Weather is such an interchangeable thing. And sometimes it changes within minutes.
The boss came home for lunch today – a luxury at this time of year, what with hay making, shearing and lambs to weigh, all in the next twenty four hours. After a cup of tea and a chat, he wandered back out to his ute, Rochelle and I in tow, only to be met by dark, thunderous looking clouds.
‘Don’t think it will get us,’ says the boss. ‘The sea breeze won’t let it come in.’
I nodded, waved him on his way and went to do some of my own jobs. All the while, the sky became darker and darker.
I should have had my camera; there were some fantastic photo opportunities, but of course I’d left it behind.
Then the thunder sounded, so it was time to head home and settle the troops – Hayden in particular gets worried about thunder.
‘We’ve got to bring Meita inside, Mum. What if she’s hit by lightening and killed?’ he asked.
Unlikely.
‘Meita doesn’t need to come inside, she’s a dog.’
‘She needs to, she really, really needs to.’
‘Oh, whatever guys.’
They shot off to get her and before long I had a Jack Russell and a pup playing at my feet, chewing everything in sight, including my toes and barking madly. All of which made it nearly impossible to work!
I ordered that Meita return quick smart to the kennel, which thankfully they agreed with and Hayden left the house with the pup tucked under his arm… Then I heard a blood curdling shriek.
‘SNAKE!’
Of course.
I dealt with that, while the thunder rumbled all around and the rain fell and came back in to keep going with my work.
Somehow, the pup had reappeared, so I gave up and went to take some photos! The top one is the view from my office window afterwards – I love the way the hill glistens and all the bush looks like it’s been washed.
The other, is looking over the barley crop at the front of the house.
Reports are coming out of lots of hail, which has decimated crops and one of my friends, just to the north of us, had 65mm! We might have had a couple of mm if that, which we’re pretty happy about since we’ve been cutting hay for the last week.
I’m serious. They don’t sell snake repellent there? I mean we’ve got oodles of the stuff on the shelf at the Tractor Supply, and most of the snakes we deal with here are harmless. In Australia where everything will kill you (except the people…mostly), seems like snake repellents would be BIG BIG business there.
Oh. And FYI, I’m a screamer too. I don’t kill the snakes. I scream. Tim is the snake killer in our family. It’s written in fine print on the marriage contract. Non-negotiable.
Oh, poop. Forgot the website.
http://www.serpentguard.com/
Oh Debby, I menat to answer your other comment about this – no I’ve never heard of snake repellent, so THANK YOU! We have a couple of things that look like solar garden lights but they actually vibrate in the ground and that’s supposed to keep them away. Ours don’t seem to be working at the moment, but I know they made a difference last year.