Marriage equality

I got Yet Another Email urging people “fighting” for marriage equality to inundate politicians with messages of support for same sex marriage.

I fail at comprehending why this is an issue.

We are in a country that supposedly has a secular government, supposedly is big on giving a “fair go”, supposedly tolerant of all “race, colour and creed”. It’s also supposedly progressive thinking.

What we appear to have is a government that rolls over when religious groups and big businesses cry, throws money at people who want it and ignore the ones that need it, is cited globally as being racist, and cannot accept the fact that sometimes boys fall in love with boys and girls fall in love with girls.

24 Months of Cub (warning: nudity or partial thereof in first two pics)

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I am a terrible mother.

For my big two, I did a “12 months of…” for their first birthdays. My poor, neglected third child missed out. So I decided to make up with a 24 Months of Cub for his second birthday. Didn’t even do a write up like I did with 6yo and 4yo (hers got lost when the last reseller host ate technonaturalist and set my other sites back to June 2010).

Post-zoo entertainment

We hit up the Perth Zoo today, and I finally got around to getting the zoo membership passes. So now we can visit regularly without it costing an arm and a leg! We inadvertantly stayed there the whole day too. Maybe it was the cart. I’ve been avoiding going on the “adult and kids’ prices” days because it’s always packed out, on the other days it’s fine and we can always get a cart. Then the kids can hitch rides whenever they’re feeling a bit tired and we don’t end up walking over half the zoo before they’re complaining of being tired.

#bitz_n_peeces - the life and times of an irc channel

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It’s the end of an era, ending a chapter of my life, or something equally dramatic.

After many years of operation, I finally pulled the plug on #bitz_n_peeces. I wasn’t sure if I’d feel emo about it, or if it would be just another thing. I’m feeling a little from column A, a little from column B. I’m a little sad that it’s come to an end, but ending it was not a bad thing.

Tracking and running and happy. Oh my.

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Earlier this morning, Tali and I headed out to Lumen Christi for the TrackWest Open Day. We did a few tracks instructed by a trainer. First time tracking the poor pup was confused as he had me plus the trainer handling, and new equipment, long lead and harness, but he found 6yo sitting behind a chair in the middle of the wide open oval with no drama after a hesitant start.

Just milk bar

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Due to JJ taking an impromptu nap at an inopportune time and not waking up in between me leaving to take the dogs for a long walk and getting back from taking the dogs for a long walk, we got Chinese from the Golden Castle Chinese Restaurant down the road last night.

It would have taken just as long to cook in the end but anyway. The food is good. One of the dishes JJ got was prawns for himself and 6yo (mostly, as I’m allergic and 4yo doesn’t like them, and Cub gets to have one).

Loves long walks bush and fig jam

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Walking distance down the road from my place is Pioneer Park.

It’s marked “A” on the map. JJ and the kids went there to pick figs. I decided to take the dogs (and the toddler, who had to come with me as JJ was taking his car) for a bush walk.

Good day, "bad" day

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Yesterday was an awesome day. To counter, I had a rather average day. Compared to yesterday it was bad, but seriously in the grand scheme of things, it could have been a lot worse.

Good day

I went to bed at a reasonable time the night before. Slept in a little bit, woke up chirpy, had breakfast and did the usual morning computery stuff. The kids woke up all in a good mood, breastfed the two small ones, gave everyone breakfast, and had plenty of time to hang out the laundry and get lunch ready for homeschool group. We got there not quite as late as we usually do and I was feeling glad that I had opted to go instead of staying home to do the laundry as I had originally planned as EVERYONE was there.

Fire, possibly arson, on my doorstep

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Okay, maybe not quite on my doorstep. But it was a big fire. And it was possibly deliberately lit. First I noticed of it was the smoke. Not really that unusual, it’s Australia in summer. It happens.

Then JJ and the kids got home from City Farmers. The kids were terribly excited, rushing in yelling that we have to wake up the baby and get going. JJ came in and asked if I’d noticed the fire. I said I smelled the smoke but otherwise hadn’t been concerned about it, there’s occasionally fires up in the hills.

Organisational skills? What organisational skills?

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What’s been happening at Wannabe Farmstead? Feels like a lot. I was out with the dogs at the oval when it occurred to me:

• I can sort out and adjust training “schedules” in my head fast from observing the dogs while working with them
• I can work out learning styles and interests of the kids from observation and interaction and work out where to go and things to do that they might find interesting
• I can work around family stuff with minimal dramas
• I can do things for clients on time (provided they get me what I need when I say I need it by)
• I cannot organise my own way out of a paper bag

I should probably do something about that last point.