Sunday 25 January 2015

Fire drill and a party

Everyone except me had a lovely long sleep in yesterday, so I had a couple of hours alone to go for my walk (and I saw lots of kangaroos), catch up on emails and Facebook and do some other things on the computer that I haven't had much of a chance to get to lately.

Millie wanted to watch 'Daisy, a Hen in the Wild' (which we've seen before - at first I thought it was a poorly made animation, but as we've watched it each time I've come to appreciate it more - the animation is very simple anime, but the story is complex and engaging) so I put that on and LiAM and Caitlin soon came out and watched it as well. At one point in the movie a duck asked another duck how he learned to fly like that (he'd just won a flying competition), and the 2nd duck said 'I just figured it out myself'. The 1st duck said 'Imagine if you'd had lessons!' and LiAM said 'well he wouldn't have been as good then, because he would have learnt how someone else did it, not figured out his own best way'. Which is exactly what I was thinking myself!

After the Daisy movie we put on the Moshi Monsters movie - we've had it from Quickflix for ages and the kids wanted to watch it one more time before sending it back and we kept forgetting. So it's watched now (and enjoyed again) so we can send it back and get something else.

Tony and I finished putting the camper trailer away and then went and checked on the chickens and the new chicks. The mother of the first chick was attacking the 2 brand new chicks - so we decided to separate the mothers (with their own chicks) by putting a chicken wire wall across part of the pen and moving Darkness (the one who was attacking) into the new section. Installing the wire wasn't too difficult, then I grabbed Darkness - who can be rather aggressive - and Caitlin and Tony tried to grab the chick. It kept running out of reach, and Darkness was going crazy in my arms, then one of the other broody hens bit Caitlin... We ended up bending the new wire wall and kind of pushing the chick through underneath it... It promptly went back under, away from it's mother again - so we left them to it, to figure it all out themselves. Once they'd calmed down everyone was where they were supposed to be and the new little chicks are safer. It amazes me how experience and practice can make a difference - there is no way I could have calmly (or at all) picked up an angry mother chicken a couple of years ago, and held it while it flapped and squawked and tried to bite me. It's encourage when I realise that I have learnt how to do something or that I have lost my fear about a situation - it helps a lot when I'm feeling frustrated about something I don't yet know how to do or have the courage to do, to remember that it's possible to learn and change and if I trust the process I can get to where I want to be.

In the afternoon we were going to an 18th birthday party for a good family friend. We were about to leave and we could smell smoke - I assumed it was the bushfire up at Toolangi, then Tony heard and saw the helicopter and went to investigate - the fire was across the road and over the next hill, and the wind was blowing from the fire to us. The helicopter was picking up water from the river and dumping it on the fire, which was exciting to watch but not something we wanted to linger over. I was surprised at how calm I was (although it is often the case, that my anxiety can be quite high when thinking about situations, and then completely gone when I'm in the middle of that situation) and just went back inside and got together our usual evacuation bag - making sure everyone had shoes, something to change into other than our party clothes, the computer, i devices, chargers, our folder of birth certificates etc, my camera, LiAM's medicine, a sling for Millie, and I asked the kids to grab anything that they would want to have with them, say, if the road got closed and we couldn't get back for a few days, and/or their very favourite toys (I know the older 2 were thinking 'what should I take in case the house burns down' but it did feel easier not to say that). They gathered things together quite quickly and reasonably calmly. LiAM was a little panicky which didn't surprise me, but he was still able to get his stuff together and think about what he wanted. By the time we left (about 15 or 20 minutes later) I checked my Fire Guard app and the fire was under control, so the danger was past - but it was a good opportunity for us to practice getting ready and out quite quickly, and helped me clarify again what items I need to have available ready to go at a moment's notice, and what things the kids really wanted to bring with them. I'm surprised by how little I really wanted to take - I thought about my box of diaries and photos and things and didn't feel the need to take it - although if the fire danger had been higher and I'd felt a lot more at risk then perhaps I would have.

So we made it to the party after the extra drama and had a wonderful afternoon/evening. I was able to meet a lot of the extended family of our friends, who I had heard a lot about but never met. There were other friends there who we knew and it was great to catch up with, and new friends to met and get to know. There were lots of kids and all of them got on well, lots of different combinations of children together throughout the party and lots of indoor, outdoor and iPad games played. We were the last to leave and everyone came away tired and having had a really enjoyable time.

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