Chicken Love.

It's raining today. We managed a family walk (it's a public holiday, Labour Day) this morning in the drizzle. But now it's really set in. So to brighten my day, here are some pictures of my favourite creatures - my chooks! Hope it brightens your day too.

The rooster - he doesn't really have a name except for rooster. He is a Silver Laced Wyandotte.

This is one of the black twins. I have a few mongrels that I'm going to house seperately (once the dog's off heat) and use for raising babies when they go broody. This is one of them. She has a bit of Silky and Barred Rock in her, not that you can tell. She has an identical sister.

This is my Silver Grey Dorking. She is quite low-slung and has five toes, which is standard for her breed. Her feathers have the most beautiful subtle grey markings.

This is Speckles, another mongrel. Her Barred Rock is much more obvious.

This is Fidget, my flighty scaredy-cat Araucana. She lays wee little blue eggs.

And one of the Fluffy-butt sisters. This is the one without the missing patch of feathers. She is a Blue Orpington. Her skirt of fluff gets all bedraggled when walking in the wet grass and suddenly you can see her legs!

And Miss Floppy, my brown leghorn, with her big floppy comb. My daughter calls her Foppy.

And if I resigned, maybe I could convince my family to let me go on this permaculture design course! Two weeks, live in, at least seven hours drive from home........well, I guess I can dream.

Thoughts

It's our turn for the sickies. Blech. Little boy home from school with an exhausting cough. I've got it too and lots of snot. Took the night off work on Thursday but here I am on Friday night because there is pretty much no-one else to work! Only one woman in who has just had her seventh baby and doesn't need much help from me. I'm alcoholling my hands and holding my breath whenever I go near her room, just in case.

I'm in the throws of deciding whether to give up work or not. I went back to work almost a year ago because I was going a little crazy and financially we REALLY needed it. But now it's not so tough moneywise and I'm finding I'm going crazy in a different way.

My family has no routine and it's hard for the little ones who never know if Mummy is going to tuck them in at night, be there if they wake in the night or be home with them for breakfast. Darlin' Hubby is putting in the whinge too about us never being at home together - it's either him home with the kids and me working or vice versa. I put it to him that maybe HE should quit his job, but being self-employed that's not really a goer. And besides it's me who's not really enjoying my job.

And that's the big thing. When I studied Midwifery about eight years ago, I was passionate about it in a "I'm gunna change the world" kind of way. And now I'm not. I'm still interested in it, I still enjoy it and I still think it's important. But I'm just not PASSIONATE about it.

I went down to Auckland for a one-day workshop on Wednesday. It was an amazing workshop on Childbirth Education. Inspiring, informing, energetic. But it confirmed my thoughts, I've lost my real enthusiasm for it all.

It might be that it's because of the impact it has on my family. It might be because there is not as much time left over for the other things I want to do, namely quilting and, for a want of a better word, homesteading. But whatever the reason, it's getting mighty hard to look forward to another shift.

What do you do when you have a big decision to make? What helps you sort out your thoughts?

5!!

This morning I rushed home from work after a 12 hour night shift so I could say Happy Birthday to my boy and watch him open his presents. I managed to make a few of his gifts but he was thoroughly spoilt with other bought things too.

The crown was fun to make and with velcro on the back, it fits him and his little sister and will still fit him for a while to come yet.

The treasure below was a real hit. He's into pirates, knights and particularly their treasure and he has little stashes of bottle tops, coins, gold trinkety things and anything else shiny scattered around the house. So a little gold spray paint, some driveway rocks and a repurposed blouse sleeve and you have a pirate treasure sack!

I also made him a cape, which only came off (very reluctantly) before bed.

After a few hugs and swordfights (another birthday gift), I helped load the kids in the car for my hubby to take them to daycare. We also loaded in the cake for daycare's afternoon tea (I forgot to take a pic!). And then hubby causually mentioned that maybe I should look at the dog.

Emma is in season and so is confined to the small chook run and only let out for supervised (should that be chaperoned!?) walks. But this morning her baboon bum was kinda scary looking and had something pink poking out of it. In midwifery terms, if she was a woman, I was seeing a good peek of baby's head!

All I wanted to do was jump into my bed and snooze, but no, I had to call the vet. Here is where I should mention that buying a second dog was my HUSBAND'S idea. And he is the one who didn't want to spay her because he might want to breed from her if she turned out to be a good duck dog. Here is where I mention that it has always been ME that takes her to the vet for her shots etc. Grump, grump.

The upshot is I didn't get to bed till late morning and Emma will be spayed after this cycle. She has a prolapsed vag**a and it will keep happening every heat, it can get infected, it's very uncomfortable etc. etc. She is on antibiotics and an anti-inflammatory and yes, it was ME giving her her pills tonight because my husband is away on a fishing trip.

On his new launch.

And yes, there will be a whole post about THAT.

Anyway, Will had a birthday dinner of squid rings at his Grandparent's house and is now peacefully sleeping in bed, tucked up with a few of his favourite presents! Happy Birthday my son.

School

I once was quite enamoured by the idea of homeschooling. That was before I had children! I make a joke out of it but I truly realised that I would not have the patience. And I think my son and I are very similar so we tend to clash.

So Monday 9.00 o'clock found us at the gates of our small local school. Who was nervous and who was excited?

We were introduced to Will's teacher and his class of about 15. Another new Mum and I followed them around as they went to physical ed, which consisted of 10 minutes skipping with the whole school; assembly, where the principal pulled out a guitar and sang happy birthday to the kids who had had a birthday over the holidays; and then back to the classroom for reciting the date, months, numbers and shapes. I left when they started doing reading and writing practice.

I hugged my boy and left him sobbing.

Lunchtime I came back as arranged to see how he was doing and probably pick him up. I peeked in the class window and saw him sitting on the mat at the teacher's feet happily working away with a pencil in his hand. Other children were working at their tables and would periodically come up to the teacher and ask for help. It looked peaceful and industrious and what gladdened my heart was the smile on my son's face.

He decided to stay the rest of the day.