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Collecting fire wood

Collecting fire wood with a chain saw is very noisy, and some creatures don't really like it.
This spider was running away along the log that was being cut. When he got to the end, this photo shows he has just started spinning a web that he used to drop himself down off the bit of wood.





This Willy Wagtail was thrilled. He didn't mind the noise at all and hang around most of the time collecting food that was disturbed by our activities. I'm sure he thought Jon and I were just another couple of particularly noisy bulls!!!

(that is Jon in the top left corner cutting wood)




To finish the day off nicely, a herd of weeners that had been feeding on the stock route were quietly led past the front fence to a holding paddock up the road a bit.
A kangaroo tried not to be noticed as he was getting ready for his dinner on the lush green oats.

Tawny Frogmouth

The first time we ever saw a Tawny Frogmouth, we weren't really sure what we were looking at. It had the legs of a frog hanging out of its mouth!

Last night there was a great crashing noise out side. I was hoping that a big branch might have fallen off a tree. We went out to investigate and there was a very panicky Tawny Frogmouth. When he finally settled down and froze still, which is their normal defence (they look so much like a broken bit of wood they are almost impossible to see in a tree) we could see that one eye was slightly damaged. At the same time we could here squeals of a fox, so it was easy to decide to capture the bird and look after it for a while. We have a cage that is suitable for this, and we covered it in old towels to help keep him calm and warm. This morning I raked through the garden and got a jar of worms, slaters and maggots, and Jon put them in the bottom of the cage. Being a nocturnal owl he didn't show any interest in them. I guess he wasn't particularly starving.

This evening his eye looked almost perfect again, so we opened the door on the cage, took a few photos and left him alone. Of course he wouldn't move while we were there, and we didn't want to frighten him out of the cage. He flew off all in his own good time.

Bill Bailey

Last Thursday night, in Newcastle, we saw Bill Bailey perform his latest show. The theme was hope and it was very funny. He is such a clever person, so intelligent, a great observer ... all the right values!!! ... and very good with multimedia presentations.
The best 2 hours I've had ... since I saw his last show!

smoking chimney

I think seeing smoke coming out of a chimney is one of the beautiful things about winter. It is certainly one of the reasons to live in the middle of a paddock and not have to worry about what neighbours think.

This was our chimney the other day at sunset. It's been cloudy, cold and just a little rainy since then. (4mls ... not nearly enough for a farming community).