Bonne Chance: Happy Cat Nap

Our sun-drunk feral friend pretending to be an ordinary domesticated pet.

Leaf Cutter Bee in Cosmos

Snagged a few minutes this week for photography, at last. It must have been my week for insects as I bagged a few goodies, the first of which to share is this Leaf Cutter Bee. Ive seen their handiwork about the garden, and Ive seen them muscle bits of leaf into cracks in the brickwork of my house. Too bad they are too busy to wait till Ive got the macro lens on.

She's more articulate than I am lately

Here our trusty Land Rover Discovery powers her way up a punishing 4WD trail somewhere in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales. You can not only see some good wheel articulation, but you can also just glimpse the new front diff guard* underneath. (Its the bit thats still shiny.) Later in the day our new rear diff guard* paid for itself by taking a nice hit during a water crossing - but no pics of that this time.

Anyhow, here is a shot from the top for you to enjoy.


* diff guards
Metal housing designed to protect your differential**

** differential
(disclaimer: this is a nutshell explanation - do not write and complain)
A vehicle's wheels do not always rotate at the same speed (like when going around corners) Your differential compensates for that, preventing one wheel spinning while the other drags.

So obviously, 'cracking a diff' leaves you S.O.L.***

*** S.O.L.
S**t out of luck.

Just a picture today

Sulphur Crested Thugs

Another archive shot. Sulphur Crested Cockatoos prune my Acacia Cultriformis last August. As you can see, I wasnt able to sneak up on these guys to get better shots. To add insult, they mocked me from thier aerial retreat.

3WD Action

I snapped this one at a recent 4WD rally event that The Most DH and I attended. We had a great day and the only damage sustained was the passenger side mirror got ripped right off.

Hey! That tree jumped right out in front of us, shouting "Stop logging now or there will be more attacks!"

Honestly.

Bonne Chance: Quo Vadis?

Our feral friend had what I call an "away day" yesterday. Where do you go Mate? And what happened that you return to me with a limp?

Of his dog attack wounds - still no luck tracking the blighter - all but one have healed. But that one has formed an abscess. He has let me work on it a bit, however, he clearly could use some professional help as he also has a bad case of truly foul diarrhea. Truly foul diarrhea that he has little control of.

Where are my gum boots? I need gum boots - STAT!

My last attempt to crate him for the vet left me with some angry red souvenirs, and a painful morning with the cotton balls and antiseptic...so no luck there yet. He clearly remembers the last time I boxed him.

I cant blame him for my wounds, I pushed it past where I should have backed off. This pesky 'doing the right thing' feeling is a tough one to shake off, even if you arent sure if you are - or not.

If he does not get rapidly better, I may have to rent a trap. Not that I think he'd fall for it - not for a minute! But Id rather not wait till he is too weak to fight me. And now with this new limp...well...

_______________________________

This pic of him is from a happier day early this month.