Spot of Gardening

[sunray18]

I have always wanted an alpaca ...sigh... but the school won't let me have one... and my own yard is too small ...
You could swap the goat for them!
I would also like some axilotls - but again ...nope ...sigh...
Maybe instead they would let me have a cappucino machine, an air-conditioner.... oh dream on!

[Slartibartfast]

The veggies get sold to the staff mainly. Sometime they're used for experiments but we have a Coles across the road so I usually make the staff buy what they need out of petty cash. The junior school is gearing up to have one of the plots for themselves probably more corn or something easy like that but the more the merrier I say!

Just came back from watering to find 12 green tree frogs in amongst the corn! Must be doing something right for them to call it home! I would have liked one for my frog tank but they're doing to good a job keeping the insect population down amongst the plants.

We used to have an alpaca but Brian fancied it too much and in front of visiting classes. Another school now has it thankfully.

[cactus155]

No gardening for me today, have spent most the day in the woodwork machine room, cutting pieces of timber for desktop Trebuchets

[Ocean Breeze]

Ha Ha ! Startibartfast!

Labman & I are seriously considering your proposal( window maker).
With my luck. I would just make a mess of my clothes, singe my hair and char my desk....and yet would still be looking at a brick wall

[labman]

Rainbow-Sky,
At least if you singe your hair, you know where to get some goregous new curls!!! See Richards' other offer.
Still, I like what you're saying, at least it would get rid of all the paperwork!! Now, where is that Sodium Metal......
Cheers,
Lisa

[Slartibartfast]

Andrew, they let you loose in the Industrial Arts rooms?! I get to borrow a soldering iron if I'm lucky. What I'd give to play with a lathe or bandsaw for a couple of hours.

[cactus155]

It is likely that they do that for me because if they need a soldering iron, superglue, heat gun, metal rulers that are straight etc they come to me to ask me to borrow them. It is nice to be able to use some of the machines, as I was not into woodwork when I was at school myself. I really want to know how to weld as well, but there is not much call for that as a Laboratory Technician. Just on my way up there again now

[smiley]

Mushroom,

Once, in a former incarnation, when I ran a transport fleet in PNG, I put in a submission for a "Thermal Heat transfer unit" and, on approval, bought myself a coffee machine. You just need to be creative.

The other alternative is to be blythe. At the end of last year I accidentally bought myself a microwave with the last $100 in the budget. Money just fell out of my pocket and a microwave landed in my lab. Spooky how these coincidences happen.

Cheers, K

[labman]

Love your work, Smiley!!! But you are spot on. I'm going to have a similar mishap with a microwave in the very near future. Creativity, I think, should be on the job description!!!
Cheers,
Lisa

[Slartibartfast]

Here we are on Friday with Year 10 Ag. weeding the plots and tidying up & staking the tomato plants. They came up a treat and have gotten a real wriggle on with the rain we're having.They look fantastic.

I'm the one in the sunnies. See, I do work!

[Slartibartfast]

Here's a pic of a couple of my common marsh frogs. I was playing around with a new camera the Science Dept. has and am pretty pleased with the results!

Without the flash they blend in very well with their surroundings.

[Voice]

Those frogs look great Richard. I wish I could get some pictures of my one and only Banjo frog. It lives in our front pond at home. The first time it (or a lady friend) laid eggs the fish ate them. However, it (?) laid eggs just after Christmas again. We got them out and put them in one of the two ponds we have in the back yard. The ones the dogs don't jump into to get cool.
Well, we have oodles of tadpoles, all of varying sizes. Some now have legs but I do have one concern. I worry that these frogs may only be food for our blue tongue, or 2 or 3. Don't know how many we have of those. We only ever thought we only had one, but the young staffy brought 4 (expired) into the loungeroom during the summer of 06/07. We did see one a few months ago though.
Can you imagine this in suburbia Melbourne? It does happen.
And our dear frog, we miss him/her when it does not croke of a night, one metre from our bedroom window. We sleep, but I think it might annoy some of the neighbours.
Fantastic.
All these animals are a wonderment to me.
Maree

[labman]

Richard,
Great Frogs. Is it an easy process to put photos on the site? I haven't even tried, I'm still getting the hang of my camera!!!

Your veggie plots are also looking fantastic. It's amazing the difference rain makes. By the way, I've never doubted you do actually work, what I can't understand is how you fit it all in!!!
Cheers,
Lisa

[Slartibartfast]

Some people love frogs in their garden, others don't! I have a friend who has one than goes "BOCK!" all night in a rockery just outside her bedroom window and it drives her insane! She's never seen it thankfully because I think she's like to give it a good throttling or tell it at least to find a mate elsewhere.

Easy peasy to post pics!

Click on 'post a reply' - scroll down to 'upload attachment', then click on browse. If you have the pics you want to add in 'your documents' or similar you can open the file through here.

Once you've found the pic you want to add click on 'add the file' then 'submit' once you have added all the pictures and text you want.

Remember, the last picture added will be the one viewed first at the top under your message.

[sunray18]

How wonderful those frogs are!!!
I wonder how they would cope though with the really kind students that I have who decided end of last year that the gold fish could do with a bit of a clean and put detergent into the tank in the last period!
The next morning I opened the door to be met by a floor of bublles still pouring out of the tank...
the fish were nowhere to be found - I have often wondered if they floated away on an extra large bubble..

[Slartibartfast]

Oh my GOD! Is that what they really did? I can't believe they used detergent.

We have a bunch of excellent students we entrust to clean the tanks in the labs at the end of each term and they do a superb job even if it does cost me the jelly bean jar contents. The frogs and baby yabbies are kept in my prep room and shown to students under supervision only as they stress easily if tampered with so I clean those. To all others it's hands off! Look and admire but touch and receive the full wrath of the lab assistant (and biggest yabby)!

The students here learn very quickly to keep their mitts out of the tanks as my Oscars will try and take anything that ventures near the surface of the water. I make sure they are well fed before retrieving a yabby or adding vegetation to their tank. They do interact with the kids - sometimes I think they outsmart them! They are very clever fish and learn tricks quickly.

Holidays soon!!!! Lifes good!

[lizzieb]

It sure is!!!


Enjoy the break, everyone!

[cactus155]

Well yesterday I was in the creek that runs down between the school buildings and the oval with a few students trying to improve the flow rate. Today I will be out planting potatos and garlic among others, hopefully the forecast rain holds off until after 12.30pm as I don't like the chances of students wanting to be out in the rain.

[cactus155]

Well today I wasn't out in the garden or the creek, today I was in the Derwent River collecting Northern Pacific Seastars for a class to dissect. Let me tell you the water was pretty cool and I am just starting to get feeling back into my limbs now.

[RosalieM]

Can't say I've ever been asked for sea stars! You sound like your job covers a variety of tasks. We did heart/lungs today - such fun! It's a shame it's not garbage day until next Tuesday though... I guess they will be filling up my freezer!