Thursday, February 11 (2)

I've been mowing this morning but it's getting too hot so I'll leave the rest until this evening.  Usually, mowing is a full-time job during the summer but this year has been different.  When we came back from our holidays I expected the grass to be waist-high but, with the lack of serious rain in Spring, the grass had dried.  In fact, I've only mowed for one two-hour session until this week.  Today is the third day of this stint and I've just about finished.  

Today I saw a quoll for the first time on our block.  They're relatively plentiful in Tasmania but usually in more remote areas.  Last night, we saw a bandicoot on the way home from my birthday dinner.  Of course, the evidence of bandicoots is easily seen in the number of small holes they leave behind, but seeing one in the flesh is more difficult.  The wallabies are back and our resident echidna showed himself, swaggering across the lawn one day last week.  We're certainly outnumbered here and we're pleased that animals and birds can still make their homes without too much interference from human invaders.

It's one thing we notice in the Philippines: no road-kill, few large flocks of birds, no rabbits and such like.  One of our filipino friends told us that, if anything dared to lift its head, somebody would eat it.  It's understandable in a community where much of the population live on a handful of rice a day, but it's sad nevertheless.