Sunday, March 25, 2012

Mt Tanga

Some pics of our new house, before we put in the carpets and all our 'stuff'

Getting there, its well sign posted, even though the road is under repair - detoured - because of recent flood damage!!


Part of the front garden, looks like weeping cherry amongst other things :)


Round the side a bit, garages/workhops in the background.



Wisteria on the right - plant one everywhere I go, but this one is well established so maybe I'll get to see it flower.  The vine on the left has big bean like seed pods, think it will have red flowers, but not sure of the name.  Front of the house behind this.


Spin round 180 degrees, and this is the view up the hill.



Rose garden down the side of the house, dining room looks out in this direction.



Out the back are the elevated veggie beds, 4 in total, several different table grape vines, well established and some fruiting prolifically to the right.



Also around the back is a dog kennel made from a hollow log, under the shade of a tree, other end sealed with metal plate.... perfect!



Outside the house garden now, there is this shed, which will be ideal for ducks and chooks, posts already in place for the day runs to go in front.


Bit further over there are lots of smaller dog runs, these will be converted into breeding pens for specific pairs of the various breeds, behind them the grain silos and nice view up the hill.



There are 7 machinery bay/lock up garages in a row, each with brilliant storage like these cupboards with their vintage doors c/w old handles - love them!!


 Next to the shearing shed, office on the left, storage on the right, 'shed' behind and up the stairs.

Wash up area inside the shearing shed.


Trying to show just how large this shed is!!





And this is the shearing shed office, lined walls, windows AND flywire screens!!  Plus sink, cupboards, and MtTanga signature lots of storage!!



OK, inside the house now, standing on at the end of the dining room, lounge behind, and looking through to the kitchen.




Spin around to look at the lounge:




Standing at the end of the lounge and looking back toward the kitchen, hallway door at the left on the dark green wall.


Down the hallway, guest room 1, cupboards of course!!  and a very sturdy book case behind the door, nice floorboards need to be 'rediscovered'.





Opposite that it is the bathroom, a very very long room with enough towel railing for about 20 towels, no folding!!



At the back of the house is the new mud room, which will house the washing machine and laundry stuff, and has a shower and will have a toilet soon-ish.  Like every other room LOTS of floor to ceiling cupboards.





This is the old mud room, which is next to the kitchen, it will become part of the new kitchen :)



The pantry!!  4 sets of double doors, shelves and storage down one wall, and power points all along the opposite wall for fridges and freezers.


At this point I got called away to hold a tape measure, so there are 3 more bedrooms, 2 studies and work room that will fit the Gammill, not yet included in the tour - stay tuned!!




Friday, March 23, 2012

Chooks and Water

My friend Tess always says 'wood and water dont mix', no getting your wooden chopping board wet etc.  Well 'chooks and water dont mix' so well either.

This morning this polish frizzle chicken ended up in the duck's pond, not sure how.  But she managed to get out and not get her head wet before I noticed her looking cold and shivery at breakfast time this morning.

Brought her up to the house, washed, shampooed and set under heat lamp, wait till dry and return to paddock!!




Yesterday it was her brother's turn, he got thoroughly wet, same treatment.  Here is today sticking very close to 'mum' Kiwi.


The day before it was her auntie's turn, a bearded silkie and she made a proper jobbie of it!!  So... 'dear chooks - STAY AWAY FROM THE DUCK'S PONDS!!'  I am seriously over washing chooks!!  I am not sure if they are being careless all of a sudden or if some duck is having a laugh and pushing them in ;-D

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Dyeing, not Dying!

Taught a class on Saturday for the Yass Quick Quilters on dyeing using fibre reactive dyes and natural fabrics.

All went very well, colour theory and painting colour wheels in the morning, then dyeing fabric in the afternoon.

I managed to throw a little dye around too at the end of the day and finally got my 2 white shirts looking more interesting!!


As usual, 100% cotton shirts turn out to have been sewn with 100% polyester thread, and thus the stitching stays white!

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Birthday Babies

Have had a lovely day playing with 4 new Call duck babies.  Also got some llama cuddles - perfect day!!  More pics of the llamas later, but here are my new bugs, 2 blue trouts, a trout and a grey/natural.  Lovely little bubbas enjoying a sink swim :)


Monday, March 12, 2012

Call Ducks

It is the Duck Hilton after all - so here are some of my Call Ducks :) and others!!

This post is mostly for my friend David :), look away now if you're not a duck nut!!

This is Lizzie (right) and her daughter Annie (left).  Not Calls!! LOL!!



This is Betty Boop



This is a little blue trout duck I bred this season, cute colour.



This is Groucho, his bib is enormous!  I think that he's only single factor extended black, and that's why you can see the claret breast poking through!!





This is Mia, looking gorgeous :)



And this Mietta, she's lovely and such a calm and friendly duck.




Roxie, blue fawn, stunner!



Ruby, her wings are last to change to buff, and she is the deepest, richest buff ever!!



Trudi - trout, lovely little duck... yeah, ok, some head faults!!



And this is what happens when a duck falls asleep while on a hill, when she has oriented herself with her tail UP the hill and her head pointing down the hill!!  She must have fallen asleep, had her head fall forward, woken up and tucked her head back in and then.... around and around a dozen times!!