Our great southern migration

  I had forgotten this children's song but once I saw the start, the lyrics came back. Since the reference may be too old for many of you, it talks about spring and, most importantly, how the prettiest tree has the prettiest nest on the prettiest branch you ever did see.  And the Green Grass Grew all around. Our green grass is visible but only just. We have had very little rain and El Nino may make it a real struggle for green. However, the birds are still joining up and making nests.This little brown thornbill is attempting to wrangle a cobweb into nest material. Sticky business! We have nesting pairs of a variety of birds. It seems our little scarlet robins found another location and ditto for the satin bowerbirds (at least so far). We definitely have nesting magpies and nesting wedge-tailed eagles         The others are joined but we haven't found their particular nests yet. Our pair of king parrots is hanging around the backyard And the juvenile crimso...

Elphie really needs some white letters but she does okay with these! Elphaba is our workhorse green four wheeler - she moves us around, holds random things when sitting in the shed and serves as a pruning platform.  She is currently holding Dubya's blanket so it can dry out. Our motorized vehicles have names. You have likely seen posts about Betty - our diesel truck. Betty is also very handy around the farm for pulling things, carrying things and especially getting us up and down tricky hills while doing so.  Scott has been taking her into the scrub to bring back logs he has chopped up from fallen trees. She does fine in four wheel drive and doesn't seem to mind. She brought back a load of hay for Dubya last week. It has gotten so dry that there isn't enough grass to keep him gaining weight.  Goose is our other truck and serves as a mobile water source. She has been chugging along despite not having a great battery. She isn't registered so has to stay on the farm.  G...

      Manawatu Business Chamber's Post Today is ANZAC (Australia and New Zealand Army Corps) Day, a day of remembrance for the entry of Australia, New Zealand and Tonga into World War I at the Battle of Gallipoli. There are parades, sunrise services, memorial services and days off (Friday and Monday for many folks). We went to Moruya on Thursday and the stores were packed. We were there to pick up antigen for my Q fever skin test. We are considered higher risk (veterinarians with sheep and lots of kangaroo poop around in the gardens) and can get vaccinated; but the vaccine can be nasty if you are already exposed. The antigen was on back order for awhile and I had to go get it within a week of their getting it. Hence the trip to the pharmacy in Moruya.  We snuck into the Tool Library yesterday (they got a grant to have a few trailers of tools that you can "borrow" or "rent" for a few days. We got lots of fencing equipment and a trailer so that we could lug the n...