Saturday, November 21, 2009

the continuing guinea fowl tragedy...

My deadline is fast approaching, so I'm trying to keep away from the Internet, but I knew I should keep you posted.
Sadly, three of our guinea fowl keets succumbed after the horrors of that first cold night. We've since learned that because they're equatorial birds the babies need to be kept very warm. The one surviving chick has been in our house each night and on a warm spot on the veranda each day and he/she (Gloria or Lazarus??) seems to be thriving. We will take him with us when we go back to Townsville. Adult guineas are fine.
We were supposed to be heading off today, but in a burst of getting as much done as possible before we leave, I spent the morning in the garden and ended up being stung by something nasty.
The blessings of country life, huh?
Right now I'm thinking longingly of my nice comfy city apartment. But I'm getting drowsy from antihistamine, so we'll delay out trip south till tomorrow.
Meanwhile I thought you might enjoy a few snaps of Spring on the Tablelands, and sometime soon I will tell you about Tarzali's centenary celebrations.

Our orchids are doing better than ever this year.

The flame trees are glorious.
A lovely splash of bougainvillea.

And the buddleia is out.

3 comments:

Lacey Devlin said...

:( sad news :(

I hope that Gloria/Lazarus enjoys the trip to Townsville :D and that whatever part of you was stung doesn't swell to the size of a basketball.

Gorgeous pics. I love the red leaves!

2paw said...

Such a very sad keet tale, I am glad one strong and persistent baby remains though. I hope your sting goes down quickly. What beautiful pictures. Are the flame trees like the flame trees of Thika?? Not sure about the spelling. It looks so very tropical, I know it is tropical, but so lush and green!!!

Magdalena Scott said...

So very sorry to hear about the baby guineas. As with all babies, a "care and handling" tag would be so helpful.

Take care and feel better soon. Gloria/Lazarus will have stories to tell when s/he returns to the pen. Maybe s/he will write a book about the city life.