Pacific Baza’s come to visit.

Talk about taking this amazing place for granted.

Laying in bed yesterday and TJ saw a big bird sitting in a tree across the yard. So we ventured outside to investigate and found not one of them but about 5 or 6. So we watched and followed them through the trees around the yard.

They didn’t fly away. They did fly in a weird way though, to the point I thought the first one we saw was injured. BUT NO.. they just fly weird.. like they are falling into the trees..lol I don’t know if that is their normal flight technique or not but we certainly had fun watching them.

So we HAD to investigate what the bird was. Longish body and tail, hawkish beak, yellow/gold eyes, stripes down breast and a crest on the back of its head. My trusty bird book told me it was a Pacific Baza.  A longtailed hawk although I didn’t think the tail was THAT long.

They have been back to visit us a couple of times now.. Beautiful birds.

Meatballs and Spaghetti - Jamie Oliver Style

Ok.. the kids love this meal.

It takes the same amount of time to cook the meatballs and sauce as it takes the spaghetti.

Tonight we used

1. sweet chilli and plum flavoured sausages which cost $4.49
2. Basil - about $2 worth.. I know I should have it growing and just pick it fresh but I keep killing the bloody plant.
3. Garlic.. 10c ?? I don’t know
4. red wine vinegar.. a slurp that should have been balsamic vinegar really so say 30c
5. 1 packet pasta.. $1.50
6. 2 tins tomatoes.. @ 70c each and that would be it… YUM

so this one cost us… $9.10 so that would be . 83 cents per serve… yes thats right. We actually all had seconds and there was another serve left for The Man to take to work for dinner.

This meal really is a favourite in the family. I should do it more often

A Chicken Tractor is on its way….

Public Holiday here today so we took advantage of The Man being home and actually di some things.

We are thinking we would like to be more self sustaining and one thing we are desperate to do is have a chook pen. But with Madela already having one and us really not wanting to encroach on them we are starting one of our own. A chicken tractor.. along the line of this.

So the boys have designed it. Decided on what wood and hardware we need, costed it with a call to the hardware shop and now we are waiting till Saturday so we can take ourselves to the shops together then come home and build it. WE ARE EXCITED about this…. Hopefully if I find somewhere that sells chooks we might have them by Sunday. All done and living in our backyard.

So, the question is who knows where we would buy some laying chickens …  lol???

This weeks meals.

I’ll start with what the menu says we are having and then add each night what we really had

• Mon - stirfry
• Tues - Spaghetti and Meatballs
• Wed -  Chicken Satay
• Thurs -   Sloppy Rissoles
• Fri - Curry
• Sat - Leftovers or Toasted Sandiches
• Sun - Cookup - Not sure yet.. something outside in the firepit, ?? still thinking.

Monday Night - Thai chicken and veg stir fry.

This was a cheap cheat meal. We did the following

1. bought a packet of stirfry vegies $3.50 from IGA
2. cooked up some onion 50c worth which we had in the cupboard
3. and a chicken breast which I had finely sliced. say$2
4. Took the chicken and onion out.
5. Stirfried the vegies
6. Added some coconut milk (1/2 a can) 60c, 2 tabs peanut butter ?? probable 50c and some soy sauce, say 30c
7. added the chicken and onion
8. stirred till was all combined and served with brown rice I had in the freezer. say 50c worth

The whole meal would have cost approx. $8.20. so that would have been $1.64 per serve… NOT BAD hey… lol and it tasted sooooo nice.

But I feel bad cause I could have used some fresh vegies and it would have been cheaper and much nicer… ( read NO carrots in my serve…lol)

Tues Night

Ok.. the kids love this meal.

It takes the same amount of time to cook the meatballs and sauce as it takes the spaghetti.

Tonight we used

1. sweet chilli and plum flavoured sausages which cost $4.49
2. Basil - about $2 worth.. I know I should have it growing and just pick it fresh but I keep killing the bloody plant.
3. Garlic.. 10c ?? I don’t know
4. red wine vinegar.. a slurp that should have been balsamic vinegar really so say 30c
5. 1 packet pasta.. $1.50
6. 2 tins tomatoes.. @ 70c each and that would be it… YUM

so this one cost us… $9.10 so that would be . 83 cents per serve… yes thats right. We actually all had seconds and there was another serve left for The Man to take to work for dinner.

This meal really is a favourite in the family. I should do it more often. Oh by the way it is a Jamie Oliver recipe from his at home series.. it’s supposed to have peas in it (he only put them on top so he could say it had peas in it cause that was the theme for that night.)

Chicken Satay

another nice and easy meal

1. 500g chicken thigh fillets $6
2. 1 onion 20c
3. 1 capsicum 50c
4. 1/2 tin coconut milk 70c
5. peanut butter $1.. I used heaps
6. Soy Sauce 5c… tiny bit
7. Singapore Noodles $3

Ok that’s it.. $11.45 or $2.29 per serve.  But I could have done it cheaper by using some different noodles and maybe making it vegetable satay. It was nice but I would rave over it. PLus it was similar to our dinner the other night… bit of a double up. Not enough vegies for the week so far.

The voice of a child.

Boys Bonding

We had an emotional wake up moment last night. I knew that the 6th June meant something. I had it on my mind last night and then it dawned on me.. 6th June is the date that TheMan’s dad died when he was 15. TheMan had been quiet all evening now we knew why. So we gave him hugs and let him be.

So tonight the boys well The Man, JD and TJ are bonding way late into the evening. It’s twenty to one.. yes 00:38 actially and they are staying up to watch the Iraq v Australia soccer game at 02:00 or some ridiculous time like that. My bet is JD and TJ last longer than TheMan. MG gave up hours ago like the sensible lad he is and went to bed at about 9:30pm

Mac Update - Macman the dog who thought he could fly had his dressing changed yesterday. Whoever bandaged him up did it a little different and we woke up this morning to find he had undone about 20cm worth of bandage. We cut it off but he has been nibbling at the dressing and it is coming undone. I’m not keen to see how it will be tomorrow. We’ve put a nail biting solution on it but tomorrow we’ll be buying some bitter apple.. that should fix him and we’ll get some bandage to cover the top of the one he has. Buddy dog….lol Other than that he is coming along really well, as he should.

Me.. can’t remember my name here…lol anyway I have hurt my back and it is the GingerOne’s fault. My lap isn’t big enough for a big ginger cat and my laptop. So I was twisted in the seat and I have hurt somewhere near my right hip/pelvis bone. Have rested today and had some nice painkillers that helped too.. (big smiles).

Also wanted to say Break a Leg to my gorgeous nieces who are dancing tomorrow. Have fun I can’t wait to hear how you both went.

New Job - well transfer really

Ok I won’t go into any great detail here but I have transferred to a new workplace within the same company. What a difference. This store has obvious value for its employees and makes sure they are met with a smile and they know their work is appreciated. Still need to get used to the lack of push and maybe slow down a little…lol I’m used to the feeling of pressure pressure pressure.. funny how treating people with respect from the top improves productivity…duh

Wildlife Wednesday

I’ve been thinking about how lucky we are to live in this magnificent place and about the animals that are we are becoming a little blaze about.

I have a page here that I add what animals we have seen here at Woodpuddle so we have a list that we can refer back to. But I wanted to share some of the excitement that we have when we see a new one.

So JD came running in the other day. Puffed with a grin wrapped around his head. When he was finally coherent he managed to blurt out there was a ‘big red kangaroo’ out the back. I’ve raced out with him but it was long gone. We came straight back in to the computer to see what it could have been and a ‘Red Kangaroo’ wasn’t a possibility as they tend to live more on the fringe of the deserts and in the outback. But he saw a BIG RED kangaroo…lol Anyway turned out to be an Easter Grey Kangaroo which can get to was very big to an 11yo boy who is on the smaller height scale for his height… but wow how exciting for him.

There is a misconception that in Australia we have Roos and Wallabies (smaller kangaroos) hopping down the streets of our suburbs. This really isn’t true in the cities, suburbs and larger towns although as you go a little bit more country you might see them grazing by the roadside as you drive past, especially now that we are in drought. Where we live now we do have them and as they are marsupials the majority of their activity is at night which unfortunately is why so many are killed on the roads in Australia as they do have a habit of crossing the roads without looking both ways first.

They are an exceptionally beautiful animal and I have had much fun as a child and adult visiting wildlife parks. To have a wallaby or roo hop over and give you a nudge (while they sniff you out for food usually) is amazing. They have the softest fur and their eyes are soulful. I remember once spending time with a lovely wallaby who had an obvious baby in her pouch. She was pretty much leaning on me and was feeling very safe and comfortable when out popped the babies head, the the front paws and eventually it was out and the mother was more than happy for me to share this moment. The baby was very skittish but eventually calmed down enough for me to touch, it was a moment in my life that will always stick with me.

A couple of night ago we were watching the idiot box when there was an enormous racket outside. We raced outside, scared that our cat was up to no good. We couldn’t tell if the noise was flying foxes having an animated argument or if it was the cat attacking a sleeping bird. We really had no idea. We stalked around and after a couple of minutes we found our culprit. A protective ringtailed possum with her baby on her back. We couldn’t see straight away what was upsetting her and we were looking for our cat Patch still when I turned my head and was within one metre of a Tawny Frogmouth who was just as surprised to see me as I was to see him.