Stanley Seaquarium

So, Thursday we took the boys to the Stanley Seaquarium as part of a homeschool group event.

There's the Nut again. The last time we saw it (several posts ago) was to attend a Wildlife Ranger program. We are in the carpark at the Stanley Seaquarium, and it occurs to me that everything in the CBD of Stanley is under the Nut, whether we are tourists, on business, or simply residents.

Can you see the seahorse? Funny how we name sea life after land critters. For example... 

Not sure why (with those stripes, I could suggest a more obvious moniker) but this is a Cow Fish.

sea? 

Crabs 

 and Sharks

and Starfish, oh my! 

It's an edyoomacational experience. 

Hard to tell in this photo, but this is the biggest crab I've ever seen. Really, it is huge. It's the Arnie of the crustacean world. Sharks call it 'Sir'.  

1. Gummy Shark jaw. 

2. Snapper Shark jaw 

3. Son #2 jaw             

Shark egg casings. 

A few educational displays. This is a beach litter display. 

This endeth the Seaquarium visit. But before we leave, I'd like to mention two special individuals. My personal favorite was Kevin the Cuttlefish. Well, I named him Kevin. He looks like a Kevin. The second individual is Son # 1's favorite, Red Nose Ruby the Trumpeter.

 As we were leaving town, I noticed this statue (below) in a park. I don't care much for the subject, but I really like the design.

Walk to the Post Office

For a while now, I've been of a mind to take a photo of a small tree that's next to the post office-bottle shop- IGA grocery store, but kept forgetting to take the camera. Well, today I remembered, and decided to take pictures as I went to check our mail. The distance is 1.4km (2.8km round trip).

This friendly horse in one of our neighbours fields always comes to the fence for some company and a scratch. When son number one walks with me, he quite likes the horse, too.

This pond at the top of our road often has birds life in it. 

I quite like this view looking back down the main road that ours joins on to. A lot of areas around here look as lovely as this.

Noise! Believe me, when you walk past this small forest and the ravens are in... I'm not sure if anything else in nature is this loud. 

Selfies... they're all the rage these days. Almost at the shops and figured 'what the heck, need a little ugly to balance nature's beauty'.

This is why I brought the camera. A rolling stone might gather no moss, but this tree couldn't keep up. Accents beautifully.

This state can count on one hand the number of town halls still under the control of the locals. Most are under the thumb of regional councils now, but not ours. In the background (center), it's still ours. On the left is our local grocery store-post office-bottle shop.

The only church building still standing. No more services and I think it'll soon go up for sale. Want to buy a church? You can't have the graveyard that's behind it.

Way down there, next to that shed, is our place.

Just about every hill along the our road has a tank on top. This view is through a bunch of feral apple trees against a fence line.

So many tanks that I can get two in one shot.

I like this shot. Taken when a flock of birds got restless.

Neighbours bale of hay, two angles, interesting textures.

And after all that, did I get mail. Yep, got this book. Good walk, good book. Happy.

Twists and Braids

For the last seven days, I've been spending time each day working on Ricardo Sierra's Seven Day Challenge, to focus on practicing a skill, usually perceived as 'primitive'. I chose to focus on a two strand twist with fibers I stripped from the fallen leaves of a Pandani tree.

This is a ten foot length of braid I did as an aside. It's looped at the beginning, as are each of the four cords I made.

This cord (two photos above) is what it was all about. thirty-seven feet of two strand natural cordage. I'm very proud of this piece.

In this time period, I also did two cords (a braid and a two twist) out of 100% polyester curtain that I tore into one inch width strips. To test their strength, I hung a 7.5 kg (just over 16 pounds) kettlebell from each. Handled it easily.

It was a great challenge. I'll extend the time so I can learn a few other cordage skills.

7 Day Skills, 1st Aid, Lettuce.

Ricardo Sierra's 7 Day Earth Skills Challenge is something I'll be doing starting on the first of June. It's a free event open to anyone and can be done virtually anywhere. So, if you're interested, give it a go.

 I've chosen to try to turn the leaves of this Pandani (Richea pandanifolia) into cordage. It grows next to my garage, another near the front gate, and more about a kilometer away on the way to the shop. Now that I'm aware of it, I'm noticing it everywhere.

 I'm using the drier leaves picked up from the base of the tree.

Spending an hour or so each night separating the fibers and collecting them in this bucket. I'll concentrate on twisting during the challenge.

I posted a little while ago about the installation of these vegetable beds. Glad to say they've come of age and we've been eating lettuce and kale. Crisp and crunchy, this is quality.

This region's home-schoolers got together today at the Presbyterian church in Ulverstone to do first aid courses. the younger ones, including sons number two and three, got a basic orientation seminar...

...while the older kids, including son number one, did some actual practice.

 All in all, a good day out.

Catch Up

A few things come to mind that I haven't gotten around to mentioning. Let's see...

Kynan successfully graded to his second Green Tip yesterday. Now he starts studying for his green belt. 

We took the boys to a Leonardo da Vinci exhibit at the Burnie Regional Arts Gallery a month or so ago. Wasn't supposed to take photos, but didn't realise that until someone tapped me on the shoulder. The guy was a genius.

A beach trip, we discovered Samphire. Our attention was first drawn to its existence when we watched Andy Liaw do a tv segment on food in Tasmania. He walked around in a field thick with this wild vegetable. We found some patches at one of Sulphur Creek's beaches. A little salty, as expected. Quite nice.

More Ranger Activities.

Took the boys to another Discovery Ranger program a couple of days ago. Different division, different ranger, but a great event (as usual). 

It was an overcast day, threatening drops from on high. As such, the usual beach local was ditched for indoor security. 

Outdoor activity was an option because the rain didn't carry out on its threat. Ranger John got the kids playing a game where they explored the danger of introduced and domestic animals attacking native animals.

These events are great. They add an educational element that is sorely missing in the lives of today's youngsters (and 99% of oldsters, too).

The thanks of our family go out to all members of the Discovery Ranger programs.

Youth and Family Focus Inc.

Last year I took the three older boys to an organic gardening event in Devonport. Among other things, there was a stall offering free garden beds for food plants as part of the Veggie Patch Project. We qualified, and yesterday they turned up, set up and installed. 

Youth and Family Focus Inc. are the folks responsible. And here's their Facebook. Their mission as stated on their front page is:

"We are a non-profit organisation based on the North West Coast of Tasmania. We provide young people and families in the region with access to the support, encouragement and resources they need to make a positive contribution to their community. This is achieved through the identification of issues and the development then implementation of appropriate tools and strategies.

Our services include:

Focus on Integrated Family Support Service

Youth Focus Accommodation Service and Focus on Transitional Outreach

Community Focus Youth Alcohol and Other Drug Service

Illicit Drug Diversion Initiative

Focus on Family Drug Support Service

Needle Syringe Program

Improved Services Program

Focus on Primary Schools Partnership Program & Respectful Relationships"

(Cut and paste from their front page. Will be removed if they object).

They came prepared.

Included a compost bin...

...and two vegetable beds.

The finished product. I think they have over 100 recipients on their to-do list. This is good work. Our sincerest thanks to the workers who did the installing, Y&FF Inc., and whomever gave the o.k. for the funding for this programme.