Travelling Light

An interesting phenomenon in the Farm Stud household.  This I noticed on New Year's Eve 2011 into New Year's day 2012, while sipping wine on the verandah and soaking in the cool night air.

There was this spider in the middle of its web which was suspended from the rafters of the verandah almost halfway down.  I was amazed at the size of the thing sitting and waiting for juicy prey to innocently fly through the air and see its life flashing before its eyes as it gets stuck in the web (a bit high on the wine).

Tractor Chick:  I wonder what it would do if I blew at the spider and the web.
Farm Stud:  It's not hurting anyone so leave it alone.
Tractor Chick:  I'm going to try anyway.

The spider & web wiggled a little bit.

Tractor Chick:  It's not doing anything.
Farm Stud:  Stop tormenting the thing.  It's not hurting anyone.
Tractor Chick:  Oh alright.

The next morning, I wandered onto the verandah to check out the web & the spider & guess what?  It wasn't there!  Both the spider and the web weren't there!  Where'd it go?  Overnight?

It's a strange spider because ever since then, we have noticed that the web disappears by morning but appears when the dark of night sets in.  I can actually imagine it rolling up the web when the sun is about to rise and rolls it out, like a carpet, when it starts to get dark.

Hmm...like a nomad who has to keep moving his tent! 

A Tale of Two Birds and Two Eggs

When I was in Australia last time, Farm Stud told me that there was a nest with eggs in it sitting on branch of the crepe myrtle tree.  I stood on the front verandah and noticed the 'couple' birds (Willy Wagtails) were taking turns to keep the eggs nice and warm.

Tractor-Chick:  Babe, did you actually see any eggs in the nest?

Farm Stud:  Actually yes.  There are two eggs in the nest.

Tractor-Chick:  With the pair of them so actively taking turns to sit on the nest and being constantly there, how did you manage to take a peek?

Farm Stud:  Oh I was mowing the lawn and I pretended that I had to mow close to the tree, instead, I craned my neck and had a quick look.

Tractor-Chick:  Cool!  Now it'll give us something to watch while we sit on the verandah drinking our tea.

So this went on for at a least a week and the pair of them was protective, busy and noisy.  The nest held fast and firm in spite of strong winds and heavy rains.

One morning, bright and early, eager to have our cup of tea and watch the birds with their eggs, I noticed that the birds weren't anywhere and guess what?!!!  The nest wasn't on the tree!!  I walked over to the tree and found the nest on the ground upside-down!  I picked it up and found nothing!  No eggs!  I scanned the grass around me and no eggs, bits of egg shell, remnants were to be found!

Tractor-Chick:  Babe!  The nest is off the branch and the eggs are gone!  Willy & Wilhemena are nowhere to be seen.

Farm Stud:  I was wondering where it all went!

I picked up the nest and brought it to the verandah.  The nest was so neatly and intricately put together it was so wonderful to see.  Sadly, the eggs were destroyed and contents eaten by other birds or so Farm Stud thinks.

Boiled Eggs

I was looking for underwear and found a pair of Davenport's "Boy Leg" undies from Woolworths (Woolies) and after using them (I washed them first, of course!), found that they were really comfortable.  So the next time we went supermarket shopping at Woolies, I decided to get more.

Tractor Chick:  Babe, I want to buy some more Boy Legs cos they're really comfortable.

Farm Stud (selective listening):  Huh?  Boiled eggs?  Why would you want boiled eggs in Woolies?  I don't think Woolies sells boiled eggs.

Tractor Chick (distracted):  Huh?  Boiled eggs?  What boiled eggs?

Farm Stud:  You said you wanted to buy boiled eggs.

Tractor Chick:  Why would I want to buy boiled eggs when I can boil eggs at home?

Tractor Chick:  (Thinking again)  Oh....(hahahaha), no, I meant I wanted to get more undies and the type of undies is called Boy Leg!

Farm Stud:  ????

Tractor Chick:  I'll show you!

That's a farmer for you!  My Farm Stud from Australia!

The Pink & Yellow Moo-Moos

I'm back!  This is another tale about life in Australia.

I didn't actually witness this episode but was told the story after the fact when I was 'Down Under' between November & December 2011.

There is a farm owned by, let's call him Reddy, and Reddy's farm grows and sells turf.  One side of his property runs alongside a newly-built road and on that side of the property he placed two wooden cut-outs of cows, one pink and the other yellow.  Although I can't tell you why he decided on pink and yellow, I can only guess that it's a marketing strategy to draw attention to his farm and the business he's into.  Since it was nearing Christmas, Reddy decorated each wooden cow with red and green streamers which shimmer and gleam when sunlight or headlights hits them.

Anyhow, a neighbour, let's call him Mr K, has a few cows and calves of his own.  Mr K happens to be a close friend of Farm Stud.  For the longest time, Farm Stud had been urging Mr K to get his fences fixed with three strands of wire instead of the exisiting one strand.  Too late!

Mr K's two cows decided they needed a change of scenery so they 'climbed' Mr K's fence and wandered onto Reddy's property.  They decided that the pink & yellow cows were a threat and went ahead to attack, streamers and all!

In the meantime, Mr K, who noticed his cows went AWOL, hurriedly goes after his possessions and starts calling out to them.  He must have forgotten that farm animals, generally, do not come when they're called.

Mr K seeks the help of Reddy and old man Reddy gets on his Harley, like a true champion, to help out a neighbour in trouble by using it to herd it home.  The Harley wouldn't start!  He leaves his Harley and runs to where the action is.  You can imagine the ruckus that these farmers and the live cows created!

They had to seek the help of another neighbour and managed to herd these two runaway cows safely home!

When Farm Stud and I drove past after the incident, it appeared that the pink and yellow moo-moos were unscathed!  Thankfully it all ended well.

It was hilarious enough listening to the story!  I would have been a 'rolling-around-on-the-ground' and tear-smeared bystander if I actually witnessed it!

See, I did say that there's never a dull moment in Australia!

The Tooth Fairy

The Tooth Fairy - The belief of young children that when they leave a tooth that fell out  under their pillow, the Tooth Fairy will visit them when they were asleep to take their tooth and leave money in return for it.  I remember my youngest daughter being so scared everytime she lost a tooth.  She had this impression that the Tooth Fairy was a hideous and ugly thing, more like a wicked witch, I think.

Anyhow, an ad is running on Australian TV where a little boy, about 6 years old, goes to his grandmother with his tooth in his hand.

Little boy:  Look Grandma, I lost a tooth.

Grandmother:  Oh!  Well, leave your tooth under your pillow and the Tooth Fairy will leave you money for that.

Nightfall comes and the boy is in his bed but not asleep.  Grandma, however, was fast asleep in her bedroom.  He creeps out of his room and tiptoes into Grandma's room.  Why do you think?

He quietly goes to the glass sitting on Grandma's bedside table and carefully pulls her dentures from the glass and creeps back to his room and puts the dentures under his pillow before he closes his eyes.

Moral of the Story:  How to get rich-er quicker!




 

That Thing That Jumps!

Yesterday morning, I put the kettle on to boil so that we could have our morning cup of tea, my normal morning ritual, while Farm Stud was about to have his shower.  I heard him speaking to someone so I walked to find him, round corners and through doors in this old house.  I asked him who he was talking to. 

Tractor-chick:  Were you asking me something?  I heard you saying something.
Farm Stud:  No I was talking to the frog.
Tractor-chick:  Frog?  What frog?

I, then, noticed that both his hands were cupped in front of him.

Farm Stud:  The one in my hands.  I was trying to pick up the last bits of soap to bin when something started moving.  I looked again and it was a frog.

Tractor-chick:  Thank goodness it was you who decided to have your shower first!

Farm Stud:  Let me release him in the garden and we can have our cup of tea.

After our tea and his shower, it was my turn to brush my teeth.  As usual, I would remove my glasses before I get to the sink so that I can brush the teeth, wash the face and put on my contact lenses.

I get my toothbrush, turn on the tap and out of the sink hole something really dark, almost black emerges and starts doing little jumps.  

Tractor-chick:  (screaming) Baaaaaabe there's something in the sink.

Farm Stud:  (yelling back, a little annoyed) What is it?

Tractor-chick:  I don't know!  I can't see!  I'm not wearing my glasses.  It came out of the sink hole!!!  Hurry, I left the tap running too!!!

Meanwhile, I was running away and towards the bedroom.

Farm Stud:  Oh it's just a little frog.  It won't eat much and it won't hurt ya.  Come little fella, let me get you out of here.

Fiesty frog decided that it wanted to find it's own way out so it jumped right out of Farm Stud's hands towards the bedroom.

Tractor-chick:  (screaming and screaming with toothbrush in hand and jumped on the bed with legs and feet off the floor) It's coming this way!  Hurry up!  Catch it!  Aaaaaarrrrrgggghhhhh.

Farm Stud:  (laughting)  It won't hurt ya.

Well, thank goodness he managed to catch it and got it outside.

Ever since then, I approach the sink with caution and I keep my glasses on until the last moment when I need to get my contact lenses in.

Let me tell you, there's never a dull moment in this place!  :)

Bellbirds

Some weeks ago Farm Stud and I had to drive to Sydney for his doctor's appointment.  The drive on the freeway from where we are to Sydney takes between 2.5 to 3 hours depending on traffic.  Sharing the road with us are trailers, huge things that are used to transport big items; tractors, houses (no, I'm not joking) which are "folded" to be assembled again at their destinations, chickens, cattle, etc.

Anyway, as some of these huge vehicles were passing us by, I thought I had heard loud squeaks (we had the windows down) thinking and worrying that one of the wheels of these trailers were about to fall off when Farm Stud said "Bellbirds".

Tractor-chick:  What?
Farm Stud:  Bellbirds
Tractor-chick:  What's that?
Farm Stud:  The sound in the trees passing us by.
Tractor-chick:  But it sounds like squeaks.
Farm Stud:  No, they're bellbirds.

Farm Stud decides to break into poetry just then!  Here I was still trying to understand what he was talking about until I realized the "squeaks" are actually the singing of birds known as Bellbirds.  I learnt that Henry Kendall, who lived in the 1800s wrote a poem about Bellbirds in 1869. 

A little bit about these Bellbirds:

Bellbirds by Henry Kendall is one of Australia's best loved poems, and almost every Australian has at one time or another heard or repeated its melodic phrases, so evocative of the cool, dim blue and green of the Australian mountain country. This poem was first published in a work entitled "Leaves from Australian Forests" by Henry Kendall in the year of 1869.
The bellbird itself is a very small greyish bird. Its call or melody is simply one singular chiming note which seems to ring through their environmental habitat - the mountains and their foothills of Eastern Australia. They may be heard clearly in the quietness of the mountains and hills, although are rarely seen, unless an attitude of patience is adopted.
It is clear that to Henry Kendall, the mountains were a place of refuge and beauty. The Australian mountains are concentrated in a reasonable narrow band known as the "Great Dividing Range" which runs from the tip of Cape York in the north, down the eastern coast - over 3000 kms - through the Snowy and all the way to the Dandenongs in Victoria, and no doubt the same range extends under the Bass Straight and down into the wilderness areas of Tasmania.
The nature of the mountain lands is captured here in the poetry of Henry Kendall and it is equally clear that this nature is not restricted to Australia, but extends to all the planetary mountain lands and the refuges they afford to those who would journey therein in search of peace, harmony and the chance to experience the natural world.

To hear what they sound like - it's mesmerising to the point that I keep my ears open whenever we are driving past locations with dense forest - visit the youtube address: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_72WGRT0mJw


The poem:

BELLBIRDS - By Henry Kendall

By channels of coolness the echoes are calling,

And down the dim gorges I hear the creek falling:

 It lives in the mountain where moss and the sedges

Touch with their beauty the banks and the ledges.

Through breaks of the cedar and sycamore bowers

Struggles the light that is love to the flowers;

And, softer than slumber, and sweeter than singing,

The notes of the bell-birds are running and ringing.

The silver-voiced bell birds, the darlings of daytime!

They sing in September their songs of the May-time;

When shadows wax strong, and the thunder bolts hurtle,

They hide with their fear in the leaves of the myrtle;

When rain and the sunbeams shine mingled together,

They start up like fairies that follow fair weather;

And straightway the hues of their feathers unfolden

Are the green and the purple, the blue and the golden.

October, the maiden of bright yellow tresses,

Loiters for love in these cool wildernesses;

Loiters, knee-deep, in the grasses, to listen,

Where dripping rocks gleam and the leafy pools glisten.

Then is the time when the water-moons splendid

Break with their gold, and are scattered or blended

Over the creeks, till the woodlands have warning

Of songs of the bell-bird and wings of the Morning.

Welcome as waters unkissed by the summers

Are the voices of bell-birds to the thirsty far-comers.

When fiery December sets foot in the forest,

And the need of the wayfarer presses the sorest,

Pent in the ridges for ever and ever

The bell-birds direct him to spring and to river,

With ring and with ripple, like runnels who torrents

Are toned by the pebbles and the leaves in the currents.

Often I sit, looking back to a childhood,

Mixt with the sights and the sounds of the wildwood,

Longing for power and the sweetness to fashion,

Lyrics with beats like the heart-beats of Passion;

Songs interwoven of lights and of laughters

Borrowed from bell-birds in far forest-rafters;

So I might keep in the city and alleys

The beauty and strength of the deep mountain valleys:

Charming to slumber the pain of my losses

With glimpses of creeks and a vision of mosses.

THE END - One of Australia's treasures to behold!