It's spring

The flowers might be confused.  No sping flowers have bloomed in my garden as yet.  But the birds get it right every time.  Around my place it's the sparrows.  They nest in the passionfruit vine outside my kitchen window and that vine is seeing plenty of spring action believe you me!  

Sometimes the whole vine is shivering and shimmering with their goings on.  The girl sparrows (I can tell the difference by the way they lift their tails) flutter and flit from vine to nearby tree.  Flutter and flit....not fly.  They flutter to the tree and as soon as they are pursued by another, they flit back to the vine. I can almost hear the giggling. 

I was watching them one day when Georgia asked what I was looking at.  "The sparrows"  I said, and she watched them for a minute, too, before remarking, "What is WRONG with those birds?"  

"Umm, umm"  best put it in terms a farm raised girl will understand "they are on heat."  

She shrugged, "That explains it!" and went back to what she was doing. 

Over at my friend, Chris' place the main action is in the mallard duck department.  She sent me a photo of two females and many, many males gathered on her front lawn. 

Yesterday I took a photo of a bridge beside the road and the creek in overflow.

I stopped at the same spot today.  What a difference a day makes.  Odd that it looked so much better in the lousy weather yesterday.

After the rain

I like when I can be surprised when going about my everyday activites.  Good surprises, that is.  

Every morning when I drive down the road is a bit different but mainly the same.  There might be fog, or mist, rain or bright sunshine, bright sunshine through the fog.  You know, the countryside is the same, but the weather conditions cast different hues upon the it. 

Then there is the odd occasion when I get a surprise.  This morning was one of those although thinking about it, I should have expected it.  I knew we'd had a fair bit of rain over the weekend but sitting inside,warm and dry, I hadn't noticed exactly how much there was.

I remember thinking as I pulled out on to the road that the world seemed very still and the sky was so low and heavy looking, there could be more rain. But I wasn't expecting to see the creek had overflowed it's banks.

Luckily, there was no more rain or the road could have been flooded by the time I returned from work. But all was well, the creek was quietly slipping back between its banks.

At home, the springers, the cows due to calve in the next day or two, were around my house.  I was met by this lovely sight as I got out of the car.   

Georgia arrived home from school and immediately went to check the "action".  This time last year the whole calving thing was way over her head.  This year she is really into it.  Amazing how much she has learnt in just a few weeks of being with mum and dad in the paddocks, asking questions, watching and listening. 

At one stage she came running and shouting into the house, "Granny, Granny, cow down!  Cow in trouble!  Come quick!"  I went with her and had a look and convinced her to give the cow a little longer to give birth before sending for the doctor (her father).  But within the hour I conceded she was right, and agreed she had best run and fetch her father.  Her dad agreed the cow would never have managed to give birth to that calf (it looked to be a small horse!) by herself.  But how the hell did she know an hour earlier when the cow had barely started pushing?

How cute is this guy?

 Seems to be non stop action outside my kitchen window.  Even after dark my son is out there with the tractor lifting a cow that has gone down. 

At least it isn't raining!

And after a long absence....

My blogging has been practically non-existant lately.  There have been other things on my mind. 

For a while I was playing tour guide for my brother, Peter, his wife, Judy and daughter, Charlotte.  We did the touristy things and had a great time.  

I was sad to say farewell to them all.  But I have to admit my mind was already on something else - my youngest daughter was already overdue to give birth.

But finally, in the early hours of Monday morning little Aiden finally arrived. After 17 years, I have another grandson!

 

My grandsons meet

Unfortunately by the time he joined us, it was nearly time for me to head home to go back to work, so I've only had him in my arms for a few short minutes.  

I knew that there had been heavy rain in the north while I was away but I still got a surprise when driving home yesterday evening to find part of the hillside sitting in the road.

 

Over the past year or so I've posted photos of the Bridge to Somewhere:

When we have a flood it becomes the Bridge to Nowhere:

Now, sadly, it has seen one flood too many.  Yesterday evening I changed its name to Once a Bridge: