The House(s) of Fran_mart

 To begin with, many thanks to Wildlife Rescue Victoria and Fire Rescue Victoria whose efforts made this story have a happy ending.  On our morning walk this morning we were on the Punt Rd side of Fawkner Park when my attention was grabbed by a lot of noise from Noisy Miners.  On peering into the afflicted tree I spotted a Tawny Frogmouth tangled in some line. I rang Wildlife Rescue who asked for help from the Fire Brigade, and sent a volunteer.  The volunteer rang me to say he was incoming.  He received a call from the fire people to say they were coming as well and found a bug red truck in his mirrors.  They all arrived pretty promptly from St Kilda. Initially with some basic equipment. Then some more advanced equipment arrived from a specialist unit in Richmond. Lots of expert help! It was very impressive watching how they set about this task. Lots of onlookers! The Frogmouth flapped about a bit at this stage - proving it was still alive.  The climber captured it and calmed it down.

 By way of getting a bit organised on 2 November - and being focussed as the passerine broke wind on 3 November - we pulled out of our drive at 0655.  We got to Orbost by 0730 without seeing a single car going in our direction - and very few going the other way.  Overall there was very little traffic and we got to 505 in just over 6 hours, including a 15 minute stop at the Yarragon spud shop to grab a few interesting sauces as well as 10kg of Sebago. Temperatures along the way had been interesting.  Very warm overnight so it was about 19C as we left home, rising to 21Cas we got to Genoa.  By Bairnsdale (0845ish) it was up to 29C.  However by the time we left the Latrobe Valley it was down to 22C where it stayed.  The apartment was also at 22C. We went shopping in Prahran, making it across Fawner Park despite much of the grass being taken up by flannelled fools.   We sat out in the Winter Garden with the louvres open, letting in a very pleasant breeze. About 1730hrs I was struck by the