'I'm always looking for the Hows and the Whys and the Whats,' said Muskrat, 'That is why I speak as I do. You've heard of Muskrat's Much-in-Little, of course?'
'No,' said the child. 'What is it?'
- The Mouse and his Child. Russell Hoban.

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Thursday 22 March 2012

Wet and Wild

Wow, it poured down last night, and the wind was trying to blow itself inside out, I think. 72 km per hour, but I think some of the gusts were a lot more. I had to batten the hatches in the studio, as it was directly in the line of fire, siting on top of the bank overlooking the river... I put plastic on the sills to direct the water back out instead of all over my artworks!
It came from a different direction to the last one, so the bamboo got a hammering, and there're leaves all over the lawn, roof, chockka in the gutters (grr - I just cleaned them out!) - and a big cane crashed down, just catching the edge of the verandah where it still lies this morning.




Luckily I hadn't swept the new drive yet:

Far too late for eggs, so not a tragedy as spring storms can be, this nest fell out of the bamboo. I can see where a little bamboo twig has been used to support it. I don't know who made it, possibly a sparrow.
What I did notice, that gave my heart a little lurch, was that incorporated in with the palm fibres and moss, is some fine, grey animal hair. Given that I would always put our little dog Shelly's fluff outside when I groomed her, I expect that's where it came from. Awww. Dust to dust, op-shop to op-shop*, hair to nest.



* What my daughter and I always say when some garment, bought from the op-shop, is finally discarded and returned.

4 comments:

  1. IF i WAS CLOSER i WOULD GET MY BROOM AND HELP tidy up

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  2. Gosh you did have a blow. I always feel sad when nests get destroyed. To me they are one of the real wonders of the natural birdy world 'cos they do it all (almost) without any hands!

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  3. The new drive surface looks magnificent. Those muffin men seem to have done you proud in spite of their dumbness re. the garage door. Oh, and I know there's plenty more bamboo where that fallen cane came from - enough bamboo to feed half the pandas in China!

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  4. That's very nice to you John. Thank you! If you were closer, and helped me sweep, I would make you a batch of my famous spiced muffins.

    That's a good point Geeb. 'Look humans, no hands!'

    YP. Yes, I must show off the drive in a post. And, yes, plenty left!

    ReplyDelete

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