New Life

     Yes the heavy rain that was forecast came and deluged us. I tried an experiment by covering some of the footings holes with pieces of corrugated iron to try and reduce the amount of water that would go in the holes. When I went and checked it after a few inches of rain, it very obviously had not worked at all. It had gotten to the point where we really didn't care if it rained even more, because the holes were so full they were overflowing.  The good news is that I found a frog happily living under one of the pieces of corrugated iron, quite pleased with the new pond that it had found itself. Whilst we are waiting for the weather to be suitable in order to make progress on building the house, the life that abounds here does not wait for anything.

     Within a couple of weeks of the trees being cleared, there were little seedlings everywhere. Acacia, grass, and more that I don't know. The willy-wagtails were being challenged for territory by the swallows, who  were literally dive-bombing them with poos. We've seen a few different frogs around, and it's gotten to the point where we don't even run and grab the camera anymore. I saw three big kangaroos on the driveway the other morning, just passing through. I am slowly raking the dirt to create pathways and sort out the rocks, and the disadvantage of this is that I am killing some of these new seedlings. I am making sure that I take it slow so that I am not destroying too much at once. Meanwhile I have been busy mattocking little runnels for the water to run off and hopefully drain a bit quicker, to reduce the muddiness around the house site, the tank site and the driveway. It's certainly amazing how much water continues to run off the land even hours and days after the last shower of rain. If I manage to get myself organised, I might even be able to set up an official pond while all the water is still running.