My Box

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Christopher Bunnies

Yep, they sure are cute. These are Chrisophers Bunnies. Sam in the hay, Charlie eating and Curly with his toys. As far as pets go Rabbits are probably number one in our books. They are very affectionate and loving and don't bark unlike our dog... he's cute too but can be a bit naughty. Sam and Charlie live outside in this amazing hutch Christopher build them with a big out door area for during the day... Photo to come... Little Curly lives inside as we rescued him when he was still a tiny kitten and he became a house rabbit,. I don't think he would have it any other way.

Alex's Pottery

Thought I'd start posting regular photos of my finished pottery. Everybody keeps saying that they have not seen any of my work, so here ya go. I do sell my pottery so leave a comment and your details if your interested in anything.

Pottery Garden Urn

So I've been had building a Garden Urn, fancy name for plant pot really. Anyway its made from coils of earthenware clay, which I then pinched together. I had added feet.... yes feet (see detail) I'm really pleased with them and now I have applied an black oxide.

I'm very excited about the first bisque firing coming up. Jane and I are planning a wood firing in the backyard for the final stage, so that's going to be heaps of fun....

Our chooks

So the new new chickens 'chooks' are all laying now and very happy scratching around the backyard, bottom of the property and in the little creek.

Some chook lingo:
A baby is called a chicken or chick.
A male under 12 months is called a cockerel.
A female under 12 months is a called pullet.
A male over 12 months is called a rooster or a cock.
A female over 12 months is called a hen.
Poultry is the word to describe domestic birds such as chickens, ducks, and turkeys as a group.
The word 'chook' is Australian & New Zealand slang for chicken!
A bantam is a very small chicken that produces smaller eggs.

Covered garden boxes

It can be hard to get vegies to grow in the winter frost, hale, and cold winds. Last year we built these covered boxes for our plants over winter, they where cheap to make and are really effective. We used fence palings, plastic and tacks.

Gus our wooly dog

So I have not done much blogging over the last few weeks, its been a crazy old time, big computer crash, works been busy - late nights so I have not really felt sitting in front of a computer for any longer than I had too. I also find winter a bit depressing so its hard to get motivated. Anyway I'm feeling a bit better about things and I have a little more time, so here goes.... any eazy post to start with.

In winter our little spaniel 'Gus' gets very thick, long wooly fur and is very cute - you just want to hug him all the time. 'Wooly' is also his nick name, he normally gets called that in winter, he seems to know both names. These are photos of him in the paddock playing soccer and against the fence asleep in the dirt. It seems the longer his fur gets the more he likes mud and dirt. Its a dog thing I suppose.


I think he looks like 'Wokie' from 'Star Wars' in this photo.

The Truth about Pigs

"I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals."
British politician and Nobel Prize Laureate Winston Churchill.

Most people don't have the privilege of getting to know a pig. For most of us, the thought of pigs conjure images of dirty, greedy animals living in their own waste. We couldn't be more wrong! Pigs don't perspire, and so wallow in mud to keep themselves cool. They are naturally very clean animals and, if given the choice, they prefer to cool themselves down in fresh water. When in a natural environment, pigs build communal nests and toilet areas away from their sleeping area.

Smarter than Dogs?
Pigs are remarkably intelligent creatures thought by many to be smarter than dogs. They can be trained to respond to simple voice commands, and are easily toilet trained. Studies have revealed that pigs have a long memory and are able to focus on specific tasks even better than some primates... read more click here!

Left over tomatoes

We had a pile of left over Tomatoes and Herbs from our garden, so I have been busy in the kitchen making sure nothing went to waste. We died our herbs, made Green Tomato Pickles from the un-ripened fruit and Pasta Sauce from all the red ones. The Green Tomato Pickles recipe comes from my grand mother, they are really tasty and never last long. This is a photo of the jars still left. Click here for the recipes

Snow Garden

So as you may have already figured out its been quite cold and snowy this year in Blackheath. The only vegies that are doing much good are the seedlings in our new covered garden bed. So glad we made it and will probably have a few more built for next winter.

Where we live

We live on the top of the Great Dividing Range and our part in New South Wales (Australia) is called the 'Blue Mountains'. Its about 1.5 hours from Syndey CBD. (Central Business District). The photo shows our town 'Blackheath' on the plateau.

The range comprises a well-dissected sandstone plateau that rises from an eastern escarpment. Its slopes are generally precipitous and scary. Blackheath is 1100m (3600 feet) from sea level and sits pretty much on the very top - its kinda cool.

In 1788 the Blue Mountains were originally named "Carmarthen Hills" and "Landsdowne Hills" by Governor Phillip, (really bad names). The Blue Mountains is densely populated by oil bearing Eucalyptus trees. The atmosphere is filled with finely dispersed droplets of oil, which, in combination with dust particles and water vapour, scatter short-wave length rays of light which are predominantly blue in colour. It wasn't long after 1788 that the distinctive blue haze saw the change in name to the Blue Mountains.

The first Europeans to cross the range were the explorers Gregory Blaxland, William C. Wentworth, and William Lawson in 1813. We have towns named after them.

Snow Dog

Well it's not the most exciting podcast in the world, but we only get a few days snow a year, so to us its pretty exciting!

Chicken Cam

Yes its a little Podcast / Chicken Cam so you can see our new new girls. Its all a bit silly really, but I had fun doing it.

The Chronicles of Narnia

We went out and brought the DVD 'The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe' last week. I had just finished reading the books and was keen to see the movie. Although it has a stolen story line from the bible, I enjoyed it anyway - the messages are still positive ones, even if you are a non beliver.

Anyway as for the movie, I was more disappointed than a disappointed thing is disappointed.

I'm not a big fan of talking animals movies, but the talking animals where probably the best part of this movie and the kids where pretty good too. I liked William Moseley as Peter the best. The CGI was really bad in places and the story line dragged. I did not get that feeling of magic, excitement and wonder that I got from the book. My biggest gripe is probably with Tilda Swinton as the White Witch - she was so not scary at all and I thought her acting was dreadful in this movie and as for her castle, talk about dull. I expected something more imposing like Mordor but with ice instead of fire.

Maybe I was just expecting too much. I give it a 'luke warm' rating, It was just too disney.

Chicken x 3

Yep we have some new chooks (3). The Black one is Charlotte, the Red one in the middle is Veronica but the other girl, who looks like really expensive wood grain, on the left, still has no name.... If any one has suggestions please leave a comment, I would love to hear them....

PS: Chicken Video Podcast coming very soon.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Robbie Swan is a good friend of ours and is always fighting the good fight, this is a letter he recently sent to the The Mercury, Hobart (Sat 15 Apr 2006).

And violence?

Senator Guy Barnett's push to block children from having access to explicit sexual material and extreme violence in libraries (Letters, April 11) is laudable but will not work, mostly because he does not believe his own rhetoric.

For sure, he has sex in his sights and he will pursue erotica and pornography with the zeal of the morals campaigner.

But when it comes to pursuing "extreme violence" it's amazing how often this aspect of his crusade seems to fall off the agenda. If he is serious about stopping access to extreme violence then he will have to include about 3000 gruesome R-rated films that show people being decapitated, disembowelled, raped, murdered and tortured that are displayed on the websites of the nation's major film distributors.

He'll also have to filter news broadcasts which show people blown to pieces in car bombs in the Middle East, extreme right-wing hate speech sites and a host of other extreme violence sites of varying shades.

Oh, and while he's about it will he have the courage of his convictions to ban children's eyes from Mel Gibson's gruesome religious spectacle, The Passion of the Christ? Or does he see this as "religious instruction" and quite OK for 15-year-olds in the local library? Pornography, like violence, is often in the eye of the beholder.

Robbie Swan
Eros Association inc

Diggin!

Alex diggin
So the Summers over and the chill is in the air. I've been busy digging up all the old garden beds for our winter crops. Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Beans, Spinach, Rocket, Garlic and Onions.

Christopher screwing on the roof panels
We also build ourselves a new garden box over the weekend with a roof to keep the frost and snow off the lettuce.

Bunny!

Well I hope you all had a nice Easter and did not eat toooo much chocolate. Its been real quite up here on the mountain top, I'm a bit borrrred today and not really sure what to do with myself, I get like that sometimes... to much quite. This is one of Christopher's bunnies, his name is Charlie cute ay!

Sky

I was laying in the park yesterday under a lamp post and noticed just how beautiful the sky was, so I took a heap of photos, here are three. If you would like a larger copy for your desk top send me an email or leave a comment. Alexxx

Simon and Lee

Pictured Jeff, Me, Lee, Simon and in the middle Sheba the dog - Winter 1972

When I was a little kid I had a best mate Simon, we lived across from each other on Calander Street. Our dad's where in the same navy squadron at the base in Nowra - HMAS Albatross, and our mums being navy wives became best friends... and still are.

When I was about 15 his family moved away to Queensland and I had not seen Simon since.

I saw his mum Michele and bother Lee in 1986, we had a picnic at Moony Monny Creek... (do remember that Lee?) I have warm memories of that day, most of my strongest memories include days at the beach.



Pictured above Lee, Michele, Arna and Barry - Summer 1986 - Moony Monny Creek

I finally got to catch up with Simon after these many years and it was really great to see him. It felt like a blind date at first, neither of us knowing what to expect after all this time.

Simon stayed with us for 3 days and I'm happy to report he's a cool guy and was a great house guest. He's actually very similar to my child hood memories of him. I'm sure we will be both much closer again.



Simon With our dog Gus Blackheath NSW 2006