Happy Holidays to everyone!  I’m also taking this chance to update you guys on the last few weeks.

I saw a pair of kestrels on the farm recently, here they are:

A close-up:

I also encountered a three-legged turtle on the road.  I took a video of it:

 

I’m not sure what it was doing, but there was a creek just beside it so I just carried the turtle off the road and left it to it.

This is a sunrise I caught when I was heading out to an early-morning ride.  First, in a slight valley:

Then, on top of the hill:

Mum came to visit, and I took her up to Point Lookout, the eerie one I wrote about a while back.  Though it was less eerie this time – there were a few birds, and bugs all over the place, so it wasn’t quite as lifeless as it previously appeared.

The place was still covered in moss and lichen, though.  Here’s a photo of a few varieties:

I took a video to show just how prolific the insects were:

 

This is a close-up of said insects in the video above:

We also spotted a striated thornbill:

 

And the view is still fabulous:

And we managed to spot a wedge-tailed eagle, off in the distance.  My camera was able to zoom in a bit:

Not great shots, though.  It was rising slowly, circling higher and higher, and I managed to grab a quick video of it soaring:

 

It started off in the distance, just a small speck against the clouds, and eventually it glided over our heads and off to the other side of the mountain.  Apparently, they can have territories of over a hundred square kilometres, which are advertised by soaring and gliding flights, so maybe we caught this one in the middle of a display; ‘everyone go away, this is mine!’.

We also spotted some butterflies here and there along the path.  This one held still long enough for me to take a photo:

On Mum’s last day, all three of us went horse-riding.  Aunty Sandy was on Flash, I was on Missy, and Mum was on Nipper.  The horses were really relaxed and happy throughout the whole thing, like their whole ‘herd’ being out was better than just two.  At the end, I set up my camera with a timer to take a photo, and to run back and scramble onto Missy just before it went off.  The first try didn’t work, but that was because Missy’s reins were being held and they weren’t over her head, which delayed me when I tried to get back on her.  So, we put her reins in the usual position and Aunty Sandy held her, and I made it:

You can see my shirt is still pulled down from scrambling onto Missy.

Just before Christmas, Aunty Sandy and I set up a Christmas photo with the horses – here’s the best one:

As you can see, Flash and Missy are not really into the Christmas spirit.  And without his usual fly veil, Nipper was shaking his head constantly and tossing his hat off.

We also tried an elf hat on Nipper:

We took the fly veil off so you could see his face a bit better.

This is a close-up of Flash with his antlers:

And Missy, because I couldn’t leave her being the only one without a portrait:

Christmas was held at the farm with Martin’s family.  Mum had sent me a magic garden and a melting snowman, so I set both of those up.

The magic garden, before and after:

There should be two trees, but there was only one in the packet.  I didn’t mind that much though – it’s still fun to see the crystals grow in!

The snowman, before and after:

This happened much more quickly than the garden.  The garden takes about 10 hours to grow in properly, but the snowman starts melting as soon as you form him.  He turns into a puddle in just a few minutes.

I also set up a little ‘Christmas party’ for the horses – I put them all in one paddock and gave them some hay and licorice treats.

I think they enjoyed it.  I had to change Nipper’s bandage afterwards, though – he walked into the dam with it.  I managed to get a video of him splashing around:

 

As you can imagine, the bandage would be pretty sodden after that.  But that wasn’t all – he actually rolled in the dam as well:

 

And then he rolled in the grass, just to finish things off:

 

That wild shaking at the end of the video is Missy’s fault.  She wanted to know what I was doing, and was nudging my arm with her nose.

So, now we have definitive proof we can’t put Nipper back in the paddock until he doesn’t need the bandage anymore.

Christmas lunch was very decadent – ham and turkey and a delicious salad.  There was so much food we’ll be eating it for days after!

Angus came down on Boxing Day, and we had a ride the day after, all three of us, in the early morning.  We started out with Aunty Sandy on Flash, me on Missy, and Angus on Nipper, but Angus and I switched horses before we came back so he could see what Missy was like.  Here’s a photo, courtesy of my timer: