Pigeons

The reason for many weekend trips...Pigeon Shows!! Rick and his dad raise fancy pigeons and where else do you see how good they are unless you take them to shows and have them judged?

As a result I have gone along for 3 weekend's away. I have enjoyed the scenery, new towns and a variety of activites like wine tasting, visiting the markets and last but not least, looking at pigeons!

Here are a few beauties that we have seen and photographed. Funny birds if you ask me!


This is Gordon the infmaous Helmet.


These are some Birmingham Rollers - the red one on the left is a favorite!


Last but not least - some person colored their King Pigeon Pink and it laid a blue egg....well not really but it was pretty funny.

Snakes

SO you have read that Australia is a country with a lot of snakes in it....I am experiencing this first hand.

There is a rather large carpet snake living near the 'bin' or garbage receptacle at the Wyatt's where I work - keeping in mind they live in the country. Dwight picked him up off the road one day cause he looked like he had been run over. He put him on top of the bin - check him out!!! These are not poisonous.

The other much smaller and deadlier snake I discovered on my very own. One day as I was taking the garbage out the back gate, down the path beside our house to where the garbage bins sit...I noticed out of the corner of my eye a brown tail go by. It definitely startled me but I went on my merry way. I reported to Rick that I saw a snake and described it as brown and looked small...he says OK be really careful as that is probably a brown snake and very dangerous. I now leave the garbage for Rick to take out. Last weekend on a really nice warm day, Rick was doing just that and the little brown bugga (that's the oz accent coming out eh?!) was sunning himself. There are lots of broked cement blocks along the side, plus a few gas cylinders and bushes. Lots of hiding places. We had nothing sharp & heavy to clobber him with so took his picture instead. We have received many tips from people on how to catch the snake safely so we can dispose of him.
I will keep you posted on the happenings of my very own pet snake.

Survived the Flood

Yes, we made it through a flood. About a week ago, we had a lot of rain - I know you are saying yeah so we have had a lot too. No seriously we had between 20-28 inches in 48 hours...

Needless to say, it was quite the experience. I was excited - kind of like missing the bus in winter because of a snow storm (for all of you rural Canadian folk). I was sent home from work early and told "Be careful on the road, there is a lot of water" It does grab the wheels much like slush does in the Spring. I made it home and was up in the morning listening to the radio and checking the city website. Low and behold, the road to work was closed. DAMN! I drove Rick to work and was awed by the amount of water everywhere. As you can see, we had to take an alternate route a few times...


These are some before and after pictures of the valley that my house looks down on. Let me tell you, I was glad that we live in the hills and not on the flat land. North and South Lismore and the Central Business District (CBD) were all evacuated for a day.

The government/city built a new levee bank to protect the CBD which worked this time although the river rose 10.4 meters (almost to the top of the levee).

Just as fast as it went up...the water receded within a few days. Unfortunately, I only missed one day of work... Boy did the potholes ever appear after the rain. I have now been through a Lismore flood.