Work, Wannabe and other projects and a dash of unschooling

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Firstly, what in the hell is with the life category?!

I’ve been (very slowly!) importing livejournal entries so I can replace missing photos. Very minor regret that I didn’t bother skimming through my shadowshifter livejournal before I deleted it as I probably had a few progress reports for my various projects kicking around on it, but oh well.

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.

Damn those stick fast fleas to hell

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The conclusion to the sorry chicken saga.

Where to begin. Can’t begin at the beginning, that’s already been done. See above. So, let’s find a point in the middle to start. Firstly, after Tempest’s last two chicks (the yellow one she’d hatched and the small Australorp she adopted) died, we worked out it was those bloody fleas. The adults weren’t so badly affected by all appearances, though the eggs were fewer and further between, so maybe they were affected. We seem to have bathed the heads of the other chicks in olive oil in time to prevent an outbreak of chick killing proportions. JJ also put some concrete slabs under the roost, as apparently this helps break their life cycle or something. We like to go with naturalish preventative measures and remedies as much as possible for everything, saving The Big Chemical Guns for when there is a situation that warrants it. This was one of those situations.

The sorry chicken saga

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There was much excitement and trepidation at Wannabe when Chess, our bossy little evil Pekin bantam went broody, and amusement when the more demure Tempest decided that she, too, would also like to hatch some eggs.

We were pretty thrilled to have broodies, as one of our long term plans was to increase our flock naturally, including letting the broodies raise their chicklets, and bring in new blood every so often to prevent too much inbreeding. This idea has since expanded to JJ planning on developing his own chicken breed.

Christmas time, mistletoe and wine, and slightly different this year

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The lovely Ursula (also known as SulaMoon) over at deviantART gave me and another friend of hers pearwood a dragon for Christmas.

I think it’s agonisingly cute. Ursula is an amazing artist.

Just on the subject of Christmas critters, I did a whole blog post on my Christmas present but that was wiped when my host got itself taken out.

Taking over the world, one verge at a time

[imported from livejournal and backdated]

Perth Natural Learning Network Dwellingup Camp

Once upon a time when JJ and I only had two kids, we slowly amassed a collection of camping gear including a three room mini-house, sleeping bags rated to -5C, and a pile of crockery from BCF and various army surplus stores. All this was foiled when I got pregnant for the third and last time.

Over the weekend just gone we added a fold-up accordionesque queen sized bed with blow up mattress and a bunk camp bed to our arsenal and sallied forth to Lane-Poole Reserve in Dwellingup with a wonderful group of people, our partners in thoughtcrime, fellow “unschoolers” from the newly named (but not newly formed, been going for at least two years) Perth Natural Learning Network.