Weather watch and a naughty old man

Can I please have a pat on the back?

I have FINALLY remembered to post Weather Watch Wednesday on...

wait for it...

a WEDNESDAY.

I know.

*curtsies*

Thankyou, thank you all.

.

It's perfect weather here today - just 27 degrees Celsius (80 F) in my kitchen.

Looking out the (smudged)window to my part of the world, I see green grass.

I see ruffling leaves dancing in a strong breeze.

I see low grey clouds buffeting each other trying to cover up the small patches of blue.

I see the contented grazing of horses and cows, their bellies full and tails happily flicking at flies. It's the exact picture every person who lives with grazing animals EVER wants to see.

*sigh*

Granite Glen Forecast :

Temps: 18-28 C (64-82F)

Frost risk: NIL

(never fails to tickle me that this measure even makes it to our Summer/Autumn forecasts!)

Chance of rain: 90% of up to 100mm for this weekend

Actually a CYCLONE is allegedly headed this way.

~

So anyway, the second part of this post IS related to the first.

Even if it doesn't immediately seem that way.

Please meet Cattleman.

Cattleman is a horse.

But he is not just any horse.

He is a human in horse's clothing. (Or hide. Whatever.)

Cattleman is my father's steed and is an ex-campdraft horse.

He is not young - probably about 20 years old - and man, is he crafty.

He is an equine Walter Matthau. Or Jack Palance's character in City Slickers (Curly?)

Here he is, having let all the horses into the pool yard.
Yes, the horse can open gates.

These photos were taken after he had already opened THREE other gates (with varying catches) to completely mix up every horse we have here at the Granite Glen house.
And THAT was within the two hours he had been home, after being shifted in from a 'spelling' paddock which only has barbed wire gates (which I can barely manage and which he has yet to work out). And no, spelling doesn't mean where horses learn their ABC's.

It's where they get rested.

Or banished (when they are more trouble than help).

Mind you, this horse is so smart he can probably do algebra.

Can you notice that he is watching me while pretending to graze?

Want to know what he's thinking?

His thought bubbles should read like this:

"Right, we've been caught.

And she's about to chase us out from this luscious forbidden area.

How can I trick her into letting me stay?"

(And he totally had about three strategies planned out).

.

And when I eventually got them all out into the paddock, he's thinking:

"Okay I shall now chase everyone away from the forbidden area,

to make it look like it was NOT my idea to be here in the first place."

"See? Butter WOULD NOT melt in my mouth.

Is my halo in place?"

.

If he wasn't so naughty he'd be quite funny and cute.

But Cattleman doesn't do cute.

And he doesn't do 'cuddly' either.

Oh sure, he'll let you feed him and even rug him, but the moment you are done he has moved JUST beyond reach. Watching you. If he doesn't feel like being bridled and saddled, it can take you half an hour to outsmart him.

.

He's really the horse version of a cat.

Feed me.

Admire me.

Pat me if you must.

Even though he hasn't competed in a campdraft (basic description here for newcomers) for many years, he is agile and can hunt down a beast (steer) like an equine predator. And if his rider isn't ready for the sharp turn required to send the beast where Cattleman decides it needs to go... then HELLO ground! And you could find yourself looking up from the dirt, at a chestnut horse positively LAUGHING at you.

Not that I would know what that feels like. Much.

Mr Incredible would love to get Cattleman out of the Spelling Paddock (where he has once again been banished) to take him in a draft. The campdraft season, you see, is underway. Or it would be, if the rains would stop.

It's a dilemma for my hubby - welcome more rain and have yet another local campdraft cancelled (two have already been called off)? Or wish it away and watch another drought devour the gorgeous green from our hills?

Catch 22.

Whether the forecast comes to fruition for this weekend's local draft or not, all I know is that Cattleman the Cunning will be ready. As long as we can catch him.

And as long as he doesn't work out the gates.

Who's that knocking at my door?

I've been away from Granite Glen and should be doing a LOT of other things... like unpacking. And mowing. And washing. Instead I've been navel-gazing this morning. Well, not my ACTUAL navel (hello navel, long time no see!) but at who has been visiting me here.

~

It's yet another way I like to time waste (or as they would say in the ranks of the beaurocratic, 'research'). I like to look at my statistics and see which of my blog buddies and real life friends have been a-visitin'. Do you have stat counters on your blog? It's kinda like a two-way mirror - people can see into my world, but I can sneak a peek back and see their ip addresses and how they found me. I try to work out who is who, and I label visitors - some who have been visiting me forever, like Debby and Dykewife, and others who get my random tags such as 'Rocky Regular' or 'Lurker from Louisiana'.

~

Wanna peer in with me?

This is a page I screen-saved a month or so ago.

This stat page breaks down into percentages what country visitors come from.

The details vary a bit from month to month, but generally it seems that...

~

Americans like me.

Well some of 'em anyways... more Yanks visit me than any other nationality.

Not sure why? Maybe y'all like my fake Texan accent?

~

Aussies don't mind me.

Well a couple of 'em seem to enjoy the piccies and bulldust anyway.

I suspect they are mostly family, checking to see who's (psuedo)name I have taken in vain, but the occasional other fab Oz blogger pops in from time to time too.

~

And Canadians...

Well one or two of the Canuck population also see fit to waste time at this little black blog. Even with the Winter Olympics on.

Go figure.

Something that always amazes me though is when folks from completely non-English speaking nations visit. And then come back. How on earth do they get anything from a completely 'Strine blog? I have regulars from France and Malaysia and Switzerland. Incredible.

So I decided to don my Nancy Drew cloak and investigate. I checked out a Swiss visitor, and clicked away to try and find out how they managed to get themselves remotely interested in Granite Glen, Australia.

And I found a link to this:

It looks like a normal Bush Babe page... but look closer...

I can speak Swiss-German!

Holy cow!

Who knew I was bi-lingual?

Did you know I visited Switzerland once? It's true. I loved it. Very Heidi and smartly dressed people in extremely tidy towns. I tried to read the menus there ... but gave up and pointed to other people's plates. I have to admit I am 'language-ly' challenged.

Except in the magic of blogland.
~

So today I'd love to find out WHO else is there, commenting and lurking? A couple of questions to let me know who goes there/here...

How did you get here?

Was it via another blog or a google search or a link from a friend?

What language do you speak at home?

I don't mind if you use a silly psuedonym - or admit you accidently stumbled here after googling 'vegemite' or 'mathalatics'. And I promise not to be offended if you don't understand a bloody word I say, think I am an uncultured moron and just come over for the photos.

Nein, bitte!

Yodel-ay-eeh-hoo!!

Wallowing...

You may - or may not - have heard about the rain in these parts?

I realise some of those around the ridges (further south) may be a little sick of it, but me? No way, Jose. I have been ready for a flood from the first drops. Ready, willing and pantry stocked to the max. And Nikon primed and stuttering at every vivid green-and-grey view like a raging machine gun. Bear with me while I wallow a little longer in the lushness we find ourselves surrounded by. I know for sure it will not last. And these rainy day pages will undoubtedly be among the most-visited by moi when dry weather again takes a stranglehold on our part of the world... Wallow with me?

~.~

This series is from the Bunyip Hole.

Invaded not only by streaming water...

but by birdlife who look for all the world as if they never left...

Seriously? Swans in a paddock where a few weeks ago dust was blowing...

My favourite of all native trees, groves of gorgeous blue gum trees...

The rushing sound of the floodwaters is as insistently cleansing to my senses as the rains that gave them life...

And the stream tumbles and roars around newly-created islands...

Singing it's anthem of new life around tree trunks and giant knotting roots...


Before racing headlong to fill creeks and tributaries and dams and rivers...

perhaps in the days, weeks, months ahead to wriggle through to the ocean.

Leaving behind calm, content waterholes.

Happy to lie in wait for blue skies and hot suns.

Reflecting the stillness of draping trees, polished grey branches and the ancient myths of bluegums and bunyips.

Just like me.

Kitty, kitty, kitty

There is a feline feel to this post...

because my blog heroine Ree is running another assignment at her place

and I have entered three pussy pics this week.
...
After the over-excitement of getting two photos up in last week's canine contest, I have very low expectations (there are 1000's of entries after all!) but thought I would share the pics here so at least SOMEONE gets to see 'em.

My cousin's tiger/cat sporting a hot pink collar...

some fill flash used

Exposure: 0.006 sec (1/160)
Aperture: f/6.3
Focal Length: 150 mm


Middy the panther, and her lamp eyes ...
Exposure: 0.02 sec (1/50)
Aperture: f/6.3
Focal Length: 170 mm

Middy the Victor.

After bashing up Axel.

(Again.)

Exposure: 0.001 sec (1/800)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 200 mm
...

If you missed the first take on this love-hate relationship that is enacted EVERY SINGLE DAY here at Granite Glen, then check this post. And this one. The day he realises he is actually bigger than her, she's toast. Luckily she is a LOT cleverer than her canine counterpart. I cannot see the status quo changing anytime soon...

...

So... which is your favourite shot?

If you entered a shot at Ree's, please post the entry link in comments.

Or if you've a story/post about your feline friend, share it there too...

Thistles

As I alluded to earlier this week, the life of a blog friend has been touched by tragedy.

More than touched. Shattered.

It's not my story to tell.

It's not my pain to express.

Not my loved one lost.

Despite this, I cannot help but acknowledge that today, this friend will brace herself for one of the toughest jobs a human can face.

She will attend the funeral of her husband.

...

I cannot imagine (and to be honest, am trying desperately hard not to imagine) what she is going through today. It's something I cannot bear to walk through in my own mind.

Yet, I want her to know that I will help in whatever small way I can.

Especially today.

...

I was initially nervous of mentioning the shattering event that has so changed the life of this lovely woman and her young family. And despite her grief, she sent an email that assured me 'there are very few wrong things people CAN say and even when they do, I know what they mean'. She went on to say how important she felt it was 'so important that people keep me talking and engaged in life'.

And so this is what I will try to do.

Keep on living and invite her to be part of that.

Even while part of me wants to stop everything for this person,

a woman I have only ever known as Corymbia.

My awful initial uncertainty about how to respond made me wonder:

What IS the right thing to do?

What IS the right thing to say?

When is enough TOO much?

And when is it not enough?

...

If you have experienced this kind of tragedy, what did you need from others?

Please, share your wisdom or experience or advice here.

(Because I know so many of you are way wiser than I.)

She will read this.

Maybe not today, but soon.

And all I have to offer her is you.

Break in the (weather) transmission

Did I MISS something this week? Like, um, the WEATHER WATCH?

Sheesh... hopeless.

Not too regular here at the moment (and trying to bat kids away from the computer as I type this - blinking 'educational' websites). So as we enjoy a tiny break in the rain patterns here (NOT that I am complaining) and share a couple of snaps of the by-products of the wet weather...

Fabulous crops of mushrooms trailing across our rampant lawn...

Native bees all abuzz around our lush Crepe Myrtles.

Can't see? Look closer...

Weather for this neck of the woods:

21-28 degrees and 87 percent relative humidity (aka: stinking steaming hot!)

90% chance of 10-20mm rain (keep bringing it on, Hughie)

Frost risk - 0 (no kidding Einstein?)

Rest of the week filled with 'more possible showers'.

...

And before you ask, NO we are SO not sick of it yet, despite being almost flooded in on a couple of seperate occasions in the past week. We have had almost 15 inches of rain for 2010 already - not so far off our entire rainfall last year! Each soaking we get tops up our dams and adds to our underground water supplies - meaning we can go for that bit longer without rain when the dry season arrives (as it surely will).

..

I do feel for those having to evacuate their homes because of flooding in Charleville and St George... check out news reports here. And the flash flood in Melbourne (see Jayne's pics).

...

And how about you?

What's Mother Nature up to in your part of the world.

I wait with bated breath!

Peaceful place

Sometimes the Gods just don't play fair.

Sometimes life sucks.

Sometimes we need a little place to go to, just to be still and calm and peaceful.

I thought that I would share one of my places today - a place that does that for me.

A place where the stillness and beauty help salve a ragged soul.

Because at least one of my blog friends really needs this at the moment.

I have not much to offer her but a little bit of my peaceful place.

I hope it helps.
...
What's your 'peaceful place' like?

Have you described it somewhere?

Maybe you have a photo?

Please share a link or description below, to share with those who need it now.

...

A Novel Woman's Cottage Wilderness

Kaleidescope's Torcello

Shutterbug Linda's Backyard

Kelly's Fishing Pond

Nikon Sniper's Silk Waterfall