I read where China has been building new rail freight lines along the Silk Road too. It seems a long way but a lot shorter than sea routes to Europe around India or even Africa.

It’s Autumn, that’s what those plants do. Leaves rotting, rosemary helping the bees. Plus you might be donating rosemary for ANZAC day participants

A few rural areas have only single power lines that can be fragile, remote places may be off grid and not geared up for fast chargers. Only discovered the other day that a few road houses are on diesel generators only being supplemented with solar. We have a way to go, but inevitable now

Disabled NZ parrot uses broken beak to achieve alpha status Without a curvy upper beak to get in the way, Bruce the kea uses his lower beak to stab or joust at other birds in his social group.

www.abc.net.au/news/science...

Made with timber from a special group of trees at the right altitude to be affected by a cold period? Stradivarius was as much a forester as luthier. Certainly a long term carbon sink are musical instruments.

I grew some Green Zebras this year from some old seed in a paper bag. They are very sweet, crisp and great on sandwiches. The little tomatoes always pop out between the cheese and the butter

Yep

The most fruitful area of kauri protection research to date. Get into it

Important work that could make a big difference to conservation and for First Nations people. What works on Kauri might work on similar trees like Australian Bunya pine, Norfolk and related pines even Wollemi, all affected by Phytophora. Go for it.

Did that with shingles as too many friends were getting it. Turned out ok as the ‘free’ vaccine was initially a bit limited in availability. Chance of painful illness is high so every day is a risk without the vaccine. RSV seems not so bad, unless complications. Good bet I reckon. Had polio vax 3x

Celebrate the boilermaker.

Some interesting work online by CSIRO of how to make high mounted reverse cycle heat pump work best. Roof, window and door insulation. Cooling, grow a deciduous tree on north side and keep a garden and at most only a couple of days a year in Canberra needs cooling, if you are not too sensitive.

Don’t leave cars for long in New Zealand alpine areas. Keas(medium sized cheeky parrots) have been known to to remove windscreens on cars and windows on buses. Not sure what they do with the boots they steal. Drop them on tourists?

They make excellent secateurs and hand saws. Have even models for larger hands. If it’s good enough for their manicured gardens it’s good enough for me. But if you are clearing scrub with brute strength & ignorance, go European. Wood saws are sharp and accurate beyond belief.

A red biscuit packet

Are these different to a spicy fruit roll?

Too warm? Mine is comparatively quick. It’s saving it from possums is the hard bit. Though they seem to prefer coriander.

They will get swamped with Australian magpies. Sociable creatures that approach you to celebrate morning, rain or sunset with a warble. Plus phones are fine for high quality video when they are only a meter away.

There is good money in stripping cars. Seen the price of door handles and window glass. In some cars rear door handles are barely used. The internet is much more efficient than huge yards in the boondocks of rusting wrecks.

A sky filling with smoke from a burning forest below

A new study from the University of Tasmania's Fire Centre finds that logged forests burn more severely in a bushfire than old growth. Researchers used a natural experiment to provide the strongest evidence yet on a question with real consequences for how the state manages its forests: utas.au/lf

The value of published long term data sets

MSPs not told about collapse of funding deal for Scottish nature restoration Exclusive: Ministers accused of trying to keep investment firm’s withdrawal from partnership with NatureScot under wraps

Funding nature conservation and
environmental restoration are government duties & should not be subject to the whims of company investment. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Another case for maintaining collections

My birds mostly self feed. Chinese pistachio pruned by cockatoos, dropped seed consumed by parrots. Grow a few sunflowers & every cocky for miles around appears. Magpies chase grubs and works. But they all like a bowl or two of water on a hot day. Currawongs spread berries & prey on nestlings

Dietes is controllable here, just. In WA it’s a noxious weed. Morning Glory is all over the coast. Similar climate to Albany.

Morning glory doesn’t like Canberra’s frost. Plumbago is just a tidy little shrub under the hedge. But, grass weeds go berserk. Privet and Holly are the sneaky ones. Multiple leaf types.

Bluesky like Twitter used to be is the best source of advice for reading suggestions. Authors and readers you can trust. One author even put me onto, the NASA app, with minutes to spare to watch Artemis II reentry live. It was going so fast and so rough when the chutes opened.

The Queen of English crime fiction Dorothy L Sayers looks to be missing as is the once crown princess Josephine Tey. For Australia, Gary Disher, especially the Hirschausen series set in northern South Australia. For military fiction anything by CS Forrester. Off to the Lifeline Bookfair.

See you have the 1960s special, Yucca. We had that, pampas grass, cotoneaster, vinca, ivy, privet, bamboo etc. Weed excursion in a backyard. NASA planted similar at Honeysuckle Ck too. A little recognised cost of the moon landings, weeds in Namadgi

Lose the ☀️