Autumn colours are magnificent, but it does make me realise just how much colour the Beagles have lost! I have never seen so many, and such large, berries as we have had this year. The blackberries were huge, and now the blackthorns are fully laden with sloes, they would have most likely been gathered in Derbyshire, but nobody seems to pick them in these parts. Hollies have larger than usual clumps of berries, and it seems hundreds of different types of fungi are springing up like - well, like mushrooms. The oaks have produced a staggering quantity of acorns. Some are narrow, some more rounded, and some of the round variety are enormous! Where they are free from leaves, the woodland paths look as if they have been gravelled with acorns - you need to take care walking downhill as they can roll away taking your foot with them. Squirrels dart here and there in the vain attempt to bury the bumper crop by ploughing up last years leaf mould. I will be cursing them for this in Winter when it all turns to sticky mush!
Glorious pictures Carole - thank you! [I typed the above as soon as I saw the pictures but like an idiot I forgot to hit Post Reply ]
Very hot here again in North Queensland , Meanwhile in the south of the state , hail so big it smashed through roofs and smashed inside ceilings down !
We had our first very light sprinkle of rain yesterday afternoon, all of about half a dozen tiny drops, then just as I was locking up around 2am it started thundering - and the power went. So I ended up plonking around holding a torch in my teeth, locking up, switching switches that had been on, off [because I did not want to be woken by lights suddenly coming on], and hoping the thunder did not get worse so I could actually get to sleep. 4am we had our first proper rains of the season - which woke me by noise of the rain hammering on the trissim, and it was still raining when I surfaced. Luckily it had stopped by the time Tikva decided it was up time as Tikva Does Not Do Rain [in case her ickle feeties get wet!]. It has been dry all day and definitely a bit cooler although still very warm.
The power came back on sometime between when I finally got to bed [and sleep!] and when the rain woke me, because the a/c had been switched on before the power went off and that was on [it cannot be switched off like a light switch can - only by the remote control, and of course with no power that would not work]. Also my electric clock was on otherwise I would not have noticed the time. It is a bit fresher now but even though I did not have to put the a/c on in the salon until about 5pm I still need it on now until I go to bed. It is only set on 26°C although I might have to take it down to 24° once I shut the door. And I only need it on 28° in my bedroom at night now.
We have gone from summer to nearly winter clothes weather in just a couple of days. Monday I was wearing a thin, full length caftan, and toe-post sandals. Today I am wearing warm trousers, a warm knee-length tunic, and elasticated ankle-high trainers. Plus I have had to wedge the door open otherwise it keeps slamming shut, as there is no way I can keep moving to open it for Tikki, who likes to either be out or, like Pereg did, sit by the doorway looking out. Also if it slams shut when she is outside I would have to move to open it again. I really dislike this time of year as it is not yet time to put summer clothes away and get winter clothes out, and I am limited for space for mid-weather clothes I can keep out for the short times between summer/winter and winter/summer.
We had the same thing happen here, one day it was over 30 degrees the next it was like winter with no in-between weather... Having said that just lately we have had some nice in-between stuff with temps around 24 degrees..... Lurvly.... Yesterday and today is very windy again but warm, its currently howling around our house... a bit like when Tootsy chases an animal...
We had a 20 degree drop in temperature between Thursday and Friday. We’ve been getting some very light rain on and off. Forgot about wet dogs... Previousl to this we’d been having beautiful weather with highs in the low 80’s. This is first drops of rain since March or April
We had a couple of days of very heavy rain, although mostly late afternoon/evening/night, and it was really cold. No a/c and I even had to put another thin blanket on my bed. But yesterday evening I had to put the a/c on in the salon and although today it has been dull and overcast it is back to lighter clothes.
Cloudy, wet and cold. Friday night we had a thick fog - which didn't deter the pyromaniacs, and it looks as if we might have freezing fog tonight. Ah! the scent of wet dog - but most of all, I hate mud. Chas has been crushing some damaged bricks and we take a bagful when we walk the dogs, to help to fill hollows in the footpaths. A drop in an ocean!
Another weather change. Yesterday was quite warm - shirt-sleeve weather and no jackets, then around midnight a thunderstorm started. By the time I got myself to bed it was raining so hard that I had to close the window behind my bed as the noise of the rain hitting the trissim was so loud. The power must have gone off some time during the night and then come on again, as the indicator light on the a/c unit was flashing although the unit was not on, so I had to switch it on and then off again for it to stop flashing. It is not raining now but it is cold. Not quite winter clothes cold yet but warmer clothes than have been necessary for a while. I think it is definitely time to get the thick winter stuff out now. Hopefully today I will get the results of the chest/lung X-rays I was dragged out [kicking and screaming - almost] to have taken on Thursday, as the Ventolin inhaler I have been using for the last week is not helping my cough, and now I have a streaming cold on top of it. First time out of my home in over 8 months and it had to be to the main Health Fund Clinic in town? Which was full of people? Just what I needed. Not.
Very hot today , some humidity too . Getting really summery now, The dogs had a swim . Had to leave our walk until later so it would be somewhat cooler , it was still hot so we cut the walk a little shorter today. bought some more schmackos liver treats , have decided it is time for puppy to brush up some command compliance and make those instant neurological connections happen , the heat slows them down sometimes too. the intensity the pup has when fetching sticks in the water is high. when he is doing commands for treats he gets pretty wired too. I think it would be easy to put his enthusiasm to good use .
Beautiful starry night here , nice cool breeze. let the dogs out to go to the toilet a while ago, there was a rabbit out there which was nice to see. The dogs gave chase , which was nothing more than a quick exercise , it left them far behind. I thought the dingo pups in the long grass here may have grown up enough and left , I haven’t seen them for around a week on dusk. the new dog bones we left outside under a tree were disappeared this morning however , and the dogs sniffing around knowing the marauders had stealthily been during the dark. so it appears theres an older still around .
Winter has arrived with a capital "W". It is cccccccoldddddd. Yesterday was dull but not too bad but around 9pm it started bucketing down. Tikva does Not Do Rain but luckily the rain stopped just before she decided she wanted to go out for a final pee, and when she came in she decided it was bed-time. By the time she was happily curled up in her crate this started and it then bucketing down again - and was still raining heavily when I went to bed about an hour later. And today it is, as I said
Summer has definitely left now, as have my eating habits. I just changed my next grocery order to leave out mixed salads and tomatoes and to include packs of frozen mixed stir-fry mixed veggies, and mixed stew/casserole/pulse veggies. All summer clothes now packed away and winter things out, and getting dressed and undressed now seems to take four times as long. The chest and lung X-rays I had to have were a total waste of time and energy. My [new] doctor had apparently thought that my diabolical cough was due to pneumonia [???] which I could have told her it was definitely not - so she prescribed codeine as a cough suppressant. OK, I accept that she is new to the clinic here and that she has only seen me very briefly, but surely she would have seen my notes when she pulled them up on the computer, where it states CAVE morphine and ALL opioids?