Badger Galore
Staying ‘Up Over’ for a while.
This Year's Epistle.
Frogknotians.Chapter16.Verse 1;And it came to pass that they didst leave the City and journey unto the Wilderness to dwell, yea even unto the House of Will which he hadst built from straw and mud, and it was not unlike a stable. And the beasts therein were not oxen, nor asses but vermin and insects of every shape and size and it was not good. But Nick didst lay his hand upon the House of Will and it became clean and ordered and he cast out the beasts therein and close-ed up their entrances and exits and it was better if not good.And lo, Will didst hear from an oracle saying “I needst a cheese maker!” And Will spake saying “Bless-ed are the cheese makers! For surely this is mine destiny,” and he didst toil in the house of Curds and Whey and he thought it good. But Nick didst not like cheese for it was milk that hath gone off and stank and he didst not think it so good.Verse 2;And in the second month they were visited by the eldest son of Nick, Joshua and his partner Helena and they didst look upon the Wilderness and saw that it was good.And it also came to pass, in those days, that Nick didst once more decide to suffer the little children to come unto him and yea, Nick suffered greatly but the rewards of his sufferance were greatly needed.And Nick was, finally, called unto the city and didst lay before the healers and they didst cut out that which grew upon his lung and cast it aside saying “It wast not evil but it is gone, now pick up thy bag and walk,” and Nick didst go down to the River to stay, laying about that place all day. And didst he wear a gloomy frown? Good Lord! No he was gay!Verse 3;And in the fourth month Lewis and Nathan, the other sons of Nick, didst visit with them in the Wilderness. They didst climb mountains, wander beside the sea, navigate rivers and journeyed far, yea, even unto Sydney and Canberra and they saw that the Land of their Father was good. And in the sixth month, Phoebe, the daughter of Will didst visit upon them and lo, she didst still commune with the little angels and didst build a temple for them beside the still waters. Verse 4;And in those days, Nick and Will didst begin to build for the House of Will, which was built of straw and mud, hadst begun to crumble, but not as greatly as Jericho. And firstly they didst build a shed for their donkey Roxy and then they didst begin upon the Tower of Bathing but the walls are still to be raise-ed from the ground.Verse 5;And in the tenth month Will didst buy another Donkey, Sky Blue and she didst come to dwell in the Wilderness in the shed of Roxy. And in those days, it came to pass, that the neighbours of Will and Nick, who were not unlike Samaritans didst journey away unto a festival of music and song and whilst departed from that place their dwelling didst begin to burn. And Nick didst stumble upon their burning home and was sore afraid and didst call to Will who came in haste but they were helpless and they watched, wailing and gnashing their teeth as their neighbours home was destroyed.And their neighbours didst return in sorrow but being not unlike Samaritans, didst pick up their spirits and work and began to rebuild their home. And lo it shall probably come to pass that they shall complete their dwelling before Nick and Will complete the Tower of Bathing.And in the final days Nick and Will didst prepare to journey unto the River for a feast and the giving and receiving of gifts, and they look-ed forward to the New Year when they shall return unto Eden for 30 days and 30 nights to visit with the family of Nick.And so it is written and so it shall come to pass.Here endeth the lesson.
Always at the last minute!
So... we are on the eve of departure for our Christmas Break.Will was cheese making today.Yesterday, in preparation for our absence I blocked up most of the 'chook' pen entrance but left a gap at the top and fitted a ramp on the inside and a branch ladder on the outside so that chickens 'can' get in and out...but, the idea being, that foxes can't!I was most worried about the 3 little chicks being able to cope but miraculously come dusk yesterday everyone had managed to negotiate the obstacle course and everyone was roosting in the shed. It seemed it was all going smoothly....except this morning Arce, Iris, Long-Mu and Dou-Mu couldn't seem to fathom the way out again ('Up the ramp you idiots!'). I tried to coax them out with grain and lettuce but they couldn't seem to realise that they had to go up the ramp to get out. The 3 little chicks managed it and when their mum couldn't get out they just went back in again.Everyone else had a lovely day wandering the garden but the other four spent the whole day cooped up...but they have to learn.I went over and let the neighbours hens out and then met Will in town and we got some material to make curtains for the van.We came back, cut the material and Will got out his old sewing machine and he tried to hem the curtains. I set to making sure that if we needed to have the windows of the van open at night no flippin' mosquitoes could get in. I ended up sewing suction cups on to some mesh that we can stick on the outside of the van over the windows.Will was having no luck with the sewing machine, the thread kept on breaking so we gave up and ended up sewing the hems by hand.We got the curtain wires fixed up but had to stop at 6.00 because as it was Thursday we always go to Ballandean Tavern for tea. It was dark when we got back and we went to check the chickens....we counted who those who had managed to get back to the shed...2 were missing.Luckily we found them not too far away and lifted them back into the safety of the shed. Yesterday they had negotiated the way back in. Why not today. It was worrying because tomorrow we won't be here to help them if they can't get back in. We can only hope that come the morning they all manage to use the ramp out and get used to it other wise we will have to reopen the gate and they will be more vulnerable to fox attack while we are away.We had no time for TV tonight, we had more curtain sewing to do, Will went out to plant some plants in the dark, he also tried to remove the spare tyre from the van as it was flat but it was too hard in the dark. Then we wrapped some presents before the Cheese Maker retired to bed. He is getting up at 3.00 am tomorrow so he can be home earlier. We need to be heading off to Brisbane before 1.00 pm.He left me wrapping still more presents then I hemmed the last two curtains before I could sit down and do this.Christmas eh? Bah Humbug!