Ribh's D'Coopage

[MaryJanet]

That's very cool!

 

[WhoDatChick]

Our bees have been posted! We braved the rain yesterday to lug yet another stump through the yard & into position behind the chook house. They will arrive today or tomorrow & I have learnt my first amazing & bizarre thing about our new acquisitions: bees fly out of the hive backwards when first released. This gives them the visual orientation they will need in order to return to the hive. Animals just gobsmack me!

That is so amazing!!

 

[Kris5902]

Okay, so now all the chickies get to roam their new yard with some sense of security... at least on my part.. I finished netting the entire top ... well, today we had a couple of incidents... a hawk flew over pretty low but the hawk was being chased by a mockingbird so he was distracted and didn’t notice the gals.. the gals noticed the hawk.. and went running! Then I watched the hawk making circles over the property behind us and saw him head our way... well, he saw something over there and dove for it... whew! That was close! Then a giant Great Blue Heron flies through the trees and you talk about watch those gals run!! ... it was pretty low and just looked enormous! But the funniest of all is when they hear a car horn!! ... and if a car alarm goes off you’d think it was Armageddon! I have no idea why they are scared to death of a car horn!? They ALL freeze!! Even the new ones.. so I wonder what that’s about

My Mr Marans really doesn’t like bicycles, horses, children, strangers, strange cars, or the angle grinder! He herds his ladies into a safe corner and protects them! Cows, deer, and goats are ok though... go figure? But Sammy doesn’t like cows one bit, and Chickie Hawk just hates everything that isn’t his girls or bugs. Chickens be crazy... that’s for sure!

 

[Ribh]

One thing I can say for winter rain & overcast skies: they give us the most spectacular sunrises! I never get tired of these.

Today was an early boat off the island. From the jetty you can see our point & beyond that the dark bulk of Minjerribah. We are on the eastern side of the point. At low tide the water pulls back nearly to where those boats are moored & we have...mud! Glorious mud! My youngest son let everyone @ his High School assume he lived in a tropical paradise with palm trees, white sand & super surfing waves. *sigh* None of that here.

So Doctor's, Optometrist, Bunnings [our hardware place], the pet shop [meal worms], & LINCRAFT! Yay. YD asked for an afghan which is close to being finished so I picked up the next batch of wool to do the baby blanket for the soon to arrive new grand~daughter ~ & a bigger hook. I hate having my eyes done & need a new script & 6 monthly check~ups 'cause they reckon my eyes are doing funny things.

New readers. New driving glasses. New titanium frames. Maybe I will have an intact pair of glasses for longer than 6 months ~ about my average before I break them or otherwise render them unwearable. And then we came home to...

 

[Ribh]

BEES! In a box. On our front doorstep.

So we carted it outside. I carefully pulled out both plugs & we watched our bees fly backwards. Now it is sitting in stately glory on its beautiful log as if it had been there forever.

And because we had been gone for most of the day all the girls were pacing the wire anxiously hoping to be let out. It was fine & sort of warmish so I bit the bullet...Yep, that's my Campines out there with everyone else. Unfortunately if I'm anywhere around everyone congregates in my corner.

I did have a mild panic when first Ha'penny & then Hepzibah hopped up on the roof & surveyed their kingdom but they stayed where they belonged & came home for dinner like the good girls they are.

 

[Kris5902]

Yay bees!!!!

Your pictures certainly do paint the picture of a tropical paradise, so your son isn’t that far off! But mud flats do yours smell awfully? They do here in the PNW.

This just prompted a half hour long discussion between Andrew and I on the differences between the tide extremes, regularities, and beach charactistics between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans here in Canada. And lots of questions about what they would be like in the Southern Hemisphere. Almost enough enticement for him to get over the fear of the wildlife down there to investigate? I wish!

He’s ok with bears, moose, and cougars, but mention any venomous reptiles and he gets all buggy for some reason. (Probably because I’m so fascinated by them and love them so much) if I could get a few baby alligators through customs here I could build them a little greenhouse for the winter, and that would discourage the hikers

 

[rjohns39]

Evening Jeannie

 

[WhoDatChick]

Yay bees!!!!

Your pictures certainly do paint the picture of a tropical paradise, so your son isn’t that far off! But mud flats do yours smell awfully? They do here in the PNW.

This just prompted a half hour long discussion between Andrew and I on the differences between the tide extremes, regularities, and beach charactistics between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans here in Canada. And lots of questions about what they would be like in the Southern Hemisphere. Almost enough enticement for him to get over the fear of the wildlife down there to investigate? I wish!

He’s ok with bears, moose, and cougars, but mention any venomous reptiles and he gets all buggy for some reason. (Probably because I’m so fascinated by them and love them so much) if I could get a few baby alligators through customs here I could build them a little greenhouse for the winter, and that would discourage the hikers

I want a baby alligator... we had one growing up.. we had it for about two years so it was a tiny thing.. that’s what I want.. a tiny one.. one of my boys snagged one while fishing at our camp.. I’ll find the pic... too big for me to keep!

Ribh, your bee house looks lovely! And oh, the view

 

[Ribh]

But mud flats do yours smell awfully? They do here in the PNW.

Thankfully the mud doesn't usually smell @ all & even when it does it's not too bad, just a bit briny. Our bay is called Ooncooncoon [place of shallow waters] & it's one of the few places sea grass grows instead of seaweed & the dugongs come in to graze. YD & I, when she was super little, were walking way out on the edge of the mangroves one day & saw a shark separate a baby dugong from it's mother ~ not a good outcome for bubs. YD wouldn't even put her pinkie in the water for years afterwards. It was quite something.

And lots of questions about what they would be like in the Southern Hemisphere

My son is the one to discuss that with. lol He has fished both coasts. He is up in the gulf just now [of Carpentaria ~ top end of OZ] & I know the tides drop & rise really, really fast & are incredibly dangerous. The indigenous people island hop in tinnies & every so often someone gets caught in the rip & goes missing.

if I could get a few baby alligators through customs here I could build them a little greenhouse for the winter, and that would discourage the hikers

Tell Andrew we don't have too many nasties here ~ mostly snakes that we never see. I will assume he's not keen on getting in the water. That is another matter entirely!

 

[Ribh]

Evening Jeannie

Hey, Bob. We obviously did our *ships passing in the night* thing again last night. I was tired. Eye exams exhaust me & I was in bed early.