Frogs in the Pond

It's raining today, and it rained yesterday.  Good rain, the heavy saturating sort, the sort we need.  Our water tank is full, I can hear the creek running from the house, the ducks are happy and the sheep are stoic.

I went up to check the pond when there was a little break in the weather.  I took my camera because I could hear a chorus.  And sure enough, I could see three of these guys hanging out in the water.

Can you see him?  He's a green or golden bell frog.  Introduced from Australia.  I'm happy to have them around - they are a good indicator as they find sprays and chemicals very toxic.

I wandered around for a bit, fed the chooks (collected MORE eggs, groan, time to give some away) and then it started to rain again.  So it's an inside day for me today - I might go quilt ;)

A few rainy day pictures

It's raining here today.  Pouring in fact.  So I'm just sharing a few pictures I've taken over the last little while.  Can you see the cheeky bunny stealing chook food?  We had a bunch of half-wild ones born a while ago and one day they all got out.  We managed to recapture most of them but this wee one has continued to elude us.  But he's semi-friendly.  I think he's living in the chook enclosure because he always seems to be there when it's food time, but I know he can sneak out through the fence too. 

Did you ever read 'My cat likes to hid in boxes' when you were a kid?  Wild Puss crammed himself into this box for a wee cat nap today.  Can't say it looked very comfy!

And these two made me laugh so hard I just had to take a picture!  They are a couple of my chooks done with a recipe my MIL shared.  You rub salt and pepper and turmeric into the skin - I added dried mixed herbs too - and then stand the chook upright and cram a jar of beer/cider/wine up it's bum.  Roast for about 45 mins to an hour depending on the size of your chicken.

I think they look like a couple of old ladies at a show day.  They've taken their little fold up stools and they're sitting down for a wee rest and a gossip about who won the chutney and pickle section!

By the way - they tasted delicious!

Weather Window.

I took these pictures after the rain stopped yesterday.  It was early evening and the light was glowing yellow.  You can see the overflowing stream in the paddocks of the first picture if you look hard.

It was a lovely fresh feeling to see sunlight after so much water from the sky. 

Today we have had a few showers but I managed to get a handful more trees planted and a grapevine too.  Tomorrow I have a kid-free morning and I just checked the weather forecast - a blue sky day.  I'll be working hard, trying to get the last of the trees in the ground because the weekend weather is not looking flash.

Wet, whiney, work-in-progress Wednesday.

I'm officially blurk.  No mojo.  Rain, rain and just a little bit more rain.  Oh, and a good dose of wind.  Toddler has been home all week with snotty nose and cough, so no kid-free sanity time for me.  Got lots that I should be thankful for, heaps actually, just haven't got the spark to appreciate it all.

Okay, I'm kicking my own butt!  Ouch!

Right: 

I'm thankful that I got my daughter's quilt finished.  And I'm thankful that she is now 3, which makes daycare cheaper!  I'm glad the birthday party was a success ie no black eyes or broken bones, and the only sulk was from big brother not birthday girl.

I'm grateful it's raining, because that means there is no drought.

I'm glad the dam's full now, in fact it's overflowing, so we will head into spring and summer with plenty of water.

And I'm really grateful I live in a house right now and not a tent!

But I just can't work up any gratefulness knowing that I have to get out in this weather and pick up my boy from school in a little while.  Hmmm, finger's crossed I CAN get out and there is no flooding!  (And I'm trying not to think about having to feed the animals later, slosh, slosh.)

Right, onto Work in Progress Wednesday.

I've got a few quilts that I want to do this year for certain dates.  My little girl's one was the first.  Tick. 

Now I'm working on my MIL's.  I'm up to laying it out and stitching blocks together. 

After that comes a dragon one for my boy.  I've designed the dragon block, now I'm picking fabric for the applique. 

And last but not least, I'm planning a quilt for my FIL for Christmas.  He is currently having six weeks of chemo and radiotherapy so I reckon he deserves something special.  I'm thinking positive/negative applique again - with a stag head, boar, native trees, birds, fish - he's a hunter, can you tell?  I'll keep you posted on how I go.

(And did anyone pick the typo?  Copy writer's block!)

Flood Memories

Thank you everyone for the kind words about my Father in Law.  He has had some good news yesterday, but will have to have more tests and some surgery.  But for now we can breathe a little easier. 

The rain is lashing down here,  absolutely pouring.  It always makes me a bit nervous when it rains like this. 

In April 2007, Northland suffered terrible floods.  It had rained and rained, but I went out to Playgroup anyway.  I shouldn't have because I ended up hiking home, with my son and husband, through the wet and slippery bush, five months pregnant with my second child.  The roads washed out, slips came down and we were marooned at home without power for three days.  But at least we were at home, some people couldn't get home that first night.

When you got to the end of our road, you turned onto State Highway 11.  This was heading south.

I don't think my family ever saw these photos so I'm posting them now.  Lets hope the rains stops soon (ungrateful wench that I am, I've been moaning about the drought, now I'm moaning about the rain!).

This was State Highway 11 heading North.  We couldn't get through either direction.

My waterhole is almost completely full.  The driveway is like a little river and we have a creek in the cow paddock where there wasn't one before.  The ducks, however, are in heaven!  (And it's perfect weather for staying inside and quilting till my heart's content).

We are down to quarter of a tank of water again. And next week's rain forecast looks mostly like the picture above - squat didley. Maybe a few showers on Tuesday, but don't hold your breath.

We have been really lucky so far. Our first summer out here on tank water and we have a drought, but always, just as we are getting lower than quarter of a tank and starting to contemplate buying water, it rains just enough to give us a few more weeks.

The cows have finished their rotation on our paddocks and are back into the neighbours again, but his waterhole is looking precariously low, we may yet have to hose water to a trough for them.

I recycle my shower water into the washing machine and water my veges with grey water. The car hasn't been washed for months etc etc.

I know this is nothing like the droughts other parts of the world get, but for us, who aren't really prepared, it's hard work.

Do a little rain dance for us, will you?!