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Slightly earlier than last year, we did indeed get a dump of snow this week. Quite a dump! When we woke up on Wednesday morning it had already started to settle, and it just kept on snowing all day, getting heavier and heavier and heavier.

I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen flakes as big. They were massive! And with no wind they just drifted down majestically, piling up ever higher. By the end of the day I think we had about 7 inches as a standard covering, with a bit more in small drifts. More than enough to turn everything white and pretty!

There was so much piling up that I thought it wise to go and sweep off the tunnel-house a few times during the day, just to lighten the load a bit. And even the netting over the chicken’s run was slowly collecting a fair bit of snow and starting to sag somewhat, so that got a few rounds of banging too.

The normally nosey chickens were nowhere to be seen while all this was going on. I don’t think they emerged from their little house at all on Wednesday, and only came out very late yesterday. I did take pity on them and take some food and unfrozen water out to them to have inside. They better not get used to such butler service though!

The snow also apparently settled right on top of all the trees sitting next to power lines. Enough to take out trees, and therefore the power. For us we were without any juice for just the 22 hours. Gulp! Luckily the house stayed warm enough, and we were smart enough to cook dinner before the light faded (on the gas stove – love gas even more now!). And even more luckily we weren’t one of the poor guys that still didn’t have any last night either.

But the day was clear and bright yesterday, so the sun warmed the house in the morning, as well as making everything look very pretty. As only snow can do.

As usual the kitties went through several phases of going completely loopy trying to catch flakes or roll themselves small snowballs to bat around, then a bit of chasing each other around, followed by some chilling and warming action. They’re so funny to watch. But Fidget was also really cute wandering up and down the tyre tracks, freezing fog slowly rising behind him, like some sort of Siberian mountain cat.

As I type this up at midday Friday, we’re still surrounded by it all, but it’s starting to look a bit soft in places. But it did have a bit of a slow start as it got bloody cold last night. I’m just glad we had power and heating for that one!

… a kitty be trying to climb the walls?

To get to the mouse that managed to climb right to the top, of course!

Mouse 1: Kitty 0. At least Until the mouse got knocked off the wall with the spade…

Along with the three girls we seem to have been feeding a whole flock of sparrows each day. Not what we really want to be doing with the chook food! The chooks try to chase the sparrows away, but they just keep coming. So we’ve invested in a feeder for them that hopefully will eventually sort out the problems for all of us. Simple really. All they have to do is stand on the step and the lid opens. If they can just get used to it!

We’re getting there slowly. First stage was to prop the lid wide open so they got used to the food being in there. Which they thought was great, as now they had something else to stand on top of to get a good view. I had visions of one of them jumping up on the lid when another was feeding. I guess we’d be having chicken for dinner that night!

But they seem to have stopped that since I recently propped the lid up a bit and they open it the rest of the way to feed. Most of the time. One especially is a bit lazy and just goes in from the side. She’ll learn, unless she wants to starve!

And the sparrows? Well they’re still visiting, and the brave ones sneak in under the lid for a feed. Get in while you can, little ones!

Of course once we’ve finally got the chooks trained we’ll probably add a bird table somewhere and feed the damn things anyway!

But I think we all know how it ends.

It appears that I’ve not yet lost my touch with women…

Yes, they’re now eating out of the palm of my hand.

Weird feeling as they peck away, but not painful. Or not normally painful, except when one of them tried to see if the tip of my finger was edible. But as much as they like the scratch mix, they like the slugs I go find for them even better. They’re their favourite!

Yesterday we finally got around to finishing the last little improvements to the chicken run. Some windbreak cloth around ¾ of the bottom, and adding a bit of ceiling mesh to keep the hawks and magpies out, if nothing else.

Not sure it’s all needed, but the girls do seem to really appreciate the windbreak.

We’re (and that definitely includes Fidget) still getting a lot of entertainment from watching them. They seem to enjoy chasing flies just as much as Pinot does. Glad we’ve got the garden bench nearby to watch them from.

Picture the scene: New Year’s day morning, 8 something AM. First thing we try to do in the new year goes horribly wrong when we turn on the washing machine and it starts dripping dribbling pissing water out of the bottom of the machine. Bugger. What a way to start the year!

And as it’s the summer holidays, trying to get hold of the commercial dealer guys that we got it through to find out what the warranty deal was took until the second week of Jan, then getting the fix-it guys out to have a look took another couple of weeks, then waiting for the required replacement part took another couple of weeks, then a last bit of swearing and cursing while I wrestled it into place…

So all up we’ve been without a working washing machine for forty-six days. Forty six days! That’s a lot of days! 12% of a year!

Huge thanks to everyone that’s supported us over that time with the loan of their machines over that time. Hopefully the veg has been enough payment for now.

And the problem? A tiny little hole in the main pipe caused by a tiny little mouse that (presumably) got lifted through the cat-door by Pinot one day or night and escaped into the machine and then got a bit thirsty and had a chew. Little bugger. And we suspect it might not be the last time this happens. But at least we know how to dismantle and reconstitute the machine now, so at least we can avoid the fairly hefty call-out fee in future.

Which leads me to digress as little from the initial subject to report that at around 5am this morning both kitties bought in a mouse. To our bedroom. That’s two mice at once, not both hanging on to the same one. Sigh. A bit of excitement and dancing around later we managed to get them out the door. Both the kitties and the mice.

We’re well used to Pinot bringing them in, but Fidget’s been a bit, well, slow to catch on to the whole catching them himself thing. Not quite sure how to feel about him finally working that out, but if the noise he was making when he came in was anything to go be he was very excited to have finally worked it out.

I think in the interests of open and unbiased reporting I should probably point out that his mouse was about a third of the size of the one Pinot dragged in.

Fidget found something new to watch today. And I’ve been keeping just as intent an eye on him. Yes, we finally have some chickens in the chicken run. And they look just the right size for a kitty to try to have a lot of fun with!

Meet the girls (clicky for more clarity). Three Barred Rock chicks. Well, not quite chicks, but close. About 3 1/2 months old apparently. So still a fair bit of growing to do yet. Which is just as well if we want to end up with any decent size eggs!

Fidget’s still not quite sure what to make of them. As yet he hasn’t made any real attempt to get up close and personal with them. But actually it’s Pinot that I suspect we’ll have to watch a bit more closely once she finally gets off her chair and goes for a wander outside. Given the amount of mice, birds, and baby hares that she’s still been bringing in as gifts lately she may well think on of the girls is a prefect gift.

So now we’ll just have to sit back and try to keep them fed and watered until they’re ready to reward us with a few home grown eggs now and then. Bring them on!

Well it’s been a bit quiet around here lately. Nothing much to report. But today after an email telling us that the chickens will invade soon I decided it was about time that the chicken run door got installed.

The installation actually went very smoothly. A bit of chisel action saw the posts squared off enough to hold the hinges and presto a real, operating door! First time too!

If you look carefully you’ll note the sneaky angle of the photo that hides the big gap between the door and the posts on the near side towards the top of the door. I guess the guys who plonked the posts in have a slightly different view of straight! But it’s still a small enough gap that the chickens shouldn’t be able to get out. I hope!

Now I guess we better look to getting the wire around the outside of the run too, so the chooks can’t just wander out the sides ignoring the door altogether!

I was staring out the window looking for general inspiration when right past the window traipsed these guys…

A not so quick trip around the net later I decided they must be pied oystercatchers looking for a place to nest. First time I’ve seen any around here. And if they’ve got any sense they’ll move on, as apparently they nest in shallow depressions in the dirt. Just perfect for little kitties to invite themselves over.

(Apologies for the horribly washed-out pic!)