Mission: Goose chase!

I am happy to report that our house's snag lists is basically down to 2 snags - which is excellent! At bloody last they will all be out of my hair!! Well, I seriously hope so!? Our fish pond has eventually been fitted with a biological filter, which seems to work splendidly and I can now see the glowing globes of light rising towards my hand at feeding time in stead of the faint blobs floating around what used to look more like pea soup. 

Progress is slow, but it's there. I have completed the tasks of replacing the topsoil for the front garden, trimmed the hedges and some lovely fresh beetroot, carrots and chervil are growing in the spaces between them, since the hedges will take a while to grow into all the space. The beans have all been munched by some garden critter :( ... so, no beans I guess. I've had a load of topdressing delivered and scattered on the lawn, some organic fertiliser added to those who need it most. Things have been happening :) Other than that the garden's looking rather blooming good for early winter.

Welcome to Africa!

OMG, this wind is driving me insane! here in the Cape we have the strongest and most persistent wind for most of Summer :P it so sucks!! If it's not the rain (which results in 3 days of mud in our clay soil), it's the heat or the wind that gets you. This makes any sort of outdoor activity more challenging than it's worth, so the horse's exercise and garden work is much less than it could have been given more acceptable weather conditions.

Genevieve and the Chicken Farm

 Poor ol' Jenn just can't resist these chickens in the garden - I wonder whether we will ever be able to let her off leash while the chickens are "free ranging"?

Not quite there yet...

Our very first little chicken eggs have hatched and the poor dog is fixated with them, drooling over these delicious creatures with intense focus on her face. Quite mini feathery snacks...

 

 Meet Ping... :)
One of the little ones unfortunately didn't make it :( despite efforts to revive it. I put it in the oven (No, not for eating), but the poor little critter was all cold and not strong enough, it was so sad - was such a beautiful little fluffball. Hunny will have to adjust the coop somewhat so that it doesn't get wet inside the nest anymore. After I finally decided to throw the little corps in the dirt bin I couldn't help myself but to have a look every few minutes to see whether Lazarus perhaps miraculously revived, but alas. I must have peeked into the bin about 5 times throughout the afternoon and once in the evening :(

... and Pong <3

Where to jump?

It doesn't exactly require a rocket scientist to realise that my career = headed to a very long, dreary, slow poison kind of eventuality if I am to continue in my current field or department.

I've climbed the scientific ladder just far enough to see the way ahead of me and it's looking grim :p you don't have to reach all the way to the top to realise that your chosen career is very likely a dead end or just not what you want for your future. Its been some (just a little) fun while it lasted, but I've realised that it's the time to jump off. Life and economic climate being what it is will not allow me a steady dismount or decline to a safer level, I have been allowed to take a few steps back just to get a squiz at what's on the ground, but now I will have to find a suitable spot to land. Hmmmm decisions decisions!

Happy 2012!

I guess nobody needs reminding that it's a New Year, but I thought I'd share my semi- failure at Newyears resolutions thus far ;)

I thought that it would be wise to get up in the mornings before work to go riding, to escape the Summer heat, and give myself more time in the afternoons to maybe get to other tasks such as walking Jenni (the puppy-dog). Since I'm already dripping with sweat by 7:30 am (in the shade) it is a very useful resolution and it has worked somewhat. I've managed to be up by 5:50am and at the yard just after 6am a few mornings this month, however, the traffic on the way back makes it necessary to get up even earlier :P Jenn has even gone along on one such occasion. Much to the horse's dismay, as Jenn thought it a fun game to growl at Shala while I was busy cleaning hooves - uhhh, not a clever plan! At least Jenn had a whale of a time and soon passed out in the shade while I finished pushing along my bouncing hippo to get past the sheep in the arena. It was loads of fun - for Jenn, but took a lot of extra time to get everything done, so I resolved to be up even earlier.

Sheesh! What a lot of extra effort I like to create for myself! :P I should really stop making more work for myself and just do what is most necessary. Then again - everything feels most necessary :P

I was perhaps a tad over-ambitious when I set my alarm for 5:05 am this morning (and that after only getting to bed at 11pm last night), since I'm not so good at rising before the sun. Needless to say I just couldn't force myself to get out of bed and slept in till 7. It would probably work better if I increased the difficulty level of my task by smaller incriments - say 5 minutes earlier each day until I can manage 5am? :) I do hope that once I get into a routine it will be easier and go a bit faster and then Jenn can go with every day that I school in the arena. 

Chicken and herb.

 

No, it's not what u'r thinking... I'm referring to our "free range" pet chickens. I eventually found a new young Pekin hen advertised and rushed over to get the last one. She's a little red mix and looks like a "boshoender". She will be fondly known as Katrientjie ;)

 

So Friday, just after Katrien's arrival, the "in-laws" came to visit and I proudly picked up our older little black Pekin hen to show of her soft, fluffy feathers. 5 Min later my skin was crawling with the speedy migration of a few hundred minute little lice - yuck!! When I checked in on our new arrival and after a hilarious little chicken chase around the coop and imminent escape to the outside, I checked on Hettie to see if I can see the lice on her. Boy! Could I see them - her whole face and body was teeming with these little buggers! It was actually disgusting how I have neglected her needs.

 

So, Saturday morning at the crack of dawn, I jumped out of bed to search for organic remedies for these little pests: Consulted my chicken book and all I could find was the conventional wisdom of lice powder (which will surely not be organic) and a few other ideas but no solutions. I decided that I will do a proper scrub down of the entire coop with a strong herbal spray (yet-to-be-determined), put a few drops Apple Cider Vinegar (organic and unfiltered) in the drinking water and provide a suitable sand-pit for dust baths plus some oyster shell grit. I will possibly also have to reconsider what I feed her because I see she doesn't eat all her food and I don't like wasting! I made up my own mix before, but will have to figure out what is best to feed the 2 of them, especially since Katrientjie is a little younger and probably needs more protein.

 

Welcome back Home

Sometime after 11pm on Saturday we arrived back home from a 3 wk trip to Italy. It's a pity that such a beautiful country is so far away from us, since it would be wonderful to go there more often, but without the tedious 18-hour transit back to the Southern tip of Africa. We were up at around 3:30am and had to check our luggage in 2 hours before our 6:30am flight from Rome to Amsterdam, then rush from one terminal to get our connecting flight to Cape Town, which landed at around 10:30pm... without our luggage of course :P

Yup, no awesome holiday is complete without delayed luggage and I only so hoped that we would get it all back in one piece! There were a couple bottles of red wine (Brunello, Chianti and other Tuscan gems) and a brand new pair of Italian leather boots that would certainly have 'disappeared' should any SA staff have decided to 'inspect' it. I unpacked our cute new espresso saucers on the counter with excitement, only to realise that the cups were still in my suitcase. 

International flights are always exhausting, but this one was even more especially so, because it was a day flight and even though we never really think so we do get a little bit more sleep on an evening flight, which makes it seem just a little shorter. I think next time I'm taking some mild sedative to help me get some Z's, because no matter how cheerful, thin and friendly your passenger-next-door is, it's always irritating to sit so close and cooped up next to a stranger. All I wanted for 12 hours was to be back home

 with my pets and without the horrible turbulence (which did provide some good extra effects for my in-flight movie, Kung-fu Panda 2).