Rain clouds in December? Nope--just steam clouds from a coal fired power plant about 5 or 6 miles west of me. Telephoto shot taken from my back porch this morning just after sunrise. These actually do produce light snow crystals when it's cold enough.

Anthony, Della---Remember this?

Oh dear! That doesn't look good at all!

Current webcam shot of Hobart, Taz. Current Time 9:45AM Wed. Jan 7th, 2015 , or, 4:45PM, Tues. Jan. 6th, Chicago Time.

current temp is 70'F with a high temp near 80'F expected.

So jealous...

Me too!

Oh wow - I can almost picture where that cam must be situated. Great view! A sweltering day yesterday - it was 33 celsius out at Claremont where the show will be held this weekend. Today down here (Cygnet) it was humid, overcast and managed to ring out a little 'thunder-rain' (not enough to call a storm! ).

Della, just wondering if you remember when the ship, the 'Lake Illawarra' crashed into the Tasman bridge?

Oh! I meant to respond before... I'm too young to remember. (Only just!)

VOLES EAT TURKEY AND GIBLIT CAT FOOD!!! Can you believe it?

We've had a large feral tomcat in the area for a few years now and everybody just loves the guy; he is a very good hunter that never begs for hand outs unless he temporarily has a bad streak of hunting--which is seldom. Fact is, most of us only spot him twice a day as he makes his morning and evening hunting rounds, if then. This Christmas I thought I'd give him a Christmas treat so I waited and watched for him to make his evening round. When he came, I opened the can and put it on the patio bricks as he watched from a distance. When I tuned and went back inside, he came up and smelled it but never touched it. I left it there thinking he might return for it later but he didn't. This morning, when I pulled the blinds back, I saw two voles feasting away on that frozen cat food. I have since learned from others that the cat will only accept raw chicken; frozen is ok.

Yep! They tend to eat what they are used to eating or "grew up on". My pet (indoor) cat has been fed only crunchy kibble type food. If I offer canned, cooked or raw he turns his nose up on it.

A previous cat that I had grew up on canned cat food and refused to eat anything else! At least with canned food I could disguise necessary medication and she would eat it, no problem.

We have two feral cats here that I have trapped, spayed/neutered and released. They keep the moles/voles/mice population down. We give them warm places to be in the winter, haybales etc and we feed them year round. They've been around for 5 or 6 years now, which is amazing in this climate. They also know when it it Thanksgiving, I swear they smell the turkey cooking from wherever they are, and coming and park on the deck until I come through for them (with a big plate). We named them (Mrs. Whitepaws and Chester)

After I trapped and spayed the Mrs. Whitepaws, they warned me we may never see her again. Well, after keeping her caged in my garage healing for 4 days. I let her go that morning and she was back for lunch.

They work hard. We love them.=^..^=

Haha - cheeky voles belong in the tin! I wonder if it had been 'vole and giblet' flavour, would tomcat have eaten it then? Would the voles have eaten it then? Oh my Maybe this could distract them from eating lilies!

edit: Tracey, I think cats are smart enough to know which side their bread - or turkey - is buttered on! What a great arrangement to have with hard-working felines. Now I want to make cat faces everywhere too ^.^

Well, for me, the big discovery was that voles eat meat--something I never knew before. This gives me new avenues of control, since they will not touch conventional mouse or rat poison of any kind. I can sweeten this up a bit with anti-freeze and place cans inside a 4 inch PVC pipe.

I hope a 4 inch pipe will be small enough to prevent eating by non-target animals. Maybe a reducer at the end(s) would be better.....

I think it will be ok. A small opossum might possibly squeeze in, but these tubes would be at ground level and buried with snow.

True, but the smell would attract animals that wouldn't necessarily see it. Reducers sounds like a good idea. Don't want to hurt the poor opossums.

Lorn , I remember the Bridge disaster... I was at Primrose Sands, about 25 miles away.. My Aunty phoned the local shop to give us the message about the Bridge.. That car on the left [ 'Musclecar Monaro'} is a legend.. I know the bloke that survived it! The gap betw the engine[350] & bellhousing shield jammed & stopped them! He can still point out the divets in the sills! . Paul , I like the Koala pic!

That 2008 concept car is gorgeous. I wonder why they never put it into production?

After the South Australian show, Jeffrey Boden was invited over to Kate Woolworks place (the lady that grew the huge Pink Brilliant). Here is a picture of him holding up an exceptionally tall Triumphater, that's about 8 or 9 feet tall. This picture got Brian Bergman's attention--and mine. What's interesting is how climate affects the growth of LO's. Brian says his Triumphaters top out at about 4 feet 'in the field' in Toronto, but he has seen them this tall in greenhouses in Holland. Around here, mine top out at about 5 feet in the garden. But when I transplanted some of these same bulbs at a relative's place in southwest Georgia, they grew to about 6 or 7 feet as well. The differences, of course, are all heat related, one way or another---from a warmer vernalization temperature to warmer days and especially, warmer nights. Photo is from Jeffery Boden. I should note that the picket fence in the lower left corner is a double high, nearly 6 feet tall.