Tikkun Olam

Adventures of an Urban Nomad - Power of the Dark Side

Sun, 20 May 2012 08:08:00 GMT

This week I turned 60. "Why did you do that?" - you ask. Without boring you with time/space mechanics, solar system dynamics and planetary physics (all of which you understand anyhow) and paraphrasing Tony Abbott when he was asked about the difference between the Baby Bonus and the Kiddy Allowance - "it just happened". (Senility must already be setting in - I'm quoting Tony Abbott.)

Something else I did this week was attend my first Network Central event. It was fantastic, met lots of interesting people and had a great time - I highly recommend it. The speaker was Mandy Holloway who spoke about courageous leadership. One of the points she made was getting feedback from the people around you about how they perceive you. I decided to give this a go using the excuse of having turned 60. (One thing I've noticed is you can use turning 60 as an excuse for all sorts of things that just don't work for earlier ages.)

So I sent out a request to many friends, relatives and other associates asking them for HONEST comments (just 4 or 5 words) on how they would describe me. I braced myself for a whole heap of abuse - well not quite "abuse" but I was expecting some confronting feedback. What came back was fascinating. I could relate to all of it in terms of "yes I can understand how that person would see me that way". Of the hundreds of positive words there were very few which were in the confronting category.

The intriguing thing was the impact this had on me. Only a tiny percentage of the feedback was challenging and yet this is what stuck firmly in my consciousness. Even days later I can instantly recall this feedback but I have to work quite hard to remember the more encouraging comments. I don't think I'm unusual in this. (Mind you based on my little experiment I'm now thoroughly convinced I am unusual and just not in this aspect.)

Reflecting on how much impact we have in how we talk to others - whether it's our loved ones, children, work colleagues, friends or even those telemarketers who call you at the worst possible time - I realised how the imbalance works. We can say hundreds of supportive, encouraging things and yet one or two words can destroy it all. So my objective now is to be MUCH MORE MINDFUL of what language I'm using especially in those necessary but challenging conversations.

On a lighter note: I've had comments that 60 is the new 30, 40 or 50. Interestingly no-one seems to want to go back to their 20's. That must tell you something :-)

Adventures of an Urban Nomad - Stories Are More Important Than Food

Sun, 13 May 2012 23:48:00 GMT

One of the joys of housesitting is having access to a new library every few weeks.

For example I read the book "They Marched Us Three Nights: A Journey Into Freedom" by Dr Abraham Wajnryb. It's his experience at the end of the Holocaust. This is a short book and very easy to read. I think it's important to read and it covers many of his experiences. I'd like to focus on one episode that was particularly powerful for me.

As World War II was drawing to a close the Germans were aware they had lost. The Allies and Russians were sweeping across Europe and Germany was in full retreat. As part of this they were clearing out the concentration camps. Dr Wajnryb describes the death march of which he was a part. For years he had been "living" in a labour/death camp. During this time the amount of food the inmates received was well below a subsistence level. We've all seen the horrific photos showing the skeletal state of these people.

In the closing days of the war the inmates of the camp were forced to leave and marched towards an unknown destination. They were not fed and anyone who collapsed was simply shot on the spot. During the night they were force-marched and locked up in barns during the day (so as not to be seen from the air).

Abraham describes how he noticed that the guards were disappearing and after three nights he and a small group of other inmates found an opportunity to slip away. They were in the countryside, with no food and dressed in prison garb.

Eventually, they came to a farmhouse which was clearly inhabited. They had no idea of what reception they'd receive if they approached the house and took a long time to decide what to do. Finally, it was decided to send a couple of people to see if they could get some food while the rest would wait to see what happened. If there was trouble the rest of the group would be able to escape.

Dr Wajnryb was one of those chosen to go. He describes his trepidation going to the farmhouse hoping for help but expecting to be shot. Fortunately, things went well. The occupants took them in and gave them food for themselves and the others. However, before letting them return to the group the farmer and his family insisted that they stay and eat. This whole process obviously took a long time. Eventually they returned to their companions carrying sacks of food.

Now if you were one of those waiting for the return of your companions what would you have done in this situation? You haven't had a real meal in years and nothing at all for the last three days. You are literally starving and on the point of death. Someone arrives with a good supply of food. Would you want to eat first or hear about what happened at the farmhouse and why it took so long to come back? Personally, I think I'd be into the food and worry about everything else later. Not so in this case. The first priority of everyone was to hear about what happened; they'd eat later.

This episode made a huge impression on me. Here is a group of people literally starving to death and their first priority is to hear a story. Just goes to show how important and powerful stories are to people; sometimes we need them for our survival even more than food.

Adventures of an Urban Nomad - Pay It Forward

Sun, 06 May 2012 12:46:00 GMT

Last Wednesday Danita had a car accident. Thankfully she wasn't hurt but the car was rendered unsafe to drive.

She was going through a roundabout when the car was hit from behind - the passenger side rear wheel. I don't know about you but to me it seems that to be hit there means the other car was in the wrong. Anyway, the driver of the other car had the chutzpah to say Danita was at fault. (BTW the definition of chutzpah is someone on trial for murdering their parents pleading for leniency because they're an orphan.)

Now, where was I? Oh yes the car accident. The driver of the other car was very kind and replaced the rear tyre which was shredded. With this done Danita managed to get the car to an AAMI Assesment Centre. Have you ever tried to contact AAMI? Once you get a person they're wonderful, but it's a real challenge actually managing to connect with someone to talk to and their website:- if you're trying to do anything it's very unhelpful. It wouldn't even let me pay my premium (which I was trying to do before the accident). Enough wingeing and back to Danita, an unusable car and an event for us both booked for 7am the next morning (sorry I hadn't mentioned that bit).

That was our next dilemma - how to get to Homebush by 7am the next morning. It was now after 5pm. I spent some time looking into various car hire options and then Orana Car & Truck Hire (www.oranarentals.com.au)
appeared at the top of my Google search.

Since we started house-sitting we've used Orana to move a number of times and they've always been really friendly and helpful (not to mention the lowest prices).

The first time we used them there was a little interaction involving one of the managers (Karl Romeo - isn't that a great name!!). When I told him the date we would need the truck he remarked; "Oh I'll remember that one. It's my birthday".

As an astrologer I'm particularly tuned to birthdays so made a note of it. In the packing and discarding process which one does on moving house we found some bottles of port which had not been opened. As Danita & I are not port drinkers I decided to give one to Karl for his birthday when I collected the truck.

Back to our dilemma. As I mentioned it was about 5.15pm when I called Orana to find out about booking a car. Luckily Karl answered the phone. He was amazing! He arranged a car and offered to stay back until I got there (which was about 5.45, well after their closing time).

Now I'm not saying Karl offered to help because I'd given him a birthday present - he's a great guy anyhow. But the point is by acknowledging someone and developing a good working relationship sometimes you get helped out of a jam when there doesn't seem to be a workable options.

So, if you're looking for a very reasonably priced car or truck to hire call my mate Karl at Orana and tell him Laurence sent you :-)

Adventures of an Urban Nomad - House Do's, Don'ts & Maybes

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 10:40:00 GMT

As an Urban Nomad we're privileged to stay in many different places and so we find out what works about a house and what doesn't. Here's our list so far:

Must have

Solar electricity generating panels (or photovoltaic cells to be technically correct) - just because you ought to. There are actually many good reasons like reducing your household electricity bill or ideally being off the grid completely.

Gas heating and cooking - immediate heat when you turn it on and stops when you turn it off. It's also easier to adjust.

Deck or verandah all around the house - you can sit in the sun (or avoid it depending on the season) at all times of the day.

Household help - at least a lawnmower person (usually a man) and cleaner (not gender specific - often they come as a pair). Saves you having to do those things you really dislike and helps share the wealth around.

Wood heating - it's wonderful getting up on a winter morning and lighting the fire - makes you feel warm straight away. Chopping and carrying the wood is great exercise. Also, very romantic.

Skylights. I'm amazed at how much light they bring in

A dog - preferably saved from the pound. If you're thinking "What about a cat?" remember "Dogs have masters, cats have staff".

A dog door. You don't want to be a doorman for your four legged family member.

Ceiling fans and adjustable awnings - makes a significant difference to the temperature in summer with no operating costs.

Air conditioner (emergency use only) - because some days are just too hot.

Significant distance to your neighbours - you really don't want to know them that intimately.

Kitchen garden - vegetables, herbs, fruit trees, chickens (and/or ducks). It's wonderful going out into your garden and deciding what's for dinner based on what you have. When something's in season you get really creative about what to do with all the food. And when you go visiting it's nice to take something you produced rather than something you bought.

Located close to bush especially a national park.

What not to have

Carpets - they're incredible dust collectors and NO vacuum really gets them clean.

Round tap handles - seriously challenging with wet, soapy hands.

Light switches NOT at the doorway. It's astounding where some people put switches - they seem to bear no relationship to the room they're for.

Nice to have

A bath big enough for two. Very important after you've been out wood chopping.

Swimming pool - if someone else does the maintenance. There are some days you need that quick cool off.

That's our list. What do you think?

Adventures of an Urban Nomad - OH & S Nightmare

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 12:19:00 GMT

In last week's post I pointed out the house we're in now feels like being in our parents' homes. Feeling almost normal we decided to have some friends over for dinner - something we haven't done for a while. As a result of this, it's probably something we won't do for quite some time either.

The event started badly, went well for a while and then ended badly.

As I mentioned it's been some time since we've fed more than ourselves and an assorted collection of animals. So we're out of practice cooking for a group. Consequently, the menu consisted of dishes which were probably a lot more complicated to prepare than we ought to have picked.

At the last minute we realised we didn't have all the ingredients we needed. We're currently living near Chatswood - very close to a major shopping centre - and so thought it would only be a few minutes to race to the shops and get back quickly. The snag was we'd completely forgetten about evening peak hour traffic. This was an excellent reminder of why we prefer to live in the outer suburbs or rural areas.

Even with this outing we still ended up missing a couple of ingredients. We made do as best we could & rang our guests asking if they wouldn't mind coming a little later.

Fortunately, this all worked out and the meal went well, even if any similarity between the recipes we used and the final dishes was purely coincidental.

The real disaster occurred when everyone was leaving. The driveway/entrance to this house is very steep, wet and dark. (I found out later there is actually a light but I wasn't aware of it at the time. Isn't it amazing how you always seem to find out really important things AFTER you need them?)

As they left, one of our friends stepped across the one-brick-high edge of the driveway and fell backwards hitting her head. She seemed OK at the time and we're hoping it all turns into nothing. HOWEVER, we were concerned for her welfare and rang the following day. She assures us that all is well - thank God.

This did raise the question for me of liability. Should the outcome have been worse who would be responsible and who would get sued? We do, after all, live in a very litigious society. Us, because we 'live' here and had people visiting us or the home owners because lighting seemed inadequate and we hadn't been properly informed of the operation of the safety equipment. But then maybe we had been informed, but in the midst of all the information we needed to take on board in a very short time, we had missed the bit about the outside lights (although there's nothing we could do about the wet path - that's a result of rain - so then we could argue it was an Act of God). Even if we had been told about the lights perhaps we could argue we'd been inadequately trained. As you can see this is a lawyers' dream.

So if you're a lawyer or insurance broker who'd like to give us advice on how to address this properly, please form an orderly queue and we'll get to you eventually - just watch out for the slippery slope.

Adventures of an Urban Nomad - Back in the Burbs

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 09:28:00 GMT

Last week we moved to Chatswood. We'll be here for just over 7 weeks so this is almost a permanent residence for us.

We're enjoying the new house and while it's in an amazingly quiet location (given it's proximity to a road with heavy traffic) we have been subtly reminded about why we prefer the country (or at least the outer suburbs). So far there's been a crying baby, a screeching woman, next door's pool pump running constantly, lawn mowers, chain saws and leaf blowers. Apart from that it's been very quiet. Even the dog here is quiet - in fact we're not sure she can bark as we've never heard her - such a delight especially as we've come from a house with 6 dogs, 2 cats, 2 birds and more; all of whom were very vocal!

Allowing for the background noise we're very comfortable here. It's an older style house and both Danita & I feel like we're back in our childhood homes - the photos on the walls look like our relatives, the furnishings are similar to what we had growing up and so on.

I remember visiting a museum a few years ago in San Fransisco. One of the displays was a 1960's bedroom. I was amazed and horrified. It looked just like my childhood room; the same furniture, record collection, posters etc. That was amazing! The horrifying part was when I realised I now qualify as a museum piece - and I don't think I've made it to the status of a living treasure just yet (still working on that one).

As I was saying, we are very comfortable here. It's wonderful having our clothes in a wardrobe and not living out of a suitcase, having separate rooms properly set up as offices (not having to use the dining room table as one) and space in the kitchen to put our supplies. I'm finding we're really appreciating the so-called "little" things in life.

There are still some disappointments we are confronted by though. When we met the house owners there was a Thermomix (an amazing piece of kitchen equipment). This was very exciting, as we'd had one in a previous house-sit and been very impressed by it. So the prospect of having one for a couple of months was thrilling. Shortly before they left they sent us an email saying their daughter had requested to use it while they were away and, of course, she had priority. While being very disappointed by this sudden change of plans we felt we could overcome the pain and grow through the experience. And so we soldier on :-)

Adventures of an Urban Nomad - Time for a Breakdown

Sun, 08 Apr 2012 11:19:00 GMT

This week Danita & I separated. No we haven't split up - we had an overlap in house minding commitments and so we needed to be in separate places.

My job was to be in the new house, set up the IT infrastructure so we could keep working and prepare the materials for Danita's She Business meeting. Danita stayed back at the old house to wrap up and feed the animals in the morning. All straight forward enough except that's not how it turned out. She had limited time to get everything done and get to the new house to get ready for her lunchtime meeting.

The house we were leaving is a doggy farm stay - rather than put their animals into a kennel which keeps them in cages, this one has a paddock where they roam free and are housed with other dogs.

Danita's first job was to check the chickens and ducks. Here's where things started to go wrong. Every day until then the birds were happily inside their pen waiting to be fed. This day Danita arrived to find them wandering around the yard outside the pen. First job was to get them all back in. This required talking, chasing, herding and there's always one who refuses to go back in. Combined with the fear that some had gone missing this got the day off to a "good" start.

Next were the arrivals of some new dogs - one was expected as we'd previously spoken with the owner, another was booked in but we hadn't been able to speak with anyone and so we weren't sure if and when they'd arrive. Then to top it all off there was a completely unexpected arrival just as Danita was ready to leave.

Time was rapidly ticking away for Danita's timely exit when yet another twist occurred; the owner of the final dog to arrive had pointed out that theirs was an indoor dog who'd been there before and knew the ropes. Danita took this to mean the dog was house-trained and allowed her to stay inside. As soon as she got in she weed and poohed all around the house including on the table and the notes we'd prepared for the owners on their return explaining how well everything had gone(???).

It was then necessary to remove the 'indoor' dog to an outside area which, of course, led to considerable protest (i.e. barking). Meanwhile two of the other new arrivals who had been sharing an area had become too boisterous (lots of running around with one 'humping' the other) with yelping from the recipient of the unwelcome attention. Again, time to remove one to another area and keep them separated at least for the couple of hours until the owner of the property returned. Each relocation of course required corralling the appropriate animal (without scaring it) and providing bedding and water.

On top of all this were the tasks involved in leaving a housesit - preparing new bed linen, washing what we'd used of the linen and towels and setting everything up for the return of the owners. After this crazy morning Danita arrived at our new place quite frazzled. However, she pulled herself together and went off to run her meeting - which went very well, as usual.

Adventures of an Urban Nomad - Hound of the Baskervilles

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 10:14:00 GMT

For the last couple of days there has been a the noise of a dog (or dogs) howling in a nearby property. It started late one night and had being going continuously for over 24 hours.

As you know, dogs are pack animals. Consequently, when one starts barking (or in this case howling), it sets off a chain reaction through the neighbourhood. We're currently living with seven dogs and so this set them all off. The result has been a long time of screaming in the distance combined with a lot of barking at our house.

If you're a parent chances are there's been a time when your baby just wouldn't settle down and just cried and cried. You tried everything; feeding, bouncing, rocking and anything else you could think of and still the poor child wouldn't settle. Distressed, lacking sleep and at your wits' end you may have gone to a hospital, doctor or in really desperate circumstances even resorted to asking your own parents for advice.

To some degree that's what this was like. The constant howling had us concerned that there was something seriously wrong. Also, the noise meant sleep was challenging or even impossible. Our initial response was to try to shut out the noise, hoping things would settle down. After all, it was some distance from us so (surely) there must have been people closer who were more affected by it than we were.

However, nothing changed.

So, after many hours of constant noise we decided to take action. The big question of course was what could we do? We decided calling the police would be appropriate as there could be a major problem. I had visions of a murder scene where the dogs have been trapped inside the house with the owner's corpse. Who said I don't have an imagination? It's fascinating what scenarios you can come up with having been sleep deprived for a while.

First thing was to see if we could find out exactly where the noise was coming from. By the way, at this point it was now midnight.

We drove around the neighbourhood in order to determine the address from which the noise was coming. We think we found the property and went back home - this was because our mobiles didn't have any coverage and so we needed to get to a phone. I thought about going in to check, but since it was very dark and the house was a long way back from the road and couldn't be seen (properties out here are quite large) in addition to my overactive imagination I decided it was more prudent to let someone else do it.

Back at home I called 000 and the lady I spoke to was very helpful - took the relevant details, asked about whether it was just barking (no it wasn't) or howling/screaming (yes it definitely sounded like the dogs were in pain or somehow traumatised) and said she would arrange for someone to look into it.

As soon as I got off the phone the noise stopped and we haven't heard anything since. So now I've probably been marked as a potential prank caller - doh!!!

Adventures of an Urban Nomad - Bad week for boys

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 13:31:00 GMT

This week has been a bit of a tough one for the boys around here.

In a household consisting of 7 dogs, 2 cats, 2 horses, 2 birds, assorted chickens, ducks, geese and finally 2 people there are a very limited number of males. There's me, Sancho, a couple of roosters and a peacock. As you can see we're a bit outnumbered and this week has seen considerable violence perpetrated against us (well maybe not considerable but ...)

As you'd be aware, males are supposed to have a lower tolerance for pain than females (at least that's the story you'll get from the girls). Well, I think we've managed very well under extremely trying circumstances.

Firstly, I was attacked by the electric fence and a rooster. My understanding is that the electric fence is around the chicken yard to protect them against foxes, which are common in this area. While organising the water for the chickens I inadvertently (well I wouldn't do it intentionally would I?) touched the charged wire. I was immediately assured that it was working very effectively.

Feeling somewhat sore and slightly sorry for myself (actually I was having an internal discussion - using appropriate language - about what a dumb thing that was to do) I entered the enclosure only to be viciously attacked by one of the roosters. OK - so it wasn't so vicious but he did leave me with a bloody knee and a very trendy hole developing in my jeans. Given my earlier comments about the gender imbalance you'd think there'd at least be some solidarity but oh no - not this little black chicken!! Mind you, I had been warned about him. The owner had told me she had to beat him off with a rubbish bin lid at times. Fortunately for me, he seemed to respond to a good hosing down - perhaps the chicken equivalent of a water cannon at a riot.

Then it was Sancho's turn. As I mentioned in last week's post one of the dogs is blind. Danita was taking some meat and bones outside to share around and there was a canine stampede for the front door. Unfortunately, the screen door had shut and so five dogs were jammed together trying to get out with Sancho and Stella (the blind one) in the centre.

Stella, presumably under extreme duress, then had a bit of a barny with Sancho. This turned into something like a schoolyard punchup - two dogs, in the middle fighting, with a few onlookers providing very noisy encouragement. I provided "crowd control" by throwing Stella off Sancho which had the desired effect of calming the situation. We were then able to open the screen door and everyone headed out to their objective - the meat and bones.

While he dealt with it very stoically, Sancho did end up with a cut just below his eye and one of the back of his neck. I contemplated taking him to the nearby vet but after cleaning him up with antiseptic he seemed his usual cheerful self and so we decided to "keep him under observation".

Ultimately, all has worked out and Sancho still gets on well with Stella, and the rooster and I are doing much better - I think he's worked out that whenever I turn up he gets fed so that's incentivised him quite successfully.

I'm now looking forward to a more sedate week.

Adventures of an Urban Nomad - The Menagerie

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 10:33:00 GMT

This week we moved from the rural location of St Albans to semi-rural Dural. We are now in a house with a tennis court, swimming pool, outdoor pizza oven and more. Who says you can't live in amazing locations without lots of money?

One of the intriguing attributes of this place is the menagerie. It consists of:

Indoors

2 cats - Sootie and Tigger - named primarily based on their colouring. Tigger is fairly shy & retiring and tends to stay out of the way, but Sootie loves contact and seems to delight in teasing the other animals.

3 and a half dogs (half because Stella spends as much time inside as outside). The dogs are:

Coco - a black miniature poodle

Bella - a white Maltese who bears a striking resemblance to the house elf Dobby from Harry Potter

BooBoo - a Pomeranian who apparently thinks she's a Rottweiller. She took on a very large dog and ended up with a broken leg, broken ribs and numerous other injuries. She hops around with one front leg sticking out at a very odd angle. I'd say this is a classic case of nominative determinism - where your name determines what you do eg Dr Tooth the dentist.

Stella - a bitsa who's blind & balding. It's amazing to watch her get around the house. She's like a ball inside a pinball machine - bouncing from object to object using her head as her 'cane'.

Outside

More dogs - Millie a golden retriever & Bianca the maremma.

2 birds. Birdie a Sun Conur which seems very similar to a Rosella with more yellow colouring and Charlie a Sulphur Crested Cockatoo. If you've ever heard Cockatoos screeching you'll have an idea of how loud Charlie can be. He's very chatty and will say "Hello Charlie" when you're around. He does get very persistent & loud and can be quite vicious if you have the misfortune to get too close. It's amazing how quickly he picks up on what you say and starts to repeat it. Since there are children who normally live here we have to be very careful not to tell Charlie what we really think of him. He's making a concerted effort to chew his way through the wire mesh of his enclosure. I can't really fault him on that since it is very restrictive even though it's quite large.

2 miniature horses - Gizmo & Sugar Mint. Don't blame me; I didn't name them. These are quite amazing as they are fully grown but are only about 3 feet or 1 metre tall.

And finally a collection of ducks, hens and chicks which have the benefit of being an excellent source of eggs. There are also a couple of roosters and a peacock. .

So now you've met the whole family. It's time to go feed them all.....

Adventures of an Urban Nomad - A Bat in the Bathroom

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 06:22:00 GMT

There I was, getting some emails finished off and starting to shut down to prepare for bed, when there was a scream from the bathroom. I ran in to find Danita standing at the closed door saying there was SOMETHING in there. She thought it was either a bird or a very large butterfly.

Being a boy* I pumped up my testosterone levels, swelled my chest and prepared to do battle with this dastardly creature who dared disturb the equanimity of my fair lady. I opened the door very carefully, ducked in and quickly closed the door behind me so it couldn't get out while I was coming in.

It then dawned on me that I was trapped (and unarmed) in a very small room with a large, unknown creature. This did not seem to be a sensible scenario. I guess that's why Danita (being a girl*) was on the other side of the closed door.

There was indeed something flying around - I managed to observe it for a while and decided it wasn't a bird - it was too quiet. Also, it wasn't a butterfly as it was travelling way too quickly. Eventually I noticed it had oddly shaped wings for a bird and realised it was a bat. Now I hadn't heard about bats in this area and the only ones I was familiar with were fruit bats which are quite large. One thing I did know was that vampire bats are small and this was a small one. So here I am, in the above-mentioned not sensible situation, thinking I'm facing a potentially dangerous creature. Thoughts started running through my head about how to protect my neck, rabies and other potentially fatal scenarios.

Deciding "discretion was the better part of valour" I left the room to find a weapon - or at least something to catch the intruder with. I figured a net would be really useful but there weren't any on hand. A friend who lives nearby has a swimming pool and we did consider going to her place to borrow her pool net. Deciding against that idea, we found a mesh shopping bag and a broom. Now armed as a "retiarius" (the gladiators who fought using a net and spear) I once again prepared to face my nemesis.

I won't go into a detailed description of the battle. It lasted some time with both combatants having the upper hand at various times. The crucial turning point came when the bat started flying around the room in a consistent way. I was able to intercept its flight path with the business end of the broom intending to stun it. Fortunately that worked and it crash landed into the soap dish. A quick flick of the wrist (mine) and it was netted.

After getting photographic evidence (see Danita's facebook post) and a slight nip on my finger, I released it outside and we haven't seen or heard from it since.

Another successful day on the farm.

*Sorry if you feel this is not very PC but I'm nearly 60 years old and some of those ideas which were imprinted on me very early still come out in stressful situations.

Adventures of an Urban Nomad - Rain Check

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 11:15:00 GMT

The universe is indeed perverse. Last week I wrote about hot days and crystal clear nights. This week it's been rain, floods and open fires.

As you'll have heard, NSW has been in the grip of a major weather event with much of the state being flooded. This has affected us in that the house we're now minding is located in the rural outer area of Sydney. For us to get out of the area we need to use the vehicle ferry at Wisemans Ferry. Due to Warragamba Dam being full, the floodgates were opened (first time in 14 years) and the ferry stopped running. For almost a week before this happened the papers were constantly saying "Warragamba to spill tomorrow or the next day". So we spent a lot of time following the news, checking weather sites, monitoring river heights and trying to decide whether to cancel our appointments.

We both postponed our Friday appointments and Danita decided to "take a rain check" on a course she was booked on over the weekend as she wouldn't have been able to get back.

On Saturday the river near us started to rise. It kept rising until we found ourselves overlooking a large lake rather than the small one which had been there beside some large paddocks. For photos go to Danita's Facebook page. We didn't know when it would stop, and so moved animals and equipment to higher ground. The water is still up and we're now in a lakeside resort. The colour of the water is like liquid milk chocolate so it's a bit like living in Willie Wonka's Chocolate Factory.

We did have one casualty. Our daily routine is to let the chickens out in the afternoon and bring them back into the henhouse at dusk. Even though it was raining, we let them out figuring if they wanted to run around in the rain they were welcome to. When it came to locking them up we were one short. I kept checking the places they hung out and doing recounts in the henhouse regularly hoping it would turn up but eventually gave up.

In addition we had a very disturbed chicken - lots of squawking for no apparent reason (at the time). We eventually calmed her down by keeping her wrapped in towels in a basket. I now suspect she was a witness to chickicide and days later is still reluctant to leave the henhouse.

Next day I was speaking with our neighbour and mentioned the missing chicken. She told me that foxes come out in the rain because it covered their scent and so our dogs couldn't detect them. (Today one of the dogs was sniffing at something which led us to the crime scene - a pile of feathers and leftover entrails.)

Isn't it amazing how people are so helpful and informative after the event? No one had mentioned this useful piece of information previously. This brought to mind our latest Thought For The Week; How do you learn to make good decisions? Experience. How do you get experience? Bad decisions.

So now in our nomadic journey we're down one cat and one chicken. Fortunately, the number of animals who've survived has far outweighed the losses.

Adventures of an Urban Nomad - Feeling Grateful

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 09:22:00 GMT

As housesitters we've been very lucky to stay in some amazing houses. We're currently in a lovely place past St Albans over the Hawkesbury River near Sydney.

We're tucked away in a beautiful valley overlooking a lake. On a few occasions recently we've seen pelicans in the lake and kangaroos nearby (yes, we've had them in our driveway!). While there are other houses nearby we can't see them and we never hear other people.

We have a productive vegetable garden, fruit trees and chickens producing more eggs than we can use (see last week's post about the Henhouse Rebellion).

Days are warm to hot and nights are cool. In the morning we wake to the valley shrouded in fog sometimes so heavy you can't see the nearby hills.

Nights are beautiful. As it's been a new moon recently with cloudless skies the stars have been magnificent. We've been able to see the Milky Way again. It's wonderful to look up into the sky, see the band of stars in the Milky Way and understand we're looking through the plane of our galaxy and then look 90 degrees away and see deep space with very few stars. I often hear of people experiencing this who get a feeling of how small they are but for me it gives a sense of being part of something huge and incredible. Yes, I'm only a small part of it all, but I am a part.

Today we had some friends visit. We're grateful for that as it's no trivial undertaking. It involves a couple of hours travel time for them but when they arrive and are struck by the beauty and wonder of the place we're living in, it's a great reminder how lucky we are.

Our deepest thanks to a couple of people who we didn't know before we undertook their house-sit. Moving into their home we're having a wonderful "working holiday". I hope they're enjoying their holiday as much as we're enjoying ours.

Adventures of an Urban Nomad - The Chicken Rebellion

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 13:15:00 GMT

You've, no doubt, heard about the Arab Spring. We're currently experiencing something similar - except it's in the chicken house.

When we took over the current house the chickens (yes we've now added chickens to our resume) were laying 4 eggs a day. This was fantastic and more than we were able to use. So we were in the wonderful position of being able to give eggs away. While we were very happy with the situation it did occur to me that since we had 10 chickens, 4 eggs was either an indication of some seriously underperforming birds or there was a roster system of which I had not yet become aware ie they were taking turns to produce. At first, I opted for the latter view. However, some recent events have been leading me to reconsider my position.

It started with a refusal to return to the coop after the afternoon's designated free time. Each afternoon we would let them out and let them run around freely for a few hours. During this time we would keep the dogs locked up. At first I would come back to the coop to find all the chickens inside on their own roosts - there really is a "pecking order" but I won't go into that now.

Then one day things started to change. It started with one chicken still outside when it came time to return to the "security" of the coop. I attempted to "herd" it into the henhouse but as I went around one side, trying to move it to the doorway at the front, it headed around the other side. So we had a Mexican standoff with me on one side of the henhouse and the chicken on the other. Meanwhile, a couple more chickens came out and so I found myself needing to go in three directions at once - clearly not a viable position. Having Sancho running around them added an "interesting" element to the chaos. Now Sancho isn't a big dog (he's a cute 10kg white fluffy) but to a chicken he does appear to be rather threatening. The fact that he has a chicken wing each morning for breakfast may also have added to his perceived danger.

Many years ago I heard about a management course in which trainees had to get a chicken to do a particular thing. Clearly, the only way to achieve the course objective was to change your own behaviour in order to achieve the desired change in your staff's behaviour. I suddenly found myself wishing I'd attended that course. However, I found the principle a sound one and so looked at how I could change what I was doing to get them into the chicken coop. This finally worked and I had all the chickens present and accounted for - I really didn't want to have to tell the home owners I'd managed to reduce their chicken stock.

Next we started to notice a decline in the number of eggs. From 4 per day it was dropping to 2 per day. This was clearly an unacceptable decline in them meeting their KPIs. To address this we tried feeding them more interesting things - scratch mix and kitchen vegetable offcuts. Things didn't improve. In fact they got worse.

We now find we need to check the nests regularly because they've started destroying the few eggs they do lay. On a number of occasions we've found only broken egg shells instead of the intact version for which we were very grateful. Also, when it's been time to "go to bed" a group have been regularly wandering around the enclosed vegetable garden. Somehow they're getting in but can't get out again.

I'm finding this "rebellious" behaviour quite unacceptable and if they continue in this manner I'm afraid I shall be forced to contemplate more dramatic action. If you come to our place for dinner and are offered roast chicken it may be best not to ask where it came from.

Adventures of an Urban Nomad - My bike is not a dirt bike

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 11:12:00 GMT

My motorbike (Yamaha 1100 XVS Star Classic for the enthusiasts) weighs 284.9 kg - keep that in mind. It will be important shortly.

This week we moved to a new housesit in St Albans. That's 20 km past Wisemans Ferry and so is the furthest from the city we've been yet. It has a wonderful veggie garden, fruit trees, chickens (fresh eggs every day), horses and dogs.

When we moved in, the house owners were still here. There's a separate cottage which we used for a few days before they left, giving us a good opportunity to get to know each other and do a proper handover.

This summer has been a very wet one for Sydney - another very important fact.

When I arrived, Claire, the owner, was in the garden. She suggested I put my bike (see details above) under the house where it would be protected from the weather. I thought this was an excellent idea and so rode down to where she was.

In order to get under the house there was a small incline going up. Now remember, this is a heavy bike and it's been raining A LOT - not a good combination. As I rode up the grassy slope it turned into mud. The back wheel spun out sideways and the bike went down. So, I picked it up and tried again, this time using a different section which seemed more solid. "Seemed" is the operative word as it wasn't any better - slush, back wheel sliding out and down we go again. I decided this was a bit of a mug's game and, having a cover for the bike, went back to Plan A which was to have it in the top car park covered with its weatherproof sheet. Easier said than done!

The road to get under the house was downhill from the carpark. Coming down hadn't been an issue when I went through the slush as the combination of the weight of the bike and gravity had worked nicely to get me where I was going. Heading back up was a different story. Once again hit the mud, back wheel spun out and the bike was back on its side. I lifted it up AGAIN and tried once more with the same result. Isn't there something about the definition of insanity being "doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result"?

There was one slight difference - the back wheel had buried itself in the mud and so I couldn't get it to go backwards to try a different route - oh for a bike with reverse gear!

Claire had been offering to help push which I'd been resisting. By now I was very happy to accept her offer.

So, pick up the bike (still stuck in the mud) with me trying to drive it forward and Clair pushing. Nothing happening - just digging deeper. Slipping the clutch and giving it more revs and slowly, ever so slowly I could feel it starting to grip.

Eventually, with a slight side-slip we got traction and were able to get moving. When I got to the carpark I found the back wheel was covered in mud right to the rim, mud icicles were hanging off the back and Claire had a stripe of mud down her entire front. Last time she tries to offer helpful advice!

The significant amount of weightlifting I had done now meant I was in intense pain and couldn't walk or sit comfortably for a couple of days.

It's now Sunday, I can walk again (albeit slowly and at a slightly weird angle). It's sunny (momentarily) and today's first job was to wash the bike.