Monday by the dam

Hi guys Well today i noticed the Roos were not in the street as i went out to the shops..so when i returned from the shops i took a walk down to the dam. I could see a big mob in the neighbouring property..so as i walked down to take some pics i stopped as i noticed a fox was taking a casual stroll through the paddocks. I sat down and started to take some pics..i was watching the Roos watching the fox.. I must admit that they are really a beautiful looking creature but sadly they are also quite brutal..of course it is there nature and it is the way they survive..but any farmer can tell you the devastation they cause. I myself have seen it when we had chickens at our old house..they kill as many as possible with the intent of coming back for them..they seldom do. And they do not stop at chickens or rabbits but also lambs and i think it would be fair to say joeys. So i watched waiting to see if the Roos would give the fox a hard time..seems apart from watching her they did nothing. It will be interesting to see if a Roo with a joey behaves differently..so i plan on keeping my eye out. I know foxes are hated by many people..and they are certainly not native to our country..being bought in by the colonists.but as with  all creatures i try and see the beauty..knowing humans can be pretty brutal also. The second thing that struck me as i took pics was that i spotted a lone Roo..he did not see me for awhile and i actually almost missed seeing him. He was grazing alone but not too far from the others…when i looked at the pictures on my computer i could see he has a tattered ear maybe from boxing with others or from fences…clearly healed up so not a recent injury..i also noticed he was looking a bit thinnish ..his ribs a bit more pronounced than usual for a Roo. Perhaps the harsh summer has meant less feed for him ..when i zoomed in i could see his lashes were quite thick and not so much sweeping upwards..he looks to be a boy who maybe has been trying to start out on his own …i will keep an eye on him and if i feel he gets thinner i will call a rescue to see if they can check him out..he appeared very bright and uninjured and was grazing and quite content..i guess  living on the land can age us all..i feel for this sweet roo…i have called him Shaggy due to his shaggy ear…..he will be easy to spot by them . So please enjoy my time at the dam..which as you will see is almost a puddle..and i hope you can appreciate the beauty of the fox……despite her reputation.. Hugs Fozziemum

Here comes the fox see the Roos posture at first

Then decides this warrants further investigation

Fox using the now uncovered tyres in the dam as a pontoon

Having a drink

Wonder if she is admiring her reflection?

Clearly not at all worried about me

Showing those teeth

We all get an itch

Shaggy

A sweet boy

Yep..like i said we all get an itch!

He has seen me

Now he is smelling the air..is it me or the fox he is smelling?

He stands when i move..keen to show he is alert and aware of my movements

A view to a Roo

I have seen some amazingly moody skies here lately..they appear all gruff and angry and i taunt them…’come on give us your best shot’ ..but they are all bluff and no stuff!
When i get to the top of our road the view to the surrounding area is wonderful..you have the grey/blue of the gum trees and further in the distance the vivid green of pine plantations..even further still i can see the flat top of the mountains i think it is Mount Franklin..i must actually look it up!
So often i just stop the car and take some pics..if i am lucky i usually have the added bonus of the Ketchup Mob…which seems to be changing..a lot of young males and females many young females with joeys in pouch and only a few big boys..the really big boys have been absent..
They do go between all properties on our street and i think they are very generous to share their time with all of the neighbourhood.

We have one new house being built and i wonder what they think of that..the other block at the bottom of the street has sold and they are cleaning it up and doing a great job..a lot of work but we can see old fencing we have never seen before due to weeds and overgrowth..this too must make the roos wonder!

So the other day as we drove out i took a couple of snaps..the roos were a bit edgy and so we did not stay long.one young one in particular we have had to be super careful of as he seems to be very skittish and flies off in every which way ..always away from the others and with no real plan!
This one has us driving even more slowly down the street!
I decided to have get my own back on the sultry skies and really turned the picture into a moody one..

I hope you enjoy your day..i am off to bed..i have been test driving cars..and may have eaten something suss for lunch as my tummy is not a happy camper 🙂 and so i am pooped..literally…:) 🙂

Bravado

All eyes on me

Moody skies

The return

Hi guys..well i am super happy that the roos are back, they have been around but staying closer to water and food sources of which there are little to be found.
I had not mentioned it before but two weeks ago i found a dead roo..on the vacant property in our street.
I had thought it was sleeping and the next day no it was still in place..
I stopped my car and entered the property to find the big roo dead..no idea what had happened there was a pool of blood but the body had been dragged by foxes and no doubt Wedge tail eagles.
It was pretty smelly and flyblown..i tried to see if i could tell what had happened but no idea.
I took some pics on my phone to see if i could try and examine them further but nothing.
Nature is amazing this poor roo within a very short time had been reduced to scattered bones.
Roos can get ill and die,they age or are hurt but this stinks to me.
See our neighbours are ALL very protective of our mobs..but in town just when the big storm hit awhile ago the rescue was called to a female roo with a joey in pouch that had been shot with an arrow and the arrow was still in her.These amazing people went out in that storm dodging trees and danger to dart and catch her.
She is recuperating in their shelter as i type.
The thing is someone in this town has it in for the roos..and if i see anyone near our street or anywhere else with a bow and arrow they cannot outrun my car if you know what i mean.
So i hope and pray this roo i found was not a victim of this sort of thing.
My eyes are out now all the time..watching..
So i went today to see how low our dam is..super low..really bad..the roos have been drinking from it and from the sheeps bath tub of water so we are refilling it everyday.
There is roo poo everywhere and they are camping again on our property and the neighbours over the road.
I was super quiet but they heard me..they leapt through the bushes and stopped at the crest of our property and watched me..so i took some pics and they went on their way..a nice sized mob about 13 with a few joeys in pouch..glad they are here..where no man harms them..ever..

Caught him by suprise

Striking a pose

So proud looking

Time to go

BLACK SATURDAY 7TH FEB 2009 NEVER FORGOTTEN

FIVE YEARS ON AND I WILL NEVER FORGOT THOSE WHO LOST THEIR LIVES, HOMES, PETS,LIVESTOCK,FRIENDS, FAMILY JOBS AND TOWNS..THOSE WHO FOUGHT THIS BEAST AND LOST AND THOSE WHO FOUGHT AND WON..THE WILDLIFE LOST THE LANDSCAPE CHANGED FOREVER ON THIS DAY.

ONE OF OUR DARKEST AND MOST DESOLATE DAYS AND A FIRESTORM THAT LASTED FOR OVER A MONTH….

THE DAY WE ALL REALISED THAT OUR LAND FIGHTS BACK AND SHE FIGHTS HARD AND INDISCRIMINATELY ..WE HAVE LEARNED SO MUCH MORE, WE HAVE PUT MUCH BETTER SYSTEMS IN PLACE.

SUMMER ARRIVES AND BRINGS THAT HEAT AND WIND AND WE REMEMBER THE DAY THE SKY WENT BLACK THE STREETLIGHTS CAME ON MIDDAY THE SUN WAS BLOOD RED AND THE SMELL OF BURNING EUCALYPTS …A HORIZON COVERED IN A PALL OF SMOKE AND BURNT LEAVES STICKS AND BARK LANDING ON OUR PORCH AND FINDING IT’S WAY UNDER THE DOORS INTO THE HOUSE..MY ANIMAL SHELTER CATTERY BOSS OPENING UP THE CATTERY AT 9PM AT NIGHT  AFTER I RANG HER IN A PANIC , WAITING FOR ME TO BRING THE CATS IN FOR SAFETY..THE DOG’S STRESSING IN THE HEAT AND STRANGENESS OF OUR SONS HOUSE…GETTING THEM IN THE SHELTER THE NEXT DAY..PHIL AND I GOING TO THE LOCAL OVAL TO THE RELIEF CENRE ..SIGNING IN SO AUTHORITIES KNEW WE WERE ACCOUNTED FOR.PEOPLE AND ANIMALS EVERYWHERE ALL STRESSED HOT AND CONFUSED..US WAITING..WITH SO MANY OTHERS LISTENING TO THE LOCAL RADIO AND THE SCANNER..HEARING THE FIRE TRUCKS BATTLING THE SEEMINGLY IMPOSSIBLE..IT SEEMED LIKE THE END OF THE WORLD..WE SAT WE WAITED WE CRIED …THE FIRESTORM MISSED OUR TOWN..SHEER LUCK, NO OTHER REASON AS WE HAD THREE MAJOR FIRES ON ALL SIDES..OUR LOCAL OVAL HAD BECOME A HELIPAD FOR FIREBOMBERS AND FIRE TRUCKS AND BULLDOZERS..HEAVY MACHINERY ..THE SKY WAS FULL OF THESE WATER BOMBERS..IT SOUNDED LIKE WE WERE IN A WAR ZONE..WE WERE LUCKY..SO LUCKY .

FACTS..TEMP 46C WIND SPEEDS 100KMPH

400 FIRES STARTED ON THIS DAY WHEN THE WIND CHANGED IN THE EVENING THE FIRE FRONT TURNED AND WINDS OF 120KMPH.

THE AVERAGE SPEED OF THE FIRE TRAVELLING WAS 12KMPH

THE RADIANT HEAT IN SOME PLACES ENOUGH TO KILL PEOPLE AT 400METERS AWAY

EMBERS WERE STARTING SPOT FIRES UP TO 35 KM AWAY

ENERGY RELEASED ESTIMATED AT 1,500 TIMES THE HIROSHIMA BOMBS

TOTAL AREA BURNT 1,100,000 ACRES

173 PEOPLE DIED 120 ALONE IN KINGLAKE

414 PEOPLE INJURED

2,100 HOMES DESTROYED AND 7,562 PEOPLE DISPLACED

IN READINESS FOR THE DAY DUE TO THE PREDICTION OF HOW THE WEATHER WAS

3,582 FIRE FIGHTERS WERE PUT IN STANDBY

5,000 IN TOTAL WERE DEPLOYED INCLUDING FROM NEW ZEALAND AND AMERICA

1 AUSTRALIAN FIRE FIGHTER WAS KILLED WHEN A BURNT TREE FELL ON HIS TRUCK.

NEVER FORGOTTEN AND ALWAYS IN OUR THOUGHTS.

Our Sunburnt Country

We are indeed a sunburnt country,rain has been limited and the ground is sadly lacking any moisture.As Autumn is here i usually find myself starting to nest,i like to refresh the garden for winter and prepare the grounds for the big chill.It seems i will be against mother nature this time and with burning off to do i feel hesitant to strike a match when the ground is so unforgiving.