2009...2010

2009 is gone and I can't really say I'm sorry to see the backside of it.

In one sense, it was a fantastic year - Lily was born with the most perfect, easy, blissful homebirth and has been sheer bliss ever since. I don't have the words to describe what a blessing she is to our family and to me.


I also added a bunny to our clan a year earlier than planned (I'd originally thought when La was 5-6 I could finally get one) and he is such a love... little Cinnamon the Cinnabun has been the dark horse in my feeling better with his bunny-magic.

I am aware that I am really very blessed.

Laurent is starting school soon at the Montessori which he adores. I'm hoping the stimulation of school will be a good move for him. His teachers there were delighted with him on all our interview and integration days which was lovely as he has given us some challenging behaviour recently. Several "helpful" people have felt the need to butt in with advice about using "better discipline" to create a 'more obedient' and 'compliant' child, which even if you know that sort of advice for what it is, is not a nice feeling.

Nic was also able to meet up with his aunt he's not seen in over 25 years, through his cousin Nina at Christmas which was gorgeous.

I've also been lucky enough to foster a litter of kittens who went on to great homes which is a fabulous feeling and another kitty who will hopefully find herself a forever home soon.

Without wanting to sound cheesy life has not always been filled with family and love and I am humbled how deeply lucky I am to have two healthy kids, a husband who loves and supports us, enough money to be comfortable, a safe home, no more hearing loss or drop attacks etc.

In other respects, we had a lot of bad and stressful things happen, although many had a lucky element to them as well.

• The fires came quite close to our home and the stress of waiting and wondering to see if it would or not every day for a few weeks was tremendous... but we were spared as was one of my favorite spots to visit, St. Ronan's Well, which I'm selfishly glad for.
  
  
• Our bank accounts were forged and stolen, we had no idea how we were even going to afford a bag of groceries let alone everything else... but we managed.
  
• Dealing with bungling police loosing our theft reports and not being able to pull their thumbs out to give us a straight answer for weeks... but we did get the money back after a few months and a few chewed arses.
  
• While I was refiling the report the police lost they noticed and fined me for an overdue registration, eventually resolved through VicRoads and found not to be my fault. All of this while I was pregnant and trying to figure out how to pay my midwives to afford my homebirth! Eep!
• A couple of good folks passed away, a couple of folks I thought were good turned out to be less of friends than I thought and I cut a relationship off that was fairly toxic.
  
• We had several large, unexpected expenses due to appliances breaking, cars falling apart, Nic finding a kangaroo with the front of his car etc but in each case despite having been very stressful and unpleasant, no one was hurt and we scratched by
  
• A tree fell on our home, splitting off the front, leaving us a large premium and no power/running water/electricity for weeks with the rains coming in the gaping hole where the front of our house used to be with an infant and bottle lambs.
  
• Incidentally the insurance was less than competent and left the electric mains wire unsecured when they turned the electricity on again hidden under the tarp inches from where I was readjusting it a dozen times to try and keep rain out. Mercifully I did not fry myself to death, two small children weren't left alone for hours until their father got home and no housefire was started either.
  
• Nic is on a waiting list to get an old injury which has healed badly dealt with, which unfortunately means surgery albeit hopefully a rather minor one.
• We fostered a litter of sick newborn kittens that sadly didn't make it despite tube and bottle feeding, antibiotics etc to try and help them.
• And most devastatingly Verity's loss

I am also aware that there are those who have suffered so much more than me... the loss of a child, of family and friends in the fires, the loss of homes and everything they own and diseases. Without wanting to sound dramatic or whiney in the face of how much worse it could have been, the loss of Verity and all that surrounded it was traumatic. I didn't even realize it really at first, though I'd known it would be hard and sad of course. Everyone commented how "well" I was taking it. It was a few weeks until the unreality of it wore off. For a long time I couldn't bear to look at or touch other dogs, go to events, nightmares every night, anxiety attacks, paranoid over every freak accident I could conceive of happening to Si, Hope, the kids or Nic taking them too from me. Many of my goals and desires with regards to the dogs especially have changed or simply dissolved. In so many ways I feel a stranger to the person I was when I entered the year as and I have not found my peace with those changes as they are so foreign to me.

I will still pursue somethings with my girls - among the only resolutions for the year are to (finally) get Sierra's obedience titles through to CDX and Hope to CD, Sierra's ED. (That last one will also require me to shed the extra *mumble* kilos I've put on through eating a metric ton of junk food and having drinks every night after loosing Veri as my oh-so-healthy way of dealing with things.) That should be reasonable and achievable given where they are. This is the polar opposite from the beginning of the year when we had four dogs here and plans for a fifth, intending to enter into 2010 showing, trialing and breeding.

Seemingly in contrast to the above, a short while ago we added a 2 year old Maremma named Shadow to protect our birds. Maremma are a breed of livestock guardian dog, created to be different to pet dogs - they bond to the sheep or birds as their pack and protect them.

The decision to get a Maremma was not one I went into easily, which is a nice way to say Nic pushed me into it while I was protesting and having anxiety attacks, on the basis the need for it hadn't changed and we couldn't continue to loose birds simply because I wouldn't take a teaspoon of cement. Shadow is a sweet and patient fellow and hasn't stepped a foot wrong since arriving, though forming a relationship with him is rather in spite of the timing than because of it.


As for our Christmas and Christmas vacation, it was quiet but good.

Lily (in her new Christmas dress) had a bit of a virus going on during Christmas so she was somewhat subdued but both kids enjoyed it and were gorgeous together.




We also took them to the sea for Lily's first visit recently, and on the advice of a lovely AB member went to Cape Paterson. Wow what a gorgeous area!

Lily had an absolute ball and was just in love with the idea of being able to splash up a storm!

La meanwhile was enchanted with the rock pools - some just big enough to be his personal pool and some big enough for several people to swim in - where he could spot snail shells, seaweed and such treasures.

Not to mention he is a little mountain goat, scrambling up and over the rocks like a natural while the rest of us struggled to find our footing!

enate Community Affairs Committee Inquiry into Midwife Professional Indemnity (Commonwealth Contribution) Scheme Bill 2009.

To: The Secretary
Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee
community.affairs.sen@aph.gov.au
fax (02) 6277 5829.
CC: campaign@maternitycoalition.org.au

Amanda Orbitani
680 Gembrook Road
Pakenham Upper, Victoria 3810
03-5942-7993
cabrissi@esc.net.au

Dear Senate Community Affairs Committee,
Re: Senate Community Affairs Committee Inquiry into Midwife Professional Indemnity (Commonwealth Contribution) Scheme Bill 2009

I write to express my concern about regarding the legislation which will force independent midwives to have “collaborative arrangements” with doctors before they are able to register and be eligible for Medicare and insurance support.. I understand that these bills will enable Medicare funding, access to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and professional indemnity premium support for midwives providing care for women to give birth in hospital..

I birthed my first child in a public hospital and my second at home under the care of two registered independent midwives. The two experiences could not be more different and the effect each had on myself and my relationship with my new child likewise could not be more different in how they impacted the both of us. We are all aware that the first days after birth have a tremendous impact upon the maternal bonding, success in breastfeeding rates, influence post partum depression rates and in many ways set the tone of the relationship for months and years to come. Ask any woman who has had a child - it's birth is something she will never forget and is impacted by for better or worse for the rest of her life. Should this legislation go through as it is written now, I am not sure what we will do. I have no wish to free birth. Neither do I wish to enter into the hospital system when I have no need to. Should a risk present itself and make it advisable to birth in hospital, I still want MY midwife - the caregiver I have chosen, who knows me and my family, whose care philosophy matches my own, who has extensive and specialist experience with natural births which hospitals cannot match and who has supported us through the pregnancy and birth of my daughter - to attend me.

The birth of my son was surrounded by orders, fear, bullying, threats to 'motivate' me that I would be cut against my will in a non-medically necessary, non-emergent situation and in direct contradiction of my written and express consent. Then once my son was born and I had no more use than a discarded wrapper after the candy had been extracted I was forced to throw myself into a wheelchair because they needed the L&D ward immediately despite being in shock and blacking out repeatedly, threatened with being allowed to "fall on the floor and crack (my) skull if I didn't stop" because she (the nurse) "was not going to throw her back out trying to catch me", slapped in the face with water repeatedly as I was still blacking out in the shower before I was finally left in a hospital bed, exhausted, upset, drugged and separated from my husband, family and friends. This was my sons introduction to the world. Sadly it is not unique or in light of many other womens experience, even necessarily a 'horrible' hospital experience.

My daughter was born at home, with the care of two midwives who attended me throughout my pregnancy. They were available to me at any time of the day or night I wanted to e-mail or ring. Throughout the pregnancy we determined what tests and care was necessary and I saw my GP and the OB for the hospital we had booked in case there was a need to change plans from a home setting to a hospital setting at any point in the pregnancy or labor. We saw that results from the sonography were copied to the midwives, my GP and OB. Likewise all other test results were coordinated so that all sets of caregivers were provided with the information and notations for their records, copies of all tests and results etc. My GP was willing to work with my choice, although it was outside his realm of experience and he was not certain how it would work. This required me to coordinate a bit and inform him of how homebirths with independent midwives usually worked. Our OB has had experience in working with independent midwifes, as he is one of few hospitals around here who will accept a booking from women who are planning a homebirth. Many hospitals are resistant to such bookings and do not want to know women who have a need to transfer their plans to a hospital because something has arisen in late pregnancy or in labor. The fact that this was the case meant that the nearest hospital I could book into was a 45 minute ambulance drive away as more local ones would not accept this sort of arrangement.

I had breakfast and danced through my early labor. I moved around my home, supported by my husband and son. When the contractions became more intense my midwives supported me gently while letting me maintain my space and focus. It was beautiful, joyous, respectful, powerful experience. My midwives whispered, "you're doing beautifully... I can see her head". It was a mere 3 hours labor and 4 minutes pushing before my daughter slid out into my hands and was in my arms. She looked at me and we gently cleaned her off and wrapped her. We walked to the couch to sit and have lunch, to chat and celebrate. I was nested in a pile of blankets by my roaring fire and cared for. It was easy, fantastic and amazing. The labor hormones left me feeling high on life for months. Not five minutes after she was born I told my midwives I couldn't wait until I could do it all over again - I loved my labor! That is something few people can say about their births. Nearly a year later I am still reaping the benefits of a natural, easy labor attended by midwives who supported me rather than harassed me. This was my daughters introduction to the world.

When I contemplate my third child, I cannot imagine choosing it's introduction into the world being a repeat of my first experience rather than my second. The amendments proposed however, will see that I nor any other Australian woman will have that choice. Our rights to choose care for ourselves and on behalf of our children will be stripped. Independent midwives will likewise be stripped of autonomy as their right to practice will be held ransom by doctors or OBs who have a long history and financial incentive not to support these midwives, along with the well known position of the AMA and RANZCOG against such rather than remaining responsible and accountable to independent registration and licensing body for their profession. These amendments will effectively put doctors rather than the women they serve in charge of maternity care in Australia with no other choice left to Australian women but to cow toe.

I respectfully submit that it is considered a basic and fundamental human right to determine what medical care we will receive, how and with whom. This is no less true for birthing women making choices within maternity care than any other group. Please respect our rights by eliminating these amendments and not implementing these unscrupulous limitations.

Yours sincerely
Amanda Orbitani

This weekend we lost Duck-duck the goose to a fox attack. They were in the sheep yard while we were fencing around the new chooks area, so they were out while it was getting dusky. We're guessing the fox came up the neighboring paddock in which the grass is taller than the birds and waited till he was near enough to grab as we didn't hear it - not an easy task with 11kg of mature gander in breeding season.

This brought up the subject I've been avoiding... that of a livestock guardian dog. We'd been thinking of one for a year and a bit as other means don't suit. Electric netting would only protect birds, risk shocking children and be difficult over such a spread out area. Alpacas would protect lambs but not birds, couldn't come into the mid-yard and the one we boarded charged our dogs as readily as foxes. Donkeys were much the same as well as being loud and potentially deadly to the dogs.

Awhile ago one of my fellow animal nuts tells me about a Maremma coming to rescue from a bad situation I should consider. It'd been the typical story - bought as a fluffy pup and the owners quickly discovered that Maremma are large dogs with strong guardian instincts and big voices. I declined. I just couldn't. Hearing about her happy ending reminded me sometimes things goes right despite all the odds though. I met her to thank her for the reminder and the dog was a sweetheart - utterly lovely, gentle, very child oriented and totally unflapped by anything while out and about and still looking for a home.

I had subtle and 'not-so-subtle' nudges from her rescuer, foster home and Nic. I wrestled with the idea and hurt every time I got an e-mail, text, phone-call or Nic asked me about it. I was told everything I already know- that no dog will ever replace Veri, it's not intended to, it's okay to move on, we HAD needed one before loosing her and that need hadn't changed, if it was anything but a dog I'd have already gotten it without a second thought - which did nothing to change how things felt. I told myself how much I'd liked her, if it had happened before I wouldn't have hesitated. I wished I could just pull myself together. And I still felt miserable.

Enter Duck-ducks loss. Nic again said he thought I needed to consider the LGD. I said I understood but I'm crying constantly at the thought. Her loss is so different than when I've lost dogs before. He took the hard point and asked how many birds am I prepared to loose? How will I feel if I loose five or ten or twenty? Will dealing with their loss on top of Veri's outweigh confronting my loss of Verity?

I did call the rescue person who had also nudged me about the girl I'd been notified about. She's been adopted literally hours before. But there's another one she knows of who needs a home. Same story - her daughter brought home the puppy, now it's tied up all day and muzzled to attempt to prevent her from acting like a Maremma, neighbors have complained to the council, her poor owner is tapped dealing with her son who has disabilities that require a lot of her time, trying a husher (e-collar). She says she thinks that maybe it was meant to be. Maybe the first girl I'd met was just a messenger of sorts - she had a role to play but not my dog, maybe just to lead me to where I need to be.

Two months

It's up and down, up and down.

Just before the anniversary we went to the ASCV show. I've been able to cuddle the pups, I'd cuddled Cami's little brother the week before... sweet little red tri boy who just melted in my arms. I spent a good amount of time cuddling three of Sue B's gorgeous little ones who were just on 8 weeks old as well. I had a good sook and shower after we got home but not as bad as I'd thought I might be.

This week was harder. I've been missing her horribly all week, I think part of the reason I've been resisting everyone's suggestion to look at another is that really I just want MY girl back more than anything. We went up through Black Spur and St Ronan's well on our way to Euroa... we always go the same way and I loved the trip and particularly had several favorite spots along the route. One of them is a beautiful little natural spring wishing well in the middle of the forest called St Ronan's well you can stop and get a sip of water from or toss a coin into. Verity's song came on as well which had me undone for the rest of the trip. Up through Narbethong and surrounds we went through right where the fires had ripped through. Everywhere you could see the charred remains of trees that had made up the forest on the mountains, like so many spent matches jutting from the raw rock. Unlike the first time I drove there some months ago though this time you could see regrowth all around. The trees have a funny epicormic way of doing it though. They don't just pick up where they left off. They have little tufts of renewal splotched everywhere in a mantle from base to tip, haphazard and from odd angles, damaged and inelegant, as if the tree doesn't know where to start or doesn't remember how to grow normally. Through it all the mess of the charred bark is visible underneath. The whole way up I was looking at the trees and the mountains thinking I felt rather like that.

While I was there though I got to meet and say a private thank you to a fluffy girl whose rescue reminded me that not everything goes wrong all the time though. Sometimes things go right against the odds too.

Laurent wanted to do some clicker training

Itty bitty kitties

As of a few days ago, we have four little foster kittens - Gibbs, Ziva, Abby and Duckie. They are quite possibly the most adorable kittens to ever exist. While we don't have an exact age on them, I'm guessing they're probably around 5 weeks. They'll stay here for a few weeks until they're old enough to go to their forever homes after they're microchipped, vaxed and spayed or neutered to ensure they don't continue the cycle of overpopulation. While they're lucky and were saved from their initial fate of being put to sleep, many kittens just like them are not so lucky and end their brief lives after the pounds and shelters have to euthanize them every 'kitten season'.

Gibbs is the most outgoing, the one into everything and a bit of a talker. He's happy for a cuddle but too interested in exploring everything to stay still for long. He's the first one our resident kitty Jasper has decided is fun to play with.

Ziva like Gibbs is a very adventurous little one. She's a champion climber and out wrestles her brothers frequently and even plays spitfire to the dogs, hissing and arching her back while they fail to notice her. LOL

Abby is a sweetie, quite cuddly but she also loves to explore all the nooks and crannies. She is an absolute sweetie and one of La's favorites to nab for pats.

And then there's Duckie... last but certainly not least, just the hardest to get a good photo of as he is lap fungus... LOL He's blissed out and purring here, straight in the middle of my lap as I'm trying to take photos and hold Lily.

Having them here as well as being privy to another rescue a few days before theirs has been such a blessing, it's lovely to remember that amid all of the sad occurrences, sometimes things go right despite the odds and there are happy endings.

My little orange girl

From the time Laurent was little he has been the "green child", which started out when he was a baby and would kick off any pair of socks you put on him regardless of brand or fabric, unless they were green. He also would swipe at green objects as we carried him around in a store. The colour suits him well and has stuck as a firm and fast favorite.

When I was pregnant with Lily I had a feeling she was going to be an orange girl. Sure enough it seemed to fit her well. She does look good in reds, some greens, blues and chocolates but orange suits her best. A bit odd as orange was never a favorite colour of mine previous - it's flamboyant, bouncy, zesty, somewhat riotous colour and I'm not any of those things. I'm finding myself a convert though!

Little Miss 6.5 Months




Of course once the camera comes out, everyone wants in on the action...

including not-so-little Bunny Lala's

and our self-appointed nanny. For such a wiggly, hyper bowling ball of a dog Sierra is remarkably gentle with my little people. She flops down near Lily to be on her level and allows patting that comes with clumsy baby grasping and exuberant arm waving with gentle forbearing.



I also was able to upload a couple of videos shot on my mobile phone...
the first is of Lilypillie growling... that's right, my darling 4 year old has taught the baby to growl like a dog. (Although I call it a tiger as she's my Tigerlily and she'll growl back at me anytime I call her that now. LOL) I took this at a cafe we were at for La's birthday.

The second is of Laurent attempting to pronounce his name... poor kid can't pronounce it to save his life which cracks us up nonstop and he's happy to ham it up!

Pics from yesterday - Lily, Hopie, Matilda and lambs

My Lilypillie at 6 months...

Cheeky baby!

Hopie leaning in on the action for a cuddle with Lily

Lilypillie and Dada

Little miss chatterbox

Hope and Si

One of those cute little oops shots! I caught her winking. LOL


Please note the NAUGHTY muzzie where she shouldn't be... Honey has taught Matilda her wicked ways! LOL

Twins Stella and Luna (above and below)


The lamb races! (This is what happens if you shake the food bucket!)

EL ewe and her EL/Corrie ram lamb (for sale)

Astra and either Luna or Stella... it can be hard to tell anymore!

Parenting Fail - Lily's first solid food

That's right... my beautiful "we're delaying solids" 6 month old, the child we avoid chemicals, artificial colouring, scents, preservatives with. The one whose parents try to stick with organic local or homegrown and healthy foods...

just HAD to swipe a piece of her brothers birthday cake for her very first solid food!!!!!

I was holding her and my piece when she nabbed it and quickly mashed it into her face with loud lip smacking enthusiasm! I'm consoling myself it'll be a good story to embarrass her with later in life.

La's Fourth Birthday Party

For his fourth birthday party La had a pretty clear idea of what he wanted: he wanted "kids and people to enjoy themselves", he wanted a brachiosarus cake, he wanted balloons with dinosaurs on them and he wanted bubbles. We'd also planned to get him a trampoline and a bike as well. (Pics of the bike if it ever stops raining...) The trampoline was definitely a good choice for wearing off some of La's ever abundant energy!!!

He had Nic's cousin Nina out, Jayne, Liam, Sienna, Roanna, Dan, Darcy, Spencer and Evie out. It's a good thing we'd ended up having a relatively small party as I managed to throw my back out the day before and hadn't been able to get enough stuff done so all my plans had to be quickly readjusted for a pizza and ice cream party! After emergency trip to the chiro the morning as it happens my chiro, who is also a photographer needed a location for her camera club to shoot their 'spring' theme and remembered we'd had chicks and had lambs, so she wondered if we would mind them coming out just before the party for a shoot. Hey why not... so La had some extra people to run around with. :)

La had originally requested a brachiosarus cut out cake but Nic untinned the cakes while they were still warm and cracked one of them, I had to do some on the spot adjustments to the plan. (NB This is why chefs should stick to cooking! I did tell him to leave it be... hrmph! LOL) After a last minute dash to procure plastic dinosaurs and much mental groaning over using plastic decorations and M&Ms (Cake Wrecks anyone?) on a cake he told me when the colouring was 'just right and perfect' and and pronounced it a "powerful strong awesome dinosaur cake" so I dealt. ;-)

A few pics from the whacking of the pinata... that is a 'dinosaur food tree' by the way. Or so I am told by my son. *G*

He didn't quite get the concept of pinata though and when it burst grabbed about four lollies and sat down munching them contentedly while everyone else continued looking for more.

And one of Nic and Lilypillie, whose decidedly unimpressed look is demonstrating why I'm shockingly light on birthday photographs - she is in the "I want to be in MUM'S ARMS" stage atm! My camera is way too heavy to shoot one handed and not come out blurry!

He made off very well, besides the trampoline and bike he also scored a heap of stuff he's loving including a slinky, stickerbook, bubbles, a gardening set (which in his mind is a 'gemstone digging kit' - too much discovery channel here methinks!), more bubbles, a dino quilt and wall sticker set, more bubbles and an 'dino dig' kit that lets kids excavate their own 'fossil' dino from a block of clay-dirt stuff.

Last one for the moment, the green child doing what he does best - blowing bubbles, running and making noise!

Birthday chickie-babies...

as Laurent likes to call them! Our first batch of chicks run through the hexabator incubator have arrived. They were quite obliging and hatched the evening before and day of his birthday party which he was quite excited about as well!

Of the 12 Australorp eggs that were set and one Wyandotte egg 3 Australorp eggs candled clear at 8 days. The shells all showed a heavy amount of light spots, which is the likely reason and the hens may need some more calcium grit or have been laying heavily? (These were purchased eggs so I've no way of knowing.) When checked these eggs showed no development whatsoever so the embryos never started maturing or they were infertile to begin with.

Of the remaining eggs, at 17 days one of the Australorp eggs cracked while I was rotating them courtesy of tornado child hugging my legs at an inopportune time making me drop it! Usually you'd discard a cracked egg as a matter of course as it's a virtual death certificate and will go rotten in very short order. Exploding rotten eggs in an incubator are a bad thing! However every time I checked this egg, the chick was still bopping about in there so I kept leaving it 'one more day'. When it hit 21 days, we were rewarded with a bunch of peeping and looked in to discover one had hatched and one was on it's way...

All 9 Australorps and 1 Wyandotte from that setting hatched successfully... including the cracked egg! One of them was even kind enough to hatch in my hand during La's party.
Here's La with his "chickie-babies"...





Most of these little guys are for sale, so if anyone near me is looking for some Australorps, chicks are $5 ea unsexed atm.

berk-begurk!

When we first moved in, it didn't take very long at all before we'd added a 'few chooks, just for eggs' to our family. It didn't take long to discover what amazing and social creatures they are, each with their unique personality and my 'few chooks' quickly discovered the importance of heritage breeds in poultry, many of which are now endangered and many genetically valuable lines have died out as most people get their eggs from the grocery or else keep commercial hybrid layers like the IsaBrowns. It was love at first sight when I saw standard partridge coloured Wyandottes. It took me some months and several hours drive to track them down but they're strikingly beautiful, friendly, docile and good layers and mothers. It wasn't long after that we ventured into ducks with the beautiful Aylesbury and Brown Chinese and Embden geese.

Many people don't consider the benefits of keeping a few chickens in their backyard - something that is legal even in many suburban areas. Chickens actually make excellent pets as well as being useful - they produce lots of fresh, tasty and healthy free range eggs. They also clean up virtually any kitchen scraps minimizing waste, scratch in the backyard and provide 'fertilizer' and compost (used bedding) as well. The eggshells can be dried and crushed and put back into the garden or given to the birds for calcium. Having your own layers will help reduce your carbon footprint as all that money isn't spent in producing and managing a large scale chicken farm or transporting the eggs from farm to factory to stores.

In addition, most eggs are produced in a manner that most people would find highly objectionable. Heidi of Operation Gloria, covers some of the conditions of battery cage hens with her rescued girls. Commercial hens are burnt out after a season of laying and disposed of rather than the expense of reconditioning them being paid when they will not be able to lay the same maximum number of eggs for minimum amount of cost input as they do their first year.

However even the supposed 'free range' eggs are not terribly humane in most cases as the requirements for being able to be labeled free range are nothing like the idyllic farm most people imagine when they picture it. In Australia, other than the Qld's basic protection laws there is no legal definition of what free range is. Some companies adhere to the Free Range Egg and Poultry Association of Australia or RSPCA's standards, where the requirements are no more than 7 birds per square meter and no more than 1000 birds per shed or per FREPAA 10 birds per sq metre up to 1000. The 'pasture' these birds have access to is to be shared by the whole lot of birds in the shed. While it is required to have shade, shelter and palatable vegetation, the maximum range density is 750 birds per hectare at 25 DSE [300/acre at 10 DSE].

THIS is a free range system that is being introduced into the EU. This has been rejected in NSW as being 'too liberal' in space. Compare that to the average backyard chicken who is free to engage in the full range of behaviours natural to a healthy chicken and in many cases is only locked up in a shed at night to protect them from foxes. (Who are a real danger even in inner suburban backyards.)

Here are some of my eggs from today... the rear ones are duck eggs, the middle pale brown ones are 1-2 year old Wyandotte eggs and the dark one on the right is from Tiger, a 3 year old little silkieX who is one of my best mums. These eggs are fertile (well, we hope!) and going to be set in the incubator to produce chicks and ducklings.

I began breeding and planned to set up a larger shedding and pens (you can see one a few posts back) for my birds and got an incubator to hatch out more chicks than the mother birds can do by themselves. My incubator is a fairly small, fairly basic one which will take 60 hen eggs at a time. The eggs are set in a batch every week, after which they must be turned several times a day to prevent the embryos from being able to turn. Just like a human baby must turn in the mothers womb to get out, chickens must turn around in the shell in order to pip, tie off their 'umbilical' cord and hatch.

Here are some of the current eggs in the incubator. Below the grate is a little well filled with water to provide the correct humidity for the eggs. The shells are porous and breathe, allowing the exchange of oxygen and water in the form of humidity. The embryos must loose a particular percentage of their weight from day 1 by the end of hatch, which is determined by the humidity and porosity of the eggs. The wrong amount will hinder the embryos from being able to pip and hatch correctly. EG The air cell size is affected, too small an air cell can prevent the chick from being able to inflate it's lungs once it's punctured into the air cell.

The lines you'll notice on them are pencil marks to tell me which side to turn them to. They go from line up to line down and around again. When I collect the eggs from the nests I write the date of collection on the rear (fertility declines in eggs older than 7 days) and on the side where the lines are I write the date they were set. About 8 days into the setting, the eggs are candled - which means they're held up against a bright torch (flashlight) to see if there is any development or if it's clear. At 8 days you can see a little embryo developing and a bit older than that you can see the embryo move around. Clear eggs are removed as they can go bad and explode in the incubator... NOT very nice!

Here is the whole incubator with the lid set back on. The temperature is a bit low here as it's just been set back on after turning the eggs which temporarily lowers the temperature. The eggs require a temperature of 37.7C and 21 days, longer with ducks.

And speaking of ducks, this is our most recent addition - Honey aka Dini (as in Houdini), a little bronze and white muscovy duck who found her way to rescue and then to me. She is a cheeky little thing and an escape artist!

1 month

I've been feeling rather down lately... not exactly unexpected but it's certainly not fun and I'm conscious of not letting it spiral into out and out depression. It's been a month since we sent Veri to the Bridge and two dogs still feels like an amputated limb. You still feel like it should be there and step into life by habit only to find air where your mind remembers there should be firmity and start tumbling.

I've spent the better part of the past few months just working on getting through everything and trying to keep our household (relatively) chugging along. The lambs are now more independent - and Luna's sore leg seems to have come good thankfully. The major repairs are more or less done and so the constant stream of insurance adjustors, assessors and repairmen tromping through my space from sparrows fart until sundown is over for a few weeks. Everything is returning to what passes for normalcy in our house and the shock of it all has worn away leaving the starkness of it's reality. In a hundred of the small tasks that make up the day I'm reminded I will never have my little blue dog with me again.

I'm finding the finality of it is hitting me in odd ways as it sinks in. With other losses I grieved of course but also felt that another would help me, whereas where after Cami and now Veri I've not been able to think of a point where I could contemplate another. A number of people are sure this is just a temporary thing but for someone whose life has been all about her dogs, it's an eerie and uncomfortable thought to be having at all. I have a very hard time even looking at other dogs right now. It's not even that they're doing something that reminds me of her or that I wish I was there showing or whatnot... it's just that those dogs are there, and alive and their owners have them to love still. It's the ghost of all the moments we'll never have I see in those dogs.

I went to the Royal and ruined every one's time. Poor Nic, I didn't really want to go back to watch the dogs but wasn't really in the mood to do anything else and no I didn't want to leave but I wasn't sure I wanted to stay either. The only minor positive in the day was that I was finally able to pet another dog besides my own and I think that was mostly because it was of a breed so different looking to mine. Several other dog events have caught be by the side as well.

Laurent doesn't seem to really grasp the whole thing. He has become a bit obsessed with talking about her passing and Cami's as well as he tries to nut out the concept of death and forever. I answer everything honestly but sometimes I wish the child came with a mute button for when I need him to just shut up about death and dying already.

I live...

As usual time has gotten a bit away from me. I'm still very wrapped up in my own head at the moment. This has led to much badness in terms of keeping up with correspondence, in that I sit down to start replying to someone and walk off a dozen times and then feel awful for being about a week late and probably making people wonder if I'm mad at them or don't like them or something. Meh. I need to get my act together.

In the midst of this here's what we've been up to:

• The kitchen is back to normal after the tree crashing through it and is now a nice sunny yellow instead of the dark green it was previously
  
  
• We've spent some time restructuring two raised veggie beds out back, making them six slightly lower beds and spent time planting out some of my little seedlings.
  
• After getting up the large (10 bay, each bay being 1.2m wide x 2 m deep) aviary for the chooks, we're now working on the fencing for it a bit each weekend as funds permit.
  
  
• We also went to the Melbourne Royal the other day to watch the Australian Shepherds. It was lovely to catch up with people but I'm afraid I rather put a damper on the day for Nic and La as I wasn't much in a festive mood. I did learn that a breed that had been on my wish list some years back, the Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen, IS actually in Australia and spent awhile patting one though.
• La's lobby for a hermit crab won and we brought home "Crawlit" the crab the other week

• We've also welcomed ChaCha the chook, also named by La. She appears to be an brown layer cross of some variety and came from a neighbor as she was getting bullied by the hens there. She's rooming with Tiger, one of my friendly little SilkieXs.
  
  
• With the house repaired I've finally been able to test my incubator! I have a dozen std Australorp eggs in it as well as a few Partridge Wyandotte eggs to give it a trial run! 20 days to go!
  
• The lambs are growing well, except for poor Luna who came up with a bum leg last week. She either pestered one of the other ewes or it's polyarthritis but either way she gets an injection every day for 5 days to help. A few of the lambs and ewes may be looking for new homes in the future, though I'm not 100% final on my decisions yet.
  
• La has been veerrryyy excited about his birthday coming up in October. He's singing himself (a very off key) happy birthday song every day, has decided on his theme (it's going to be a brachiosaurus party... not just any old dino, a brachiosaurus specifically), planned his cake (it's got to be 'berries, mango, strawberry and mandarin dino cake that's green') and would like 'a lot of kids, his Hopie and a lot of people and Ana' there. Ana is a local Aussie breeder for anyone not in the breed and La has a wee crush going on. LOL
  
• In keeping with his party, Lily has an actual dress. You may now all die of shock - the child owns something overtly GIRLY and I even think it's cute. LOL We also got her lovely amber teething necklace in the post the other day.

I've also done a few projects which I've forgotten to post pictures of so here they are...

this scarf was actually completed ages ago but I never posted it as I was trying to find yarn for a fringe and haven't found any so.. eh... it's being called completed.

this one is a ribbed neckwarmer in handspun overdyed coloured corriedale thick-n-thin paired with a vintage French button... for when you need a scarf but don't want to be dealing with the wind blowing it up in your face or a baby grabbing it.

And for my KAL group, the September "ABC" dishcloth. I use them for burp rags for Lily and they are the most fantastic burp rags as they absorb heaps without looking gross like face washers do!

Hopie

In honour of not wasting any more time, I've been getting out with Hope and Sierra more, which I've been very slack with following Lily's birth. I really can't chalk it down to anything but being slack given how easy of a baby she is, it's just a matter of working it back into my daily routine as I'm a creature of habit. I also discovered after three years of having it (actually, almost four...) that my camera has a video function, which of course I had to try out!

At any rate, here are videos of the little black dog on the sheep. It's in two videos as the wind was going to blow the camera over toward the end of the first! Please pay attention to the clever dog instead of the craptastic handler who keeps flicking signals slower than she should too! ~_~

Rally, Lily, Hoopie, Veri, Spinning and other Stuff

I keep meaning to sit and write and I have no focus at the moment and even less quiet time to organize my thoughts.

This week has been a full one... on Monday I had hoped to be in Canberra, at the Mother of All Rallies, protesting with thousands of other women, children and their families for the right to choice and equal treatment in birthing options. Unfortunately between vet bills and what we had to pay towards the repairs on the house from storm damage, my funds were down to a dribble. To boot my original lamb sitter and the place we were going to stay bottomed up as well. (Not their faults and I completely understand of course.) I was crushed not to be able to go though.

I was somewhat heartened to hear that it was well heard. There were around 3000 people, who traveled from all over the country. Just before the rally, a 2 year exemption period was announced which is encouraging even if it does rather smack of an appeasing sound byte instead of definitive action. It does rather seem to illustrate they've finally realized the tiger they've grabbed by the tail has teeth and is unwise to continue ignoring though. Some good round ups are at Ilithyia Inspired and Midwife Mutiny. I rather liked this segment of the second reading of the Health Legislation Amendment Bill, spoken by Ian Macfarlane also!

Instead I was at home, caring for La and Lily of course but also working on getting our house sorted, cleaned up, repaired etc. I actually kicked butt on my to-do list... never fails, whenever I'm upset I go on a cleaning-fest, I guess some sort of strange mental link with being able to gain order in some area if I can't tidy my emotions. All things being equal though I think some of the shock of Veri being gone has worn off and the finality is really starting to hit. The wobbles get the better of me several times a day and I'm finding myself absent minded and short of patience with having to have the repair people interrupting me a dozen times a day or people constantly nattering at me over the trivial and innane. Even stuff like a FB ap 'giving me a puppy' ap just days after annoys the crap out of me atm. Laurent is dearly not helping in this area either as he's been especially trying this week, though half of that is probably reacting to the upset he senses in me.

It wasn't all as doom and gloom though. In the tradition of counting ones blessings my beautiful Lilypillie turned 5 months old. Easy-going, full of smiles and giggles and quickly growing into a sunny little person this child is my bliss. Her warm little weight snuggled into my shoulder is heaven. She's teething up a storm which means she's a drooly little gummyshark. She desperately wants to figure out this mobility gig, she is rolling and scooting around on the floor and fascinated with shaking any toy that rattles or crinkles. She surprises a lot of people with how interactive she is, she wants to play and chat and pat your cheeks while squealing delightedly.

It's also was Hope's birthday, which we celebrated somewhat quietly though she got cake and pats a plenty, especially as her birthday fell on the Australian Shepherd Club of Victoria's meeting night, which happened to be at my house. The weather was too soggy to take her out to work on the sheep, so we did that the next morning and as her birthday 'gift' I am actually getting up off my slack post-partum bum and working her more often which she adores.

We also had the last lamb of the season born, a Corriedale x EL single ram lamb who is black and white with brown frosting courtesy of his EL heritage. That makes a total of 9 new lambs, 4 ram and 5 ewe lambs, 2 sets of twins and 5 singles, 5 pure Corriedale and 4 Corrie/EL, more moorit than black.

Last but not least I decided to brave attempting to go to a Spin/Knit-In in Lang Lang. Those of you who know La will appreciate my bravery in entering a room with 40+ women and their spinning wheels, not to mention knitting, felting, drop spindling, weaving, dyeing and machine knitting. We did survive however and got to meet grandridge from Ravelry, as well as winning a cross stitch in the raffle and after 2 years I have my very own spinning wheel! She's a little Tara upright and I loves her! (Still have to think of a name for her!) Apparently the owner had gone into a nursing home and her family was taking them to the tip (!) but were happy to donate them. The club decided to sell them very inexpensively to buy proper looms for some refuges living in the area who have no proper looms at the moment.

Vale Verity

A response from my local MP, Tammy Lobato

I wrote to my local MP (Ms. Tammy Lobato member for Gembrook) regarding her position on the homebirth issue and recieved the rather pleasing response yesterday.

Her response is as follows:

Dear Mrs. Orbitani

I write to thank you for taking the time to write to me in relation to proposed maternity service changes.

I am most passionate about the right of women and their families to choose the option of home birth. I am also very supportive of giving expectant mothers choice in where and how they give birth and to be able to go through this life-changing experience in a manner of their own choice.

Independent midwives perform a vital role in caring for mothers and babies and I support their continued role in maternity services. I also believe they should be entitled to appropriate insurance for their services, as are all other health practitioners.

You have asked me to write to the Federal Minister for Health & Aging, the Hon. Nicola Roxon MP, on your behalf. I have in fact already written to her on behalf of a number of my constituents advocating for the right for women to have home births and to argue for the right of independent midwives to access insurance.

I would be pleased to provide you with a copy of her response when I receive it. I will also continue to monitor the issue closely and speak on behalf of mothers who want to home birth and the midwives who support them.

Yours sincerely,
Tammy Lobato MP, Member for Gembrook

RIP Harley

Some years ago I worked at a vet clinic and one day I came to work and heard something wailing loudly from the point I entered the staff entry downstairs. When I got up there, I discovered all that ruckus was coming out of an absurdly tiny, filthy waif of a kitten in a carrier in our treatment room.

Gods what a MESS it was... full of ear mites and grunge, a snotty nose, gunky eyes, fleas, worms, dehydrated and so covered in rotten garbage and faeces from not being able to move when he defecated we initially weren't sure what colour he was precisely. I tentatively stuck my finger up to the cage, half expecting he may be feral when he butted his mucky head up against my finger and burst into an astonishingly big purr for such a tiny kitten. His purr was later to earn him the name of Harley.

As it turned out he'd had a very nasty broken leg and some damage in the pelvis in what was believed to be an attack by a baseball bat or similar object before he was thrown in the dumpster he was rescued from. Initially it was assessed the leg would have to come off but in the end he kept it. Cade, my Italian Greyhound, 'adopted' and fussed him like a clucky hen. If the kitten went where he shouldn't in the clinic, Cade trotted after him, nabbed him by the scruff of his neck and carried him back.

I got an e-mail this morning to let me know that he had been attacked and killed by the family dog and the damage was so bad there was nothing for the vet to patch together. He was the most placid cat, not always the brightest - we rather suspected he'd sustained a bit of brain damage from his attack - but sweet as the day was long. I can't even fathom him meeting that kind of end. Unfortunately this is not the end of the bad news for this week either but that's another story.

RIP Harley, I'm sure Cade has found you in heaven and you've both found a sunny patch to snooze the days away in.

Progress

Remember the little swatch of knitting from 12 Aug, that was showing the colour of the yarn from 02 August? Well here's the update... after a hefty interruption courtesy of the windstorm, I got to play with it today at the ASCV herding trial and finished up all the seperate pieces!

You'll have to use your imagination a bit as nothing is seamed together yet so I just sort of laid the pieces approximately where they'll go. I also have to weave in the ends, pick up stitches along the cast-off edges to create the shawl collar and ribbing going down the front edges still, add buttons and block it. When it's done, it will look more like THIS. I'm still rather excited though! :D