The New Vege cage to stop possums...hopefully

How many cats does she have?

She had ten I don't know how many she has now, maybe less as the Council has been on to her for a while now, but what we think she does is move them to her Sisters house down the road when the council make a date for inspection then moves them back to her place when it's been done.. How else would she only have two there on inspection day and many more on other days..

Is she a cat breeder, or just a cat collector? Must be hard to really love cats and see them as neglected strays. Still, I know it must be hard to live next to such a neighbor too. I don't envy you having this issue to deal with.

Mary-Anne, it almost makes you want them to develop as you said to me...but of course it would be better to have good neighbours! We are so very lucky here!

Gail I missed your pics with the dogs ,chickens and ducks, just caught up , what great pics, they sure are a great breed of dog.
I fully agree DAN I think cats should be enclosed , but have access to an outside run.I would.nt have a cat here in the rainforest becouse I love the wild life and could not afford to put up an outside run etc.
Luckily we have no possum problems here.
Bt the way Dan have any of your Hibiscus mirabilis cuttings got leaves yet.

No she is not a breeder Betty..

Oh No I could not stand the development part either Daniel..

I might need to build a substantial cage for our chooks. I think I mentioned that two dogs attacked the chickens next door and killed 11. They were also in our yard but did not get into the chooks night cage. Well, they have just attacked again. My daughter heard something in the back yard and we went running out. Saw the dogs in our chook yard trying to get into the night pen. They ran off when they saw us. I rang council. The phone person was wonderful but there is little they can do tonight; they will follow up. Hopefully the dogs do not get our chooks in the interim.

Sorry to hear that Daniel.. Lucky you have them locked away then, as you know ours get locked up every night in their house and are very safe not that we have stray dogs on our property..

I hope the Council acts on these marauding dogs quickly that's terrible.

The night cage has withstood the dogs attempts to get the chooks so far; my concern is not only for the chooks at night but when they are in the outer yard during the day when we are at work. Also, and even more importantly by an infinite amount, is the safety of the little grandchildren and other children who visit here.

I like dogs but I would shoot these. They have killed and return to kill more; only two but acting as a pack.

Pity your area is so built up, Dan, because maybe your council ranger mightn't even be allowed to try and shoot them there. Down here they supply our local ranger with a gun that is only capable of killing say a cat if the cat is in a cage and he can put that darn gun to its head. Next to useless.

Oh yes the day time would be a problem too..
And as you say you have to look after all the children..
I do hope the Council acts on it very quick..

And they want to sub-divide this place into 20 house lots...what next? Hopefully we find out this month if state government will recommend it.

Council rang yesterday...this person seemed more concerned for the dogs. I let her know she has good reason to be concerned for them if I get hold of them. I also pointed out we have little grand daughters in the yard...supervised...but we want to keep them safe from marauding killer dogs! They have already killed chooks - there is no reason to think they will not kill again.

You have got to wonder about those Council people concern for the dogs not in this case, as you said there are little children in the yard they are the ones you have to be concerned about.

And what about the chooks rights after all its their back yard too. its all wrong isn't it.

Dan I hope the council come to their senses and see the madness of their plan .
Also that dog problem can cause a lot of stress, we used to have a big prioblem here with packs of dogs running through our forest after wallaby's. we found many dead wallaby. now we have a feral animal collector and its working well.
The big problem is the animal collector often gets threatened himself by people who should not own an animal.

I think it is very wrong Mary-Anne. Even if you take away thoughts about the children and our chooks etc, even the fact that they are destroying the wire fence for the chook yard is annoying too. I now look like having to build a substantial fence...like vege cage...simply to keep out other people's animals. AND...it appears...the council have a fair certainty they know which dogs, where they live....and who owns them...but owners seem complacent. It is appears the new do-gooder laws make it difficult for council workers to do their job and take these dangerous dogs off the streets.

That is exactly right Gwen. I personally like dogs...but I do not have one because I cannot give it the responsible care required.

You saw the dogs, Dan, what sort are they? Some you might hope would be friendly enough to humans that while they kill chooks, they still love people, large and small.
I made a point of telling my neighbor when we shifted here that if he ever saw a cattle dog of mine(that's all I had back then) in a paddock worrying his sheep, he could shoot it. That's how sure I was that it'd never happen. He'd had to shoot a Samoyed and Border Collie that together had killed about 50 sheep and it upsets him to this day to talk about it. He deserved to know we'd be careful. Also, if a dog of mine bit a child for no reason, I swear it would not see the sun set. I may have dogs that would, but the dogs get locked up if kids are here.
I hate that American trend of no houseyard fencing, I think you need to be able to keep stray dogs out because let's face it, some will even kill adults. Rotties and the like.

The Council people are very strange Daniel, its the same here with the neighbour and her 10 cats its against the law yet the Council wont act on it, maybe its time to contact A Currant Affair or a similar program as they get results when it goes to air..

The council are coming at 9am tomorrow to set a trap. It was night time when we saw them. It appeared to me to be something like bull mastiff...the other I did not see too well.

Heck, they really need to catch that then, if it's a Bull Mastiff or anything like that. I wonder what they will do if they succeed in trapping them? Hope they don't release them back to the owner when she is so irresponsible.
Our neighbor's son had a Rhodesian Ridgeback running loose with a NZ Huntaway and they used to come up here and into the forest chasing roos. Don't know what happened to the RR, maybe the son took it away from his dad's place, but the NZ Huntaway ended up being shot for mauling sheep. Poor dogs really.

still getting a few decent feeds from the winter garden

Yummm! They look delicious, Tessa. All I have in my overgrown vegie beds are a few garlics, some onions and a solitary self sown Broad Bean plant. If I'd known what a terrific Winter we'd have I'd have planted heaps.

Looking good and far better than mine Tessa though I have some seedlings planted in the new beds after we moved them.

Looking good Tessa.. What wonderful colours so fresh looking..
I bet they tasted great... Are they mushies..

Our garden is very productive at present also, I picked the biggest Bok Choy on Saturday we ate it streamed with our home grown pumpkin, bought spuds smashed up with butter, milk and diced onions, loin lamb chops and gravy a meal fit for a King and Queen..

Tessa What great fresh veg . I love the beetroot and MUSHIES.. YUM.