Monday, August 30, 2010

But wait there is more!

Damn it the mouse caught was a mummy mouse who had furry little babies living under the house.

Yesterday two came in search of her, oh my goodness, enough already. Poor Emily cried "Daddy, Daddy there is a mouse behind my dolly!". Ash was not sure whether to believe her but had a check and blow me down there it was. In broad daylight and all, this mouse was obviously not taught very well.

So off I went to acquire some more traps at Coles. Last night we discovered there were in fact two little mice, they were much smaller than the one caught last week. Well, there was much calamity around the house last night as Ashley tried to capture them, including waking Emily up at 11pm with by switching the light on whilst I used a toy to flick it out from under the bookshelf whilst Ashley wrapped it up in a towel before we decided to put it in the freezer. Poor Emi she was so shaken that she slept the night in our room.

This morning we discovered the second one caught in the trap set in the kitchen. Please, please let that be the last of them. There is something about these little pesky creatures that sends me screaming from the room, give me a spider or cockroach any day.

Unfortunately our little girl has now developed a bit of a phobia. Every little noise is claimed to be a mouse and today she was stuck on her stool in the bathroom refusing to come out in case there was a mouse about. I hope that this will fade in time, poor thing.

Let's hope my next post will be about a non mouse related source of excitement

Morale of the story, we must scout around for the holes in the floors and walls on the weekend!

Jen

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Got you!

Well let me tell you we have had some frustrating days of mouse hunting at Little Red House. Our little furry friend has proven to be quite elusive and has continued to enjoy eating it's way through the packets in the cupboard.

We tried peanut butter on two separate evenings but the cheeky thing just licked all the peanut butter off so we upped our game and last night Ashley added some chunks of cheese to lure it out.

After setting them it was off to bed and listen out for any movement, soon after there was a commotion and we both sprung out of bed and into the kitchen to see what we had found.

Got you!

It was a relief but also a bit sad, the old school traps mean a pretty violent end for the mouse and whilst there was no blood it still wasn't nice. I declared that disposing of it was a man's job so Ash dropped into a bag and straight out to the bin.

So there ends the story of the mouse at Little Red House.

Only funny part was Emily asking Dad tonight if the mouse had it's head cut off, oh dear, I wonder where she got that concept from, especially considering that she is renowned for story telling her adventures, let's hope this one doesn't come up during group time at day care tomorrow

Jen

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Is there a mouse in the Little Red House?

I don't know about you but I detest any insects, mice, coachroaches etc that make their home in the Little Red House. The thought of little creatures scurrying around at night and particuarly investigating around Emi and Josh's room is not a nice one. For a while now I have wondered whether there might be a mouse about the Little Red House.




There was lots of little black poos all around the house; in the pantry, behind the couch, in the bedrooms but I had not seen anything moving about so I wasn't sure what it might be.



However this morning I knew we had a crisis after discovering this in the pantry today





Some little thing had ripped open a pack of breadcrumbs........cheeky little rodent, hope it found them tasty.

So it was off to Bunnings this morning with Emily to find am old school mouse trap (neck snapper). The man about Little Red House will set it up tonight with some peanut butter. We have found this to be the most effective lure.

Let's hope we catch it and have no more surprises in the morning

Jen


Wednesday, August 18, 2010

A spontaneous trip to the beach

I think I can feel that spring will be here soon, today was brilliant, it almost felt warm enough to crack out the t-shirts but best not get to ahead of myself least I end up being disappointed.


Instead the little people and I enjoyed a spontaneous trip to Avoca Beach. One of the brilliant things about living on the central coast is being able to drive to the beach within 20 minutes or so. Awesome!

Today there was nobody around and although it was a bit blowy (as you can see by Emily's hair below), it was glorious.


We enjoyed digging in the sand, squashing sand castles, crawling all over the sand (Josh) and collecting sea water without getting too wet (Emily) and we were lucky to share it with our friend Sam and cousin Issy.

Emily and Josh getting into the fun together
Love this shot - so cute!

It was so lovely to get out and enjoy the fresh air even though the wheels did fall off a bit at the end and I had to carry Emily back to the car. Ahh the joys of entertaining little people outdoors. As we drove home to the Little Red House I reflected that it was all worthwhile
We will have to head back again soon
Jen

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

A Treasure Box surprise

The Little Red House was gifted a box of gourmet chocolates over the weekend. Seeing we all have a bit of a sweet tooth here they didn't last more than 24 hours. So today we had one empty box and a plastic insert with lots of little holes which Emily described as a "Treasure Box".

A treasure box indeed, what a great idea!

This prompted a little backyard exploration and foraging (mainly on my part) to put together several treasures to go into the little box. There was some rocks, leaves, pieces of plants, shells, some sugar snap peas, flowers. It was quite the collection.

Tonight Emily was very keen to show Dad the treasure box when he arrived home. He was very impressed, but identified one of the "rocks" to actually be a small bit of Zorro's dog poo. Fail Mummy, Fail!

Needless to say I promptly through the "rock" into the bin whilst having a rollicking good laugh.

Jen

Monday, August 16, 2010

Backyard Dreaming - First Update

This is the first of many updates I hope to write about our backyard dreaming project that we have waiting in the wings at the Little Red House.

Since my initial post there has been no action but lots more dreaming! Mainly on my part I guess. I have collected a fair number of gardening design books borrowed from the library along with ones in my own collection and whilst they all offer lots of inspiration it is almost a bit overwhelming to have too many sources to look through. I feel as if I have lost my design mojo a little, so this week I am going to work hard to have one more look through all my books and finalise the first draft and then set about finding some contractors to look at some quotes for the paving. Whilst I would love for us (or should I say the man about the Little Red House) to have a go at doing this it would possibly be a bit foolhardy and could end badly so I will need to find us a reliable paving guy aka a Nigel Ruck type.

With only two weeks to the start of Spring there is only fourteen weeks until Summer will be arriving so we best stop procrastinating and getting working!

Jen

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Sore little dog

There is something about sending your furry best friend off to have an operation; a little voice in the back of your head that questions whether something might go wrong? Will he come home?

I knew that he would be okay but was so glad when he came home and I could actually give him a big cuddle.

Turns out he had not one but eight teeth removed. I know that is a lot of teeth to have removed!! And some serious damage all caused by a ball obsession.

So you ask, how many teeth does he have left? It is hard to tell as he is not so keen on opening his mouth for an inspection (understandably so) But there are a few left and the vet assures us that he will still be able to eat but no bones or hard treats and definitely no tennis balls!

Here he is recovering inside yesterday. He is a pretty tough dog, not a whimper just happily curled up on his bed, nice and warm


Let's hope that is the end of his veterinary adventures.
Good to see you home Zoobie

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

A trip to the Doggy Dentist

Our number one household protector at the Little Red House is our best friend Zorro.


Black in colour, very lean and fast, always excitable and loving he has lived at the Little Red House since day one.

We always wanted a dog who would love to play ball so when he arrived as a five month old puppy we taught him to run and catch tennis balls. For Zorro this turned into a daily obsession and he was rarely without his ball in the yard, flipping it with his paw and chasing it all around.
Two weeks ago he was taken to the vet for his annual check up and vaccinations. The vet asked what he had been chewing. Turns out Zorro's obsession with his tennis ball had lead to serious tooth damage. Slinking back home I couldn't help but wonder how this happened, surely a tennis ball couldn't cause that much damage? Perhaps his teeth weren't that strong to begin with.
So there will be no more tennis balls in the backyard of the Little Red House.
As I write this Zorro is st the vet having one of his teeth removed and possibly a second one. Poor little guy, can't help but feel responsible. I guess we will have to find him another obsession but then again I think he is pretty content to spread out on the grass and soak up the sun.
Thinking of you Zorro

Friday, August 06, 2010

Backyard Dreaming

So here at the Little Red House there is a big project in the planning which I thought you might like to read about.

Six years after moving to the coast, our little family (me included) has become more interested in spending more time in our own patch of green out the back which has kick started a beautification project to finish off the backyard. At the moment we have already constructed and grown a line of native hakea trees, a veggie bed and a large garden bed of natives backed by a slow growing native lilli pilli hedge which might reach the top of our back fence soon (pleasssee!)

So what are we going to?

Paving & pergola big enough to accommodate an 8 seat table and BBQ, drainage, new lawn, sandpit, dwarf fruit trees, new washing line, a kids blackboard, expanded veggie beds and loads new plants to look after and enjoy. That pretty much sums it up, we will see how many of these we are able to achieve before the onset of summer.

I have been mulling over this for many months, indeed years, so it is time to put plans into action. I am currently exploring how to set it out, materials and of course the most important "how to" for some of the bigger jobs.

I know a post is far more interesting with photos so it's a shame our PC expired yesterday otherwise I would have dug up some old pics of the yard to accompany this post but perhaps I will find some to post up once the plan is finalised.

A new project is always exciting and I love having something to plan and look forward to. The thought of having somewhere to have lunch or dinner outdoors without a mish mash of borrowed tables and chairs is exciting (sad I know) so it is time to get going this weekend (hint, hint Ashley!)

I think I will provide a weekly update of our progress so I hope you enjoy reading about and seeing our "Backyard Dreaming" come to life

Jen