Bromeliads are common here at Xanadu — here are a few examples. Many are considered noxious weeds in Florida because of their mosquito breeding potential.
More on Bromeliaceae at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bromeliaceae
Twenty-two degrees C, light rain, humidity 93 per cent at 8:00am – just another Sydney summer day. Great conditions for the garden which is alive with flora and fauna.
And on another matter
For great oratory check out Obama’s State of the Nation speech at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLYphVUutTs
A single, subtle bloom outside the back door.
Something clicked in both of us this week and gardening has resumed – principally weed clearing from the vegie bed. The worm farm is producing many litres of ‘worm tea’ and weeding precedes distribution. And there are barrow loads of manufactured soil from the compost bins to be spread.
Well worth adding your name. You might also consider not shopping at a Woolworths owned business — they own the most poker machines in Oz. See the excerpts below and the links.
Woolworths started to expand into liquor businesses with the acquisition of Dan Murphy’s in 1998. By 2001, the BWS chain had been established. With Queensland licensing laws dictating that retail outlets must be operated by a hotelier, Woolworths moved into the hotel industry in 2005 in a joint venture with experienced hotel operator Bruce Mathieson, purchasing hotelier Australian Leisure and Hospitality Group (ALH). Later in 2005 the ALH Group expanded its portfolio to 250 hotels by acquiring the Taverner Hotel Group and the Bruce Mathieson Group. The ALH Group is 25% owned by Bruce Mathieson and 75% owned by Woolworths. Statistics provided during the acquisition of the Taverner group showed that over one third of sales are made up of gaming/poker machine takings. The number of poker machines owned by Woolworths and Bruce Mathieson after ALH acquisitions was 10,722 (2006). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woolworths_Limited
This link is particularly interesting – Woolies have been deforesting Indonesia. Some more up-to-date info.
Woolworths is Australia’s largest owner of poker machines (13,480 machines) and the largest seller of tobacco and alcohol. http://www.ethical.org.au/issues/?issue=16.
But I see from this that Wesfarmers (Coles) also own 3000 machines. And Aldi, where we do most of our grocery shopping, is guilty of “…sweatshop labour, worker exploitation, and palm oil supply chain”.
We have spent the week tinkering with our new fish tank — the Fluval Edge Aquarium Fish Tank. It all began when Beryl bought me a Siamese Fighting Fish (Betta splendens) which spent several days in a one metre jar. The next stage was responding to Frances’ request to check out, on the web, her new tank for Jimmy and this led to the uber-spiffy Fluval Edge. It arrived two days later but Patipan (our B. splendens) had to have his new water conditioned which required buying a container of Ph Up to change it from 7.0 to 6.5. Then sub-strate for the plants to root in and gravel and rocks and a heater and a magnetic glass cleaner (to get rid of the bubbles under the top glass) and plants and Blue Neon Tetras (Paracheirodon innesi) and a yellow sucker fish to keep him company. Much water was sloshed about the dining room as we adjusted the aesthetic before we were able to sit down and watch our new entertainment system.
Here’s a video of the effort — The Fish Tank
Dirk Bracegirdle and Lady Eugenia and King Billy conquered the desert and discovered the lost city by Coopers Creek (according to Michael Cathcart on the ABC). In honour of this awsome feat we named our fish after them and today they are showing off. Unfortunately King Billy expired due to the hardship of the journey so isn’t present on today’s video.
This is my second day in Perth and it has been interesting. The flights over on Friday were via Melbourne (I have no idea why), impacted by the baggage handlers’ one hour stoppage and a two-hour stop over in Melbourne, where we had good fish and chips. Took 12 hours door to door.
My brother is excellent company and we spent Saturday reviewing shares and other potential investments, and reminiscing. Davey Mac and his children came over and I was impressed. Jo Mack has Alzheimer’s but good fun (as she always was).
Today we went up to Brookton where I was young. It is still very rich farming land with impressive crops and healthy sheep. The town has changed little other than being kempt, clean and tidy but it brought back memories of hot summers and very cold winters.
Perth! I am ambivalent. Excellent roads but all that sand.
Light rain overnight and early this morning, and we have our voracious frog calling for a mate. As it becomes warmer, the chorus increases in numbers until we get the annual complaint from a new neighbour about the peculiar noise. This morning’s caller:
The original tadpoles came from Garden Art in Five Dock and took three years and a number of return trips before Beryl coaxed them to maturity. Cooked lettuce was the successful tadpole food. We didn’t know what they were until I took a recording into the Frog and Tadpole Society meeting at the Australian Museum (worth attending to observe very keen frog lovers). Soon we noticed a dramatic fall in snail numbers – this frog will attack and eat anything up to its own size. Marrickville Council established a Golden Bell Frog sanctuary at their nursery – wiped out by the Striped Marsh invasion. During my early morning summer dog walks I hear them, spreading wider and wider, and have been told it is a very favourable sign that our local ecology is encouraging a return of fauna and flora species that were wiped out in the 20th century.
A large wetland-dwelling frog and voracious hunter, this frog eats almost any animal smaller than itself, including small frogs. Its distribution extends along the east coast from Queensland to South Australia. It is most commonly associated with wetlands and permanent water and shelters among reeds and other debris. Males call from the water concealed in vegetation or sometimes concealed under the egg masses. The call is a single short soft explosive note … a “tock” or “poc” with similar inflections to a hen’s “cluck”.
Male frogs of many species do fight, particularly in species where good calling or breeding sites are more likely to result in success. Males also tend to fight more often when females are uncommon at breeding sites. Many species of marsh frogs (Limnodynastes) are known to engage in ‘male-combat’- and that might be the reason that male marsh frogs tend to be larger overall, and have much bigger, more muscle-bound arms compared to females. Larger individuals tend to be more successful in these wresting bouts, and the puffed up bodies many be an attempt to look as large as possible, and hence maybe scare off the competitor.
I have begun clearing some of the over-growth and intended to work on our vegie bed this morning but too wet. Maybe tomorrow.
