Sam and Tim: 2008

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

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.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

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.

Monday, October 20, 2008

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.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

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.