Hello my gardening friends, apologies for my long silence…I would say absence except that I’ve lurked on occasion.
Happy new year to you all, hope all is well with everybody. I see we have a couple of new names, and Pepe has had another name change ;) Lucky appears to be MIA. Does anyone know if she and the elf are well?

In my news, in the last 18 months or so since I last posted, I have met a man who on occasion threatens to make an honest woman of me, given up the ciggies (smoke free just over a year now), put on 10 kilos (the joys of quitting cigs!), found the perfect housemate, lost a dog to old age (R.I.P. Kuges), got my passport and holidayed in Bali.

New (or not so new now) man asked me where I wanted to go for this year’s holiday and I replied NSW. A good friend of mine is in Orange and I haven’t seen her for about five years since she moved east. We will be coming around Sept/Oct so that we can leave via Melbourne and can go to the Royal Show there to see the largest gathering of great danes in Australia and I can totally suck up to the breeders so that in the future they’ll be delighted to send a pup to Perth for me, LOL!

Any recommendations of worthy gardens to see (botanical or otherwise) would be much appreciated, and if anyone is interested, I’d love to put faces to names. We’ll probably spend a few days in Sydney, a few days in Orange and a few days in Melbourne.

Must run…quick lunch break but have to dash back off to work.

Hi Horty!
Good to see you here again. Also nice to hear things have been going so well for you. Sad about Kuges though.
I have been MIA too for a few months, but all is well now so I pop in again..

Hello Horty! I am bit far north then NSW so I shan’t be able to meet up but it is good to see your name hear again. Vale Kuges.

pain master said:

Hello Horty! I am bit far north then NSW so I shan’t be able to meet up but it is good to see your name hear again. Vale Kuges.

and I’m too far west

hortfurball said:

Hello my gardening friends, apologies for my long silence…I would say absence except that I’ve lurked on occasion.
Happy new year to you all, hope all is well with everybody. I see we have a couple of new names, and Pepe has had another name change ;) Lucky appears to be MIA. Does anyone know if she and the elf are well?

In my news, in the last 18 months or so since I last posted, I have met a man who on occasion threatens to make an honest woman of me, given up the ciggies (smoke free just over a year now), put on 10 kilos (the joys of quitting cigs!), found the perfect housemate, lost a dog to old age (R.I.P. Kuges), got my passport and holidayed in Bali.

New (or not so new now) man asked me where I wanted to go for this year’s holiday and I replied NSW. A good friend of mine is in Orange and I haven’t seen her for about five years since she moved east. We will be coming around Sept/Oct so that we can leave via Melbourne and can go to the Royal Show there to see the largest gathering of great danes in Australia and I can totally suck up to the breeders so that in the future they’ll be delighted to send a pup to Perth for me, LOL!

Any recommendations of worthy gardens to see (botanical or otherwise) would be much appreciated, and if anyone is interested, I’d love to put faces to names. We’ll probably spend a few days in Sydney, a few days in Orange and a few days in Melbourne.

Must run…quick lunch break but have to dash back off to work.

Welcome back Horty! It’s good to see you again. I’m in Melbourne, well west in Werribee and I’d love to meet you or have you over for a cuppa :)

hortfurball said:

Hello my gardening friends, apologies for my long silence…I would say absence except that I’ve lurked on occasion.
Happy new year to you all, hope all is well with everybody. I see we have a couple of new names, and Pepe has had another name change ;) Lucky appears to be MIA. Does anyone know if she and the elf are well? In my news, in the last 18 months or so since I last posted, I have met a man who on occasion threatens to make an honest woman of me, given up the ciggies (smoke free just over a year now), put on 10 kilos (the joys of quitting cigs!), found the perfect housemate, lost a dog to old age (R.I.P. Kuges), got my passport and holidayed in Bali.

Hi horty – good to read you again.
that experience with quitting is the same as mine. i put on 10 kilos when i quit 18 months ago – and have lost five kilos in the past year – so 5 kilos to go then…. five more and five more…. i am enjoying the gym two nights a week so that is good.

Lucky pops in occassionally like you – both her children are recently married and she is embroidering instead of gardening ….

sad you lost a pooch but good about the bloke – and the housemate.

orchid42 said:

Hi Horty!
Good to see you here again. Also nice to hear things have been going so well for you. Sad about Kuges though.
I have been MIA too for a few months, but all is well now so I pop in again..

Thanks O40..oh hang on, it appears to be O42 now. No points for observation! Have you guys been having trouble logging on or something?

I forgot to mention that I have had chickens for about a year now, or have I posted since I got them? I really can’t remember. If not, let me know as I have chookie photos! Hence I have an annihilated vegie garden that looks more like a chook playpen/dustbath. Must construct some more fencing so I can reclaim it. They also tend to scratch around in my compost bays and spread the compost all over the place. Gees the grass grows well in that back section though! (not really the intention, but has given me the idea of chook poo tea for the rest of the lawn) The mango tree seems happy with its new regular fertilising regimen too. :)

pain master said:

Hello Horty! I am bit far north then NSW so I shan’t be able to meet up but it is good to see your name hear again. Vale Kuges.

I’m coming from all the way over here…
<================
8 months not enough notice for you to organise a trip huh? ;D Way to make a gal feel important. ‘Scuse while I go off and sulk…oh what a pretty shiny thing! sulking forgotten
My housemate is from Qld, well initially Japan, but she spent the last ten years in Cairns, got out just days after Cyclone (Whatever it was) hit. She was scared her flight would be cancelled but luckily it wasn’t.

roughbarked said:

pain master said:

Hello Horty! I am bit far north then NSW so I shan’t be able to meet up but it is good to see your name hear again. Vale Kuges.

and I’m too far west

You’re too far west? ROFL! I’ll arrange to stop the flight half way and we’ll pick you up huh? :D

Happy Potter said:

Welcome back Horty! It’s good to see you again. I’m in Melbourne, well west in Werribee and I’d love to meet you or have you over for a cuppa :)

One of my doggie friends just moved from Werribee to Geelong so odds are we’ll be coming out your way. I’d love to meet you too HP :)

Google maps says Werribee’s not too far from Melbourne central. Is it a suburb, satellite town or actual town? The other side of Melbourne seems solidly populated but Werribee seems to have a big expanse of nothing between it and the city centre. Odd considering it appears to be only about 20-30 clicks away. Why is that not prime real estate between Werribee and the city centre?

justin said:

Hi horty – good to read you again.
that experience with quitting is the same as mine. i put on 10 kilos when i quit 18 months ago – and have lost five kilos in the past year – so 5 kilos to go then…. five more and five more…. i am enjoying the gym two nights a week so that is good.

Lucky pops in occassionally like you – both her children are recently married and she is embroidering instead of gardening ….

sad you lost a pooch but good about the bloke – and the housemate.

Hmmm, not exactly the same. Sounds like you put it all on in the beginning and have been slowly, successfully working it off since. Mine crept on over the course of the year and I’m still slowly putting it on. Must stop eating everything not nailed down!

Thanks for answering my query about Lucky and the elf. Do you still see them on occasion?

hortfurball said:

Happy Potter said:

Welcome back Horty! It’s good to see you again. I’m in Melbourne, well west in Werribee and I’d love to meet you or have you over for a cuppa :)

One of my doggie friends just moved from Werribee to Geelong so odds are we’ll be coming out your way. I’d love to meet you too HP :)

Google maps says Werribee’s not too far from Melbourne central. Is it a suburb, satellite town or actual town? The other side of Melbourne seems solidly populated but Werribee seems to have a big expanse of nothing between it and the city centre. Odd considering it appears to be only about 20-30 clicks away. Why is that not prime real estate between Werribee and the city centre?

To look at the wider Melb area it looks like a lamb chop. The meaty bit is Melb at the top and the fat tail goes way down to the southern coast. All one sided. Until now. The west has been discovered and this vast spacious area will be built up. New rail lines and stations planned, and new freeways, suburbs, ect. Poo. Our local pretty beach is being transformed into a multi billion dollar marina. Blocks of land jumped by millions in price overnight. Double Poo.
Werribee is a town in it’s own right.
Where there appears to be nothing between here and Melb is a huge industrial hob, freight centres and manufacturing and warehousing. With a few small suburbs dotted about.
I would like to show you the Heritage Orchard and a few other bits.
Noted about not eating too much. I will nail a cake to the table.

Hi Horty.
If by some miracle I happen to be down south it’d be great to meet.

Happy Potter said:

hortfurball said:

Happy Potter said:

Welcome back Horty! It’s good to see you again. I’m in Melbourne, well west in Werribee and I’d love to meet you or have you over for a cuppa :)

One of my doggie friends just moved from Werribee to Geelong so odds are we’ll be coming out your way. I’d love to meet you too HP :)

Google maps says Werribee’s not too far from Melbourne central. Is it a suburb, satellite town or actual town? The other side of Melbourne seems solidly populated but Werribee seems to have a big expanse of nothing between it and the city centre. Odd considering it appears to be only about 20-30 clicks away. Why is that not prime real estate between Werribee and the city centre?

To look at the wider Melb area it looks like a lamb chop. The meaty bit is Melb at the top and the fat tail goes way down to the southern coast. All one sided. Until now. The west has been discovered and this vast spacious area will be built up. New rail lines and stations planned, and new freeways, suburbs, ect. Poo. Our local pretty beach is being transformed into a multi billion dollar marina. Blocks of land jumped by millions in price overnight. Double Poo.
Werribee is a town in it’s own right.
Where there appears to be nothing between here and Melb is a huge industrial hob, freight centres and manufacturing and warehousing. With a few small suburbs dotted about.
I would like to show you the Heritage Orchard and a few other bits.
Noted about not eating too much. I will nail a cake to the table.

Best not nail it down, I have a weakness for cake and wouldn’t want to break a tooth. ;D

Please don’t make a Black Forest Cake, you’ll show me up! When D and I were first seeing each other, I asked him what his favourite cake was. Of course it had to be Black Forest Cake – one of the most complicated, time consuming ones ever! So one weekend while D was here, I made one following a traditional recipe I found on the web. Considering the length of time it took (about 4 hours) and the fact that I don’t really bake that much, it may well be what won D over, and it still goes down as the best cake he’s ever eaten, so I don’t want to be annihilated by someone of your culinary skills!
I must say, it was a pretty awesome tasting cake. Didn’t look perfect (from memory it was a little on the lean) but the taste blew us all away! (dad and his partner helped us eat the second half) Wonder if I can still remember how to post photos on this forum…

Heritage Orchard sounds good!

Bubba Louie said:

Hi Horty.
If by some miracle I happen to be down south it’d be great to meet.

Yes it would be great to meet!
Start planning for that miracle Bubba! You have two options depending on how far you want to travel (and who you want to see at the other end)
When we have dates sorted properly will let you all know.

hortfurball said:

Happy Potter said:

hortfurball said:

One of my doggie friends just moved from Werribee to Geelong so odds are we’ll be coming out your way. I’d love to meet you too HP :)

Google maps says Werribee’s not too far from Melbourne central. Is it a suburb, satellite town or actual town? The other side of Melbourne seems solidly populated but Werribee seems to have a big expanse of nothing between it and the city centre. Odd considering it appears to be only about 20-30 clicks away. Why is that not prime real estate between Werribee and the city centre?

To look at the wider Melb area it looks like a lamb chop. The meaty bit is Melb at the top and the fat tail goes way down to the southern coast. All one sided. Until now. The west has been discovered and this vast spacious area will be built up. New rail lines and stations planned, and new freeways, suburbs, ect. Poo. Our local pretty beach is being transformed into a multi billion dollar marina. Blocks of land jumped by millions in price overnight. Double Poo.
Werribee is a town in it’s own right.
Where there appears to be nothing between here and Melb is a huge industrial hob, freight centres and manufacturing and warehousing. With a few small suburbs dotted about.
I would like to show you the Heritage Orchard and a few other bits.
Noted about not eating too much. I will nail a cake to the table.

Best not nail it down, I have a weakness for cake and wouldn’t want to break a tooth. ;D

Please don’t make a Black Forest Cake, you’ll show me up! When D and I were first seeing each other, I asked him what his favourite cake was. Of course it had to be Black Forest Cake – one of the most complicated, time consuming ones ever! So one weekend while D was here, I made one following a traditional recipe I found on the web. Considering the length of time it took (about 4 hours) and the fact that I don’t really bake that much, it may well be what won D over, and it still goes down as the best cake he’s ever eaten, so I don’t want to be annihilated by someone of your culinary skills!
I must say, it was a pretty awesome tasting cake. Didn’t look perfect (from memory it was a little on the lean) but the taste blew us all away! (dad and his partner helped us eat the second half) Wonder if I can still remember how to post photos on this forum…

Heritage Orchard sounds good!

I remember when you made that cake and it looks fab :) No I won’t make a black forrest cake. Maybe just a mud cake. Or an apple cake. Or something!

Happy Potter said:

I remember when you made that cake and it looks fab :) No I won’t make a black forrest cake. Maybe just a mud cake. Or an apple cake. Or something!

Ah so I haven’t been gone as long as I thought and you all already knew about the new man, LOL!

BTW, drooling over the idea of apple cake…I love apples in any form of dessert – crumble, pie, teacake. I’m probably a slightly weird example of a female because you can leave a block of chocolate in my fridge and it will still be untouched next time you visit, and I prefer the old fashioned iced chocolate madeira over a mud cake, which I find too heavy, and yet a self saucing chocolate pudding – OMG! Heaven! Especially if the top is just a little crusty. With home made custard of course! One of my favourite desserts I remember from my childhood, along with lemon delicious pudding and a few others which I won’t list or everyone will start having sugar cravings if they haven’t already!

Wow, I just read that back…no wonder I put on the kilos, you can almost picture me drooling when you read that para, LOL!

So I’m wondering if you have all seen the pics of my chookies…

and the one who was being henpecked so she came to live in a birdcage on the back patio for a while…

and tried to take Ella’s bones off her

Sadly I had to take her to the vet in the end to be PTS. RIP Ruby.

hortfurball said:

Happy Potter said:

I remember when you made that cake and it looks fab :) No I won’t make a black forrest cake. Maybe just a mud cake. Or an apple cake. Or something!

Ah so I haven’t been gone as long as I thought and you all already knew about the new man, LOL!

BTW, drooling over the idea of apple cake…I love apples in any form of dessert – crumble, pie, teacake. I’m probably a slightly weird example of a female because you can leave a block of chocolate in my fridge and it will still be untouched next time you visit, and I prefer the old fashioned iced chocolate madeira over a mud cake, which I find too heavy, and yet a self saucing chocolate pudding – OMG! Heaven! Especially if the top is just a little crusty. With home made custard of course! One of my favourite desserts I remember from my childhood, along with lemon delicious pudding and a few others which I won’t list or everyone will start having sugar cravings if they haven’t already!

Wow, I just read that back…no wonder I put on the kilos, you can almost picture me drooling when you read that para, LOL!

So I’m wondering if you have all seen the pics of my chookies…

and the one who was being henpecked so she came to live in a birdcage on the back patio for a while…

and tried to take Ella’s bones off her

Sadly I had to take her to the vet in the end to be PTS. RIP Ruby.

Aw RIP Ruby, and Kuges. So hard when you have to do that, but harder when you don’t and seeing them suffer. Love the chook pics. Are they Hiline Browns? I’ve changed to more pure bred and atm I have leghorn bantams. They are terrific chooks! I’m learning more about chook health and what makes them tick. I’ve learned that 500 mg of Vit C per sick/stressed chook per day is not too much and they come good on it 99% of the time, and unpasturised apple cider vinegar in their water is a good overall health tonic.

I love apple cake too! With caramel topping drizzled ov….. Are you adverse to walnuts?

>> Please don’t make a Black Forest Cake, you’ll show me up! When D and I were first seeing each other, I asked him what his favourite cake was. Of course it had to be Black Forest Cake – one of the most complicated, time consuming ones ever! So one weekend while D was here, I made one following a traditional recipe I found on the web. Considering the length of time it took (about 4 hours) and the fact that I don’t really bake that much, it may well be what won D over, and it still goes down as the best cake he’s ever eaten, so I don’t want to be annihilated by someone of your culinary skills! <<

*******************

Your story brought me back to the first dinner I prepared for my present BF 35 years ago…

I’d been on a Julia Childs kick…
…so I took 3 days preparing a puff pastry enrobed Beef Wellington made with Filet Mignon and aged force meat & cream
with a side of Yorkshire Pudding & twice-baked stuffed potatoes w/chives (can’t recall the dessert since I’ve yet to recover
from shock …when he asked for tomato catsup… and proceeded to drown everything (but the dessert) in catsup! O-8= <—me

He musta’ been impressed, because 35 years later I’m still cooking for him every night.

But then WTH does he know about cooking? He’s Dutch :-p

Ogmog said:

>> Please don’t make a Black Forest Cake, you’ll show me up! When D and I were first seeing each other, I asked him what his favourite cake was. Of course it had to be Black Forest Cake – one of the most complicated, time consuming ones ever! So one weekend while D was here, I made one following a traditional recipe I found on the web. Considering the length of time it took (about 4 hours) and the fact that I don’t really bake that much, it may well be what won D over, and it still goes down as the best cake he’s ever eaten, so I don’t want to be annihilated by someone of your culinary skills! <<

*******************

Your story brought me back to the first dinner I prepared for my present BF 35 years ago…

I’d been on a Julia Childs kick…
…so I took 3 days preparing a puff pastry enrobed Beef Wellington made with Filet Mignon and aged force meat & cream
with a side of Yorkshire Pudding & twice-baked stuffed potatoes w/chives (can’t recall the dessert since I’ve yet to recover
from shock …when he asked for tomato catsup… and proceeded to drown everything (but the dessert) in catsup! O-8= <—me

He musta’ been impressed, because 35 years later I’m still cooking for him every night.

But then WTH does he know about cooking? He’s Dutch :-p

lol!

Oops, sorry about the double and triple photos, bit of a muck up.

Happy Potter said:

Are they Hiline Browns? I’ve changed to more pure bred and atm I have leghorn bantams. They are terrific chooks! I’m learning more about chook health and what makes them tick. I’ve learned that 500 mg of Vit C per sick/stressed chook per day is not too much and they come good on it 99% of the time, and unpasturised apple cider vinegar in their water is a good overall health tonic.

I love apple cake too! With caramel topping drizzled ov….. Are you adverse to walnuts?

My girls are Isa Browns. I was also intending to go pure, but in January D and I got talking to a total stranger in our local IGA about gardens and chickens (as you do) and he and his wife were wanting to find a home for their hand raised girls as they were leaving for QLD in a month’s time, so we took them on. I still want the original gang I was going to have and when these girls are gone, will follow it up. My dream flock will be a buff and/or blue Orpington, a double laced Barnevelder, a black Australorp, a gold laced Wyandotte, a buff Cochin and a buff Brahma.

Happy Potter said:

I love apple cake too! With caramel topping drizzled ov….. Are you adverse to walnuts?

Oops, sorry, forgot this bit – nope, nuts are all good.

Ogmog said:

>> Please don’t make a Black Forest Cake, you’ll show me up! When D and I were first seeing each other, I asked him what his favourite cake was. Of course it had to be Black Forest Cake – one of the most complicated, time consuming ones ever! So one weekend while D was here, I made one following a traditional recipe I found on the web. Considering the length of time it took (about 4 hours) and the fact that I don’t really bake that much, it may well be what won D over, and it still goes down as the best cake he’s ever eaten, so I don’t want to be annihilated by someone of your culinary skills! <<

*******************

Your story brought me back to the first dinner I prepared for my present BF 35 years ago…

I’d been on a Julia Childs kick…
…so I took 3 days preparing a puff pastry enrobed Beef Wellington made with Filet Mignon and aged force meat & cream
with a side of Yorkshire Pudding & twice-baked stuffed potatoes w/chives (can’t recall the dessert since I’ve yet to recover
from shock …when he asked for tomato catsup… and proceeded to drown everything (but the dessert) in catsup! O-8= <—me

He musta’ been impressed, because 35 years later I’m still cooking for him every night.

But then WTH does he know about cooking? He’s Dutch :-p

OMG! That reminds me of the time my ex’s grandparents came over for dinner and I made my famous ‘need a fork to eat it’ chunky minestrone soup. They asked for the salt before they even tasted it and proceeded to completely ruin any flavour it had by drowning it in tiny white crystals. As someone who thinks salt should live in the laundry where it’s useful for dying clothes, I was so offended, but my ex pointed out that in their generation, that’s just what you did. I still don’t get why you wouldn’t taste it first, but I accept that they just did it out of habit. How did they know I wasn’t heavy handed on the salt myself though? It would have rendered it inedible!

BTW, Ogmog, do I know you by another name, or are you new to me?

hortfurball said:

Happy Potter said:

Are they Hiline Browns? I’ve changed to more pure bred and atm I have leghorn bantams. They are terrific chooks! I’m learning more about chook health and what makes them tick. I’ve learned that 500 mg of Vit C per sick/stressed chook per day is not too much and they come good on it 99% of the time, and unpasturised apple cider vinegar in their water is a good overall health tonic.

I love apple cake too! With caramel topping drizzled ov….. Are you adverse to walnuts?

My girls are Isa Browns. I was also intending to go pure, but in January D and I got talking to a total stranger in our local IGA about gardens and chickens (as you do) and he and his wife were wanting to find a home for their hand raised girls as they were leaving for QLD in a month’s time, so we took them on. I still want the original gang I was going to have and when these girls are gone, will follow it up. My dream flock will be a buff and/or blue Orpington, a double laced Barnevelder, a black Australorp, a gold laced Wyandotte, a buff Cochin and a buff Brahma.

That’s so you HFB..chooks from a convo with a complete stranger while on a trip to get groceries. Of course! lol! Well done too.
I have ended up with an oddball lot of chickens..lots of silkies running about, and a single black Belgian D’Uccle hen named Duckie who is the funniest looking thing. I was given her at a week old and managed to get a silkie mum with a single chick to adopt her. Otherwise she cried everytime I put her off my lap. Also two 4 month black astralorp cross wyandottes. One of them, Stardust, is a throwback to something or other and has silkie feathering. There’s people who want it but I’m not letting it go. These particular chickens take ages to start laying and mightn’t start until spring. Then I have three white leghorn bantams from a breeder who lay the biggest eggs! I intend to add a couple brown leghorn bantams, when I next hatch. And there’s Hendrix, a black silkie roo given to me, but he arrived sick. He’s coming good though and getting used to me shoving meds down his throat.
And lastly I hatched out another lot of silkie eggs in a small incubator 2 weeks ago and there was a mystery egg in it from the sender. A white crested blue polish chick! It’s the craziest looking thing..pics as it grows. The other silkie chicks are black and one lavendar and the rest partridge colours. I hope the lavendar is a female.
I’m in feathery heaven.

Noted re cake- ‘nuts are good’ :)

Happy Potter said:

And lastly I hatched out another lot of silkie eggs in a small incubator 2 weeks ago and there was a mystery egg in it from the sender. A white crested blue polish chick! It’s the craziest looking thing..pics as it grows. The other silkie chicks are black and one lavendar and the rest partridge colours. I hope the lavendar is a female.
I’m in feathery heaven.

I can’t wait to see pics! Sounds like an interesting bunch.
I am only allowed up to ten chickens where I am, and no roosters because it’s suburbia, so no chicks for me unless I buy day olds next time but that could end up hairy if they aren’t sexed correctly and I end up with a rooster!

Well People, we already have provisional dates for our holiday!
We couldn’t wait until May to find out what day the danes would be showing at the Melbourne Royal, so this is our plan…
Thurs 18 Oct – arrive in Sydney
Fri 19, Sat 20 Oct – Sydney, sightseeing and meeting anyone who is interested (public transport)
Sun 21 Oct – Hire car and drive ourselves to Orange via scenic Blue mountains route
Mon 22, Tues 23, Wed 24 Oct – Orange, catching up with my buddy
Thurs 25 Oct – Drive back to Sydney and fly out to Melbourne
Fri 26 Oct – Melbourne (public transport)
Sat 27 Oct – Dane Specialty Show (will need to find out where this is and possibly hire a car)
Sun 28, Mon 29 Oct – Melbourne, sightseeing and meeting anyone who is interested.
Tues 30 Oct – Fly back to Perth

So excited!

hortfurball said:

Well People, we already have provisional dates for our holiday!
We couldn’t wait until May to find out what day the danes would be showing at the Melbourne Royal, so this is our plan…
Thurs 18 Oct – arrive in Sydney
Fri 19, Sat 20 Oct – Sydney, sightseeing and meeting anyone who is interested (public transport)
Sun 21 Oct – Hire car and drive ourselves to Orange via scenic Blue mountains route
Mon 22, Tues 23, Wed 24 Oct – Orange, catching up with my buddy
Thurs 25 Oct – Drive back to Sydney and fly out to Melbourne
Fri 26 Oct – Melbourne (public transport)
Sat 27 Oct – Dane Specialty Show (will need to find out where this is and possibly hire a car)
Sun 28, Mon 29 Oct – Melbourne, sightseeing and meeting anyone who is interested.
Tues 30 Oct – Fly back to Perth

So excited!

sounds like a plan!

hortfurball said:

Happy Potter said:

And lastly I hatched out another lot of silkie eggs in a small incubator 2 weeks ago and there was a mystery egg in it from the sender. A white crested blue polish chick! It’s the craziest looking thing..pics as it grows. The other silkie chicks are black and one lavendar and the rest partridge colours. I hope the lavendar is a female.
I’m in feathery heaven.

I can’t wait to see pics! Sounds like an interesting bunch.
I am only allowed up to ten chickens where I am, and no roosters because it’s suburbia, so no chicks for me unless I buy day olds next time but that could end up hairy if they aren’t sexed correctly and I end up with a rooster!

I have ‘people’ who take care of my unwanted roosters, I can already tell I ahve a few males.. but I kept Hendrix because I want him to keep the silkie girls looked after and living peacefully.
He has a straw bale bed in the shed to keep him quiet and I pop him into it each night and get him out at 9 am each morn. Roos not allowed here either.

hortfurball said:

Well People, we already have provisional dates for our holiday!
We couldn’t wait until May to find out what day the danes would be showing at the Melbourne Royal, so this is our plan…
Thurs 18 Oct – arrive in Sydney
Fri 19, Sat 20 Oct – Sydney, sightseeing and meeting anyone who is interested (public transport)
Sun 21 Oct – Hire car and drive ourselves to Orange via scenic Blue mountains route
Mon 22, Tues 23, Wed 24 Oct – Orange, catching up with my buddy
Thurs 25 Oct – Drive back to Sydney and fly out to Melbourne
Fri 26 Oct – Melbourne (public transport)
Sat 27 Oct – Dane Specialty Show (will need to find out where this is and possibly hire a car)
Sun 28, Mon 29 Oct – Melbourne, sightseeing and meeting anyone who is interested.
Tues 30 Oct – Fly back to Perth

So excited!

Terrific :)
You can bunk at my place for the Melb stay if needed.

bluegreen said:

hortfurball said:

Well People, we already have provisional dates for our holiday!
We couldn’t wait until May to find out what day the danes would be showing at the Melbourne Royal, so this is our plan…
Thurs 18 Oct – arrive in Sydney
Fri 19, Sat 20 Oct – Sydney, sightseeing and meeting anyone who is interested (public transport)
Sun 21 Oct – Hire car and drive ourselves to Orange via scenic Blue mountains route
Mon 22, Tues 23, Wed 24 Oct – Orange, catching up with my buddy
Thurs 25 Oct – Drive back to Sydney and fly out to Melbourne
Fri 26 Oct – Melbourne (public transport)
Sat 27 Oct – Dane Specialty Show (will need to find out where this is and possibly hire a car)
Sun 28, Mon 29 Oct – Melbourne, sightseeing and meeting anyone who is interested.
Tues 30 Oct – Fly back to Perth

So excited!

sounds like a plan!

Unfortunately not set now. Apparently I might have the wrong date for the dane show so may have to recalculate. The whole show may move back by a week but am now waiting for an email response from the relevant bodies to confirm this rather than just going on what someone told me. That’s what I get for not checking my sources. Doh!

Happy Potter said:

Terrific :)
You can bunk at my place for the Melb stay if needed.

Thank you so much for a very generous offer, will certainly think hard about it, but I am inclined to think that inner city might be a better base for us with the sightseeing…

hortfurball said:

Happy Potter said:

Terrific :)
You can bunk at my place for the Melb stay if needed.

Thank you so much for a very generous offer, will certainly think hard about it, but I am inclined to think that inner city might be a better base for us with the sightseeing…

Not a problem. W’bee is 28 klms to the city and 20 mins via the freeway and west gate bridge.

Ok, so these are the new dates (now confirmed.)
Everything is just one week later than we originally planned.

Thurs 25 Oct – arrive in Sydney
Fri 26 & Sat 27 Oct – Sydney, sightseeing and meeting anyone who is interested
Sun 28 Oct – Hire car and drive ourselves to Orange via scenic Blue mountains route
Mon 29, Tues 30, Wed 31 Oct – Orange, catching up with my buddy, also day trip to Cowra Japanese Garden and a friend’s horse stud in Borowa.
Thurs 1 Nov – Drive back to Sydney and fly out to Melbourne
Fri 2 Nov – Melbourne (public transport)
Sat 3 Nov – Dane Specialty Show (at KCC near Sandhurst)
Sun 4, Mon 5 Nov – Melbourne, sightseeing and meeting anyone who is interested.
Tues 6 Nov – Fly back to Perth

hortfurball said:

Ok, so these are the new dates (now confirmed.)
Everything is just one week later than we originally planned.

Thurs 25 Oct – arrive in Sydney
Fri 26 & Sat 27 Oct – Sydney, sightseeing and meeting anyone who is interested
Sun 28 Oct – Hire car and drive ourselves to Orange via scenic Blue mountains route
Mon 29, Tues 30, Wed 31 Oct – Orange, catching up with my buddy, also day trip to Cowra Japanese Garden and a friend’s horse stud in Borowa.
Thurs 1 Nov – Drive back to Sydney and fly out to Melbourne
Fri 2 Nov – Melbourne (public transport)
Sat 3 Nov – Dane Specialty Show (at KCC near Sandhurst)
Sun 4, Mon 5 Nov – Melbourne, sightseeing and meeting anyone who is interested.
Tues 6 Nov – Fly back to Perth

I live not far from Sandhurst, more than welcome to call in at The Estate for a nice glass of vino :)

Thee’s Estate said:

hortfurball said:

Ok, so these are the new dates (now confirmed.)
Everything is just one week later than we originally planned.

Thurs 25 Oct – arrive in Sydney
Fri 26 & Sat 27 Oct – Sydney, sightseeing and meeting anyone who is interested
Sun 28 Oct – Hire car and drive ourselves to Orange via scenic Blue mountains route
Mon 29, Tues 30, Wed 31 Oct – Orange, catching up with my buddy, also day trip to Cowra Japanese Garden and a friend’s horse stud in Borowa.
Thurs 1 Nov – Drive back to Sydney and fly out to Melbourne
Fri 2 Nov – Melbourne (public transport)
Sat 3 Nov – Dane Specialty Show (at KCC near Sandhurst)
Sun 4, Mon 5 Nov – Melbourne, sightseeing and meeting anyone who is interested.
Tues 6 Nov – Fly back to Perth

I live not far from Sandhurst, more than welcome to call in at The Estate for a nice glass of vino :)

Thanks Thee, but just received an email today saying they gave me the wrong info and it’s now being held at the Bulla Exhibition Centre not far from the airport (which is the info I originally had before they changed it to KCC), so we may just have to make a special trip out to see you and your garden one of the other days instead! I think we’ll find ourselves out that way at some stage, as we’ll probably want to see the Dandenongs, and I have a dane owning friend out that way also.