Bull!

Believe it or not it's happened again.

A few days ago we had 4 fat cows in the paddock, no bull, we really did, haha but seriously, we have no bull and never have had..  Tonight when I get home there is a new calf out there too.  It is so cute.

 It belongs to the youngest black calf and really is she old enough to be a mama.  She, the new mama, was born August 2011.  The calf looked OK this evening, I saw it drinking and the new mum seemed to be caring.  But she is young.  I hope that come morning they will both still be alive and well.

I took photos but didn't have the card in the camera and I don't know how to upload them.  I will take more in the morning but should learn how to upload from the camera too shouldn't I?  It's probably easy enough, I'll look for the book.

Bulls have not been seen is our paddock, can they get to a cow through a fence?  Because we have seen our cows and back neighbours cows/bulls all together near the back fence...

There are 3 other cows out there.  This ones mother.  This ones sister.  And fat Brown Cow.  I was going to go away for an overnighter but will stay home now just in case.

Roofus.

Well Roofus is home...I now have to go out in the rain and dig a hole so I can bury him but hey, That's life aye.  Or death.  So I'm having a bit of a cry.

Ron rang this morning to tell me that Roofus was dead, said he was alive last night when he checked and had pee'ed but this morning when he went in...dead cat.  Said the bladder had filled again and Roofus probably had kidney failure.  

I am angry too.  Not at Ron, he was brilliant yesterday but at circumstances.  We try and do what is best for our animals.  If we believe they can be treated we take them to a vet, put them through horrible things,...the animals are in pain, not at home...whatever...and they get to die in a cold cage all alone.  It's not right.  If I had of kept him home he would have died in a warm house with someone who loved him.  If he looked like being in pain the end could have been so quick he wouldn't have even know it was coming.  But no, we think we are doing the right thing by putting them through *stuff*.. And I think we do it more for ourselves than for the animal.   The end result is the same, the lead-up very different. 

Anyway, I am cross that I didn't just get the son to shoot Roofus while he was asleep.   I would have felt guilty for not giving him a chance but he would have been at peace a lot sooner and not even known how horrible I was.  I think that would have been better for us both.  As it is...well who knows what he went through and if cats think...he wouldn't have been thinking anything nice. 

And it's raining more, I'm home alone, feeling cross and sad.
Husband will be home this afternoon, I could wait and ask him to dig the hole for me but Roofus is my cat so I think I should.    Might wait until he gets home before I bury him, not sure yet.  I am going to plant a plum tree with him.

 BigBoyBeautiful, You didn't like me much but I loved you, sorry I wsn't there.

Roofus .

Vet Visit.

I have had  a very interesting couple of hours. 

My cat was sleeping on my bed Friday night but was outside early Sat.  I heard him have a spat with the stray cat that comes around sometimes but didn't think much of it.  Went out Sat morn and when I got home I noticed that Roofus hadn't been in for his breakfast so went looking for him but didn't find him.  Looked and called throughout the afternoon and found him late evening sleeping under a bush.  I thought he was dead but he opened his eyes when I picked him up..  Now this is cat that doesn't like me and likes being picked up less but let me pick him up and carry him...Obviously there was something wrong so I brought him inside where it was warm.  He was still alive this morning and did get up and wobbled around a few times but he was walking like a drunk cat and he wouldn't drink or eat.  He did go outside when I had the door open but I brought him back into the sunroom where he went to sleep on the mat. 

Yesterday I thought he may have picked up a bait from somewhere, maybe rat poison but the symptoms didn't fit and so I rang the Son in Law this morning and got him to come have a look at him.  He used to be a vet technician so I was happy to take his advice.   He says he had an enlarged bladder so a blockage and would need a catheter.    He rang the vet for me and Ron,  the vet, said he'd meet me at the surgery. 

Usually when I take an animal to the vets I just drop it off and come back when the animal is ready to come home.  Being Sunday and no other animals or people there Ron was happy for me to stay and watch the procedure and I'm glad I did.  It was very interesting.   Roofus is still there and will come home tomorrow if he can pee by himself. 

I never though I'd ever spend part of my day watching some bloke stick a tube up my cats penis but I am glad I did.  We have been going to this vet for more than 20 years and his bedside manner does leave a lot to be desired but we have never had any reason to complain about him.  We do know people that don't like him though and say they will never go back to him.  But watching him today with my cat...He swears, tells it like it is, doesn't seem to like people and tells you why in words that let you know in no uncertain terms...But the care he took with my cat, how he answered all my questions and explained what he was doing and why...I was impressed.   And he gave me a Sniggers bar to eat while I watched.  What's not to like.

I know I will wince when I get the bill, it will be bigger than normal seeing as I called him out on a Sunday.  Fathers day to boot, sorry 'bout that.  But today...Thanks Ron. 

Rats!

There is one in my wall and it is trying to chew through so it can eat  me. 

Well, there is what we are pretty sure is a rat and we can hear it munching on the wall.  Our internal walls are thin panneling so it wont take long if it keeps going the way it is and then it will be able to get on the bench and from there it is a short jump to the other bench then a shorter one to me.  

Husband has gone to bed and left me to be attacked by the rat.  I'm sure that is what he has done.  He is there in bed and I am here and the rat gnawing is getting louder and more frantic sounding.  I want to go to bed but am worried that if I am not here to keep banging on the wall to stop him for a bit that he will get me too soon.

If it does get through the cat might get it but the cats mouse catching record isn't all that great so I might wake up in the middle of the night with a rat munching on me toes.and seeing as me toe bone is connected to me leg bone and me leg bone is connected...If I'm not here over in the next couple of days then you'll know it got me.

Fox Trap.

Awhile ago, not long after one of the fox attacks, a mate of the sons said that we could have a trap that he had made, been used and had caught foxes, he didn't need it anymore...But it wasn't here, he had to travel to get it, next time he was there he would pick it up for us...Fast forward a couple of months, 2 more fox attacks, talk of using baits and the son was right onto it and we now have it.

It is bigger than I thought it would be.  We have borrowed one before and it was smaller, lighter, I could move and set it.  This one...big, heavy and I don't know if I can or not.

We were told we would need to wash it to remove human smell and then to move it wearing welding gloves so we didn't put our smell on it...Would a fox care that much...I dunno...In case he did care though I put the trap in the chookpen for a few days.  I threw bedding from the chook shed in and on it and I threw food in it to get the chooks inside it.  I'm hoping that all this will get it to smell more like chooks and less like us.  To the fox it should smell more like food than people.

I left it in the chook yard for a couple of days then I donned the welding gloves and dragged the trap out the back out to the dam area.  It was heavy and awkward and I walked through 3, yes 3!! spider webs.  ahhh, I hate those things and we seem to have them everywhere.  The trap is now near where it should be.  I can't get it to where husband wants it as it needs to be lifted so he will have to do that when he gets home.  I wanted it out there sooner than next week though so any foxes can get used to it being near their path.  I haven't set it though but will try to do that tonight.

And what bait will we use?  Husband wanted to sacrifice a scrawny Mixed Breed rooster...I wasn't as keen to do that but did think we could cull a couple of roosters, we eat the meat then use the head and guts in the trap...  and we will still do that but when I put the trap out last night I put a chunk of rabbit near it.   And where did this rabbit come from?
ROAD KILL!!!

I have wanted to use roadkill for something for ages but haven't due to the yuk factor.  But this will be a bonafide use of an animal body.  It will save the dead thing from being squashed into the road and pecked at by crows.  It is a good thing we are doing.

Husband picked it up from the road outside our place and cut it into 3 and bagged it up and put it in the freezer.  I have put 1 piece near the trap and I will put a piece on the hook in the trap and try and set it tomorrow. 

Daughter that thinks some of the things I do is all a bit manky and was more than a tad grossed out when I told her about the rabbit brought me a present yesterday.  What was it you ask...It was an owl.  A dead owl that she picked up off the road.  Yay, more fox bait.  I'm proud of her.

Dog Drama.

We've had a bit of a drama here,  made more stressful because it was happening a couple of hours away...
I have a daughter living far far away.  She has a dog.  She loves that dog, he loves her.  I love that dog...he loves her...

On  Monday evening I get a call from daughter here in town saying that this dog was missing and had been for a couple of days.  A friend was going down the next morning to help look for him.  I heard that the dog chased after an emu on Saturday morning and didn't come back when called and daughter spend all that day and the next looking for him.  I can only imagine how upset she would have been. 

They have only lived in this house for 3, maybe 4 months. The dog knows the area around the house but not any great distance away. It is surrounded by bush


I am a member of a forum and they have a thread for psychic help.  We posted about this missing dog on it and one lady came on and said that the dog was alive and near water, maybe stuck somewhere.  They live very close to a river.  I get home from work on Tuesday and hear that she (psychic lady) has said that he is trapped near brambles or prickly bushes and getting quite weak.  There are blackberry bushes on the property...How this woman knew these things I have no idea but it had us very worried but at the same time gave us some hope but daughter that lives far far away has no Internet, no phone, no mobile coverage.  We couldn't contact her at all to tell her to check out these bushes so daughter from here says we should go down there now...I ring son, he agrees to go and help look too.  We drive down, getting there a lot later than we thought we would but they are still up and we all go down the back of the property, torches in hand and spend 3 hours searching for this dog.  Call an end to it not far off midnight saying we'll start looking again early in the morning.  Daughters go out early, calling and looking.  Come back after an hour or so.  No dog.   I go out a hour or so later and the dog is walking up to the gate.  He was as happy to see us as we were to see him.  He had been away since Saturday morning. 4 days and 4 nights.   He was wet but looked alright.  Skinnier, had sore paws but otherwise seemed OK.  He was asleep on his bed when me and the daughter from here left to come home.

I don't think he'll be running after any emus again any time soon.

An eerie thing...Daughters husband was down searching for the dog and early this morning went down the back to look some more and to, I don't know...commune with powers?
The dog shows up, this bloke starts up the hill...He comes back just after the dog gets back.
He says he was told to stop looking, go back to the house, what will be will be. And just afterwards a big Tiger snake went across his path.
He gets back to find the dog home.

I did not think this dog would be found, not alive anyway.  Chasing an emu?  Are you a stupid dog?  3 days lost in the bush?  Four days gone after running who knows how far in an area that he doesn't know....I honestly believe that it was the fact that all of us were there calling, looking, praying that got this dog home.  I believe that our combined *energy* led him home.

On my Mind...Fox Proofing.

On my mind today is something that Rhonda Jean puts on every week and today Flippin' Foxs' is on my mind.  Not actually flipping them though I would like to flip them to the bottom of the river but fox proofing a pen is on my mind. As the pen in question has not had a problem with any fox before we thought that it was alright and safe.  But no...this fox has come up into the yard and dug up my garden and gotten in under the fence and killed 2 of my AussieRocks.  The chooks I get the fertile eggs from.

The bleedin' thing even dug up my Jerusalem Artichokes and I was already starting to worry about those not growing.

Maybe I thought they wouldn't come in this way because we are in the area throughout the day so our people smell would be around, dogs run around this area, it's close to the house...All reasons that mean jack!
I probably made it easier for them as I cleared an area to plant the JA so it is soft plant free area...

So today we will be digging trenches and burying tin to try and stop them digging under again.

I have such a long list of other stuff that I need to get done but that will all be put off until we get this pen sorted.

I will also need to choose a few more chooks to put in with the rooster (*roosters?) as the lone definate chook that is left in there is looking a bit stressed.  As you would I supose if you see/hear your friends getting attacked...


* roosters?   I have 2 big birds in this pen.   One is definatly a rooster and always has been.  The other...it has always been a big bird, part Plymouth Rock, but lately, after 2 years, it has started crowing so I do not know if it is a he or a she.  Maybe it doesn't know itself...

More *Frig* Words.

I went for a walk yesterday and saw a dead snake on the road, my first one for this season and thought that yes, now's the time to have all the grass short and the yard tidied...OK, I know I should have the grass kept short and the yard tidy all the time but this is me talking and as much as that I know I should and I do want to and I do try...This time of the year it really is a must.

I was in having lunch and thinking about what I need to get done this afternoon when I heard the AussieRocks going off their nut and knew right away why but I run out there, run back in and put me boots on and run out again.  It seems that I can run when I need to...And yes, there is a snake in their shed.  Of course with all these chooks having a go at it it slithers into where the Mumma chook and her 3 babies are...and they can't get out.  What to doWhat to do...I run (yes, again!) back in and grab the camera (what was I thinking!) and the phone, put the camera down and grab a shovel instead and phone the son.  The snake is in the chicken area and the mumma chook is going nutso so I keep one eye on the snake while I reach in and move a board so that she and her chicks can get out.  She gets out but 1 little chicken is trapped in with the snake and every time it tries to get out the snake moves around more, whether it's trying to get the chicken or not I don't know..
In the meantime the son leaves work and comes to my rescue. 

Thank goodness for people that can handle these things.  Hubby had left for work an hour earlier and if son wasn't around I would have had to call someone else but would have had to come inside for phone numbers and would have lost sight of the snake.  The 5foot, what looks like, Tiger snake.

All is now safe but there will be a next time so I think the next thing to do is look up numbers of who to call if there is no-one who can come and help.  Off to do that now.

Be careful People, it's snake season again.

Night-time Visitor.

I am home alone but expecting husband to show up anytime.   Sitting here when I hear the front door move but then nothing, there should be more sound if it is him.  I turn the light on for him but still no other sound so I go in the bedroom and look out that window, nothing there, no-one anywhere...But a bucket has been moved and is on it's side.  The wind maybe, it is a bit windy...I decide it was the wind and not boogymens so go out and set the bucket up and put it away from the wind.  I happen to see a movement up the other end of the verandah and of course!  I remember we have a bandicoot that likes to get the chookfood from the buckets that I leave out.  So he must have tipped this one over, found it empty so went looking in the other one.  He didn't seem that fussed that I was there so I came in to get the camera and he was still there when I went out again and I managed to get quite close, within 4feet, of it.

Isn't it so cute.  I don't know how many we have here now but I'm thinking this is the one that goes between the chookpens, it digs under the gates and the fences and I am forever filling in the gaps so the chickens can't get out.  These are another reason I don't want to use poisons or snap traps for the rats.

Rat Traps.

I was concerned awhile ago about the rats out in the pen where the chickens are but I have been noticing more and more droppings out in the garden shed as well.  I call it the garden shed, it is more of a dumping area for my garden stuff like the mowers, seeds, chook-food, tools, pots, crap...There is no organisation and anything is anywhere.   There are 2 bench areas at the back, hard to get to because I have dumped stuff in front and these have become covered in droppings.  Big mouse, small rat, something not wanted either way.

But we have bandicoots here and skinks live in this shed so as poisons and snap traps were out I have been hunting around for humane traps that catch the *whatever* alive. 

I bought the 2 wire cages on the left first, $14+ each.  I was told that they were the last 2 and they wouldn't be selling that type again which was a bummer as they were the ones I wanted but I have found a shop in Pinjarra that sells them but they are a few dollars more.  I will pay the extra and get a couple next week, just to save  searching around for longer.  The 2 coloured ones in the middle are mouse traps from our hardware store, they were under $5 each and the mouse trap with the wooden floor is from the rural supplier in town here, $10  It works on the same principle as the first two but doesn't seem as strong and has a wooden bottom whereas the others seem better with a wire bottom.  Much easier to clean.   So at the moment we have 5 traps, all easy to set but the plastic mouse ones are a bit of a trap themselves as they go off but we can't see what, if anything, is inside them.  I want to know what I am picking up even if it makes me squeal.

The first week I had the wire traps set up in the shed and we caught 3 rats... Hubby was  home so he dealt with them.  He thought he had some rats in his shed too so put one of these traps in there and caught something on the second night.

Not a rat and just as well it wasn't a snap trap or this little thing would have been *snapped* 
He has been taken out the back and let loose.
If I am home alone and I trap a skink then I'll let it go out the back.  If it's a mouse or a rat I will...Don't know what I will do with it.  If I can bring myself to pick up the trap with a live rat in it then I will probably, maybe, take it down the road and let it out.  I'd have to make sure that there was no-one around as I know there will be some squealing and carrying on going on.  They are small rats and kinda cute too...But they do gotta go...somewhere, somehow...

I need to buy a few more traps and set them up in the chicken pens as I know there are rats out there and maybe be a bit more careful when getting the chookfood out.  Spilt chookfood brings rats and mice and rats and mice brings snakes...Rats I can handle but I'd rather not encourage more snakes.

Pests? I like them.

We've been getting heaps of these caterpillars lately.  They seem to be all over the place and are easily seen when I mow the grass and they are there crawling along.   They also hang out on the yellow daisy plants that I have which is understandable as that is where the butterfly that I think these come from used to hang out.

They don't bother the vegies so we don't dispatch them like we do the little green ones that eat the cabbages.

Grandaughter says they are cute because they have *sparklies* on their back.

Baby Update.

The little black chicken is doing fine but the mother chook is very protective and huffs up whenever I go out there and shoos her baby away so I can't get near it.   She has had a go at me a couple of times when I have put food down for them.  Silly thing! 
The other chook is still sitting but I haven't seen any chickens and I am thinking that there won't be any now and I plan to clean out her nest and put her in the other pen this weekend.
I have had another chook, a Plymouth Rock coloured one go clucky so have put some fertile eggs under her.
I will need to wait 3 weeks to see how she goes.

The calf is frollicking around everywhere.  The mother cow is looking fine.   I am giving her extra hay.
The brown cow is still fat but no sign of a calf.  I think she is just big and fat.

A few dramas with them all though as the black and white cow/calf got into the padock with the back neighbours animals.  I'm pretty sure there is a bull or 2 in there...The next day all our cows were in there.  The fence between the neighbours to our north and his back neighbough must be dodgy so when Hubby gets home I will get him to fix the gate between us and northside to keep our cows on our property.

Animals!  Sometimes they are  more work than they are worth.

Is Brown Cow Pregnant?

This is our second cow.  She was in the paddock last September when a bull got to our black cow and was in the paddock around 9 months ago when a bull got in and got to the black cow again and to the neighbours cow,  I supose if there is no calf from her within the next week or so she won't be having one again.
She is a big cow, bigger than the black one but younger.  Another wait and see thing.

If the new calf survives we will have 4 cows, if the brown cow becomes a mum there will be 5 out there.  Too many.  But we can't keep the bulls out so there is not much we can do about it.  We need a couple of cows to keep the grass down and we do eat them so doing one next winter will get the numbers down a bit.
It is just a worry sometimes.  Like the neighbours cow...She died because her calf got stuck.  Really she should not have even been pregnant.  I complain about our cows but really it is the back neighbours bulls that need to be complained about.  And we have...He doesn't care much though.

And I don't complain when I am eating the cows so I supose I can't have it both ways.  HoHum...

Mother and Baby Are Well.

It has been so wet and cold here today and even though the husband and son kept telling me that cows have been having calves for years and they survive the cold I was still worried about the new one.  
I wanted the baby *protected* from the weather as it was pouring with rain and the wind was blowing but Hubby wouldn't go out and get them.   He finally decided to humour me and said we'd try and get the cows in the side paddock.  I think it was the tears that got to him.  We called them like we do when we are going to give them hay and the brown cow and big calf came running but the new calf wouldn't get up so black cow wouldn't leave it.  Eventually we got them over and in the smaller paddock.  It is still wet and cold out there but this paddock is better protected and doesn't have any drains with water in them so no chance of the calf falling in where it shouldn't.

The black mother cow has surprised me.  She doesn't usually like people but she has been very patient with us and has allowed us to get up close and touch her baby.  It is so soft.  And cute!!

If some bull is going to keep getting in and getting to our cows without us knowing then I really should probably do some reading up on cows and calves. 

Stormy Weather and Bloody Cows.

We still have our 2 cows and the black cow's baby and last week the cow from next door was also still here.

A few days ago, Monday, the cow from next door was up near the gate and I was talking to her.  I was out all Tuesday...Thursday I was out the back weeding when I noticed the cow from next door, she was in our paddock, lying down and I thought she was dead.  Unfortunately she wasn't.   A call to the vet, a call to her owner, a visit from the vet...Betty and her calf are now in cow heaven.

Last September  our black cow had a calf.  We didn't know then and we didn't know now.
But the new baby is so cute!!

Only last week we were talking about separating the black and white calf as the mother was looking skinny.

It is a horrible wet and windy day here today, I want to bring the baby in out of the weather but this black mother doesn't like people much and though she let us pat the calf and she licked my hand I don't think she'll let us try and move it.  Later on we'll put some hay out closer to the back gate and try and get them in where it is a bit more sheltered.


So now we ask the same question we asked last year...Is the brown cow pregnant?  Or just fat like last time?

Ten Oranges.

That is what I picked from 1 of the trees this morning.  Five of them have been pecked at by the birds.

I will still eat them, we just cut off the raggedy bits, they taste the same.  This particular tree has only 5 or 6 fruit left on it so I will wrap some cloth around them this morning but I will put the netting around the tree that still has heaps of fruit on it.  No point taking the chance and thinking that the birds will leave it alone because it is close to the house because chances are...they wont care when there is a yummy juicy Orange on offer.

Unwanted Nighttime Visitors.

I was lying in bed this morning wondering if it was too early to get up when I heard a noise outside.  So no, not too early and I get up, look for a torch, discard 2 that need new batteries, rummage under a pile of stuff and find another one and go out in the wet and cold.

Everything looks OK but I put on Hubby's old workboots and as I go clumping towards the chookpen I see some red eyes in there and I start shouting at the bloody things.  I hear them go out through the fence and think that there were at least 2 of them.   I go in the pen and see the chooks roosting, some in the fruit trees, some on the ground.  They all would have been an easy target.

Hubby will be home sometime today but not up to doing much so I will put them, the chooks,  in a lockup pen closer to the house tonight and borrow a foxtrap from a friend.  I might even sacrifice my liver to the buggers.  Well not my liver but the one in the fridge that I was planning on cooking for lunches.

Hubby will ask why I didn't get the gun out and shoot them but it was 4.30am.  And dark.  And son still has the gun.  And I can't shoot animals anyway...

I hate foxes.


Hours later....I am back from a walk and can definitely smell fox outside the gate and front fence.  I will ask son to bring his dogs out today and maybe get him and the daughters to save the dog poo for me.  I have heard that is a deterrent and other years when we have put it out we haven't had the foxes back.  Could be a coincidence but worth doing anyway.

Mouse in my House.

Going by the racket in the walls last night there is more than1 but as of this morning 2 less.  I hate having to use traps but I hate having mice pooping in the food cupboard more.  Last week the cat was playing with a mouse inside but it escaped.  That could be the one in the cupboard...but there are some out in the shed again and they come in to get warm.  And to eat the icecream cones!  I usually keep all perishables in glass jars but forgot about the cones.  Oh well, we didn't have any icecream to put in them anyway.

I wont use poisonous baits as we have animals and native creatures that we want to stay safe and I wont use anything that will kill them in a horrible way...I have thought of one of those sonic things...has anyone any experience with them?

What I want is a humane, safe way to make them stay away.  Anyone have any ways that have worked for them?

I have read mixed reports on Peppermint oil but as I don't have any I can't test it for myself.  I do have Mint growing so maybe a handful of that thrown in there will work. 

Right, Mint is in the cupboard, I will see how that goes.  If nothing else it will make everything smell nice.

Poor Birdie.

I was out in the pen yesterday, where we had the bird we found, couldn't see it in the shed where it was or anywhere else so was happily thinking that it was OK and had *flown the coop*  Little happy dance.
I have been out there today cleaning the shed out and found the poor thing dead behind a crate. 
It is now buried under a Peach tree.

Thanks to Wendy who informs me that it was a Black Shouldered Kite.  

Birds.

Hubby spent the morning putting in a gate out the back in the fence around the dam area.  A little while afterwards we noticed some magpies sitting on it with a couple on the ground as well.  It seemed strange so we went out for a closer look.  Saw one pecking at *something white* that was on the ground and on closer inspection found this hawk type bird.  It didn't fly away and seemed stuck so the son in law donned some gloves for a closer look.  It didn't look hurt at all but had meat ants crawling over it's legs so we thought we would box it up for the night.  It's possible it flew into the gate...but we don't know.

 

 

I had the idea to put it in an empty chookpen so it could fly away whenever it wanted to but be protected from predators.  M. put it in the chookshed, on a roost and 4 hours later it was getting dark and it was still out there.
I hope it will survive the night and be OK.