dew drops

The casuarina tree sparkled with dew drops after the sun cleared away the fog clouds. Some more dew drops.

stroppy cow

Cows are like human mothers, they vary from the highly protective to the... well, casual. This morning B24 decided to be over protective with her new calf (second for her) so the ute was needed for tagging and weighing the calf. The calf was caught quite easily and hauled up on the tray of the ute. The lassoo (rope over the side of the ute) wasn't needed and though B24 was concerned, watching very closely the things being done to her calf, she wasn't as incandescent with rage as some cows in the past have been. With luck she won't make a habit of being over protective or her card will be marked.

Calf returned safe and sound with new yellow eartags, E16 (the London postal district of Victoria Dock by the way so the calf may grow up to be Vicky), she weighs 43kg (95lb) and below, several cows came rushing up to see what all the noise was about. The calf squawked a bit.

All the lush green grass is thanks to irrigation, though we did have some rain three weeks ago which helped, we are still waiting for the follow-up.

an aussie battler

November 2005: this boree tree on Bundure Station (next to the irrigation area) has lost a branch but looks reasonably upright. The fence is festooned with blow grass which grew following the spring rain that year, then got blown away.

and by March 2007 it looks like this, leafier but leaning over the fence a little.

May 2009 and it looks like the Boree tree is on its last legs, not a leaf to be seen but..

having a closer look I find the reason for the leaflessness is this bag moth (boree moth) - the caterpillars live comunally in a silk bag when they aren't eating every leaf on the tree. This tree actually has some new green leaves appearing. I hope it gets some rain to help it recover from this attack and the caterpillars have finished eating leaves.Campers and picnickers should not use the shade of a boree that has bag moth caterpillars in residence - they shed hairs that can pierce the skin and cause severe pain.

the horse has bolted

Jerilderie has a special relationship with Ned Kelly - Australia's most infamous bushranger - and because of this was given the Ned Kelly Horse which appeared in the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games opening ceremony.

When the structure was opened out the "horse" looked like the photo below

and soon after it arrived it still looked like a horse but upside down

But something has rearranged the head so now it looks like nothing recognisable at all (I tried to get a better photo but the sun will not be shining on it again till next Spring .... and then last week it turned into this:

Nobody seems to know where the horse gone, maybe the Council knows.

The special relationship is because of the bold and cunning raid Ned Kelly made on Jerilderie and The Letter now known as The Jerilderie Letter.

camouflage?

Almost works if it wasn't for the rusty bit - a nearly invisible gecko.

rice harvest

I saw this Gleaner header on my way home from work just after Easter, harvesting one of the very few rice crops grown in the Riverina this year. The rice crops were eaten by locusts and ducks, damaged by the very hot weather (rice likes it hot but not too hot) and it was generally not a bumper year. That's rice dust not smoke around the header.