a mango until my family spent a few days in the Philippines, when I was 16.  I discovered that I actually love them!  Since we moved to Queensland I've eaten quite a few :-D  Turns out the Little Big Fella loves them too :-)

After all that lovely harvesting, I had the awesome job of sweeping up with a broom that I hate.  Seriously, it's time for a new straw broom!

Then we trimmed some bushes and watered the flower garden.

The next task was predominantly the Big Fella's, I have to be honest.  I don't think I did much, and probably made some things a bit trickier for him :-o  Yes, it was time to put up the Little Big Fella's trampoline!

It didn't take that long, and it wasn't that tricky, but I don't know that I could have done it on my own.

But the Little Big Fella loves it and has spent a good portion of the day bouncing around.  It's a good height off the ground for him too, so he can get on and off easily, without the need for a step.

Hmm, what else did we get up to?

Oh yeah!  We emptied all of our camping gear out of the back shed and put it in our camper trailer, discovering a couple of mice in our lantern along the way!  Looks like we'll be setting some traps over the next few days!!!!  I am not interested in having mice, or the snakes that come looking for mice, in my back shed!

Did I tell you we have two new little chicks?  They're about a week and a half old now - a black one and a white/yellow one.  We've called them "Salt" and "Pepper" - the black one is "Salt" and the white one is "Pepper".  Don't blame me!  That was the Little Big Fella's decision!!!  :-)

Anyway, I decided they needed some outside time so took them out and let them run around a little near me.  The dogs came over to check them out and Frankie wasn't even interested, but Choccie watched them constantly!  She was really good though, but I wouldn't let her with them unsupervised at this stage.

We ended up putting them in a cage so that they could wander around on the grass, but be protected from the dogs and bigger chooks and they loved it!  I think it'll be a daily thing, unless it's raining, until they're ready to join the rest of the flock when they're a bit bigger.

The Big Fella and I ended up talking to a guy next door who was setting up to paint the outside.  Turns out we're on the internal painting list for the new year!  Yay!!!  I wonder if we get any say on colours?  Probably not, but it's nice to dream :-)

As well as emptying the camping gear from the back shed, we also took out some of the gym equipment and set it up under the house.  The Big Fella has decided it's time to get back into shape, and I'm ready to get back into Fit Yummy Mummy, so we'll try to do our workouts together whenever we can, starting tomorrow afternoon.

I'm still trying to decide if I'll do Tough Mudder in August, after being invited by a couple of friends who are putting together a team.  I think I might be talking myself out of it though.  The electricity thing really freaks me out!

We watched a little bit of the Boxing Day Test (cricket, for those not in the know) in between everything too!

When the gym equipment was set up we rearranged a few things under the house so hopefully it's a little more use-able.  It's so frustrating when you have such a great space but too many options and ideas for what to do with it!  (And too much stuff to squeeze into said space!)  I guess each time we try a new idea we get closer to what will actually work for us though!

The Fellas took a load of stuff to the tip this afternoon and found that our old washing machine and microwave that we put there the other day have been taken.  That makes me happy :-D  I like that our local tip has no regulation so people can take stuff that doesn't work properly and can't be sold, but other people can collect it and make it work for them (or bring it back I guess).

And we all went "bush bashing" for a little bit this arvo too!  The Big Fella bought a 4WD about a month ago that is pretty run down but works okay.  It has been dubbed "The Bush Basher" and the Fellas have had a couple of little jaunts about the tracks just up the road.  They both love it!  So today I got to join them.

I don't mind 4WDing, but I'm not a huge fan.  I mean, it's uncomfortable!  And it seems kind of pointless to me.  But, to those who enjoy it, it's just plain fun so I won't go bagging you out about it ;-)

We dropped around to a friend's place after that but they weren't home, so we came back home.  The Little Big Fella and I had a bit of a bounce on his trampoline - mostly with him laying down and me gently bouncing him around :-D  He loved it!  I'm guessing there'll be lots of requests to do that more over the next few days :-)

And now the Fellas are asleep (the Big Fella starts work at 3am), and I'm writing about our adventures for you!  We're hoping for lots of adventures in the coming year... hopefully I'll remember to take some photos of them for you :-o

Happy Boxing Day everyone!  I hope you've enjoyed it, whatever you've been up to!

Neutered!

Our dogs turned 9 months this week.  Ever since they were about 6 months I've been meaning to make an appointment with the vet to get them both de-sexed.  I'm not anti-puppies per se, but brother and sister puppies...

Well, I hadn't gotten around to it.  The Big Fella was understandably a little annoyed about it but every time I remembered it was after hours or on the weekend and the reminders I put in my phone always came when I couldn't do anything about it too (and my snooze function is as useful as a cheese sandwich to a drowning ferret http://www.bored.com/findcliches/stupidpeople.htm).

So a couple of months have passed.

Yesterday, it became obvious that we need to get them de-sexed ASAP!  So I made the appointment for Frankie and they were able to fit him in today.

This morning I wasn't allowed to feed Frankie so Choccie had to wait too.  They were obviously rather hungry (we'd moved a big rock over the hole in the back fence and I suspect they've been eating the dogs' food from over there for a little while).  I felt bad for them but we had to follow the doctor's orders.

Around 11 this morning we bundled Frankie into the car.  This was stressful for him on two levels; 1) he hates being picked up and the car is too tall for him to just jump in, and 2) he hates going in the car!  Poor little fella!

On the way we collected the mail then ran into the Big Fella!  He'd just finished work so we picked him up ;-)

At the vet Frankie was definitely stressed out!  Our dogs don't yet walk with a leash - Frankie is the worst because he just sits and refuses to budge!  So I had to carry him inside and he obviously knew that it wasn't going to be a fun place to visit.

As an aside, there was a lovely dog behind the counter with the lady.  He was probably a Great Dane or similar and he only had one eye.  He was really calm and gentle, but also curious about us.

We did the paperwork and so on then left, with Frankie's plaintive barking in the background.

The Little Big Fella lost the plot.  On reflection I didn't really prepare him very well.  As soon as we were outside he started crying, saying that he missed his dog Frankie.  I tried to explain that the vet would look after Frankie and that we'd be able to pick him up in the afternoon but the Little Big Fella was not mollified.

15 minutes later!!!

By this time I was getting a bit sick of the drama.  Yep, sometimes I can be a cold, heartless, callous mother.  But I'd spent the last 15 minutes trying to explain and soothe and calm him down.  And he'd stop for a minute or two, then start all over again.

So now it was time for the serious Mummy voice.

I told him that it was okay to be sad, and to miss his dog, but now it was time to stop crying.  And every time he started to look like he was going to start crying again, I'd remind him, "you can be sad, but no more crying".

Writing it out like this makes me feel like a horrible parent!  But if we'd had to put the dog down or something serious like that, I would have dealt with it a bit differently I guess.  The reality is, the dog was only going to the vet for a few hours, and even though the Little Big Fella doesn't fully understand, I feel like it's important for him to learn a little bit of self-control because he does tend to over-dramatise his sadness, possibly tending toward self-pity.  And that's not something I can allow to continue as a parent who's attempting to prepare her son for life.

Anyway, we went home and had lunch and watched movies and talked to the chickens and whatever else then called the vet and found out that Frankie was awake and should be okay to go home by the time we got there.

Back into the car and off to collect our little boy.

The vet was SO lovely!  We hadn't actually met him this morning, but when I met him this afternoon I was really happy to have this man looking after my dog.  He is an older man, probably in his 60s, and seems to have the sweetest disposition.  The way he held Frankie and the way he spoke to me was really encouraging and respectful.  There was no recrimination (turns out Frankie (and therefore Choccie, I guess) hadn't been vaccinated completely), just an obvious care for my dog.

So we brought Frankie home.  Notably, Frankie was quite happy to be picked up and just about jumped into the car!!!  At home Choccie was quite happy to see her brother, and very interested in his new smells.

For his part, Frankie was happy to see her, then just plain tired.  He obviously wanted to play, but just didn't have the energy for it today.  So we put the sheet from his travel basket (read washing basket) in the downstairs area and he happily went and lay down on it.

Even when I went out to bring in the washing, Frankie came out to see me but started shaking after a minute or two.  He just couldn't hold himself up any longer.  So I sat down and he jumped on my lap and we had a cuddle and a pat for a while.  Then I took him back to his "blanket" and he went back to sleep.

Apparently he'll be back to his normal self in the morning and then we'll take him back to the vet next week to get the stitches out.

I guess we'll have to get Choccie done soon too!!!

Spiders and the Kitty Cat Disaster

The Big Fella called to me the other day, "Shell, grab your camera!"  Thinking it might be a great blogging opportunity, I obeyed :-D

I find him in the kitchen with red cordial, soda water and ice-cream.  Oh God, this is going to be messy!

The Big Fella has decided that it's time the Little Big Fella tries a spider.  In America you'd call it a float (a typical example is a root beer float).  The idea is that you put a scoop of ice-cream in the cup then pour fizzy drink over the top.  It all bubbles and foams up and the ice-cream (well, what's left of it) floats to the top.  Then you drink/scoop/eat it.

Unsurprisingly, the Little Big Fella LOVED it!

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Our neighbours at the back fence have their sons for the school holidays and the Little Big Fella wanted to go over and play.  I ended up taking him over and we spent a fair portion of the afternoon there.

It was fun and chaotic with kids coming in and out, toys everywhere, Nerf guns, remote controlled everything, TV, music, people, phone calls, dramas... you get the gist!

Later in the afternoon their next door neighbours handed a 2 week old kitten over the fence for viewing and cuddles.  It was so tiny and cute!  A little black with white markings kitten, I'm not even sure its eyes were open yet.

Anyway, I was holding it, giving it a cuddle when the Little Big Fella saw it.  He wanted a hold but there were heaps of kids around and the golden retrievers were very interested in the kitten too, so I told him he could pat it, but not hold it.

Oh.  My.  Goodness!!!

He completely lost the plot!!!  I mean, tears to the point of sobbing!!!

Right!  This kid was overdone!  Over stimulated, over played, over it all!  The kitten went back over the fence, we said our goodbyes and I took him home.  He continued to cry for a few more minutes before being warned of the consequences of continuing, then he continued to ask for a "kitty cat" of his own throughout the rest of the afternoon and evening.

"Can I get a kitty cat for Christmas Mum?"

"No, you have two dogs and 5 chickens, you're not getting a cat."

"Can I get a kitty cat for my birthday Mum?"

"No honey, you already have dogs and chickens, you're not getting a cat."

"Can give them our chickens and get a kitty cat Mum?"

"No, they're our chickens.  You're not getting a cat."

"Can we take the dogs back and get a kitty cat Mum?"

"No, we are not taking the dogs back and you're not getting a cat."

"I like kitty cats Mum."

"I know honey."

The funny thing is, I'm WAY more clucky about a kitten than I am about the new baby next door... maybe I'll get a kitty cat ;-)

See how they grow!

I realised today that I haven't shown you any updates of our dogs, chickens or garden in a LONG time!  So it's about time right?  ;-)

Here's Frankie (the black male) and Choccie (the brown female).  They're rather excitable little things and like to jump and dig, but they're also lovely companions who follow me around the yard when I'm outside, or just sit nearby or next to us on the couch in the evenings.  The Little Big Fella absolutely adores them!

And here are the chickens!  They're growing their feathers and their cute little personalities.  One of the Orpingtons (the black ones) even comes up to me for a pat when I'm in the chook yard on my own.  We're pretty certain that one of the Orpingtons is a rooster so we'll have to do something about that pretty soon.  The lady we bought them from says we can take him back and swap him but I'm not sure how that would work because when you add a single chicken to the flock they tend to get pecked to death :-(

And here's the garden!  We've moved all of the herbs from the pots into the ground and they are thriving!  As are the pumpkin and zucchini plants.  Probably has something to do with all the horse poo ;-D

Here are our little self-seeded basil plants.  We got a basil plant with our insta-garden but it was already going to seed.  So we planted it anyway, hoping that some of the seeds would take... and they have!  Yay!

And our first tomato is getting big and yummy!  We normally grow cherry tomatoes, so this will be a big change for us :-D

At the front of this photo and in front of tomato bushes at the back are our sugar loaf cabbages, with tarragon in between (goes GREAT with chicken or fish!).

In the front left corner is the oregano, which has grown about as much as it did in a year in the pot.  Next along, with the grey-ish foliage is watermelon (flowers, no fruit yet), and behind that the zucchini.  At the back, next to the wood panel, is the pumpkins and sticking out of them is the banana tree.

And look at these little babies!  We've been eating fresh zucchini for a week or two now and they're delicious!  

Just the other day the Big Fella called me over and showed me these - little baby mangoes on our mango tree!  And there's HEAPS of them!!!!  I'm SO excited and I'm hoping that at least some of them survive and become that delicious, juicy, smooth orange fruit!

Can you see all the little green buds among the dead flowers?  They're baby mangoes!!! 

So now you're up-to-date with all the growing things in our yard :-D

Photo catch up!

Yay!  I love photo catch up posts!

I was going through my phone photos and decided that there are a few that you guys might like to see :-)  So here we go!

The Little Big Fella needed a new helmet because the dogs chewed his other one to pieces (yes, I'm rolling my eyes!).  So we went to the nearest "big" town and found a shop that sells them.  I think I mentioned our visit in this post.  The Big Fella thought it looked ridiculous, the Little Big Fella was determined that this was the one he wanted.  The Little Big Fella won :-)

The chickens when we first brought them home.

The chickens hanging out in the chook house.

Our chickens are growing!  We've started putting them outside in the chicken house during the day and they seem to love it.  We did have them running around in the chicken yard but they're still pretty small and got through the fence!  There's also a gap at the back of the chicken house and I think a couple of them fell through it the other day because they were under the chicken house when I went to check on them.  I've since put a block there so they can't fall down.

This afternoon, I was weeding the vege garden and looked over to see the Little Big Fella inside the chook house with the chickens!!!  I'm not really sure how he got in there because the door space is pretty small!  The poor chickens were a little freaked out.

Later on in the day though, he was sitting on the little landing and had one of them perched on his hand quite happily.  Those chooks are going to be quite used to being handled!!!

The dogs, Frankie (the black male) and Choccie (the brown female), desperately want to play with the chickens!  Here they are eagerly hoping to be allowed into the chicken yard :-)  They have actually "met" the chickens but until the chooks are bigger, it's definitely a case of separation!!!

And finally, I've been having some delicious meals so I thought I'd share them with you too :-)  As I've said before, I'm doing Fit Yummy Mummy and the main focus with food is to have a protein (lean meat, legumes, eggs etc) and produce (fruit and vegetables) every time you eat.

Breakfast the other day was a bunch of yummy, fresh veges cooked in the frypan (just with spray oil), then crack a couple of eggs in, season and add a bit of fresh herbs or chilli.  Instead of mixing it all up in a mess to cook it, I finished this one off under the grill.  Mmmmmmmm!

This was my "snack plate" lunch the other day... it got a little out of control!  A bit of smoked pork, some cheese, leftover steamed veges and some fresh veges.  SO filling and the green beans were amazing because they were so fresh!

This was today's lunch.  A wholegrain wrap with salad and more of that delicious smoked pork (thanks honey!) with a little dijonnaise.  I had a little trouble wrapping it up but no trouble eating it :-D

And finally, tonight's dinner, courtesy of Delicious magazine!  It's spicy meatballs in tomato sauce with a "little" side salad (it's funny how my "little" salads keep growing until they take over the plate!).  The meatballs were made with some garlic, parsley, rosemary and pancetta, as well as the mince, tomato paste and egg.  It tasted amazing and would go well on pasta or garlicky toasted sourdough!

So there you go!  A few little bits and pieces from the last week-ish.  Hope you enjoyed it :-)