Lesson 2. When you haven't learned lesson 1 yet, make sure you can land on a soft surface when you faint.

Lesson 3. When you haven't learned lesson 1 or 2 yet, don't do it on a Friday night when the x-ray department is closed until Monday.

Lesson 4. When in pain, codeine is good stuff (Not recommended when pregnant though).

Lesson 5. Just because the pain killers are working well for a change, it doesn't mean you should be stubborn and neglect the fact you're injured and continue on with your daily routine as if nothing was wrong and keep working on the lighter duties you can get done in the yard, because...

Lesson 6. Pain killers wear off faster than an injury can heal up when you're not resting it properly.

I have done something to my shoulder. I can move it, no swelling or bruising to be seen, but it has a constant throbbing ache, when I move it or put pressure on it a sharp pain shoots through it, I have a sharp pain shooting down my arm constantly - most of that pain is in my forearm along the radius bone and going to my thumb and forefinger... so guessing there's a pinched nerve in there somewhere... and my shoulder is making the most remarkable popping, grinding, crunching and crackling noises when I move it. X-rays tomorrow, will find out the damage then.

In checking the eggs it looks like only one more is going to hatch if any as there is only one left that has any little scratchy sounds coming from it and they're rather weak. We marked the eggs with child safe non-toxic markers and carbon pencil to tell which is which, but not sure if non-toxic ink would still hurt the egg they were an experiment as well. Seems the ones marked in pencil are the ones that work, so if you're incubating eggs and need to mark them, only use a carbon pencil. But of those that have turned up so far...

One of BB's hatched yesterday afternoon. His is grey. One of mine hatched overnight, and now I have a little yellow chicken. Perfect, one each. Knowing my luck, mine will be a rooster! LMAO

Here are the pics of our chickens hatching...

http://www.minti.com/members/darkenedangel/photos/70336?msg=C620-EA35-CB03-B0DA

It started out with the girls attacking Joel with make-up, which developed to hair mousse. Jeff and I watched in mild bemusement from the kitchen as they wrestled with hand fulls of white foam in the corner of the livingroom. I shook my head and commented to Jeff that they really don't know how to do it right. He nodded and agreed and commented with something about teaching them a lesson. Yep, that definately had to be done.

I went out the back and got a bucket of water, walked back inside to the livingroom where they were cornered and yelled out "Oi! If you're going to come here and make a mess of my house, at least do it properly!" and threw the bucket of water over them all.

Shocked, wet, and laughing they all went out the back for smoke break. Jeff and I joined them. Joel was laughing and stunned, he couldn't believe I'd actually done that. I whispered to Jeff, he looks too clean. Jeff nodded in agreement. So I went inside and got some flour in a bowl, walked back out and showed it to Jeff and asked "Is that enough?" Half way through cooking dinner and Jeff being in charge of it, no one thought anything of it. Jeff looked, nodded and replied, "Yep, looks good to me." No sooner had his finished his sentence I threw it over Joel.

It was on! FOOD FIGHT!!! Inside the house of course, most of it in the kitchen where the food was and the rest in the bathroom where everyone was trying in vain to hide and get cleaned up until they finally gave up trying and conceeded to staying covered in mess. By the end the mess was spread all over the kitchen, all over the bathroom (to the ceiling no less!) and a bit on the back veranda.

The house is back to normal again now but for the kitchen floor needing a second clean. It was an inch deep in sloppy sticky mess at one point and I had to call a truce to mop it up before someone slipped and got hurt. I wasn't so lucky however, because when flour and water mix and dry, it sets hard... add tomato and bbq sauce to it, plus more flour and try washing that out of your hair a couple of hours later!!!

This blew in today.

It's nothing compared to the last one. In fact, pretty much everyone here is getting about as normal, because this sort of dust storm is considered typical of here.

Of course no one else will hear about this one because it isn't big enough to reach Sydney. Oh yeah, I'm cynical, but for good reason.

This one has been blowing since about 10am this morning and isn't expected to ease up until much later tonight. The sky has varied from yellow to red all day, tens of thousands of tons of dust blowing over every hour, visibility down to about 50m when it's gotten thickest so far today... about as bad as Sydney copped on the 22nd.

La de dah de dah. What a boring day. I was hoping to get out bush for a while today, so much for that plan.

Must remember to tech screw down loose sheets of iron on roof again in the morning, because we have hail storm warnings from the Flinders Ranges SA to Broken Hill NSW for tomorrow apparently...

Okay, FINALLY got it downloaded! This is the video footage I was able to get on my phone camera (excuse the poor quality, cheap phone). The video above goes from orange sky to black, this is what it looked like coming out the other side - black to red. Yes, Aidan and I were out in it (had to keep running inside to breathe while it was black, but yeah, we're nuts! LOL) Part way through I changed the exposure from high (to see with) to standard (to get the true colour of the red sky).

With all doors and windows shut, the inside of the house is dusty. It's just floating in the air in the finest particles through every tiny crack. We can taste it, it's in our eyes, and the wind outside is blowing a HUGE gale!

Okay, I just got called outside to take more photos because the blackness passed and now the sky is red as red can be. This is a true dust storm in it's grandest! This town hasn't seen one like this for so many years the only people that would remember ones like this are well into their 70's or more. This is something that I am strangely glad to have experienced. I've seen some ripper dust storms, but never anything quite like this one. This is the type of dust storm of legends around here.

My neighbour got out his video camera, I tried to film on my phone for a bit, will have to see how well they turn out and if I can download anything to the computer to show later on. I've got some photos, I'll download them here as soon as I can.

Edit: photos uploaded here. These pics have not been edited, the colour is true.

But I am getting clucky because we're trying to have...

Bantam chicken babies! Penny and Silvester are a happy and... active... couple, and Penny has finally started laying eggs. BB has loaned me an older broody hen (Penny is a bit young for brooding) to incubate them.

If we're lucky, in a few weeks time we'll have baby chickens. If we're really lucky they'll all be hens. If we're unlucky they'll all be roosters and will have to make a quiet disappearance and come back as chicken dinners, unless we can find someone around here that wants bantam roosters for breeding. I'm really hoping luck is on our side and we end up with all hens.

A certain person who seems to like hanging out with drama queens, believing gossip and living his life like he's stuck in some bad soap opera came around here at 4am, screaming and yelling at me for apparently spreading really nasty rumours about him.

He didn't hurt me or threaten me or anything, didn't even scare me, just left me traumatically confused, bewildered and angry. 

It was the first I'd heard of it, I certainly don't blame him for being upset about anyone saying the shit that's apparently going around about him, and I appreciate that he was willing to confront me about it, but I did not like the accusation that it was me that was saying it, and I didn't appreciate the way in which he went about it. It hurt that he believed such nonsense and wasn't willing to stop and think about it logically... for a start, I don't go anywhere to see anyone to say anything about anyone, and with what was being said... no fkn way was it me! I don't even know the people that were saying I said this shit, I certainly don't talk to them about anything, least of all him!!!

Logical concept: evidently someone wants to hurt him, just spreading a rumour like that is bad enough but it hurts more to be convinced that it's one of your best friends that's the instigator of it... so whoever was talking this crap was trying to stab an emotional knife in his back in a big way... but regardless of the fact that he's a victim of this as much as I am, I refuse to be part of that sort of drama. I don't need that sort of crap, and I can't foresee him learning to keep the drama away from me like that, so that's one more friend down for the count.

Life can lonely at times when you're a hermit, but it's so much more peaceful!

I love my Bunny Boy!!! He just threw a stocking over my head... I wonder if he wants me to rob a bank...??? LMAO

As he dumped them in my hands he said, "Are these bullets?" Umm... yep, they sure are. I asked where he found them... in the lane about 20m up from my front gate... mhm.

Not totally sure what they were exactly, haven't seen much ammo for years now and memory is a bit foggy and these didn't look particularly familiar, but they were definately large rifle rounds. At a guess I thought maybe 303's. The sort of thing you'd go pig hunting with. Very dangerous little suckers and not something that kids should be finding in the street, that's for sure!

Found out what they were and it didn't surprise me, but it did make me raise an eyebrow and wonder WTF they were doing in my lane so close to home. They were close to what I suspected, but worse.

They're for an SKS, a 38 calibre Russian (or Chinese) auto army rifle and there was enough to fill a full magazine (10 of them). Oooookaaaaay.. what the hell is that doing around here!!! Illegal isn't the word for it. That's overkill! A handful of single or twin shot rifle rounds, fine, someone probably has been out bush shooting pigs and they fell on the car floor, got knocked out and no one noticed... but a mag worth of SKS rounds - stuff that for a joke! No one is allowed to have one of them in Australia and you sure as hell don't go shooting pigs with one.

You should have seen the look on the cop's face when I handed them in for destruction. I phoned and asked them to come pick em up, I think he was expecting to find a few .22 rounds here. He tried to drill me about exactly when and where they were found and by who and who saw what and seemed a little perturbed that I casually answered with what I knew like it was no big deal, as if that sort of thing happens all the time around here. LMAO

Nothing surprises me, but some things make me raise an eyebrow and wonder... where is the mag for that... and the rifle... and what psycho has it... and do they have any more of those rounds... and how could they be so irresponsible as to let them end up on the street where little kids can (and did!) pick them up.

He phoned at 5am, drunk, and oh woe him he misses his boy... well then come and see him you idiot!!! ...He's been sick with the flu... for the past how many months has it been? Give me another excuse. Door is always open and he knows it. He only lives a 5 min drive away FFS.

He lost his phone and with it all the photos and little videos of Danny he had on there, from his first birthday and all... well he should have downloaded them onto his computer! Maybe sent me copies while he was at it!!!... didn't get a chance to... he's had 6 months to do it FFS!!! He admitted defeat on that.

Then he went on a little rant degrading Jeff and how he's lost all respect for him (never had any to begin with so I don't know what he means by that) because he stabbed a guy (got into a fight with a guy that's a junkie and it got very seriously vicious)... for a start, what Jeff does when me and my kids aren't around is none of my business and it's none of his, and Jeff doesn't bring any of that sort of trouble here, so shut up. Besides, he doesn't know the whole story and I already do and if I was Jeff I'd have done the same, so double the reason to shut up.

Then he said he's upset because he suspects that BB thinks he's a stupid useless prick... I told him BB doesn't think that at all, he knows it for a fact. As should be obvious, I'm starting to get a little annoyed at him by this point.

He's been busy doing what he can to get a career going so that he has money and can provide for Danny better.... Yeah righto! He's just more interested in himself and what he likes to do than he is his kid. Screw the money, there's nothing he can provide for Danny that I can't besides his time and attention, that is what is important!  Only been trying to tell him this over and over and over in every way I can think of to say it, ever since the start, and he still doesn't get it.

He said he's going to get the house cleaned up so that he can have the kids there... yep, bullshit, he's been saying that since Danny was born.

He said he didn't want anything for fathers day because he feels that he doesn't deserve it... good cause that's exactly what the stupid useless prick (his words, mine are not that polite) is getting and why.

He said he'd be around to see Danny later that night... and he didn't show up, surprise surprise! It's now almost 9pm father's day night, Danny is now asleep and he still hasn't shown up. I phoned him earlier and got his answering machine (he never answers the phone, just lets the machine get it) and left the message "Happy F...ing Father's Day, come and see ya kid." Aidan is right, he's not a father's arsehole (I was a bit stunned to hear that from Aidan, I told him it wasn't a very nice thing to say, Aidan replied that it might not be nice but it's true. I had to agree and just told him to be careful not to say that sort of thing at school or in public! LOL)

BB on the other hand...

Aidan decided that he deserved something for father's day, he gave him a laminated picture that he drew at school and this morning we had to go to the shops and buy him something. BB is an avid collector of cacti and has more cacti than terracotta pots to put them in, so many are still in plastic pots. Aidan got him some terracotta pots and some coloured stones to use with them. BB is slowly going through and painting his pots with mexican designs, so Aidan also got him some paint brushes, but said he can get his own damn paint. LOL And lastly he got him a new little prickly cactus... which is probably a type he already has, but it's the thought that counts.

BB was thrilled and honoured. He was also a little perplexed that he got a present for father's day. Not having kids of his own, that was not something he ever expected to have happen.

Once BB got here, I went down the back to wet down the compost heap now that I have a hose long enough to reach it. BB followed me and got cheeky with me so I wet him down too. Being so much taller and with a greater reach, there was no way I could stop him getting the hose off me, so I got drenched as well. Then the kids (Aidan and friends) got involved and a water fight was on. At least it was a bit less messy than the shit fight we all had yesterday when we got a truck load of horse manure for the garden. LMAO

After the water fight, BB had an assignment to get done for the course he's doing, so he spent most of the afternoon inside on the computer doing that, I spent that time painting the inside of the large bird aviary until I ran out of paint (damn it!!!) and by then a dust storm decided to blow in so I stopped all outside activity and wasn't feeling too great so went and layed down for a while.

Aidan spent the rest of the day riding around on his bike with his friend Jake. He's now in his playroom quietly on the playstation with the headphones so he doesn't disturb Danny.

Danny spent the day grizzly and miserable and screaming the house down because he's got a cold/fluey thing and seems to have the headache to match it. I'd run out of baby panadol and the only place in town open on a Sunday where I can get any is on the other side of town and I was out of money... but BB came to the rescue once he realised the problem was a lack of panadol and went and bought some for him. Now Danny is sleeping peacefully at last. Yay!

BB is at home with his father now.

As for me, I'm still pissed off with Dews, ringing me drunk and full of shit at 5am. Gees! I later emailed him and told him if he does it again I'll chuck a Jeff-style tanti on his arse (referring to the fight Jeff got into). I wonder if he'll get the idea that I'm not particularly happy with him about it?

That was father's day here.

He decided to spend all day outside today with Thumper and I. He had a great time exploring the whole yard, but his greatest fascination was definately the water features. This is a pic of him laying in the creek playing with the small one. Do you think he's happy? I think so.

Today Thumper decided to claim to his kennel. The lovebirds went in the small aviary. Danny got soaking wet and then muddy. And I can't stop sneezing after mulching 2 bales of hay into the compost heap.

That was my today.

1. Mandarin trees with a large rock in between, behind which are built up planters that are yet to be painted, they have asiatic and oriental lilies in them, which are yet to surface.
2. Same garden bed, different view. As can be seen from the last pics I posted, I've done a lot more bricks since.
3. My 6m x 12m shed with doors on it for the first time since I moved into this house. I'm soooo happy about it! Laying in front of the shed are pieces of the large aviary that I'm still yet to assemble. Damn weather!

1. One side of the garden creek bed, which runs under the bridge that crosses the garden.
2. The other side of the creek. I have to get paving paint to do the edges so they blend in rather than look grey.
3. Small water feature, it's a simple one where water bubbles up from between the pebbles. I need more pebbles. It's solar-powered and the sun decided to go down by the time I got this photo, so the water ran out. LOL

A shishi-odoshi (Japanese Deer Scarer), also with a solar-powered pump, that is at the opposite end of the creek to the pebbles bubbler.The idea is it looks like the water is poured into the pebbles at one end of the creek and bubbles up from the ground at the other end. The creek bed inbetween is dry. I need to cover the base of both water features in pebbles as well as scatter pebbles through the creek. I need more pebbles. Lots more pebbles. I also need a better rock for the shishi-odoshi to clunk against.

I was going to make this water feature a tsukabai, but I couldn't find a bowl shaped rock for the life of me, and both BB and Jeff said I should go with the shishi-odoshi before I explained I wanted a tsukabai... so I decided that despite the fact that it meant more work in making the second bamboo part of it, doing that was going to be quicker and easier than finding a naturally bowl shaped rock... so the guys got what they wanted after all. LOL

The bamboo is small and narrow, but this is just a prototype, I had to learn how to make it first, and the only bamboo I've been able to scavenge for nothing is thin ornamental crap. Once I get my big bamboos growing up the back yard I can then make a good big thick one that will really go "CLUNK!" instead of the pathetic little "clunk" it currently makes.

The most amazing part as far as I'm concerned is that I made it all by myself and it works! I also love the fact the water features are solar powered. I had to stop myself a few times after getting them going, thinking "Better turn them off to save power... hang on, what power?" LOL

Today he brought around a pre-assembled second bird aviary of similar size but different shape that fits better where we were originally going to put the other one. Where does he get them you ask... Garage sales. They're second-hand but a coat of paint and a rivet here and there and they're good as new.

The big aviary for the lovebirds that we're yet to put together is still going to go by the shed. I'll be putting it together tomorrow. The second aviary is great as it fills the spot that needs something there of interest and it looks really good there. So I spent the day painting the one that is already put together and getting it ready to put birds in it. The question now is... what birds?

I also later plan to build a large gazebo-aviary in the back half of the yard later when I get to that part of the yard. And I plan on making my chicken run down the side of the shed in a way that will allow it to double as a bird aviary. All up I'm going to end up with 4 aviaries that combined have over 32 square metres of ground space and over 70 cubic metres of air space... I have 2 bantum chickens and 3 lovebirds.

I guess I'll have to get more birds! LMAO

Jeff came around and helped Adrian put the doors on the shed for me. Working with those two, I quickly became just a third wheel and only useful for pass this, hold that, etc. LOL Turns out that not only are they both not broken, but they can also work well together. They tag-teamed in teasing and tormenting me the whole time. I think the funniest was when Jeff was on one side of the massive door and Adrian was on the other, Jeff wiggled his finger at me in a "come here" motion. No sooner did I get behind the door and out of site of Adrian, Jeff said loudly enough for Adrian to hear, "Ha! See! I can make you come with one finger!" Adrian's voice tentatively said, "Umm... what are you two up to back there?" as I emerged from behind the door in roars of laughter. Jeff then came out from behind the door and did the finger wiggle at Adrian, who took a step forward and Jeff said, "Oh! Look! I can make you come with one finger as well! Gees I'm good!" Then it was Adrian's turn to be roaring with laughter. This sort of nonsense went on all day.

I had to go and pick up Jeff to get him here, Adrian drove him home again, but while I was there picking him up, he gave me a puppy! He knew I'd been wanting a little dog like his for a while now. The puppy is the 9 week old grandchild of his dog. Already mostly house-trained, male, quiet, friendly, well looked after, excellent temperament, already used to being around birds and kids of all ages... and he's already made himself at home sitting on the sofa cuddled up to Aidan.

Danny thinks he's adorable and happily plays chasey with him around the house. Danny runs, stops and laughs, pats the puppy, runs, stops and laughs, etc. The puppy just follows him playfully.

Even Adrian who isn't much of a fan of dogs likes him.

What is weird is that my neighbours that I don't see very often noticed we had a puppy running around the yard, they have one very similar and about the same age that they got very recently. The woman next door commented that it would be funny if they came from the same litter. I called out to Jeff to have a look at her dog and let us know if they were from the same litter, and sure enough, next door has my puppy's sister. Once the puppies noticed each other they both sat at the fence whining at each other for a good long while.

But eventually my puppy started to follow Aidan around... like a lost puppy. LOL Everywhere Aidan went the puppy followed. This was partly because Aidan got nominated puppy watching duty as the driveway gates aren't on yet and although I wasn't extrememly busy, I was distracted too much to keep an eye on whether he was headed towards where the driveway gates are supposed to be. As a result of getting all his initial attention from Aidan, he's taken to Aidan for now. I'll steal him back again later. LOL

I've gone and patched the front fences with wire so my puppy can have a little outside without me needing to supervise him space to play, pee and poop. It will suffice until the driveway gates can be put on.

The puppy's name is Thumper. Why? Well that's what Jeff said his name was and it's what he responds to most, so Thumper it is.

Weeks go by and all of a sudden my msn pops up with "Boo!" from him. Okay, brief convo, all good. Then again on another night soon after, "Boo!"... longer convo, few jokes, all good. Then last night he came around to see me.

He knocked on the door and I opened it and scolded him instantly, "WTF are you knocking on my door for? You have a key." which is exactly what I always said to him if he knocked on the door in the past. He laughed and came in, unloaded phones, ipod, wallet, etc on the table as always, sat down and I poured him a drink. I hadn't seen or heard from him in almost 6 months, but everything from that moment on was as if it was only a few days ago that he was here cooking up a storm in my kitchen, drinking, laughing, and having fire extinguisher fights inside the house.

And as if no time had ever passed, we got up to our usual antics. Devoured a bottle of whiskey between us, and he ended up going home wearing my clothing ... again... as usual. LMAO WHY? Because walking home half naked on a cold night isn't such a good idea. WHAT happened to his clothing and WHY? His clothing was wet and sticky and in the washing machine. WHY? Because I threw my drink over him. WHY? Because he poured a drink over me. WHY? Because I was being cheeky to him... and that's just the sort of crazy chaos that we get up to.

We had a good long talk about all the crap that went on with us leading up to our last parting, all sorted out, understandable given the unknown to each other at the time circumstances, apologies given and accepted on both sides, and all good again. And he admitted that he missed me. He said he would have been in touch a lot sooner, but he was travelling all over the country for a few months and didn't have credit on his phone or net access... not that phone or net would have done any good as I didn't have it at the time myself. LOL And I got a hug of the sort that makes you start to wonder if the other person is ever going to let go of you.

He's going to try to come around this afternoon to help Adrian and I get the shed doors on (they're HUGE and heavy), weather permitting. It's raining atm. (grrr!!!) and he's going to see what he can do to help with my driveway gates later on as well. Adrian and I can't weld... Jeff hasn't done it for a long time, but remembers how to, or at least he's certain that he's pretty sure he thinks he knows what he's doing. LOL

And now I have to try and find him a girl. I was able to find myself a fella, apparently it's now my job to find him a girl, cause he can't seem to find one that isn't already an ex or he isn't related to. LMAO Small towns, gotta love em!

So, are there any single girls out there that are interested in a 28 yr old crazy freak that has no issues with wearing women's clothing? Oh yeah, of course there is! They just don't live here. Darn it!

When are people going to learn that cats need to be kept indoors, in a cat run, or not at all??? Not only do they kill native wildlife, but they also kill other people's pets. Anything small, be it feathers, fur or scales, cats have no morals or boundaries when it comes to what makes a good play toy. No matter how well fed you think your cat is, cats still hunt, they play with their prey, and they will kill - and they will do it just for fun. Maybe they don't kill your smaller pets, but that's because your cat has learned that those pets are out of bounds... but all cats will still think all the other small animals in the world are fair game.

Then there is also the issue of cat poop. Pregnant woman can't be around cat poop, small children can't be around cat poop, and cats love kids' sandpits. Even if your cat doesn't hurt any pets, it's still going to poop on other people's property. It's a health risk. Please keep them inside or in a cat run or give them to someone who will look after them properly.

If you're a cat owner and you let your cat outside, especially at night, please stop and think about what you're doing. Not only are you putting other smaller animals at risk, and pregant women and small children, but you're putting your cat at risk as well. There are plenty of people out there that have lost so many pets and been caused illnesses because of cats that if yours wanders into their yard, it might not wander back home again if that person catches it.

I've had pet cats and I've had them exclusively indoors. It isn't cruel. What is cruel is having your cat poisoned or drowned or run over by a car because someone is so sick of cats causing them no end of problems that they have lost their compassion for them.

I don't want to end up being one of those people that goes killing the cats that come into my yard. I plan to get a dog. If my dog was to kill someone's cat in my yard... well... And if you think that is wrong, what's the difference with your cat coming into my yard and trying to kill my pets? It's in MY yard!

That being said... Keep your damn dogs in your yard and on a leash when going for a walk as well!!!

End rant.

You should have seen the look on his face when I exclaimed that this afternoon. Classic!

BB helps me out heaps with the jobs that need doing around here. Today it was cutting a metal grate to size and shape to put over the in-ground water tank for the large water feature that is going to go in so that no one falls in it. It works, it's strong enough to hold BB's weight, and mine, and Aidan's all at once, so it should definately be strong enough to stop Danny falling in! It had to fit snugly into a concrete edging to stop it from slipping, and BB did a brillian job of getting it right first time. The piece of rust-proof metal grate was collected for a couple of dollars at the local scrap metal yard. To buy new... I don't even want to think about it!

Of course this doesn't mean that BB enjoys doing things like this, but he loves me... and isn't afraid to show it. Nor is he afraid to exclaim, "You want me to do WHAT?!?!" LOL

No new photos to show of the garden as all the petty little jobs that take forever to get done but don't make much of a dent in the way the place looks are getting done atm. I will post more when there is something more to show.

In the house for the night we have extras...

• more geckos
• more skinks
• another school age boy
• more lovebirds
• more jobs to get done in the yard a.s.a.p.

The geckos and skinks hitch-hiked their way in from out bush, they were on the back of the trailer when we unloaded it, so I caught and kept them to take back out when we next go, most likely in a few days.

The extra school age boy is Aidan's friend who is sleeping over the night.

The 2 extra lovebirds BB got from a garage sale today along with their cage for 1/3rd the cost of buying one lovebird at the pet store. The new birds are the same as the ones I already have, are a male and female mating pair, and if they were all in the same cage the only way I'd be able to tell them apart is that their wings are a lighter green.

And now my work load in the yard is multiplying, this time because of the birds!

My work on the yard took yet another twist in the order of how I have to get things done. Instead of progressing in the next step I had planned, I spent the day moving the firewood pile, a job that was going to be done after 3 other jobs were finished, so that BB can bring around an unused large birdcage he has in his back yard for all the lovebirds to live in together until I get around to making the proper permanent avery for them, which was always in my plans but it was one of the last things I planned to do. In the meantime they're in typical pet shop style portable cages. My cage was okay for 2 birds, but the one that arrived today with the other pair is half the size and I'm not happy with two birds having to share such a small cage, so big cage it is until I can build the permanent avery. Maybe tomorrow I'll be able to get back to the regular work plan? I suspect I'll be putting a large bird cage together instead, so not likely.

This seems to be getting typical. I'll have my plan worked out: get 1 done, then 2, then 3, then I can do 4... and BB comes up with something that forces me to get 4 done sooner, which means I have to abandon 1 half way through and skip straight to 2 because I can't do 3 until I've at least half finished 2, and 4 requires 3 to be out of my way otherwise I'll be creating extra work for myself in having to work around 3. After all that, then I can go back to 1. So 1 gets left half done, I get 2 half done so I can get 3 out of the way to get onto doing 4 sooner, then I'll have to go back and finish 1 and 2, before I move onto 5, 6, 7, and 8. I'll be halfway through doing 3 and BB lands something on my lap that means I have to get 6 done sooner...

I originally started this so Danny would have a safe and interesting outside area to play in near the house that was also suitable for Aidan and myself, and I was planning to have the area by the house finished definately by Christmas. I planned to take a 12 month break from yard work to get some inside reno's done before tackling the back half of  the yard. A few delays and I was already feeling the pinch of time, and now I'm having to add in extra work that wasn't part of the main project and it's starting to look like I'll be doing the back part of the yard without getting any kind of break until it's all finished... ARGH!!!

But although I will complain about the extra work I now have to do, I'm not only back on schedule, but starting to finally get ahead of schedule. It is great that BB pushes me like he does by doing things like appearing with extra birds, because it means I'm getting a lot more done than I would if left to my own level of motivation. He has also saved me hundreds of dollars and found things for me that have made it all so much nicer, better and easier. Not to mention the amount of help he's given me when I've needed it!

BB, I love you, you're wonderful, I wouldn't be able to do all this if it wasn't for you, now can you please stop nagging me about the dishes! LMAO

My new babies, Mackenzie and Sam

BB is a dag, he writes romantic little messages on my ciggies to stop me from smoking them. I've not yet succeeded in quitting, but I'm getting closer. This helps. How can anyone burn a cigarette when it has a message like this on it? LOL

He ate well, he played hard, and he decided to prove me right, bless his heart. I told the staff that when he got tired he would most likely climb up on the sofa they have in the room, rock on his hands and knees and start to "sing" and rock himself zzzzzzzzzz... And that is exactly what he did. The staff were watching him, tending to other kids, he climbed up on the sofa, rocked back and forth half a dozen times while "singing" then plopped off to sleep like someone turned him off. That's normal for Danny.

Apparently he didn't cry, whinge or carry on once. He was as good as gold and spent most of the day entertaining himself with exploring his new little environment and loving every miniute of it.

He was quite happy during the ride home, sat quietly and smiled the whole way, it wasn't until he was out of the car and it was time to come inside that he started to squark. Evidently he wanted to be inside the house. LOL

He had a bottle of milk, change of nappy, and fell asleep on the sofa. He's now in his cot sleepily watching TV, quiet and still. He's barely moved all afternoon. If he's been awake, he's been quietly sitting around sleepily fidgetting with a toy or rocking himself on the sofa.

I think the day was just a tad exciting for him.

BB is a freak. I haven't yet succeeded in fully quitting smoking yet, but I'm getting better, slowly... anyway, today I pulled a ciggie out of the packet and written on it in red pen was "I love you." Oh yeah, I can really smoke that one when he's gone writing that on it! Then I found another. "Bunny Boy loves The Dag" and another "I love you Dag" and another "You're a weirdo" FINALLY I was able to find one that wasn't written on! LOL

Today I spent my kid-free time out at my mate's property collecting more bricks for my backyard project, and cleaning up and collecting the sheep manure from the pen for BB's garden. A day out in the bush has left me tired as well.

Aidan is ticked off because his bike is out of order atm, had to replace a tube, got the tube late this afternoon, yet to do the repairs. He's in his room playing his PSX atm.

BB is at home for the night, the lovebirds are snuggled up and going to sleep, the centipede is hiding under it's rock, the geckos are starting to come out to catch bugs, and I'm in front of the computer with a glass of whiskey and dry ginger ale.

Life is good.