Our great southern migration

  Actually we are hoping for real rain but only after we get a spigot on the tank, connect it to the rain gutter and find a way to close off some of the openings. Meatballs might knock it off its current lovely bed. Before putting in the new concrete tank (see the blog about "to fetch a pail of water" ), we moved this tank from in front of the house to just behind the chicken shed. Due to the rocky and uneven ground, placing the tank required making it a sand bed. To keep the sand in its bed, we had to place the frame on the ground and make it level. Since Scott is still on restricted arm-waving (and hammering and lifting), I provided the brawn while Scott provided the brains and running commentary.  Note the water tank behind the frame in the picture below. That also got moved from the lower orchard. Also note the steep red clay behind that tank. That was similarly under a layer of rocks, tenacious grass and hard dirt. Some parts were harder than others! But we got the frame...

  We have sheep instead. They aren't our sheep but are serving as lawn mowers. They do get around -they must be in great shape as they move up and down the hills all day long.  Their owner has mentioned selling them to this and we might take him up on them. They are dorpers - so have a combination of wool and hair. That means they shed their wool (think about hair falling out on a regular basis). Pretty cool and means lower maintenance.  They like bread. Well, four of the five like bread. I occasionally take out a piece to them to make friends.  Casey has now returned to the USA so I just fed her skink some banana to keep it happy, as well. The house is still coming along. We now have a living room rug! It helps tie the space together, I think. We have been working on the hillside behind the shed. It did house several very flammable trees - not a great idea that close to the house. We pulled those out and have been slowly replacing them with succulents and low flamm...

  Tis the season for babies! We found this yellow robin working on the nest. We know it was a nest because they brought over twigs and then sat and wriggled on it to get it shaped. I was going through the photos and was very puzzled on why we took pictures of an esoteric looking branch. Once I get to the ones with the bird on it, it made more sense! We have our own yellow robin nest at the farm. Early days, yet, when we left. In the instance below, I didn't realize we had babies in the tree hollow until I got back and magnified the shot. This means you have to use your imagination goggles to interpret the blob as a sulfur-crested cockatoo chick. Or maybe not. I am choosing to believe.  I am also choosing to believe this was a platypus head swimming down the river: The river does have platypus in it; not impossible to believe and it is the season! Less imagination is required for these little willie wagtails! When I first saw the nest, they were huddled up and not distinctly bi...

  We found this gorgeous one in Cooma, near the Snowy Mountains. However, crimson rosellas have been sighted in all of our adventures to date. They have a brassy call when flying and a soft melodious sound when perched. We have watched them hunting for mates and nest sites. While I am getting more used to seeing them, we have nothing that compares to these beauties in MN! The pied currawongs (another"C"!) look like ravens to me but then you can see the white bits. We have also seen them throughout our travels. I still think this guy belongs in an Edgar Allen Poe story: We are now in Goulburn, headed back to Potato Point. We had a great visit with Scott's Aunt Bero and his cousin James near Rylstone. They have a 300 acre farm complete with horses and a river view. It was gorgeous.  We snuck in a couple of loads of laundry. It was so windy, drying on the fence and laundry line took less time than the washer did. I was afraid something would blow off the line and never be se...

It still amazes me what I see walking around Potato Point. The fellows above are nearby, just off the road to the caravan park. The colorful ones below were waiting for me when I returned to the house. The crimson rosellas have been more evident this trip. Not that I have great pics yet but these are better than those on my phone camera: We have been hunting different red birds (for pictures only). We have a blurry rose robin from last year but have not sighted it again, despite multiple attempts.  Honeyeaters abound (more later) but only one sighting of the scarlet honeyeater so far! Dedication will hopefully pay off.  Today we are off to town for banking and more paperwork. It is raining most of. the day so will leave yellow or black and white birds for another posting!