[meleliza]

Motorbike? Two weeks? Eeek! I’m freaking out a little. I would have killed my husband! And I’m wondering why couldn’t he just walk?

[Tamara]

Yes just a little young and personally, even though I consider my son to be sensible and responsible, seven is still too young in my book to ride something that could potentially end his life. My hubby doesn’t wear a helmet riding his motorbike but if any of my children get on they get on with one on! I freaked out when the tractor with no cab or buggy seat had my children moving along in it. They were banned from anything that didn’t provide them with safety. They are not allowed to go to the shed to play without and adult and they are not allowed to play on the machinery. Call me strict or over protective but these are my kids and it is my responsibility to make sure they are safe.

As long as they know the rules and abide by them and responsible adults (with sound minds) are around we can all have lots of fun!

[meleliza]

Gosh, Tamara, that sounds quite reasonable. Things are very different downtown in a major city. Those 4 wheeled motor bikes are a menace. Ghetto kids ride them through the streets on summer nights and waste a lot of police time. They’re really loud and very dangerous. So of course my kids wouldn’t be allowed near one of those things in a millon years. I can see how it would be different on a farm. In Pennsylvania, there is a lot of disagreement between our metorpolitan part of the state in the east and the vast rural parts out west over things like gun control and motorbikes and such. We want to control violence and protect our children, but the rural people want to protect their right to hunt or defend themselves again wild animals. It’s tough to find a way to make things work for everyone when the situations are so different.

[Tamara]

Surely they can see a difference between using certain guns and not shooting innocent children though?! I mean i love animals but I do not stand in favour of Animals Australia or anything like that and if you have to protect yourself against animals that is one thing but going into places and plain shooting willy nilly is quite another.

I actually wept when I saw Mr Obama and some of the parents who lost their babies when he was making a speech regarding the set back to change the gun control laws.

My personal opinion is that the “land of the free” motto also means the ability to feel safe also. With everything that your country has been up against in the last 12 or 13 years, I bet safety and the feeling of being safe would be rather high on the priority list. I can see where the need to have firearms comes in with that however, I wouldn’t feel safe walking down the street knowing that anyone walking next to me can just pull out a firearm and shoot for the sake of it.

Something has to be done in order to find a “happy medium” in order for you ALL to feel as though your rights are not violated in anyway. I do not envy your politicians as they wrestle this out. I only pray for a swift and peaceful conclusion so you can get on with living and not just existing.

When Martin Bryant went and did what he did in Tassie all those years ago, our Prime Minister at the time told us that this is going to happen and tough if you ate against it. We all want to be safe and yes we (my grandfather had antique firearms) alot of us kicked up over the changes to the laws but at the end of the day it has actually reduced the amount of firearm fatalities through murder here in Australia. They locked him up and lost the key just to let you know but if we had the death penalty still he’d have had that instead.

There has to be a certain element of respect amongst the different groups. The bikes we ride are not for the road so we don’t ride them on the road. We have farm licensing and road licensing meaning we can take machinery up the road with a permit if we have to pick up say a new tractor or something and we are allowed to go from farm to farm block but not travel on the bikes to town or anything like that. Maybe there could be a conclusion drawn regarding that? I mean it isn’t as if they aren’t allowed to at all, just not in certain places in order to be fair and protect the rights of others as well as themselves.

Certainly is difficult to call….. I guess this is where the stereotypes come in?!

[Sarvi]

Stereotype is the word for it, indeed. Moving swiftly on to a less fraught topic, I am thrilled to announce that the hummingbirds have finally found our feeder. I was amused, in my unsophisticated way, to capture a photo of one in mid-elimination. Impressive output for such a wee chappie.

And tangentially related, what sorts of plants are best for attracting wildlife? I know we have farm folk amongst us. Also, any tips for dealing with a dense clay soil?

[KarenK]

Trying not to cringe…moving on…

Plant some strawberries and don’t cover them with netting, you’ll get all kinds of birds and squirrels. Maybe use garden boxes (we call them raised beds around here) to get around the clay soil. You can mix your own planting soil to fill them.

[Sarvi]

Ah yes, great idea! I also know them as raised beds, and definitely some semi local folks use those. I bought some lavender online, which looked and sounded fantastic, and in person were about two inches high, haha!

[lattemama]

Lavender attracts bees and bumblebees so take care where you plant those. Not recommended near a patio table where you plan to eat dinner .. (Yes – personal experience).

[Maggie]

What kind of wildlife do you want to attract? We have grapes and blueberries, but the birds get every last one. We have tried netting, but were not thorough enough and the birds found a way.

[Tamara]

I have lavender growing at the front step but the bees seem more interested in my roses!

[Jennifer1568]

I love to garden and I live in Virginia. We have clay here, too. I also have humming birds. They like flowers with deep throats and bright blooms. Our feeders are in the flower gardens and I also have pots of flowers near them. The humming birds like nasturtiums, fuchsia, and pineapple sage. Some plants like the red clay but for the plants that like well drained soil, I add sand, fine gravel, and organic matter to the soil when I plant.

[mcholley1]

Sarvi – I planted two butterfly bushes (I think they are actually called butterfly weed) at my front door three weeks ago. I’m astonished how many butterflies they are actually attracting. I know butterflies aren’t actually “wildlife” but they are pretty to look at. My kids are loving them! I don’t know anything about where or how is the best way to plant them, but mine seem to be liking benign neglect. And, they were only like $5-6 at Lowe’s if they don’t make it.

[Tamara]

Isn’t it amazing how you go away and everyone comes down with a lurgy? Well we have one day of school holidays and the past week was spent laid up on my mums couch watching movies and rinsing buckets! I went to the chemist to stock up on hydralite icy poles and gastro stop and was informed that “it was going around really bad”. So Thursday we scooted home again before we got another bout of it!

They are fine now and I have missed the bulk of the blow!

I had parcels waiting for me at home which is always great! The corduroy that literally took forever to get here (and I consequently didn’t need straight away which was lucky in the end) and my Royal show creative crafts schedule! Oh the distraction! Now I am busy dreaming up great projects while frantically busy getting school pants (thought about and possibly made) and finishing long overdue bed quilts!

At least I will have something to work on over winter apart from stocking the kids wardrobes with good serviceable clothing and a good chance to ware down the bursting stash!

The theme this year is “cow” ….

[KarenK]

I love butterfly bushes! I have two in my backyard and though they would like to be pruned each spring to a shrub size, it didn’t happen this year and they’re nearly the size of a small tree. Oops.

[needlewoman]

“The theme this year is cow..”??? For what? Why? I have to know, please. The butterfly bushes sound interesting. Are they called that because the blooms look like butterflies, or because they attract them. Adelaide needs more rain as we head towards cooler weather, but the roses that have arrived around my area for the autumn flush are very pretty although not numerous.