Beach camping

For the first time, we joined a local group of homeschoolers on their annual camp in Lorne.  The camp site is nicely tucked away and just a stroll from the beach.

I'm so glad we went!  There's just nothing like the sound of the ocean to lull you to sleep ... and then the racket the cockatoos make to wake you up again at sunrise!!

Upon arriving home, I could finally see the photos taken by the children whilst we were down there (the batteries had run out by the end of the 2nd day).

 Okay!  We're awake already!!

 If you really want to impress us campers,

you all have to sing in unison!

 A beach stroll with friends.

Thank you for dropping by!

So where are we at?

Once again, it's been over a week since my last post.  Finding time to write up blog posts is getting trickier.  One factor is that Maestro is becoming more tech. savvy, so uses this computer more than I.  I'm not holding a grudge, though.  He does a quick check for my emails, yells if I'm needed, then gets back to the task he was doing.  He's either working on music editing, story writing, Spanish lessons (Auralog), or emailing friends.  Is it time for us to get another computer? ... I really don't want to seriously think about that right now.

Mariposa has been recovering amazingly well from her operation.  After the more painful days (around 5-9 days after her tonsils and adenoids were removed), she bounced back and was ready to do all sorts of things.  We still waited out the two full weeks of quarantine, though, taking time for picnics at the park and some pleasant walks in the sunshine.  She then went back to her drawing lessons, a craft day with friends, an afternoon horseriding, and is having her friend for a sleepover tomorrow night.

In our 'homeschooling world', Maestro's worked hard to get through more Apologia General Science.  He felt like the units on evolution discussions took forever, so I prodded him through it and now we're into the discussions on DNA with units on biology.  He's made a DNA model, dug up worms from the garden, looked for starch in plants; it's all a whole lot more fun again now.

Mariposa's science has consisted of reading How to Think Like a Scientist. I won't give it all away, but she's actually carrying out her experiment about whether a snake hung over a tree branch really can bring rain ... with a toy rubber snake.  "Did it rain, though?" I hear you ask.  Well ... yes, it did, but I think that it was already on the forecast before it fined up to a lovely afternoon. 

We've also been out to the pet supply store and bought a basic budgie nesting box for our two birds, Oliver and Butterscotch.  It is Spring, after all, so we're hoping that this pair of birds will produce some offspring for us to enjoy.  The nesting box we bought is very much like this one.  I also found this cute nesting box you can attach outside your window, cleverly set up so you can peek in when you lift the cover from inside the house: Peek-a-boo Birdhouse.  It may be something we could make at home, with a perspex backing, and set it up similarly to watch some small native honey-eaters.

Introducing Oliver

 and Butterscotch

Our Fibonacci living books arrived and we've read them.  This week, as it's now the state term break, we're also playing lots of games that involve math ( but sshhhh! don't tell the children!)  We've been playing Yahtzee a fair bit today and the plan to use multiplication facts to find your score IS WORKING!

The number of my music students has been grown ... 14 students now!  Wow!  How did that happen so fast?  Three new girls started the previous week, all known from the dance school. I think that's where a lot of my spare time is going, but I'm enjoying it. I now have five students learning singing, and the others learning piano.  I'm finding that I'm encouraged to play more myself now, and even my children are getting more enthused about music (not that it was ever lacking before, really!)  Mariposa told me this afternoon that she's a little jealous of one of the girls, as she wants to learn those (more difficult) piano pieces too.  Nothing like positive peer pressure, I suppose.  I'll have to remedy some of that this week.

I won't start telling you all that's been happening around the house, except that there's the mess made with little renovation jobs popping up here and there.  Let's just say, I need a break to clean up this place!  But, we're happy .. and I hope you're all having a great week too.

Attracted to our hakea tree

The regular screeches, a previous sighting months ago, and then today the mystery is solved. We have a young family of black cockatoos nesting in a tree opposite our house. The single bird we'd see a while ago has been joined by another two.

They seem to be attracted to our hakea tree, which is a type of pine tree. They're happily feasting on the nuts. But hush, we must come around to see them very carefully as they are awfully shy. These are the first photos I've managed to snap just now, only getting close via the zoom lens. A few steps closer and they flew away.

 I spy one ..

 Then I spy two ...

 A third is perched on top of a tree on the verge.

The closest photo I could get before they gracefully all took flight.

Honeyeaters in the Rosemary

Our couch is situated in a very good place, it seems, as we can still be aware of our backyard birdlife whist enjoying a book together.

Today, we were watching a New Holland Honeyeater feasting on the nectar of the rosemary flowers. All of the sudden the baby appears also. We must have a nest nearby!

These birds are small, about the size of a canary. They're black and white, with bright yellow on the wings, and a very high pitched 'chik' sound (go to this page for a sample of their song on mp3).

After the parent flew off, the baby hopped around and allowed us to take a couple more pictures. They're not too clear because of the glass window, the rain and the angle at which we were trying to get a good photo ... sorry!!

Not long after it decided it had enough and flew off, a White Plumed Honeyeater decided to come on over and check on the food situation. We have lots of these nesting in the nearby trees. They're very good at alerting us to the presence of any cats in the backyard with all their chattering.

Screech like a .... parrot!

Well, I declare!  I've never heard a more piercing screech from a bird.  Well, okay, all birds in the parrot family are LOUD!, but this was very loud for one bird.  What was more puzzling was that it sounded so close, but we couldn't see it at all.  It took three screeches, a worried look from Maestro with the comment "I think it's an eagle in our tree" and then me taking a walk down the driveway before we saw it.

On the top most branches of our Hakea tree was this very large Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo. Ever so cautiously I tried to get the children to go and get my camera whilst I stood still to keep an eye on its movements.  However, it spotted me, then Mariposa was just a wee bit too loud running to go to the house, so it flew off.  I missed the camera moment!  So, here's a picture from the OzAnimals site:

We've never had one of these so close before.  Occasionally you'd see a flock pass overhead, but never one solitary in a tree, next to the house.  Even then, I don't know if any of these were the yellow-tailed variety.  I noted the distinct yellow markings of this bird as it's eyes met mine.

If you'd like to read more information about this cockatoo, there's a great site for helping one identify backyard birds in Australia HERE.  I like this site as most of the time there is also an MP3 recording of the bird's call.  You can find this by scrolling down the page and looking on the right-hand sidebar.

Winter gales

Brrrr ~ it was a cold and restless night here, last night.

Strong winds tried to creep its fingers into any opening, whistling through our skylight and trying to keep us all awake with its cries.  It even brought hail which was thrust toward our front door, which faces the southern Antarctic winds.

In the morning, everything looked grey.  The neighbourhood trees were tired of their fight with the wind and look limp, a few with missing limbs.  One of my favourite trees, over the fence in my neighbour's property, has been reduced by a third.

The view out of my kitchen window this morning.  Usually the house is hidden.

I've been keeping a watch on that tree, as it's had a new visitor in recent months.  There's a 'mystery bird' coming to feast there.  I'm pretty sure it's a type of honeyeater, about the size of a thrush.  We have plenty of Wattlebirds in the area, so I definitely know it's not that.  It's markings are similar with grey and black stripes, but it also has an orange/brown chest, reddish beak, and a black 'mask' across the eye.  It's song is either a short 'tock', or musical type of 'croak' ... a little like a tuneful frog song; not a harsh sound.  My attempts to photograph it haven't produced any results, but I did manage to capture it on video (but I can't show you, as I have no idea how to load it to my blog!)

Wandering out to feed my hens this morning, I saw the garden in disarray.  Papers have obviously managed to get carried around in the wind and the chook run was full of debris and any vegies scraps left over from yesterday evening's feed.

Poor girls.  They look miserable out in those conditions.  We quickly cleaned up their yard, put in some more straw and gave them a good serving of feed.  I also got lunch going: a pot of pumpkin soup, putting all the scraps into a separate pot so the hens could have a bowl of warm mash to enjoy.

Pumpkin and carrot trimmings (no onions!) for the chooks to enjoy as a warm mash on a cold morning.

I hope everyone's keeping warm and well out of reach from that menacing wind.  We're doing lessons with the heating on and smothered in quilts.

Picnic at Albert Park Lake

Sunday was such a lovely day. Warm, sunny, the gentlest breeze blowing .. perfect for a picnic by a lake. Also, an opportunity for hubby to practice rigging up his new sailboat.

The photos turned out darker than I'd hoped, even after fiddling with the exposure.  I'll get it right one day!

The scene from our picnic rug.

Mariposa practicing her cartwheels.

Birdlife on the water: 

black swan and cormorant   

Maestro helps hubby rig the sail boat.

Raising curiosity.

Looking left, then right of the pier at Albert Park Lake, Melbourne.

Flowering gums and lorikeets

It's a lovely time of the year when so many native trees are in flower.  From my kitchen window, I have a view into my next door neighbour's garden which is planted with a variety of native plants, including some lovely gum varieties.  At the moment she has one in full bloom with it's big beautiful red flowers (Eucalyptus ficifolia).

Early evening, as I'm getting dinner prepared, a mass of rainbow lorikeets come in regularly to visit and feed on the nectar from the tree.  I can clearly see their antics from my kitchen window.

I've taken these photos as best as I could from the back veranda, with zoom on at the maximum and the steadiest hand I could manage.  The colours are just lovely!

Once this gum stops flowering, the birds usually find my apple tree quite appetising ... at least they give fair warning that they are coming. :)

Wordless Wednesday: Cavorting Corellas

Rebuilding the chookhouse; part 2

We're moving very slowly with our progress of the new chookhouse since hubby's working during the day.

The lid to the laying box is on now

and it's looking very cosy inside! They even have a new little ladder I was able to get done fairly quickly.

Are we following any specific plans? Well, no. We're kind of making it up as we go along, but I have seen some pictures of nice looking chook houses in the past. My quick diagram drawn up originally has been put aside, as hubby restructures based on the materials at hand.

Basically, though, we've worked it to be 1m sq at the base and top, and around 1.5m heigh. The perches are 80cm from the ground as we know that the hens can jump that high to roost.

The laying box was just made to fit in the space left, 50cm high and 60cm deep. This will be protruding out the wire fencing so we can easily access the eggs.

The door is facing east to minimise the heat entering the chookhouse at the height of summer, and a window facing north for ventilation, which was just a flap of timber we'll prop open, reinforced with wire. ** I would have preferred the window to be facing west, minimising light into the laying box so the chooks felt secure, but it didn't work out that way. I've nailed some scrap timber across the front of the inside of laying box to help make it 'cosy' for them.

That's about it for now, I'm afraid. Hopefully the door will go on soon, then the roof with some left over colourbond steel from our fencing. Then it'll be time to seal up the gaps and get out the paint!

If you want to follow-up with more information on building chook houses, here are some interesting sites: Chooks and Veggies, an A frame plan you can purchase, more plans for various types of houses as an ebook, and the Backyard Poultry forum has lots of extra links too.

***********

This week's been so mild. It's been delightful being outside. Our pear tree is turning all lovely shades of reds, browns and yellows.

The neighbour's tree is completely bare now, but already full of buds waiting to erupt into new life. It's nice to actually see the birds cavorting there than just hearing them as I hang the washing out on the clothesline. This cheeky starling was showing off with a fancy song of clicks and whistles.

We've been watching Maestro's trial patch of wheat coming along, but as it was sown much too late in the year, the ears are not at what they should be. We'll keep going, though, see what the end result will be, and then sow another patch properly in September.

Now, I was wondering where out cat was hiding most of today, and then heard a rustling in the long 'unkempt' grass at the back of our garage. Someone's been busy soaking up as much sun as possible on this lovely day!

Too lovely a day for indoors!

Out came the children running.
All the little boys and girls
With rosy cheeks and flaxen curls,
And sparkling eyes and teeth like pearls,
Tripping and skipping, ran merrily after
The wonderful music with shouting and laughter.

Robert Browning

"The Pied Piper"

We have such a beautiful autumn day here, that we simple can't stay inside! The children are all over their illness and need to run and play. Today is certainly the day to escape.

So we grabbed bicycles and headed out.

Enjoyed crunching through the fallen leaves.

Stopped to look at pretty flowers in gardens.

And inspected by a magpie!

We're all happily refreshed, ready for afternoon activities and a relaxing evening. I needed to get out as much as the children.