Good morning all another Tuesday and of course that means it is time for another creature and this weeks creature is the Short-Snouted Seahorse.

With the head of a horse, a long forward curling tail and a set spiny eyelashes, this seahorse is unlikely looking creature. It measures just 13cm from head to tail and is able to change colour from green and yellow to maroon, purple and black to mimic the plants in which it lives.

These little beauties are found in shallow coastal waters of the United Kingdom, Western Europe and the Mediterranean. The short-snouted seahorse is a species of seahorse in the family Syngnathidae. It was endemic to the Mediterranean Sea and parts of the North Atlantic, particularly around Italy and the Canary Islands. In 2007, colonies of the species were discovered in the River Thames around London and Southend-on-Sea

Males are aggressive when fighting for a mate they use their snouts to shove their rivals and their tails to wrestle one another. Males and females mate for life and males carry the eggs in a brood pouch on their stomach.

The Short Snouted Seahorse is classified as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List and are protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. They are threatened by environmental pollution and damage to their seagrass habitat.

Good morning world and it isn’t a bad morning not too cold which is nice, well it is Monday so it is fact day today’s facts are five wonders of Australia.

The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest coral reef system, composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,300 kilometres over an area of approximately 344,400 square kilometres.

Uluru, or Ayers Rock, is a massive sandstone monolith in the heart of the Northern Territory’s arid “Red Centre”. The nearest large town is Alice Springs, 450km away. Uluru is sacred to indigenous Australians and is thought to have started forming around 550 million years ago. It’s within Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, which also includes the 36 red-rock domes of the Kata Tjuta (colloquially “The Olgas”) formation.

The Twelve Apostles are a collection of limestone stacks off the shore of Port Campbell National Park, by the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia. The Twelve Apostles are located on the traditional lands of the Eastern Maar peoples. Their proximity to one another has made the site a popular tourist attraction.

Kakadu National Park is an enormous, bio-diverse nature reserve in Australia’s Northern Territory. With terrain encompassing wetlands, rivers and sandstone escarpments, it’s home to some 2,000 plant species and wildlife from saltwater crocodiles and flat back turtles to birds. Aboriginal rock paintings, dating to prehistoric times, can be viewed at sites such as Nourlangie, Nanguluwur and Ubirr. Encompassing 20,000 square kilometers of tropical biodiversity, including 1,700 plant species.

The Pinnacles are limestone formations within Nambung National Park, near the town of Cervantes, Western Australia. Located in the Nambung National Park and formed 25,00 to 30,000 years ago, the Pinnacles is a mammoth collection of giant limestone pillars, some standing.

At the moment I am listening to a book by Jackie French called Pennies for Hitler which I am enjoying. So I decided to look online and find out a bit about her this is what I found,here: https://www.jackiefrench.com/

Jacqueline Anne French AM, known professionally as Jackie French, is an Australian author who has written across a number of genres for both adults and children. Her most notable works include Rain Stones, Diary of a Wombat, and The Girl from Snowy River.

Jackie was the Australian Children’s Laureate for 2014/15 and the 2015 Senior Australian of the Year.  She is also an historian, ecologist, dyslexic, and a passionate worker for literacy, the right of all children to be able to read, and the power of books.

Jackie’s writing career spans 25 years, 148 wombats, over 140 books, 36 languages, 3,721 bush rats, and over 60 awards in Australia and overseas.

Jackie is also the ACT Children’s Week Ambassador, 2011 Federal Literacy Ambassador, patron of Books for Kids, YESS, and joint patron of Monkey Baa Theatre for Young People with Susanne Gervais and Morris Gleitzman. She is also a director of The Wombat Foundation that raises funds for research into the preservation of the endangered northern hairy nosed wombat.

Jackie is a passionate advocate of help for children with learning difficulties as well as the conservation of wildlife and our planet. For nearly 40 years she has studied the species in the bush where she lives, with publications ranging from scientific articles on wombat ecology or endangered species to her ground breaking books on theories and practices for pest and weed ecology and more popular books on subjects like backyard self sufficiency.

Jackie and her husband Bryan live in the Araluen valley, a deep valley on the edge of the Deua wilderness area. Most of their property is now a Conservation Refuge for the many rare and endangered species of the area. They live in a home made stone house, with a waterwheel Bryan made as well as solar panels to power their house, with an experimental orchard of over 800 fruit trees and more than 272 kinds of fruit that show how farming can coexist with wildlife. Jackie writes columns for the Canberra Times, Australian Women’s Weekly, Earth garden Magazine, Australian Well being and Gardening Australia. Her garden rambles over about 4 hectares, and there is never a time when there aren’t basketsful of many kinds of fruit to pick.

Here we are at another Friday and this is the last day of school for two weeks. Anyway it is the day for a Jo-Anne’s thoughts.

I am so over this cold weather my feet are frozen and I have found my fingerless gloves which doesn’t help my feet.

I know I complain about the cold just like I complain about the heat, it is just the way life is. When it comes to the cold it isn’t as cold as it is in other parts of the world but even though that is the case for me and others it feels really cold. It is rare for us to have temperatures in the minus single digits are as low as we generally get.

I live in an area that doesn’t get snow, I have seen snow while on holiday and liked it but wouldn’t like to live in such an area.

I guess what we grow up with is what is most natural for a person I have lived in and around this area all my life so it is what is what I am use to.

Due to the high cost of electricity many people myself and Tim included try not to use heaters, I do of course when I get up in the morning for an hour or so. It is sad when people feel they have to make do with a blanket and warm clothes over a heater.

I know that some people move into an area with snow because that is what they like. I guess such people wouldn’t find 8 degrees that cold it is I believe around the mid 40s in Fahrenheit.

For now I will continue to whinge and bitch about the bloody cold till it is time to whinge and bitch about the heat, and Tim will complain about running the air conditioner because of the cost of electricity.

Another bloody cold morning I am so over the cold and it isn’t even the coldest month yet, well it is Thursday and time for the word of the week and this week’s word is: Stoop

Bend Down

Walk with shoulders habitually bent forward

Descend or lower ones self

Lower one’s standards or morals

Small porch or stairs leading up to an entrance of a property

Another cold morning with sore stinging feet, Jess has gone to work and I have rung Sam to get him out of bed and now for some Aussie slang word that some will know some may not.

Grog……..Liquor as in beer, wine and spirits

Greenie…..Environmentalist

Grundies…..Underwear named for Reg Grundy a TV personality

Grouse……Great terrific or very good

Garbo……Rubbish collector

Another cold start on this Tuesday morning and of course it is creature day and today’s creature is the European Badger.

Like bears this badger hibernates in winter, settling into burrows to wait out the big chill. They put on large amounts of body fat during the summer which nourishes them throughout the cold dark months underground.

Up to 12 animals might cram into a den, which is a series of tunnels running off it to above ground openings.

With a head of black, white and sliver fur this kindly creature is a lover not a fighter sharing its burrow with other animals, including rabbits, red foxes and raccoon dogs.

European badgers have few natural enemies. While normally docile,badgers can become extremely aggressive and ferocious when cornered, making it dangerous for predators to target them.

European folklore and fairy tales are filled with badgers although they are usually not friendly as in the Wind in the Willows that has Mr Badger as a grumpy fellow who simple hates society. In Beatrix Potter’s book The Tale of Mr Tod the badger is evil.

The males are called “boars” and females are called “sows”, the word badger comes from the French word “becheur” which means “digger”. They don’t like to bring food into their setts because the like to keep it clean. A group of badgers is called a cete.

Hello everyone here we are at another bloody cold morning, I am feeling a tad better then yesterday enough I hope to write some facts about Aussie land.

Since I have covered our 6 states and 2 main territories I will move on to federation.

The Federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British self-governing colonies of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, and Western Australia agreed to unite and form the Commonwealth of Australia, establishing a system of federalism in Australia

Australia became a nation on 1 January 1901, when the British Parliament passed legislation enabling the six Australian colonies to collectively govern in their own right as the Commonwealth of Australia. It was a remarkable political accomplishment that had taken many years and several referendums to achieve.

When the Commonwealth of Australia was declared on 1 January 1901, a ceremony was held in Centennial Park in Sydney. The first Governor-General, Lord Hopetoun, was sworn in and the first Prime Minister, Edmund Barton, and federal ministers took the oath of office. Many Australians celebrated their nationhood, participating in parades, processions, sporting events and school pageants.

The first federal elections for the new Parliament were held on 29 and 30 March 1901. The first Parliament was held in Melbourne on 9 May 1901. It was officially opened by the Duke of Cornwall and York (later King George V). The opening ceremony was large and elaborate and further celebrations were held.

In 1901 the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and the Northern Territory (NT) did not exist. The Constitution provided for the establishment of a national capital, to be located in New South Wales but at least 100 miles from Sydney. In 1911 the Australian Government created the ACT for this purpose. In the same year, the NT was also created. This area had previously been part of South Australia.

Although part of the Commonwealth, the territories do not have the same legal status as states.

Woke at 4.30 and decided to take my morning meds while up so I could sleep in but of course I found myself awake at 5am so I got up and damn it is cold. Sam stayed home.

A cold day but an ok day anyway, having a hot shower this afternoon I wanted one yesterday arvo but Tim had one on Saturday and the floor towels were wringing wet so I didn’t bother.

My feet are so cold this morning they are stinging, I have a blanket over them trying to ease the pain.

Sam put my socks on when they came down which helped a lot.

Left over pizza for breakie, as it turned out that was all I had available for breakfast.

I am shaking a lot on and off and it is so annoying.

My feet are again so cold they are stinging, I do have the heater on but it doesn’t stop the pain in my feet.

Sam put my socks on before leaving for school.

Tim had a rehab appointment, I asked how it went and he said fine. He also said that next week he will start more exercise for his hand.

I am considering trying to sleep with socks on even though it isn’t something I like to do as I find it annoying.

I didn’t wear socks to bed as Tasha said she would be down at 5am to use the dryer but no she hasn’t shown up and it is now around 6am and my feet are bloody cold.

Sam not going to school this morning he has a headspace appointment which Papa will take him.

Tasha decided it was too cold to come down this morning.

I have a 4pm telehealth appointment this arvo with my neurologist.

At 5.50pm if I had been forgotten and at 6.10 she rang and we had the appointment. She wants me to restart taking Sifrol as she said the Madopar & Sifrol work better together for some people.

I was feel done in by the time I went to bed.

I slept well and was up at 5am as usual and yes it is bloody cold, I wore socks to bed but at midnight when I went to the loo one was falling off. Anyway as I was going back to bed I fell over and Tim came to help, I had him remove the socks and blamed them for falling over. This morning my upper arms are sore.

At 7.15am it started to rain so I sent Tasha a text asking if she could go up with Sam due to the weather. She said she would but didn’t really want to.

Tim received a letter from his surgeon saying he would be fit for work from the end of July can’t remember the date. He was expecting to go back on light duties but the letter doesn’t say that, it says he will be fit to drive a bus. This has made him happy.

Saturday here and even though I thought about staying in bed till around 6am at 5am I needed to pee so I stayed up.

Kathy and Summer came over so Kathy could dye Tasha’s hair. She didn’t do anything here, Summer put socks on my feet for me.

Another day spent doing bugga all, I need to start trying to more during the day. I did answer 3 letters which was something, I guess.

Hello everyone here I am on another cold Saturday and as I sit here listen to a book by Tim Bowden I thought I would share a little about this author.

Timothy Gibson Bowden AM, is an Australian author, radio and television broadcaster and producer, and oral historian. He was born in Hobart, Tasmania, and studied at the University of Tasmania, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He was born in Hobart on the 2 August 1937.

I only discovered his books last year I think, he has written many books about Australians during the second world war which I really enjoy. Like my father I love books about Australian history.

You can find more about him here: https://www.timbowden.com.au/