Winter draws near

As the days of sitting on my white chair under the leafy trees draws to a close, the days are getting shorter and the warmth in the sun only lasts a few hours or so.  The feathered friends are moulting and making the most of the warm spots around the yard.  I've been battling a chest infection for a few weeks and took some time out to sit out in the courtyard in the sun today.  I'm never alone for very long.  One by one the feathered friends all ventured past to see if there was a recently baked cake or a scone to share.  No luck today folks.  Although having said that, not one for lying low for very long I managed to drag my sorry arse out of my sick bed to try a banana loaf in my new bread maker machine.  The results might be a jackpot for the chooks, who knows.  The bread machine by no way will produce those marvellous stoneground artisan sourdoughs we greedily queue up for at the farmers markets.  To me sourdough is the craft of magicians who turn metal into gold in their spare time.  Bread machines provide a little loaf of your choice that is suitable for the standard sandwich and toast requirements.  It's a great way to save money if you were like me and buying on average two of the artisan loafs a week and eating a few slices and wasting the rest. We'd freeze it but even then couldn't really get through a complete one.  The other thing is the crusts.  Where is it written that sourdough must have crusts so strong they can withstand a cyclone or major storm event?  Some of them are so crusty i.e., like plaster you can barely cut them with a bread knife.  Not to mention the risk to the dental ware which if shattered will cost significantly.  So whilst the old bread maker might have fallen out of the favour in the coolest of kitchens, mine is my new friend.  Just not sure about the cake baking.  Chook Chook....

Bream Creek Show tentacles on a stick

Bream Creek Show last Saturday, always popular.  In the style of the traditional Agricultural Show where the city or in our case, the country comes to the country to showcase everything that's great about rural life.  Morning tea in the shed with the big tin tea pot, scones and few sandwich corners is a great way to start the day off.  Giant pumpkins the size of a small car take front place outside of the hall of industries where serious scone championships are fought and won.
The animal displays are hands on with highland cattle up for a pat and the bullock driving demo is hard to turn away from as 'tiny' and 'freckles' take a left here and reverse there at the crack of a whip.  I'm always a bit wary of the animal attractions, particularly the poultry pavilion with displays of some fascinating breeds.  'Nooo, we don't need any more, we already have an out of control chook population and even though her hair is more out there than Doris's we still don't need more'.  The food stalls are pretty genuine with pulled lamb rolls, good quality pizza, octopus on a stick... yeah they were a bit alien like for me, kind of deep fried tentacle lolly pops.  A great day though, but the traffic is a problem as cars are slowly parked in the car paddock on arrival and as a result the rest are banked up for a very long way.  If you are going to get there, get there early.  Before the scones run out.

Help wanted. Must have connected head and body

He's real.  He was in an arcade, in a shop in a train station near a place called Nara outside of Osaka.  There were also about 25 others, some much bigger than him and would clearly take your hand off if it got too close.  Having no ability to read the signs, the face said it all.  The shop was a type of conservation organisation for the protection of the species, or that's what we convinced ourselves on finding a women outside this shop with an enormous owl on her wrist during our recent holiday to Japan.  They had owls from every corner of the earth.  It was utterly fascinating and such a privilege to be able to be so close to these wild animals.  The not so little guy on the left and I struck up a great one way conversation.  I offered him a job, back here in Tas.  I said I've got this problem that he would be able to solve for me very quickly.  We have too many Starlings on and inside our roof.  Hundreds of them.  And slowly but surely there are helping to speed up the deterioration of a 140 year of house.  They have taken up residence inside our closed up chimneys and they nest there until their families are old enough to rent new premises. This takes some time and drives our Ragdoll to distraction as the sound of collective 'cheep, cheep, cheep' is a constant reminder of liberties taken by these chimney squatting vandals.

During our conversation I mentioned that the previous incumbent hadn't worked out so well.  His head fell off in a strong westerly.  He was recruited from a hardware shop and came by the name of 'Bobble Head'.  His purpose was set out for him but he failed on every front.  He is now in two parts, one part of him being his head now firmly lodged under the front gate and the second part being his body, regularly found rolling around the front verandah.  Some larrikin starling even crapped on his head, you could almost hear the laughter.

Now I know the travel would be significant but I would make it worthwhile, I explained.  There is a local hawk who surveys the nearby fields and I'm told is adequately rewarded particularly after hay bailing when the mice scurry is on.  But unfortunately due to the language barrier, I was unsuccessful poaching my new recruit. Oh well, better find Bobble Head and get the glue out again.

Hot and Dry at the Hamilton Show 2019

It would have been easy to skip the Hamilton Show this year.  We'd been before and really enjoyed it but it's over an hour and half from home and it was going to be bloody hot.  Tassie doesn't normally have to face up to 39 degrees but it was on its way on Saturday.  Regardless we headed off in the airconditioned ute and thought supporting this community far outweighed a bit of hot sun.  And what a community.  Lions members standing in the baking sun directing cars, volunteers manning the gas bbq slamming out some seriously good slow cooked meats with burgers, steak sandwiches and tasting platters including meltingly tender wallaby, salmon, pickles, bread and cheese, all putting in a staggering effort.  A ploughman would be proud.  The miniature goats are always up for a pat and we almost cleaned out the tree conversation stall of all the native saplings.  At $2.50 a tree, you don't think, you just buy. The birds love the natives and these trees are bullet proof, 'can't kill them' she said.  I could have disputed just a little given my history of unwitting plant abuse but didn't go there.  The sun got higher and cattle mustering had to be absent this year due to the heat.  Some thankful cattle somewhere hopefully sitting under a very large tree. 

Animals rely on us to support them in the he

at.  I came home to a house of deflated pets draped strategically around the living room floor.  Some can work out the cooler spots on the house, others not so much.  I had to drag Max out of the wardrobe in the hottest place upstairs.  The chickens were provided with multiple bowls of fresh water and seemed to enjoy the odd spray with the hose.  I was tempted to let them in deal with a very large cricket that had fainted inside the hallway but thought better of it.  So a hot and uncomfortable night for all and a welcomed cooler morning today.  Phew.  My thoughts go out to all of the volunteers at the Hamilton Show yesterday who spent the day in that scorching heat to make a great event for the local community and visitors.  Hope they had a few well deserved cool beers at pack up time.

Smoking hot

Smoke over on the hills I'm assured isn't an indication of a nearby fire but a change in wind direction from some serious bushfires in the middle and south of the state.  The air is thick and silent and the chooks sit quietly under the trees.  Having to make a decision about whether to stay and defend your property or leave to a safe environment is something I would rather not think about.  Our old weatherboard home would be an inviting neatly stacked pile of kindling for any uncontrolled fire that presented itself near our property.  We're lucky that we are not too close to natural bush with most of it bulldozed away for new housing estates or just cleared for farming over the years and forgotten to be put back.  The wind at the moment is constantly changing direction like it just can't make up its mind and we've had hot dry days but a few cooler nights to provide some relief.  I'm constantly filling water bowls for open beaks about the garden as they take shelter in shade.  Lewis our head rooster was in an odd place when I walked past the veggie patch.  He was behind the wire fence that houses in our fruit and veg (that has failed to contain the pumpkins as they head towards the driveway and the next suburb if left unchecked).  Lewis looked at me and made a funny noise but didn't move on.  He was caught.  His leg was somehow wrapped up in some strong blue plastic sheeting that had been uncovered with the strong wind blowing away any remnant of soil.  When I got near, I could see his back talons had pierced the plastic and he had put his leg through it without being about to get it out.  Hmmm.  I said "wait there".  I went inside and got some scissors.  This could be interesting.  If you've ever seen a roosters feet and legs, they have long spikes sticking out the back that could easily make a mess of anyone threatening, or wielding scissors.  As I knelt down beside him I started hacking at the plastic.  He sat motionless.  We both thought the same thing.  Don't take the leg off!  I was very close.  He still didn't move.  He had put his leg out sideways to make it easier for me to cut. He looked up at me blinking, knowing I was helping him.  Eventually I was able to cut the plastic free and he slowly got up.  He'd been there a while I think and he was looking a bit worse for wear on this hot day.  I put a bowl of water in front of him and there he stayed.  Phew.  Good team work Lewis.  But stay away from blue plastic.

Party on

Doris loves a party.  I wondered how the feathered guests would go at our recent family and friends gathering for a significant numbered birthday party.  Not mine thankfully.  I don't do the zeros!!  When guests arrived it was a chicken free zone. They took to perches, trees and shrubs out of view.  They listened from afar and went to bed bothered by noise and disruption.  A great night and whilst we managed to do most of the hospitality ourselves, we did get a lot of help.  Every time I returned to the kitchen there was a new pair of hands in the sink washing up.  By the end of the evening when all that was left was the birthday boy and his dog, with our wonderful neighbour and his dog, I left them to see the night out.  In the morning, being the first up I opened the back door to see Doris and friends at party central.  Squawks of excitement at a few dropped prawn shells, small bits of marinated this and oven roasted that scattered under trestles and beside pot plants.  The excitement was very evident.  Then the memory returned as I pictured our number one son and cocker spaniel face down in half a lobster with legs and arms poking out from beneath his chin faced firmly in shell.  By the time I returned to remove the feast, the entire thing had gone.  Only to be revisited the next morning.  On the stairs, on the carpet, in his bed!!!  A very sad and sorry dog the next morning.  Not a great start to the day.  Even less so for a house full of guests.  Eewwww.

I'm just one of you guys, really I am...

The back door is the hub of our small farm life.  It's where Max sees the world from the confines of his small inside cat life (which he wouldn't have any other way) and previously it was the reverse for Minnie who having been dumped on our property was our outdoor farm cat looking in.  Winter blew in cold winds and swept up leaves in a circling frenzy in the courtyard that rushed in the back door one icy morning.  Along with Minnie.  She hasn't looked back since.  Now regularly demands entrance and has put a hole in the wire on the bottom corner of the security screen from knocking a little bit too hard.  Now of a morning Lewis (pictured rooster) sits on the mat and waits for breakfast.  He's watched the cleverness of Minnie manoeuvre herself from outdoors to indoors and I suspect is considering the same thing.  He'd quite happily sit perched on the banister at the end of our bed and wake us with a full throttle crow at all hours of the morning.  It's hard to explain to him, that he's really not one of those guys who can come inside and eat and get warm.  Or as in today's case, inside and stay cool.  We've got a particularly hot day coming up today so all those who can be in will be in and all those who should be out sitting under trees in the shade should do so.  That means you Lewis!