21st Dec. 2015 to 5th Jan. 2016

     Happy 2016 to all

The cottage on 19th December 2015

The cottage on 3rd January 2016

                        Christmas came and went without fanfare. We took a trip into Richmond on Wednesday 23rd to stock-up well, thinking that we may be marooned here with rain on it's way, maybe on the weekend. I took a photo on 19th of the cottage and the lovely green lawn I have been nurturing,(left) then on 3rd January this year (right), the bougainvillea has come along nicely with addition of rain.

The landscape before rain

     
     The landscape changed dramatically after Christmas. Picture on the right taken on 21st December, is of a part of the station land, very brown and dry. 

Puddles everywhere at Essex after good rain

     Then the next picture, on the 27th,  tells a different tale.

     

      On Boxing day, late in the afternoon it started to rain, it rained all night and through most of the next day. We got 85mm overnight and a further 42mm the next night, making things very wet and sticky. 

Muck like Glue on my feet!

     The black soil here turns to muck after a little rain, this amount made it stick like glue to my boots and the pups feet, much to Dots dislike, she and Yip plodded along the paddock like draught  horses, lifting each foot with agitation, I was the same, it just builds up under your feet and won't come off with out actually scrapping at it with a stick or similar. YUK!!  All is good though, just another of life's experiences.
     

Essex Downs homestead after rain

     The photo of the homestead on the 27th shows a little what the ground is like when it rains.

     We had follow up rain a week later and the grass is growing faster than a well fed weed.
     

Dawn of a new year-2016

     The New Year arrived, as it does each year, but this one is nice and damp to start, the sunrise on our first walk of the year was pretty. There was a further 52mm rain over the weekend. It isn't drought braking rain as yet, but you can hear people smiling everywhere.

Dot+Yip on wet days

     When its wet the puppies get to spend a lot of time inside which Yip isn't too keen on, Dot loves it, all day in bed! Their daily bones are consumed in the laundry, then back to bed.

Horizon to the south on 2nd Jan 2016

2nd of January after 30mm rain in the morning the sky to the south looked fearsome! Nothing to it though and no rain since.

     All things are good. The puppies are catching their own dinners, having a fantastic time while doing so. Yip is the chief hunter with Dot backing up when she steers them back to the homestead.Then it becomes our job to do the necessary from there.
     The country is looking very different to a couple of weeks ago, green! so nice.