Wildlife here is very interesting. Not just ONE big stick insect, but TWO and busily engaged in fornication on the car radio aerial. We thought a leaf would be a more appropriate bedroom. I wonder how many baby stick insects will result. ( 12 hours later and they are still at it!)
Also, a glimpse of our beach life. Coffee and surf. What more could we want?

Another beautiful day. The garden is drying out, at last. I was worried we would gradually sink into the mire. We have had a lovely wildlife time; I was standing on the front verandah, gazing into space, when I sighted a water monitor, tearing down the opposite footpath, into our creek. Then Billy spent a useless half hour yesterday afternoon, attempting to catch a bush turkey, through the fence in Tammy and Mick's place. he had boasted he could catch it, so I offered him $10 if he could. I knew I was pretty safe.
Then there was a lovely python crossing our road, while Eddie, from up the back, stopped the traffic. This morning we had a whip bird, and the Australian king parrots are back. The yellow tailed black cockatoos also, are back in the big trees up the hill.
Also the frogs.
What a life!

I forgot to mention this part of our family. They live the life of Riley also. lovely meat. But they pay their way, their songs are lovely and they are very entertaining. Pity about the poos!

These pictures are to give you a view of chook heaven. Today is a lovely sunny day, cool,(28o) with a breeze. It is three days after the flood but still when I walk down to the bottom of the garden, (where the creek runs, as you can see,) the mud and water ooze up through my toes.
Amazingly, there are no mozzies, but just irritating biting midges. We are wondering if all our new plants will survive the wetness. W e hope so.
The chooks are on a new regime. They had got very pecking , to us, so Faye, the chook lady said we are to not let them see us as food sources, and , also to biff them off with a rake when they come up to nip. She says it will take only a week. We have to be very surruptitious with the food, like food sleuths, which is fun. Margie is breaking the rule in the pic on the blog.( photographic licence).
The frog was on the plant by our back steps. We love it. There is one somewhere under the house that blurps constantly.

Two days of such hot steamy weather, we thought we would expire. Then, late yesterday, I had just mown the lawn and nearly killed myself, watered all the poor hot plants, when the sky darkened, and whoosh, down it came! thunder, lightening and RAIN! 75mms in 45 minutes. The thing is, the back of our place used to be a creek and , yesterday, it was again. The people behind, Tammy and Mick, had one big creek, into a very big storm drain at the back corner of our place, but they also had a smaller creek, which ran along their fence line the visited us! Lucky I had mowed. That bit of the yard is a swamp today.
But it was great fun. As Billy said, as he waded through 20 cm of water in the Woolies car park," This is what we came to Nambour for, Mum".

End of another day in Paradise. Swimming at the beach with Joe, then home to the ranch. we now havea baby orchard; mulberry, pawpaws, passionfruit (3) ,longan, mango, white sapote, peanut butter bean, jaboticaba, barbados cherry, lillypillies galore, guavas, mamasapote, and bananas. Also a neem tree to keep us bug free. We also have a blueberry, and hope to get a finger lime and kaffir plum off e-bay.
Billy says we eat so much fruit that we will have no trouble getting through that lot.
I envisage a roadside stall!
The chickens have graduated to a resort style of life, with big yard, including a rockery planted with frangipanis.
What with Margaret's communing, and Billy's mouthorgan playing, they are well entertained.

Four egg day! We are on a roll!
Maybe that is because Billy has decided to take on their training. His idea of that is to move 2 chairs into their enclosure and to spend hours communing with them. Also, tunes on the mouth organ seem to help. He has also the idea, as you can see, that a roost in the tree would enhance their style of life. The funny thing is that they seem to enjoy it all. They have also decided thaththey like to hop up on us!.
What with Bill and Marg, these are high living birds!

What a week. Hot and no rain. Lots of swimming. The water is 24o, which we love. The seas delivered us up a big pile of seaweed for the garden, for which we are grateful The car smells very sea-ish
We had more drama with the ever escaping Silky. She and Edie seem to work together; Ed runs at Silky and that gives her the impitus to glide over the fence. So everybody stood in the naughty corner and had their other wing cut. We also moved ther whole coop and yard, to under the Grevillea, near the vege patch. They seem to approve.
Margie had more drama; She found a very little possum near the back steps, looking very sad. We decided to take it to a wildlife carer, but when she went to pick it up, it gave her a good bite, and has not been seen since.
We are avid users of the Yandina market, and have found a nursery grower of tropical fruit trees. She is from the Obi-Obi ( what a romantic name for a place) , and we bought a sapodillo, a jaboticaba, blueberry, and a Barbados Cherry. So our food forest is doing well.
We still haven't heard from the mysteriousDurshin the banana man from Gympie. Banana Growing seems further and further away.

Monday morning and it is raining again. I have just been feeding our butcherbird gang on the back verandah, There seem to be 3 adults and 2 very young babies. They are now rewarding us with lovely songs. I hope the kooks visit sometime. They are all about but not here. We have had some lovely birds. King parrots, black cockatoos and grass parrots, as well as lorikeets.
The girls are very haapy. We mowed the lawn, and the books say give them grass cuttings to rummage through so we did, 3 catcher loads. They were ecstatic, and still are. We also have maggots in the worm farm, which is a worry, and puzzle, as we dont eat meat, but the chooks think maggots are heaven. Perhaps we should keep them just for the girls.