WoodenSpoon

Gazing out the window this morning at breakfast, I noticed a bit of activity on a hillside down the valley.

Here is a photo from the verandah. Don’t mind the frost-bitten coral tree in the foreground. Look at the bare ridges in the far distance.

 Can’t see anything?

Here’s a closer view.

 Still can’t see anything? Well neither could I. There was just a faint impression of movement on the ridge. Something yellow.

We happened to have a telescope set up on a tripod so we could look at the water level in the cattle trough. I trained it on the distant ridge and this is what I saw. A digger working its way up the ridge, drilling holes as it went. I took the photo by simply holding the camera up to the eyepiece of the telescope.

Quite a few of the less productive ridges in the area are being planted out to trees. I suppose over time we’ll see those bare ridges turn green.

I’ve been wearing an old wide-brimmed “cricket hat” and while it has sufficed in this pale winter sunlight, I’ve been planning to move up to a better class of thermonuclear protection.

So here it is, an Akubra Cattleman. At least the cattle will show some respect from now on.