CSG Rally, Sunday

Last Sunday we participated in Anti-CSG rally right here in Byron Bay. Thousands of people walked onto Lawson Street and laid down in portrayal of death as result of consuming water laced with poison.
They had protests in several places around Australia.

Coal Seam Gas (CSG) is one of the most important issues we should worry about at the moment.

Unfortunately society in general has learnt to frown on activism; on people who rally and protest. Lazily taking the low-road and assuming that little-old-me cannot make a difference anyway, so why bother. And the ever popular "They wouldn't do it if it wasn't safe."

Really? Who are "they"?



"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
- Margaret Mead

Dog Pictures (home again!)

Arrived home yesterday after dog-sitting finished.
Obviously, have been home a couple of times in the interim to fight ongoing war against bush-turkey. Seems we may have already won. Hubby says it's atleast 3-1 in our favour. They have simply run out of material.

Ironically, hubby has had two Wildlife Rescue missions. Both regarding injured and distressed bush-turkeys. One is in house as we speak. Mentioned the possibility of it... meeting with an accident... Not to worry, hubby is protecting it with own life if necessary.

Dog-Duo Snaps!!:

All About George

Garden, couple of weeks ago:

Garden, yesterday:

George's Nest, yesterday:

Conclusion: George-1, Household-1.

Both parties are eagerly anticipating the opposing sides next move. They may have won a battle, but we shall win the war.

Did a little googling regarding unfortunate situation of having nesting bush-turkeys in backyard.
Outlook is, to say the least, bleak. Many accounts hold true that once the turkeys have decided on a site for their nest, they are very one-track minded. Nothing will deter them.
Say you ruin the nest and put plastic tarps over the site (which is what have done) they simply say to themselves - “Oh well, nothing but a minor setback, we will just resume building on top of tarps!”

Hubby and I were discussing possible thought-patterns and emotions of bush-turkeys last night over dinner. Do they feel angry that you have messed with the nest, or sad, impatient..? Eventually reached conclusion that they most likely do not: Bush-turkeys may be the ultimate example of a being that lives entirely in the “now,” much like zen monks do. Meaning, they do not get bogged down in fruitless negativity – they do not think about effort and time wasted.

Therefore, trying to ruin a bush-turkey nest is entirely in accordance with hippie-lifestyle. We are just giving them more opportunities to practise “being present in the moment.”

I am also getting some well needed practise in “being present in the moment.”
Breathe in and feel your belly rise, breathe out and feel your belly sink, carry the heavy bucket across the yard, breathe in, tip the soil and leaves and other assorted rubbish out in the reserve, breathe out, refrain from breaking a bush-turkey's neck, breathe in, repeat...

Got war-strategy tip from organic-seedling-dude at Mullum Markets... Plant a foreign egg (like a chicken egg) on the nest-site... Bush-turkey will hate that, and might decide site thereby unattractive to females and move on.

Intuitively, have also placed a few lemons on nest-site. What animal likes lemons?

Riding Lesson and War Declaration

Lots has happened.

Firstly, dog-sitting going well – both dogs seem very happy and content. Why wouldn't they be – everything we do is based around them. Healthy lesson for hubby and I – having dogs is full-time work. At the same time, they are very giving. Love, love, love and affection. Sometimes they smell funny.

Yesterday got to venture out on little daytrip further up the coast (Commodore is dream to drive compared to “dog-car” which I am driving dogs around in; hubby not a fan of manual cars - Nor am I, but thought I would look cool in two-door four wheel drive - of course, I do).
Louise gave me little horse-riding session – was terribly rusty in saddle, horse kept stopping and refusing to move etcetera. Seemed strange to be so sore and sweaty based on mostly standing still.
But was still great, because as always say: Everyday you touch a horse is a good day. Is another one of my sayings (you know, like “a free coffee is a free coffee”).

Now over to today's rant.

This morning before dogs-beach-walk, hubby went to check on house; water gardens and so on. Only to find that pack of nest-building bush-turkeys have totally destroyed entire veggie patch. They have done a very thorough job. Not a bok choy left. Expensive magical soil all over ground...

Both went over to house after walk, with dog-duo, to assess damage and hopefully deter bush-turkeys with help of dogs.

Dogs, however, turned out to be peaceful creatures not in the least bit interested in barking at pile of leaves – instead they slept for a while on the verandah whilst hubby and I carried entire bloody nest, bucketful by bucketful, away from the property and spread it elsewhere.

Take back all previous comments that we like them, and want to allow the nesting and raising of chicks.
That was before they ruined veggie patch and destroyed each and every seedling. Now, it's war. It's revenge.

Do not care if it looks bad to seek revenge on a bird. IT started it!

It's on. War.

Rural Dog-Sitting!

We're dog-sitting.

Only 20 minutes drive from central Byron Bay, yet feel as though in middle of outback – in perfectly rural setting – can actually see a cow from where am writing at dining table. Screen doors closed to keep snakes out; is early in morning but am guessing it's around 24 degrees out there.

There is no internet.
(Blog updated later at internet cafe)

NO INTERNET! Palpable feelings of light panic.

Then realise this is good. Brought trusty laptop anyway. Going to make great start on novel.* Nothing to distract me. Not sure where radio is. Obviously will not watch telly in middle of day, what will the dogs think.

Went through usual mad rush in morning (Sunday) to get organised for what feels almost like a weeks holiday. Because going away to rural setting, not being home, and all that.

Commodore packed to the max. Bird, bird's accessories, yoga stuff, a million towels just in case (you never know when you might need a couple of clean towels), clothes for warm weather, clothes for cold weather, bikini, pyjamas and FOOD. Packed up entire fridge. Would under no circumstances like to run out of food.

Have two strange obsessive-compulsive behaviours that hubby reckons must have inherited from Mother:

One -
Am terrified of running out of food. Always ensure am stocked up, in case world economy collapses I know we will be alright for a couple of weeks.

Two -
Am terrified of running out of toilet-paper. Always have been. Mother let me grow up thinking it was normal to keep entire cupboards full of supermarket mega-packs of toilet-rolls. This led to a few conflicts whilst hubby and I were still in share-house situations. Imagine it, toilet-paper was not a priority for anybody else but me – would discover once again down to last roll (between five people) and have absolute mental breakdown until someone packed themselves off to the shops if it was their turn. Amazingly, they would mostly return with a four-pack. A FOUR-pack. Enough for a day in my books.

Sorry, didn't mean to go off on tangent about toilet-paper.

The dogs are very depressed at the moment (Sunday).
Owner has just left. Dogs remaining close by door just in case Owner returns unexpectedly. Top Dog experiencing certain stomach troubles as result of stress caused by Owner's departure. But I have been very kind and given Top Dog a shower. Three times.

Hubby, of course, has very important Wires course about baby-birds to attend – so he will return later when dogs are settled and everything back to normal.
Men. You can count on them in times of need.

For the purposes of giving dogs the best and safest of care – we have divided them between us. Decision about who watches who was made by me, based on personality-type analysis.
When out on beach or other walks, I will be responsible for Top Dog. Top Dog is calm, contemplative and will do what asked (like myself). Hubby will be responsible for Young Dog - which is wild, impulsive and will do what she feels like doing (like hubby).

Cannot name dogs, need to protect their identity.

*Regarding novel: It seems to me I have been meaning to write one all my life. Yet, opportunity presents itself – and cannot even come up with vague storyline. Definitely not something based on own life.

A Middle-Eastern Feast and the Meaning of Technical Difficulties

Last night we found ourselves at social gathering with yoga-crew.
Lots of "the yogis" have just completed a 30-day challenge. Hubby and I did not participate in challenge, as we knew we were going to be in Sydney for five days, so lazily figured we would not be able to make up for it. To make up for a missed day one would have had to do something called "a double." As in TWO classes in one day. Of Bikram yoga. At the mere thought of this, decided there was no way this could be done.

Except the very first person we greeted started off conversation by mentioning that he joined challenge six days in. He had to make up for six missed days.
After this hubby and I felt a bit like impostors. Quickly drank couple of glasses of red wine to fit in better. Did not notice whether everyone was drinking wine, or if they stuck with mineral water?

Bit tired today. Two glasses of red wine is slightly on heavy side these days.
Actually felt totally hungover this morning. As usual, refused to get out of bed until hubby made me coffee. Was not enough however. Walked down to nearest cafe to purchase soy-flat-white.

Then made middle-eastern brunch to cheer selves up:

Very proud of hummus. Hubby proud of his "Foul Mudammas." That is actual name of bean-dish. Very tasty in spite of name.

Also spent an hour or so on phone to girlfriend in WA (Western Australia).
Phone is worst phone in entire universe. Of course, it is old. Have never so much as held an iPhone. Let alone an iPhone 4S. Cannot understand point of them.

Also think the iPad is a stupid idea.

This could be a result of constant complications in my relationship to all and any techical / electrical equipment - which tends to spontaneously break down in my presence.
Is proven scientific fact that certain people have this effect on, for example, computers.
A daily occurrence in this household is me screaming angrily at laptop for freezing, shutting down, not obeying direct orders and so on - only to perform in superior fashion as soon as hubby enters room.
It works in reverse too. Hubby will be using computer, everything hunky dory. Enter Anna. Computer immediately suffers severe hissy-fit and must be nursed back to life whilst atleast two metres away from me...

Light-bulbs always blow up around me as well.

Odd. Wonder if all these are indications that I am psychic?

Breaking News: Nest in Garden

In a previous post it was hinted (by me) that bush-turkeys do what they do (mostly scratching) for no reason and serving no purpose to anyone. Must hereby withdraw this statement. As it turns out, their actions are very deliberate. Atleast this time of year. Nest-building time of year.

Garden, ten minutes ago:

Bush-turkey surveying progress on the right hand side of picture, at top end of nest:

This may appear to be nothing but a hot compost. Hubby briefly tried to pretend that it, indeed, was a compost heap - since he lives here he practically built it himself.

For the purposes of the blog, however, am going to remain as close to the truth as possible. Where this enormous heap of leaves now lies, there used to be nothing but a small flower bed. Covered in weeds of course, but still.

You see, have googled this. Am now something of an expert on the breeding habits of bush-turkeys. They build gigantic nests exactly like the one pictured above and place the eggs underneath it so that they (the eggs) can be in constant temperature of 30-33 degrees. Building these skyscrapers of the bird-world obviously takes some time, so breeding season goes from around now - until December.

Then we should start to hear the pitter-patter of little claws, should we be so lucky.

We are letting this activity continue as garden is, well, a "work in progress" anyway. To put it kindly.
May as well let the bush-turkeys do all the hard work in terms of clearing and gathering leaves - so it will be easier for us to convert garden into heavenly Bali-inspired retreat as soon as we can get to it. Sometime in the next five years.

Meanwhile, let the bush-turkeys raise their chicks! Who cares! Not us! We are animal lovers and on road to becoming qualified hippies.

KOALA!!!

Had an amazing day! It's not every day you come home and find a koala chilling in your backyard.

Koala..!

Bush-turkey Madness

In keeping with my great tradition of writing informative blogs about local wildlife; the time has come to speak about one of our most important - as it is such a big part of day-to-day life in this area - members of the fauna.

The Bush-turkey (also know as Brush-turkey / Scrub-turkey) is defined as follows on Wikipedia:

"...a common, widespread species of mound-building bird from the family Megapodiidae found in eastern Australia from Far North Queensland to Illawarra in New South Wales. It has also been introduced to Kangaroo Island in South Australia. It is the largest extant representative of the family Megapodiidae and is one of three species to inhabit Australia. Despite its name, the bird is not closely related to American turkeys."

This is it here:

For a closer look:

This is possibly the dumbest bird alive. Have chosen to call it bush-turkey as this is a play on words; turkeys are stupid - someone called "Bush" is also pretty unintelligent, hence hubby have nicknamed all bush-turkeys "George." As in "Dammit, another George in the garden!" Or "Look at what the Georges' have done to our driveway!" Etcetera.

It is, in fact, a total mystery that there are so many of them. With a tendency to hop out right in front of cars, on top of what we have assumed to be extremely poor vision (highly unusual for birds) - as well as a tendency to make loads of noise - one would think this pitiful circumstances under which to thrive. But thrive, they nonetheless do.

Their favourite activity (when not hopping out in front of cars, which they then cannot see) and their main purpose in life is to scratch. Preferably leaves, dirt, planted garden beds, and so on. Highlight of their lives is if they may scratch this stuff from side of road or path - and ONTO actual path. May I use a few pictures taken in our garden yesterday to illustrate:

The bush-turkey, or George, has stood on side of path for what must have been hours - and systematically scratched dirt in general direction of bricked path (which was, by the way, carefully weeded and swept last week).

Left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot... until the desired result has been achieved. Serving absolutely zero purpose to anyone.

You often see them sitting in trees:

This behaviour (sitting in trees for hours on end) is usually displayed because the bush-turkey is avoiding other bush-turkeys. Whenever you see this, there is always another one standing below the tree, scratching and waiting.

Eventually the first bush-turkey (the one in the tree) must make a move, or else starve to death. When this moment comes it sounds almost like herd of elephants stampeding across garden - as the bush-turkeys make a mad dash for the next tree / roof / fence.

You can have a little harmless fun by sneaking up on one.
This is unbelievably easy to do, as they are nearly blind (my theory) or just plain oblivious to what goes on around them. You will get very close, am talking within a metre of the animal. Then you can stamp foot lightly, say "hello" or anything else that will draw the bush-turkeys attention to your presence. It will become terrified, make clucking noises and run away as fast as it can. Which looks hilarious.

Not to worry.
No bush-turkey is ever harmed by this. It will simply run a few metres, stop, look around - fail to see you - and start scratching again.

Communication Skills and Book-dreams

Home alone today, as hubby is extending and deepening expertise in area of wildlife rescue and, if remember correctly, specifically birds. Now, birds may be entirely wrong - it could be snakes or something like that; it has many times become apparent to me (usually by way of people telling it to my face; as it seems am not very observant) that communication between hubby and myself is often found wanting.

We both passionately blame the other for not listening (me) / not telling in first place (him).

For example:

Me: Baby, what are we doing next weekend? Was thinking we could do daytrip to Nimbin?
Him: Baby, you know we are going to Sydney/Melbourne/Brisbane for X-Festival/Gig, which we have talked about for months?
Me: No, what are you talking about? You know am never ever going to go to a festival/gig ever again, so we can't go, won't do it.
Him: But baby, you agreed - I told you about this weeks ago!!!
Me: Absolutely not baby, you didn't, is first time have heard about it in whole life!!!
Him: Well, suck it up baby, already bought the tickets.
Me: You what?!?
Him: I TOLD YOU ABOUT IT.
Me: I NEVER HEARD ABOUT IT BEFORE.

And yes, we call each other "baby." To be able to call partner "baby" was one of my main reasons for marrying English-speaking individual.

Suspect may sometimes be a little inattentive when it comes to friends as well. Just texted back and forth with girlfriend, agreeing to meet soon. She stated she hoped she would be better company this time round, as last time she had not been feeling well.
Did not respond to text. What to say? Obviously not the truth, which is;
Oh really, didn't notice!

So, opposite of what Teenage Anna assumed; am not gifted with supreme intellect and an aptitude for reading vibes (although suspect might be a little psychic).

No matter. As my auntie Mia always says - It's OK to be a little hopeless, as long as you have QUALITIES.

By qualities she means:
- Cooking skills: am a fantastic cook even if I say so myself.
- Housekeeping skills: need I say more, see previous blog about sink.
- Good genes. Must admit she loses me here. Unless you count unwarranted slimness (knocking frantically on wood) and suspiciously white teeth.


Anyway.
When hubby is not home I get a little mischievous.
Will do wicked things like eat lunch at 10.30 am. Watch Dr Phil. Take twenty minute showers. Leave lights on even in middle of day. Go into town and look at make-up and shop at Supre.
This last one is a little out of control. Am not proud of myself. Would be there already, except there is thunder and black clouds and do not wish to get rained on...

Could write! Finally nagged hubby into getting me a word-processing program for the laptop.
Only, well, what to write about?

Found these great free postcards at a Cafe in Newtown, which by the way is the BEST Cafe in Sydney. Scrambled - on top of Enmore Road, if you should be so lucky as to find yourself there in time for breakfast or brunch.

Have put the postcards on office-wall, as felt strongly connected to their message: