I keep starting to write and ending up stopping as it doesn't want to form itself into any sort of coherant, interesting little anecdotes.

In between getting totally drenched (I must be the only person in Australia who wishes the rain would go away for awhile...) we've been just going about the business of daily life.

Laurent is continuing to grow into an alternatingly adorable little person who makes me crack up, melt and occasionally make me want to tear my hair out. The things that pop out his mouth continue to surprise me as he pulls new developments out of thin air instead of gradually easing into them. At the moment, we're starting to see a lot of consideration to others feelings, interesting to see in that previously he's been as subtle as a freight train and tactful as a red leather mini-skirt. If I'm hurt, he'll ask if I'm okay and if I want a "ai band" (bandaid) or "tiss-oo" and it's almost always followed by, "mum you need a cuddle?" and a kiss or thirty. He wants to know how to do everything and is absorbed by explanations of how things work, the mechanics of various items, helping to grow things in the garden, watering them, picking them, helping to cook (usually by mashing, mixing, adding handfuls of prechopped foods or offering his opinion on if the dish needs more of something), set the table, put things away. "Why" is the favorite word and is applied to absolutely everything he wants to know about... which, fortunately or not seems to be absolutely everything.

The fencing is slowly getting done. It's had primer and the first coat of paint. We're still waiting on the roofing contractor and electrician to be able to agree upon a new date as the previous one (which took about a month to line up) was rained out.

The birds are maturing nicely and I'm considering how to go about adding to the Wyandotte bloodline I have which isn't easy as I found out tonight the person I'd hoped to be able to aquire further bloodstock from in the upcoming season hasn't got them any longer. I was however able to secure a pair of Brown Chinese from Hammish Russell's bloodlines which I am VERY pleased about, as they were his personal breeding stock from his flock dispersal as he's retiring from geese. They represent the result of decades of work. I also added two adorable little Aylesbury ducklings to my little flock, which have quickly bonded and think I'm mum now. LOL Miss Cami got to visit all her BYP friends as well, who met her last month as she came also.

The dogs are about to start bouncing off the walls from spending so much time indoors - they don't mind the wet and cold but I certainly DO and apparently it's not half as fun to run around like mad if the humans aren't joining in!

Cami is growing like a weed and her quiet-sleepy days are firmly over! I hope Rogue is up for a rowdy good time, because I have a feeling little missy will be willing to provide it! LOL She is a funny little soul, very easy going in many ways when you're dealing with her and for about 90% of everything you ask of her just a cruisey little pup... the other 10% of the time though that stuborn streak is a mile wide! With the girls, she's starting to want to assert herself and is going through the stage where her puppy-liscence is expiring and the girls are repeatedly putting her in her place and teaching her doggy etiquette. Several times a day, puppy sass overides good manners and a quick glance reveals she's latched onto someones jowls or ruff and is dangling muttering little puppy cuss words. To be fair, even Hope, who is a soft natured girl went through this bratty phase at about the same age before I make her sound too naughty! It's actually pretty funny to watch because she thinks she is just tough as they come and the girls flatly don't believe a bit of it... if they were people they'd be exchanging glances in bemused exasperation and rolling their eyes at the little kid in a superhero costume attempting to flex muscles that haven't yet developed. LOL

I've also been planting and propagating and snipping and dipping up a storm the other day. I was very kindly given a whole bunch of cuttings, seeds and plants by a fellow member of BYP who is a garden lover as well and now have them all tucked in, watered and in the little greenhouse thingie. Will get pics up tomorrow. I hope I did everything right - I'm far from good at propagation and have very little experience with anything that would be considered even remotely difficult to propagate and my information is cobbled together from two books - one of which is in French and required a bit of dictionary checking to ensure I understood some of the mroe technical words - and google trawling. LOL