Happy Halloween!

The girls and Kates friend and sister dressed up and I took them around a local area where many houses are decorated for the occasion and welcome kids with open arms! The kids all had a ball and came home with a pretty good stash of treats!

The Story of Happy Feet

Last month, for the first time since keeping chooks, we made the decision to take Happy Feet to the Vet. She hadn't really been well for awhile. She was still eating and drinking, and moving around in general but quite slow. I presumed she was egg bound as she had been before. We had no success with warm baths with epsom salts, so we decided to seek an expert opinion. Kate came with me. but at the vet played on my phone instead, not bearing to hear or see any bad news. Ella, who owns Happy Feet was too upset to come with us, and stayed at home instead. The diagnosis was not good. The Vet believed she most likely had Ovarian Cancer, very common in these prolific layers. He drained the fluid build up, gave her some antibiotics and we took her home over the weekend, mainly so Ella could say goodbye and we could get some photos. Here is what we took over the next few days!

A couple of days after the visit to the Vet, she was obviously feeling better, just as we had been told. We waited for her to start to go back down hill again and then we would take her back. The following day when I got home from work, I couldn't find her anywhere, panic set in. She must have passed away by herself. I looked everywhere, under her favourite tree. She was nowhere to be found. Then I decided to look in an old nesting box, not where the rest currently lay, and there she was, sitting there bright as a button. She laid that day and almost every day since. When I spoke to the Vet, he said it could have been an absyss on her ovary and the draining of the fluid fixed that. We are not sure of her long term prognosis, she has always had issues with egg laying, but everyday she is happy, so are we!

Chicken Shelter

The girls' and I arrived home a couple of weekends ago after strawberry picking to find Phil had made the chooks this awesome shelter that we have nicknamed the "bus shelter" . It's a little place for them to go when it's raining hard or to get out of the sun. The bottom is where we will empty the compost bins just before they are ready to go on the gardens, getting these hard working members of the family to complete the work!. It still needs a bit of paint, and we may end up putting half a door on the front to keep out the wind.

New-ness!

We have been flat out these last 2 weeks with Phil home and me working 60 hours a week instead of 6!!! We are all pretty tired to say the least. Today we managed to finally get a blind for the front entrance that I have been wanting for a long time. I love it!

Strawberry Fields Forever ...

Today we headed out to the country, to Bullsbrook to give the girls' a taste of strawberry picking! I did alot of it growing up, I even had a little job on weekends strawberry picking, which I loved. So when I heard this place was open to the public I knew it was something I wanted the kids to experience as well. They loved it, so did half of Perth. The place was packed and we lined up for 40 minutes to wait for the tractor to transport us to where we could pick. A tray cost $10, and the are the nicest I have tasted for years!

Pamper Time ...

My one day off work this week and we headed out to do some shopping. The girls' still had money left from last months allowance, so they were keen to spend some of it. While we were there I treated us all to a pedicure. It was a bit of fun, the girls loved the experience. I chose a deep purple nail polish, Kate a blue and Ella a pink!

Out for Tea

There hasn't been much time for taking photos and blogging lately. Work is chaotic which means more days for me and more hours. So after a full-on day today on my feet, I decided to treat us to an early tea up the hill at Dome. We all enjoyed it (although I was a bit too tired to eat much!) along with a game of dominoes!