Monday

There is a new foal in the valley! A day old - and very, very cute it is too. Pearl and I saw it when we took a walk down the lane to B's yesterday. As we neared his shed, Pearl must have heard him in there and went over to say hello, and when she did, he told us about the new foal, born a couple of days early, and now moved into the paddock down near the floats. We went over to have a look and even though it is chestnut, it will get darker with age. It has a small blaze on its face, and three white feet. There's something very special about seeing a foal, not yet 24 hours old, standing and walking with its mother. There will be some more new little ones as well - so that's all very exciting!

Finally WAG (Winners are Grinners) back at Trivia again; we managed the top spot on the podium - the first time in ages. I think we played well though. I'm just glad that it wasn't so close that the point I made them take off (they had given us one too many in Round 1) didn't spell the difference between placing and not. I don't think I would have ever heard the end of it - and I was only able to do it at all because F was away from the table at the time. But, honesty is its own reward, because they gave us some drinks vouchers for pointing out the error ... which will go nicely with the $50 voucher from the win, and the $15 voucher for third place last week ... and also with the meat tray that Sooz won tonight!

We still haven't had any rain to speak of ... even though it was almost like a Winter's day here yesterday. It was a day for curling up on the couch with a good book or DVD - not going through reams and reams of Order Amendments at the office!

All the furries are well and are mostly spending the nights in with M now. The other day when I went in to give Beazley his shot, he and Pearl were both very comfortable on M's bed. This morning it was just Beazley and Maggie - Pearl may have been on the bed beforehand, but as soon as I opened the door she was there and definitely on the lookout for a cookie (already elevated out of her reach before the door opened!).

And speaking of "elevated", Tink's blood sugars were right up last Friday when M took her to the vet and her insulin has been increased to 3 units morning and night. I think it's not agreeing with her - only in that she seems to be ravenous most of the time now. She asked for (and was given) special cookies three times this morning! Hopefully the vets will be able to bring her diabetes under control soon - it has been a while since she was diagnosed and she just seems to seesaw between too high and too low. But at least she is maintaining her weight and hopefully the new insulin regime will help.

Wildlife worriers

I sometimes forget - even though I am thankful for it every day - that we do not live in an urban environment. I was reminded of this again yesterday on the drive in when I saw a kangaroo standing by the side of the road. It was alone as far as I could tell although it would have been wonderful had it been part of a larger mob. This is the first one I've seen for a long while. It may be the wrong season for them but I fear it has more to do with the increasing level of development in the area. It's sad to see so few of them around though.

The other reminder was a fox sighting this morning. This is only my second one - the first being the night one was after the plover chicks a few months ago. Pearl started barking down the back this morning and when I went to investigate I found her and the fox circling each other ready for a stoush. I wasn't sure what it was at first because it looked too tall and skinny to be a fox. (In a fanciful moment afterwards I was thinking it might be a cross-species individual like a dox or a fingo.). But the important thing was getting Pearl away and , to her credit, because she does take her role of guarding the property very seriously, she finally did come to my calling although it took a couple of times. I'm not sure how M managed to sleep through the commotion because I managed to wake S, and probably the neighbours as well! I confined Pearl to the house - luckily the cats who had already been out had already come back in - while I went to get the camera to take a shot of the fox who had positioned itself under the fence between L's and Latimers. It was fairly grainy but luckily enough in focus for S to be able to tell that, yes, it was a fox. I'm not sure where it was injured or if it was just how it and Pearl were circling each other, but it did appear to be limping on its left hind leg. It must be difficult out in the wild for the critters because when you think about it, it's just them and whatever "family" they have - and their environment does continue to get built out with seemingly little regard for them and what will happen to them.

Week's end

What a busy week at Latimers but, alas, one without any (substantial) rain. We could have done with it too rather than M and S having to water their gardens but at least when they do that it also gives them the chance to speak with/talk to the plants.

Tink was off to the vet again yesterday (lucky her - she must have been ecstatic to find out there was a road crew working on the big roundabout - the first in quite a while - installing the decals, paintwork, and ''stuff" for the bicycle lanes.). The news from the vet wasn't brilliant - her Insulin dosage has been increased to 2 - and even though it's an increase, we are grateful that there are no halves involved for the coming week - which means that she will be back there next Thursday - unless we bite the bullet and see about doing the glucose test at home ourselves. S and I had a few goes - with only very moderate success - in the early days of Em's Diabetes diagnosis but in the end we decided it was for stressful for all of us so it didn't last. We'll need to think about this some more.

Huzzar; Huzzar - which is a little like it sounded when Mr Burns from The Simpsons was being wildly enthusiastic - for the cucumber now in bloom in the garden; and for the lettuce and Bok Choy S planted today. Let's see if I have this right: New Moon means you plant above ground vegetables ... it may finally be starting to sink in! And, speaking of the moon, it is fairly stunning tonight - just a crescent but very clear. I had been out taking a photograph of a kookaburra/kingfisher as night was falling when I noticed it. And, of course, I did try to get a photo but it is just too far away. But at least the kookaburras started laughing so that may mean we are in for some rain.

Wildlife wonderings

If only we had an elephant! That way we could tell how well the corn is doing! Is it as high as an elephant's eye? There's no denying that all of the garden is doing well! Thriving even! It must almost be time for M to put another bed in up the back - although she may already done so - 1 haven't been up there for a couple of days! It's good to come in these days and find some fresh produce on the kitchen bench - squash, zucchini (yellow ones!) and radishes over the last couple of days! Pretty fantastic.

Late afternoons/early evenings now find S and M out tending their patches - I'm not sure whether they're talking with them while they're there or just watering and weeding - but whatever they're doing, it is working.

Pearl went for a visit to Nana's last night. It's good because she was looking for an outing. When I took her out with me yesterday afternoon to collect the rubbish Otto (she likes to help) she raced straight past the bin and started off down the lane instead ... so off we went for a quick walk. It certainly is a different experience since Ebony moved out - without Pearl and Ebony (and sometimes Spot) posturing at each other as we came out of the Latimers' gate it's actually become a more pleasurable experience again. It was starting to become very stressful there - and I was very concerned that if they ever did connect with each other, there would be no way of separating them before either one or both of them were injured. Hmmm ... not so much a relaxing walk at that point - but it's back to being that now ... although I do miss Ebony racing out as you drive down the lane.

The swallows are back nesting out the front - have been for a while - and there are apparently two quite large chicks in the nest. I haven't seen them but both S and M have - and I think the cats have been checking it out as well! Tink has also been paying some attention to the little Willy WagTail that comes to sit just near her (but not too close) when she's sunning herself in the yard. And S's parrots (they may not be parrots - but it's easier/faster to say "parrots" than multi-coloured birds) have been around the front a few times over the last week as I drive in on the way home. I haven't yet been fast/quiet enough to get the camera out of the back of the car and take some decent shots of them ... but I am hopeful!

All is well ...

Thursday ... and joy of joys, the rain is here. It's not the big storm that had been predicted for this afternoon but it's much better in that it's a nice gentle rain with heavier bursts in between. There has been no hail and no destructive winds - so that makes it a win-win all-around. You can almost see the plants in the garden growing - and this means that they definitely won't need watering (by anyone here) today. And some of the produce is well and truly ready for eating (although some prefer playing with their food!).

The furries were close when I came home - Maggie and Beazley were still in bed - and, when finally I did find here as I had been expecting her to be in her usual wet-weather spot on the back of the couch - Tink was fast asleep on one of the chairs out the back. That made it very easy to give her her shot and she finally deigned to come in for her dinner almost half an hour later.

Pearl came with me to the car and sat in the back (far far away from the cats' dinners) as I changed the registration sticker on the car. This could very well be one of the first times when she hasn't been sick in a vehicle! She was a help too, keeping me focussed on the job and encouraging me to peel away all the sticky stuff from the old label and put the new one back in the same place, rather than taking the easy way out and putting the sticker on the back passenger-side quarter-glass.

S is still away, coaching her nephew in English for when he sits the HSC next week. I think one of the hardest bits for her has been that she hasn't been feeling 100% but she has still managed to give it her all! That "all" includes scribing for P - long hand - so that is a mammoth effort. Luckily, P is quite good at ... what is the word she used ... I don't think it was "dictation" but it was something like that. So they have been doing well. He has a study plan in place and part of the afternoon is devoted to English. Two of the set texts this year are Blade Runner and Frankenstein... not a bad double!

 

Cultural pursuits

Trouble at farm. But this doesn't mean that someone is in hot water ... because it means that no-one is in hot water because it's the hot water system that's in trouble - it's sprung a leak in three places! M discovered the problem yesterday - thanks to Beazley who was around the side, hiding (no doubt because he'd seen the cat box and Tink being taken to the vet!) when it was time for his shot. That's when M saw the wet ground - and the geyser shooting up to the laundry window! A quick investigation revealed that a call to the plumber was needed. Ah well, it was a good excuse to be one of the great unwashed at work (even though we do hae showers there and I did have my "kit" in the car ... once I was there it all just seemed too hard ... and I knew that as long as I could have a shower before we went out that night, all would be good! We were having another women in arts night. M had arranged tickets for us to see the Bangara Dance company and their new show Terrain. Timing for getting there, though, promised it could be a little bit of an issue as it was Friday evening but we managed to work around that. I picked up Mouse after work. There was still time thing to drive home, have that shower (yes! and thank heavens for the others in the car for the drive) and still be out at the appointed time. The traffic up to Brisbane was not bad and the traffic in the city itself was okay.We pulled into the parking lot at QPAC on time ... and luckily we did because there was a treat on offer inside. They were giving away samples of Connessiur ice cream. It was so nice that we have no problem having a second one when we came out of the show. I hear the show itself was excellent. Even though I was there I didn't actually get to see much. I'm not sure if it was the comfortable seat, the darkened room, the hypnotic music or the fact that the dancers onstage made no noise, but I just could not keep my eyes open. The show went for about 65 minutes but I think I probably saw a total of eight of those. I was only woken by the thunderous applause as the show ended and the curtain came down.

I felt I had no option but to own up when asked if I had managed to stay awake through the performance - so I said "no", and Mouse offered that she could easily have gone to sleep herself, and would have if she hadn't thought we'd see - hmmm, no chance of that unless I was to do sleep-seeing.

And then we were off to West End for dinner at the Viet Hoa (mmmm ... rice paper rolls) - and where we were joined by Mi who was just finishing work for the day (after a very late start). She ended up giving Mouse a lift home so it all worked out quite well.

A cut above?

l had been looking forward to a good mow and was more than a little disappointed when the belt almost jumped off as the mower tried to glide over the lush green of the slightly over-grey-watered lawn. So, rather than doing a "2 cut with mulcher" it ended up as a 3 cut and that just isn't low enough to provide even a chance of a "Colorbond moment". M tried to assure me it was fine (very kind of her - even rewarding me with a freshly-picked radish out of the garden) but S hit the nail on the head when she came out a bit later and asked ''Didn't you mow the lawn?". So what is generally a "cheer me up" exercise suddenly wasn't. That put me right off the idea of doing barrows of dirt into one of the new garden beds - that may have to wait until I can do the mow again - in a couple of days, after the grass has had a chance to recover.

The rain continues to stay away - a real shame because we could really do with some. Luckily M has the non-tank water because if we had to rely on just what was in the tank, it would be time to start buying water (possibly even the second or third batch by now).

But the gardens continue to flourish and it's time to start eating (and sharing) the produce. That's not the only plant-life thriving. While taking photographs of a couple of cockatoos intent on dive-bombing Tink, I saw that a plant or two (okay, three) have taken root and seemed quite content in the gutters of the stables roof.

Well, it won't be long now until the last of the current batch of travellers (M and A) are home. They'll be very excited to see their boy Prince - who can't come back here at the moment as M has taken down his enclosure - part of it anyway, and is using it to train the snow peas - or was it another climbing vegetable? Not that Mouse would give him up without a fight!