Scorchio!

So...any body want to exchange some heat for a bit of cold?

Still here!

So...we are still here!We have been suffering with a terrible cold which I got first and then kindly passed it on to Will. Who knew that one person could produce so much mucus and phlegm!It was the kind of cold that tricks you into thinking you are getting better and then it comes back and lays you low again. I think I am over the worst of it now though Will is still partaking of drugs.We have made little progress on Blue Moon House though we removed all the windows sanded them down and re-puttied them. The silky oak wood they are made from will look lovely oiled on the inside of the house but we are painting the wood with white gloss on the outside. Will has done the three upstairs windows and they are ready to be put back in.We have had a heatwave for the past week or so...it seems longer...and everything is withering and dry. We have not had it as bad as some who have suffered temperatures in the 40's but the low 30's is still hot to me. Thankfully it does cool down quite a bit at night and eventually I can sleep.We need some rain and missed out today as a thunderous storm passed just to the north of us.We had a trip to Will's brother Danny's new house last Saturday and were going to stay the night in Sky Blue but Will started feeling unwell again and so we came back in the afternoon. It was nice to briefly catch up with Danny, Xiaoling, Wendy and Geoff though.Yesterday we spent  some time in the dam de-weeding it and will has used the weed that we removed to mulch part of the garden.Amé has settled well into her festive box, though the first time she came out she rushed back to the other chooks at the other pen and showed little inclination to go back. We have had to set up a self contained run for her to keep her near her nest. She comes out briefly each day for a dust bath, a drink and a peck about.We finally got rid of Beige Beauty, Will's old car, that has sat down by the 'Frogknot' gate for the last year. A guy came on Monday and took her away. Amazingly even though it has sat there in all weathers for a year, it started second time and he drove it onto the trailer! We had a failed attempt to get 'Trogdor the Burninator' down the hill and she now sits in an even more prominent position in the garden!The rats seem to have abandoned the ceiling with all the heat and we haven't caught one for ages. The lights in the garden are still working and have gone unchewed (Am I tempting fate?). We saw a little ring-tailed possum in a tree by the shed the other night rather than the usual brush tailed possums like Galore. We haven't seen one for ages.

Decorated.

'Heeeeere's the Book Cave!

So...this is where I work...

It is such a lovely building and a great place to work. 

Amé's Ordeal.

So... if you have been paying attention you will know that Amé is the hen we got from next door, the only survivor of their fox attack, who came to live with us as she was all on her own over there. Well, she is very highly strung and definitely has her wits about her and that is probably why she is still alive.You will remember that we got a dozen Guinea Fowl eggs and happily Arke went broody and started to sit upon them, however after two days she abandoned them and seemed very ill and we were worried she had caught something from the recently deceased Hecate. Arke has since recovered well but showed no desire to return to the eggs but yesterday Amé stepped up and began sitting on them. I couldn't believe it at first and kept checking to see if she was still sitting on them and at my third check she'd had enough interruption,  got up off them and wandered off for the rest of the day. I was kicking myself but she returned to sit on them last night.Today Will discovered the probable reason that Arke abandoned them, the nesting box is infested with mites! These little pests had pretty much drained poor Arke of her blood leaving her very weak. We now suspect that perhaps they are the reason for Hecate's death as she was spending the nights in the nesting boxes rather than roosting on the poles in the pen.We have removed Amé to the isolation box that we put Long-Mu into when she went cuckoo over Dou-Mu's chicks. Another reason for moving her was because the other hens are muscling into the nesting box she is sitting in and laying their eggs in there too forcing Amé out of the way and off some of the eggs. We have found her sitting on 8 while 4 are lying uncovered.This will hopefully be her home now until the eggs hatch...but if we do get some baby Guinea Fowl I suspect it will be a miracle after all the palaver that has gone on.We initially thought we would remove her at night but Will felt that was when the mites were most active so we went for her in broad daylight. It did not go well and she escaped out into the pen and had to be chased back in and then cornered again in there before finally being placed in her festive box.  We are leaving her undisturbed to settle in. Fingers crossed everybody.As for the others we need to treat the pen with diatomaceous earth, (yes such a thing actually exists though I have never heard of it). It sounds like something off Star Trek to me and is perhaps only found on one of the moons of Jupiter...but for our 'Chooks' we will boldly go wherever is needed.