It's still all a blur

The past few months have been a bit of a blur. More blurry than usual ;). Combine that with less blogging than usual & everything has sort of vanished into that place where people's names & random events go to be forgotten. 

What miscellaneous events can I dredge up to help fill in the blanks? And let's just hope that I haven't actually blogged about it already & just forgotten that too ;). 

The chook Dotty turned into a rooster that attacked the duck Daisy, until she bled everywhere. Dotty has gone on a long trip. Bye bye. 

The loungeroom carpet reeked so much I couldn't stand to touch it (it just got worse in the warmer weather). A previous resident obviously had pets indoors, to say the least. We ripped it up & discovered nice varnished floorboards underneath. They need re-doing, but that's not a priority. Here's a photo of the mould and gunk stuck to them before we cleaned them ;). All those little black dots had to be gently scrubbed off, they're not just marks lol. Appetizing.

We had a mini family reunion in November, whatever cousins & aunts & uncles could make it did so, that was nice. (My mum's side of the family).

In October, Theo's Oma (his Dad's mum) died at the ripe old age of 90. She'd been sick for a long time. Less than a week later, his Pop died (his Mum's dad). He was also very ill. Both big family events. Theo's family was obviously a bit knocked around to say the least. I felt like an attention seeker because I was a real flake & had to leave both services early & sit outside on the ground, eating crackers & apples. 

Oh, we had the anniversary of when Theo & I met ;). We don't know what day exactly. 

Can't remember anything else right now :). 

Domesticated animals, gratuitous machinery & a birthday

It's Theo's birthday & he loves cake.

He did also get roast beef, vegies & yorkshire pudding.

And due to his fascination with engines of all descriptions, he got a hot air engine.

On our recent Ballarat road trip, we saw & therefore couldn't pass by another old dredge/other giant machinery.

And everyone is interested in the new duckling. The chooks want to eat its food. Daisy runs around outside her cage at full speed pecking at everything, including the other animals, & makes the chooks freak out.

The dogs think she's a mouse and so can't be left alone with her. They also just try to sit on me all the time because they can never get enough attention.

And then there were three of them trying to sit on me, because we were dogsitting Hayley's dog, Roomie.

And the chooks enjoy the sunshine :). And dirt. (Note the lemons which I have not turned into lemonade. Um).

So I sit down. The cat sits down. The chooks peck me, the dogs sit on me, the duck pecks everything, the chooks run away, the rabbit watches on & the other cat hides in the shed. I'm surrounded by crazy animals & it makes me very happy ;)

Family, feathered & otherwise

I don't think I knew how sociable chooks could be. With people, anyway. Lacy has been following us everywhere. Even helping us garden. 

 Lately she doesn't follow us around so much because she has two followers of her own. Gertie we picked up at the Violet Town Market, and Dorothy was appropriated from next door because they gained eleven and said well why don't we keep one. Actually, we fostered all the half-grown ones for a night, while the big ones slept in a dog kennel, until they built the pen :). I somehow seem to have neglected taking any photos of Gertie :). 

And, just to show we treat all animals as equal (flies and centipedes don't count as an animal), Theo felt sorry for Billy being scared of the lawnmower, so he finished it off like this: 

And here are three misfits just getting along fine. 

Theo's parents have taken off on their long trek north for what's left of not-quite-winter, and we visited for dinner and Jenga. Nobody broke any bones and we all survived. Although I did tip my cup of tea on myself, which is also what I did the last time I visited there. At least this time I didn't require a change of clothes, and feel like I wet my pants...

Here's a gift my little sister brought me because I was sick for two months & she thought she'd cheer me up. Effective :)

R.I.P Betsy

It was very nice to get home to this on our front door, courtesy of my little sister: 

The next day was not so nice, discovering that what I thought before we went away was Betsy, one of our silky bantam chickens, getting a bit plump was in fact now a giant tumour thing and I don't want to talk about the hideousness of it all. So, she is no longer with us. Here's a photo of her just after we got her :) 

Lacy, her sister, has made up for it by changing from a really neurotic chook to one that quite happily wanders all over the yard and follows me around whenever I go outside. She also presented us with these that first day and then has laid almost every day since. Good Lacy :D She even sneaked into the shot here lol.