Shiner Day Four - Sunset Shiner

Sam's Shiner

Make your own Australia ID Card

Beat the Government,make your own

This is the Template



This is Mine

Yer Photoshop

I am available for lessons on how to seamlessly merge two pictures together
in photoshop, I am pleased with the excellent job done and how natural it all looks

Wealth of Nations

The Agents of the Wealth of Nations (Sam & Michael) held the borders
and installed appropriate fears in all that touched their line

Tjillyi up here

we went for a walk chased some fox rabbit and bulls

The Essence

Well well,me as a younger one, time moves yet the essence is in. A quick snap taken by Sam of me on a causal tuesday and a snap of me at seven there is nothing but 37 years between us

Mullberry Bliss

The Old Mullberry Tree produced alot this year.
We ate allot of them


Sam and the juice combined
Taya dyed her hat with some ground fruit

Fires down the Hume

Tim and I drove down the Hume Hwy to the city this week. When we hit Kilmore East (the starting point of one of the most devastating fires to hit Victoria this Saturday) we followed the path the fire had travelled down the centre of the freeway.



The freaky thing was seeing a green paddock, surrounded by blackened paddocks. One house still standing, the one next door burnt to the ground. And every now and then, people who had obviously fought off the fires, with their house remaining in the middle of a black field. The fire followed the path the wind made for it and didn't divert, it was travelling at such a speed.

Life in the Coop

Our Little Red Rooster

Our chicken raising has been going much more smoothly since the last posts. We now have seven city kids (raised by us) and eight country kids (raised by their mums). They are growing up protected from dogs and foxes in a chicken run sheltered by an asparagus forest and a sunflower jungle. They are some beautiful chicks. Romy (pictured above) is our eldest son.

When the city chicks moved outdoors, they were a little confused when the sun went down as they'd spent their first four weeks under artificial light. They'd run around outside crying for us to turn the lights back on and we had to lock them in their roost while they got used to the idea. Their 3rd night outside I went out to settle them into bed and being overwhelmed by the cuteness of their snuggling ran back into the house to get my camera. When I came back out, Romy was out of bed, watching to see where I had gone. When he saw me coming back, he yelled, "Mum's coming! Get back into bed!" and ran back to the roost. They have been happy in their new home ever since.

Go to the place where everybody knows your name (and birthday)

When I signed on to Facebook I was suspicious. I wanted people to find me but I didn't want nobody thieving my identity, so when it demanded, I put in my real name and a random birthday to sign up. Months later, after a spectacularly shit day at work (where I cried in front of my colleagues for the first time and came the closest yet to quitting) I began receiving warm wishes and birthday greetings from friends and friends of friends after work. THEY ARE STILL COMING IN! I am now a devoted fan of the fake birthday. Thankyou Facebook. I may not quit you after all.

Summer- Thinking of Winter turning to Spring

I am in Swan Hill putting off getting ready for school. It is hot as damnation here. I thought I'd share some photos of early September, when Winter was turning to Spring and I emerged from the house with a bad cold to take a walk with a cat.

We hatched four beautiful chicks three weeks ago. Milky Jo, Falke, Balou and Zebedee. We loved them. Milky Jo and Falke were really good at jumping on my hand and perching when I took them outside. Zebedee was good at not being caught. We had theories about who would grow up to be a rooster and who a hen but until we could be sure we called them all she. But now we'll never know. Our neighbours dog killed them all today when our backs were turned. This is my eulogy to the chicks I loved.

Zebedee, the youngest. She pipped her shell one morning and still hadn't broken through by the next night so I helped her out. The membrane had dried and stuck to her back and with a bit of moistening she kicked her way out. She stayed a bit crunched up for awhile, as if too long in the shell had left her shell-shaped. We worried about her for ages because she was so much smaller than the rest, but she was starting to catch up. She was the hardest to catch, and when every other chick had moved elsewhere she'd run around crying until we managed to grab her. She was less feisty than the others, and while they would fly around she'd bed down and have a little sleep in the sun. Here she is running away as she did best.



Milky Jo was our first born. She was just starting to turn beautiful shades of silver and gold. I loved Milky the most and she was the least cautious of me. When the rooster first met them and chased them round a bit Milky led the charge back to the safety of us humans and stayed in the crook of my arm longer than the rest. Milky, I'm sorry more than anything that you're gone.

Falke looked a lot like Milky. But true to her name was more yellow with brown-tipped feathers. When they first saw the bigger chooks, Falke ran up to them flapping wings, before taking stock of how big they were and running away. The second child, she seemed a bit tougher than Milky, but they both held their own in a fight.

Balou was so strong. She shattered the shell in one kick and looked so powerful that I stayed up til 2 am, sure the next kick would break her out. She was bigger than the rest, but had a funny leg that stuck forward that the older chicks liked to peck at. She suffered through numerous splint attempts and some regular physio, but after a week she was walking fine. She liked running up sleeves and perching on shoulders. Sometimes I would find Balou comfortably sitting on top of Zebedee. Zebedee was happy, she loved hiding in small, warm, secure spaces.

My beautiful chicks who brought me so much joy, I'm sorry I won't see how you grow up. Today was a sad, sad day. I loved you and will miss you all.

We are parents now

Our chicken eggs started hatching about two weeks ago. For a week I was holed up in the house with five new babies, going out of my mind with stress, taking them out and putting them back in the incubator because I was scared they weren't ready for the big world outside. Mostly they were fine on their own, but I had to be midwife of the littlest one, who became stuck to the shell. This is Milky Jo, our first born, and most beautiful to my mind.


Falke came next, the day after the Hawks won the grand final, so we named her for the German word for hawk. (It sounded the prettiest.)



Zissou didn't make it. She is recovering here from an aquatic adventure in the incubator. She got stuck on her back on a plate of water, and I had to warm her back to life with my breath. In this picture she is lying on her tummy, exhausted, but alive. We bonded, but the next day, I found her laying silent in the brooder. I think she had the same problem under the light. Got stuck on her back and couldn't move away. She lies under our passionfruit now.

While on the subject of bikes...

Cool kids in Queens

Are kids in New York cooler than anywhere else? I think so.  Their bikes have names like Tinnitis Rex and Basszilla!  How much cooler can you get?

One from the archives

Sam in 1998. Wow, that's ten years ago now.  I am so fresh faced and fit at the World Bike Messenger Championships, Washington DC.

Sam and Amanda go crazy in the eyes

Sorry you had to leave so soon

So glad you could come and stay, Michael.  In order to get the most out of your next visit, I suggest you read the above VERY CAREFULLY.

As night falls

A Morning then a Day and a Night

A night on a Train , 2 hrs from Melbourne to Tallarook

Orange sunset at Home

Happy Birthday Tim - A Study in Cars

Swan Hill is red

When you enter the fun park after dark...

...beware the were-horse.

City Lights

Tim operating big puppet in Moomba Parade March 8th

It was a real hot Moomba Morning

3 big puppets 5 meters tall (15 Ft)

Thats what they looked like,Woman Immigrating was the Theme

I was a Big Beautiful Somali Woman

Lovely people along the 1.5 km walk 10,000 peolpe to yell and laugh

There is Something I must Tell you ,theres something I must Say

mum and niah having a laugh

This it what it looks like when the wind changes- be carefull out there

I am sad to report that Tahni has had a major face change.

She was pulling a funny face at her sisters when the wind changed

we are told it will be permanent, but we are seeking any and all cures.

A night out with Amanda hood and Tim - The Quest for Moose

we popped into the castle for a jar to help us think and hiedi and andy was a there too

Off to another bucking pub a jar and g&t

Tim gets horny

We find Moose but dont have the heart to eat it 

morals,pooh and a bike

 Three fine girls doing their bit for being young and upstanding

we will follow you anywhere

Coen, Niah and Taya got two full trailer loads of Alpaca Pooh

they worked hard and smelt all day

Sam and Tim on the four wheeler taking a dead Alpaca to the pit

Splashy times in Tallarook

8 grownups and 5 kids and 2 dogs gathered at our house on a hot day and barely left the water.

When we'd had enough of jumping off the jetty, we flipped, did ballet and "accidentally" fell in as we were walking by.


And when we'd had enough of that we had our pick of water craft to paddle around in and look at the birds.
Mmmm... Splashy day!

Lawrence of Virginia

From Sams archives (1998) we find a before and after coffee moment of Lawrence

Sam - not one of her better days

It was a long 2 months,but sam finally got home after the elections change of government

She is free to think and act again, until the next time

Melb from the Flinders Bridge

Alpacas get Shawn - Tim rounds up and learns to sort the fibre

Tony the sheerer and Gary the Sorter on the job

Sam cuts loose and flys her True Colours

Brodie and Owen get Married

Brodie Arrives

Owen Sees Her

Brodie is happy

The Girls are Too

Nanna SpeaksEllie and Maddy Listen
They tell their Love for each other

They get Married
Nanna and Brodie love

Brodie Cruises

They go Outside
All is taken care ofWe say Hello
They Kiss

They are Happy
Three Happy Ladies

Crystal happy danceSam knows the Bride
Brodie Very Happy

They Drive Away

Fire, Water and Golf - Niah ,Taya and Tahni Farm it Hard.

Swimming in the pool
Niah bravely tests water for her fellow sisters

Tahni Art

The Creek Ran we looked

Niah finds a stick

Tahni does a dance of water

Sam says Hello

We had a theory -Lay still and they will come - It worked a bit

Paddock outside the front door

Taya after a hard days work on the Farm

Tip Chicks

Sam making her dead fox dust to protect the chickens

Tahni drives on her own

One of the big fires we made - So So warm HMMM

We find a dead and well dried rat under some netting

Niah Drives and Sam escorts

Saugages damper by fire light with sam tim the girls and Trish

In Church It all Comes Together - Niahs Confirmation

The 2007 Footy Team -Tims Team

The New Place for Us

Well , we have found a place up the Hume before Tallarook on 280 acers of al pakkas , sheep and crop farm.

Close to a regular Melb commute train line a creek running by and north facing 2 bedroom house

See Below

Purple our place
the L shaped House is the homestead that the lady of the property lives
Red the swimming pool
yellow the in ground trampoline
green the lawn tennis court

So the deal is we live in the house out the back, pay rent
she lives by herself in the big homestead
She needs someone to help around the farm and house
main responsibilities swimming pool and tennis court
sam work one day a week and tim one day a week
we will get paid for this on an hour rate
this will end up paying for all expenses of rent bills travel and more
we can set min and max hours a week
we both have two days work in melb on weekly basis
we can use swimming and tennis when ever
and she is ok with the idea of friends and family coming up staying and swimming

We shall see how it all works out
we are officially in there 27th of Sept
see you there traveler's

A day at the Footy (Aussie Rules)

Hawthorn (my team) and Brisbaine Lions clashed at the MCG in late August
It became a battle of the centre half forwards
Hawwthorn prevailed
Tim Smiled
The day was Good

I'd forgotten just how hard the Melbourne Subway Rocks

Spending good time in the Montreal and Boston Subway systems,
I'd become blinded to the cultural freedom that we insist on in our (Australian) Underground (Subways). As part of the Howard Government "Sing or Dance for your Unemployment benefit" programme Melbourne has grown and expanded in possibilities and potential. For all you Over theres, I took my camera down on a typical week day to show you that when you do not fear the fear of been not afraid, life is more funky - even on a average train trip. Love the M.E.T

We Arive home and Then.

We get a notice to Vacate.The owner wants to do something else with their property.
So we need to find somewhere else to live before 25th of Sept

No real problems
we are looking to move to the country more than likely

It took me a while -But I finally worked out what the fields were telling me!

At Boston Airport we had time to reflect