It's Raining, It's Pouring, the Frog Dog is snoring!

The other day was a precious snooze in morning.  I was laying in bed on this fine and well deserved Saturday, looking out into the grape vines hanging down and letting the rain drops run off onto the bricks below and listening to the drops hit the roof.  AHHHH! At some point Frog had joined me on the bed and suddenly she let out a nice loud snufflesnortsniff sort of thing and the title of this blog was born. 
How perfectly aligned in this great universe 'twas!


Well, after two and a half months of life here in Shepparton, we have gotten to the point of familiarity and routine.  It is a splendid feeling, that no big surprises are lurking around the corner anymore.  You don't have to look at everything that passes with that initial sense of curiousity that fills your brain to capacity by noon.  The little things like getting groceries, driving to soccer, gardening, going for the nightly walk and such have slipped into the happy flowing routine.

Noah's Ark
I sort of understand the urgency of wanting to build an ark.  As a snow bound Canadian, I've never really had to face the impending doom of flood waters.  But, awhile ago, the rain came and didn't stop.  There were some small breaks to gasp for air, but it would start again.  Holy lots of water!!  One particularly tired night after the girl's soccer registration at Wanganui Secondary College Bonnie and I waited for Brian to pick us up.  We watched outside the window as the sheets and sheets of rain came down in barrels. 
 The next morning the phone rang at about 6:30 am.  Thankfully Bonnie had gotten up and crawled into the bed until the alarm went off, because I was soundly sleeping with my earplugs installed.  Yes, as much as I LOVE the birds here, I need to sleep past 4:30 am.  
In any case, Bonnie started shaking me vigourously!!  Mom!  Mom!! WAKE UP!!  It was Brian on the phone.  He had gone to work as he starts at 7:00 in the tomato sauce factory (more on that later) to tell me that there was NO WAY I would be getting to work as the road was flooded.  He had attempted to drive through the roads on his bike, but quickly turned back and decided to wade through to the main road and call a taxi. 

Frog helping us check out the flood

I literally FREAKED OUT because I had to get to work, the girls to school and it was all just too wierd.  It had rained all night, at high density rain drops.  The girls and I first ran next door to see if we were being unnecessiarly silly, but they said, No, this IS wierd.  Then I called the principal to plead for HELP.  She told me to stay calm, and no, snakes won't be waterskiing in the puddles.  So, in the end, we waited.  The girls made cookies, I cleaned the house and planned our next trip.  Eventually the Vice principal came out in his 4x4 and took me to the school for Parent Teacher interviews.  About 2-3 feet of water flooded our exit to the main roads. 
A few days later the water resided and the road was littered with frog bodies.  The ones that managed to escape being mowed over retreated to the drains under the driveways.  It sounded like digereidoos when you walked by due to the chorus of deep croaking that echoed through the pipes.
Many areas around Shepparton were seriously flooded as the rains caused the Murray river to peak through at different times.  One of the teachers at Grahamvale missed a week or so, due to not being able to get out, but it was not a holiday no doubt!  She lives on a dairy farm and they had to keep the cows on high land and still milk them. 
I understand now why people in Shepp shorten the names of places.  Say these outloud to yourself and your tongue will have a good workout:  Mooroopna, Tatura, Toolambe, Ardmona, Tallygaroopna, Numurkah, Kyabrum, Colbinabbin, Dhurringile.  How'd that feel?  These names come from Aborigine words, and just like the Inuit have 25 words or more for snow, I think all of these mean HEAT! Heat with moisture, dry heat, shady heat, humid heat, blowing windy heat and scorching hot heat!  That's my theory anyway and I'm sticking to it.

A funny thing started happening a couple of days before the flood.  Little itty bitty parades of thousands of ants started to rehome themselves.  You didn't have to walk very far around the yard to see them making a great trek to another location.  Hmm...I was intrigued by the 'going's on' of the underworld of ants and started following their long lines.  It turns out that they have the ability to 'kiss' each other and through this passing along of ant spit, are quite capable of telling each other the pertinent news about the move.  They must have good radar because they seemed to know about the upcoming rains.  To Higher Ground, was the command, and To The Chicken Coop was the final destination for thousands, No, perhaps MILLIONS of these little troopers. 
So, upon picking up Bee and Kevin (our new backyard wannabe egglaying hens), we were covered in little ants.  Thankfully, those ones don't bite.  It's the BULL ants that leave a mordacious reminder of their presence, which Emma found out the hard way.  In any case, Bee and Kevin's home was completely renovated and restored to a higher ground. 

Chicken Littles

Violet Town market chicks

Speaking of chickens, or as they saw here, chooks, we finally gave into Emma's persistent pestering.  Please can I have a chicken?  I'll never be able to have one in Edmonton.  And then the plethora of reasons came down like the rain that followed.  I figured that her steam would run out eventurally, but it wasn't gonna happen.  So, she and Brian drew up the plans, sourced out the supplies and came to the remarkable solution that it would cost too much.  But, we have the fortunate luck to be living next door to great neighbours who said they would scout around and see if they had some building supplies.  Within a half of a day, a friendly faction of four had built a solid, fox proof coop complete with a little indoor shed and tin roof for water run off.  Then, the search for the actual hens began.

Bee and Kevin

First we went to an absolute stunning market about 45 minutes away in Violet Town.  Fresh food galore!  Fruit, vegetables, baking and chooks!  We talked to a few people and decided to call them later to pick up the flock.  Seems they are happier in a small gaggle, of two.  Emma decided on silkies and as you can see, they are marvelous with their feathered feet and geyser hairdoos.  Bee is named after the French word bijoux due to the blue spots on her chicken cheeks and Kevin is named after the Disney character in the movie Up because she is SOOOO like him!  The two of them can't go anywhere without the other and if you sneak into their cage at night, you can hear them making funny purring sounds.  Turns out that silkies aren't great egg layers.  They are more like pampered poodles in the dog world.  We aren't going to expect much of them in terms of chicken work, but we enjoy letting them free range and chasing them around.  Frog was a concern, but the first time she bolted into their cage, she stopped dead at their food bin and started eating the old salad.  That's her only concern with them, that she gets equal treats.  So far so good and at the end of the year, if they still have beating hearts, we promised Julie and Andrew to clean up their henny homestead and furtively deliver them into the backyard of some other unsuspecting chook owner or turn them into pot pies!

A cockatoo resting in a tree

Ned Kelly and his Gang
Speaking of pot pies, we had the opportunity to go to a town called Glenrowan and enjoy soup and damper, pie floaters and pikelets.  Glenrowan is about an hour away, and is home to the infamous Ned Kelly, bushranger extraordinaire.
Here's his story.  Ned was born to an Irish convict in the mid 1800's.  He started his life of crime and soon had a gang with him.  Victorian police were killed and mocked in his wake.  Then, the final day came when the police tracked him and his gang down in Glenrowan.  He was ready for the fight and showed up in a home made suit or armour.  He was hit 28 times in the limbs after a mere 12 hours of gunfight.  After he was captive, he was tried and hung, with his head displayed as a book end on some one's desk.  His bones were taken to the Pentridge Prison in Melbourne, but recently were found and are going to be returned to Glenrowan. I'm going to make my own Ned Kelly suit of armour for Halloween when I go back.  NO ONE will have that costume! 
So, this little town has a great story to boast about and with one main street, you can have your share of Ned Kelly history.  The tea shoppe serves the wonderful dishes of pie floaters (pot pie floating in soup), soup with damper (a giant slice of rustic bread) and pikelets with cream and jam (mini pancakes), all to be eaten with a big pot of tea or ginger beer! Yum and not too fattening I'm sure.


The Cannery Man Can
Who can make the sun shine?  The Cannery Man Can...sing to the tune of the Candy Man if you are old enough to remember it! 

Yes, my dear husband Brian is now a cannery employee.  Now, don't get too excited.  He cannot bring home any free fruits or tomato sauce.  But, he is working very hard opening cans, putting on lids, and adding ingrediants to make beans in tomato sauce.  He bravely gets up at 5:30, rides his bike to work in the dark with the waking birds, and home again at 3:00 pm, covered with splats of the days hard labour.  The fruit season is almost over though, and he's facing lay off which is ok with him because there is only so many lids you tighten.  At least the other staff there is entertaining.  He is usually working with young people on gap years from school who don't seem to take things too seriously.  It's a daily occurance to be caught in the fire of a papaya fight.  
The cannery used to be owned by the orchardists around the area, but then Cocacola bought it. Seems they can import fruit and vegetables from elsewhere even though they are surrounded by these beautiful orchards.  They still use the local produce, but not as much and so the orchardists are suffering.  Many are selling the land to developers.

Weekend Warriors
We've been on the road...most every weekend which has been exhilerating, expensive and exhausting!  But, if you are only here for one year, you gotta BUST A MOVE MAN!!  Here are some sweet spots we've been touring.


South Gippsland

Philips Island

Super Gorgeous Gippsland Kitty

The International Fellowship gang, also known as the IFT, is an amazing group of past, present and anyone who is interested teachers, spouses, and friends who run weekends for all of the above!  They are a hardy friendly and highly entertaining group to be around and so we've gone on two of the weekends so far that were organized by them.
THe first one was to South Gippsland which is on the southern coast of Victoria, next stop Antarctica! HOLY MOLY EXTRAORDINARY!!  We had the opportunity to be billeted with a marvie family of five, plus dog and cat, in a futuristic masterpiece of a house that looked over the ocean.
We arrived to a festive bbq on the Friday night and then on Saturday, there was a bus tour along the beaches and to Philip's Island.
When you cross the bridge to Philip's Island, you can see great dark shadows swimming under it.  These are very large ray fish! And, when you start going onto the island you suddenly see tiny, very tiny little shelters everywhere.  They are human made housing for the very small inhabitants of the island---PENGUINS!  The fairy penguins arrive daily for their snooze, but like the little penguins in Melbourne.  Except, these live on this beautiful stunning island and are looked after very well by the park. 
Then it was off to the beach for some surfing lessons. We were extremely glad because it was a balmy 38 degrees that day and we were all in need of a dip in the ocean!  Brian and Emma got wetsuited up and in they went with the crowd of Canadians, British, Scottish and Americans!  I was thoroughly impressed becasue after the scorching hot lesson on the sand about how to jump on your board, they fared really well in the water! Emma had quite a few successful attempts, and well Brian, um...ya, you get the picture.  It was all fun and games until a girl from Toronto dislocated her shoulder and started floating away on her board.  She was rescued quickly, thankfully and had to go to the hospital.  We saw her a few weeks later, all is good, and she had to take a week off of work, to do some sight seeing. 

thatThat night we all went down to the Inverloch beach with our billeting family and the ITF put on a stupendous bbq of sausages, salads, pavlova and ice cream.  Now, I must tell you that every so often, little strange-ities in the language crop up.  Emma and Bonnie went for ice cream and the girls serving them asked if they wanted 'hundreds and thousands' on top.  HUH?  Hundreds and thousands of WHAT?  Well, it turns out sprinkles are called 'Hundreds and Thousands'.  HOW CUTE IS THAT?!  It seems like a lot of words to describe a tiny treat but the way I look at it is perhaps someone once said, "Oh, I'll just have a few on my ice cream" and the reply was, "Oh, come on!  Have Hundreds and Thousands!"  Or, some poor soul had to count them into little jars...

Bonnie on the Moon (aka Gippland Turtle Rock)

Emma's Birthday Weekend
Emma turned sixteen.  We had to make it special somehow without all of her friends here.  When we first arrived, we were talking in a taxi about who we would invite for her party.  She said, 'I don't know anyone!  Who will I invite to my party?!' Fair dinkum.  So, I said, 'Hey, we know this taxi driver!  (A big bad tat covered bald Aussie bloke, by the way).  Well, the day came and sadly, we didn't have to invite the taxi driver as we have friends, amazing people that live here in the neighbourhood.  
Ian and Wendy and their two sweet daughters live next door and the Di Petta family was discovered purely as a case of serendipity.  Emma, Bonnie and I walked the channel each night when we first got here, looking for unusual wild life.  Here's what we found:

 As you can see, it's not the wildlife you might expect in Australia, but it's a nice happy chance for some petting.  In any case, this is where we met Xavier.  He's a boy who walks the channel everynight, about Emma's age.  I started up a conversation, as I do, and I asked Xavier if the dogs were ferocious.  Ya, right.  In any case, he must have went home and told his parents that there were Americans around because a few nights later, we were out again and a couple with a daughter about Bonnie's age walked by.  We were trying to get Frog out of the channel and they heard us.  Suddenly the dad turned around and yelled, 'So YOU'RE the Americans!'  Well, sort of, I replied.  Within  minutes they scooped us up and took us to their home to show us the PROPER way to apply Vegemite to white toast.  Right.  No wonder we hated it.  A Skippy sized layer was a bit overwhelming.  Well, since that night, we've spent happy times swimming in their blue gorgeous pool and eating pizza, boiled plums with ice cream, orange cake and grapefruit from their trees.  

In any case, Emma's birthday party was great!  A veritable Sweet Sixteen party with good friends!  

We call this Melbourne building the Garbage Can lid buidling

On the following weekend, we packed up and went to Melbourne, Emma's choice.  She is definitely going to be a big city girl one day.  We crammed in as much as we could since it was a long weekend.
Dine and Dash Divas
First stop, FOOD!!  There is a street in Melbourne called Lygon Street which is all yummy Italian food.  Well, as you walk down the street, the owners try and entice you in with their delectable treats and deals.  We finally gave into one and were escorted to the upstairs.  The waiter didn't speak English, or Italian for that matter, and asked us for our drink order.  Hungry girl teenagers are not a good thing, let me tell ya! Brian also ordered the complimentary appetizer that the street urchin bribed us with. 
We waited for an hour.  So did all of the other customers.  Then, our waiter appeared.  Would you like to order drinks, he asked.  AHHHHH!!!  At this point we were all silly with Friday night fatigue and hunger at 10:00 pm.  Our complimentary glass of wine and water arrived, and we planned our exit. Of course, you can't waste a glass of wine, so we gulped bolted.  Brian was the first to leave, down the staircase, and then Emma and Bonnie, and then me. By the way, I am generously going to tell you the name of this restaurant, IL GUSTO!  We did end up at a wonderful Italian pizza place later and had a great time eating delicious pizza with a group of Japanese students until 12:30!

View from Eureka Skye

These are giant golden hornets.

Shopping until you're dropping takes on a whole new meaning when you are at a DFO.  Direct Factory Outlet.  There are 4 in Melbourne.  Bring a fire extinguisher because you'll need to spray it on your credit cards.  Then we went up the Eureka Skye Tower which is only 88 stories high. It's the skyscraper we saw on our previous trip to Melbourne that reflects the sun at sunset.  Actually, it's a residential building with condos going at about 1 million dollars and the penthouse apartments going at as a small change item at 7 million.  Amazing views of Melbourne! And the elevator goes up at 9 metres/second.


We went to a HUGE market called Queen Victoria Market and had a eyeful and mouthful of delicacies.  Food, stuff, food and more stuff.  Very fun!
Parking can be as much as accomodation in Melbourne!

Like a Golden Retriever would fit into this tiny shirt!

Magical Fairy Dust Queen that Bonnie liked

 
I made a deal with my family.  We shop, we eat out, we sleep in...but I get to hit at least ONE museum.  The Melbourne Museum is like falling into the book you've had on hold for 2 months at the library and finally get.  You lose yourself quickly, ignore without guilt all distractions and declare it ME TIME!!  Ya, that's what I did.  This is a showcase of everything I crave.  All living creatures, past and present, history, and Aboriginal history, old stuff and happy glorious dusty stuff.  Yes, that's me.

 


















There's a hall in this museum that brings tears to my eyes.  I can't describe it any other way!  There is every species of animal in this room.  Some are replicas (thank GOD!) and others, taxidermied friends.  But, the thing that renders it unbelievable, is that in the hall, there are binoculars or on a screen of the room, that you can focus in on an animal.  Then through a very astounding use of technology, you can press a button and all of the information of the animal will appear. 

Phar Lap standing tall

Another enchanting area of the museum is that of the horse Phar Lap.  This horse dominated the news in the Great Depression.  He won virtually every race and then went to America where he won the Agua Caliente Handicap, in 1932.  BIGGIE! Two weeks after his extraordinary win, he succumbed to a mystery illness, thought to be gangster poisonings.  His stunning and muscular body is preserved for all to see in this museum.




Finding our Fortune in Ballarat
The following weekned, we ventured off to another ITF, this time, away from the coast, but at the heart of the Victorian state's beginnings.  The city of Ballarat, about 80 000, is the birth place of many things that happened here.  In the 1830's gold was found in the Canadian Creek.  The onslaught was awesome, people from all over with the same intentions!  The world's two biggest gold nuggets were discovered here.  The Welcome nugget and the Welcome Stranger nugget.  Both weighing in at around 69 kilos!  The Welcome Stranger was discovered only 2.5 centimeters under the ground.  There's some amazing history here, but in the end, I felt like I was in Butte, Montana with all of the stories and history.  Across the world, same bittersweet stories of extraordinary wealth and desparate sadness.
Another treasure that we discovered there was our lovely billeting family, Kevin and Karen.  They had gone on a teacher exchange about 12 years ago to Algonquin, in Ontario.  Kevin is a mechanics teacher, mostly retired and he and Karen are also ballroom dancers.  They have a huge practice room in the backyard that Kevin built.  He also built a super snazzy replica of a Ford Cobra which Brian couldn't resist getting into.  They went for a drive around the neighbourhood, but it was more of a road trip by the time they got back.  Both were awfully quiet about where they had been! 
Their house looks over the city of Ballarat and when they put bird seed out, a flock of red rosettas came in for a snack landing.  Do you think I'll ever want to go home?


Sovereign Hill
A walk back in time to discover the Gold Rush in Victoria is Sovereign Hill.  Up on the hill in Ballarat where gold was discovered, you can stroll through the different eras of the rush and development of the gold mining industry in Ballarat.  This place is extraordinary in that everyone who works there is in full costume, there are shows during the day that you can just walk into and mines that you can descend into.  We loved watching the gold pouring that would separate the gold from the debris at 800 degrees C and then watch it being poured into a block.  
This block of pure and HOT gold was worth about 200 000 dollars.  The goldsmith only let one person hold it when it cooled and we all encouraged him to make a run for it!

ME being the school marm I've always wanted to be

This blog of melted goo is NOT gold, but was just as precious to some.  Just as fascinating to watch being made, this boiled sweet, Acid Drops, was made on the original machines that were used in the 1800's.  Buying boiled sweets back then was a sheer luxury that few could afford, unless of course, you had the gold! 

Candies at Sovereign Hill

 
Off to another glorious bbq of everything Australian!  The hosts were kind enough to let us try an Aussie favourite, a kangaroo steak, mate!  I have to say that it was a bit disconcerting eating this as I consider kangaroos friends, as you will see shortly.  One bite was all I needed to make the decision of whether or not I will eat it again.  You'll have to try it yourself to discover the truth!

 

The next day we ventured out to one of the many antique shops in Ballarat.  This particular store was chock a block full to the rafters with the flotsam and jetsom of the land.  We had a competition to see who could find the ugliest thing.  Emma won as usual!

Emma's Prized Possesion

  

Ballarat Fauna Park

It's tempting!

And then there are the Australian animals, so much like the people we meet.  Relaxed, stress free and like a nice tummy rub! Well, I haven't and don't plan to rub anyone's tummy.  It's the thought that counts.  We all met at the Ballarat Fauna Park to be greeted by a mob of kangaroos waiting to have their tummy's rubbed and if you had some kangafood in your pocket, they'd ensure that you could even chill with their friends and family. 

The wombat is a funny creature.  About the size of a medium dog, the wombat is low to the ground.  Yet, he's a force to be reckoned with, I reckon!  His inner amour can do alot of damage to a car.  And, sadly, they do get hit often. There is a wombat living in this park whose mom was run over.  Someone stopped after and noticed Perry, the baby, in her pouch as they are marsuipal.  He was saved and now lives in the zoo.  He hasn't been trouble free though, because the person who raised him once had him in the car.  He parked to run into the Milk Bar (corner shops) and Perry decided to try his hand at driving.  He ended up putting the car in neutral and rolled it down the hill into someone's house.  

 We even just took out a mob of kangaroos on the highway to Ballarat.  When one kangaroo hops up, the others follow and 6 jumped across the road in front of us.  Thankfully Brian was driving and not going too fast.  

 The Tasmanian Devil is a smaller fellow with a big sense of smell and sharp fangs.  They got their name and Bugs Bunny reputation from their fierce cry when they argue with each other about food rights.  We did see a pair scrapping over a dead mouse and it was a great show!  Sadly, these little guys are endangered due to a face cancer that spreads among them like a virus.  It slowly kills them as eventually they can't eat.

What do you think this is?

This is Bonnie's finger tempting death.  The Taipan snake is the most venomnous in the world.  We learned that even though Australia has a great population of the world's most deadliest snakes, only 1.4 people died in the last 20 years from snakebites.  I do wonder about the point 4.  Does it mean that maybe someone had to get an amputation?  In any case, they inject weak snake venom into agreeable horses, then take their blood which has made antibodies to the venom and this is used to treat snake bite victims.  Expect a few months stay in the hospital though.  Speaking of snakes, on one particular night Bonnie, Emma and I decided to walk home along the channel after visiting some neighbours.  With a flashlight in hand, we started home.  Pitch black out here, except the light of the stars and the upside down moon.  I decided to duck down in the trees to scare the girls further as I am a kind and concerned mom.  Suddenly Emma stops and states unequivocally, Mom, it's a snake.  I quickly exit my hiding spot and run back to them.  Surely and very clearly with the light shining upon it's back is a tiger snake about a foot long.  As it is night, he is moving slowly across the channel path to make his way to the water for some kind of lucky dinner.  I freeze, Bonnie starts punching me to move, Emma is either fascinated or freaked out totally.  Even though we've been told what to do when foot to face confrontation with snakes, we all lose our sense of direction in dealing with this.  I guess it's like running into a bear in the Rockies.  You've read all the literature, but when it comes down to the first introduction, you go blank.  Bonnie did eventually hit me hard enough to startle me out of my shock, and we stealthily walked around it and RAN HOME!!  Word of advice from all staff members the next day, ARE YOU FREAKING NUTS WALKING ON THE CHANNEL AT NIGHT?!!  Enough said, lesson learned.

Yappy Yabbies

We finally had our first lesson in yabbie catching.  The very sweet girls from next door came over, armed with nets, sticks, buckets and fresh meat chunks.  You tie the meat to the stick and dangle it in the water. 

 

First kiss with a Yabbie

  

When you feel a tug, you yank the yabbie out quickly and send it flying over the back of your head.  That was tricky and all attempts failed.  So, we got out the net, filled it with meat and left it for a few hours.  Upon return, we pulled the nets out to discover the hidden underwater population couldn't resist bites of beef! We had quite a few, played with them, let them snap and scoot at us, and then returned them to the murky playground below.  What FUN!  I still don't think I could eat them though as many claim they are delightfully delicious dipped in butter! 

 

The Shepparton News

This is the title of the newspaper here in Shepp.  It's a great newspaper, just enough news to keep you satisfied, but not like a giant affair that you can never get through in one sitting.  It can always be found on our staffroom table to enjoy while you have your afternoon tea.  It advertises where the markets will be in the upcoming weekend, flood warnings and outlooks and lots of big pictures of all the babies born during the week!  

Here's some little tidbits of news to ponder from our lives here in Shepp.

At school, the kids and teachers can order special lunches on Wednesday and Fridays.  You put your money in a brown lunch bag, write on the front what you want, for instance, the sausage roll and hedeghog combo and your name and room number.  Then at lunch, the van arrives and drops the tubs off at the undercover sails where we eat.  There's a particularly animated young student named Beth in the early grades who follows me around on  lunch recess duty.  She always has crumbs around her mouth on the lunch days and I always ask her what she had today.  Oh, you MUST have the chicken pot pie, she says.  IT's soooo lovely and nice!  And you must have the hedgehog too.  IT's sooooo nice!  

And, Grahamvale students are grouped into four houses, like in Harry Potter. Each house has a chant that is pronounced LOUDLY during the weekly assembly if their team has won the highest amount of house points.  The houses are named after the soldiers from around Grahamvale that were in wars-- Hick, James, McDermott and Doyle.  Their pictures are framed in the entrance to the school.

And, did you know that McDonald's is called Mackers here, and you can have a McOZ burger that comes with beet root?

And, if you ever are offered Fairy Bread at a special function, you are in for a treat!  Emma and Bonnie were invited by Xavier and his family, the Di Pettas, to go visit their school's Open House. Golburn Valley Grammar School.  Apart from being an amazing, and expensive school, they served Fairy Bread!  Fresh white decrusted soft bread with a layer of butter and then Hundreds and THousands pressed into the butter.  MMMM....

And, speaking of dangerous Australian wildlife, the one that scares me the most, the one that brings fear to my eyes, heart and butt, the one that will plan it's ambush and then take you down in a quick sharp swift attack is that of...the VANILLA SLICE!  Need I say more.  Stand back, stand waaaayy back. 

And, Brian has been invited to Beer and Beef a few times now by Steve Di Petta.  He might be able to make membership which I tease him about.  Beer and Beef is an exclusive night out with 50 businessmen and  professionals from around Shepp.  They go out to a secret location which is planned in advance by a committee and do what it says, Drink Beer and eat Beef!  We decided to have the Di Pettas over one night and had Meatloaf  and Macaroni night, which wasn't quite the same standard of Beer and Beef, but fun all the same!

A suspicious Kookabura in the tree

 


















And, lastly, bird third world war happenend in your yard yesterday.  A pleasant sunny afternoon led to a tribal takedown!  The chooks had been coaxed out for some free range play time, the magpie family was watching their coop from above, eyeing the cheese bits with envy and then two large and in charge kookaburas showed up for a showdown! I just sat back, seeing who would take top dog. Chooks are bottom the alpha bird ladder, then the magpies, and the kooks just hung around long enough to give everyone a good scare and to let them know who rules the roost in the bird world.  Gotta love it, mate!  Frog has also decided to get in on the action and clean up bits of cheese left behind.

And with that...

I leave you with some happy pictures from down under.

This is not road kill.  It's a happily snoozed wombat

THis is not road kill.  It's a snoozed happy cat friend

This is not road kill.  This is a snoozed 'roo.

 


























And to the three beautiful ladies in Butte, Montana to whom I dedicate my blogs, I wrote your name in the South Australian Sand.  Love you Grandma, Georgiana, and Winkie!~

Brian standing on guard for wave washaways.



Frog Dog on the Run


Until next time...
beth