Work and other things around the property

Today was quite a busy day for us on a number of fronts.

A first step was to get some seeding happening as reported in this. 

I then did some orchid hunting and identification as covered, with a lot of other stuff, here.

We also, hopefully, took some helpful actions regarding the small dog and the local reptiles.  The main part of this was to install 3 snake repellers.  I have positioned them so that they form a band covering the width of the garden, and with any luck they will stop snakes from coming anywhere that Tammy goes without direct supervision.

We acquired them through the local agent of the manufacturer whose contact details will be made available on request.  Frances reckoned they sounded - from the description - like the 'thumpers' in Frank Herberts 'Dune' series (but in reverse since the vibrations dissuaded, rather than attracted, the target species).

In the afternoon I took my sorry body for a short run from the intersection of Captains Flat Road and Widgiewa Rd back to home.  This is about 3.8km, with a fairly serious hill in the middle.

So I took the small dog along.  Now she had never run before she joined us, and probably hasn't done a lot of medium distance running as such since then.  Today she took off like a rocket and basically went very well for about the first 2.5km.  Then she started to slow down a bit.  Until we crossed Whiskers Creek, in our property and she spotted a bunch of roos.  Predatory drift works both ways: not only
  • do large dogs have the red veil descend when a small dog is around; but also
  • small dogs get affected when they spot something furry and potentially edible (even if it is 20 x their weight). Tammy is normally (now) quite responsive to basic commands, but if she decides  that something needs to be attended to with maximum prejudice, I think one could give her a many volt jolt and she'd just ignore it.  She is essence of terrier.
Such things are what endears her to us.

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