School days

My eldest boy, (Boy5) has his last day at daycare today.
He has grown from a 6 month old baby attending daycare about 3 days a week into a confident, intelligent boy.
He is very eager to learn about all there is in this new and exciting world.
We have been quite happy with our daycare experience.

He starts school on Thursday and is just so excited.
He has been counting down the days.
He wears his school uniform at home because he is just so excited.
He even asked if he could wear the uniform to bed as pajamas!
I wonder how long this eagerness will last!

We have chosen a small local school where we hope he will get a safe, personal school experience.

It is so satisfying to see how our little baby has already grown into a curious, excited boy.
I hope his schooling experience provides all that he wants.

Garden Update (written before I got sick)

The Choko vines (Sechium edule) that we are establishing over the temporary chook house are growing well, despite being in full sun.
The vines receive nutrients and waste water from the hens.
In return, the choko vines provide shade for the hens. This creates a more jungle like micro-environment that fowl prefer. Hopefully the vines will also supply us with fresh choko fruit and greens.


In Taiwan the fresh shoots of the choko vine are called "dragon whiskers" and are eaten in stir fries.
Even the Boys ate some freshly steamed shoots when I called them "dragon whiskers"!
The first of the fruit is just starting to get to a good size. For more info including uses see (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chayote)



Last year we experimented by planting a few olive trees (Thanks Mum!). The trees haven't looked back and are now covered in the rapidly developing fruit. I think we will put in another five or so this year if all goes well as they seem to enjoy the climate. Boy3 loves olives so later this year we are going to have to learn how to prepare the olives for eating.



Although the pumpkins are often wilting in the heat of the day they still seem happy and are putting out more flowers and setting fruit. I have had some troubles with some of the vines that were planted in the orchard but hopefully I think I have the deficiency sorted out now.

The Warragul Greens from Eden Seeds are well and truly established now. They appear to be growing faster then we can eat it. I have also been giving some of it to the hens.




One of our four main garden beds is starting to resemble a jungle. It is planted with blue lake bush beans and potatoes. A number of cherry tomatoes have self seeded and have spread up over the potatoes and beans. The potatoes should hopefully start to die down soon.
We are looking forward to the harvest after ratting out a few spuds a few weeks ago.



Currently we are picking:

-Beans both bush and climbing
-Various heirloom tomatoes
-Various Greens including WG, kale, lettuce.
-zucchini and garlic
-potatoes and a few young pumpkins

Pneumonia

Well I have been out of action for a week and a half now with "atypical pneumonia".
It has been a very rough time, with me feeling like crap, struggling to get enough oxygen and the great Australian Summer tossed in some wickedly hot days. One day the thermometer on the veranda that is permanently in the shade hit 43 C !
I have learnt that it is possible for one to cough so loud that your ears are left ringing and your ribs crack!
I can't believe how over he space of a few days I went from feeling like normal to being exhausted and in bed racked with coughing fits.
Anyway the triple combination of antibiotics seem to be working an I am slowly on the improve although the Dr says my right lung is still crackling. So we are adding another antibiotic to the combination!
The hot days have battered our Avocado trees and choko vines. They are really looking worse for the experience.
I will give them some attention when I am up to it.
More from me when I have recovered more. I have a few posts I have written previously I will post them soon.

It's HOT!

At the moment it is hot, very hot with days in the high thirties and low forties. Light Smoke fills the horizon creating spectacular sunsets. I hear the Fire Fighters are battling a blaze around a 35 km away.

I rush home from work and fly around practicing CPR on my wilted pumpkin vines with a hose or bucket of life giving water.
With in 30 minutes my wilted flat pumpkin vines are revived, proudly standing tall and green.




I then fly around the orchard with my hose as the darkness grows and then there is a sound..... "it couldn't be" I think to myself looking up into the tree canopy and then again the call comes.

At least two Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoos have returned!

When they saw that I acknowledged their presence they responded by putting on a show for me in the canopy as they chomped through a Banksia serrata flower.
http://www.anbg.gov.au/banksia/

Welcome back home Black Cockatoo's I wonder what you have been up to for the past months?

A Lazy Family Christmas

We had a great Family get together for Christmas at my Mother and Fathers Place. They live around 400km to the North. It was hot and very humid.
The Christmas break at Nana's place lasted 12 days for the Kids and my Wife. I had to travel back to work for the 29th to the 31st and rush back up there in the wee hours of the New Year.

The Boys love staying at Nana and Pop's.... there is lots to do and Nana even supplies real green tree frogs. (Froggies are very, very important to Boy3!) Some would even say that he is fixated on them. We were able to catch up with Uncles and Aunts and their kids as well as treasured Family friends. It is always enjoyable catching up with those who you have shared so much of your life with.

The Boys learned to "out ten-pin-bowl their Nana". I think Nana's ego was slightly bruised when boy5 got a wobbly, slow strike.
We visited the Beach and swam in the creek. They also visited a local strawberry farm and enjoyed the produce.
We also caught up with one of the Boys other Grandparents. Granddad has lots and lots of animals which all required some degree of hugging, squeezing and carrying around.
This was a job Boy3 took very seriously.....(perhaps the Guinea-Pigs will never be the same again).
Probably the thing I enjoyed most about the break was seeing my little daughter learn to walk. She took her first wobbly step at Nana's on Christmas day, two steps on Boxing Day. Each day she added another one or two steps so by the time we came home she was walking about 10 to 12 steps before squatting down. Normally I would have missed most of this as I would have been at work. I was very lucky that her walking coincided with the Christmas break, this allowed me to see this wonderful milestone being completed by her. This was the very best Christmas Present that I could want.
The World has just become so much more interesting to her as she realizes that she can explore what ever takes her fancy now.
Our little Girl is no longer a Baby.