NATURE'S ORCHESTRA

Hooray - last week we had 2 days with decent rain.  I have been away for 5 days and the result of the rain is showing.  The clover has come up all over the paca poo in the front of the house, but no sign yet of the tall wheat grass or tall fescue I mixed in with the clover. Hope the birds haven't got the bigger seeds!

Chewed on my first bean this afternoon - planted 6 weeks ago -  and the spinach and lettuce planted at the same time have been consumed for the past 2 weeks and hopefully many weeks to come.

The paddocks have really greened up and it is amazing watching the boys nuzzle around and pick what they like and leave what they don't.  We have a noxious weed called Cape Tulip. It has a long thickish green strap and then in a couple of months a rather attractive pink tulip type flower will appear.  Unfortunately it is very difficult to eradicate and luckily the boys avoid it - we'd be in trouble if they found it appealing.

The dam is almost at peak height and we have only started winter rain.  Will be interesting to see when we reach the previous high water mark.

I haltered wonderful Donnegal and took him out for a walk and when we were heading back towards the house Udo became extremely jealous and ran over to the fence and showered poor Donny with a well directed mouthful of spit.  Fortunately I was on the other side and only received a sprinkle.

My trip "over East" (as West Australians say) also resulted in bringing home some interesting fibres to incorporate into my felting, so hopefully some new creations will be on the way.

Finally it was wonderful to be out with the boys as the sun was setting.  The noise of the black cockatoos and galahs was deafening as they flew from the marree trees to the dam and back - for "last drinks" for the night.  There were at times about 30 black cockatoos on the south side and 40 galahs on the south side.  They had a wonderful time going back and forth, flying low overhead screeching and swooping.  When there was a quiet moment, I could hear the dull knocking sound of marree nuts being dropped and then bouncing off the trunks of the trees - nature's orchestra!