Spring-ing into action!

Spring is here! It arrived on Sunday. Of course, Sunday was the first official day of Spring but even better, the weather was absolutely glorious and has stayed that way since. Hooray!

I sat in the sunshine on Sunday afternoon and was warm for the first time in months. Clear skies. No wind. Sun! Three days in a row! It's been wonderful. Today was 20 degrees. I'm liking it. A lot.

Nick tells me another cold spell is on it's way, so I'm definitely making the most of the sun while it lasts. He and I have both been doing some work around the yard.

I moved my black compost bin yesterday, which involved re-shovelling all the contents. It seems to be rotting along nicely! The blue part-barrel improvised bin is almost full and I've been pondering what to use next. As luck would have it, someone has dumped a rubbish bin along the road in front of the property. We'll have a closer look tomorrow. It might just be what we've been looking for. You know what they say, one man's trash ... is another woman's compost bin!

Fox o'clock!

This is not our fence - but it is my photo, taken about 50km from home. It was an amazing sight and I had mixed feelings as I viewed it.

I wondered at the person whose fence has obviously served this purpose over a long period, given the fox bones in the foreground (and more decayed carcasses out of shot). 

What is the story behind the practice?  When did it start?  Were the foxes shot on the property or collected from a wider area?  Is it the work of one person, or a community?

We've seen other fox-fences since but nothing like the scale of this one, just a couple of bodies usually - maybe five at most.  Even so, praps fox-fences are fairly accepted here in rural Victoria.

One of our resident foxes is reasonably identifiable because his/her coat is more sandy-coloured than the more common dark red.  I was up late one night and happened to glance out the glass sliding door, just as he/she was walking past!  I thought that was very bold and started to wonder how often he/she prowled so close to the house when I wasn't watching! 

More recently the same fox was spotted at five o'clock sauntering across the front paddock, quite close to the fence in front of our house.  I raised the alarm and dashed outside with Erin and Vaughan on my heels.  We yelled loudly and the fox bolted away to the tree-line.  The chookies were promptly locked up.  Even though there have been no further daytime fox sightings, the girls now have a 5pm fort curfew!

Sill-y Chookies!

I don't know why the chookies wanted to sit on the kitchen window sill! They've never been up there before (and hopefully won't make a habit of such antics) but it was funny to look out at them peering in at eye level!

Often when I am working at the computer they tap at the window behind me - or "knock" at the sliding glass front door, when they tire of sitting on the doormat!


I bought a new doormat this week. The girls weren't impressed. I had the front door and the mat to myself for a whole day. It was novel not to have to shoo them away when entering/exiting the door. They were back today, camped on the doorstep again. I guess they do like the new mat after all. Drat!

Milk milestone ...

Tea turned four months old yesterday.  She enjoyed a celebratory cuddle with Nick - and her last twice-daily milk feeds.

A new regime started today.  She will receive an increased amount of calf pellets and hay daily but only one evening milk feed - with a view to being fully weaned in a month or so (depending on her condition over the coming weeks).

Happily for all concerned, she didn't seem greatly fazed by the changes, though stood at the fence and began mooing much earlier in the afternoon than usual!  Over the past few days, she has been rope-led from enclosure to paddock and vice versa (given her recent tendency to run-off during transit).  Vaughan led her back from her front paddock this afternoon.  She trotted along quite eagerly - hooray!

Tea slurped her milk in record time - and seems to have largely given up on "asking" for my fingers to suck on.  That's definitely cause for celebration as far as I'm concerned!

Contrary Cow!

A much younger me - arguing with Anna!

The photo at right was taken in the late 1970s when my family was just starting to settle in the Dooralong Valley, after around two years of caravan adventuring.

Goats have a reputation for being stubborn and certainly Anastasia was one who lived up to all widely-held beliefs.  I reckon though that our calf, Tea, could've given Anna a run for her money!  No kidding!

Tea will be four months old tomorrow.  She is testing boundaries, in all senses of the expression.  She is testing my patience too.   In the past fortnight she has broken out of her paddock several times, run away when transferring from paddock to enclosure (or vice versa) - and just generally been contrary!

She and I were at a stand-off yesterday afternoon.  Tea decided she didn't want to mosey along to her evening enclosure but rather did the bolt to explore the larger side paddock.   I locked that gate after her and manoeuvred Elmer to block the stupid gate leading to the main driveway.  She danced and dashed about for a while.  I left her to it.  (I have a few stubborn tendencies myself, left-over from my goat-herding days). 

About half an hour later, she'd decided I was the bigger cow and started moo-ing for her evening milk.  I brought in the washing and took my time about organising her feed.  By that stage she was happy to trot along behind me back to her "Tea-house".

I had another win - or a series of wins.  Over the course of the weekend I had refused to let her suck my fingers, while she was drinking milk from the bucket.  She wasn't impressed but wore the 6th consecutive finger-free feed - and I wore less of the milk, when she butted against the new rules!

Stick it!

My (hydrangea) sticks are stuck - finally!  A fairly simple mission became a lot bigger over the weekend. 

In clearing space for the sticks, I removed and divided two agapanthus clumps, as well as two something-elses!  I created another garden at the rear of Erin's caravan, pruned more jasmine and culled a small tree.  As a result, the front garden is starting to look a lot more ordered - though there is still more work to be done.

I planted two hydrangeas around lunchtime.  The chookies were very interested in what I was doing - and promptly scratched out one stick! 

After the girls were locked up for the evening, I finished sticking all my sticks.  Hopefully they will take and form bushes in line with the geraniums along the back of the bed. 

Interestingly, it was quicker/easier to start the new bed than it was to effect some order to this existing one. 


I'm fairly happy with my efforts.  I still need to reorganise the stone border and tidy up in front of the bed.  I'm not sure whether I'll get that done tomorrow though - my body has had enough gardening for a while!

Bedding down ...

I'm very impressed with my new "cat bed"!  The agapanthus have now been interspersed with something else, as yet to be identified.    The something else was growing in a clump in the front garden.  I dug it up, divided it and replanted the many smaller plants. 

Vaughan and I also scattered a few heartsease seeds in the gaps between plants.  The chookies were keen to scratch through the bed and undo all my/our efforts, so I chased them off to help/hinder elsewhere!

There are many rocks on the property and I should be able find plenty of similar size to finish the border started this afternoon.