Snake on the go

Well, Snake has now reached 7 weeks of age.  What a transformation has taken place over the last week with him.
Not only has he grown in height and weight, he is now so active. The mischief he creates is mind blowing.
His constant stalking of Luke, hiding behind things and pouncing on Luke's legs as he passes.
Now running so fast, we just can't catch him and have to resort to trickery.  Luring him from beneath beds and grabbing him as fast as we can before he can disappear again.
His constant demands for a bottle, even though he now drinks from a bowl.  This he tries to do without us seeing him, if he realises he's been seen he runs and hides behind a door. Taking a sneaky peek around it to see if we have gone away, then going back for another slurp.
We had to go to Wodonga last week for three days and took the little scallywag with us.  He travelled quite well and in fact loves the car.  While there, we all went for a drive to the Hume Weir, there we let him frolic on the grassy knoll, much to the tourists delight. Don't think they had seen such a well travelled cat before.
My mum hates cats, so she says,  funny how I caught her feeding him a bottle and petting on more than one occassion.  He did seem to take a shine to her and would run to her if he was in trouble with us.
He has become quite vicious at times, biting and scratching since his milk teeth came in.  Can't wait until they fall out and he gets his adult ones.  They might be less sharp. Funny though he is calm and gentle with my younger son Mark. Often they can be found asleep together on the couch and if anyone dares to wake the sleeping monster, it's lookout.  NOTE TO SELF....buy some chain mail suits.

Hehe and they think I am sweet and innocent

Snake and Uncle Ducky having a snooze

It's mine I say, all mine

Snake and Grandma at the Hume Weir

Update on Snake

What an amazing time we have had raising this little bundle of joy.  When he came into our lives he was only 2 weeks old and by all rights too young to survive.
On the third night, we had a terrible scare, Snake was so gravely ill we had to take him to the vet at midnight.  During the day we had been given bad advice about putting him onto powdered milk formula.  Sadly it nearly killed him.  It took a lot of hard work and tender loving care to save his life. ( a big thanks to Jenni the vet, she was wonderful).
Now a 4 week old, he has gone through some incredible changes.  He got all his teeth in one day and promptly began to chew and bite us. Next he found out he could run,  hmmm , now we also run..after him.  Then he found out that long, skinny thing at the back of him would go side to side if he concentrated very hard. His tail wags all the time and he finds it such fun. Once his eyesight settled in, he began to play with toys much more and to chase us into the kitchen when we make his bottle.
This week he worked out if he runs to his feeding cushion and meows loudly,,we would make a bottle.  He also began to eat his big boy food.  In the form of soft kitten foods.  I was surprised at this because he still refuses to lap milk from a saucer.   He now goes to the bowl and taps it with his foot and meows for his meat.
When he gets dirty or his fur becomes a bit oily from the paraffin he has to take we have to bath him.. Imagine our surprise when he actually enjoyed it.  He now spends bathtime splashing the water and trying to catch the drops.  Tonight he began to stalk and chase his shadow.  The most curious little mite I have ever encountered.

                                      

I can only wonder what he will get up to next and am constantly pleased to see his little life prosper.

Rescuing Our Latest Family Member. "Snake" the Kitten

After a trip to town for supplies yesterday, I went out to water the gardens and clean the path down.
We have a lot of feral cats around here and one had parked beneath the tree in the yard.  So to make
it leave I gave it a quick squirt with the hose.
Upon doing this the cat moved and I heard a tiny squeak,  yes, you got it in one,  a kitten.
The mother cat, as it turned out had been bitten by a snake and brought her kitten to the yard for protection.  I got the impression she wanted it to be looked after, so of course, soft hearted Martha that I am, I brought the poor little mite inside and began to feed it with a dropper. 
Once the stores in town were open, I went in and got a proper bottle and teet to feed him.  He took to it pretty quickly and once fed settled to a deep sleep in my son's beanie.
Said son has become rather clucky with the kitten and we have decided to call him "Snake".

So, for me, it is back to night feeds and raising a young one. Oh for the joy of it all, looks like Snake is here to stay.

A week with Kevin the WWOOFER

Kevin is a 20 year old lad from France. His hometown of Llion lies between Paris and Merseilles.
When Kevin arrived here he had no experience with outdoor work or using tools.  In fact, Kevin is a student in Geography and Maths back home.
So in the time he had here with us, we had him clearing slashed grass, barrowing manure to the newest garden bed, feeding chickens and then got him using power tools during construction of the woodshed.
He was a quiet lad, possibly due to the language barrier.  However at the end of the week he did begin to come out of his shell a bit more.
During his time off, we took him to our usual places of interest in town, along with a few fishing trips at the channel not far from home.  He got his first taste of Australian bush food (as he called them), yabbies.  Kevin said they tasted lovely and would eat them any time.

We surely wish Kevin an enjoyable journey, while he is in Australia.

Kelly The Wonderous WWOOFER

What an amazing week we had while hosting Kelly here.
She came to us unknown, joined us in doing all kinds of tasks here at the farm.  Never once did she balk at a task set for her.  In fact it was quite hard to make her stop work when it was time to relax.
During Kelly's time here, she took on mulching, planting, digging, weeding, pushing a heavily laden barrow and a lot  of other tasks besides.
The impression she made on my quirky little family will be long lasting and I must say the joy she brought to the three of us will be treasured always. 
Quite often, I found Kelly and my two grown sons, playing rambo games with toy dart guns, laughter filling the air and bringing a smile to my face each time. She fed our chooks,  was surprised by the way Elvis our rooster growls like a dog, walked up the road to see the goats (which didn't oblige us by being close enough on the day). 
We all went to the local Fauna Park in town, where Kelly had a cockatoo snuggle up to her, while another screached loudly like a siren.  She met Wacker the talking cocky, who sounds like he's saying something else that rhymes with his name.  We had cappucino at Ferhat's Kebab Cafe, meeting locals while sitting at the alfresco tables.  We shared many wonderful conversations at the meal table, learning about each other along the way.
A lady I will remember and keep in my heart always.  

October Rains

The rains in October have been both a blessing and a curse in many areas of the state.
At our piece of paradise, we have 2 issues creating a problem for us.  The first is a water pipe that burst.  Not that it is leaking badly, but in a country that is prone to drought, I am always upset when water is wasted.
On top of being water logged from the leaking pipe, we are getting very heavy rain and now find the front half of our yard is under 6" of water.  Being in a zone that is basically flat, it isn't  running off so well and making it difficult to get work done on the pipe.

We just had contact with dear friends in Culcairn, they are now on high alert for flooding.  The hospital there is being evacuated by the local volunteer firefighters and many in the town have been moved to the local showground pavillions. I am told that the only bridge leading into town from the southern end has water lapping at the surface and that the water is expected to  peak at 4 mts tonight. Can only keep them all in my thoughts and prayers.

 It makes me realise how fortunate I am and how insignifigant my own situation is.

The beginnings.

My first WWOOFer has been and gone.  Sonita made a great impact during her time here and we managed a great deal of work together.
Some of the tasks we tackled together were, slashing the long grass with a scythe, raking it and barrowing the rubbish away.
We then began to lay thick papers and spread mulch over them to inhibit weed regrowth..a bit of a method in the madness here,  it means less mowing later on.
It will also provide me with a blank canvas to begin the design process for all the garden beds, boxes and tubs.
My son Luke, Sonita and I had a trip to the Fauna Park in town and spent a few hours rambling around and enjoying the moment.  We finished the day with a beautiful cappucino in their cafe and headed home for a rest and nice dinner.