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Are you my mother?

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  We have an echidna growing up on the farm! I first saw it down by the creek. I managed to scare it into the round ball below. Usually they burrow into the sand but this was clay so burrowing was hard.  After surviving the initial scare, it seems to have gotten very bold. We see it going up and down the road and wandering through the paddocks We have also seen an adult echidna but they do not travel together. These would be one of my favorite creatures! We also have substantial kangaroo families, but the youngsters stay pretty close to mom. This is the view from the kitchen window on many mornings. This youngster has only recently ventured out of the pouch, despite his size. He definitely knew who his mother was.  The juveniles (out of maternal protection) often have a big brother as care-taker. They do venture in other areas besides this spot bbehind the garden. This one was outside our bedroom one morning.  Another one stopped by the front door, seeming to want an...
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Old MacDonald Had a Farm

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  Meet "Dubya" - the newest addition to our farm. We now own six sheep and one horse.  Dubya is an ex-racehorse and was struggling to find the right place after his racing career petered out. He has great racing bloodlines. Officially known as "Streets of Dubai",  his sire was the famous stallion Street Cry, winner of the  $6 million Dubai World Cup. His dam was Hela Dubai. His great grandfathers include Mr. Prospector and Northern Dancer.  Street Cry also produced Zenyatta, Street Sense and Winx. Apparently they got the running genes and didn't leave much for him. Dubya raced 15 times and won once. He was retired from racing; apparently he just doesn't have the drive. Eventually he found his way to Rylstone where Scott's aunt and cousin live. Aunt Berenice remembered we eventually wanted to get horses so she did some matchmaking. James trains polo ponies so has a lot of horses on the land; however, Dubya needed more feeding than they did and James was w...
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Teddy Bear Picnic

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Apparently June 7 was the day the wombats came out to play! These marsupials are generally noctornal and might be seen at dusk but not in broad daylight. However, on the Kings Birthday weekend, we saw several out during the day on Sunday.  The one above was in the middle of the paddock.  Most wombats are not quite as red. He/she seems to be struggling to keep their eyes open! Scott saw this one in the scrub the makes the south border of our property. While he has been "hissed" at by wombats that felt he was too close, this one didn't seem to care.  Finally, this brown lump by the gate is one of older wombats. We do often see him sitting by his den when we come back after RFS (rural fire service) training. But on June 7, he dragged himself out to join the party! Since June 7, the wombats have not been nearly as visible. Not sure if this is a monthly, annual, or other event! Besides watching the wombats, we have been working on fencing. We need to fence off the septic field...
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Let the sun shine on (our solar panels)

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  Solar panels were added to the roof of the shed and two batteries added inside the shed so that we could store that power. Now we want battery power to last from sun up to sun up; however, since winter is here and it has been cloudy, we haven't always made it that far.  Both sides of the shed have the panels and we are glad we added the extra to give us a winter bump.  We have been identifying the main power drains -the heater I have in our bathroom, for starters. It is a big room with a cold floor so I put the heater on a timer and had it heating morning and evening.  Big energy suck. I still use it, but more on an "as needed" basis! It is probably not that bad but much worse than the lights and TV. The toaster and hot water heater are also high energy. I try not to look too often but the app is really cool: You can see the energy coming in through solar (nada, it is dark out), and what we are using. This shows our battery is almost full (the yellow boxes on the b...
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