Invaders, thieves and Lagomorphs

Sometime last year our lounge room wall became occupied by a very large wasp nest. When the buzzing got to the point where we couldn't ignore it any longer we called in pest control.  He managed to kill the wasps just in time - they had very nearly eaten through the plasterboard.  Last week, prompted by my mad impulse to paint the lounge, P cut out the old plaster and uncovered the remains of the nest.

 

Of course the picture doesn't do it justice. The nest was beautifully crafted and papery thin. It's a bit of a shame that we had to remove it.

Our garden is under attack by this guy:

He's Mr. Big in our local Rainbow Lorikeet community. He lets his mate eat and jealously guards the whole tree from other lorikeets. We did manage to save some plums for ourselves and will leave the rest of the fruit for the birds to fight it out.

Our family has expanded once again. A couple of days ago we adopted two 9 mth old rabbit sisters and have named them Hazel and Nutmeg. They are settling in well with their new housemates Cuddlepie, Laura and Mary. Mary seems quite keen on Nutmeg and is often to be seen trying to rub noses with her.

 

 

putting finishing touches on the new enclosure

H's first driving lesson

The Giants Movie

Goodbye old, hello new

R stepped on a bee yesterday and was stung on her toe. The sting is huge and so the pain was pretty excruciating for her. P, H and I nervously watched over her for a while afterwards, taking her pulse and cooling her hot little face and fetching all her favorite comfort toys. She's never had any major illnesses or accidents and we were worried that she'd have an allergic reaction. Luckily she recovered fairly quickly.

bee sting at 60X magnification

Our summer holidays began with a bang as it does every year. Our band played at the local Carols by Candlelight and finished off with a laser light show which was..well..slightly boring, but then came the fireworks and they were spectacular.

the band. photos by H

The next day we left to spend a few days with Auntie H and Uncle M in Glenorchy. After a tremendous downpour the nearby river swelled and threatened to break it's banks yet again. Luckily it began to recede after a couple of days and we spent our days playing, sleeping, dog patting, op shopping and H learned to drive.

a family of swans coming to check us out

hanging out on the main drag at Glenorchy with Auntie H

a night walk

swollen river

the water level almost reaching the road

river photos taken by H

H having a driving lesson with Uncle M

Christmas was hot and there was too much food and way too many presents, so really it was everything it was supposed to be and we had a lovely time with our families. On Boxing Day we all got down to work - I started painting the lounge room, P began building the new guinea pig/rabbit complex in the garden, H made her first stop animation film and R.. well I don't really remember what she did but I'm sure it was fun!
After a hot and humid week at home, we loaded up the car and drove to Mt Beauty for a lovely spot of camping by the Kiewa River.

the view from our tent

our campsite

camp cousins

the maiden voyage of our Aldi kayak

fishing

caught! a three eyed fish

Andy Goldworthy inspired art

making a stone mobile

a very Happy Camper

Yabby rescue. This one was tangled in fishing line attached to a lure. P managed to untangle him safely and send him on his way.

Our very generous shade tree

 

Lake Guy at Bogong Village

Kiewa River

P just about to scatter his dad's ashes into the river

singing a song for Granddad

a collection of river stones to remember the day

Lunch and a beer for Ron

stopped at Benalla to catch the rocket ship home

So that's been our summer so far. P still has three weeks of holidays left and we have many more adventures in store...