Chicken coop to cold frame using recycled wood...

Have been dreaming about keeping chickens... 

For the last few weeks, was busy trying to hammer out a mini-mini chicken coop...

The re-cycled wood is sourced from the stone masons in the neighborhood...

This picture is a projection of the finished product...

There are two main, detachable components to it...

The bottom part is for the chickens to roam about in the day time...

The top component is for them to sleep at night...

I have yet to decide where to put the egg nest...

This was photographed mid-way through the construction...

My missus came by and commented, 'Ooh, those large gaps, the snakes will come in for the eggs'...

And being the 'clumsy carpenter' that I am... I scratched my head followed by two slaps on my forehead... thinking about how to close those gaps...

Took me a few more weeks to build, un-build, and re-build again...

This is supposed to be the end product... and I am quite sure that no wild animals (ferret, raccoon), bird of prey (Japanese kite) or snake can penetrate this cage... 

In the meantime, through my contacts with the Lions Club, the boss of a large chicken egg farm has agreed to offer us some chickens...

We ask for only two... yes, only two, for a start...

And I could not believe that he would take the trouble to come all the way to check out our environment... 

Apparently, Japan is serious on the prevention of the bird flu... and the boss of the chicken egg company wanted to make sure that there is no risk on my part with regards to the possibility of 'starting' or helping to spread the bird flu...

In other words, no free range chicken farming... too risky as the chickens will come into contact with the wild birds large and small...

He came one weekend, and was satisfied with the chicken coop or cage that I made...

'Your chickens will lay eggs everyday, because the environment is very good'...

I cheered silently... heeeyyyaaaahhh...

He suggested that we should get the 'Momiji' breed, which is developed by the Japanese farmers...

'Momiji' simply means 'maple', and is named so to reflect the reddish-orange feathers of the chicken...  

The chicks are still small now and he welcome us to visit his chicken egg farm around May...

May is still quite a long time from now..

So, why not convert the top part of the chicken coop into a cold frame to start some vegetable seeds for spring planting?

I did just that and immediately sowed over thirty types of vegetable seeds...

Now, I am thinking to make a larger 'hotel room' (the top component) for the birds to sleep...

And I have a few weeks to do that...

Japanese White-eye or mejiro

My missus recently started to put out cut Mandarin oranges in the garden...

In no time, came a couple of Japanese white eyes...

Native to the Japanese islands... and the local name is mejiro (メジロ, 目白), literally, 'white eye'...

We normally put out the orange early...

And before 7 am, the birds will come...

They appear to be the same couple...

While one feeds on the orange, the other bird waits nearby...

Initially, the birds were cautious... the distance between us and them is about 2 meters...

I had to hide behind the curtains to photograph them...

After a few days, they got used to us watching...

This one has became brave enough to show me her tongue...

Dinner for two on Lunar New Year's day...

Spent all morning this day chopping firewood... 

Had to stop after my muscles began to ache... 

Did something less strenuous thereafter... that is, to construct a chicken coop...  

When the day was done, was treated to a sumptuous dinner...

All done up by my suweeto haato... 

First, the toast with red wine...

Today's soup was winter melon with some pork lean meat...

The salad course was avocado with broccoli, celery, chopped onions, spread over some lettuce... 

 

We don't normally take beef, but today's an exception, I suppose...

Aussie beef it was... and the taste was good...

The 'main' course was tomato-based spaghetti with oysters and broccoli... 

Ooh, delicious... 

And to end the meal, home-made apple pie... 

No sugar added, as my missus said... 

Only three apples and one lemon...

Happy CNY to all who celebrate the event...

Recycling wood to make sheds...

For the past few weeks, had been spending time to construct 'sheds' to store firewood for our wood stove...
I use recycled wood sourced from wholesalers who import huge stones from abroad...

Am not too much of a 'skilled' person when it comes to these things...
Anyway, the above picture shows one of my newest 'masterpieces'...
Notice the 'shelves'?...

The 'shelves' facilitate more air flow, thus allowing the wood to dry better...
They also allow easier access to the wood especially those that are piled at the lower levels...

Prior to this, I had just piled up the wood, without the 'shelves', as shown above...
'Not very good', said my missus...
I certainly need to re-do this one later on...

Nudibranches, Lankayan Island Resort, Happy 2013...

Returned to Japan from Malaysia on the last day of 2012...

Back to freezing temperatures, compared to those of Malaysia's... 

Spent some time diving the seas of Sulu... 

Nudibranches are one of my favorite photo subjects...

From the guide books, the above specie is classified under 'Chromodoris sp.'... 

But frankly, these scientific names are quite difficult to comprehend for a layman like me... 

Why? For there are apparently many, many different types of nudibranches that look so different and are yet classified under the same names... .
My dive buddy (aka my missus) found this one for me to photograph...

This one appears to fall under the 'Chromodoris bullocki' classification...
Again, my dive buddy found this one for me to shoot...

We thought they were mating... 

Apparently, 'each nudibranch has both male and female producing sperm and eggs. To mate, two nudibranchs come together side by side and pass sperm sacs through a tube in their 'neck' to each other. Both then go their own way and lay egg masses that may contain millions of eggs.' (Source)

Could not believe this was a nudibranch at first... 

Its scientific name? Yes, try 'Phyllodesmium briareus'...

All nudibranches are carnivorous, meaning that they prey on other marine animals like corals and sponges.  

This guy seemed to be feeding on the mat-forming soft corals...

Have seen this nudibranch somewhere before... 

'Chromodoris willani' is the name... weee...

Would have loved to have an external flash on my camera for this shot....

Lankayan Island is a good 90-minute speed boat ride from Sandakan... 

Despite the fair weather, the ride there was bumpy...

It is quite a nice island on the seas of Sulu... 

It takes about 10 to 15 minutes to walk around the island...

All the bungalows were single standing... 

Very well built with good materials and nicely furnished...

The main building of the resort... 

Imagine this, right in the middle of nowhere, in the Sulu Sea...

This building houses the restaurant, and offers plenty of spaces to relax in between dives...

Of course, today is the second day of the year 2013...

We took our first walk in the nearby hills...

And stopped by the neighborhood shrine to offer our thanks to the heavens for the past year... plus, our wishes and hopes for the new year...

Happy new year to all who comes by this post...