The wind today reminded me of South Africa where it gets so blowy that they've installed handrails on some corners so you can hang on for dear life while you're waiting for the lights to change. Sometimes even that is not enough. We did a check of Latimers to make sure there was nothing that could turn into an airborne object - not for a moment ever thinking it could be as bad as it was at Mt Hutt in New Zealand over night where car windows were smashed in by the wind - and hundreds of people were stranded on top when they closed the mountain because of the bad conditions.
J didn't come today - she rang mid-afternoon to let S known she was not well. She was thinking about coming tomorrow but S said she should wait and see how she felt - so we shall see.
L and D are going to come tomorrow or early next week to tend to the back paddock where the grass is almost as high as an elephant's eye. He has been flat-out lately and seemed very apologetic that it has taken this long to get to. We were able to tell him that we are doing a Sprengers run on Saturday and will pick up some carrots for all the horses.
Did I mention that we are in the middle of an election campaign? Cannot credit how much personal criticism of the candidates there is ... even to the point that they are repeating their answers - not surprising given people are asking them the same questions. Western Sydney seems to be full of marginal seat opportunities because both the major parties have been playing out that way. But only just over a week to go now and we will know what fate awaits the nation.
I'm a bit disappointed that we are going to miss both the Emmanual College fête and the Mudgeeraba Farmers markets on Saturday. J's brother has a stall there (Mudgeeraba) and I was hoping to get some of his potatoes - but we'll have to make do with some from the Big Windmill, the Big Elephant or the Big Orange. It wasn't until I wrote that that I realised that each of them has something "Big" to go with their fruit and vegetables.
But we are going to the "Big Top" as in ... the Circus. S has agreed, saying that it would be good to do more "fun" stuff and she's not going to get any argument from me on this one. Then I'll see if we can actually make it to Dreamworld so I can get some Tiger shots. I was poking around on the benefits section of the company website and it appears that there are some discounts available for staff so I'll check those out for the theme parks - and whale watching (we are definitely doing that up close this year ... it was thrilling from the Southern Cross balcony that year - so I can't image what it would be like to see them with the naked eye!).
Chico has been visiting Pearl a bit of late and S thinks it may have something to do with secret avocado business - even though we are still gathering the fruit and Pearl is not. But S did notice Chico and Pearl coming out from the undergrowth the other day and she thought they looked as though they had been partaking of some pleasure they perhaps ought not to ... and she's thinking avocados. She was specifically wondering if they might have something to do with Pearl's bouts of itching - which are not as bad as they were - but still enough to have her hissed at from time to time. We will also get S (on her way through to Palmers) on Sunday to have a look and see what she thinks.
L and L are continuing to look more "with foal" with each passing day. They were nuzzling each other's necks yesterday evening - not sure if that was part of a grooming ritual - or trying to stay warm in a coldish breeze. They don't seem to be bothered by the growing numbers of ducks in the area; and we're hoping the ducks stay where they are because Pearl will have her work cut out for her if they decide to come down the hill into Latimers!
Swallows have been visiting the nest and one was sitting in there the other day. We're not sure what this means but we are keeping an eye on it to see if any little beaks pop into view. That would be very exciting ... in a good way - as opposed to news coming out of Russia about fire encroaching on the country's biggest nuclear research facility and firefighters battling to keep it in check. If people in some European countries blame Chernobyl for all their woes now, imagine what they could do with this! We'll be watching the net for an update tomorrow.
