The Perfect Peacock Crime

Long time no blog - apologies, but have been super busy in the schoolroom trying to get Unit 2 finished for term. The kids missed the last week of school because they have been galavanting around Brisbane. The Sparrow's left on Sunday afternoon, unfortunately the creek had come to the highest it's been since we've been here and went over the handy footbridge, which meant Alex and Matt had to boat the luggage and passengers across. Luckily they had got the car out earlier in the week when you could still drive through the creek. 

So off they went to the big smoke, leaving us a big list of jobs to do during the week and in charge of all the Malden animals. It was barely day one and we discovered what appeared to be a dead chook in the pen. Yep definitely dead after closer inspection. How mysterious. Poor chicken. The day before Alex had locked the peacock, peahen and peachicks in with the chickens. Oh you didn't know we had peacocks in our midst? Sure we do. Here's Mr Peacock...

He used to be much more impressive with a big long tail but he seems to have lost all his tail feathers, when they grow back I'll take some of him doing his dance. He spends most of his time strutting about the backyard, shaking his tail feathers, dancing about and being quite the ladies man. The peahen I hadn't really sighted, she had gone bush since we've been here to make a nest we presumed, lay some eggs and hatch some peachicks like a good mama peahen. Well in the last week or so she has re-emerged from the scrub with three little 'chick peas' bobbing behind her. Slowly but surely she has been coming back to the house, more confidant each time, looking for food most likely. 

I remembered that Alex had told me the rooster had also 'mysteriously' been found dead in the chook pen not long after the peacock came to live with them. Now a dead chicken. The question had to be asked...could we have a rogue peacock murderer on our hands?! I liked to think the best of Mr Peacock, so I looked for the only other witness to the crime (the other chickens were too distraught to talk, just seemed to cluck a lot). Miss Piggy lives next door in her own pen, a high rise apartment of sorts, so I questioned her as to the whereabouts of Mr Peacock on the night in question. Unfortunately she wasn't giving out too much information, not a big talker...

Matt disposed of poor dead chooky, we seperated the two types of fowl in case the rogue murderer had the taste for blood and got back to our list of jobs to do for the Sparrow family. Have you ever seen more neatly rolled ribbon and wound lace? I think not.

Matt has also been busy this week sanding the outdoor table and chairs, oiling them, cleaning out the water feature, whipper-snippering, putting a new blind in the store room and the last two days cleaning out the cattle grids with Alex's twin brother, Glenn.

In other news, the week before this was wet, wet, wet. Miss Emma's 4wding skills have been put to the test every morning and evening making the 3km journey from the donga to the house for school. Luxie and I became much more acquainted and I didn't get bogged, I was dreading having to call Matt or Alex to pull me out. 

School holidays now before Matt and I fly home for a little holiday! How exciting. Easter egg hunts, Easter Sunday mass with my family, our niece Laura's birthday, a wedding (!!!) and our niece Violet's baptism. Phew! We fly into Melbourne on Good Friday, how I miss Melbourne and Gippsland's rolling green hills! 

Now...the passionfruit vine seems to be laden with fruit - anyone got any passionfruit recipes???