Badger Galore
Staying ‘Up Over’ for a while.
Wet!
Wet 1:So...since I have been back there have been far many more cloudy days than the clear blue sky days that I am used to here. We have had a little much needed rain and the ground around Frogknot that was dried and brown upon my return is beginning to look greener.With both sections of roof now up on Blue Moon House we don't need to worry so much about protecting the wooden upstairs flooring from the rain but it would be good to get a new water tank to begin to collect the rain off that roof. Our other water tank is almost full once again from the rain we have had recently.Wet 2:On my usual day teaching at the local school this week I found myself thrown into the shallow end of the Stanthorpe outdoor pool teaching getting some of the 'preppies' used to being in the water. This week Prep to Year 3 were bussed to swimming lessons every day at the pool and I had to fill in on Thursday. Typically the day I was there was the cloudiest of the week and it was actually raining while we were in the water...not that we could get any wetter, but when the session was over and we got out it was pretty cold tottering to the changing room.Wet 3:It would seem that since my return all has not been well with the house I left clean and tidied in Penrith for the new tenants. There has been a water leak from the bathroom and I am now having to replace the lounge carpet and underlay and possibly the lino in the kitchen. Thankfully, the fact that I have hardly had an idle day since returning Down Under means that the coffers are quite healthy and so I can afford to make the necessary repairs.Wet 4:I was treated this morning to the sight of four wallabies chasing each other around the dam. They were so engrossed in the activity that they did not even notice me standing there watching them. They were making strange deep growling sounds at each other and at one point all four leapt into the dam and one of them paddled right across the middle with just it's head above the water. I have never seen one swim before and surely when it got out it's pouch must have been overflowing with water but it seemed to hop off unhindered. It was a nice start to the day...and then I had to go to spend a day in the Prep class at the town school.
Too many cocks improve the broth!
So...it has been on the cards for awhile...all the chicks that have survived from last year have all been males and following the various quoll and fox attacks we were down to eight 'chooks' four hens and four cockerels.Odin, always second fiddle to Yudhisthira, was sent to a harem of his own on the farm of one of Will's work colleagues and is very happy there. That left three cockerels Yudhisthira, Wang-Mu (son of Mu) and the Devil's cock who we hadn't named but who was most unfriendly, very noisy and lately a bully. His days have been numbered for awhile now but the other day when he and Wang-Mu had a terrible fight which left Wang-Mu bloodied and sulking for two days, the Devil's cock time was up.We caught him and separated him from the others while he was roosting the other night ready and popped him in a crate for the chop but when Will went the next morning to give it some water the evil thing flew at Will and escaped to survive another day. I went and caught him again last night and returned him to Solitary Confinement.I was working this afternoon at the Book Cave (Holy Novellas Book Man!) and came home to find a large pot bubbling away on the stove...the deed had been done and the Devil's cock was no more.It was kind of Will to despatch it while I was away ...except I found it's head still lying on the chopping block out at the back looking very sorry for itself.Still, it lived all it's short life here at Frogknot and despite the terror of the quoll in the night and being carried off in the jaws of a fox until rescued by Will it had a pretty happy and comfortable life.Coq au vin for us tonight...it smells delicious!