At my place...

[Bluenose]

Hi siblings!

This is what was on the other side of my back fence last night.  Aussies often joke that Americans think we have kangaroos running down the middle of the street all the time.  Well, I often have them over my fence, I suppose that's close enough!  Oh, and before you ask, yes, that is a female with a joey in the pouch.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Roos! 

[Darlica]

Having the wildlife on your backyard is fantastic isn't it.
Growing up somewhat on the countryside, that's one of the things I miss the most living in the city.
No kangaroos on my backyard though (no polar bears either BTW), mostly red deers, hares and mooses. 


Thank you for sharing the pics Blue nose.

[pieces o nine]

An old friend was married in Montana and one of the high points for them was the moose (plural) that came to the wedding.   

I see that kangaroos crash weddings on Oz. 

[Bluenose]

Yeah, having wildlife in or next to your backyard is really great.  We get a lot of native birds in our yard - we planted native plants specifically to attract them - and that is a constant joy.

These roos (eastern grey kangaroos) live on the land surrounding the quarry which is on the other side of our back fence.  There is a mob of about 30 according to some info I have read, but I've never seen more than about 7 or 8 at a time.  In the last few months we've been seeing a lot more of them, once or twice a week, but then since we work, they may well be around a lot more than that.  When we moved in here, we deliberately did not plant a lot of tall plants along the fence or otherwise blocked out the view, since this end of the quarry is well vegetated and we "borrow" the vista to make our garden look bigger.  This works very well and although as you can see in the photos we have a chain wire fence, we find that the fence effectively disappears from view and the effect works very well - plus we get to see kangas from time to time.  Most, if not all of our neighbours did the obvious thing and have planted against the boundary, probably for privacy reasons, but the area which looks a lot like a park is not open to the public so the only people we ever see there are workmen who are only there occasionally and only during working hours, so in the evening or on the weekend, which is when we usually use the garden, there's no one there.  Aren't we just the smarty pantses?   

I find myself feeling very fortunate that we have this at our home.  On the other hand I find the idea of having deer and moose very exotic and exciting.   

Obviously this does not bear up to too close an inspection, after all, it is hardly surprising that other places have other animals around.  Sill, what seems mundane to one person can be very extraordinary to someone else, and I always try to remember just how lucky I am to live where I do.  I say this not because I think Australia is better than anywhere else, only that I firmly believe you should learn to appreciate those things about your own place that are worthy of consideration.  Mrs Blue and I both take delight in the critters we find in our garden which include an enormous number of different insects and spiders, not the scary ones for the most part, but lots of very beautiful ones and exquisite little ones.  We get some simply stunning caterpillars and beetles and then there are lots of common garden skinks (lizards) which despite their "commonness" are the most extraordinarily beautiful little animals with bronze and iridescent colouring, if you only take the time to look closely.  We have frogs that call out from our pond and stunningly gorgeous dragonflies and damselflies.  One advantage we have learned from all this close observation of our own tiny little bit of the country is that it has taught us how to look at wherever we are.  We find that when we go places we see all sorts of things that are not immediately obvious to the eye, but are often there in plain view if only you know how to look.  It is a great way to be, wherever you are, and sometimes you can find things for free that are far more beautiful and more interesting than many of the things that cost you a lot of spondoulah to look at.  Try it, you won;t be disappointed!

[Sibling DavidH]

We have lots of deer in Herefordshire, but you won't see any unless you get up early and go very quietly to the right place.  You can walk in a wood where every inch of ground has a deer print, but you won't see any.

[Griffin NoName]

We have urban foxes. Not the nice plump red fur ones found in the countryside, but almost grey scraggy utterly awfully thin  ones which have lost their fear of humans. Many people like them but I cannot stand them. Plus they screech a lot at night (during mating) which gets tedious.

[Opsa]

I planted a hedgerow all around our property to attract wildlife.

We get lots of birds: cardinals, blue jays, goldfinches, hose finches, sparrows, chickadees, titmice, robins, starlings, grackles, nuthatches, juncos, crows, hummingbirds, swallows, red-winged blackbirds, occasionally a hawk or falcon, and others like rose-breasted grossbeaks and orioles. I have a birdbath and feeder for them, too.

For animals we get racoons, red foxes, grey squirrels, white tailed deer, little brown bats, lots of tree frogs and toads, garter snakes, black rat snakes, etc. I wish we got lizards. I love lizards. There are probably little skinks out there, but I haven't seen any.

Love the bugs, too. We get bumblebees, honeybees, carpenter bees, ants of several kinds, moths and butterflies of several kinds and their caterpillar forms (I especially like sphinx moths, luna moths, and tiger swallowtails) spiders, wasps (not so fond of them), dragonflies  and probably lots of others. Don't forget the fleas and gnats!

I enjoy looking at the creatures, admiring them, watching them live their lives. Most of them are beautiful. I guess they all are, in their own way.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

With all those birds?  I betcha you don't have an outside cat... right?



Sounds lovely.

[Sibling DavidH]

We put out a lot of food for the birds, too, but we don't see that many species.  As Bob says, that'll be next doors' cats.

We have a resident squirrel whose mission in life is to get at the bird food.

[Opsa]

I do have an indoor/outdoor cat. She is roly poly but she does manage to catch various things and sometimes brings them inside. That's how I saw my first baby bluejay. He was the prettiest and most furious little thing, ever. I finally got him onto a broom and carried him outside again.

She's also brought in rabbits and chipmunks (not listed above) and snakes. All were escorted back outside if not deceased. I do not scold her, since I know it's just her instincts at work.

It must be fun to see wild kangaroos. Those photos are charming.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

I do enjoy watching the YouTube of squirrels out-thinking the various anti-squirrel things.

One of the funniest was a pair of cooperative squirrels:  one held the tipping-cone steady, while the other climbed up and threw out all the seeds-- whereupon both had a lovely dinner of birdseed.   It was a truly amazing display of cooperation. 

[pieces o nine]

One Friday night after work in Wiscaaaahnsin I packed up the car and headed out to see friends in another county for the weekend. About 2 miles out, I realized I'd forgotten something and returned home. As my headlights strafed the garage, I saw a gang of racoons, paws in the air, guilty as sin, man,  caught in flagrante delicto  by the garbage. I'd never seen them before -- didn't even know they were around. This remains one of my favorite urban wildlife sightings.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

I've seen racoons at the garbage bin, we have some resident squirrels and bluejays, plus the frequent visits of ducks, ibises, mockingbirds, clans of parrots flying by, and lately, to the great discomfort of my 'tiels, a hawk that seems to crave them in the worse possible way, but -fortunately- can't get them through the screen. Not that far (the canal 300 mts from here) I've seen a medium size alligator (just 2 meters long), plus plenty of white, and great blue herons.

Not that close from home, in the Everglades National Park we saw this past weekend among other birds, a flock of flamingos flying by, which is possibly one of the most wonderful sightings I had since I saw toucans, monkeys, hawks, and wild turkeys in the Yucatan peninsula, all of them free in their habitat. It may sound ironic, but watching that flock flying high made me incredibly happy as opposed to all the other captive flamingos I've seen up close in parks here in FL.

[Pachyderm]

I feel a bit guilty. You all seem to be interested in and aware of the various forms of wildlife around you, and enjoy having the beasties around.

I actually get paid to go and look for stuff like that, and to give people advice on what to do with the various forms of wildlife they may encounter.

But when not working, I loaf around, and try to avoid going outside as much as possible, to enjoy being indoors, warm and dry.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

But when not working, I loaf around, and try to avoid going outside as much as possible, to enjoy being indoors, warm and dry.

There ain't a thing wrong with that-- sometimes, what we really want, is contrast from what we were doing all day--for several days straight.

For example, I work on A/C's from spring to summer, including installs.   When I moved in to my current house?  It had nothing but window units.  I immediately had big plans on salavaging a working used central A/C, and retrofitting it.  That was... 7?  Seven or so years ago:  I have the working, used unit sitting outside, waiting.  I have a choice of several indoor coils.  The copper tubing is not a problem.  

What I don't have?  Is the wherewithal to work on my own house.    

[Griffin NoName]

That's often the cost of a job Pachy; chefs often don't cook at home, etc.

In a Somerset zoo some lemurs have worked out how to adjust the thermostat on a heater (since the cold weather and snow arrived), and also take turns wrapping themselves round the heater. I like it when animals co-operate; it shows they do actually have empathy.

[Darlica]

So this was it looked like at my place (my mothers place actually) today.
A gorgeous winters day: -16 degrees and sunshine.  







This is the view from my window.



Sometimes it's quite nice to be a grown up, like when you want to make an ice lantern and it seems like a good idea to do do the emptying and carving in the bathroom!


Only birds out today, fox trails in the ice though.  

[Opsa]

Wow, gorgeous photos! I have never seen an ice lantern. That's so cool!

Zono's post made me remember an African friend we had. He was vastly amused at the squirrels. We said eh- squirrels are cute, but they're a dime a dozen around here. He said bah- all they have in the back yard in Africa are monkeys. Boring! I guess it all depends on where you're coming from.

[Pachyderm]

You take a fine photo, Darli. Love the view from the window one.

[Darlica]

Thank you Opsa and Pachy!

I couldn't resist to make lanterns now when it's so cold. I wanted to do one for Xmas bot it wasn't cold enough.

If one want to go beyond the basic bucket+ water + subzero temperature= lantern it's rather easy to decorate by carving the ice.  



Squirrels are both cute and fascinating as well as vicious critters. Of some sad reason we don't have many squirrels around here any more:  I miss the little rascals.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Okay, I love that ice lantern-- and I get the freeze water in a bucket thing too.

So.  What's next?  Do you use a blowtorch to remove the center hole?  Or is that part of the bucket-molding process?  (a plastic tube ought to work, or even a cardboard tube covered with a plastic bag, filled with rocks to sink it...)   Or do you use a knife or drill?

And what's the lantern's light made of?  A candle?  An oil lamp, or an electric (waterproof) bulb?   I'd love to make one for here--even though it'd only last a day or two.

Beautiful effect, though.

[Griffin NoName]

I love the photo of the huge field of unbroken snow - no footprints.

[Sibling DavidH]

Lovely photos, Darli.  I would really love to live there, too .... for about a week.  Then I'd start longing for warmth.

[Darlica]

Okay, I love that ice lantern-- and I get the freeze water in a bucket thing too.

So.  What's next?  Do you use a blowtorch to remove the center hole?  Or is that part of the bucket-molding process?  (a plastic tube ought to work, or even a cardboard tube covered with a plastic bag, filled with rocks to sink it...)   Or do you use a knife or drill?

And what's the lantern's light made of?  A candle?  An oil lamp, or an electric (waterproof) bulb?   I'd love to make one for here--even though it'd only last a day or two.

Beautiful effect, though.

It's not that complicated!
Plastic buckets are the best moulds, the softer rubbery plastic the better as the expanding ice will crack any brittle material.

The trick is to let the water freeze around the sides but not in the middle. How fast the water freezes depends on the temperature of cause. The walls if the lantern should be at least 1.5 cm preferably more. The ice in the bottom of the bucket will be thinner and will therefore be the open top of the lantern.

When the bucket is "half frozen", get the ice out gently, puncture the "bottom" as the ice is the weakest there and then empty the ice lantern. Widen the hole by carving an opening wide enough to fit your hand. If you don't want to carve use something hot (a heated screwdriver works well.)

For light source I use a tea candle in a glass jar (the jar helps to distribute the heat and saves the candle from drowning in melt water). However I think any light source that doesn't emit too much heat will do fine, I think led lights could be spectacular.
What one could do if using led light do a much smaller opening and play more with the shape of the lantern (like using a traffic cone as a mould).

For decoration: if the ice is thick enough you can carve patterns, otherwise to make the ice clear and crystal like, apply some heat. To make it look frosted, spray water on the ice and then scoop up snow on the wet area, after a few minutes brush of the excess snow (for this to work it has to be pretty cold).

Yes, Not only do I like to play with fire, I also like to play with Ice!


_{I have some more new photos at my flicr page. Take a peak if you like (and as usual if you see someting you like e-mail me for a better resolution pic).}

[pieces o nine]

Such lovely photos, Darlica, but they made me think about rustling up a sweater!   

[Darlica]

Thank you Pices!
That's a perfectly sound reaction it was -16 when I took them... Dry cold though since the lake has frozen over. Crisp and nice winters day!

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Sweet-- so simple, it never occurred to me to just empty the excess water once the outside edges were frozen enough.  Love it.

[Swatopluk]

I'd have expected a smaller in a bigger bucket with just the room between filled with water

[Aggie]

I like the simple approach to the ice lanterns.

For those who *must* have a specific product to do this, I do know that molds (of Scandinavian design) are available to make star-shaped lanterns:
http://www.leevalley.com/us/gifts/page.aspx?cat=4,104,53208&p=52307

[Opsa]

I like the simple approach to the ice lanterns.

For those who *must* have a specific product to do this, I do know that molds (of Scandinavian design) are available to make star-shaped lanterns:
http://www.leevalley.com/us/gifts/page.aspx?cat=4,104,53208&p=52307

Wow, is that ever beautiful!

I wonder if one could use rubber gelatin moulds?

[pieces o nine]

Now the brain wheels are turning...

Using a mold-in-mold setup, freeze tinted water (e.g.: koolaid!).   

-or-

Freeze a shell of tinted water inside smaller mold, unmold and position inside larger mold, freezing clear water around it for a softer effect.

-OR!-

Freeze a shell of koolaid inside a BRAIN rubber gelatin mold for frosty halloweens!!1!!one!   

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

You could use readily available water-based paint powder-- back in the 90's when I was still volunteering right-and-left with kids programs, we used that stuff by the truck-load-- it comes in a variety of colors, but I know how to mix & blend the basic primary ones into whatever you want (except black--all three always ended up brown ... the pigments were not full-spectrum obviously).

But that water-based paint was nontoxic, water soluble and easily diluted.   Of course, liquid food coloring is just as easily available.   But the dry packets of Kool-Aid are cheap enough, and dissolve easily-even in cold water.   So... never mind.   

[Darlica]

Food rubber or silicon molds works excellent (there are mini molds for ice cubes in those materials) long they have some support to keep the shape.

Now the brain wheels are turning...

Using a mold-in-mold setup, freeze tinted water (e.g.: koolaid!).   

-or-

Freeze a shell of tinted water inside smaller mold, unmold and position inside larger mold, freezing clear water around it for a softer effect.

-OR!-

Freeze a shell of koolaid inside a BRAIN rubber gelatin mold for frosty halloweens!!1!!one!   

It seems I woke Pieces o nine evil genius side.  
You know I'd like to see some pictures from those experience...  

Be aware though sugar changes the freezing properties of the water (as do salts and acids).

[Swatopluk]

Actually anything dissolved does. But the effect of salt (ionic) in a polar liquid (water) is a good deal greater.

[Aggie]

Kool-aid packets typically are just dye and flavouring; the sugar is added separately.

Mom used to make homemade play-dough for us, and occasionally spike it with a Kool-aid pack to scent and colour it.

[Bruder Cuzzen]

Too COOL !

I want ice lanterns . Since it be sub zero centagrade these days I think a Frank Gery (sp?) type of thingie will go over well with me neighbors.

Or not ... there is a couple of architects two doors down ... at least they might like it 

Sibling blue , oi be jelly us m8 . Argh

[Sibling DavidH]

It would be a rare year when we had even a week of unbroken temperatures, so sadly these are not for us.  Lovely things, though.

[Bluenose]

G'day Brudder, great to see you round these parts.

Well I have to admit, that I am myself rather jealous of those ice lanterns, OTOH, I'm not at all jealous of the temperature required to have them - I reckon it's getting a bit chilly when the temperature gets down much below +5°C!   

BTW, the roos seem to have decided that behind our place is a good place to graze in the late afternoon - they seem to come around about the same time most days.  I do indeed count myself fortunate.

[Swatopluk]

We have -8°C at the moment but I do not have a good display option should I try to produce an ice lantern.

[Griffin NoName]

We were -6^o last night in London. Rarely that cold here. I now have a weather widget on my phone so I can see if it is snowing without leaving my bed.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Even in the worst winter an ice lantern would become a puddle in minutes here in South FL. 

Literally, cool things... 

[Opsa]

Aye, Blue. You ever see wild koalas?

[Bluenose]

Hi Opsa, no koalas around here, we have the wrong sort of Eucalyptus trees, but I've seen them plenty of times in the bush.  Also, there was one in one of the trees at my parents' house a few years ago.  Oh, and when we went to Kangaroo Island last year we had one in a tree right next to our camp site one night.  He put on quite a display for our benefit just on dusk.  It was simply fab!

Here's a picture of the cute little guy (it's not exactly at my place, except that I suppose you could say it was at my place when I was in camp - does that count?):

[Aggie]

Y'all have got me inspired to try this ice lantern thing (the temperature has been below zero here; there are lots of icicles hanging from the gutters).

I've just filled up a regular size balloon with water, placing it in a bowl for support. I was tempted to chuck it in the freezer, but the warmer temperatures outside (-5 C) should give me plenty of time to stop the freeze when there's still liquid water at the core. It should make a neat ice globe when it's done.

One could probably cobble together a globe out of two halves made in bowls, to achieve the same effect without the disposable balloon.

On a related note, I didn't get around to it at Halloween, but really wanted to try making a mummy lantern by wrapping a balloon with plaster tape (sold under the brand name Gypsona here; it's the stuff they used to use for making plaster casts for broken bones). It'd be a neat, reusable and cheap-to-make substitute for the typical pumpkin Jack-o-Lantern. The rolls of tape sell for a couple of bucks and would probably make a couple of lanterns each. I like the idea of the mummy masks because they wouldn't need any additional decoration, but one could make all sorts of different lanterns using the same process, and paint them however you like.  I use the stuff for mask-making as it's quick, easy and fun, plus the masks fit your face perfectly and are comfortable to wear. You can build up features with the plaster tape, paint the material directly or papier-mâché over it to smooth out the texture and build up features without adding much extra weight. Ops, this might be a good option for making masks for plays:
[youtube=425,350]IjdWH1G1GSA[/youtube]

[Opsa]

Awwwwwwwwwwww...! That little koala is lovely!

Smart idea, Aggie, the balloons.

It'll be arctic around here this week. Maybe I'll set out a pail of water and give it a go myself. Might as well have fun with the weather!