Life in the country

I've been rising early for a 7km run/walk at 5am recently, heading out at dawn so I am back in time to rouse Joshua to be ready to catch the school bus at 7:30.
It is usually a very peaceful time, enjoying the cool before the flies come out. However, last week I twice had to dodge wandering stock - sheep escapees from the inadequately fenced paddocks beside the road out of town. I now have the shire ranger's mobile number in my phone contact's list, because this constitutes an "emergency situation" as sheep on the road can quickly lead to crashes on the road. This week I've been swooped upon by a mating pair of nesting magpies, who are extremely territorial. I'm learning to distinguish the raucous caaaw of their warning call from the rolling trill of their all clear.

The misty dawns are simply magnificent.

On the way to my regular KYB Bible study group 50km from where I live, I drive past this farm.

The local farmers have finished their main hay harvest and canola swathing, and are well into the canola (similar to rapeseed) harvest. Wheat and then barley are still to go. Some farmers then harvest their wheat or barley stubble as a second hay harvest.

The Knight's Adventure

Starring:

Samuel as The Knight
Mum as The Village Healer
Baarito and Baanabas as The Monsters

Winter Sun at dawn and dusk

Fog over the paddocks at sunrise, Arthur River

Fog over the sea at sunrise, Albany

Golden sunrise, Kojonup

Another misty dawn, Arthur River

 Psalm 19

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

 1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
    the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
 2 Day after day they pour forth speech;
    night after night they reveal knowledge.
 3 They have no speech, they use no words;
    no sound is heard from them.
 4 Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
    their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.
 5     It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
    like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
 6 It rises at one end of the heavens
    and makes its circuit to the other;
    nothing is deprived of its warmth.

Twilight, Cranbrook

First stars of the night, Cranbrook

I've been walking and driving a lot at sunrise and sunset in the short days of winter.

Sometimes all I could see was pitch dark on either side of my high beams on the highway. Then I'd notice the pale glow of a gibbous moon hovering on my left, and a spotlight from a tractor would wheel below, as a farmer seeded his paddocks.

This was peace.

End of term school music concert - Abigail

Backyard Chicken

Most of the eggs hatched by our broody hens have added more hens to our flock. Santa, Chrissie and Boxer, born late last year (guess when?), are all hens. Pecker, born from the same clutch, turned out to be a rooster. Alas, he was in for the chop, as soon as he started crowing.

Samuel eagerly did the honours after Jeff researched online the most humane way to slaughter a chicken, and the most efficient way to pluck one.

And, FYI, Pecker was indeed tasty!

Motorbike!

Joshua visits England

Warwick Castle

Sugar beets

Jeff and Joshua at our friend Mark's wedding

We've accidentally become "shepherds"

We have begun doing a Family Walk and Talk at 5pm every afternoon. We shoo out the neighbourhood kids, get everyone into socks and sneakers, and head out walking along the dirt road out of town. The second afternoon we saw a fox several times as it cut across two paddocks either side of the road. The next day we saw another fox and also a big black bull that had been put in one of the paddocks. These sights and others have led to some interesting discussions.

Yesterday, when we were almost to our turn around point (we walk a bit further every day), we found a newborn lamb outside her paddock's fence on the road verge. The lamb had probably escaped under the fence where it crosses a creek, but her mother would have been too big to follow, and the lamb could not find her way back to her mother. The mob of sheep in that paddock had all wandered off and seemed determined not to return. The ewe had possibly abandoned her lamb because they were separated for too long and the mother gave up on getting her back. Alternatively, the lamb may have been abandoned because she was a twin or not healthy. We’ve been told ewes have a habit of deserting lambs they don’t think will make it.

Abigail, our resident tender-hearted would-be-mother, began to cry at the thought of the lamb being killed by the foxes we had seen before. We decided to take her home and call some of our friends to ask for advice on raising a lamb. So now we are accidental shepherds!

We have decided the lamb's name shall be Gertrude Little (as in Mary had a "little" lamb), Gerty for short, although Sam has announced he will call her Cutey.


Our farmer friends came over after the kids were in bed and brought us half a bag of lamb formula mix, as well as some electrolyte medicine to prevent dehydration, and gave us lots of advice on how to care for Gertrude. We have to feed her three-hourly during the day but only very small amounts (about 50mL) for the first day or two, because abandoned lambs can die from overfeeding when being handfed. We have been warned "not to kill her with kindness.”

Gertrude’s poops show she is a very young lamb, possibly only a day or two old. She still has her umbilical cord hanging down, dried black and withered. We laid down newspaper in the chick-raising cabinet in the mud room that Joshua got for his birthday (which has not yet been used to hatch any chicks) and she slept in that last night. During the day we are putting her in the chicken run, though we will bring her in at night until she is bigger, because of the colder temperatures.

There was a big frightened fluster among the chickens when I carried Gertrude out to the back yard this morning after Abi and Sam had helped me feed her and she had promptly pooped all over my pyjamas. The chickens are presently too frightened of Gerty to come out from the far side of their coop where they are hiding from her under the tree, even though Lizzy Blizzard, Sharp Toes and even Snowy are probably bigger than Gertrude Little. I think they are worried she might be a dog and therefore dangerous.

The kids are all very excited to be shepherds, especially Sam and Abi. And me too! I can hear her bleating at the moment, but her bleats are not as loud as Sharp Toes’s crows, although he has been very silent today. Poor chickens. I hope they get over their fear of Gerty soon.

Book review: Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins

I chose to read Gregor the Overlander because it is written by the author of The Hunger Games but is written for younger kids like me. I enjoyed reading this book because at every twist and turn of the book something unexpected happened. It was also very funny in places.

Gregor lives in a New York apartment building, where he discovers a way to go underground, to the Underland. There he finds a hidden city, meets a princess, and goes on adventures with a giant rat, a giant bat, a giant cockroach and his little sister Boots.

I recommend this book to people who like to read about adventures, strange lands, prophecies, wars and dangerous quests. Gregor the Overlander is available from our school library. There are four more books that continue the stories of Gregor’s adventures. These may be borrowed as ebooks from the State Library of WA.

Reviewed by Anna, age 9.

(Anna wrote this for the school newsletter at the suggestion of our school librarian.)

A quote from the foundation of my nation's history

"While men continue to think freely, they will judge variously."
~ Watkin Tench, Captain of the Marines,
Sydney Cove, Port Jackson, New South Wales, 10 July 1788

A Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay, 1789

The Princess and the Knight, by Samuel

Once upon a time there was a handsome knight and a golden-robed princess. The knight was in hospital after he ran into trouble, and then the princess got into more trouble while she was waiting for him to recover. This is their story.

Chapter 1: The Knight
A long, long, long, long time ago there was a handsome knight. The knight was chased by a tornado. The tornado had thunder and lightning and trees.
The knight ran away, but the tornado sucked him up.
A year later, the knight was in a hospital. He didn’t know anything. He didn’t remember anything. But he was alive.
The end of the knight’s story.
But WAIT! This is not the end of the book, there’s more! So, please turn the page.

Chapter 2: The Lost Princess
As you know, the knight was gone in the tornado for one whole year, and then he was recovering in hospital. So now, I will tell you about the princess.
A long, long, long, long time ago there was a golden-robed princess. The princess was walking by the hospital, hoping that the knight would return to full strength. She was hoping he would help her be happy, by sharing lots of good things with her.
The princess thought the knight would be out of the hospital in ten more days. She was right!
But, by the time the knight got out of the hospital, the princess had become lost. She had heard a sound, a spooky sound. The princess did what the sound told her to do: she went into the Forest of Doom. The Forest was dark with evil all the time. But the princess did not know that.
The knight did know about the evil, dark forest, but he did not know that the princess was in there. He knew that there was a curse. He also knew that the dark forest had a dark hole, dripping with evil made by the curse.

Chapter 3: The Dark Curse
Ten days later, the golden-robed princess was caught by cursed vines. They wrapped around her until she couldn’t struggle. Then the cursed vines pulled her to a cottage deep in the forest, which had also been made by the curse. The vines let the princess go when she was tied up to a stake.
There was a witch waiting in the cottage. But the princess didn’t know about the witch.
The witch came out of the cottage with four potions. She went near the princess and put three potions down. She was mixing them together. The four colours of the potions were blue, green, yellow and blood-coloured red.
The princess kicked over two of the potions on the ground.
Then the witch told her with a very, very scary voice, “Do not touch my potions again, or else I will turn you into the very creature the knight hates most to fight: the Dragon of Doom, my pet!”
The princess screamed, “Aaaaaah!”
Then the witch was angry and she said to her baby dragon, “Mingo, I want you to scare her out of the dark forest!”

Chapter 4: The Dark Hole
Mingo did one thing that the witch didn’t tell him to do. Mingo put the princess near the dark hole. The princess thought that it was very deep. She was right. Mingo had scared her like the witch said, but he had not taken her out of the forest.
Then Mingo jumped very quickly for a little dragon. He jumped to the cottage, leaving the princess by the hole. Then, the princess slipped into the dark hole.

Chapter 5: The Most Deadly Sword
The knight realised the princess was in the dark forest. He thought, “She might be in the dark hole! I hope she won’t be turned into my arch-enemy, the Dragon of Doom, by the witch.”
So he got his golden armour and his most deadly sword and his trustworthy horse. The knight went to find his lovely golden-robed princess.
The knight rode his trustworthy horse to the dark forest. He rode his horse as fast and far as it would dare. He stopped when he got to the witch’s cottage. When he got off his horse, the horse ran away to its stable, because it was frightened by the dark hole!
Then the knight kicked as hard as he could on the door of the witch’s cottage.
The witch came out very angrily and asked, “Who are you? Oh! You are my arch-enemy.”
The knight pulled his most deadly sword out from its scabbard and put its tip near the throat of the witch. But the witch disappeared from his sight, and reappeared behind his back.
Then the knight slashed his sword backwards at the witch. But every time the knight slashed his sword, the witch disappeared and reappeared somewhere else.
Mingo was watching the fight. He dashed in to hurt the knight, but the knight chopped Mingo’s head off!
Then the witch began to cry. And she didn’t disappear. The knight slashed his sword one more time. This time the witch did not disappear. The sword stabbed her in the heart, where all the dark magic came from.
The knight realised he had killed the witch, but he still had not saved his beloved golden-robed princess.

Chapter 6: The Princess and the Knight
When the knight killed the witch, all the dark magic from her evil heart became a mist that blew to the dark hole. The knight followed the cloud of dark magic.
When the knight arrived at the dark hole, he heard a tune of the princess’s lovely singing. Then he looked and saw the princess rising up out of the hole to hug him.
Everything the dark witch had done was coming undone, now that her heart had been stabbed and the dark magic had escaped.

Chapter 7: The Happy King
When the princess and the knight came back to the kingdom, the king had died. The princess was the new queen. The knight married the new queen. Then, the knight became the new king.
The knight was a very, very, very happy king. Also, he was good. Very, very good, to be precise.
And they lived happily ever after. Very happily.
The end. But wait! I want to tell you something! This story could actually be a bedtime story. Now for the proper end… this is
The End of the Book.

Before you say, "I'm bored. What can I do?" READ THIS LIST

A list for the holidays.

What you can do outdoors:
Talk to the chickens. Check if they have laid any eggs.
Jump on the trampoline. Climb the tree and swing onto the trampoline.
Take a ball from the outdoor toy box and play catch.
Take a bat and ball from the outdoor toy box and play baseball or cricket.
Climb on the straw bales in the back yard and pretend you are king of the mountain. Jump off!
Take a piece of fruit from the kitchen bench and eat it. Feed the scraps to the chickens.
If it’s sunny, ask Mum or Dad if you can go to the skate park to ride your bike or scooter.
If it’s wet, ask Mum or Dad if you can put on your boots and raincoat and go puddle jumping.
Ask Dad if you can help him with his building projects.

What you can do indoors:
Ask Mum if she has any chores with which you can help.
Ask Joshua if you can battle Pokemon against him.
Ask Anna if you can listen to her play her guitar.
Ask Abigail if you can play Sylvanian Families with her.
Ask Samuel if you can read a story to him.
Read a book. Then read another book.
Do a puzzle or two or three: do dot-to-dots, or mazes, or cross-words, or find-a-words.
Draw a picture. Write a story about the picture.
Draw a map. Make a legend to explain what the symbols on the map represent.
Play with Lego. Then, tidy up the Lego before you play with something else.
Play a board game. Play a card game. Play a puzzle game.
Put on some music and dance and sing.
Put on dress ups and pretend to be someone else.
Ask Mum to read aloud to you or cook with you.

What you can do during afternoon Quiet Time:
Listen to a book-on-CD in the lounge room. Put the CD away in the CD case when you’re finished.
Read books on your bed. Put them away on the bookshelf when you’re finished.
Play with your teddies or dolls in your bedroom. Pack them away when you’re finished.

What you CANNOT do:
Use the computer or wii or iPad or iPod or TV, between 8am and sunset.

Motherhood is a Calling, Not a Hobby

I was browsing and found this post on DesiringGod.org. I think I might need to come back to it often, to encourage myself. Here's a tid-bit:

"Motherhood is not a hobby, it is a calling. You do not collect children because you find them cuter than stamps. It is not something to do if you can squeeze the time in. It is what God gave you time for.

Christian mothers carry their children in hostile territory. When you are in public with them, you are standing with, and defending, the objects of cultural dislike. You are publicly testifying that you value what God values, and that you refuse to value what the world values. You stand with the defenseless and in front of the needy. You represent everything that our culture hates, because you represent laying down your life for another—and laying down your life for another represents the gospel."

If you're a mother, be encouraged in your calling to demonstrate the gospel through your motherhood.

My Own Little Swallows

I've been reading Swallowdale by Arthur Ransome aloud to the kids recently, and this morning they went off as shipwrecked sailors and explorers to the open scrub up the road from our house, on the edge of our town.

They carried the necessary rations in "knapsacks":
"pemmican" (twiggy sticks)
"grog" (cans of ginger beer)
bread and "bun loaf" (homemade bread)
"marmalade" (since there is a general disinclination to digest marmalade among our children, they settled on a jar with butter)
"apples all round" (apples - duh)
"chocolate rations (real chocolate, individual bars so there was no arguing)
and some cheese.

They also carried their own supplies. Anna, as Ship's Mate and Cook, carried the bulk of the rations as well as two plastic knives. Joshua, as Ship's Captain and leader of the expedition, carried the Ship's Knife on a belt, and also carried the Ship's Compass and Whistle for rallying the crew. Abigail was the Able Seaman, and she carried the digital camera for the Ship's Log (although she didn't do a very good job at taking photos, unfortunately) and Samuel, the Ship's Boy, carried the tarpaulin and octopus straps for shelter. Everyone wore gumboots and warm jumpers.

Here they are, ready to proceed up the "beck" (the little seasonal creek that goes under the road into town).

A Mathematical Mind

The first words that Samuel spoke this morning, still hazy with dream-sleep, were "four ... teen ... times by one hundred ... equals one thousand four hundred." What six year old child dreams of multiplication equations with answers into the thousands? And gets them correct?

This is not the first time Samuel has woken with mathematics on his mind. A week ago he woke and rolled over (he often comes into our bed in the wee hours of the morning) to ask me a series of doubling questions, such as "what is twice one hundred and twenty eight?" and "what is twice two hundred and fifty six?"

Samuel loves numbers. Last week we walked to school calculating halves of various numbers. He wasn't just interested in half of one whole, although that is where he started. Then he wanted to know, among others, what was half of five and a half, and what was half of one hundred and one and a half.

We use number sequences as a distractor to calm him down, especially when we are walking somewhere, such as to school or church, and can't stop for a cuddle and a back rub. Once when we were shopping for shoes for his sisters, Samuel got fed up and we helped him to calm down by instructing him to count the silver studs on a leather belt for sale in the store.

This isn't a recent interest. Samuel could rote count to ten (echolalia-like) well before he could string two words together to make a sentence. He loved to count to three and then, once he'd learnt, to ten, before jumping from the coffee table into my waiting arms as I sat on the couch. He loved to count as Jeff and I walked along, swinging him between us holding his hands.

Well before the age of two, I knew my son had a mathematical mind.

Faction Athletics Carnival

I was genuinely pleased with my kids' great attitudes for sports day this year. There were no tears or grumpy comments about doing events that weren't their favourite. They exhibited patience between events and good sportsmanship during and after events. Success!

Samuel doing triple jump:

Abigail doing long jump:

Abigail was Champion of the Junior Girls.

Joshua doing high jump:

Anna's first for the 100m race:

Anna was the Runner-Up in the Intermediate Girls, and broke a school record for long jump.

Dress Up Days

Our school had two dress up days in the last week. The first was a Crazy Hair and Pyjamas day. With the cold weather we've been having lately, this necessitated track pants under the pjs and dressing gowns over them:

The second dress up day was space-themed to celebrate the end of Book Week. Anna was the only one who deliberately chose to dress up as a book character, perhaps because she's the only one who has yet read any science fiction. In the last month she has read Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (equal tie for my all time favourite SciFi book with Anne McCaffrey's Killashandra) and the Ender's Shadow series that follow after. She made her own costume and went as Ender Wiggin in his flash suit, with a Dragon Army logo on her shoulder and his transfer orders in her pocket. Abigail went as a "green headed alien", which Anna and I reinterpreted as a Formic/Bugger from Ender's Game. Samuel went as Darth Vader, along with approximately one fifth of the primary school population.

Bushwalking in the Great Southern

With our friend Gerard visiting, we decided to drive out to the Stirling Ranges and check out the Mt Trio hike. It is definitely not for the faint hearted, withe the trail heading straight up to begin with. The view was spectacular, but we didn't have the time (or the energy!) to complete the whole hike. This is the view back down the trail from our turn-around point:


Back at the bottom we spent some time allowing the kids to clamber over some boulders while we followed at a rather slower pace:


From the top of these boulders Jeff spied the endemic, elusive, Cranbrook Bell:


Later that day we headed further south to Albany and wandered over the granite slabs around the top of Mt Clarence to admire views of Albany township, Lake Seppings and Middleton Beach, Emu Point and Oyster Harbour.

Inventing Ice-cream

Samuel came up with a new flavour for ice-cream a few days ago. I thought it a good idea since one of the flavours is a favourite with Jeff and the other is a favourite with the kids. Unfortunately neither appeal particularly to me. I made some the next day and the kids and Jeff pronounced it "Delicious!"

 And the flavour is... marshmallow custard!

Recipe:

2 tbsp Nurse's custard powder

2 tbsp full cream milk

(store bought) vanilla ice-cream

white marshmallows

Instructions:

Mix custard powder with milk in a saucepan over low heat until completely dissolved and beginning to thicken. Place scoops of ice-cream into a plastic container and pour custard mixture over the icecream. Mix thoroughly (the ice-cream will melt). Add marshmallows and stir briefly. Place in freezer for a few hours to freeze then serve and enjoy.

This recipe might be improved by using an electric mixer to whisk the ingredients a bit to make the ice-cream lighter and fluffier. And it might be possible to make this completely from scratch using some recipe for homemade ice-cream as well. I am not a Cooking Type Person, so I don't know. I just know that my kids were happy. And that made me happy.

Five holidays in one

Over the last two weeks Jeff and I have enjoyed five mini-holidays:

1. We had a friend Ros come to visit.

2. Jeff took the kids to Granny & Gramps's farm while I went to Perth for a weekend to scrapbook.

3. We met up in Perth and drove to Southern Cross for a holiday staying three nights with another friend, Naomi. While there, we explored the site where gold was first found in WA.

And clambered all over Baladjie Rock.

On the way back we stopped off at Merredin to visit the historical water tower.

4. After a brief spell at home for a sleepover birthday party for Anna,

we drove via the Tin Horse Highway

to Wave Rock and Hyden.

"Where a man can see for miles
Still get lost, still be free.
At home in the bush
Where the heart wants to be."

Then it was on to Kalgoorlie for another three-night holiday, this time with my brother and his family.

We returned home via Perth again, this time spending a night in a caravan park where Granny and Gramps were also, purely by coincidence, staying.

5. We had more friends visit, Tim & Helen and their baby Nathanael, so their music team could bless our church with a Sunday morning special.

Now we are back home, without visitors, and the kids are back at school. Loving life.