An Answer: Cute and Sad

Well there were a number of guesses for this  week’s WIIW.


Some were way off, some pretty close and one basically right on the money.

 Susan guessed: “Hmmm, a close-up of some flowering vines growing on a rock?”

Sorry Susan that is way off beam.

 Marcy guessed: “I was going to say a close up of some animal's skin...?”

It is a close up of an animal’s skin. I can award that 75%.

 Lisa Guessed: “I thought animal hide but the purple is throwing me off.”
Well hide probably earns 75% too. 

Linda Guessed, “My first thought was the skin of some animal. Hmm. Not sure what kind, though. Some sort of reptile? “

It is an animal and it is skin, but the reptile guess loses you points so 50%

Kristen M (a zoologist) guessed “It looks like maybe an animal nose?”

I guess I have to pay that guess 100%. It is indeed a nose.

 

So what is the critter in question?

Recently we have had some work done on our track out to civilization. Along the edges where the soil has been disturbed the Blue-Gums are doing what they do best, taking over.

In many spots the disturbed ground is being covered by seedlings already competing to race for the sky.

Blue-gums are one of the favoured foods of a much loved Oz icon.

One night coming home just after dark I spotted this guy to one side taking advantage of the tender new growth.

 

Perhaps it was dazzled by my car headlights, but whatever the reason it let me get out and get really close. 

A less charitable idea is that it didn't quite understand what was happening. Average Oz marsupials are intellectual midgets. Many deal with a low energy environment by having very small brains (brains are energy hungry ours account for about 20% of our calorie use).

The bulk of Oz has poor soils and dry conditions, meaning little plant food available to form the basis of  local food-chains. Koalas are almost literally "empty-headed" when compared to their closet living relative the wombats. 

Of course where Deb and I live is unusual being a rainforest area.

I had a Deb’s pocket camera with me so I had to use the flash (it was really dark in the forest) hence the odd appearance of the eyes.

Despite the flash going off in its eyes it continued eating, letting me get off a few more shots

Then it had enough, turned 

 

and shot up a nearby tree.

A real treat.

Usually you never see much of koalas in the bush. At best they are usually a furry lump right up near the top of a 200 foot high tree.

Now to the sad part of the post.

Although in areas like where we live koala populations are undisturbed and strong. In much of Oz, particularly South East Queensland, the spread of suburbia and farming has destroyed much koala habitat.

Some conservationists argue koalas are becoming endangered. A sad truth is around 4,000 are killed each year from being hit by cars or being attacked by people’s pet dogs.

100% Effort

Well I am frequently  guilty of using piccies that I have posted on the blog for my What is it Wednesday?

This week’s WIIW was no exception..

So let us wend our way to an answer.

Linda G guessed, ‘Definitely claws. I'm going to say duck-billed platypus.’

Yep, they are definitely claws, so you are half right 50%

Mel said  ‘A creature from "Where the Wild Things Are" trying to use chopsticks!’

That has to be one of the most creative answers in WIIW. So it is definitely worth some marks, not quite sure how many though.

Susan, being nearly as ham fisted as she accuses me of being :-) said ‘ "Claws!" I thought, all excited, thinking no one else would pick up on it. HA! Right. Okay, so what kind of claws, you probably want to know. Beats me. Big ones’
Okay, they are claws, and they are definitely big so I will say 60%.

Michelle ‘I'd say it looks like claws...but the straight brown stick in between? Don't know.’

I guess you have earned yourself 50% Michelle.

But the winner is Jennifer (AKA Old Kitty) with her answer ‘Ooooh they're claws!!! Koala claws?!’

They are claws and you are bang on the money. 100%

Koalas are really hard to spot in the bush. Usually if you are lucky enough to see one at all it will just be a slumbering figure high up a tree.

But this guy I ‘caught’ in the Otway Ranges put on a brilliant show.
Actively climbing around browsing on eucalyptus leaves.

The Inner Sadist

I sometimes wonder at the twisted workings of my subconscious. Those of you who have followed my blog for a while will know I work for a charity running a couple of programs that provide direct support to the homeless of Melbourne. Seems like I could be quite a nice guy.

But as an author it seems I have another persona entirely. Putting it simply I am a bloodthirsty sadist.
At least when it comes to things that happen to my characters. Those of you who have read my book Veiled in Shadows will know that during its course some really nasty things happen to some really nice people. To be sure things don't come out too badly for some of my characters but the things that happen to some of them along the way... well you just wouldn't want them happening to your worst enemy. Shootings, beatings, loss of loved ones, grief, fear, breakdown and death are the sorts of things my poor characters have to contend with.

Now sometimes it seems like I am channelling their stories and they don't come from me at all. But maybe that is just a cop out so I can avoid looking at just what a sick twisted cookie I am?

I mean as a perfect example of how nasty I can be look at what is happening to poor Valentina in the extracts I have posted from my WIP. From the bits you have read you could have gathered: Valentina has been persecuted for falling in love with a man from another country; She has survived four years on the front-line of the worst war in history; she has been wounded and scarred physically and emotionally; she has lost her dearest friends; and she has come within an ace of suicide. To be sure there was a lifeline in the form of love from Natasha an innocent little girl.

But was Al content with leaving it there?

No he was not as since then Valentina has suffered a concussion through the actions of a woman she thought was a friend. Then she had an old dear friend come back into her life, but he is a secret police officer and arrests her.

Poor Valentina what did she ever do to deserve all this?

Are you questioning the sanity of Al yet?

Well if it isn't bad enough to show my nasty streak to my characters what about my treatment of you my poor readers?

I lure you here with nice piccies

of beautiful birdsof spectacular sceneryof gentle wild lifeand cascading waterfalls
But it is all a ploy, I tell you stories that leave a brave resourceful young woman fearing for her life and for the life of her loved one. And I make you wait a week to find out what comes next.

So if you find yourself in blog-land tonight be careful there could be lurking authors!

Cue wicked laughter.

A Triple Barrelled Post.

First and most important, it is the love of my life’s birthday.
Deb isn’t quite my childhood sweetheart, but to be honest we weren’t much more than children when we met.

For more than twenty five years we have shared everything, from deepest joy to personal tragedy. Together we have grown into the people we are today, walking side by side and holding each other’s hand as we went.

It never ceases to amaze me how much you have sustained me, with inspiration, with far more patience than I deserve, and most of all with love.
Happy Birthday Deb! Happy Birthday my Love!


Second, by pure chance this happens to be my hundredth blog post.
Yay I’m 100!


Third, just this Friday past I commented on Jaks’ blog Lassy in Lancashire “…Mind you the only times I have had really good looks at koalas in the bush I didn't have a camera at all.”

Just yesterday I was in the bush down on Cape Otway and I was able to rectify the situation.

Koalas live in trees, usually in the tops of tall trees. So they are hard to see.
Add to this the main thing they do is sleep. Hence, most Aussies have never seen a koala in the bush. If they have it is usually a view like this. This sleeping ball, high in a Eucalyptus tree, is a koala.I have been lucky to get some really close views of the little beasties, but alas never with a camera in tow.

Yesterday I took the above photo of a ball impersonating koala and was reasonably content.

Then I got this guy, as a ball impersonator he/she is not great.
I could see a cute leathery nose and one furry ear. This was easily the best piccie of a koala I had ever taken. Contentment level increases.

Then on a branch so low I could almost reach.
My all time record best koala piccie is blown away already! Contentment level threatens the integrity of my contentment meter!

Excitement plus! This patch of bush almost had more koalas than leaves!

Less than a minute later I spot this fellow and he (I know he is a he because of the brown stain from a scent marking gland on his chest) is not only awake but moving! A rare treat in koala observation!He climbed out along this fairly spindly branch before deciding better of it and reversing back down.Finally he settled in this elbow and began munching on some fresh green leaves.
Anyone know where I can get a new contentment meter?