Saturday, 28 February 2015

Travel time, flowers and oxygen...

A drive home



This is a picture of part of my drive home, it is the longest part of my day. It is the part of the day that I know I am going home, I have so much to do there (so sometimes I think that it is overwhelming) but I think that it is the longest time because it is the last thing that stands between me and our property. However, it is such a nice drive :)

During this drive (once I am off the main road) I only see maybe 5 other cars, and the closer to home I get the less cars I see, and the more the cars I see are the same. This is a nice thing, for a few reasons; if something/someone changes in our area, everyone knows about it. They say that you can't keep a secret in a small town, that is not always a bad thing (unless you are doing something wrong). It is nice to know that if there is a car that doesn't belong people will notice it, If there is someone doing something they shouldn't be doing, people will notice it.

Knowing everything around you is not always a good thing (for one it is tiring), it is also sad. It is sad to see trees and green around you, then the bulldozers move in. Development is a necessary part of forward movement, however I think that people do it too abruptly and too self-centered. They will move into an area and flatten the whole lot, then build what they want, then plant some nice decorative flowers and trees (small for low maintenance) in the area. The most common complaint you hear - "Possums are nesting in my roof", well, you killed their homes, where are they going to go? You need to try to balance with the nature around you. It is such a beautiful thing, the native trees and plants in the area, it is nice to try to live 'with' them rather than kill them because they are there. Most of the time they are not even in the way, people are just scared. In reality what do we even need trees for? They don't do all that much do they? Just drop leaves on the floor.. nothing about creating homes for native animals (under the fallen leaves, in the bark, in/on the tree), disregard that annoying thing you learnt in primary school about photosynthesis and something about oxygen, I think it is all over rated, you get so much oxygen from the air-conditioner in your car, office and work place, you don't need it floating off into the sky, what does the sky need oxygen for? What a waste.

Side note: If you haven't gathered by now, my conversations (with myself normally) get side tracked and I go on rants about whatever is on my mind. I think that is the point of this blog, so sane people can get a look at the inner workings on insanity, at least I think so.
Oh and most of my rants are about stupid people around me doing stupid things.

I think the other thing to notice is the diversity of the topics of conversation. For example, this blog was originally titled "Travel Time", because I was going to chat about the drive home from work each night, the love I have for my property and the area I live in, and probably something mushy about my wife and monsters, however, now no-one has any idea what will come next, probably nothing about cars or travel, so the title will get changed (as most of them have so far)

I was just outside, with the chickens, and I saw a new flower that the morning light has opened up :
This beautiful sunflower :)
Then, whilst still around outside I figured I would see some other flowers, and this is what we have:

 I know that this purple one is a "Morning Glory", it is such a beautiful vine/flower and does a great job of beautifying things in the garden, I don't recall the name of the white flower, but it smells really nice and it is looking great.

I love the flowers, trees, grasses and everything else about this place, it is such a nice place to come and relax and potter (also so much work to be done, so it is not always relaxing, but the idea is there).

Well, it is getting late, in the morning (0620) I must start with other things, Saturdays are always a nice day because the timings are a little different to that of the working day, I get to spend more time in the mornings doing things that I like, such as tending to the animals and gardens.

Well, I must be off, my people (animals) need me, and I am hungry so I think that it is breakfast time (I hear a faint murmur coming from the vicinity of my wife).

I will keep you all updated and soon I will start to put up pictures and writings on what I have done around here (and try to keep on topic) and what I hope to do.

Friday, 27 February 2015

Happy Chickens (and secret NSA plot)

My happy girls
This picture is a little old, only about 9 months or so, but it is from when we first moved in. The girls (now a lot more) were getting to know the place :) On the right you can see Charlie, she is the only little bantam chicken we have, we got her from a "rescue" the last owners/breeders where closing down and we went just to see if there was anything we needed (wire, feeders, etc) and the place was feral. There were dead baby chickens throughout the floor (been dead for so long that some where just bones...) normal things that you see from uneducated breeders like over population, confined cages, etc. and Charlie was there, a baby chicken, a few days old. Charlie ended up in our custody and now thinks she is about 10" tall!!

Since this photo was taken a lot has changed, firstly the amount of animals, but the regeneration of the land has also really taken off. Charlie has also raised babies of her own, with out the need of a rooster! (yes, she is independent) We got some fertilized eggs from a friend when Charlie was broody and 4 babies hatched. She was the proudest mum ever (mind you all her babies are now twice her size!)

When I look at some older photos like this one (and regret not taking more 'before' photos), I am so happy to know how far we have come and how much we have done. What we are doing here is so minimal compared to what needs to happen in the world, I will not harp on right now about the problems that we have in regards to food production, sustainability, etc, but there is a huge problem. I like the idea that I am involved with a lovely group of people that like to grow there own produce, and more, and 'trade' with other people. It is so nice to know that. This means that there are less caged eggs being brought from the shops, less chemically grown/maintained foods in circulation, and the place gets greener (in looks) which is so nice compared to concrete buildings everywhere. It is nice to see so many nice eatable gardens popping up in suburbia, some people at work have started asking me about what to do with chickens (are they easy to keep, what to feed them, etc..) which is great that people are starting to become more self reliant on some things (we have to start somewhere). And then there is the conversation about keeping money local, don't get me wrong, the local supermarket is a global company that uses all its money to fund secret NSA satellites that spy on me when I sleep (I am actually really interesting when I sleep) and we should keep the money local instead of helping the NSA spy on me, however they do give local people jobs, which gives them money, and the large chains are a necessity in modern day living. I do like giving money (or produce) to local people though, and keeping things close to home, gives you a warm fuzzy feeling :)

BTW, if the NSA are actually spying on me it means that there is nothing else important to do with government assets, so it makes me happy to know this, means there are no more nasty terrorists running around :)

Anyway, I must be going, I have another day of work (not the fun kind) to be doing, so I must get all my goodies in one basket for that.

And if anyone out there would like to donate money to the "Jimmy should get to stay home in order to make the world a better place" fund, please feel free to contact me and we can talk :)

Last thing (I promise), I don't actually think that the NSA are spying on me, or that they are capable of spying on anyone, and I don't make any actual accusations towards the NSA in regards to what they do or don't do with their governments money/assets. (..just in case.. I don't want the American government to sue me!) but I do believe in the "Food is Free" project and home grown produce!

Thursday, 26 February 2015

The Princess

This is Pants. Pants is the oldest of our 3 cats, she is a Princess. She is a loving, gentle and caring cat, however that is only when SHE wants to, if she is in one of her "moods", she will ignore you, she will yell at you, she will hide from you (for no good reason).

I will learn how to use this blog site correctly, because the glory that is Pants could not be contained in a mere page of black and white text and one photo, I will upload videos of her, photos of her and lots more information as this whole blog site develops.

Pants is like an angel, when she wants to jump onto something (bookcase, top of fridge, top of the printer...) she will just appear to drift up there gracefully as if gravity was an suggestion and she had no time for silly nonsense like that, she must be on high to survey her minions.

She loves to go outside, she is not allowed to go outside. Pants is a domesticated cat, a predator to nearly everything outside that we are trying to protect (Buttons has even been eyeing off the Alpacas...) so, in order to keep the peace in "the house of the mighty and glorious and beautiful and angelic and graceful Pants" (as she likes to call it), we have built a "cat-aranda". This is an outdoor area (which used to be a veranda) which we covered in chicken wire (I will add a photo when I can find/get one). This is accessible through the laundry in the house, and has a human sized door so we can leave from it into the backyard. Pants like this place, she allows the other cats to join her there, which they all appreciate.

There is a new addition to the house plans, and that is to build a "cat-io", this is like a patio..... but for cats. This is a larger venture, which will cost money and time, both of which I am still very short on.

Enough about building things, this page is about Pants!! :)

You will notice that in pretty much every photo of Pants she is looking amazing, it is actually a fact that you can not take a bad photo of Pants, it is just impossible (unlike defying gravity).

Ok, I must go, I know, there is still so much beauty to talk about with Pants, however, I can hear 30 odd birds (and yes, they are all actually a bit odd) starting to wake up, so I must go now, let them roam free in the yard and give them some seed, and continue to get ready for work...

I hope you all have a great day, and please feel free to look at photos of Pants all day (you can actually print them out and put them on your desks at work!)


Tuesday, 24 February 2015

A bit more about me....

Well, I am in my mid 30's, and I have the added joy of having a double knee reconstruction which means that my mobility is very limited. Why am I telling you this? This causes me a lot of problems, sometimes it hurts to walk, sometimes it hurts to sit for too long, sometimes it just hurts. When I am posting things on here and it might take me 3 days to do what looks like a simple project, it is because I have to break it up over time due to my physical restraints. So please understand :)

 I try to stay active (well, I can't help but do that since I have a full time job still), but trying to fit in work (away from 0630 and back at 1700 5 days a week, plus once a month working at least 1 24hr shift over the weekend) as well as finding time to feed the animals, clean up the animals, water the garden, plant new foods to grow, deal with water catchment, deal with the little things like heavy rains causing problems around the place, dealing with heat/drought... and the list goes on, it is hard. I need to keep working due to still needing money right now. I do say right now, I am hoping to one day have built a 'community', an area, something, that can live with minimal/no money, doing everything by trade/barter, but.. we will see.
Right now I know that there are a few people in my local area that are happy to swap things, eggs for pumpkins, etc.. so it is nice to see that there are other "like-minded" people out there, however the council will not accept eggs as a payment for rates, picky council :)

My mum has recently got my a watering system for 4 of my garden beds, this is great, this saves me so much time. Right now it is temporarily in place, as I am still "fine tuning" the garden beds, but it is still a welcomed upgrade to this place :)

My time... I just came back inside the house (it is 0522), so what do I do all day? I get up at around 0430. I feed the 3 cats (+1 that we are still baby-sitting). If I don't get up at 0430 (or if my cats clock is broken) my large ginger cat (Buttons) will sit next to me in bed and start to stroke my face.. this sounds lovely, and it is. He has such a warm fuzzy little paw, but, if I enjoy it for too long (between 1 and 5 pats), the warm soft fuzzy paw starts to extend its little claws, which by the way are NOT as warm soft or fuzzy. So, I will feed the cats, right now Buttons is on a special diet due to recently being diagnosed with having an irritable bowel, this means he eats only expensive food. Normally the cats eat a mixture of chicken and kangaroo, however with this problem the vet says that there is too much heavy/complex proteins in the red meat and it is probably irritating him :( So, he eats expensive stuff that is meant to be good (but processed) and the other cats will eat everything else until it all runs out, then we will see (maybe everyone on the expensive stuff... I might start selling body parts to pay for this!)

But, enough about Buttons and cat food, I will write up a "bio" on each of the animals in individual pages later on :)

So, cats fed, while the kettle it on, turn on the computer and check my email, FB and Gumtree (always looking for free/cheap things to help out around this place), and now, this blog thingy I will start to try to add something to some mornings.  I am also on a 'survey' site, where I answer questions and give my view/opinion on things for market research, why? It pays. Like I said, I need help wherever I can get it, so if I have a free 15 mins in the morning I will fill out a quick survey and earn money for it :). Anyway. As I check my emails and all that, the kettle boils and I have a coffee, while still doing some stuff on the computer, about 0500ish (depending on when the sun is coming up) I will go out and let the chickens/ducks/geese out (soon to be guinea fowl, but they are in a baby cage (I will add photos) since I worry about predators. I let them out, feed them and listen to them talk to me (or yell most of the time) about everything that is so important to talk about at 0500.

Then, coming back inside, normally finishing up on the computer, get everything ready that I need for work (leaving at about 0630), then, at about 0530 it is time to wake up -- the other half.. so, the kettle goes back on, and it is tea making time. I used to make her breakfast also, however sometimes she is not in the mood to eat that early so it gets wasted :( As I make her tea I will get anything else ready for work, and give the cats second breakfast.. they start to complain at me that they have never been fed, so I give them a little more (yeah, I'm a softy).

She will get up and we will enjoy a cup of tea together, then it is feeding the dogs time and putting my work things in the car. She will normally start to make something to eat (I don't need a lot that time of the morning either, since I will have cereal at work at about 0900). There is always something that gets in my way though, always something that stops this perfect plan from running smoothly, normally an animal has done something silly and I will deal with it, or I will get tied up writing this blog and then realise it is 0545 and I have things to do :)

So... on that note, I will continue to add more about life as it comes, until then, I must get ready for work.

I know that so far there has been little structure that I have stuck too (all over the shop here), but after the initial picture is painted and you can all see what is happening, I am sure that things will start to take shape properly....... I'm sure,,,,, :)

Until next time, I hope that you all have a great day!!! :)

Sunday, 22 February 2015

I.....AM....Thunder Cat


This is Thunder Cat... he is the baby of the house (cat wise), he is a 1 year old bundle to terror and torment, but, what would life be without them :)

Ideas anyone? + about me

I have a lot of ideas, but no time :( It is always the way unfortunately.

I am still, however, open to suggestions, if you have any ideas for me to try out, please let me know. I love to hear peoples ideas on how to do anything better, faster, cleaner or cheaper. With that said, maybe I should do a proper introduction about who I am, what I want to do, what I have.. and all the rest :)

So, my name is Jimmy. I want to live 'off the grid', 'organically', whatever other catch words you would like to use.

I like to recycle things, for a few reasons. Firstly there is too much landfill and waste in the world. We need to do something to try to save what is left of our planet, so my small attempt is to try to get other peoples waste and reuse/recycle it for something else. The second reason that I like to do this is to save money. That's right, I am not actually a millionaire, I have a job (which doesn't pay too well), and I am trying to save and get what I need to get, however life keeps throwing problems in my path (this is the venting I was talking about earlier), but, I will talk about all that as time goes on :)

So.... I have 5 acres of land that I own and live on with my wife, 2 dogs, 3 cats (+1 babysitting at the moment), 1 rooster, 13 chickens, 17 ducks, 6 guinea fowl, 4 geese and 2 alpacas, as well as a large variety of wild/native birds, possums, lizards and other animals (the odd Kangaroo comes past).

I will add photos of the animals, the land and features (like the dams) as we progress throughout time (and while I learn how to make albums and whatever else I need to do with this bloggy thingy)

That's all for now :) I have things in the real word to do!! :)

Zero Hour

Well, this is something new, sharing.

I have decided to make a blog, yes, I know that I am 10 years late on the trends, but that is us, we don't follow the "trendy" things normally.

I am doing this to share some of the things that we are working on, and plan to work on.
Hopefully this will be a productive way for me to vent, learn and grow :)

I will start this very soon, I have lots of stories already, pictures, good and bad things, so please, check back regularly and I will try to keep you all updated :)

- Jimmy