Tawny Frogmouth

We have two Tawny Frogmouths that sleep in a big gum tree behind our house.  At one time they were nearly always there on the same branch, then it fell down and they moved away for a while. Now they are back again in the same tree. They can be very hard to spot, as they blend in well with the bark. Sometimes at night we can hear them calling. The sound is deep and rhythmic sort of woooo woooo woooo. 

Link to a recording someone made of their sound.

The first time we heard it we thought it was a frog or an alarm of some electric thing like a phone! Then we went outside and eventually spied him in a tree (at first we were looking on the ground for a frog). We watched it. Then we all glanced away for some reason, when we turned again and he was gone! Not a sound not a stirring! He just disappeared into thin air.

The two Tawny Frogmouths are probably a pair and will stay together till one of them dies. They can live to be 12-14 years old. Unlike owls they catch food using their beaks not talons and wait sitting on a tree branch for their food to appear, instead of flying around looking for it. Considering they haven’t all died that must work, so really they are pretty smart birds. Mostly they eat insects (especially moths) and other crawly things like spiders, centipedes and sometimes frogs.

Cool fact: The tawny frogmouth is not actually an owl but classified with kookaburras and kingfishers.

We Ride at Dawn

It is early, it’s the time that isn’t really yet called day

The stars are still shining, but across the sky the moon has made its way

The rooster and the kookaburra, the only birds awake

In the time of waiting stillness, before the daybreak

Hear: the little crickets, frogs, the dripping of the tank

Glow now in the east, no longer westward, where I know the sun sank

The dogs start to stir, more birds come to sing

All will awake soon, a new day forth bursting

Listen, the peaceful breathing, of companion sleepers beside

Awake up and ready, for at dawn we must ride! 

I wrote this at about 5:40 this morning. What was I doing up then?Writing of course!

Some photos I took last week.

Before church this morning I was wandering around outside with my sister. When I thought I saw a dog or something, walking along the neighbours drive in amongst the shadows. There were two. Seeing their long skinny bodies with pointed ears and face, we realized they were probably foxes. Then they ran out onto the sloping area of nicely mown green grass (from all the rain, we had a while ago.it would normally be brown.) the two foxes would run around and then standing up on hind legs one would get knocked over. It would lie there for a few seconds then spring up and they would chase each other again. Their fur gleamed in the morning sunlight and we could see black on their paws and at the end of each bushy tail.

The thing that really annoyed me was I hadn’t brought my camera! Yes that is almost the end of the world, but it happens. I wanted to race and get it, but then I might miss something, anyway they soon saw us and slipped of into the trees and long grass.

I had to keep reminding myself that I didn’t like foxes and that they kill my chickens. Also they are why I have to go out every night and morning to lock up or unlock my chickens whether it’s a nice day, pouring rain, blowing a gale of just freezing cold! Not that I don’t normally enjoy doing that! But at times I’d rather not.

Seeing the foxes so clearly and for so long, playing like that was pretty amazing. Normally all I see is an orange streak and grasses rustling. 

Feel free to use these but only for personal enjoyment please. 

Another Wallpaper.........

Peg Bag

You will need; material, scissors, thread, sewing machine, wire, wire cutters, and something else like a measuring tape or pins not sure what but you will probably need it!

Cut a rectangle of fabric about 60 x 40 cm maybe bigger because mine only just held all our pegs, but we do have a lot of them. Place the two outside sides together, so it is inside out. Next sew up the edge and the bottom, tucking the very edge under so it looks neat. For the top make a big hem, with enough room inside it to put the wire through. DON’T SEW IT UP THE WHOLE WAY otherwise there will be nowhere to put the wire in!

Now measure the wire and make sure that you cut enough to go around the top once, with a bit overlapping. Cut it and thread it into the hem. The wire should hold the bag open, as long as it is thick enough. Then sew up the gap you left to insert the wire.

For the handle cut a strip about 55 cm long and 13 cm wide, it doesn't really matter. Sew up the edge and turn it the right way around which is difficult but possible. Then sew it onto the bag with a rectangle going as close to the wire as possible. 

Then you are done! You can put pegs in it and hang it up.

Little Life

Things often seem to come and go

Some too fast others far too slow.

Can things die even before their born?

Does a little life wear out before it’s worn?

Can something pass that hasn’t yet come?

Can something finish though it has not yet begun?

Our silent tears fall

For that one

Whose life ended before it had begun.

Life is little, short and precious

Little it may be but life it is

God holds that little life in the strong hands of his.

Another wallpaper 

 Satin Bowerbirds

Showing off

Juvenile Satin Bowerbird 

We have a bower of a Satin Bowerbird in our garden out the front of our place. Our old male seems to have moved out and given up his bower to a young male who has not yet got all his adult feathers. Young bowerbirds all look like little female bowerbirds which are a speckled green colour, but when the males get older they slowly moult turning a beautiful black that is blue in the sunlight. The male bowerbird will build a bower and platform, consisting of a mat of sticks and two walls that bend over slightly forming an arch. The female will sit in there and Mr Bowerbird will fluff up his feathers and hop around picking up all his pretty blue things he has collected, flicking his wings up and down. Also he will chirp and make noises similar to a cicada; sometime he will mimic other birds, like a duck (which sounds very funny) or a wren.

They are extremely difficult to photograph. These took a lot of patience, zoom and standing very still! 

Female

Dancing

Male

Wiggling tail at me

Some wallpapers I made. Feel free to use them too.

Chair Pockets

The other day I didn't know what to do. So I asked mummy and she suggested I make some pockets for the boy’s chairs. So I did and then was having so much fun I made a bigger one for my sister’s chair too.

You will need: material, sewing machine, thread, velcro, scissors and a chair, to measure the size by and to put it on.

First you must chose your material, then drape it over the chair and cut it out so it just fits over the back and down a bit further for a small chair. Don't forget to leave enough room for the hems. Then cut out a rectangle for the pocket which will be about the same width as the rest and however deep needed.

Next get out the sewing machine and hem around the edges of both pieces. The hems will look much neater if you fold the raw edge under so it can’t be seen.

Next sew the pocket onto the rest of the material, DON'T SEW UP THE TOP! Now get a piece or two of velcro, (sticky backed stuff is especially good, because it will stay where you put it until sewed on.) Be careful not to get the thread stuck in the velcro, so the sewing machine can’t pull it through, because that might pull the needle back and make it hit the foot and SNAP, (I think that’s what mine did!) my good needle too :(  

Then  you will need to turn it inside out and if it is a big chair just put the two bottom edges together and sew up the SIDE EDGES. If the chair is a smaller one the pocket will hang down lower than the back of the chair, so be more careful when sewing up the edges.

Turn it the right way around and slip it on the chair, put your stuff in it and your done.

Some photos I took the other morning. 

Last Sunday we had 3 baptisms out at Lake St Clair. Lots of people came, and after the baptisms we got to go tubing. Two people from church had brought their boats out. I really enjoyed it, but for the next few days I was very sore, my arms felt like someone had tried to pull them off. That was probably from having a go on the biscuit, which 2 people lie on (on not in) and hold on tight (or else you go flying). I got my mouth, eyes and nose full of water. But I enjoyed it, and would do it again.