'Welcome little ones.'

So...we have 7 chicks and I suspect that that is all we will get now, though there are still 6 unhatched eggs in the nest. They are all looking healthy and 'cheeping' happily and have been feeding and drinking but they have not left the nest yet.It means we now have 20 chickens. I don't think we can name these new ones because they might be sold or be for the pot! Eek!We can't keep them all...we are already swamped with eggs!

In other news...After 'Syphon attempt number 7' we practically gave up and resigned ourselves to having to use Jenny 2 to pump water from Foxwater to the dam. We ran her for a few hours yesterday and the same today but just as we went to turn her off this afternoon we had one final attempt at disconnecting the pump quickly and....(we are still holding our breath)...it seems to be working at last!The dam in December 2013.The dam today....and still rising.I had a chainsaw lesson today....and we cut lots of wood!

Eggsiting 'Chook' news!

So...today is 21 days since Keket started to sit on 13 eggs and this afternoon we heard 'cheeping'...one egg has hatched so far.More updates to follow.

The last bastion of grime.

So...it has been another day of rain...(we have ventured out for for Day 3 of our 'syphoning' attempts...see previous post)...and have for much of the time been confined to indoors.There is a corner of the house that, as yet, has remained un- 'Nickified'.It is the corner of the house that has sunk the most and where there are two sets of bookshelves full of Will's books. Ever since we have moved in I have been meaning to tackle these shelves. It is obvious that the Frogknot rats and mice (may they rest in peace) did not think much of Will's library for the books are covered with rat and mouse pooh!Well, today was that day...when, with nothing else more pressing to do, I tackled those shelves, dusted, swept and sorted the books.There were piles of books on gardening and permaculture, weird novels and science fiction books, books on gender studies and Celtic myths, cookery books, books on Anthropology and different religions of the World from his Religious Studies.Here are some from his collection:

I did come across one very useful book!My work here is done...

Will had an idea!

So...Will had an idea.With all this rain we have been having and Foxwater (the normally dry pool halfway down the drive) full and overflowing, Will had the idea to syphon water from Foxwater into the dam.It was a good idea.First we had to recover the old poly pipe that Will used to use to carry water from the dam down to the Kiwifruit Orchard for Pansy the cow. It looked in pretty good nick to say that it had lain there for 9 years and was overgrown.Foxwater is higher in altitude than the dam so in theory the water should flow along the pipe even though part of the way is uphill.Day 1 - Syphon attempt number 1:We lay the pipe out (it must be about 500 metres long) and connected it to the hose and filled it with water then sealing both ends Will dragged one end over the hill to Foxwater. The other end was about three metres short of the dam. We co-ordinated by phone and at the same moment Will put his end of the pipe in 'Foxwater' and I opened the other end down by the dam. Water began to flow out....Success?Well, no. It turned out it was just the water in the pipe flowing down hill and into the dam. Will thinks it stopped because he lifted it out to feel if there was suction at the 'Foxwater' end and air got in.Day 2 - Syphon attempt number 2:We needed more help. So we got the free pump that came with our water tank and Will (thankfully!) got Jenny 2 going and we set them up down by the dam and tried to pump water from Foxwater but it didn't work as there was too much air in the pipe.Syphon attempt number 3:We reconnected the hosepipe and filled the pipe with water again to push out all the air bubbles and tried again...but this attempt failed too.(I would have given up at this point...)Syphon attempt number 4:We took Jenny 2 and the pump over to Foxwater and pumped water from there into the dam and once we were sure the pipe was full of water released both ends to allow for natural syphoning....it seemed to be working but then the flow stopped...again. We noticed that some of the pipe was sucked in by the pressure of the water flowing quickly downhill and wondered if air was getting in the pipe at the 'dam' end because that end was not actually in the water.Day 3 - Syphon attempt number 5:We extended the pipe so that both ends were now under water and once again pumped water from Foxwater over to the dam to fill the pipe. We decided to leave the pump going for a while but after an hour discovered that Jenny had stopped (perhaps overheating) and the flow had stopped again.(Now I was past the point of despair and determined not to let it beat us.)Syphon attempt number 6:Again we pumped water over the hill from Foxwater to the dam and once the pipe was full removed one end from the pump and put it in the water. Will could feel that the pipe at the Foxwater end had natural suction and so we hoped we had cracked it finally.Sadly we haven't. The flow has again stopped. We are not sure why. There is a taped section of pipe that might be letting air in and there is a also a weakened section that keeps flattening due to pressure. Our next plan of action is to replace those sections of pipe and try again.Hopefully our persistence will pay off.

Anybody want any eggs?!