While the northern hemisphere is enjoying Summer, we down south are settling into Winter, with its chill days and long nights.
Although the critters never need an excuse to sleep, as we approach Winter solstice, napping has been elevated to an Olympic sport.
Photo caption: Wake me when it’s dinner time
Photo caption: Wake me when it’s Spring.
Keres,
She’s lovely. Does she “patrol the perimeter” like our Jezzie did? And how big is the perimeter?
There’s about a kilometre of perimeter, and most of that is around our bush reserve. She’s only allowed into the bush on lead (we walk there almost every day), so that she doesn’t chase the paddymelons and wallabies. We want the wildlife to feel at home, and thus far they’ve figured out that she is not able to chase her, and usually just move-off a bit rather than running away.
Also, unfortunately, she’ll leave our land if allowed to roam at will (she can squeeze through most of the existing fences), so we keep her fenced in or tethered depending on where she wants to be. We’re re-fencing a large area behind the house so that she can have it to run about as well.
Pyrs are known for their tendancy to take themselves on “adventures” of a few days or so. Which, if you’ve got an adventurer (Luna is and Ursula was), means good, tall, sturdy and even eletrified fences are a must.
How well I know this. Our Jezzie would wait, patiently, oh so patiently, until she thought we were gone. Then she’d run up to the gate from about 20 feet out and body slam it, over and over and over, until the gate fell off its hinges. When the gate had been demolished she’d take herself for a l-o-n-g walk, one that once ended up with her being incarcerated for a holiday weekend in the local pound.
She’s been gone for about 8 years. The gate still bears the scars.
My first Pyr, Ursula got loose one day. Hot on her tail I started driving the neighborhood. Within a half-an-hour she had been spotted over 5 miles north. An hour and a half later I found her only a block from home, wet and slimy from swiming in the irrigation canals, and pleased a punch to see me.
She also climbed over a six-foot chain link fence (I saw her doing it, but wasn’t fast enough to stop her), and I chased her through several fields of cows before she deigned to be caught.
And the body slamming! People don’t really believe that they don’t bite – they just body slam their foes, and their foes don’t stand a chance. I’ve been knocked off my feet several times (as in, up-ended) when playing with a Pyr, and I’d hate to ever be on the receiving end of a full-on WWF Pyr-slam.
oh. yeah. and they so it with such innocence..
“oh my, just look at you lying on the ground there. shall I lick your face? perhaps lie on top of you? will that help???”
I do miss her, but I’d never have a Pyr in the city again. They have a work ethic that doesn’t fit city life.
A guy I knew, who had two Pyrs, told me of coming home to find a man lying in his front yard, with one Pyr on top of him and the other close by. It seems the fellow had done some work on the house the week before – so the dogs knew him. He had evidently cased the place and come back to steal the electronic appliances. The dogs, who had seen the fellow allowed in before, saw no reason to keep him out of the house. But once they figured out he was taking things, they decided to knock him down and sit on him till their owner got home.
Sensible creature.
Luna is much happier now that she has the alpacas to watch.
And speaking of Luna, it’s time for our mid-day walk. Be back in a few hours.
Ursula is the one on the right. To the left are Bekka, her daughter, and Bart, her son. Ursula and Bekka are many years gone, and my Ex got Bart when we split, as he was really her dog. If he’s still around, he’d be 11yo this month.
what’s a “paddymelon”?
A paddymelon is a small, fat-bottomed kangaroo (about two-feet-tall), and bane of our gardening efforts.
When we see them in the bush, it’s like “awwwwwwww, they’re so cute.” When we see them in the garden, it’s like “#@*%#@ vermin, get away from there!”
We’re still trying to find a new name for him. If only I could only find something in Quechuan that means “great ears.”
Sandy is a three-year-old wether (neutered male). He must have been neutered early, as he looks very much like a female, and is even slighter than Nina.
Nina and Inti seem much more relaxed in their expanded herd.
Inti has quite the skinny neck! 🙂
Uh, not sure if you are joking or not. Inti is the little guy with the brown fleece in the middle – which makes it hard to see his skinny neck.
From left to right: Sandy (3yo wether), Inti (6mos male) & Nina (8yo [pregnant] female).
Yes, I was referring to Nina’s neck! 🙂
He looks like a papillon. Is French acceptable?
Since I’m a bit of an amateur polyglot I can do a bit of translation. Papillon means butterfly, and butterfly in Spanish is Mariposa, and Mariposa in Quechuan is Pilpintu (I had to look the last one up).
If we shortened that into a call name we end up with either “Pill” or “Pintu,” or perhaps “Pilly.”
I was thinking of the dog papillon – same hairy ears. Shortened to Pappy – almost sounds like Sandy. Unless he’s got a thing about the ‘S.’
I know a dog named Peggy who despises anyone whose name starts with a P. She owns that letter and particularly hates poodles.
I just love seeing all your animals. Can I come and visit when I get to Australia? WAY in the future for me – probably another life.
Bring us some lucern hay, and some oaten chaff while you’re at it.
and now I can only settle for a neon blue one – prehensile of course.
They are wonderful Andi – where are they native to?
and they are native to the northeastern U.S. (I’m in Indiana).
Cool blue-tailed skinks!
I love the electic blue some animals have.
Blue at the other end.
Blue-Tongue Skink.
Hi keres. It looks to much like a snake for me. 🙁
So how is winter treating you?
It is easy to mistake a Blue-Tongue for a snake. Which means I’ve jumped a few times before I figured out it was a gigantic lizard only a few feet away (all of our snakes are poisonous and one is deadly). Most Blue-Tongues have about a hectacre territory that they defend (even from snakes), which means we’ve got at least 5 living here – and thankfully, no snakes.
Blue-Tongues are slow and easy to pick-up. I usually check them for ticks, which they almost aways have. Imogen and I had to remove two ticks from one poor Blue-Tonges ears.
Winter has been dry. Which means we’ve already had to buy water (when I finish setting up all the tanks, we should have about 12,000 gallons of rain water storage – enough for about 6 months). Otherwise we have to have it delivered at $90 for 3,000 gallons.
Other than that, and sunset by 5pm, it’s been a good Winter thus far.
Lizards usually don’t bother me at all, but when it’s a close up like that, watch out. I’m sure I could win any race around. 🙂
Glad you got your water tanks filled. BTW what type of disinfection method do you use?
Disinfection?
We don’t.
I have a particulate filter that I run the roof-caught water through on it’s way up to the 5,000 gal. header tank (gravity gives us about 6psi of water pressure).
Beyond that, I count on any debris sinking to the tank bottoms, where the water is largely anerobic and organic matter is unlikely to rot.
The outlet hose from the header tank is just high enough from the bottom to keep from drawing off these sediments.
Cleaning the tank every few years gets rid of any build up.
If bird flu comes to Tasmania, I’ll probably add bleach. Possums can carry shigella (a form of dysentary), but Luna keeps them away from the house and sheds. Other than that, we’ll take our chances, and probably be healther for building up the immunities.
The reason I asked is because one of my jobs way back when was checking potable water. Routine checks like chlorine and pH, but yearly a very detailed summary of all things inside it.
I figure if it works for you, go with it. 🙂
I didn’t think you were just being nosey. 😉
I do take our water quality seriously, especially since our housemate has an auto-immune disease and takes immuno-supressants. But short of spending some hefty cash for a filtration system, or adding chemicals, what we’ve got in place, diversion screens, HDPE pipes, etc. does a good job – if you can keep the critters at bay.
Love it! LOL
That’s really it’s tongue huh? Or did it just drink the kool aid?
I can speak from personal experience. We have several about the place and when harried, they always stick out their tongue, and hisssssssssss. Ours have electric colbalt blue colored tongues.
Most Blue-Tongues are about one-foot-long, although they can get up to two-feet-long. They are live-bearers (skinks have live young, lizzards lay eggs, in case you wondered what the difference was), and have 5-12 young at a time.
Tasmania has 19 skinks, and one lizard.
But perhaps they have a taste for importing and eating five lined skink tails. 😉
Jus’ kidding.
My sister claims that this little kitten of hers is even cuter than a panda. I’m inclined to agree on some level.
It’s a tough call. But you’ve got the cute baby thing happening, which skews the results.
A fairer contest might look like this.
Kitten v. Panda: Kitten
Cat v. Panda: Panda
Kitten v. baby Panda: baby Panda
Cat v. baby Panda: baby Panda
Clearly, pandas come out ahead.
But that is one cute kitten.
Su Lin is just about as cute as it gets, so I’m inclined to be swayed by your argument that baby pandas are indeed cuter than kittens.
No shame in coming in a close second to a baby panda. And although Albert’s many fans may disagree, even Albert “cutest of all possible pets” may not be as cute as a baby panda.
She might be right on this one … 🙂
Just got in from a big session of watering around here, with the dogs out lounging in their favorite spots, so thought I would include them. So here’s Pepa and Rolly relaxing in one of their favorite spots in the back, right next to the perimeter of the veggie garden and the back flower corner (mess at the present!)
Hey Keres, fantastic pics of the critters up thread there, and Andi, thx for reposting that skink pic! Though I think Keres might have a future in taking monster skink pics for some Japanese mutant monster movie… 🙂
His mother was a purebred Yorkshire Terrier but she strayed with a mystery dog that jumped over the fence. Max is the result. He is extra long and has a serious overbite. He is going to the vet on Monday about his teeth and nails and [censored]. He is only 9 months old.
Right now he is on probation with me for a trial period before the adoption is final. It’s 1:40 am and so far this night Max has howled at the tenants downstairs, a dog walking outside the house and my friend who is visiting when she dared to leave her room.
I moved into my office with him and forced him to stay in his bed. Saying “Stay” over and over and over and now finally he gave in and fell asleep beside me.
He is really a reincarnation of Toto.
no cockatiels?
This is Jodie who we rescued from my mother, since Mom is injured and no longer able to care for her. Jodie was abandoned at my mother’s house by her former owners some ten years ago and my mother thinks she is around 15 years old or so.
As you can see, Jodie can’t use one of her front legs, but manages to compensate. When we rescued her she had been neglected and was very skinny, but now she seems happy and is fleshing out a bit.
My question has to do with the Advantage flea treatments. I really don’t like poisoning my animals to kill their fleas, but the fleas get really bad around here in the Spring, and it’s our only option for our pet’s and our own relief and comfort.
We only have to do it once a year, and all of our animals have been able to tolerate it. I just don’t know with Jodie, since she is old and frail, if it is good idea for her, and would love to get your input.
My son informs me that we are using the Frontline flea treatments.