Alexandrine Parrots

Went away for 24 hours, came home and Bill had obviously been out somewhere and was very evasive when I asked where he had been. I found out when I went down to the rumpus room and found these two birds in the spare cage. He had been to the RSPCA and adopted these two birds. The RSPCA had raided a house in south Canberra this week and taken away 160 birds and animals. Amy mentioned it to Bill as they had about  7 eclectus parrots there as well, so next thing you know Bill decides he needs some birds as well- so off he went. Not sure if they have been named yet but I cannot leave him home alone for very long!

Work Retreat to Durras

Went down to South Durras Friday afternoon and back Saturday afternoon for our annual retreat. We have a big team meeting and it is always a fun time. The weather was lovely and went for some lovely walks along the beach. There are some lovely rock formations along the beach that continually amaze me. Would love to bring some of the rocks home for my garden!

Spaghetti Squash

We grew spaghetti squash in our garden this year. We first had it in Vienna visiting Bindi and Simon. You bake in in the oven then get a fork and shred it, put in some butter, garlic, salt and pepper and it is just  yum!

Charlie at Baseball

Spent a pleasant  hour on Saturday morning watching my nephew Charlie playing baseball. I was lovely sitting in the shade and watching the kids play. Charlie ran up and gave me a big hug when I arrived which was just lovely!

 Charlie was fielding on first base, then he had a turn at catching and then playing left outfield

 He had two turns at batting. He did a good hit and got to first base, then the subsequent batters also hit the ball, here is is on Third Base- he made it home and got a run!

Got to catch up with Bindi and Mia which is always nice.

Here is Charlie out in left field- not sure that he is watching what is going on in the game!

Lachlan on Call

Lachlan is on call again for the week so brings home the work van- it is a different one this time and of course the dogs go crazy when a new car parks in the drive! Poor Lachlan's body clock is all over the shop at the moment. Last week he was working night shift from 10pm to 6am. This week he has had all sorts of shifts! He worked night shift Monday night, had no work Tuesday night because he had to go to CIT for Trade School on Wednesday as that had started up again then got home for a few hours sleep and had to head off to a night shift. Then he worked a Friday day shift starting at 6 am and didn't finish till 5pm.  Had to work Saturday as well, but got a call out Friday night about 11pm and had to be up for a 7am start- so who knows what will happen next week! Glad it is him and not me.

Dogs

Got some nice shots of the dogs this week when they were sitting outside with Amy. We have had some nice cool weather this week, so nice for being outside and the dogs always come out to join us!

Luna is now 2, she is a lovely looking dogs and has certainly settled down a lot in the 15 months she has been with us. She has certainly learnt to trust us more and is much more part of the family. She is now where near as naughty as she used to be but still gets up to mischief. The warm weather quietens her down, but last week with the cooler weather she had a bit more energy and looking for trouble!

Benji is such a sensitive dog and he is like a giant teddy bear- always up for a pat, brush or cuddle! He will be 8 in August so now at the senior dog stage though doesn't act like it!

We think Jack must be about 7. Poor Jack is the little dog and is often caught under foot of the big dogs to he knows when to steer clear and keep out the way! He has a bad leg so cannot walk very far but loves getting out with the big dogs!

Weekend Dinners

We had our neighbours over on Saturday for a bbq and then Bindi, Simon, Mia and Charlie came over on Sunday night for family dinner. We had a lovely time both nights. Our neighbours in front have three girls who enjoyed our animals. Their youngest daughter Maya is a real live wire and enjoyed having the parrots sit on her shoulder and loved the dogs. The parrots are real party parrots and talk away and join in the conversations.

 Beau liked Simon's cap, also landed on Charlie's head for a bit but Charlie wasn't too sure about that!

Luna got put outside once the parrots were allowed out, she gets a bit too excited when they start to fly around. Here she is trying to get us to feel sorry for her being left outside all alone!

Alpine Classic at Bright

Bill and I headed down to Bright, Victoria for the Alpine Classic- have lost count how many years we have been going down for- it must be at least 15 years. First couple of years it was in different hotels but we have been going to the Bright Avenue Motor Inn for quite a while now with a whole lot of Canberra people.

Nice view from the hotel- it was warm driving down- 36 degrees at Chiltern when we stopped for lunch, but then a thunder storm came through and it dropped to 25 degrees, much more pleasant.

  Bil

Heading out for a ride to warm up the legs with some of the other Canberran's

 Lovely morning, heading down to Buckland Valley

 Bill

 Creek at Buckland Valley

 Me at Howman's Gap- 4 km for the the top of Falls Creek- it was a 130km ride. The weather was lovely- top of 28 degrees, which is good for Bright- sometimes it is very hot. Was windy up the top of Falls though, glad to get further down and get out of the wind. Was 12 degrees up the top, and the wind made it cold!