TIMBERRRRRRRR!!!!

About 2 years ago PC sent a letter to the local Council requesting that some dying trees on the verge be removed. He followed up with a phone call a few weeks later when no reply had been made and no action had been taken. The answer given was that it was being looked into. A few weeks after that a council team of workers came out and cleared a few branches that were close to the roadway and we were given the impression (verbally) that a more major tree clearing was being organised for the area when a professional tree maintenance group was contracted.

Yesterday afternoon, around 5pm, I was cutting branches off a Peppercorn tree that overhangs our property fence. I heard a creak, stopped working, and looked up at the nearby trees, noticing there was no wind disturbing them. Then after I looked away I heard another creak and a soft whooshing sound and my memories of trees falling, whilst horse riding in the bush, kicked my flight or fight adrenaline response into top gear and I bolted.

I heard the thud and crack of tree branches crashing down behind me, and felt the wind they created, but I didn't stop running until I was halfway across the one acre paddock. I had to sit down until my legs stopped shaking and I could breath normally. When I studied where the branches had fallen I saw that I would have been underneath a heavy side branch, which had broken down the peppercorn branch I was cutting back, if I hadn't moved.

It's midday now and, even though I rang the emergency number and reported the incident within an hour after it occurring, the lane has not been blocked to traffic and no one has appeared to evaluate the situation. A phone call to Council this morning hasn't prompted them to send a clearing and evaluation team either.

Where the bright green squashed Peppercorn tree branch, in almost the centre of the picture, is where I was standing prior to the tree trunk breaking.

The fence is approx 165cm high, or 5' 6" so the main trunk that broke off is about 50cm (20") thick. That is a good few tonnes of wood. I would have been blood and bone if I had no idea about the way a tree creaks before it breaks. An advantage of having lived in the bush most of my life.

In the centre of the group of trees the lighter coloured broken trunk can be seen at the top of the photo. 

Fortunately, there is a smaller paddock that the grazing animals can be contained in, for the time being, as I don't want them near this corner of the property until all the dangerous trees on this end of this lane - see photo below - are removed by council. Our fence is to the left of the photo. I'm going to make a nuisance of myself, with council, until this is done.

Stay safe everyone,

Cheers,

RobynLouise 

Treechange?

I know I haven't posted much lately but this was not a usual occurrence and I just had to share :). I had a nice surprise this morning when some of our seachange neighbours decided to spend the morning having a treechange and visit the farm. I've identified them as best I can from my bird book but no guarantees it's correct as the Australian pelican is the only one that I've seen here on infrequent occasions previously. Love the shy skinny friend that was invited along :). I'm thinking the eurasian coot may already be a sneaky visitor though and the one who dives out of sight if the dog is with me!
Ducks, well a duck is a duck and in Winter the plumage isn't very distincitive.

The pelican enjoying the sunshine and the still but not very warm air. See the new visitor hiding behind the tufts of grass.

LOOK, my hydrofoil impersonation!

That's better. Dam water is damn cold on your feet! 

Not a very good photo as I couldn't venture any closer without risking my subject flying off. I think this is a Pacific Heron but would be grateful for any advice from someone more knowledgeable about these things.

Lol, just cooting around pretending I can't be seen!

   

A duck is a duck but I think these are Chestnut teal because of the white feathers on the side and the dark heads. Looks like 3 young bachelors. Chestnut teal are quite common in Australia but usually we just have here what we call wood ducks.  So many of them look similar until they fly off and, if you're quick and close enough, you can see any white patterning under the wings to identify them. I didn't want to spook these into flight as I didn't want our seachangers to be disturbed.
It's awful to have a holiday and discover the occupiers of the place next to you are noisy hooligans!

Hoping you enjoyed  the visitors as much as I did :D.
Cheers,
Rob xo

Working weekend

So much for trying to do a post a week. I've been suffering from a virus and my hayfever hasn't helped the recovery.

Much of the weekend was spent off the ground for the rest of the family.
DH and nephew were putting up struts for the roof over the roundyard. Nephew is the one wearing the hat! Lol, tractors can be so versatile :).

As Dad was building the apprentice horsebreaker had to lead out the unbroken horse. Most of the muscle is supplied by her 4 legged partner. She's the brains of the duo!

                        

                       

Even the insects were busy....bzzzzzzzz

These 2 loafers were spectating, and practicing being house cows, and decided to camp under the guava tree IN the house yard! Naughty babies!!

Hope you've enjoyed sharing our lovely weekend.

Cheers,

Robyn

1,2,3....PULL!

Difficult to believe this little bull is only 4 hours old considering his size. He was born yesterday morning at about 9am and we had to tie a rope around those big feet and pull him out as his mother just didn't have much energy left after about 3 hours trying to push something almost half her height out. DH had to clean the muck out of his mouth as it was stopping him breathing and we both breathed a sigh of relief when he blinked as there wasn't much action in his breathing department at the time.

His father is off to market shortly as he is one of those bulls that the older he becomes the bigger the calves he sires and I don't want to pull any more calves from my little "Carob", above, as she's faithfully given me 7 calves in 10 years and been the #1 house dairy cow more than the others we own. You have to keep a watch on her too as, if you don't record the exact dates at the time of service for future reference, she'll quite happily milk up to 2 weeks before calving then not have enough time to replenish her energy and boost up her milk supply before calving.