Cloud Monsters!

Amongst the ducks we now have we have two that can fly. We have settled on four girls. Poor little Peg of course who only has one wing, the little black duck who has had her wings trimmed that many times she is too uncoordinated to ever manage to take off and these two! These are two girls from the last lot of duckling we had. They love to fly! If they are not flying they are running around flapping their wings pretending to fly!

The ground is of secondary importance to them now and at any given time of the day they can be found on a rail, up a tree or simply sitting on the fence posts as l hang out the washing!

After leaving the washing to hang out to dry on yet another glorious dry Autumn day (last one!) l drove to work and was fascinated by this fabulous cloud that greeted me in the sky as l drove into Huonville!!!

It reminded me of a huge happy slothful Porpoise type monster hanging out in the sky over the town!

Well worth pulling over for a photo! l loved it!

Nearly Winter!

Autumn is nearly over and true Winter is soon to be upon us! Not much happening here in the photography department as it is pitch dark when l get home and the mornings are a mad flurry of mucking out paddocks, feeding animals  (and myself) then off to work! l did have time though to take some quick shots this morning of the Silver Birches l planted earlier this year .They are still holding some beautiful colour and have grown so quickly in a very short space of time.

They really will be quite spectacular in a few years!

Round Bales and Auntie Jack!

We scored a beautiful pure wool red Persian style rug  for $30 yesterday from one of our local salvage yards. It's FILTHY though!!! Full of years and years of dust from where it has been lying on the floor of the shed. It wasn't actually for sale as the owner thought it was a bit "ratty and old". When l asked if he was interested in selling it 'because l liked the colour" he said $30 and l nearly fell over!!!  Give it a good vac and a clean and it's going to come up a treat!!!!

 l also bought this great unique little 'goat cart' It fits two hay nets and two feed buckets perfectly! And its much easier to pull along then a wheelbarrow!

One day l might even hook a couple of goats onto it!!! $30 as well! Another bargain and a useful one at that!

Hoping for some much needed rain we draped a tarp over the gypsy (soon to be!) wagon the other day. The rain never eventuated but we were amazed how huge it feels inside once it has a cover over the top. It's going to to be vast in there!

This afternoon we headed out to our old stomping ground of Glen Huon to a friend of ours who had some round bales for sale. Being such a dry Summer the feed is scarce and the hay we have isn't going to last us through the Winter. We brought back one round bale to see how the cows go. They are quite a wasteful way of feeding out hay as the animals tend to pull it all apart, wee and poo in it then sit on it!!!!

To try and limit that happening we covered three sides of it only giving them access to one area at a time.

The sheep were not overly impressed or excited about it...........

 But the cows  were!

Auntie Jack in particular has obviously eaten from round bales before. She knew all the tricks in the book for getting the best hay out of the centre. She simply buried her entire head in it!!!!

 And ferociously shook it from side to side...........

 Hay went everywhere!!!!

 She finally emerged! Wild eyed and tongue lolling!!!! Crazy cow!!! Check out that tongue!!!!

 But the others were happy..............she loosened it all up for them!!

 We shall see how long it lasts but it's nice to see fat happy contented cows!

 

Inside the Wagons...

Researching Gypsy/Vardos/Romany wagons has been fascinating! They are outrageous, garish,ornate, fancy, waaaaay over the top and l just love them!! My cup of tea and far beyond! l totally can see where my inspiration has come from and now fully believe l was a gypsy in a previous life!!!!!!!!!

Clutter......... colours..........drapes and velvet.....gorgeous!!

Bliss!

And all crammed into one beautiful tiny wagon!

Fabulous.............Just love them...

A late Autumn bite!

This morning was well and truly officially freezing!!!

The taps all froze

 The cows had white tips on their ears!

La La was cold.......

 So was Max!

So much so that the only warm place to lie was in his breakfast!

And the goats were not happy!!

On days like this???............ Thank goodness for a nice warm house.................

The Plan

So now sitting in our yard we have two wagons. Both in reasonable condition and both sturdy and solid. One flat tyre out of 8 and a few rotten boards here and there so not bad for $600........... Now it's time to stretch your imagination a little. This one here with it's metal frame already in place will become........ 

 something like this......................

this.............

maybe this.............

And possibly very much like this!!! It's a heavy thing so probably wont ever get pulled by the horse so will more them likely get parked in a a corner of the garden somewhere and used as a spare bedroom or a unique hideaway for nephews,nieces and visiting kiddies!

The second one is much lighter and smaller and maybe one day (when l can afford a harness) can get pulled around by Clips. This one we will add a simple bow top , pretty up the sides and have it more as  a portable camping wagon for around the place.

There can be no end to our creativity!!!!

Either way it's going to be a heap of fun!!