Duckling

Littletree said she wants to go back to Brazil, and she wants to learn to speak Portuguese, so we went to the library to get a book to learn Portuguese. I found us some great lessons, with books and CDs, so we’ve been polishing up our language skills; it’s been more than six years since I had any practice in speaking Portuguese, and I keep getting mixed up with Spanish!

So at the library, it was story time, which we don’t go to much any more as it’s mostly aimed at pre-school aged kids, but this week, the librarian had brought in a cage full of ducklings for the kids to pet.

Littletree loved it, and of course now she really wants to get chicks :) So I’ll be amping up our mission to repair the aviary we have in our yard so we can have chickens.

I can’t wait to be having our own eggs! :)

Guinea Pigs

Introducing the newest members of the majikfaerie family:

The white one is called Snowy (Snowflake for short) and the Ginger one is called Shyly.

Littletree has been bugging us to have a pet since… well, since forever. My longtime readers (yes, both of you) might remember we did once have a pet, Estrella the Hermit Crab, who mysteriously died after just a few months.

Since then, I’ve been nixing the idea of pets, saying that we can’t have dogs or cats because we live in a small cabin in the bush with lots of wildlife, no mice or rats because we have enough problems with wild rodents and I set out traps, and no rabbits because feral rabbits are such a problem in Australia and I don’t want to add to it.

Finally, we narrowed it down to say Littletree could have a Guinea Pig.

Only I still had one excuse up my sleeve – we lived in a tiny one-room cabin with no place for a pet. I promised Littletree that we could get one as soon as we got a house of our own because then we will be done with travelling and settled down.

And yes, it’s true. we bought this house just over a year ago *hangs head in shame* but at first we were still moving in, then we were going to Tasmania. Then we were going to Thailand. Then we were going to Far North Queensland. Then Littletree and Purple were going to Israel. Then we were all going to New Zealand. (This is me settled down; not travelling any more!)

I finally ran out of excuses, so Purple and I capitulated and bought Littletree a couple of Guinea Pigs, as well as a nice hutch for them to live in (which I spent an afternoon painting and will soon be moved out onto the grass).

Littletree plays with them loads since she got them (let’s see how long that lasts *rolls eyes*). She brought them to Life Drawing Class, and decided to draw the Guinea Pigs rather than the model

Today Littletree built the Guinea Pigs a little castle with her blocks

She hand-feeds them

As much as I’m not really convinced having pets is such a great idea (I don’t remember this being in the brochure when I signed up for this parenting gig!), at least Shyly and Littletree are colour-coordinated

And if it really doesn’t work out, I hear Guinea Pigs are quite tasty ;)

Dog Wash

Chrysalis has her house in return for looking after the owner's two dogs, which have lately been getting into mischief; flighting with the other neighbourhood dogs. It was decided that the dogs should get a bath, and naturally Littletree wanted to help.

I'm not too sure how clean the dog got, but the girls got pretty wet and they had a lot of fun

Meanwhile we're settling in well and enjoying being here and eating lots of yummy tropical fruit and coconuts :)

Macadamia Castle

I took Littletree and her friend Princess to the Macadamia Castle on Friday, which is a local tourist attraction with a kind of farmyard petting zoo.

The girls had a great time, they played a round of mini-golf

Rode on the little train

Fed goats

Patted bunnies

And played in the treehouse

It was a fun day anyway :) Littletree has been keeping me so busy the last weeks, I think we've been out every day, visiting someone or on some activity.

Oh Rats!

I've been doing a LOT of cleaning around the house - it seems we have a new rodent infestation and the rats have been keeping me up late at night.

Generally, Purple and I have an agreement that he will set out traps and I'll dispose of the dead rats, only I don't get much chance to fulfil my side of the bargain, since Purple doesn't keep his end up.

Now that Purple is away, I'm just taking care of it myself. Not to mention the rat problem getting to epic proportions - rather than the occasional scuttling in the ceiling, this week there was scurrying all the time, and I came down in the morning one day to find poo all over the kitchen bench *puke* :(

So I did a major clean-up, got in all the little nooks and crannies, I bought poison baits and new traps and set them. At first I was all into humane traps, and no poisons, but when it comes to a choice between being humane and having rat poo all over my kitchen bench and in my child's toy box... well, I bought poison. One that claims to be safe for wildlife should they eat poisoned rats, of course.

We do get mice in the house too, but they're cute little marsupial mice that don't really bother me. Littletree, of course, is really into mice, and wants to have a pet mouse. She always wants to play with them, even after they're dead *shudder*. I deal with her desire to play with the mice, but we go for a good soapy wash afterwards! 

(this is actually a photo from last year, but it fit so well, and it's so cute I had to add it!)

Estrella the Hermit Crab

Littletree has been hassling for a pet for a while now. We've been getting books about animals out of the library, looking in the pet shop, and watching endless animal videos on youtube.
She really really really wants a pet. Of course, she wants a kitten most of all, and a bunny, and a puppy, and a fish, a mouse and a kitten...

We talked with her a lot about why we aren't getting a cat - because we live in a very small cottage in the bush, and there's a lot of birds and wildlife around that the cat would kill. Likewise a dog. there are wallabies and poterroos and koalas on our property. Not to mention that we often go travelling so we can't really make a commitment to a pet.

We talked about all the responsibility of having a pet; feeding grooming, litter/ cage maintenance, exercise, etc. And still she wanted one.

Since Dogs and Cats are out, and I don't want any mice, since we have enough trouble with rodents in the house as it is, we decided to get her a fish. Something small and low-maintenance. We figured; if it doesn't work out with a goldfish, then we can always put it into the pond by the pool.

So off to the Pet Shop we went, to check out how much a small tank and a couple of goldfish would cost. Lalala... We decided on the smallest tank they had; it was about 25cm x 12cm, and 2 goldfish and a little catfish to help keep the tank clean.

BUT THEN!

The phone rang, and the petshop woman went off for a few minutes. That's when we found the Hermit Crabs. Of course, it was Littletree's choice; we talked with her a bit about how to take care of it and what it will involve. But she was sold in the first second she saw the crabs.

Admittedly, it seems a little funny to be buying a crab from the pet shop when we can just go to the beach and catch one, but it was definately a lot cheaper than buying fish, what with the tank and accessories and whatnot. And much cooler ;)

Littletree named her Estrella