Snake Neck Turtle

As usual, I'm running late and trying to get out of the door so we don't miss story time at the library. I had little Lou in the car and I was getting my bag, ready to lock up the house when my 5 year old son says,

"Mum, there's a turtle!"

"Yes, dear" I said.

"There's a turtle!" says my son in a louder voice.

"Yes, dear!" I replied, thinking it was one of his toys that he dropped from the car. "Well, just chuck it in the door, we have got to get going."

(Little pause....)

"MUM ! There's a turtle on the ground!"

Yep. He was right. There was a turtle 2 metres from the front door. Not every day you find a turtle at your front door.

The trolley was from shopping the night before - I walked home rather than drive. The shops are walking distance from my home. I usually don't have shopping trolleys outside my front door. :).

I couldn't leave the turtle there - it might wander onto the road and get squished. So, a couple of hours in the bathtub wasn't going to hurt it. I'll take it to the local lake and release it when we get back.

When we got back, closer inspection of our new house guest revealed that it was quite clean for a wild turtle (and it didn't stink that much either). In the past where I grew up, I would occasionally find a turtle along the road. I would pick it up and return it to the local swamp not far from where I lived. These turtles were usually covered with algae and really stunk.

Also, our new little friend didn't seem that camera shy either. It walked up and down the bathtub while Little Loopity Lou shrieked with excitement and Katie giggled.

Now, I'm sure wild turtles (well the ones I have come across) have been a lot shyer - so I had a feeling it was a pet. Katie and I went and did a door knock to see if it was any one's pet. No one had a pet turtle but one of my neighbours happened to be a retired Animal Behavior Biologist from Taronga Zoo. He said it looked too clean to be a wild turtle and it was about 3 years old - it wasn't fully grown. He took the turtle off my hands and was going to keep it for a week to see if there were any notices in the paper, and then take a trip down to the zoo. It is either going to be rehabilitated or it will have a new life at the zoo. :)

"2"

Two years ago today a little ray of sunshine was born into the world ...:)

Happy 2nd Birthday

Little Loopity Lou

"Foxie"

The Kindy teacher at Katie's school asked me if I could make her a fox for a puppet play she will be performing at the school open day this weekend.

This is the first time I have made a needle felted animal. I was trying to catch the essence of the a fox - not just a pipe cleaner with wool wraped around it. I'm happy with how the fox turned out.

The Kindy teacher was happy too..................:)

The House Built of Flowers, Leaves and Sticks

Katie's been busy creating in the garden.

She has been busy in the garden making a fairy house for her Wee Fairy Folk doll that I made for her and trying to protected it from the nearly 2 year old giant, Loopity Lou.

It's been over two weeks since she built it and the house is still standing!

Little Lou had left it alone.... :)

My Backyard

Wow, I've been away that long...... Well I've kind of lost my blogging mojo for a while. Been busy with the kids in the school holidays, getting over an ear infection, trying to get some crafting done for Katie's school open day and cleaning done for the dreaded rental interrogation (sorry, I meant inspection). Before I knew it, a month has flown by.

Well, my dad gave me his Nikon D70 and two lenses that have a tiny bit of mould on them. He couldn't sell them but they're perfect for me - I was soooooooo happy. Now I have to get my head around a new camera with all the setting & lots of buttons. I got lazy with my digital automatic happy snap camera so hopefully my pics will now look a little more um..... better (LOL).

Here is a little nocturnal visitor I get in my garden - the brush tail possum. These furry little visitors love to raid vegie patches and fruit trees - even Katie's strawberries that are growing in a pot at the back door.

Today my mum and dad came over and we went for a picnic in the National Park in the Blue Mountains at Glenbrook which is the lower mountains. We went to the lookout and checked out the view in my backyard...

The boys were asleep in the car so dad stayed with them while mum and I went to check out Tunnel View Lookout. This was a bit scary - there was no safety fence and it was a straight drop for a couple of hundred meters but the view was amazing.

This is the view looking up the Blue Mountains. It's funny - the mountains look like little hills. I am very high up on a cliff edge.

This is where metropolitan Sydney ends and the Blue Mountains start. It was too hazy to see the city of Sydney on the horizon. This view of the Nepean river is from Portal lookout.

On the track there were lots of bleeding trees. The sap had stained the tree trunks which left a palette of beautiful colours when the sun shined on them.

There was lots of new growth. When the sun hit, the back lighting highlighted the beautiful pinks and purples of the new gum leaves.

Autumn Rabbits

Run, rabbit, run, rabbit, run, run, run

Don't give the farmer his fun, fun,fun

He'll get by without his rabbit pie

So run, rabbit, run, rabbit, run, run, run.

Blue Tongue Lizard

Katie discovered this little fella. She was playing in the backyard and almost put her hand on him. Katie didn't notice him as he blended into the environment quite well.

It is only a bubba - about 15cm long. An adult will grow to about 40cm. It's very cute (well, I think it is) - I love Blue Tongue Lizards. I was trying to take a pic of it but my digital camera is a bit old and slow so it missed the lizard poking its blue tongue out.

We had a a big one last year in our backyard that only stayed for a few days then moved on. I love the beautiful marking on their skin. These guys are harmless but I wouldn't pick them up - they're quite feisty like most wild animals. It's a good lesson for the kids to just admire the wildlife in our garden up close without having to handle it. :)

Hopefully, this little fella will make our backyard its home too. I see it sunning itself out on the log and my son and I watched it munching and crunching on a snail. It'll probably move on when the snails run out (lol). Meanwhile, we'll enjoy our little visitor while the snails are a plenty.