Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Half ways there

I can't believe it has been six weeks since Katie asked me to go to Wa with her, it is so exciting. We have been emailing back and forth, having muliple phone calls not to mention the long Msn sessions. It is going to be awesome! Michael & Zac *Katie's Man* won't be coming sadly, but at the same time, it is good too, although she knows Michael fairly well, Mick and I hardly know Zac. We'd expect to spend a lot of 'girl' time together, and the boys would just be left to their own devices.. Both of us agree, it probably would have ended with each hanging out with their respective partners, and not getting alot of Katie and Liz time, because we'd be too busy catering for their needs..
I have promised Mick that me and him can go sometime, around Sept one year would be nice, the cooler months and when the wild flowers are in bloom.

Monday, December 18, 2006

Egg Bound Chook

On Thursday I noticed this chook had layed and egg on the path with no shell on it, but had some ?shell stuck out her vent, I didn't know what to do so left it there, apart from not wanting to hurt her, I had to go out. I am not sure if she pasted that or not.. I think she must have, though I haven't found it around the yard or their pen (but the dog may/would have eaten it).On Friday and Sat she was contracting her vent a lot, and doing lots of just clear liquid poo with a bit of white poo in the middle, the clear poo is almost like egg white, there is heaps of it and it is thickish, when I wash it off the paths the white poo is like spiderwebs. Sunday I figured out that maybe she was egg bound, gave her a warm water bath, massaged her sides and underbody, no response, after a while I got an eyedropper and put a small amount of oil in it and (poor girl) got my Fiance to put some up her vent, about 5 mins later she pass a very large egg, no shell formed though, just a very tough skin on the egg. Also like an umbilical cord She was alot more active after this moving around and eating more. Monday and Tuesday she has sort of been the same, sleeping lots either standing in one spot sleeping or sitting, she is drinking heaps, eating too, contracting her vent a bit but not as bad as the weekend. She is ok, just not her normal active self. Generally I go outside and they all run over to see if I have anything for them. I did give her another 'oiling' on Monday, but she didn't lay another egg. They all eat laying pellets and wheat, as well as the odd veggy scraps. They only started getting wheat about 2 weeks ago.. It is fresh as we havested it when they started getting it. I gave all the girls a dusting last night as I noticed little white mites on them.
Blue Lace from The-coop suggested giving her, Molasses Flush, and then milk/yoghurt food.. Instructions below. THANKS Blue Lace!
To make the molasses flush, just mix 1 tablespoon molasses with 1-1/2 cups of water. Let that be her only source of water and let her have her regular food too if she will eat. Give her the molasses flush for no longer than 8 hours. Then the next day, if you have buttermilk, mix some with some of her regular food, however much you think she will eat in one setting. If you don't have buttermilk, regular milk will work. After all of that has been absorbed, add a teaspoon of yogurt and mix well. If you think it's too dry, add a little water. Too much yogurt can cause diarrhea and I think she already has enough of that. You don't want it to be soupy, just a wet mash that's easy to eat.

Friday, December 15, 2006

OMG -Some serious whinging going on here...

So the party was last night... It was so lame, well not lame as such just the 'manager & wife' who were 'hosting' the party never even spoke to like 1/2 the people. They stuck to their little group of "we're so much better than everyone else" people. Mind you most of us didn't mind as we can't stand him, or his off-sider, or their wives, their noses are so high in the air I imagine they are lucky planes don't fly up them.
The food was pretty crap, the 'hostess' bought it all at one of the wholesale places in Griffith.. First time that has happened, we always used to make the food so it used to be very fresh and yummo, this time it was even served in the containers it was bought in, so much for effort... The steak was horrible, ok well the steak was good, it is just that the 'host' cooked it and did a dreadful job, it was hard/crisp on the outside and it was dry in the middle. Mahrey TRIED to cook it, but master wouldn't (like normal) give up the reins.. In the end he ruined like $70 worth of meat.
Mick and I spent most of the time talking to people we liked, was good we all reminisced about different things.. One of the newer boys asked what was the most interesting 'your fired' story. Man there was alot of them.. One day I will write them all down so I don't forget them. There has been alot of 'interesting' times out here. I remember Johnno and I used to sit and wonder how so much can happen on a little farm in the middle of nowhere, we used to wonder if we were really on a reality tv show that was being broadcast to Germany... This was around the time we had 18 Chinese, 1 Taiwanese, and about 10 Korean's staying on the farm. I felt really sorry for the Taiwanese guy he couldn't speak Chinese or Korean and he knew very little English.
Oh we went at 6pm tonight to the barracks so we could eat left overs, they cooked up the ?last of the steak, did a better job but I didn't try it. Couldn't be bothered trying to chat to the hob nobs so sat inside and ate prawns with the other people that just didn't want to climb an invisible social ladder. Apart from anything who wants to be attacked by 30,000 flies when your trying to eat??
I have to laugh at them, they have all been on the farm for like under 1 year, who the blooming heck do they think they are??? They are so snooty it is sickening, the big boss (the owner), who is worth gazillions is so much nicer than any of these try hards. He is down to earth not like these people that have been hired. Grrr I wish he knew what a pain in the backside they are!
Ahh I feel somewhat better after a vent..

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Mmmm this is making me hungry

Oh I have been stumbling around the net.. Looking for a recipe that uses lots of eggs (the girls have been laying very well..), I would like it to be a sweet, as the farm's Christmas party is on in 14 hours, and I could offloaded most of it there.. lol I came across some yummo foods.. None of which I was looking for of course, but they look great none the less..
Chrismas Truffles

















Lemon Cheesecake Slice Recipe












Quiche Lorraine Recipe











Man I could post on & on for ages it all looks great! I just recommend you go there and check it out :) Also ABC has a pretty good recipe finder, you can list the ingredients you want... maybe I will get lucky there lol

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Blergh

Well I still can't post from Picasa... I read someone elses blog that said they had 'beta' and now could post with Picasa, so I tried and failed lol. I was able to log in here long enough though to grab the few posts I had done on my temp blog (tempredcrystalstar) I have even managed to upload this photo, but I still like Picasa better.. BLAAAAAH~ I hope it gets fixed soon!!
We are considering moving from here... Thinking about Melbourne, seems to be lots of jobs there, so Mick has been applying. I think he is going around the bend here. It would be good to move, be in a city.. ooooh could be fun! The only thing is if we go, we refuse to rent, we would be buying... So we would have to hit up his parents as well as my mum for a loan, well not even a loan. It would be more having them invest in a % of $ in our house and when we decide to sell it the get the same % back.. Which could be a good deal, if we do the place up a heap and put in a garden we might get more. It is very exciting to think about!!!!!