Julie

1] "Honestly! I've no idea why those women at Weight Watchers complain! Look at this portion size!" 2] "Waiter! Waiter! I asked for a fly on the side! I can't see it here!" 3] "Well...I heard someone say that if I want to 'poof 0ff' I should excuse myself from the table...but maybe if I just hang it over the side, that'll be good enough!" 4] "Ahh! What a life! Fly around all day...look cute...give my owner a few light nibbles and voila! Food on tap and I don't even have to do the dishes!" 5] "What was that? Did I wash up before coming to the table? Honestly! " 6] " Hey, if I get all these veggies just for looking cute, imagine what I might do to get a millet spray! Know what I mean??? "

Night night.

Had not even thought about doing it that way Kaz...good idea! If I tell Robert to pretend it's my neck, it should get tight enough! Good thinking 99...oops! I mean melbournebudgies. Have some of those little dudes somewhere, now just to find them in the lad's shed! Thanks to you both and I shall take it to the bossman. Pics will come sometime over the weekend in my other post re the progression of it all. Have a good night

The bird mesh came today and we scored 10metres @ approx $ 2.60/metre as it came off a roll and there faults in the wire [ not completing its run through in places] so now we have plenty to play around with. Question is, what is the best way to attach it to the round pipe frame? The roof is not on yet as we were thinking of running the mesh onto the top of the frame and then putting a sheet of corro over it and securing both at the same time. There will not be an entire mesh roof, just the corro. Not sure if this is the best way to do it or not. I know there are people here who have had such experience and would appreciate ideas on the best way/various ways. Thanks and cheers. :hap:

Will send prayers that all goes well with your daughter's surgery Kaz. Ah! That's what Mum's are!!...more often than not, more than 2 people and covering a multitude of things. Don't forget to take it easy sometimes and always remember to breathe! :hap: The aviary plans look great - big enough that if you have an influx of guests they would always be able to bunk out with the birds! :hap: Cheers!

Thanks Maesie. So many things to do still and winter is coming [ well, feels like it is] and that is the time I really get bad, so have to get a move on with it all.

Aviary update - as of the weekend all sides on the bottom are completed and hubby has almost completed a door frame. Tomorrow we have 4x3300 sheets of corrugated roofing panels being delivered with total cost of $66 inc delivery. Been looking at the roofing sheets at Bunnings and Stratco etc and they were going to be $30 a sheet + anything from $30 - $60 delivery on top. Called in to an Environmental Salvage place locally today to see what they had and voila !!! - very long sheets they cut to size for me @ $3.50/metre. One happy girl and hubby pleased too! Not been too well and the rain's been interrupting a bit but getting there. Next buy is the wire. All places we have sussed out sell it at 1200mm high and our height is about 300mm higher than that so we are thinking we need to buy some flat galvanised metal to take up that distance from the top bar down and attach the wire to that with a strip of metal over the top of the wire/galvo edge to tidy it up. Thoughts on if that would be okay. Any on best way to attach the wire?

Congrats Phoebe..loved that one! A bit late due to illness but better late than never.

Being the bottom

Sometimes you can score pavers in the local papers as give aways. That's how I got my first lot.

slowly tiptoeing along

Guess that's why the poem goes...."Land of drought and flooding rains" ') Back on topic ... I like option 1 as well but if that's not possible then the moat seems good too. What about making a 'barrier' around the aviary, like they do with sandbags? If you made like a wall that you could still get over but would impede the water flow getting to the aviary? Maybe with some concrete or wooden sleepers?

Thanks Jimmy. Going to have to get my ex-hubby to bring out our free pavers for the flooring bit by bit 'cos at the moment, it is so uneven! Thank goodness the budgies won't have mathematical degrees 'cos some of it is not exactly what one would call "straight"...it's not too bad and no way will it have an effect on the inmates, so all's good.

Thanks Libby.

It is exciting for sure, seeing it come together bit by bit and it's fun having to work out what we can utilise that is on hand [ free] and summing up what we are going to have to fork out for. So far, not really had to buy a thing so that's good. Here are the latest pics with the work done this morning after watching the ANZAC Day ceremonies and before footy began this arvo. The sky is clouding over and rain is forecast so may not get too much done over the weekend...maybe we can get 'covers' like in the cricket??? Cheers and blessings 'til next time all. and

Hiya Steve. Were here in Adelaide's north where we just had the 'heatwave' of the century. Our birds out in the aviary did really well with no casualties at all from the 15 days of extreme hot weather. I had shade arranged to cover the aviary during the heat of the day,mainly dark cotton weave old tablecloths pegged on the sides of the aviary and rolled up and down. I went in and around and sprayed with a water spray bottle every few hours and they had plenty of fresh water containers in the aviary . My birds are not ones for splashing in water baths though I did have water in there for that just in case. As I said, living in furnace conditions and no problems..it was good.

More work done over the weekend and Monday. Progress is slow but it's getting there. New pics. The framework with the safety door in it will be attached to the front of both large aviaries and the aviary with Jack and Jill is going to sit evenly spaced between the old and the new one. There will be a framework with wire between the 'gaps' at the back and a frame has to be made to get the safety roof area between all the same height. This will have wire netting over the top to form the roof. Getting there...pavers are coming soon apparently. Good thing a long weekend coming but so is footy and rain!

Just remember to B R E A T H E throughout all of this preparation time....otherwise you just won't be able to enjoy yourself! Truly!! (Laughing out loud)!

I've done a lot of looking on the 'net for images of the Peppermint tree [ Agonis flexuosa botanical name and yes, commonly called Aussie Willow Myrtle] and can't recall ever seeing anything like it in South Oz. Beautiful flowers! They do say it is widespread in WA though [ you lucky Westerners!] I am going to have to call my local nursery and see if they stock it or can get it in. One thing I did read is that it is better in not clay, heavy soils so maybe that's why it's not as common here in Sth Oz?I've been raiding our local street plantings of BottleBrush [Callistemon] as I have given the neighbour's 2 trees a good prune and they are putting on nice new growth at the ends for me to raid later in the year and ours are nowhere near size yet to cut. The little blighters lap it up leaves, bark and all..and my back pays for it picking up the leaf litter every couple of days.Great picsI've done a lot of looking on the 'net for images of the Peppermint tree [ Agonis flexuosa botanical name and yes, commonly called Aussie Willow Myrtle] and can't recall ever seeing anything like it in South Oz. Beautiful flowers! They do say it is widespread in WA though [ you lucky Westerners!] I am going to have to call my local nursery and see if they stock it or can get it in. One thing I did read is that it is better in not clay, heavy soils so maybe that's why it's not as common here in Sth Oz?I've been raiding our local street plantings of BottleBrush [Callistemon] as I have given the neighbour's 2 trees a good prune and they are putting on nice new growth at the ends for me to raid later in the year and ours are nowhere near size yet to cut. The little blighters lap it up leaves, bark and all..and my back pays for it picking up the leaf litter every couple of days.Great pics Kaz! Always enjoy looking at them.

I must say that I am absolutely loving the opportunity to see everyone's 4 legged pets and friends... all B -E -A- OOOTIFUL and cute too! Here are our beloved and I must say 'over photographed' 4 legged family members... Princess FrankiE with whom I discovered that God can even turn a life long cat hater into a cat lover! ...and our very spoilt , much loved Jack Russels, Jack and Jill. and one of my personal favourites....

And they say it's us women who can talk!!! Looking good Derek. Looking forward to seeing the pics of the birds.

Oops! So not a 'quarantine area' now. Will have to keep using our little green aviary for that...Oh well...shall just have to be for the youngsters. Thanks for letting me know about the 5 metres zone Kaz. Spoke to hubby and instead of 'butting up' alongside, we will leave a gap between each of the sides and cover these in with mesh and make a solid roof between the existing aviary and the neighbour's one [ which has that side half mesh half tin as opposed to the right side all tin] so it can be an area to store the plastic seed bins etc in. As I said, "Plans - they keep on a changing!" All good fun though and good thing we aren't biting at the bit to get it completed.

The rain has ceased for now but may be back on again tomorrow, so the grass is now definitely greener in the back than it was. The neighbour's aviary has been rolled in from next door along the road and through the gates [ had to dismatle them first!] with the aid of lengths of PVC pipe - front to back, roll -front to back, roll etc etc etc. Older PVC is much stronger than todays flimsy stuff! Anyway, only one car got held up out on the road so not too bad. The aviary itself is not as large as we were told, being 1680 x 1180 with division in the middle and 2 front entry doors but none inside from one to the other...SO this is going to be 'butted' up [ left side to right side] against the existing old aviary [ same height as each other] and will have one side used with shelving added to house breeding cages[ this is the plan but who really knows what'll happen in the end!] and the other either as a 'hospital/quarantine' area or a stageing area for the youngsters just out of the nest. The right side of the neighbour's aviary will be butted up against the left side of the larger garden shed aviary. There is a height difference between this and the other 2 so Hubby is going to add rectangular, wire covered framework to the smaller aviaries to link it with the larger garden shed one...this will then allow us to cover in the roof area with wire as well. Basically, the 'safety door' area will be at the front of the complex connecting all 3 aviaries with an open square. Confusing??? Anyway, Robert has been cutting lengths of metal to join onto the g.shed frame so he can then attach the zincalume sheets to when he cuts them. Slow progress but when he works the hours he does, it's going to have to be that way and of course FOOTY season is here and we are both great participating Club supporters [ that's real Footy...spelt with and A&F&L !] So that's the score at the moment...more to come! Soon hopefully!

5 - "Shhh! We've gotta do do this quietly! We don't want anyone to find out that we do all Liv's posts!" 6 - "Look, I've got a bit of RSI going on, so if you just help me type Liv's posts this time, I'll split the pay with you, okay?"

1 -"Okay. I've got QUERTY done but the teacher ain't gonna be too happy when she sees you've only done the I and L. Sheeez, what a slow learner!" 2 - "So if we just pretend we don't notice them, they might just go away, okay buddy?" 3 - "I don't know how they got in there but if we just keep trying these square things like I saw Liv do, we might be able to get them outta there!" 4 - " That's good so far. You have the I and the L. Now all you need is the O and the V then I'll get the E for you...then we just need to do LIV between us and it's done."