Lucy at the Paddock

Yesterday afternoon my friend Chris brought her niece Lucy to visit the Paddock.  Lucy is daughter of Aussie blogger, Bev at Kainga Happenings.   It was Bev who piqued my interest in blogging after Chris directed me to her blog and she helped me across some early hurdles.  And now, I’ve met Lucy and had her to visit before I’ve met Bev.  One day, huh, Bev?

Lucy didn’t have her camera with her but here’s the proof, Bev.

Before we headed off for a walk to the creek we called at the cow shed to watch my daughter-in-law milking the cows.  Yes, would you believe it, this gem milks the cows while my son plays golf!!  Sorry Lucy looks so pale, it was very glarey and I don't think she wanted to move closer to those 'smelly cows'.  

It was a lovely afternoon for a walk, the worst of the heat was gone from the day but it was still lovely and sunny.  Georgia came with us and we met up with Krystal and Shayde having a swim in the creek.  Georgia's little dog Sammy attacking a possum in the bank of the creek was a bit of a distraction and as we returned we saw Jack, the big farm dog, polishing off the fruits of Sammy's courage - not something you want to see a photo of, believe me!

Georgia led us off around the bends of a creek to show us where the hedgehogs are but we didn't venture that far.   Tramping through long, long grass over uneven ground wasn't really the order of the day in our inappropriate footwear.  

It saddened me to see the flood damage along the creek.  A light moment was seeing a round green object in the distance that isn't usually there and asking Georgia what it was, to be informed it was a water trough that had been washed down from the neighbours in the flood and her adding "It's ours now!"  Not much of a bargain considering my son's bridge had been knocked over and washed away by  the  thoughtless actions of the same neighbour who had cut down trees along the creek bank and left them there.  When the flood came it picked them all up and washed them downstream, taking out the bridge. 

I was shocked by the alligator weed clogging up parts of the creek.  This plant is such a pest!  Because it can grow in water, alligator weed threatens our creeks by clogging them, increasing sedimentation and the risk of further flooding.  It is one of the world’s worst weeds. Native to South America, alligator weed was accidentally introduced to New Zealand in the 1880s from ballast water discarded from ships. Since then it has spread through much of Northland.

My dog Lewey thought is was quite a playground.  He went in to investigate and all but dissapeared before finally emergering unscathed from his adventure.

He's looking quite old, isn't he?  Probably because he's 14-15 years old, but he still enjoys his farm walks. 

Here are a few other shots I took during our walk:

 The dairy herd after milking

And, finally, a shot of Chris and Lucy walking along the farm race.  I'm amused by how Chris is striding along, quite used to farm tracks, and Lucy is looking very carefully at the ground in front of her, watchful for fresh cow pats and other such objectionables.