Lachlan's Handyman Skills and my New Mini Greenhouse

We have had a very wobbly side gate posts for months now, the wooden post had rotted away, so Lachlan got us organised and offered to replace it for us with a metal pole, so last Saturday we headed off to Bunnings. I am learning the art of shopping at Bunnings with a male! First you need to purchase the materials- in this case a metal pole and cap and some ready concrete mix.  Then you need to purchase the tools to complete the job- in this case a post hole shovel and a crowbar type think to smash up the old concrete!

Lachlan worked away for a couple of hours digging out the old concrete and digging the new hole. Bill and I were his on call labourers, but not sure that we did all that much. He had the pole in the ground, all level and supported then we got the call to come and help put the concrete and water in- we definitely got the easy job! The next morning he fixed the fence and gate back onto the new pole and we now have a rock solid post in place ! Was good to watch him at work and see how thorough he is. Even cleaned the tools that he had used when he finished the job!

I have all but given up trying to grow anything much in the veggie garden over winter, apart from a few herbs and things in pots near the back door. They had some small raised garden beds and pop over greenhouses at Aldi a few week back so decided to try growing something in this. I have planted some baby broccoli so will see how that goes.

Avoca Beach for Easter

Bill's cousin Jocelyn and her husband Steve have recently moved from Sydney to Avoca Beach on the Central Coast about on and a half hours north of Sydney. They had lived in Castle Hill for many years which was our Sydney home away from home. The plan was Amy, Lachlan and I were heading up there for Easter, however as Amy's new bird arrived the week before Easter she needed to stay home and help him settle in. It has been a long time since we have gone away at Easter as there are usually crowds of people around everywhere and the traffic is chaotic.

Lachlan and I left on Good Friday around 10am hoping that all the crazy drivers would be well on their way. We had a pretty good run, but still hit a few bottle necks on the Hume Highway and then the Pacific Highway was pretty congested but we arrived safe and sound. We had a very relaxing time with them in their magnificent new house, our new holiday home we decided to call it! They have lots of spare rooms and their son Chris and daughter in law Siobhan  were also there so Lachlan enjoyed catching up with them. Had a bit of a drive around the local area, walks on the beach, chilling out on the couch reading or watching Nailed It! Was a relaxing weekend.

We left Monday morning at 10am and managed to get into Sydney and out the other side without too much hassle and then a smooth run home to Canberra where Bill and Amy and managed to survive without Lachlan and I!

Merimbula

Back in March I had to go down to Merimbula to visit Merimbula Branch on Sunday for church. Amy came down with me this time. We had a lovely drive down on the Saturday, we stopped off at the Bega Cheese Factory on the way down and had a look around and got to taste some of the Bega Cheese- hadn't been there for years! We got to Merimbula around 4pm and checked into our motel and went for a lovely walk along the beach. We had dinner that night at a little tapas bar and had  the best calamari ever!

I went for a walk in the morning and got some lovely sunrise photos. Amy slept! I went to church. The owner of the motel kindly let us keep the room till I was finished at church went Amy could just chill out till I was finished.

We headed back to Canberra about 2pm, it was very hot and windy- it was the day the bush fires hit Tathra, which was only about 30 minutes from where we were staying. As we drove home you could see lots of smoke around from fires that were burning, one of which would have eventually been the Tathra fire. By the time we got to the top of Brown Mountain the temperature had gone from 40 degrees to 29 degrees so glad we were heading the direction we were. It was very windy and we could see smoke from a couple of fires in the distance so glad to get home.

Hawk meets Budgie

The week before Easter we acquired another macaw- he was a 4 month old macaw from Brisbane. Amy had contacted the breeder we got Bill's bird from last year to see if she had any male macaws available but she only had females. However she was able to source one for Amy from Brisbane and Hawk flew down ( on a plane in a cage) to join our menagerie  A very excited Amy, accompanied by Bill headed out to the Qantas Cargo Depot to pick Hawk up. He has quickly settled it is a big baby- literally. He is slightly bigger than Budgie and she is nearly a year older than him. He is still growing into his body, like a gangling teenager- is clumsy and finds it a bit uncomfortable when Budgie is right next to him in his personal space. Budgie has been very curious, a bit mean, but as the weeks go by they are getting more and more comfortable with each other. Last night they were up on the stand together for a good hour or so and had little sleeps which means they are getting use to each other.

Last year we had to chop up a fallen tree and I saved this branch and have had it outside weathering for months. Finally I got around to setting it in concrete in a metal bin, then I called on Lachlan to use his tradie skills to fasten the horizontal branch for us. He did a great job, did  a bit of trimming, chopping and screwed in the branch. We were not sure how the birds would take to it, anything different always takes a while, but within a few hours they had all checked it out. The macaws have had great fun chewing through the bark and chewing through the wood- so obviously not issues with this!

I think Beau has finally learnt his lesson and is keeping his distance from Hawk. With the other macaws he would start of being friendly then attack their tails or annoy them, only to find out they were bigger than him and they would drive him off if he was nearby!

 I gave the birds a birthday sign to hold, didn't take them very long to chew it up but at least I got the photo to send!