A swim in the dam
We love being taken down to our dam, and it’s even better when there is water in it! Our dry season is roughly from May to September (the cooler months) so summer usually sees our dam filling a few times:
Tropical Evening Chorus
Sometimes during this time of the year there’s no point in Nan & Pop having the TV going ‘cos they can’t hear it for the songs of the frogs, toads and crickets. The noise is even worse after rainfall and during the evening. Nan & Pop like the noise though because it is a sound of the tropics; reminiscent of balmy evenings, salt pools and palm trees.
Nan has taken a video just so that you can listen to these tropical noises for yourself. She stood just outside the family room sliding door. This is what we hear. Make sure you’ve got your sound on!
It took some time and a number of reference books but Nan has identified the types of frogs and toad responsible for those noises.When she can she will post their names and pics.
Paperbark Trees & Swimming Pools
Summer around here is usually heralded by a number of things. The weather warms up, of course, and the humans complain about the humidity, but there are other tell-tale signs.
For instance, our paperbark (melaleuca) trees shed their bark. This goes on throughout summer as the new bark underneath is revealed. The paperbark isn’t used for many things but it is used by the Aborigines for such things as containers, totem poles, seal for ovens and canoes. Paperbark is also used for habitat for shelter when on “walkabout” around the countryside. And the thick old paperbark trucks provide hollows especially when fires occur during dry season:
The second absolute indicator of summer being here is our summer pool looks more inviting if you were a crocodile than a dog or human. There are swamps around that are less dirty than our pool at the moment:
No doubt Pop will have it clean and ready for use just in time for it to be too cold for Nan to swim.
About me
My proper name is Thomas. I was born on 21 February 2007 and I live with my human Nan & Pop on a 20 acre block off the Warrego Highway near Blacksoil in Queensland, Australia.
Other members of my family living with me include my mother (Sammy), my litter brofur (Raja), my litter sisfur (Elisabeth), 2 cats, horses and a multitude of wild birds.
I have been raised with devotion, care and attention, and I am intelligent, friendly and playful.
What I am like?
Well, for one thing, I love to herd. I herd Nan & Pop, and our chickens. I am very active, so it is lucky we live on 20 acres. My favourite game is catching the frisbee, which I’ll always bring back to your feet for another throw. I am very intelligent, loving and gentle, but I do not particularly like anyone (including Pop) getting close to Nan, and I will put myself in between.
At 4pm every day we feed lots of wild birds (like cockatoos, galahs, lorikeets, corellas etc) and I have learned not to chase or scare them away. We also have a few horses here but I am a little bit scared of them – if they come my way when I am out in the paddocks, I will go inside the house.
I love a car ride too. When Pop is going out in the RV ute, I know that I am going too if Nan puts my collar on, and I get extremely excited and stick to Pop like glue, herding him. But if she doesn’t put my collar on, I know that I’m not allowed to go with Pop this time and instead I go up to the front gate to wait for Nan to open it for Pop to go out.
We are Pop’s “In-car Security System”
My favourite games are frisbee and soccer, and I loves my tennis balls. I also have a glow-in-the-dark frisbee so we can play at night. Makes it easier to find when Nan throws it into the trees, too. I almost always catch the frisbee, even when Pop throws it a long way. Sometimes my sister Elisabeth beats me to catch it, which means I have to chase her around to get it off her. But I always bring it back to Pop to throw again. After we play with the frisbee, we usually have a swim in the pool to cool off, as we get quite hot (Nan & Pop call it “long tongue”).
I love a game of soccer, too, playing with all the other dogs to get the ball and run for a try. We have 15 soccer balls and 11 tennis balls to play with.
We are funny with the pool. When it is sparkling clean, we have to be encouraged to swim and we usually just walk around in the shallow end. But when it is dirty (like a swamp) we leap in and swim around, just like the dam at the bottom of our block. Strange.
Nan has a special tune on her mobile phone that only Pop’s number activates, and we dogs know that tune. As soon as it plays we get excited, because we know it’s our Pop calling. We try to herd Nan up to the gate to open it to let Pop’s car in, which we are allowed to get in for the short ride to the garage. If Nan is out of earshot of her mobile when Pop rings, we will find her and let her know that Pop has rung.
I am devoted to my sister, brother and mother. In fact, I eat from the same bowl as my sister. When we were very little, Nan tried to give us a bowl each but we both got very confused and ran from one bowl to the other, and ended up eating from the same bowl together. So we got a big bowl and we share our meal.
We have two cats now, and I consider them a part of the family. I always give way to them and have never chased them. I love their food and I used to sit waiting patiently until they have eaten their fill, then move in to clear up any leftovers. My brother Raja was usually right there with me in this activity, seeing which of us could get it first. Both of us also used to like to get the empty cat food tin so we could lick it clean. But I suffered Pancreatitis in November 2010 so we no longer get any fatty treats, including cat food leftovers *looks sad*.
Where in the world are you?
puppynumber7 