Chasing chooks.

So...this week Will has enjoyed the luxury of taking Roxy to work rather than riding in on Jaxy. Since the boys left and we returned to Frogknot I have spent two full days having a good old tidy up. The first day I blitzed the kitchen and the second day I swept and tidied the rest of the house.Each morning, however, has begun with 'chasing chooks'.Odin has been out of the pen every morning this week, following closely behind, as the second serial offender, is Keket who has been out twice and this morning it was Odin and Isis.Isis and Keket have had their wings clipped but somehow still manage to scale the fence. Luckily I have been able to corner Keket and Isis and throw them back in but Odin is another matter...I have only managed to get him back in by manoeuvering him near to the gate and opening it for him to run in.This morning I had had enough and decided to leave Odin and Isis out and I threw all the scraps to the well behaved chickens. Odin and Isis ran up and down the fence trying to get at the scraps in the pen but they missed them....they never last long.A few moments later I heard a fluttering of wings and there was Odin sat on a fence post surveying all below before he flew back down into the pen...but he still missed the scraps.I was outside again later and Odin was out of the pen again and this time Keket had joined Isis.I cut some garlic chives and threw them in and Odin came running to the gate which I opened and he ran back in. I then chased down Keket and Isis. Keket flew back in of her own accord but I caught Isis and threw her back in. Yes, I know I said I said I was going to leave them but on the outside they have no access to water. I was right to get them back in as Isis went straight to the water tray for a drink.When Will came home he caught Odin and clipped one of his wings but 10 minutes later there he was again atop of a fence post!Flippin' chooks!

Frogknot catch up.

So...the last three weeks have been taken up with showing Lewis and Nathan what it is like living here in Australia but now it is back to the old routine…Here is a catch up on other matters…

The chickens are doing well though we have had to clip the wings on Isis and Keket as they kept on escaping the pen. Isis is now being good but Keket continues to get out whenever she can...even with clipped wings.

On the first morning back at Frogknot after our trip to Canberra and Sydney one of the cockerels crowed for the first time but the hens have not yet started laying.

While we were away I picked up another supply day at the end of May and was asked to cover a Teaching Assistant post for a day but couldn't as I was a 800 kms away.

7 Celtis St was under contract to be sold, then it wasn't but now it is again...so hopefully that saga will all be over soon.

As for my camera....it broke again the day the boys arrived and I took it back to the shop the day we came back from Stradbroke Island. The same thing was happening that had happened to the previous two cameras with it over exposing certain shots. The long and the short of it was that Fuji could no longer replace it as they do not make that model anymore, nor were they prepared to replace it with a different model. I was offered a refund by the camera shop but it was only as credit in their store. I emailed them and said that as it was unlikely that I could afford anything in their shop even with the credit I would prefer the cash refund so that I could spend it elsewhere. Even though a cash refund was against their policy they agreed. My search for a replacement begins.

Roxy managed the trip really well. You may remember the overheating problems before the boys arrived but apart from a few moments where the temperature rose above normal, usually on uphill slopes, she coped really well all the way. I think Will running the engine with the radiator cap off got rid of any air bubbles in the system and I never once had to top the radiator up the whole way round.

We had a message from Deranie to say:

"..of everything in Phoebe's holidays the thing that she most wants to do again is having Lewis and Nathan visit".

Isn't that lovely?!

Oh...and I got a speeding ticket bringing the boys up to Frogknot!

I was doing 67 in a 60 km per hour zone. Damn!...$157 and a demerit on my license!

Feeling blue.

...And so we are back at Frogknot.We came back this afternoon. As soon as I walked in I felt a wave of sadness that Lewis and Nathan were not there. I wasn't expecting it at all as I thought the worst part would have been the parting but being back here brought it all back and I was sad again.As I write this they are still not landed...they are over Austria and still have two hours to go on the last leg of their flight.Up Over is such a long way away.

'Don't go!'

So...the terrible day has come and we had one last road trip ( for this trip) as we drove Lewis and Nathan to Brisbane.They did some last minute shopping in the city before we went to West End for dinner before heading to the airport.It was an emotional 'goodbye' as you would expect but I am sure they will be back at some point.It has been great to have them here and show them a little of Australia and what my life is like these days. They found it very difficult to say what  their highlight was as they have enjoyed it all.We left them heading into the Departure Lounge and drove to Ros's where we are staying tonight. At 9.00 pm I watched their plane taxi down the runway using the Flightradar 24 app and saw it was taking off over the city. About a minute later it flew over Ros's house and we saw it  and we were able to wave them off....but they would never have known.So it's back to my life Down Under...and missing them every day...again.

The last full day!

Oh no! The time has gone so quick and here we are with one full day left together.We had a lazy day yesterday staying around Frogknot after our whirlwind tour of S.E Australia. They were introduced to 'Galore' after dark then we watched the International Space Station go over which was a first for the boys. We played Settlers of Catan, a game Josh and Helena bought and introduced us to when he was here in February...I'll just mention that I won.Today we were back in sightseeing mode and went to Girraween to climb The Pyramid. It is a holiday weekend here too as well as in the U.K and the World and his wife also decided to go to Girraween. We have never seen the Day Use car park so packed!Luckily we chose the right time to go up just as most people who had been up were coming down and so we had the summit and sights to ourselves.We went to the rocks this afternoon for a last sunset. Walking up there I looked across to a rocky outcrop where we had once seen a stag and there was a man standing in plaid shorts and white t-shirt."There is someone standing over there" I said to Will, not quite believing what I was seeing.He turned out to be some fellow staying down the road at Amber Hill Winery who had just wandered up the hill to see the view."Is this your land?" He asked Will.He apologised for straying onto it but Will said he didn't mind.At the rocks we were thwarted  with the sunset as it was overcast and threatening rain.We came back to the house half expecting to find the man sat on the sofa eating our Timtams...but he wasn't there.We had 'nibbles' and the boys tried some of the cheese Will has made before they helped him bottle the beer he has been brewing while we have been away.Tomorrow we take them back to Brisbane for their flight home at 9.00 pm. I am not looking forward to it.