Now before I start don’t panic, today’s post has a happy ending.
I was up early this morning and soon after I headed out hoping to get some piccies of “our” swans.
This morning was bitterly cold (by Aussie standards anyway), intermittently raining and blowing a gale. In fact we have had atrocious weather all week, flooding rains right across the state and damaging winds in a lot of areas (it’s been Ok here in terms of wind).
Because of the weather I drove down to the swans’ pond. When I arrived I couldn’t see any sign of our family.
The only water fowl I could see was a solitary coot.More concerning is the pond has seen a rise and then fall in water level with the rain. This piccie shows a lot of reed debris left as the water has risen and then retreated. Somewhat concerning to me the swans’ nest has been destroyed by the minor flood. These short reeds are the ones that their platform was tethered to. As the water has risen the platform has been floated off and then broken up.
Interestingly some large water-bird has begun building another platform just nearby. I guess it isn’t our swans, but who knows.
As I said I couldn’t see any sign of the swans. I wasn’t really worried because the weather was awful and I guessed they were hunkered down somewhere keeping the babies warm. So I began walking around the perimeter of the pond, planning to check it and the ponds nearby.
But that was not to be, it began to really rain, so I beat a retreat.
A bit later looking at the weather I got the impression that I wasn’t going to be able to get out to get any piccies. I guessed I would have to post an up in the air post for today’s Swan Watch. Deb and I decided to go for a drive.
We drove up to Ballarat (about 90 minutes away) to have a look at Lake Wendouree, the lake is a shallow volcanic crater lake that lies in the heart of Ballarat. We wanted to have a look because with the drought we have had over the past few years the lake has been totally dry.
Until this week that is, we have had so much rain in the state in recent weeks and especially this week that the lake has begun to fill up again.While we were at the lake I braved the rain to grab a few shots of another swan family (I figured they would make a consolation prize given I couldn’t post piccies of ours).
The cob was keeping a close eye on me to make sure I didn’t get too close.He is the proud father of five cygnets. As you can probably see they are quite a lot larger than “our” babies. I’d guess these guys hatched three or four weeks ago.
Now to the happy ending.
When I got home this evening my daughter Io said the weather had improved for a while this afternoon. She and her boyfriend had gone for a walk. They saw swans grazing near the pond.
Very kindly they took some photos on a mobile phone (hence the quality).
In this first you can see some wood ducks and a couple of swans.Getting a bit closer they got some pictures of our babies (see the fuzzy grey blobs), before the cob told them to move on.
So all is well with our swans :-)
Showing posts with label Ballarat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ballarat. Show all posts
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Friday, November 27, 2009
Over The Top
Shortly before I took my moving enforced break I was given an “Over The Top” blog award by Brian at Old Man’s Inspirational Thoughts
Thanks Brian!
And here are the rules for this award:
1.) Thank and post URL to the blog that gave the award.
2.) Pass the award along to 6 brilliantly over the top blogs (blogs you love!) Alert them so they know to receive the award.
3.) Copy and paste this quiz... Change the answers, ONE word only...feel free to fudge here!
1. Where is your cell phone? Desk
2. Your hair? Greying
3. Your mother? Nurturing
4. Your father? Gone
5. Your favorite food? Curry
6. Your dream last night? Forgotten
7. Your favorite drink? Cappuccino
8. Your dream/goal? Publish
9. What room are you in? Study
10. Your hobby? Writing
11. Your fear? Grief
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Content
13. Where were you last night? Home
14. Something that you aren't? Liar
15. Muffins? Rich
16. Wish list item? Camera
17. Where did you grow up? Bush
18. Last thing you did? Read
19. What are you wearing? Casual
20. Your TV? Unimportant
21. Your pets? Gone
22. Friends? Cherished
23. Your life? Challenge
24. Your mood? Happy
25. Missing someone? Partner
26. Vehicle? FIAT
27. Something you're not wearing? Tie
28. Your favorite store? Bookshop
29. Your favorite color? Blue
30. When was the last time you laughed? Morning
31. Last time you cried? Friday
32. Your best friend? Partner
33. One place that I go to over and over? Bed
34. One person who emails me regularly? Friend
35. Favorite place to eat? Seaside
Choosing six bloggers? I hate this point, I read quite a number of blogs which I really enjoy and choosing between them always seems so hard.
Two of my favourite bloggers Kathleen and Wendy are uncomfortable about spreading memes. So in all good conscience I won’t pass this on to them. BUT check out their blogs, they are both published authors in the real world and I think it shows.
This leaves decisions, decisions…
Drum roll…
The award goes to:
Tasha at Heidenkind’s Hideaway. Tasha is an art historian who mainly focuses on reviews, but she chucks in some posts on really varied and interesting topics.
The Accidental Londoner talks about her life as a Midlands (small town) girl adjusting to life in the big smoke of London.
Jenners at Life With a Little One and More. Jenners posts on whatever seems to grab her attention at the time with a general focus on what she learns from being a parent of a “little un”.
Rebecca at Living a Life of Writing. Rebecca writes profusely on her thoughts about writing and publishing.
Shelli at Market My Words. Shelli posts about publishing with a focus on marketing oneself with the aim of getting published.
Lisa at Lit and Life. Sorry Lisa, I’m only giving you this award to compensate you for the strange affliction of being a Geelong Cats supporter even though you live in the USA.
I cant say that! What I meant to say is - Lisa is a profuse poster of book reviews.
As a postscript an image.
This rustic and apparently abandoned farm shed sits beside the road between Ballarat and Clunes on the Central Victorian Gold Fields.
I find this image quite poignant. There is beauty in this image of decay. Yet if you look closely you can see that before this building’s last incarnation as a shed it served another purpose. The large doors in the front are a later addition each of these bays used to have two windows and a narrow doorway that were later bricked up. While the side wall had a large opening with an arched top, maybe a window or a doorway?
One wonders what purpose it served. Maybe a small inn beside what was a busy road? A former staging post for the famous Cobb & Co coach company? Or perhaps a humble dwelling for farm labourers?
Thanks Brian!
And here are the rules for this award:
1.) Thank and post URL to the blog that gave the award.
2.) Pass the award along to 6 brilliantly over the top blogs (blogs you love!) Alert them so they know to receive the award.
3.) Copy and paste this quiz... Change the answers, ONE word only...feel free to fudge here!
1. Where is your cell phone? Desk
2. Your hair? Greying
3. Your mother? Nurturing
4. Your father? Gone
5. Your favorite food? Curry
6. Your dream last night? Forgotten
7. Your favorite drink? Cappuccino
8. Your dream/goal? Publish
9. What room are you in? Study
10. Your hobby? Writing
11. Your fear? Grief
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Content
13. Where were you last night? Home
14. Something that you aren't? Liar
15. Muffins? Rich
16. Wish list item? Camera
17. Where did you grow up? Bush
18. Last thing you did? Read
19. What are you wearing? Casual
20. Your TV? Unimportant
21. Your pets? Gone
22. Friends? Cherished
23. Your life? Challenge
24. Your mood? Happy
25. Missing someone? Partner
26. Vehicle? FIAT
27. Something you're not wearing? Tie
28. Your favorite store? Bookshop
29. Your favorite color? Blue
30. When was the last time you laughed? Morning
31. Last time you cried? Friday
32. Your best friend? Partner
33. One place that I go to over and over? Bed
34. One person who emails me regularly? Friend
35. Favorite place to eat? Seaside
Choosing six bloggers? I hate this point, I read quite a number of blogs which I really enjoy and choosing between them always seems so hard.
Two of my favourite bloggers Kathleen and Wendy are uncomfortable about spreading memes. So in all good conscience I won’t pass this on to them. BUT check out their blogs, they are both published authors in the real world and I think it shows.
This leaves decisions, decisions…
Drum roll…
The award goes to:
Tasha at Heidenkind’s Hideaway. Tasha is an art historian who mainly focuses on reviews, but she chucks in some posts on really varied and interesting topics.
The Accidental Londoner talks about her life as a Midlands (small town) girl adjusting to life in the big smoke of London.
Jenners at Life With a Little One and More. Jenners posts on whatever seems to grab her attention at the time with a general focus on what she learns from being a parent of a “little un”.
Rebecca at Living a Life of Writing. Rebecca writes profusely on her thoughts about writing and publishing.
Shelli at Market My Words. Shelli posts about publishing with a focus on marketing oneself with the aim of getting published.
Lisa at Lit and Life. Sorry Lisa, I’m only giving you this award to compensate you for the strange affliction of being a Geelong Cats supporter even though you live in the USA.
I cant say that! What I meant to say is - Lisa is a profuse poster of book reviews.
As a postscript an image.
This rustic and apparently abandoned farm shed sits beside the road between Ballarat and Clunes on the Central Victorian Gold Fields.
I find this image quite poignant. There is beauty in this image of decay. Yet if you look closely you can see that before this building’s last incarnation as a shed it served another purpose. The large doors in the front are a later addition each of these bays used to have two windows and a narrow doorway that were later bricked up. While the side wall had a large opening with an arched top, maybe a window or a doorway?
One wonders what purpose it served. Maybe a small inn beside what was a busy road? A former staging post for the famous Cobb & Co coach company? Or perhaps a humble dwelling for farm labourers?
Labels:
award,
Ballarat,
Clunes,
Cobb + Co,
Decay,
Geelong Cats,
Gold Fields,
Rural,
Shed
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)