Looked at the forecast - rain through to the evening.

Looked at the radar... the big blue blob on the screen is moving fast enough for me to guess it will've moved on by early-mid afternoon.

One calls it a seat, one calls it a chair...

Either way, it's rain, ha ha.

There's a very damp looking magpie stalking about, and a couple of perfectly dry galahs who either know the secret to where to shelter and stay dry, or are waterproof, like ducks.

My other theory is that they've got one of those hand dryers, liberated from a public loo, stashed away somewhere... ha ha.

The 2 to 4 mm on the latest update cheers me, yesterday's estimate of 8 to 25 had me a just a tad concerned, ha ha.

Find the gumboots... There's inches, not much more, of topsoil, such as it is, then clay, so a decent enough drop of rain means that bits of the garden flood - the inconvenient bits, the bits where I want to walk, ha ha.

I won't complain... Well not too much, ha ha.

A few more days like like this - damp days, nothing too committed, and on days when I don't have to go out, and I'll be happy, ha ha.

🙂

🙂

A noise came, softened by distance, somewhere from the cold darkness.

A growl, then a sing-song high. low, high, low, high tone song.

I lay there and thought that there are times when I wish I could understand Possum, just so I could keep up with the gossip, ha ha.

Mother magpie had a long strip of bread clutched in her foot, pointing away from her.

She was happily pecking away at it, about two thirds along the length of it, which left a piece at the end, dangling tantalisingly...

The youngest, smallest wattlebird couldn't resist the temptation...

It slowly edged forward and stretched, it's beak almost touching the bread...

At the last moment it changed it's mind and did a backflip - almost a backwards somersault... ha ha.

Mother magpie continued to peck at the bread, she's seen stranger things than that, ha ha.

🙂

I'm standing next to the car and out of the corner of my eye I see the advancing figures...

"Are you going out, or coming in...? Perhaps we should rephrase that... Are you going into the house to get us some food...?", ha ha.

I reckon it's the fattening season...

None of this nonsense about it being that point in the Winter where the local food supply runs a bit thin, no, this lot are are putting serious work into weight gain, ha ha.

No more standing a few feet from the side of the driveway and looking a bit hopeful like some Dickensian urchin - Please Sir, may I have some more...? No, this is full on confrontation tactics - Today you will learn the magpie word for food, through sheer repetition... ha ha.

"Those are very nice ugg boots you're wearing... It would be a terrible thing if they were to be converted into nest lining... of course, for a reasonable donation of food, we can ensure that that kind of thing doesn't happen...", ha ha.

They're not exactly what you'd call subtle, ha ha.

It makes sense that they'd want to fatten up a bit.

Come September they'll be breeding, then there's eggs and chicks and that awkward stage between chick and fledgling when all it ever seems to do is yell about how nobody's feeding it... anyway, it boils down to the best part of a couple of months where they'll be effectively stuck on or around the nest.

There won't be a lot of opportunities to roam the neighbourhood looking for a feed, so it's best if they put on a bit of fat, now.

🙂

🙂

What did you do with the last ten minutes of the day, little wattlebird?

I sat in the middle of a pile of sliced up raisin toast, and ate...

I was a little worried about you, little wattlebird... You seemed quiet, not quite 100%...

Think about it this way - if I am sick, then I've had the most magnificent ten minutes of my life, ha ha.

It's a good way to look at it - even if I never see you again, I'll know that you were smiling in your heart.

🙂

🙂