Strong winds tried to creep its fingers into any opening, whistling through our skylight and trying to keep us all awake with its cries. It even brought hail which was thrust toward our front door, which faces the southern Antarctic winds.
In the morning, everything looked grey. The neighbourhood trees were tired of their fight with the wind and look limp, a few with missing limbs. One of my favourite trees, over the fence in my neighbour's property, has been reduced by a third.
The view out of my kitchen window this morning. Usually the house is hidden.
I've been keeping a watch on that tree, as it's had a new visitor in recent months. There's a 'mystery bird' coming to feast there. I'm pretty sure it's a type of honeyeater, about the size of a thrush. We have plenty of Wattlebirds in the area, so I definitely know it's not that. It's markings are similar with grey and black stripes, but it also has an orange/brown chest, reddish beak, and a black 'mask' across the eye. It's song is either a short 'tock', or musical type of 'croak' ... a little like a tuneful frog song; not a harsh sound. My attempts to photograph it haven't produced any results, but I did manage to capture it on video (but I can't show you, as I have no idea how to load it to my blog!)
Wandering out to feed my hens this morning, I saw the garden in disarray. Papers have obviously managed to get carried around in the wind and the chook run was full of debris and any vegies scraps left over from yesterday evening's feed.
Poor girls. They look miserable out in those conditions. We quickly cleaned up their yard, put in some more straw and gave them a good serving of feed. I also got lunch going: a pot of pumpkin soup, putting all the scraps into a separate pot so the hens could have a bowl of warm mash to enjoy.
Pumpkin and carrot trimmings (no onions!) for the chooks to enjoy as a warm mash on a cold morning.
I hope everyone's keeping warm and well out of reach from that menacing wind. We're doing lessons with the heating on and smothered in quilts.
7 comments:
Wow... that is some big wind! We have had the occasionaly miserable day but it mostly just beautiful weather.
"Your girls" look very well fed.
It's hard to think about anyone having winter when we are having 90+ (F) days here.
I apologise for the derth of comments recently. My computer is having issues with your blog ~ but don't feel targeted; it is having issues with my blog too. ☺
Have been enjoying everything ~ especially the pics. The chooks will really appreciate a nice deep layer of mulch ~ but I always found ours could reduce mulch to soil in about a week. They're good!
We have had some wild weather too but now it is just going to be wet again.
Ganeida,
No need to apologise. I have moments when I have time to read blogs, with long spaces of quiet in between. It's life. :)
I was just visiting your blog, and I realized I never signed up to follow you. I took care of that and enjoyed reading several of your recent posts. :D I never really thought about the fact that you are having cold weather while we here in the U.S. are having summer. When does winter there begin and end? It probably won't be truly cold weather here in the South where I live until late October or even November. Also, what are chooks?
Hope you're having a great weekend!
Hello Wendy!
Thanks for dropping by. :)
Being in the southern hemisphere, we're always experiencing the opposite of the northern. As you approach the summer solstice (June 21), we approach winter; the reverse is also true. The only time we're probably closest in climate is around the equinoxes (equal ... Spring and Autumn).
Don't you use the term 'chooks' there? They're chickens or hens.
Thanks for answering my questions. No, we don't use the word "chooks" here. At least not that I've ever heard.
I saw your post with the pictures of the dresses you're sewing for the girls' dance competitions, and they're beautiful!! Enjoy your time off from school. :)
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