Vale Velda

SMD & I had a lovely child free weekend away, while J4 & L6 stayed with Mr & Mrs Skivvy.
But it ended sadly.
Velda had not quite seemed herself when we left on Friday morning, and by the time we got back, forewarned by our neighbour, she was in the corner of the coop, leaning up against the wire.  She could walk, but only a couple of steps, and she would perk up and look around, but again only for a minute or so.
I took her to the vet within an hour of getting home, but really there wasn't anything they could do for her except speed her gently on her way.
I have never had to make this decision before, we only had a few budgies, a couple of mice and some fish growing up.  I am still dwelling on it a bit, and missing her, wondering if I should have brought her home and nursed her 'til she passed away naturally, but everyone tells me she would have suffered.
Now I am worrying about the other birds.  They don't show illness until it is almost too late.  And I have to recognise that Blacky is looking very skinny, nothing like the beautiful bird in the picture.  The vet told me that Velda had lost a lot of weight, and had probably been going down hill for some time, certainly the illness started well before Friday.  And she did have some bad bacteria in her droppings.
So today I bought some organic natural yoghurt and fed that to Blacky, Elsa & Fasty Africa.  It was something mentioned on one of the websites I visited, and I figured it was worth a try, after all we eat live yoghurt when we want to balance our internal flora.  The girls loved it!  I'm going to feed them some every day until this tub is finished and, if it makes a difference, I will continue a couple of times a week as a preventative measure.
I also bought them, from the cheap table at the greengrocers, a whole lettuce of their own.  We actually don't have a lot of kitchen waste, not as much as I would like to add to their diet, so I am going to supplement their greens as well (despite them being free range).  Fingers crossed.

I'll miss you Velda.
Ravs

A Nation of Wimps

Thought I'd start doing a few book reviews now that the intensity of work in the garden has died down.

I have just finished reading "A Nation of Wimps - The high cost of invasive parenting" by Hara Estroff Marano.

This book has the potential to turn you into a much more relaxed parent, and save the sanity of yourself and your kids.
The crux of the argument, and it is well researched and documented, is that to grow into successful, independant & happy adults, children actually need to separate from their parents, they need to be allowed to take risks and to fail as this is the most effective way to learn, they need to face challenges, not have them removed, and they need to be allowed to discover their own passions.

New Life

Due to J6's soccer carnival being rained out today, and SMD deciding to take the boys to see 'Hoodwinked' at the movies, I got some unexpected time to garden today.

I needed to do a bit of weeding as some of the lucerne hay has sprouted over the last few weeks.  But luckily this has happened just around the edges of the beds as some of the veges are already starting to sprout too!

Sex Without Strings!

Aren't there some super plant names?!  This time it is a bean plant.

After all the work I have finally started planting my veges.  So far I have sown the following in punnets to transplant later:

Silverbeet 5 colour mix

Garlic Chives, Sage, Thyme, Parsley Continental, Lettuce Royal Oakleaf, Mignonette and Flame, Silverbeet 5 Colour Mix, Chilli Tobago, Capsicum 7 Colour Mix,

And 7 colours of capsicum!

Capsicum Mini Sweet, Cabbage Red Drumhead, Broccoli Di Cicco and Romanesco, Tomato Currant Mix, Wapsipinicon Peach (what a mouthful!) and 3 Colour Zebra, and some cherry tomato & basil.

Fat Bastard

pNo, I'm not being rude, it's the name of one of the Asparagus plants I put in today.  The other is Sweet Purple.  Slight contrast there, don't you think?

These were two of the plants that arrived from the Diggers Club late last week.  I have already planted the knotted marjoram in the herb pots out front, the heritage strawberry in a hanging basket on the deck, and the purple coneflower in a sunny spot under the Illawarra Flame Tree

 Other garden (?) news is that Blacky is off the lay.  So we are only getting a maximum of two eggs per day.
The reason - she is moulting.  So instead of my gorgeous glossy black hen I have one wandering around minus a tail and with a bare bottom.  I didn't realise the moult would be quite this drastic.

I'm not sure she'll let me take a photo - might be beneath her dignity.
Bye for now.
Ravs

Get Back to Work!!

I become a 'working woman' again tomorrow, at least by society's common definition.  I don't think I've stopped working the whole time I've been on LSL.  Do you?
After all - work doesn't necessarily mean 'not fun or interesting'.  That is drudgery, (tedious, hard, or uninteresting work - Macquarie Concise Dictionary).
The word 'work' has 56 listings in the Macquarie Concise Dictionary, but quoting just the first three: "1 exertion directed to produce or accomplish something; labour; toil. 2. that on which exertion or labour is expended; something to be made or done; a task or undertaking. 3 productive or operative activity."
I'd say what I've been up to would satisfy those definitions.