It's been a cold day today as we are right in the middle of winter here in Western Australia. I'm ready for summer now and I think the guinea pigs are too. The ducks are swimming around in the icy water like they don't care at all about how cold it is. Don't know how they do that!

I'm slowley building another pond area for them up the back behind the shed. I put the hose on and dig around and they absolutely love it and help me do the work of getting the water to get right down into the dry sand with their beaks. Our rainfall is really light and even by the end of winter the sandy ground will often still be dry a few centimetres down. But duck beaks to the rescue, they use their beaks to drill down deep into the sand and that helps the water to penetrate, otherwise it can just roll of the surface and run away somewhere, not sure where, it just disappears into somewhere not where I want it to be:)

So that's a fun project for me and the splashducks at the moment. It'll take a while but that's ok, no hurry and we're enjoying the process along the way.

Well I must go now and do my afternoon duties in the yard, make sure everyone is watered and fed for the night. And my wife Val just came home with chocolate buttons so think I'll take some of them with me:)

Rob G.